The two things you really need for good organization: a no-nonsense friend and big garbage bags. The friend will say "do you really need this?" and the garbage bags to donate, store away or dump. It's so easy to have too much, it's so hard to have too little.

Mike is spot on. So much more organized now that I've dumped half of what I own.

do you want it or do yu need it .

Three boxes work for me: One for keep, one for donate, one for trash.

Boxes and trash bags are for decluttering.

Organizing is what you do with the things you still have after decluttering. Organizing is how to store them so that they are easy to find, easy to retrieve and easy to put back.

I'm wishing I could remember the name of what I read 12 years or so ago that detailed different organizational styles, much like different learning styles (you know, visual, aural, etc.).

It turns out that I'm a visual organizer, that is I have to see everything spread out. When my stuff gets messy it gets spread out naturally so that I can locate it better that way than when it's put in its correct drawer. So organizing in a way that it's still visually accessible-- clear drawers, hung on the wall or bulletin board, files fanned upward in those little vertical holders-- is much better for me than many of the opaque, streamlined ways I see suggested on design blogs. Sadly.

Flylady.net says it all.

I love these posts - for the most part, they're full of lovely simplicity to inspire, "oh, I can do that!", and just as often there's a sort of stylistic humor to keep everything human. The desk and chair in "neat and beautiful workspaces" are showstoppers, but the cactus? Nice touch - until someone actually needs to use that workspace. Funny!

I hired a declutterer/organizer a few years ago and she was a godsend. I had no problem getting rid of stuff, I was just paralyzed by too many options and not knowing where to start. My motto is "out of sight, out of mind" so learning to organize in accordance with my needs has really helped me.

where can I buy the desk pictured?.. it might keep me focussed like blinkers on a horse.
Sadly I am visual organiser too so I have to put a picture on box of main contents. if not in plain sight.