Six months ago I had my office almost cleaned up. All I needed to do was dust, hang up my bulletin board (the one that’s been sitting here for over a year), and stay organized on a day-to-day basis.
I set up file folders for every imaginable need.
There are little boxes for recyclable paper and paper to be shredded.
I cleaned off my desk. It had nothing on it but a telephone, a clock, and a stapler.
I gathered papers, notebooks, printouts, etc. into two boxes to be sorted and filed or discarded as soon as I had time.
(Short break while I laugh at myself. I should have known better.)
I was going to take a picture and post it here, but decided it would be too embarrassing. A few words will tell the tale.
There’s dust on and around the printer, there’s a dust rag and a bottle of cleaner sitting on the window sill. I’m sure they’ve been there the whole six months.
The bulletin board is leaning against the wall behind the printer.
The “to be shredded” box is now two boxes.
The “to be recycled” box is half full.
The desk is piled high with new stuff–papers to be filed, supplies I never put away, more fodder to be recycled or shredded.
If I gather up that clutter and move it into a box to be sorted later, I’ll have three boxes to work on instead of two.
I apparently feel most comfortable writing in a room with papers all over the furniture and floor, dusty printers, and only a tiny cleared workspace on the left side of my computer table.
Hi there. My name is Patricia, and I’m a slob.
What about you? Whatever your favorite pastime(s), where do you work? Is your workspace neat or messy?
If you are a slob, so am I. Only I choose not to look at that aspect of my personality at all.
My work space is cluttered and busy, but I have cleaning frenzy days and drive everyone crazy. If it looks busy I feel busy (I think).
Maybe you should come to the library with me, Jan.
aargghh…my office is a big stinking mess of stuff to do, to file, to throw out, my bookcases are piled to the ceiling, the bits and pieces are EVERYWHERE and GUESS WHAT? I have to sort, clean and move the whole thing because we have an international student coming in two or three weeks and he’s living in MY office. I’m not even sure where I’ll be writing. AH well – forced cleaning is the only way…
Maybe I need to study feng shui, Jenny. I sure need to do something (although I was really thinking of turning my back on the mess and going to the library to work). 🙂
Ever since I decided I needed better feng shui at my work space, I’ve been doing a much better job keeping my desk clean. (Now, all the papers “mysteriously” end up on my husband’s desk.)
My bulletin board is waiting upstairs on the dryer, where it has sat for months.
Hart and Jemi are cleaning? Now I’m starting to feel bad again.
We are total pack rats in our house. My daughter and I are currently going through the basement and reorganizing, tossing and recycling. It’s been several days so far 🙂
I SO HEAR YOU, Patricia! I have spent my last 3 dayjob days cleaning my office and files (it looks much better) but now my workspace at home looks that much worse by comparison. I think it will never get done!
Very interesting reading, blogger friends. There’s a bit of comfort in knowing I’m not alone.
And to those who are worried about the relatives who are going to be responsible for clearing out my clutter when I die, I admit I was thinking about that the other day. I decided they could handle it. 🙂
Hello it is nice to meet you, we share the same name Slob. LOL
Patricia my sofa is an embarrasment, it is full of papers, books and anything else I throw on it. My desk upstairs is full of card making crafty bits.
DH is very good, but it is time to get my act together. Pass the polish and rag…;0
I’d call my workspace organized clutter.
I’m in the “slob column” too. I occasionally remove paper when I need a clear space to work.
[Secret: the space I cleared before our vacation to work on revising WIP became cluttered again. I wonder why.]
Hi Patricia and Alan. I’m Elspeth. I’m another member of the club.
I am a clutterbug. I cannot work when my surroundings are neat and orderly and there seems to be a direct correlation at work here. The neater the environment, the less the output. It’s not a character flaw and to those who tsk tsk at my mess, be careful! You may wind up as a character in one of my novels!
Hi there,
My hubby is more like you than I am. I tend to need no clutter around me when I work. I also handle paperwork as it comes into the house, rather than let it gather. My friends make fun of me, cause I’m always the first to respond to an invitation. But I know if I let it sit, I’d completely forget about it. Whatever floats our boats, I guess…
Karen
Hello Patricia. My name is Alan. And I am a slob, too. I’d offer to host the meetings at my house, but…too messy.
I have such a small space to work in here in the duplex I’m renting with Jen, one bedroom down and one upstairs. I need to be downstairs near Jen during the day. I really need a place with everything on the ground floor, but can’t move from a good landlord who helped us get a roll-in shower. So I keep moving things around, trying to improve the small space. Fortunately it’s so small that I can’t collect stuff in boxes the way you do (smiley face to Pat). But I’ve moved so much in my life, to so many rented places, that fortunately I’ve not been able to accumulate a lot of stuff. So, mixed blessings there. I can’t stand too much clutter. When it gets to the point you describe, I have to “fix” it. And Clarissa’s comment above reminds me of my sister who passed away recently. We kept talking about the fact that in 40 years in one house she had collected so much stuff that it would be a great burden for her children if it was left to them. After her husband died an untimely early death just a year and a half ago (he was my age!) she kept saying she was going to get the place cleaned out. But alas, her health took a downward spiral. We don’t always know when we’re going to “pass away.” In my sister’s case her children ended up having to clear out the house.
I came back from helping my parents move and became a mad woman. I threw away everything. I decided there was no way I would ever collect that much junk and just purged. That way, if I ever have to move, I won’t be such a burden on others.
CD
I’m a neat freak! I have to admit to being so organized that I can recite where every file is and what’s in it! LOL! It drives my husband nuts because his office is like yours! Of course he relies on me to find his stuff too!
I know the feeling Patricia, I sorted out all my bits of papers the other day, things I thought I should keep I really didn’t need so threw out most.
Nice clear space to work at now.
Yvonne.