Ah, inspiration! Kat, thank you! for this thread; perhaps it will get me off my duff and busy doing some of the decluttering I've been threatening to do for years.

As with several posters, books are the major "clutter" in our house, along with papers, magazines, and all the rest of the junk that collects on every flat surface. I've been wanting to get rid of scads of old magazines; now I will go find a place to recycle them--I promise!

We have a so-called system called "but-first," which simply means that whatever you need to do in the house has several things that must be done before you can get to the actual project. In other words, "I'm going to clean out those desk drawers, but-first I have to take everything off the top of it and dust." And of course, by the time you get through with that, cleaning out the drawers is the last thing on your mind.

But with the help of this thread, I'm going to pick just one small space and fling out all the junk until I find the flat surface. Ah, a new 12-step program... :>) I'll let you know if I manage to actually do it.

Lin