Still working on getting the clutter rounded up and sorted and given away or thrown out, or whatever works best for it! Still slowly working on that. Haven’t added anything new really… just the freezer!

But I began to notice something… we have collections of things all over the place. Office supplies, art supplies, crafts, computer extras, knickknacks and more. Books… tools… magazines… CDs/media.

And lots of duplication and just stuff we never use and all. So I decided to pick a collection and round it up. Sort it, save it and stash it all in one place. I picked office supplies after I spent about two hours looking for a box of staples that I KNEW I had somewhere. And of course, I didn’t find until I bought another box.

We used our big green tub and just spent a day or two rounding up anything and everything that was a pencil, pen, paperclips, punch, etc. Anything office supply related.

And we have a small cabinet that fits under one of our large work desks that is currently holding just junk, papers and such. I’m going to clean that out, and that will be our office supply headquarters. ALL office supplies will be there. When they are used, they will be returned there. Both Jessy and I have desk/work areas in our rooms, so we’ll be allowed just a little pencil cup of basic, everyday supplies, but not drawers full of random things that hardly get used. In fact, the rounded up materials have been in the bucket now for a couple days and no one has missed them!

I think about places like hospitals and emergency work stations and one of the primary reasons they are efficient and stay ready to use is that there is a place for EVERYTHING! Can you imagine coming into a hospital for emergency care and they are running around looking for this or that and can’t find something they need? You would be horrified. And angry.

So why do we allow our homes to be chaos central? I think most people are pretty good about keeping say, medicines and health and beauty stuff in the bathrooms, or dishes and cookware in the kitchen, but that’s about it. I find tools in my living room, and computer cds all over the place, media, books left, that kind of thing. We’re not slobs, but rather we just don’t seem to think about it much, laying that finished book down on a end table and walking away. I think if things had “homes”, that they would get there more often and thus cut down on the clutter and chaos that ensues.

Just my thinking…. but so far, I think it might just help us a little bit.

And it saves money…. I can’t believe how many duplicated supplies we had in just the office supply bucket. Because we would misplace that or this and just buy more. Crazy. And several of the things were dried up or didn’t work, just taking up space. I know when I get to some of my other collection roundups I’ll find it to be even more out of hand…

Well. Baby steps to contentment I suppose. Everything takes time to get out of whack, and it might take a little time to get back together. So just keep at it, and set your goals and you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish if you just start.