Developing Effective Habits

We need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues in our home if we wish to free ourselves from the clutter addiction cycle!

Paper piles in my home office are my number one clutter addiction.

I save papers because I need them, because I might need them, because they are good references, because I like the idea they write about. I save papers and I file those papers. Well, I used to file those papers. Now I have an embarrassingly tall stack of papers hidden in a deep drawer of my desk that I'd not had the time to file.

I'm busier. I'm at the point where I don't want to carve out time to deal with stuff---in this case paper piles---that aren't absolutely necessary.

Times have changed. Reference papers are nearly obsolete. I've got the power of the internet at my fingertips. I don't need extensive files of reference papers. I'm ready to purge the files. But first, I need to deal with the papers that are continually bombarding my home office so that when I do carve out the time to deal with that embarrassing drawer of stacked papers that I have a habit in place that will keep it from happening again!

I've developed a great habit of opening all the mail at the kitchen counter where I toss all envelopes and junk mail straight into the trash and sort the remaining mail into piles of:

1. Papers to be shredded.
2. Bills to be paid.
3. "Other"
   

Sound great, right? Except for the part where these piles end up stacked together and quickly dropped in one pile on my desk. As each day goes by the pile seems to grow exponentially.

I need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues in my home. More specifically, I need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the paper piles in my home office!

I've started a new habit this week. I'm taking an extra few minutes after checking the mail, but before starting supper, to:

1. Shred the papers that need shredding.
2. Place the bills in the folder of bills to be paid.
3. Stick any important school papers to the fridge with a magnet .
4. Place any book orders in the "Orders to Fill" file.

I'm sure as the week continues I'll find there's more to it than that, but at least it's a start in the right direction! It brings a peace of mind knowing there isn't a growing pile!

We need to develop habits that deal effectively and efficiently with the clutter issues we see in our home if we wish to free ourselves from the clutter cycle!

What effective habit are you going to start this week? I'd love to hear about it! And yes, I'll admit next week how this new habit is coming along!