She also wants to keep up on her scrapbooking better (she just finished the 2007 albums) and keep up with jounaling so she remembers what the pictures are!

De-clutter is a big ‘to do’. My family has a hard time to get rid of things, including me. Humour aside, when we moved years ago, the aim was to move to a smaller house (my brother married and got his own house), but we couldn’t, because we had too much stuff, even after throwing away a lot of things, and given away big items (ie – billiard and ping pong tables).

You should see my bedroom – tons of stuff. On second thought, better not see the room. If only I am a magician and just wave my wand to make things disappear when I don’t need them, and reappear when I do.

Good luck to everyone who’s trying to de-clutter.

Now on de-cluttering…I tend to hold onto things by nature, saving everything. It’s how I grew up as well. At the same time, clutter makes me very anxious. And I’m most comfortable, happy and inspired in really clean, modern spaces. So it’s always a bit of a dilemma.

The studio area of CatSynth HQ is the poster child for this, it was stuffed with things that I can’t get rid of (and probably still won’t), equipment, books and toys. But while all of these things contribute to the creative process, the sum total is incredibly discouraging. I had to move it all for the construction, and so I’m thinking about how to redo it properly (one of the other resolutions).

I think the first priority will getting as much neatly stored out of site as possible -
but there just may not be enough room, and there are probably also some things I can really do without. The hard economic times adds another challenge – trying to “simplify” and organize will probably cost money, and deciding what is worth doing and not worth doing is going to be more difficult.

The only hesitation I personally might have is the 10% de-cluttering. I was raised by parents who were children of the depression, and they saved everything — neatly, of course — because one never knew when that left-over scrap of fabric or bit of wire [or whatever] might come in more than handy, for oneself or friends and family. Now I’m not saying one should be a “collector” or the Collyer Brothers…

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E2D91231F935A15753C1A9659C8B63

…BUT I’m concerned about economic hard times.

I’ve heard it said that it is infinitely better to hope for the best, rather than fear the worst. But like the old practical parable suggests, I’m inclined to tether my camel first…

http://www.pegasuscoachinggroup.com/newsletters/mar2007.htm

But then again, I’m an old dog and cling to what’s familiar. Oh, to be a cool cat like Luna!

Happiest Mew Year to you both. >^..^<

ps: can we use html??