Declutter before Organising

My German heritage makes me an efficient and organised person. If you look at my desk at work and how I deal with the work load, you can clearly see that: My desk is always clear, I never have more than 20 emails in my Inbox despite receiving about 150 a day and my time management is envied by many. 

So why am I not like that at home? Don't get me wrong, my home is always tidy and not cluttered except when I'm in the middle of something. When I cook or preserve the kitchen looks like being hit by a bomb but the cleaning and tidying is always part of the fun for me - I don't mind at all and I don't procrastinate, I just get it done. Visible clutter is not an issue for me at all. But it's the little things which trip me. 

I'm not organised in terms on where I keep my information - I haven't even got an address book in any way, shape or form. I pile paperwork with the intention to sort it and then panic when it's tax time and I can't find all the documents I need or I've forgotten to pay a bill as it's hidden somewhere in the pile. 

Photos are another nightmare for me. Digital file keeping and decluttering is a whole different story but I'm talking about actual pictures - before everybody had digital cameras. My Mum lovingly put together albums from when I was born to when I left home. unfortunately due to the age and the climatic conditions, the glue which kept the photos in their spot is non-existent and everytime I touch the album the pictures fall out. I really need to sit down and look at each album and categorise the photos. I've been wanting to di this for years. But what do I do? I just shift the pics back into the album and try not to touch it. 

Why can't I get my paperwork organised? I did well with the wardrobe.... Thinking about how I cleared out my wardrobe and re-organised it makes me happy - it was hard but the end result felt absolutely amazing. So what was different??? 
I cleared out my wardrobe and then re-organised it. That's the difference! The order in which I undertook the project. how can I organise all my paperwork, photos, fabric and various other bits and pieces when I don't declutter first?!

So before we jump into trying to organise our paperworks or our homes or our lifes, we need to declutter. We need to get rid of unwanted or unused items. Only once we have items we want and need, we can start sorting them and organising them. 

I just started doing this. I've started with my box of sewing supplies and fabric which I packed to take with us. Everytime I see a fabric store, I buy more fabric fr more projects. Enough! This is what I have, so this is what I use first. I will think about some nice projects for my patterns. 

All sewing items are organised and I will complete these projects before I buy any new ones.

I did the same for my yarns. I sorted them all and wrote a project list:

So that's my craft sorted. Moving on to finances. For now I put a small notebook into my handbag. Tracking was always difficult for me. I try to keep all receipts but then there were some items which didn't have one and I forgotten about. So for now a notebook will do but when the new financial year starts in a few months, I will get myself a small tax year diary and started writing everything down, rather than hoping I will find my receipts and remember what else I bought.

I hope to be able to create a system while we're travelling which I have gotten used to by the time we get home and then I can implement it at home. I heard it takes 3 weeks for a new routine to settle, so I want to do this for the next months and hopefully I'm set.

What needs decluttering at your place?

Francesca