I am what some may call, too organized. I think it comes from living in a rather unorganized home as a child. I'm sure the reason I'm either early or absolutely on time (I am rarely, if ever, late) is because my mother was notoriously late. I think my on-time fetish is a reaction to her being late. The same can be said for my being organized. Our home was, until after I moved out, fairly cluttered and disorganized (except for my hideaway, my own bedroom). I loathe, detest and abominate clutter and can't live with it. I certainly have things that I have not looked at in years but they are carefully put away in a box under the bed and I know where they are. I am a believer in "a place for everything and everything in its place". My CDs are organized, for cast recordings, by show title. Soundtracks are separate, also organized by title. I don't separate the other CDs so much although they are organized by last name of the performer, Kaye Ballard is in the Bs, Eileen Farrell in the Fs, etc.. My records are organized by title, if a show or movie and last name if a performer. As those who have been to our apartment can attest, we make very good use of the space. I guess the "system" if there is one, is, if you buy something new, when you are done with it, put it away in a specific place. If you listen to a CD, when you're done PUT IT AWAY. Wash the dishes and PUT THEM AWAY. When I come home from work I change my clothes and as I'm changing, if something needs to be washed it goes in the hamper or I hang it up as it's in my hand. Why throw it down and allow a pile of clothes to build up. When I finish a project at work, the file I'm working on gets filed away. I do not hang on to old e-mails unless they contain important information, especially those silly e-mails where someone doesn't need to respond but does anyway saying something like "thanks" My desk at the office (and at home) is neat and orderly and I can find anything I need quickly and easily.
Throw out clutter. As others have said, if you haven't looked at it or read it or touched it in six months or longer, unless it's an important paper that should be filed, GET RID OF IT!!! If you haven't touched something in six months or more, you don't need it, most likely.
I sound very teacher-like and perhaps holier-than-thou, but that's not my intention. It's just the way I am. This is getting too long so I shall now return to work.
Later,
