Minimizing Clutter in Your Office

Minimizing Clutter in Your Office

1. Take control of surfaces first. In most cluttered offices, flat surfaces are magnets for clutter. If you don’t know what to do with a piece of paper when it comes into your office it gets laid aside, then buried, then picked up, re-looked at, and then put back on - you guessed it - a flat surface. The fix: attack one flat surface at a time. Sort through all your papers and put them into piles or boxes for action, reference, file, garbage and shred. Don’t spend a lot of time on the sort - just do it. **One hint on bills and other maybe-important things-if there is anything that is accessible online (credit card statements for instance... once reviewed) you probably don’t need to keep a paper copy. The IRS website lists items you need to keep for taxes, that is a good rule of thumb. It is less than you probably think.

2. Think vertically and furniture as storage. If your home office is small and you do not have a file cabinet, consider having stackable boxes or crates and shelves or hangers mounted to the wall. In the end of the day, you want to have a clean, simple office, and keep just the papers you need to have. If you can’t get rid of everything, then think about how to have storage where the papers can be basically hidden from everyday view.

3. Place a recycle bin close to your mailbox and get rid of everything you do not really want right away. When I started going through the stacks of paper in my office I kept coming on old ads, old bills and statements, and most of this never needed to be kept. Get rid of it before it becomes a problem.

4. Decide up front what your office is really for and make decisions based on this purpose. Your office is not the place to store extra towels, games, toys, or discarded clothes. Just dropping things in the office because you are tired of carrying them around is the road to clutter. The key here is to think not of straightening up or of organizing, but of purpose and minimizing. Getting really clear about what a space if for helps you get it and keep it the way that you really want. .

How to Minimize When Injured

Question: What does a Minimalist in Training do when slightly injured (see previous post on my back tweak) but still wants to minimize the messy kitchen cabinets?

**Below is the coffee and tea cabinet...

Answer: Give your significant other wine...

And put them to work clearing cabinets...

As before, decide what the space is really for, take everything out, clean the space, and only place back the items that should be there. Everything else either goes in storage or is sent packing. St. Vincent DePaul charity is getting a box of coffee mugs in this case, and tea and coffee that is not in current use is in storage in the pantry.

And this is what the tea and coffee side of the cabinet looks like now...

This made the cabinets much more usable. You will also note there is a jumble of items on the top of the cabinets that need to be dealt with (crock pot, chopper, cereal), but by this point my faithful assistant had downed two glasses of wine and I didn't think suggesting she get up on a ladder or chair was a good idea.

She is cute, though, and totally with me on the whole minimizing and simplifying path.

The Result of the Run

Not exactly a minimalist post, unless minimal common sense counts. That said, I figured people want to know what the result of the previous post was.

Contrary to common sense I decided to run Steep Ravine this morning with www.coastaltrailruns.com. Thanks to Charles A Ceasar II (he is the one doing the knocking out) for advising me on how to treat a tweaked back. Still, up through the first mile in the seven mile course I considered dropping out. But after the 4 mile climb to the aid station I was feeling better and my son Adam was waiting for me there (he was 5 minutes ahead of me at that point).

With Adam's encouragement I kept on going and felt better and better on the downhills. Amazingly, I won my age division, and Adam, although he graciously waited for his dad till I at least got got going again (then he left me in the dust) got 2nd place in his age division. Kate was not too far behind me, but she is in the toughest age group for women runners.

Jared was waiting for us at t he finish, and Kate took the picture.

Next up on the minimzing journey... the kitchen cabinets.

P.S. Charles said I earned "warrior status" by running with a messed up back and still winning. I am not sure my lovely wife agrees. :)

Yoga, Not Running, and Lessons for a Minimalist

This is a great one for those of you looking for something to mock. I'm not sure what this has to do with becoming a minimalist, but I will try and figure that out as I go along.

Besides trying to minimize my life, I am trying to be fit and healthy. As such, I have developed a love for trail running. That's minimal fitness, right? You just need a trail. In fact, I run in New Balance Minimus trail shoes, and love the whole minimal/barefoot movement in running.

Which brings me to what happened this morning...

For a few weeks now I have been increasing my trail running pace to get ready for the Coastal Trail Runs race tomorrow at Stinson Beach. The race is called Steep Ravine and has 1,800 feet elevation gain the first three miles, followed by four miles of downhill back to the beach.

I was all set, feeling great after my last training run yesterday. So today, Kate and I went to a "gentle yoga class" she'd bought through Groupon. About five minutes into the class I feel some pain in my lower back so I did what any other guy would do...tough it out till the hour long class was over. Now, I can't stand up straight and may not be able to run tomorrow. Ah the vanity of dudeness. Three weeks of hard training probably down the tube because I don't want to quit a yoga class early. Ridiculous.

So, as a wannabe minimalist, I have to wonder, was this the universe telling me to let go of my need to achieve in races? Or was it just forgetting that as an older guy, just because you can go run a few miles, does not mean that other muscles and joints are not out of shape?

I guess this is the lesson: Just because you can do one thing fairly well, it doesn't mean that it will translate to another thing or activity.

If you want to run well, you have to run. If you want to do yoga well, you have to do yoga. If you want to learn to minimize the stuff in your life, well, you have to practice the skill of minimizing.

There, I managed to bring the blog back to minimizing, although all I am currently doing is sitting in a chair with a hot rice pack on my lower back and feeling like an idiot.

A Minimalist Date

No plan
Go
to old town
Petaluma (Petting-Luma)

with your wife of 3 months

Sit on a bench
outside
while her hair
is cut
Wander the streets

and bookstores

Listen to banjo playing troubadours

And find a small, empty Italian restaurant

Simply spend time

with someone you love

Talking

About Murakami

and Vonnegut

Come home

Smiling

: )

Minimizing the tragedy that is my closet

My closet is not exactly a tragedy, but it is filled with things I just do not wear. Since I mostly work from home there are suits and dress shirts I don't use any longer, things that don't fit, and some stuff that I only pull off the hanger when I've been too lazy to do laundry. Okay, so lets attack the closet with the same procedure as before...

First, decide what the closet is really for. Um, how about holding items of clothing that I actually like and wear, not just stuff I might wear or fit back into one of these days. And also, if I fit in something but just don't like wearing it, it doesn't need to be there.

Excellent. This is what the closet looks like before the minimize...

You will note that I am judiciously ONLY showing my, um, half of the closet.

This is all the stuff that came out of my half of the closet out on the bed...

After going through everything and making a fast judgement on a) does it fit, b) do I like it, and c) do I actually wear it, just the things that hit all the preceding criteria went back in the closet. This is the end result...

Pretty nice minimize, if I do say so myself. I kept my suit, two blazers, a few dress shirts, and the polo shirts that fit and look the best. I also retained all my ties, belts. A hand-knit sweater my wife gave me is on the top shelf.

The best thing is that the items left in the closet are the pieces of my wardrobe I actually wear and now they are not stuffed in with a bunch of things that never see the light of day.

More room for the good stuff, eh?

Book Giveaway - The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

The drawing was made with the assistance of the random number generator at www.random.org. for my hardcover edition of The Power Less.

An email is out to the winner to make sure they want the book before it is sent. If the winner of the drawing does not want the book I will make a second drawing and send out an email. I want to make sure I am not needlessly adding to another persons clutter.

It is a great book, though, and if you've not read it I highly recommend it. ~Rocky

Last Day for a Free Hardcover copy of The Power of Less

The Drawing Will be Tonight for The Power of Less. One member/follower of aminimalistintraining will be drawn by random number generator and I will contact the person via email and see if they want the book. A yes, and the book is on the way regardless of the recipient's location on the globe. What could be cooler than that. Here is the original giveaway post, in case you missed it.

~Rocky

Since I was beat from an 8 mile trail run today, and then watching football playoffs, not a lot of minimizing was done. But, to keep on track (and also try and get some more followers on this blog) I got the idea to give away my copy of Leo Babauta's book, The power of Less.

Leo recently noted on G+ that his publisher has just lowered the price of the book to $3.99 on a special sale.

The Power of Less, on Sale
"As part of a New Year's promotion by my publisher, Hyperion, my book The Power of Less is on sale for just $3.99 until Jan. 31, 2012." ~Leo

I am trying to minimize, and since my lovely wife gave me a Kindle for my birthday, I am getting more e-books and fewer hard-copy books. I love this book of Leo's and would like to get an e-copy, so I can pass along this hardcover 1st edition. It is in great condition (I am very careful with books).

So here's the deal: One week from today I will randomly select a member/follower of my blog to send the book to. Shipping is on me, regardless of where the recipient lives, so overseas readers can enter to get the book too.

I've only got one copy, but the odds are pretty good right now as I don't have that many followers or members for this blog. Believe me, I never knew how motivating it would be to report to the world how I am doing on becoming a minimalist, but it is. In fact, telling the world what you are doing is one of the secrets to creating habits, as Leo has written about on his ZenHabits blog for years.

Before I mail the book I will contact the person randomly drawn and make sure they want the book. If they don't, I will draw someone else. Hence, there is no reason to not sign up to follow this blog in case you don't happen to need or want Leo's book in hardcover.

So, become a member/follower of aminimalistintraining and get a chance at winning The Power of Less absolutely free. You can't get much more minimalist than that. ~Rocky

Minimizing the Kitchen Counter

Today I decided to try and minimize the items on my kitchen counter. Again, for me the object is not just to get rid of things, but to have the right things in the right places. The first step was to take a look at the counter and see what was there and then to envision what the counter is actually for and what “should” be there to make the counter most useful.

The purpose of the counter (I decided) was to help with the preparation of meals. Thus, anything that is not for that purpose does not go there. Also, spices have a place in the cabinet above the counter, so they do not need to be on the counter. The knives made sense, as did the toaster oven and a few of the cutting boards. We’d gotten three new thin cutting board/sheets for our wedding, so I decided the old ones can be donated.

On the counter was also a bunch of naturopathic tinctures and some vitamins and medications, but as my wife asked that she take a look at them before I toss any, I went lightly through them. Hopefully more will go. Because we take medications or vitamins with meals, these stayed.

Also on the counter was the coffee maker that we use daily, so that gets an honored spot. Besides that, only a pedestal I made in a pottery class that holds the loaf of bread that is being used stays. Everything else went away.

This is the counter before minimizing…

And these are the steps to get this space under control:

• Step one – Assess the area.
• Step two – Clean the area thoroughly.
• Step three – Put back only the items that are for the space.

This is the area clean and empty…

And this is the area after the minimize…

Again, this isn't rocket science, but you do have to be willing to make some decisions about the purpose of an area, and about what ultimately stays and goes. A key is to move everything out of the area you are working on and to see it empty and then to put back only what should be in that spot. When you do this, you'll likely end up with numerous items that could go back if you were being wishy-washy, but be tough and don’t overload an area.

If you can't get rid of the excess things immediately, place them in a box for storage or in another area that makes sense to you but that you have not minimized yet. For instance, on the counter were two partially used jars of honey. They should not be on the counter, but they fit in the cabinet with the tea. Okay, that's a good place for them until I get around to minimizing the tea and coffee storage area.

Don’t think for a second that the cabinets are off the hook? They will be dealt with in due course.

How radical a minimalist do you want to be?

Becoming a minimalist is one of those things in life that can have many forms, and each person can decide just how far they want to take it. For instance, there are some minimalists that have made the decision to minimize not only objects in their homes, but their homes as well.

One example of this is Nina Yau...

Nina blogs at Castles in the Air. Just a short time ago, Nina was in a corporate job in Chicago, then she set out on a path to minimize the things in her life and to also seek truth. Now, she lives with only what she can carry, has lived in multiple countries, and has just completed yoga instructor training in Bangalore, India. Nina has certainly minimized.

Another dedicated minimalist is Colin Wright, his website is called Exile Lifestyle. Colin went beyond the popular minimalist trend of getting your possessions down to 100 items, and now has only 51 things he owns. To make his life even more challenging and adventurous, Colin moves to a new country every four months based on the votes of his online readers.

But a minimalist does not have to be as extreme as Nina and Colin are, although I must say that I admire both of them. You can simply have the goal of getting the clutter and excess stuff out of your life. As Peter Walsh, a well-known organizer has aptly said, "It's all too much!"

Truer words have never been spoken. In modern society it is easy to acquire things, and many of us have been brought up with an acquisition mindset but not a letting go mindset. In other words, we keep getting things but find it difficult to let go of things and pass them on.

Leo Babauta explains this as being a scarcity mentality versus an abundance mentality. He applies this idea of abundance not only to minimization but to copyrighting his work online.

If you come from an abundance mindset, then letting things go becomes easier because you know you can create and obtain more wonderful things when and if you need them. Conversely, if you come from a scarcity mindset, you tend to hang onto things for the rainy day that might come.

Those of us who grew up with parents or grandparents that lived through the rough times of the Great Depression or a previous war, likely had the rainy-day-just-in-case mentality either subtly or overtly drummed into our consciousness. While that is understandable, it does make it a challenge when you make the conscious choice to minimize. However, it can be done.

I suppose the bottom line is that each of us that wants to become a minimalist has to try and understand where they are starting from and where they want to ultimately end up. It will not be the same for everyone. My minimal lifestyle will not look the same as Nina's, Colin's, Leo's nor anyone else's, but the key is that it is the life that I want and is perfectly suited to me.

The fact that it is a life of my design is what matters most. What will your minimal life look like?

There Are Way Too Many T-Shirts in the World

There are way too many t-shirts in the world. That's a given. They're like Tribbles.

Because I do a lot of trail runs, I seem to collect more and more t-shirts all the time, but I seldom get rid of any. Seriously, I have bags of them in the basement - which is a separate issue that will be dealt with down the road.

And because I run a couple times a week, and work from home as a writer, I justify (to myself only) having lots of t-shirts. Hence, I have two t-shirt drawers that look like this...

But the thing is, I have a few favorite t-shirts I use a lot, for running or wearing, and the others just sit there - forlorn I might add (I am a writer, after all). With my new found skills as a minimizer, I thought I would work some magic on the t-shirt drawer.

Step one, take everything out of the two drawers and place it on the bed...

Step two, place back in the drawer the good t-shirts that I actually like and wear. The rest go in a donation bag and get dropped off today. No waiting, today! And the result is a lower drawer of running shorts that looks like this...

And a drawer of everyday t-shirts and coolmax running shirts that looks like this...

That was so easy and so much fun that I took on the sock and underwear drawers next. Everything came out of the drawers and onto the bed...

The result was a sock drawer where everything fits, and look, more room.

And last but not least, the underwear drawer.

What, he only has five pair of underwear?

No, actually, I have more, but they are in the laundry. Still, after my purge and minimization, only the best go back in the drawer and the drawer remains uncrowded and usable.

Sure, it's scary to get rid of t-shirts and underwear, but it can be done. That's why we have washing machines people, right?

Staying Motivated on the Minimalist Path

Staying motivated while on the path to becoming a minimalist is a challenge to be sure, but one that is worth taking on.

When you begin minimizing it's easy to stay motivated. After all, this is the case when you begin anything new, whether that's a class, job, book, or exercise regime. You were probably excited about the idea of starting, that's why you began whatever it was in the first place. But then, other things start to crop up and get in the way. That's life, right?

Expect your motivation to flag and return again and again to the idea of beginners mind. Remember why you started down the path to becoming a minimalist in the first place. In my case, it was because I felt weighed down by too much stuff. This excess of objects and the associated clutter drained my creative energy. Now, just by minimizing a few spaces in my home, my office for instance, I feel more creative and able to work on the revision of a novel that has languished for a year.

As I begin my writing work for the day though, I still want to remain motivated to continue down the minimalist path. One way to do that is to do one small minimize every day. After all, this is a habit I am trying to form, a new way of being in the world, and not just a one-time minimize and clear-out that will have an end.

A key for me is to have a simple minimization task I can accomplish and then build on. Even if you only have five minutes to work on minimizing a space, that is enough time to keep the habit building.

Today, I have a lot on my plate as far as errands and writing, but I still plan to work a minimize project. I have several to choose from:

• Closet
• Workout or t-shirt drawer
• Sock drawer
• Kitchen counter
• Bathroom basket

Doing any one of these minimize tasks will keep forward momentum, and I plan to take one of them on today. By continuing to practice minimizing and simplifying, I am getting better at it and keeping the minimalist mindset building. It is all in how you look at the world and how you interact with the world, after all.

Minimizing Paper and Doing Yoga - The Result

This is what I started with today. When I finished going through this batch of papers and stuff, I brought more in. In between every box I did some yoga and stretching.

And below is what I ended up with... two big bags of paper and junk for the recycling and trash bins. As I expected, most of the papers in the first few boxes of stuff from the office was junk mail, old receipts, and hard copy bills and statements, etc...

That said, in among the old catalogs, power bill statements, drafts of school papers and whatnot, I also found my marriage license, some stamps, and a few other items that I think need to be kept or followed up on.

So now, these pieces of paper are in some file boxes I already had in the office that can be taken down and gone through. The files have labels on the front: Action, File, Bills, Reading, and Follow up. I probably will go through these files again and cut them down to Action, File, and Reading in the next couple of days. Eventually, I would like to minimize and simplify to the point where even these bins are unnecessary.

And as far as the yoga, it went alright. I am a bit sore from my eight mile trail run yesterday, and my flexibility makes me think I have early onset rigor mortis, but you have to start somewhere.

Now it's off to the airport to pick up my wife who is returning from a week of work in Hawaii (I know, tough job site). I started this whole minimalism thing while she was away. She's given her blessing, though, and has even offered to guest blog.

Hopefully I didn't toss anything she "really needed". That would be bad.

How to Get a Workout and Minimize Paper

If you have been following this blog then you know that I am on a quest to become a minimalist and to transform my life. For me, minimizing clothes, shoes, and basic household goods like pots and pans does not feel like it will be hard. At east that is the way it feels. But, as I noted previously, there are two things I feel as if I am drowning in:

Books...and extraneous paper. Books are a separate issue altogether. I mean, I love books, and minimizing books is going to be a real challenge, so like any high-functioning guy, I plan to put that issue off to the absolute last minute.

That leaves us with paper as the challenge for today. Since my wife (of almost 3 months) is returning from a week long work trip to Hawaii tonight at 10:00 p.m. I feel the need to straighten up the house some. I don't have a lot of time to work on minimizing paper, so I won't try to do it all, but I can do something. Like we say in trail running, just keep forward momentum.

Okay, where to begin?

When I cleaned up and minimized the office I gathered all the paper I could in some boxes. This is what I ended up with...

Not too bad, right? But I suspect that almost none of this is stuff we need. And if there are important papers in these boxes, we'd never know. So, what's the best way to tackle this? One box at a time is my answer.

Simple steps. Move a reasonable amount of paper into the now clean kitchen so it can be quickly looked through and decisions can be made...

Now, bring in 4 bins or label 4 spots as:

• Action (needs to be dealt with - includes bills)
• File (needs to be kept)
• Trash/recycle
• Reading (magazines, papers and stuff Kate might want to look at)
• Shred (receipts or things with personal data)

The rules on the sort:

• Pick up one piece of paper at a time.
• See what it is and decide quickly what to do with it.
• Don't slow down.
• Do yoga after every box (I added this one so I get some kind of workout in today.)

If you look online there are numerous methods of sorting paper and getting organized, but in the end it comes down to knowing what things are. Many of us are stackers. We pick things up, say the mail for instance, carry it around and stack it someplace. Eventually, we forget what is in the stack and then the stack gets moved wholesale and more stuff comes in and gets stacked on the stack. Truthfully, it is just clutter and it is weighing us down... weighing me down.

Here's the yoga mat setup for the advanced minimizing-yoga-practitioner...

Nothing complicated in all this, and my plan for the day is to work on the paper sort, do yoga, and then clean the house up a bit before heading to the airport.

I will report back the results at the end of the day. And don't forget to sign up as a member and get a chance at winning The Power of Less.

Book Giveaway - The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

Since I was beat from an 8 mile trail run today, and then watching football playoffs, not a lot of minimizing was done. But, to keep on track (and also try and get some more followers on this blog) I got the idea to give away my copy of Leo Babauta's book, The power of Less.

Leo recently noted on G+ that his publisher has just lowered the price of the book to $3.99 on a special sale.

The Power of Less, on Sale
"As part of a New Year's promotion by my publisher, Hyperion, my book The Power of Less is on sale for just $3.99 until Jan. 31, 2012." ~Leo

I am trying to minimize, and since my lovely wife gave me a Kindle for my birthday, I am getting more e-books and fewer hard-copy books. I love this book of Leo's and would like to get an e-copy, so I can pass along this hardcover 1st edition. It is in great condition (I am very careful with books).

So here's the deal: One week from today I will randomly select a member/follower of my blog to send the book to. Shipping is on me, regardless of where the recipient lives, so overseas readers can enter to get the book too.

I've only got one copy, but the odds are pretty good right now as I don't have that many followers or members for this blog. Believe me, I never knew how motivating it would be to report to the world how I am doing on becoming a minimalist, but it is. In fact, telling the world what you are doing is one of the secrets to creating habits, as Leo has written about on his ZenHabits blog for years.

Before I mail the book I will contact the person randomly drawn and make sure they want the book. If they don't, I will draw someone else. Hence, there is no reason to not sign up to follow this blog in case you don't happen to need or want Leo's book in hardcover.

So, become a member/follower of aminimalistintraining and get a chance at winning The Power of Less absolutely free. You can't get much more minimalist than that. ~Rocky

What to do with the stuff that didn't go in the garbage?

If you saw the post from earlier today you know that while the office and the desk are looking nicely minimized - except for books, which will be dealt with later - there was a big pile of "stuff" that came out of the office, and from on and around the desk.

The question I posed this morning was: When you minimize, what do you do with all this stuff? If you look back at that post you will see the mess that minimizing the office caused. The repository of all that junk was the entry-hall to my house, and the kitchen table. Jump back one post to see the chaos, but this is what the two dump-sites look like now (still in awesomely artistic black and white)...

And the kitchen table...
Now of course, you want to know how the magic happened. Okay, here's the secret...

Toss what you deem is not usable, and then pack the rest up like this...

And then go find one of these...

That my friends is the whole secret.

Now of course there is a bit more to the story on the office than the donate-able things that came out of there. As you can probably guess, the place was filled with papers and that is the harder nut to crack.

This is a process, right? Tonight I will start on the big Paper-Sort-of-2012. That may be the most challenging thing I have attempted so far, but I have faith that I can get it done.

One thing that will make it easier is to have a plan ahead of time for what gets kept, filed, and immediately trashed. Both David Allen in his book Getting Things Done, and Leo Babauta in his book The Power of Less, have instructions on how to do this kind of purge.

I will offer a simple method to go through my oceans of paper tomorrow.

What Do You Do With All The Stuff When You Minimize?

What do you do with all the excess "stuff" when you minimize a room or a space? This is definitely a problem, one that I cannot put off solving.

First, by cleaning up and minimizing the stuff in my office, I have created chaos in the hallway outside of the office, and on my kitchen table.

Do I have a solution? Yes, but take a look at the scene of chaos I created by clearing the office...


Even using "artistic" black and white photography cannot cover up TOO MUCH STUFF!

Of course I knew this task was coming. Everything that came from the office had to go someplace. This is where the real challenge of minimizing comes in. Previously, when I have made an attempt to get organized and get rid of stuff, I would get an area cleaned up, create a repository of stuff (also called a "dumping ground"), and there the stuff would sit until eventually moved someplace else where it would return to its natural state of "clutter".

But this time I vow it will be different.

A key to minimizing is that there must be a place for everything, even if the place is in the garbage or in a donation box. Yes, it seems like it might be hard to get rid of things that have emotional meaning, or that I might need someday, but things are just things, they are not people or relationships. Other people need some of this stuff now - I do not need it all.

The bottom line: Rather than letting the stuff sit around and stall my quest to become a minimalist, it goes today... Yes, today! Look for a report later today to find out how I did.

Flat Surfaces Are Not Storage Spots - The Bookcase reveal

Remember this mess...



It has now magically morphed into this...



And this...


In case you are wondering what I decided to leave on top of the bookcase, it is the highest award I earned in the U.S. Coast Guard - The Meritorious Service Medal, and some Challenge Coins for special service to some units and individuals.



On the other bookcase I chose to place a small Buddhist prayer bell that was a gift from my son. I felt this was a symbol of my desire to minimize and live a more Zen life.

While I know most of the books will probably go as I continue down the path of minimizing the "stuff" in my life, just coming into the office now feels liberating. I was somewhat stunned by the items I uncovered on the desk and on the bookshelf. I kept thinking, Seriously, you held onto this? For what?

Some of it was literally garbage, but other items were papers or things - a sewing kit, a camera memory card, undeveloped film - that I knew was good but I never made a decision about what to do with it. This miscellaneous "stuff" just got laid aside, forgotten, and became part of the overall clutter.

So what I have learned so far is this... don't just lay stuff down. It will be forgotten and it will become a magnet for more stuff.

To clean up an area like a desk, nightstand, or any flat surface follow these steps:

1. Think about what the surface is for and what you want it to look like in the end.,

2. get a garbage bin and a box to hold stuff.

3. Quickly remove EVERYTHING from the surface.

4. Clean the surface.

5. Put back only the items that contribute to the purpose of the surface as defined in Step 1.

6. The excess stuff needs to go someplace (garbage, donation box, or where it actually belongs).

Flat Surface Challenge

Before I get to the insidious piles of random paper I took from off, under, and near the desk in my office, I felt I needed to continue making my writing area functional again by dealing with the two bookcases in the room.

As I am on the path to becoming a minimalist I know I will eventually have to attack my book addiction, but for now I want to just stop the madness of making every flat surface a repository for whatever I am tired of carrying around. One of the minimalist ideas I like is "A place for everything... everything in its place." Yes, an old adage, but true nonetheless.

There are no set rules in minimalism, but a good guideline when it comes to books is that if your bookcase holds thirty books, when you bring in book number thirty-one, then it is time to pass along a book to someone else. Simple, right? One in one out. I can do that. But the bigger problem for me is just laying "stuff" down wherever I find a flat surface. Thus, I want to end that practice today.

Here are the before pics of the two bookcases in my office.


The big stack of paper buried under the label maker is my novel that I have not been editing because I HATE working in the office. Now that my desk is clean, I feel more at peace and creative in the office, and am in fact typing this while sitting at my minimalist desk. Yes, it remains uncluttered as seen in the previous entry and I plan to keep it that way.

This is the other bookcase in the office. I also note that the little flip-calendar was last updated on 6 July, 2011. Again, probably the last time I felt at ease in the office.

Later today I will do the reveal on these two bookcases.

The Desk

This is where we started...

And this is where we ended up...


But of course this begs the question: Where is all that stuff that had been laying on the desk?

Well, much of it went into the garbage. The books were placed in a stack on the bookshelf for future minimizing, and the papers that were deemed "not garbage" went into two in-baskets for "future minimizing efforts".

I will note here that one thing I do not want to do is to just move stuff from one place to another. For instance, clean up the desk by just relocating papers to the kitchen table. With this in mind, going through paper is going to be a major task today.

Several times during the previous year my wife and I have spent multiple hours trying to locate a receipt or a bill that we needed. Here's one thing I have learned: Piling papers on the desk is NOT filing.

The goal at the end of this minimization in the office is to have way less paper to contend with, and to be able to locate papers that are important or that will be needed again. Papers needed for taxes, for instance, or warranties and bills.

Both Leo Babauta and David Allen both have strategies to go through and then stay on top of paper. The key is to get through the stacks of stray paper quickly, have a plan ahead of time on what needs to stay and what does not, and a strategy to not allow the paper to get out of control again.

Right now I am really pleased with the desk. It makes me happy just to look at it, and I feel motivated to sit down and use it to write. Having a de-cluttered space to work in seems energizing, and isn't that the point in minimizing... to get rid of the excess junk that is weighing you down and find your true self.

Next up... the paper in the corner.