We did an inventory here in the library yesterday. Every employee regularly scheduled to work Friday was assigned a section of shelves to scan and, with 40 employees and volunteers, we completed most of the non-fiction section. As was the case last year, I was so impressed by how much you can get done if you just plan a task to get completed and set your mind to it…and get the help of 40 of your friends and family members! If only we could have a crew like that at our disposal to help with the task of de-cluttering! Some books suggest having de-cluttering parties where you have your friends come over to help you de-clutter and you do the same for your friends. I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you are fairly well organized and your friends are clutter-a-holics. You may never have the opportunity to get back to your own house to enjoy the success you had during your de-clutter party.
Anyway, as luck would have it, I was assigned the section of shelves where the de-clutter books are kept! For those who want to visit this section, you will find it just past the cookbooks at 648.8. I have pulled all of the books that were in that section and I thought I might take a moment to tell you what titles we have. We have a copy of Outwitting Clutter, by Bill Adler, Jr. (Globe Pequot Press, 2002) which I shared at our last meeting; Jamie Novak’s first clutter-control book, 1000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2006); Organizing From the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life by Julia Morgenstern (Henry Holt and Company, 1998); Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff: the Q.U.I.C.K.* Way to Bring Lasting Order to Household Chaos, edited by Lori Baird (Yankee Publishing Co., 2002); The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Simple Life by Georgene Lockwood (Macmillan, 2000); Simplify Your Space: Create Order and Reduce Stress by Marcia Ramsland (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2007); The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living by Janet Luhrs (Broadway Books, 1997); and Organize It!: How to Declutter Every Nook and Cranny in and Outside Your Home by Mervyn Kaufman (New York: Filipacchi Publishing, 2006). The last book on this list is a Woman’s Day Special publication and includes photographs of clutter free spaces using storage systems and furniture designed for such a purpose. These space are inspirational, but are they spaces used by real people?
I will glance through these books to see what information I can glean for the meeting next week but get them back on the shelves as soon as possible, in case someone might like to borrow one in preparation for the meeting. See you Thursday evening!
*Quantify Your Clutter, Unload, Isolate, Contain, Keep it Up from Lori Baird's book Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff.
Hi, I'm new on this blog and have not come to the De-Clutter group before, but hope to be there this Thursday, 08/06/09. I am really into getting all the stuff I have under control. Especially my inventory of stuff I want to start selling on Ebay. I have a few ideas of starting this, but I hope to get more from the group. Also, I practice Feng Shui in my home and the principal of neatness is an essential for this. Looking forward to the De-Clutter group meeting. Thanks for having it.
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