Charmion, I moved a lot of junk in the last couple of moves, stuff in boxes I left in boxes. It "may" have been easier, but only temporarily. Good for you getting started, and paper is an easy target and a good place to start. I have a couple of more quotes from Don Aslett I'll post in the next day or two to do with stuff and paper.

Kat, my main goal with establishing a routine with redundancy built in is two-fold--I don't trust the IRS to simply accept the printout with the statement, if I should be audited and need to provide evidence of my donations, so I keep the photos and make prints. In the 2007 tax papers I have a stack of photos in an envelope that I'll probably toss in a the recommended five years. I also wanted a way to make myself document the donations that was easy enough that I would do it regularly. It's too easy to forget what you did a few weeks out. When you start guessing or lumping, then you might seem less credible if you're audited.

Today I took a friend's mattress to the donation site, and on top of that he gleefully added his old huge CRT monitor after we set up and installed my old flat panel LCD. It looks fine, the contrast problem I was having doesn't effect most of its functionality. He has an elegant art deco-style glass table where his computer sits, and I'm frankly amazed that they had that old 40-50 pound monitor on it. I also took over an extra keyboard to replace his 7-year-old crusty keyboard. When we finished clearing the clutter (he has young housemates who leave a regular debris path) and cleaned and added a couple of bookends for his reference books, it looked so sharp! He'll afford a new computer when he can, but at least now it is easier to use and look at. I almost donated that monitor, but was at his house yesterday and saw the old computer and had one of those "ah ha!" moments.

One of the clutter bunkers in my house is this huge cabinet under the center kitchen counter. It's like Susan described, a bunch of mis-matched plastic containers. I have been pulling out my glass storage jars and pressing them back into service. Considering what I have been learning about plastic, I'm glad I still have them to use as I toss a lot of plastic. The big move, though, is to pull out the my Dad's kitchen gadgets in that cupboard, all quite nifty and probably expensive, and sell the ones I never use. I could put some of my regularly used appliances in one side of this huge cupboard and maybe get rid of a couple of cabinets that are in the corner. My dining room has a pretty chair rail and the picture-frame panelling below, like in my living room, but every square inch of the wall space is covered by furniture so you can't see it!

SRS