I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with my piling problem!! I get so frustrated by how often I just put stuff down and never in the right place. I KNOW that if I just took the extra minute to file papers away or to throw them out immediately my life wouldn’t be so messy and I would always be going crazy trying to find everything!! This is really scary and embarrassing, but I’m going to show you pictures of all our desk surfaces, brace yourself for a huge impact….

YIKES!!!!

Even UNDER my desk is messy!!! UGH!!!

Our main computer desk area. This is actually pretty clean… It has been A LOT worse before!! (Yes, we have 2 moniters!! I can’t live without a second one now that we’ve had it! It makes life as a photographer a lot easier!! Also, you can watch Netflix while you’re working!:) That’s what I love to do!)

My husbands desk area is much tidier than mine, but he does have a bunch of stuff stacked everywhere.

UGH and this brown desk was where I had planned on keeping my sewing machine, but it never got cleaned off. I have the Valentine’s day wreath I made under the quilt my mom gave us for Christmas. The stitches came out on a few of the sides of the quilt. I started to patch it up since my mom taught me how to do a blind stitch in March, but I have yet to finish it. I got distracted and put it down and never went back to it. The white sheet to the left is the cover for our down blanket which has been ripped at the seams for about 5 years!!! Now that I have a sewing machine I’m going to fix it…. someday. And the black patter there is a skirt I got from my grandma who just died. It was in her closet and I thought it was cute, but it’s just a little too big so I need to take in the sides a bit. Another someday project… *SIGH*

And the kitchen is of course another battle field to consider with the table and the half wall going downstairs. I hate half walls because I will always put something there to take downstairs, but I always forget it until like 5 days later when I can’t take the pile anymore!!

This is actually a pretty GOOD clutter day for the table, if there’s such a thing!! I didn’t touch it up before taking this picture or move anything out of the way. This is how it looks still as I type this up!! I’m amazed that it looks THIS clean!! Is that sad?? Yes. . . Yes. It. Is.

CaRAzY, right??!! Yeah, it’s just an uncontrollable habit. How do you change something you’ve been doing forever?!! I’ve always been like this. I’m a piler.I pile anything and everything, not just paper, but clothes, books, junk, trash, boxes. It’s just easier to deal with it later… but it’s really not.

SO WHAT are we going to do about this? I try new things all the time and I’m good with them for a day or two and then I get bored or lazy and stop doing them. I’m going to stick to them. I’m going to be a stickler for a schedule. Now that it’s summer I don’t have one really. I’ve tried to keep one up, but we don’t stick to it very strictly. We waver and get off track and don’t do things we need too, but life does go one and so I’m ok with it.

Well, that ends TODAY!! No more Miss Lazy Pants!! No matter how tired I am or how annoyed with the kids I am! I’m going to stick to a schedule and have some structure in my life, for MY sake!! Not just for my kids’!

So, here is my weekly desk cleaning responsibilities for EVERY DAY!

Monday ~ Check the mail at 9am and sort. Throw away or put in proper place (bills downstairs in files, boys papers in kitchen or paper files downstairs, etc)

~ Tidy up printer area, organize batteries, ink and misc. papers left out.

~ At the end of the day/a project tidy up what was used (sewing machine put away on shelf, patterns put away, all scrapbook paper put away, etc!!)

Tuesday ~ Check the mail at 9am and sort. Throw away or put in proper place.

~ Tidy up pens and pencils and bills. Organize scrap paper and paper pads for notes.

~ At the end of the day/a project tidy up what was use. If I didn’t do a project at my desk, tidy up the main desk area I did use, i.e. the dining table or the computer desk.

Wednesday ~ Check the mail at 9am and sort. Throw away or put in proper place.

~ Tidy up Craft shelves.

~~ At the end of the day/a project tidy up what was use. If I didn’t do a project at my desk, tidy up the main desk area I did use, i.e. the dining table or the computer desk.

Thursday ~ Check the mail at 9am and sort. Throw away or put in proper place.

~ Sort out & organize scrap fabric and old clothing.

~ At the end of the day/a project tidy up what was use. If I didn’t do a project at my desk, tidy up the main desk area I did use, i.e. the dining table or the computer desk.

Friday ~ Check the mail at 9am and sort. Throw away or put in proper place.

~ Go through project ideas and pick out something new to do for the next week. Make a plan for the project and collect neccessary items. Put them in a current project bin in the same spot every day/week.

~ At the end of the day/a project tidy up what was use. If I didn’t do a project at my desk, tidy up the main desk area I did use, i.e. the dining table or the computer desk.

There’s my plan. At least for this week that will be my plan. Since the desk areas are a war zone I’m sure I will have to do a lot more work this week than ever again, hopefully! So the list might change and evolve once I figure out how I can keep the desks tidy and organized.

I have signed up for so many organizing and craft newsletters that I don’t even look at most of the organizing ones anymore! I glance at the topic and then tell myself I’ll come back to it when I need to. YEAH RIGHT!!! SO, I’m going to go through a few of them and pick out the ones that seem to make me more motivated to get organized and stay that way. Paper clutter is a big issue for a lot of people so I know I won’t have a hard time finding all the advice I need!!

Well, I’m off to get to work. I’ll tackle my mail and main desk area today and tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

What are you organizing this week?

Thanks for stopping by!!:)