Virtual Clutter

Does your email inbox have a lot of emails just sitting in it? Mine does. Why? There are 400 messages in there right now. It's really gotten the best of me lately and I've been giving some thought as to WHY. I've read these email, now why are they still in the inbox? One good reason is the email system I am using does not have folder system. I am not pleased with that. I consulted my husband and now I have gone from a web based email system to a mail client system. What does that mean? My email is now being downloaded into Outlook Express. I am really pleased with it! I can create a lot of folders with it if I want. I organized it and flung out all of the trash.

I took it a step further. This is my personal email system. Remember I just recently read David Bach's Smart Couples Finish Rich? If you haven't read that post, click here to read it. Now David Bach asks each couple to determine what 5 values are important to each of them....ones that they want to work on over the next 12 months. Well, I completed that task. I have my 5 values and I applied them to my email system as well! It's another reminder of what is important to me and what my values are. It's much easier to determine what to do with an email if it doesn't fit in ANY of my categories! So I have 5 mail folders and some sub folders. One of my values is marriage & family. I finally have a subfolder under there that is labeled - Pictures! I've never had a folder for them before and they are important to me. I'd have to search through all of my emails to find a picture I was looking for! Now they are all safely in one organized location. Another sub folder under marriage & family is Christmas 2007. I've never had this folder before either. I love it! All of the Christmas lists for family members are now in our location too! No more searching through all of the emails to go shopping!

If you already have a system in place that you are using, kudos to you! Consider adopting the values system to your folders. =)

Places and Spaces for Our Things

Just as we have routines, we also need places for each of our things. This is the trick to keeping on top of any NEW clutter.

After you declutter, you need to organize what you are keeping. In order to organize, make a space for each item that you are keeping! That way when you are cleaning up you know where each item belongs. It will be much quicker to put things away, when you know where it belongs. It will also be much easier to stay on top of "clutter control."

Another idea when you make a purchase, if you are replacing an item, throw the old item out, bless someone else with it or give it to Goodwill.

Look around your home or office, the things that are piling up....do they have a place where they belong? Or is that part of the problem? They need a designated spot.

My Journey

My journey for a simple life began about three years ago. I had two small children. I felt the need to simplify. I wanted to downsize what I owned and minimize what came into the house. I wanted to streamline my life, get rid of the clutter and focus on what is most important to me. This may have included my physical life - our small home was getting crowded, but it quickly spilled over into other areas of my life - finances and activities. Does everyone get to this point at some time in his or her life?