The Clutter

I'm reading less and less of the newspaper everyday and I've been zoned out for more than a month now. Learning cake decorating and the basics of baking takes so much time. A lot of work is put into research, practice, conceptualization and sourcing of materials. While I'm doing all of these, I noticed that the clutter around me is increasing. (Remember, I'm a self professed obsessive compulsive person.) While for others, it may not be considered clutter, for me it is. The rule is simple: If it wasn't there before and it's sitting there now gathering dust, I consider it clutter. If something is not bundled and organized in my expandable files or clear book, it needs to be sorted out.

I have to allocate a day or two to sort my things out. These things range from:
1. brochures I've gathered from my trips abroad and domestically - I plan to file it by country so if I do want to return there sometime in the future, I can always look through my files. Who knows, someone maybe able to use it too.

2. books that I have to read - I usually place my books in a basket near the foot of my bed. Just in case I feel like reading a novel or a self help book, I have several books to choose from.

3. references, articles - gym class schedule, recipes, directory of suppliers and so on and so forth

4. pictures - even these need to be placed in a photo album

5. finance files - I keep an Excel file where I input all my daily expenses. This is how I keep track of where my money goes and how much I'm able to save. I'm quite poor in updating it and I resolve to be better in managing my finances. I better be. There has got to be a smarter way for me to monitor it.

I only have less than a month to accomplish the so many things I want to do. Whew, it can be such a daunting task to put up with my being OC. On the other hand, it does pay to be really organized. It saves me time in finding what I'm looking for.