All aflutter about getting control over clutter

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, May 8, 2005

I was excited to receive Rita Emmett’s new book on “clutter-busting” on a Friday.

Got to be a column, I figured. Tossed it on my desk, went out and hit a bucket of balls and worked on my putting.

Tuesday morning, I remembered the book but couldn’t find it; it had disappeared under a mountain of … ahem … clutter.

Tons of it.

As most loyal readers know, I am a chronic, hopeless and most likely terminal clutterholic. There’s no piece of paper, save junk mail from the IRS, that I don’t hoard as if each were created by my own hand.

“There’s a story in this,” my mind shouts to my mind. “Don’t throw it away. You’ll get to it someday.”

But today I’m wondering whether those press releases from 1998 I know are somewhere here in the sorry state of my office really will be useful any longer.

“Is Clutter Sabotaging Your Work Life?” implores the headline of Emmett’s publicity sheet for her new book, “The Clutter-Busting Handbook: Clean it Up, Clear It Out and Keep Your Life Clutter Free” (Walker &Co., New York City, 2005).

Are you kidding me?

I need not even read her answer.

“You may be confident you can find anything you need in the piles on your desk,” she said, “but the sight of your messy desk may allow key people to assume you’re unorganized or overwhelmed and you may not be trusted with a plum project.”

Well, excuse me, Ms. Clutter-free Smarty-Pants. I work at home, alone, and clients have no idea that my desk is a foot and a half deep in outdated software disks, magazines, books, press releases, bills, notes, business cards, computer manuals – must I continue?

Well, yes, I admit I misplaced your telephone number, but I eventually found it in time for our interview.

“People who are paralyzed with clutter know what they want to find is there, but they waste untold amounts of time frantically searching for it,” Emmett said. “This creates nothing but undue amounts of anxiety and stress.

“As a recovering pack rat myself (we once found a roller skate buried under a foot of clutter on my dining room table I once used as an office), I can tell you nothing good comes from having a cluttered office or desk.”

Clutterholics lose business cards of prospective clients (so they don’t call or e-mail them and lose business); they waste potentially valuable productive time; they feel crummy about themselves; their piled high desk spells “loser” to others who see it.

Clutter-free people feel (and are) organized; they make good decisions; they have loads of free time; they get more done in less time; they don’t lose telephone numbers of potential revenue-producing clients.

“Research tells us that the average person uses about 150 hours each year looking for misplaced information almost the equivalent of a month of working days,” Emmett said. “Just cutting that in half would be like giving yourself the equivalent of two weeks extra pay and two weeks of found time.”

Getting clutter free is a liberating experience, Emmett said. In doing so, you are reversing lifelong habits that carry over into all aspects of your life.

Here’s Emmett’s basic strategy for taming the clutter beast that thrives on our desks:

Initially, assign one hour to de-clutter just one portion of your office or workstation.

Select ahead of time what you’ll do with the non-keeper items. Tape labels (“toss, deliver, keep/file, donate/sell) on boxes (preferred) or trash bags.

First, attack the edges of the office, such as the top of the file cabinet, the bookcase, stacks on the floor and the windowsills (right now, I have three framed photographs, a souvenir Mariners baseball and a small postal scale on my windowsills). This way, when you attack your desk, you’ll have space to stack and sort material to be retained or discarded.

Recruit a friend to help you make the tough decisions about what to trash.

Establish a goal of tossing, recycling or otherwise getting rid of 80 percent of the stuff in your office.

For goodness’ sake, decide the fate of each scrap of paper. The best way to decide is to ask yourself what it was for and whether it remains relevant: Is it broken or obsolete? Do you realize you haven’t used it in months or years? Or do you get little or no use or enjoyment from the item (including those 1998 press releases)?

Write Eric Zoeckler at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206 or e-mail mrscribe@aol.com.