a chance to plan ahead

I received my Three Rivers newsletter today. That's the one with the calendar that lists all of the special days for the month. I don't usually write before the fact about these exciting special days but two of them caught my attention. Next Monday, January 9, is "Clean Off Your Desk Day" followed two days later by "January is Get Organized Month". I think they're trying to tell me something. It's not that I'm wildly disorganized, not really, but my desk does seem to be a clutter magnet. Everything I don't want to deal with right now seems to end up there. Second runner up is my coffee table. Every once in a while I dig in and clear everything off; filing, pitching and organizing. This usually happens a day or so before company is coming. I recently shared with my daughter-in-law what I thought was my secret for a quick clean up before company - gather up all of the stacks of papers that have accumulated on desks, tables and counters, stick it all in brown paper sacks and hide them. I always found that the best place to hide the bags of to-be-dealt-with-later stuff was my bedroom closet. Presumably even guests who explore your bath room cabinets won't peak in your bedroom closet. An added benefit is that, as these bags of paperwork accumulate in your closet, they create a nice insulating barrier against an outside wall. Interestingly, as I was sharing my paper sack clutter solution plan with some friends I discovered that I'm not by any means the only one who uses this plan. It's evidently a time honored tradition in some households. Who Knew?