I've been trying to declutter myself. It's a slow process. On a good day I've made some kind of progress. But, I count almost anything as progress at this point.

One rule I hope to stick to after this is not bringing in more stuff than I have gotten rid or or used. Too much stuff is the cause of clutter. No matter how much storage space you have or don't have, you can only keep so much stuff around and you only need so much stuff around too.

I have too many books. I know I have too many books but I still keep bringing more of them home. Like lost souls.

I have gotten good at not keeping fiction books. Once I read them I take them to the secondhand bookstore and bring back fewer of them in exchange. Less is more, right?

But, I have a mild obsession when it comes to non-fiction books. I have a book on every topic that has ever interested me. Sadly, that's not much of an exaggeration.

I don't collect books. I don't quite hoard books, in my opinion. But, I do keep books. I keep them in plastic storage containers, on top of my chest of drawers, in piles on the floor and on actual bookshelves too.

I'd love to have a book room, a library. It's a dream. I've never had the kind of space, just to myself, for displaying all my books.

I'd settle for a corner, a reading nook. But, that won't work out right now. Too many people in a small living space and I'm the only one here who actually likes to keep books.

I just have too many books, more than I can keep. But, they are so hard to part with. Leaving a book behind is like giving up on a dream, a plan or a goal you wanted to keep. It's very hard to do. I still remember books I've lost along the way, years and years after they have been gone.

Maybe some day I will have my reading space. I like to look at other reading rooms, places and spaces. I design my own in my mind. It has masses of revisions at this point.

Do you have a reading space, just for yourself and your books?

Wouldn't You Like a Book Nook Too?

Create a Book Nook without Renovations

1. Find the right spot in your home. A quiet corner you can relax in.
2. Get a comfortable chair, pile cozy pillows on the floor or pull up a couch you can stretch out on. Bring a blanket and pillows to keep you warm and content.
3. Let there be light. You need a good reading light. One you can easily reach to turn off if you get sleepy.
4. A little table for your books, a place to set your beverage of choice, maybe something like fake flowers to pretty it up a bit too. You might keep a stash of paper and pens for taking notes and jotting down ideas.

When you really love bookshelves...

• On the Bookshelf

• Bookstore & Bookshelf P@rn

• Bookshelf Porn

DIY Book Reading Nook

• Thrifty Decor Chick: Closet turned book nook

• Perfect Bookshelves | Do It Yourself Home Projects from Ana White

• Book Nook - Workbench Magazine

The Dusty Bookshelf Challenge

1. Write a blog post with a list of all those books that are literally or figuratively sitting on your shelf that you’ve been meaning to read for a while.

2. Pick a level

• Pixie Dust – Read 0-5 books
• Dust Bunny – Read 5-10 books
• Cobwebs – Read 10-15 books
• Grungy – Read 20+ books

EXTRA CREDIT-Say how long that book has been sitting on your shelf!

3. Link your blog post where you are doing the challenge at the bottom of this post (with the blue button) and then enter the giveaway!

I am a dragon, by birthdate, we are supposed to have a hoard of treasure. I'm sure that's how I seem to end up surrounded by piles of stuff, all kept in one special room. Unfortunately it's also my bedroom, work room, computer room and living room. All one room because I only have one room to myself in the house. It's also my storage room, but that's pretty obvious.

My family think I'm keeping too much stuff, that I'm just not putting things away, etc. They don't say the word, hoarder, but I do. Usually just to myself because no one wants to be a hoarder, especially not after seeing some of the worst case scenarios on TV.

I read that a couple of the signs that you may be a hoarder are having clutter around you in piles, especially paper things. Another sign is that you buy storage containers and other methods of storing things and yet you still have more stuff which you need to store. I do buy storage things and I use some of them. Some don't work out as I hoped but I don't take them back - they get added to the clutter cause I might find a use for them. To be fair, sometimes I do, but a lot of the time I don't.

Tidy Your Books and Reward Yourself with Bookends

Why Do We Keep Stuff?

We keep things we think we will need to use later. Or, things we plan to use later. But, later takes a long time to come, a bit too often.

We can't decide on what to keep, what to get rid of (or give away/ recycle) so we keep everything. Trying to be a perfectionist and have everything we could ever need for any reason.

We have a sentimental attachment to a thing or a memory from that thing and we don't want to let it go, in case we forget. (In this case I have learned to take a photo of it and post it on my blog, keep it on the computer hard drive or a DVD disk).

Stop Procrastinating - Start Motivating

Don't keep procrastinating. Find yourself some motivation and begin dealing with your hoard today. My motivation is that I'm just sick of dealing with all this stuff. It's taking over too much of my personal space and I'm really tired of moving stuff out of my way. There isn't much here that's really worth the frustration of dealing with it all every day.

Pick apart something smaller from the mass. Don't put pressure on yourself, expecting to succeed in dealing with all of it in one day.

The other day I tidied up my computer desk (just a bit late for Clean Off Your Desk Day) and the area around it. I got mostly everything moved off or out of the way but a lot of it really had no where to go from there. Some things were easy, like hair clips and a vitamin bottle. They have other places they can be put away.

Next up are clothes and the clothes closet. There are clothes I won't wear or don't fit (for size or style reasons) and I shouldn't be keeping them. It's not easy to make hard decisions about clothes, some of them have been around long enough that I remember something nice happening when I wore that sweater, etc. But, it's really just a sweater, with a few holes in it. I don't even want to wear it out any more.

That's my plan for the day. I'm going to stop writing now and get to it. When I finish writing this post I will (hopefully) have that much done and have given myself that much more space and breathing room (not to mention walking room).

Of course, the bigger job is still left... all that hoard of paper and books. But, that will be another day.

A Tidy Desk Can be Rewarded with a Desk Set

Keep the Hoard from Coming Back (or Ever Starting)

When Bringing Stuff In...

Before you even buy something new (or bring something new home) consider whether you really need it or just want it. Is it worth spending money on, do you have the money to spend on it? Are you going to use it, or just leave it somewhere and forget about it?

Get in to the habit of not bringing in more than you need. Don't bring in something new unless you have used up or finished with something old. You won't have a hoard if you keep a balance of stuff in and stuff out.

Put Your Stuff Away...

Don't leave things packed in bags when you bring them home. Begin using them (something like a replacement part) or put them away where they need to be right away, not later.

Put things away once they are used. Or, after they are washed from being used. Get into the habit of not leaving the small tidying up for later and it won't build into a much bigger job over time.

When you finish a job, like laundry, making and having dinner, home repairs, etc. don't consider the job to be finished until you have done the clean up and put away your tools. Don't leave the clean up for later - later might be later than you think.

Be sensible about putting things away. Things you use together can be put away together. Especially basics like shampoo, toothpaste - things you would use in the bathroom should be kept together in the bathroom. This will make everything easier to find and quicker for you to get things done without looking for the things you need (if they were scattered around in different places).

Don't use more than a minimum amount of space for storage. If you go over the space you have, make some decisions about the stuff you are storing. How much of it do you really need? When did you last actually use it? Could you use something else you already have instead?

Don't Keep Too Much Stuff...

Become a recycler. Live by the 3 R's: recycle, reuse and reduce. I also like the fourth R - repurpose. It's about using what you have to make what you need, usually changing it to suit a new purpose. With anything paper especially, recycle it - don't keep it longer than you really need it. Don't build up piles of paper into mountains of paper.

Keep a donation box or bag around, probably in a closet. Once a month, plan to donate books to the second hand bookstore, clothes to the thrift stores, unwanted gifts to a charity, etc. This is a great way to let you keep a balance of old things going out and new things coming in.

If you were able to see the top of my desk you would consider me a great candidate for Hoarders, the TV show.

I have various pens, a highlighter, one still unused straw in it's paper wrapper, the USB cable for my digital camera, the battery charger for the digital camera, a Christmas angel, hand sanitizer, a chocolate truffle recipe, tiny flower beads, travel sized toothpaste, a pink shoe key chain, a few business cards, a few bits of sparkly glass/crystals/rhinestones, a few colours of thread, poppies from Remembrance Day, a bookmark, one necklace with a polished jasper rock, face cream, vitamins, Midol, hair clips, coupons, Chinese cookie fortunes, 2 packages of buttons to be sewn on, scissors, vanilla lip balm, computer games I played and did not put away (yet), an elastic from the newspaper, 2 small Bratz dolls, one pink ribbon, my extra glasses case, USB ports, my hair brush, paper I have scribbled notes and drawings on, a rock I liked and other assorted debris, flotsam and jetsam. I have earned the merit badge for Invisible Desk and then some.

You can find your own merit badges for writers, readers and assorted others at Merit Badger.  Have fun.

This is what I sent out for the personal newsletter for my column at BackWash. Just thought I'd stick it in here too. Now I'm going to nuke some pizza for dinner.

For awhile I saved these little newsletter chit chats. But, you can't keep everything. That's one of the little lessons life has taught me.

If I stayed in one place and had no one bugging me to put everything away I could become the pack rat old lady living in her house surrounded by cats, paper and assorted other things. There would just be a pathway through all the junk and it would pile up to the ceiling. You know what I mean. Every now and then you read about some old person who was found dead in their house. They are always the ones who liked to be alone, insisted on being left alone and seldom went anywhere for anything.

That, or I'd be a baglady hauling around a shopping cart with twisted wheel. It would squeak and squeal and I'd often give it a swift kick to get it moving again. The cart would be loaded up with mementos from my life. All the standard paper which is even now all around me. The odd coupon for groceries, forgotten and expired. That sort of stuff. Every now and then something would fall out of the cart and be lost. But, soon I'd find something else to put in it's place.

You may be wondering what made me think of shut ins, bag ladies and heaping garbage... I'd wonder if I was you. In our local newspaper there was a story about just such an old lady. She died alone, found in a house so full of garbage they think the only option is to knock it all down and haul it away in chunks. It was an old family farm. In the family for generations. Now the family is gone, the house will be destroyed, but the land is still there. It alone endures.

Hope you are all doing great. Spring is here. Today it was hot here. Hot for this time of year - 24 Celsius.

Clutter! There, I said it! Are you cringing just thinking about it? I do. You see, I am a clutter bug.

Sitting in front of my computer I am surrounded on nearly all sides with a clutter of my own making. It's 90 per cent paper, biodegradable eventually, if I let it sit in the same spot that long. But, there is the odd coffee mug (empty but for the dregs on the bottom), a jar of vitamins (because here I know I will remember to actually take them), there are multiple and assorted pens. The pens are kind of funny since I type everything. But, I do make the odd note, maybe once or twice a week. There are also many PC games. Everyone needs their procrastination of choice. I'd be doing myself a favour if I made them less accessible. Like, if I moved them out of easy reach. That's not likely to happen, get real!

I'm not a complete pack rat, but everything does seem to settle around my computer, eventually. I could throw out some of the newspapers. If I haven't read them a month later I should make myself give up on them. But, I might find a really great source for something I'd like to write about. Or, I might come across an ad with a great graphic I could use. (Not copying graphics, just using the ideas to make my own.) Or, I might find an article that says something really amazing, even better than I ever thought to say it myself. Sigh It's so hard to let go.

What's your clutter? If you had to make a dent in it today, could you? What pile could you sort through fastest? Which one did you last trip over or have to restack when it all slid to one side?

We have an endless supply of information. But at some point we each have to find a way to control it. You can't do much about the source or the temptation but you can try to limit how much you keep. If you're living with a path to the computer, it's really time to take action and let some of it go. Don't worry, there'll be more information overload tomorrow.

You are the company you keep, don't surround yourself with paper, it has a really bad habit of bringing those little buggy worm things. Ick!

Happy decluttering, you know you won't be alone. I've just brought a big green garbage bag to the computer for my own clutter.

NOTE: Last week's newsletter didn't get sent out to everyone. Check the archives at BackWash to read about writing your own FAQ.