Just laundry, laundry, laundry, dusting, dusting, dusting, and then vacuuming.
I fear that some of those dust bunnies have gotten so large I'll need to get a hunting license to go after them.
An organization question: How do you deal with organizing paper? "Official" papers (like bank statements and tax papers) goes in our filing cabinet, of course, but how do you handle stuff like catalogs you want to take a peek at someday but don't have time at the moment, articles you printed from the Net that you want to take a look at, recipes, craft ideas.... all that kind of flotsam and jetsam. I have a file for recipes I want to try, and am starting a file for craft ideas. Maybe I should start one for my hoard of articles.
Peony, I read your post with great interest since I've been doing some house cleaning of my own. My comments where too long to put here so I placed them on my blog. :)
Yes! Do you have a big file cabinet? Get a Pendaflex frame with about 25 legal-size files, then stick it sideways into an empty file drawer!
Then label each thing loosely: ex: blog articles, recipes, crafts, houseware catalogs, garden catalogs, etc.. The only specific itemization I recommend is for catalogs, because they're bulky.
Don't break other stuff down too much. "Newspaper articles" and "Blog articles" are good enough--your brain will be able to browse through and find what you need quickly.
If you try to do "Abortion Articles" and "Cooking Articles" and "Euthanasia Articles," for example, you'll drive yourself nuts and never finish! 75% of the stuff will still stay in piles!
Multicolored Pendaflex-type folders (don't bother with manila folders within) are cheerful and exciting!
(Tips gleefully credited to Sandra Felton of Messies Anonymous!)
I use a big file cabinet. All sorts of interesting stuff goes in there. When I have time and too much energy, I reorder everything. It is a lot of fun on a rainy day.
Oh, dear. I run against the grain here.
My advice? THROW IT AWAY!
And no, I don't live in a sterile environment denude of all STUFF.
But you'll get another Paragon catalog, or homeschooling catalog in just a few weeks. What's the point of saving them until you have dozens of stacked up things?
I found myself doing the same thing with recipes. I keep a small stack of "to try" recipes, and attempt to make one night a week the "new recipe" night. But I go through my stack each month or so, reviewing them and tossing the ones that on second thought are too similar to something I already make or just don't sound so good now.
Unless you're really going to use those things in a research project or something, let yourself lighten up the load a little!
Part of the issue is coming to terms with the fact that you will NEVER be able to read everything you'd like to, try everything you'd like to. There are a thousand new ideas/articles/recipes coming down the internet highway every DAY. There's no way to keep them all!
(Sorry, I know this won't be the popular view--I'm sure everyone else will be able to give you some ways to organize pieces of paper.)
As for dustbunnies, after you get your license, try braising them in red wine with juniper berries and marjoram, a classic formula with game. Then serve with sauteed mushrooms. Dustbunni a la cacciatore!
Terry, I think you're right -- I should stop clipping -- but I just can't. I weed through my clippings every so often, but I do like having them on hand, as well -- I do sometimes go back and refer to them. For some things I just want to keep them neat before I read and discard them.
One time I went back and found a recipe I'd clipped months previously and tried it -- it's become a favorite around here!