Emergency Desk Declutter Plan

My husband says that I'm addicted to lists. He has even been known to mock me (just a bit). He may be right. All I know is that I need major help when I'm faced with a mess that makes me want to quietly close the door and dash off to somewhere far, far away!

Having a list, a full-out plan, gives me some gumption to face things. The list is like a drill sergeant who orders me around. I can obey without having to think, which I find quite helpful. Having to think in these situations just causes heart palpitations.

Because of this need in my life, I have an Emergency Cleaning List in which I laid out a plan to recover my house after major disasters (usually of my own making!) and my previous post about my Starting Points that give me a jump start for daily life cleaning.

In the comments of my Emergency Clean plan, though, Lilli asked if I had a similar emergency list for my desk which reminded me that there is a third area with potential for agitation: The Paper Mess.

I deal with SO much paper due to personal finances, my husband's business, and homeschooling that I have indeed developed a plan out of desperation. My drill sergeant reappears when needed and starts barking at me until the paper is whipped into shape.

So, I give you my

Emergency Desk Declutter Plan

1. A beverage is quite nice to have available. Water would be ideal, but you may need some caffeine for this job. The drill sergeant can get pretty rough.


2. Gather up supplies: A garbage or recycle bin, a shredder, a stapler, and a pen.


3. Sit on the floor with your supplies. I know this is weird, but that's what I do.


4. Start on the far right of all desk/paper related areas.


5. Pick up a stack so that you can see the surface underneath and place it in front of you on the floor.


6. Beginning at the top, begin to sort into categories.


7. Trash/recycling/shredding go in their receptacles.


8. After each piece of paper has been initially dealt with in that stack, go for the next one.


9. When all paper has been removed from all surfaces and you're surrounded with your sorted stacks, start on the right (again) and begin to "finish" each stack to its final destination.

NOW, what exactly do have I have surrounding me on the floor? I know it looks like just another mess, just lower, but it isn't. I always sort into the same categories which all have designated places:

• Homeschooling completed work for portfolio binder


• Homeschooling completed work for posterity (in notebooks)


• Homeschooling information to be used now (goes in current area where workbooks are)


• Homeschooling information to be used in the future (goes in files in HS bookshelves)


• Business customers completed to go in filing cabinet


• Business customers for further handling to go in wall pockets labeled "Pending Acceptance," "Accepted," "Pending Payment," "Paid/To Tithe."


• Business Paid Payables to be filed in filing cabinet


• Business Unpaid Payables to put in "bill basket" in desk area


• Personal Paid Payables to be filed in filing cabinet


• Personal Unpaid Payable to put in "bill basket" in desk area


• Personal Misc. items to go in filing cabinet (eg appliance manuals, birth certificates, brochures for places to visit, etc.)


• Store receipts separated into business and personal folders in wall pocket near desk


• Pictures, CDs, empty water glass, etc. just go where they belong


• Household Management stuff goes in my Homemaking Binder. I may do a separate post on this.

As I put each stack away, the drill sergeant lightens up a bit. When the floor is cleared, I dust my desk surfaces, call my son in to admire my work (he's good about that), and pat myself on the back.

Starting Points

It could be just me. I hope it's not, but it could be. Here's the issue: When the house has gotten away from me due to whatever reason, I look around and feel oh-so-overwhelmed. A feeling of panic begins to rise and my mind says, "WHERE DO I START??"

I think I've solved that problem.

I call this revelation my "Starting Points." Each room has one. It's the FIRST place I start to begin to bring order back to a space. I know that beginning at each starting point will provide a momentum of bringing order. Once that is finished, I usually go to the right and work my way around until all is well again. Even when things are not out of order, I still always begin in the very same places. That keeps me from having to think and subsequently hear my mind shouting. Shouting hurts my ears.

Here are my "Starting Points":

• Kitchen: The dishwasher--empty and load


• Bedrooms: Make the beds


• Laundry: The whites


• Bathroom: The Sink


• Living Room: Couch


• Dining Room: Table top


• Misc. areas: To the right of the door as you walk in


• Car: Driver's seat

I don't have a starting place for anything outside yet. Now that I'm working through my Five Year Yard Plan, I will probably develop something.

What do you do to motivate yourself to get started?

Tasks: Being in the Moment

I read this recently:

If you resolve to do a task to the best of your ability, you will find that you enjoy it more. This is true even when doing something well requires more time... Some hope the task will go quickly so they can move on to "fun" activities; when the job takes longer than planned they become frustrated... I approach the same task knowing that it will be time consuming... But ultimately, it's satisfying [to do a difficult task well].

~ Amy Dacyczyn, The Tightwad Gazette

Amy's words have been rolling around in my spirit ever since. I am particularly bad about "enduring" a task to get to the "good stuff" faster. In the back of my mind I know that that isn't the best attitude, but I generally just ignore it. Reading that quote, however, reminded me that I need to pay attention to what I'm doing in the moment.

I was making supper the other night and ended up making a mess because I was in a hurry. I wasn't hurrying because things were late or we had to be somewhere. I was hurrying because I felt that what I was doing (combining chopped chicken with mayo for chicken salad) was just a means to an end--and I wasn't paying it attention. Next thing I knew, a huge scoop of chicken salad flopped out onto the counter. As soon as it happened, the quote came back to mind and I realized something.

I wasn't enjoying the journey as I should.

In the picture below I saw several examples of potential for "enjoying the journey." (I know it's an ad, but that's not important.) The stove top is clean, as well as the interior of the oven. Sometimes cleaning those areas is time consuming. I rush through them. Another area is how she's dressed. Seeing that reminded me that I have wanted to change my day-to-day wardrobe to something far less dumpy. I wouldn't sport a suit and pumps, but my current dress code of sweat pants and fleece shirt in the winter, and ill-fitting tops and shorts in the summer leaves a lot to be desired. Finely, she's pulling yummy homemade items out of that sparkling oven.

Just sayin'.

Work Ethic

Anna at Pleasant View Schoolhouse has begun blogging again. Her blog is like little vignettes of inspiration for me. For example, she recently quoted the following:

"There was something rather satisfying, she found, in scrubbing the tiles of the
kitchen floor. The clean, sweet-smelling wetness, which grew as she retreated
backwards from it on her knees, delighted her, and although she doubted if
anyone would ever notice the result of her labors, she was content with her
small reward of a job well done."

--Miss Read, No Holly For Miss Quinn

This quotation is a perfect example for what I'm trying to instill in my son . . . and in myself. I feel like our society has mostly abandoned doing a good job for the sake of doing a good job. In doing so, we've lost a very important attitude that is affecting all areas of life.

It seems that in order to do a job well and feel this satisfaction when it is done might require deliberately slowing our lives down in other areas. For some, that is. For others, treating a task as a skill to be savored and done for one's satisfaction as well as a way to bless others is NOT being done because too much of our time is spent on "entertainment."

That would be me. It is SO easy to kill an hour wandering around the interenet, or two hours on a DVD in the evening.

I am going to make it a point to be "in" my tasks today and to enjoy them during--and after.