Clutter, Messes, and Stuff

I keep stuff. I have notes from French classes in high school, articles from theonering.net that I printed years ago, and enough fabric to clothe an army. My Mac isn't much better--so I have three Word documents for one essay, PDF articles from the Stone Age, and files for programs that I've uninstalled.

Although I can argue that the piles on the floor are "organized," the motto my mother taught me for years comes to mind as I survey the chaos. "A Place for Everything...and Everything in its Place" reverberates in my mind. A little creative clutter is good for some projects, but mentally it's difficult to function in an extremely messy space.

All this points to one thing--a determination to get tidy and stay tidy. It's sort of appalling how much stuff I have accumulated over the years. I read these "get organized" blogs--like Declutter It! and unclutterer, but the fact remains that reading blogs posts does NOT clean my room. It can give me ideas on how to be organized, but will not do my work for me. At the end of the day, I have to keep things tidy...not my computer.

I'll report on my progress (hopefully not lack therof) on the Great Get Organized Project. I'm working on implementing the principles of David Allen's Getting Things Done, so that should help as well.