Dear Carole,

(That is Carole Fogarty, not the other Carole!). I am surrounded by clutter. Mainly paper clutter.

A recent incident, brought this front and center. My sister, who is a big executive in Bombay, India, came to visit me in my Buffalo home. I spent a week cleaning and tidying up, and yet when she walked through my front door, her first comment, was “What a mess!” (I mumbled, easy for you to say, as you have live in servants).

I read you article, to prove a point to my sister that what I have is mess, not clutter. Instead, I learned I have both clutter and mess.

Clutter is the stuff that has sat in the same place for days, months and years. I just don’t have the energy to attend to it. Then there is the mess from my mail, which takes over my kitchen table. I tidy it up, and there it is again. I live alone, now that my sons have grown up and moved to another city, so the kitchen table is expendable. I also have clothes clutter. Nothing as bad as the homes seen on Oprah. I have some clean rooms, and other dump rooms.

I would appreciate an article telling your readers (please email me a link to the same) how to approach clutter, when one has a busy life, low energy and little spare time. Teach us how to take baby steps. One of my setbacks is that I want to do it all or not at all. Not having the energy or time for the “all” approach, nothing gets done. Another, is finding the space to organize the clutter into. I have bought bookcases, and file cabinets, and plastic bins, and am running out of wall space!

I realize now clutter is sapping my energy!

Danka,

Ayesha

I also like reading your blog in general, by the way, and have it bookmarked on my cell phone.

“Thanks for reading my article, Carole”

I thought you were talking to me! I thought maybe you had some new thing on your blog that finds out your readers’ names and tailors the closing to them — but then I saw your comment just above, and couldn’t figure out why you’d have my name there, too….

I finally looked up top and saw your name….

Thanks for the laugh — and the great post!

Carole : )

Peace, love and travel

Carole

Look forward to reading more!

~Nicole