National Organize Your Files Week

I didn't know there was such a thing, but apparently this week is National Organize Your Files Week.

Lorie Marrero offers some tips on reducing your piles of paper at The Clutter Diet Blog.

We talk about how all clutter ultimately is delayed decisions and actions. Paper is a very concentrated dose of this-- each pile of stacked thin sheets is compactly and efficiently holding potentially hundreds of delayed decisions and actions in a small 8.5 x 11" space.

When going through your own paperwork and mail, try to step back from it mentally and concentrate on these three questions...

Getting Organized To Reduce Stress

Not that I needed it, but here is another good reason to get organized: it reduces stress. Glenn Ebersole offers some other tips for reducing stress in the workplace here. Some of these could apply to a home office as well.

1. Commit to improved time management.
2. Commit to maintaining a well-organized office and having The equipment and materials needed to do The required work.
3. Set clearly defined goals & objectives and ensure that all parties have clear understanding of what is expected.
4. Commit to setting aside some time to get away From Your desk each day and to schedule some personal time for yourself each day outside of work.
5. Develop and use a Strategic TO DO List, With 4 categories of tasks - “URGENT & IMPORTANT;” “URGENT, BUT NOT IMPORTANT;” “NOT URGENT:” and “NEITHER URGENT OR IMPORTANT.”
6. Deal With employee conflicts In a proactive and timely manner. Do not allow The conflicts to get worse. Take some immediate action to resolve The conflicts.
7. Learn to say “NO” when you are truly already overburdened.
8. Designate specific times each day to return phone calls and email. This will address some of The constant interruptions that result In lost focus and increased stress.
9. Keep yourself In good health.
10. Seek advice From an outside professional on how to address The Stress and educate people on Stress management techniques.

Someone Else's Clutter

I learned something today: it's easier to deal with someone else's clutter than your own. At least this proved to be true for me today.

I'm not sure what inspired it, but after meeting Snafu this morning and seeing the challenge he's facing in his two closets, I decided I would meet him for lunch and lend him a hand.

I returned in the afternoon with tacos from El Faro. After we ate, I volunteered to do the dishes. One thing led to another, and while Snafu started cleaning up his living room, I cleaned the kitchen. The plan had been for us to work on his closets, not the kitchen and the living room, but this seemed like a better idea.

Initially I just cleaned the dishes, but after a few minutes I found myself sweeping, cleaning out the cabinets beneath the sink, hiding the garbage and trash containers and rearranging items on the counters.

I realized that Snafu has some of the same issues I deal with, namely keeping stuff that might be useful someday -- plastic and paper bags, containers -- but not keeping them in a single, neat, organized place. I found it therapeutic to work on my issue with his stuff.

After a productive hour I needed to go back to work. It felt good to see that I had made a positive difference in someone else's cluttered life, even if my clutter was just as bad as it had been before.

As I was leaving, Snafu thanked me for the help.

"Do me a favor. Don't tell your wife I helped you clean your house," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because someday I may ask you to help me clean mine, and I intend to take full credit for it. You should do the same."

* * * * * * *
I almost forgot, I learned something else today. Snafu told me about cleaning with white distilled vinegar, a cheap and eco-conscious household cleaning alternative.

To return the favor, I told Snafu about using the microwave to sterilize sponges in the kitchen. After finding a reference on this at WebMD, I'm going to nuke my sponges more often -- every other day -- and for twice as long -- two minutes at a time.

The High Cost of Being Disorganized

Being disorganized is costing me a fortune. If I were more organized, I would know exactly how much being disorganized is costing me, but here are two examples that illustrate my problem.

Example 1: Last month I received two tickets for the same infraction. I waited too long to get my smog check and renew my vehicle tags, so I got a $100 ticket from SFPD and a $60 ticket from DPT for expired tags. Both tickets were fixable. All I needed to do was have a police officer sign the backs of the tickets to verify that I had current tags, and send the tickets along with a $10 fee within 21 days. First I procrastinated, then I lost the tickets. By the time I found the tickets, I was over 21 days for the $100 ticket. I just made the deadline for the $60 ticket. Total cost of being disorganized: $110.

Example 2: I haven't filed my tax return on time in many years now. Back when I was single and used to get big refunds from the Federal and State governments, this wasn't much of a problem. In effect, all it cost me was the opportunity to use the money that the government kept from me. The last two years I've been so late in filing that I've had to pay a penalty for filing late, a penalty for underpaying and interest on what I owed. The cause? I'm so disorganized that it takes me days, sometimes weeks, to get my hands on all the papers I need to complete my taxes. Total cost of being disorganized for my 2007 return: $566.23.

I have nine days to complete my 2008 return. Gotta get it done.

Treading Water

That's what I've been doing this week: treading water. Not swimming, but not drowning either. What I mean is that I haven't added to my clutter, and I have managed to reduce my clutter just a little. Ok, so maybe I'm dog paddling.

I got rid of some clothes that had been sitting in my car for months, dropping them off at Community Thrift Store. That's a nice $200 deduction for next year's tax return.

I threw out some trash and recycled two large bags of styrofoam packing peanuts. That felt good.

I've made a habit of dealing with each day's mail as it arrives, rather than letting it stack up. This is easy and makes me feel good every time I do it.

I've also made a habit of removing things from my car each time I got out of it. This brings to mind something a friend did when I bought my first car back in 1990. I had it full of paper and trash within a few months of owning it. Whenever he rode with me, he made a point of grabbing something off the floor and asking, "Is this trash?" I almost always said, "Yes," and when I did he would take that item with him and throw it into the nearest receptacle. It only took me 19 years to figure out what he was trying to tell me.

I Am Mentally Ill

I had a horrible realization today: I am mentally ill. Seriously, I wish I were kidding about this, but I'm not.

At lunch today I picked up last week's SF Weekly, because I had saved it, of course, and began reading the cover story, "Gathering Storm: They pile up their stuff to the point of fire danger and rat infestation."

As I read, it dawned on me that I was more like these sick people than I would care to admit. Okay, so I'm gainfully employed and I pay my bills on time, but what if I didn't have a wife to keep my hoarding in check? What if I didn't have the support system of friends and family keeping me afloat, psychologically speaking?

The acquiring of and failure to discard seemingly useless possessions, causing significant clutter, distress, and impairment to basic living activities. That's the definition mental health researchers have basically agreed on for compulsive hoarding and cluttering. They also agree that hoarding behaviors cut across ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and although the elderly tend to hoard more than the young, they certainly don't have a monopoly. Hoarders can often be identified in suburban areas by the possessions spilling out of their homes, while in cities like San Francisco, they are often concentrated in smaller, concealed dwellings. According to a just-released citywide task force report on hoarding, there are an estimated 12,000 to 25,000 hoarders living in San Francisco.

Let's run down the checklist here... acquiring of useless possessions? Check. Failure to discard said items? Check. Significant clutter? Check. Distress? Check. Impairment to basic living activities? Not yet, but could that be where I'm headed?

I went back to my cluttered desk after lunch, and hit shuffle on my iPod. Out of more than 10,000 songs to choose from -- am I hoarding music, too? -- my iPod dialed up George Carlin's, "A Place for My Stuff." Okay, okay, I get the message already!

I am a compulsive hoarder. There, I said it. But I'm not happy about it. My problem is that I have difficulty throwing things away. I rationalize my problem by making up excuses about reusing and recycling, but when it comes down to it I'm overwhelmed by stuff. That's why I'm writing about my problem. Because I know I'm not alone, and because I believe I can heal myself, with a little help.

I refuse to let myself become like the infamous Collyer Brothers, who accumulated 100 tons of debris and in 1947 died from compulsive hoarding.

I refuse to let myself become like actress Delta Burke, of Designing Women, who "admitted last year that she once rented 27 storage units" for her hoarding collection.

I've come to a huge realization, especially just a few days after beginning this journey of self-improvement. I'm scared and excited at the same time. Whatever happens, I'll continue to track my thoughts, my progress and my setbacks here on this site.

By the way, if you're wondering about the other guy who writes here, let me just say that I don't think he's a compulsive hoarder. I think his issues relate to organization and time management. I have those issues, too. But we're in this together, and with some work and persistence, we're both going to make drastic changes to improve our lives.


References:
Harrell, Ashley. "Gathering Storm" SF Weekly, March 24, 2009
Institute on Compulsive Hoarding and Cluttering