All Kinds of Randomness: Favorite Tips of the Day

Here's a little secret about me: I LOVE to organize things! A peek inside my studio and office in it's current state might seem otherwise, but nothing gets me going like a stack of empty plastic tubs or [gasp] a trip to The Container Store. Powerful shredders make me weak in the knees. I have even been known to swoon over a particularly well managed desktop in-box. No productive day can start without a list, and perhaps even a list of the different lists that I'd like to accomplish. The other day there was a fabulous blog post over at Clutter Control Freak that combined two of my loves -- a list of ten rules about organized living!

1. Shop 'til you Drop - be a good consumer and get out there and buy stuff, even stuff you do not need or want. When you think you have enough go and buy more. Better yet every time you feel emotionally upset or are having a bad day engage in shopping therapy to make yourself feel better. Just remember that in order to create more clutter you must always add to what you already have so if you buy duplicates of any item make sure you keep each and every one!
2. Do not plan - live in the moment and only deal with what is going on right now. Who cares if you cannot find your socks, your briefcase, or your keys tomorrow morning? You are happy right now and you should be able to do only what you want to do at this moment.

3. Assign the same level of importance to everything - this will make you feel truly overwhelmed and if you are feeling overwhelmed you can just go shopping!

4. Accept every free item that is offered to you - if it's free it must be worthwhile and it must be worth having.

5. Never ever say no, to anyone or anything, not even to yourself - This method is guaranteed to win you friends because no one will ever be mad at you! and in addition you will likely be rich with clutter. Definitely a win/win situation for the clutter lover!

6. Procrastinate - why make a decision today when you can do it tomorrow, or the day after, or the year after that!

7. Create emotional attachments to your stuff - being emotionally attached to stuff is so much safer than forming relationships with people. Stuff will never abandon you, hurt your feelings, or be late for a lunch date! When your stuff has such wonderful emotions and memories attached why would anyone want to go out and create new memories??

8. Stay stuck in the past - the future is so uncertain but the past is a known entity. There are no uncertainties in the past! Actually moving forward in your life would mean that you have to clear the clutter (horrors). Better to stick with what you know than face an uncertain future.

9. Think emotionally not logically - use your emotions as the basis for every decision in your life and you are guaranteed to have more of what you already have!

10. Keep everything "just in case" - in order to keep your clutter you must assume that everything you have will have some usefulness in the future. You do not have to plan to use it tomorrow or even the next day just someday! You should not be planning to use it anyway or you are breaking rule #2!