“When you let something go in your life, something better will come in to replace it.”
Lao Tzu

I’ll admit it, I’m a piler not a filer. I have a tiny office and my papers easily run away with me. I’m also a jotter: I tend to jot down notes on any scrap of paper I can find: envelopes, old bills, Post-It notes — you name it. These scraps tend to pile up and so do all my files. Recently, my office became so messy that I had to take drastic action and spend 30 minutes a day getting reorganized.

In the midst of this messy maelstrom, I came across an article by a professional organizer, Mary Carlomagno, called “How to Declutter on a Daily Basis.” Mary is the author of Secrets of Simplicity and she really gave me something to think about when she said that clutter is really a form of delayed decision making. Here are some of her tips:

Get started: The sooner you attack your clutter problem, the sooner positive change will give you momentum.

Declutter daily: Don’t let things pile up. Think of organizing like exercising, something you do consistently.

Use a notebook: (This one’s right up my alley!) Keep note taking and messages under control by gathering them in a single notebook, so you don’t have to ferret them out and waste time transcribing them.

Sort decisively: Clutter results when unlike items are mixed together and have to separated. Avoid this by keeping like items together.

Don’t procrastinate: Keep organizational anxiety at by tackling your toughest clutter first, not last. Just do it!

The simplicity of Mary’s advice struck home with me. Think I’ll check out her book and visit her Web site (www.orderperiod.com). Write on!