Any room can turn into the depository for books, papers, projects, games and personal items. Here is a little help for you about how to get serious about organizing and purging books, magazines, papers and video games. Did I just say purge …. books?  Nah, couldn’t be.

You can apply these ideas to any area of your home that is overrun by papers, books and magazines…..

There are many of us out there who just can’t say “NO” to a book. I really like books. We have fewer right now than we’ve ever had though because about 3 years ago I purged the books and gave away and sold several hundred.  Yes, that many.

As a family whose children are educated at home, we have always bought lots of books. Even before the children were born my husband and I loved books. So I am as big a culprit as you could ever be when it comes to hanging on to books. But the truth is, not all books need to be held on to, some need be passed along to be used again and some just simply need to die a quiet death.

The main books I was able to get rid of where outdated school or technical books, easy books for small children, torn and partially destroyed books that had no other value, redundant books where I already had another good book that covered the same topic and books that were just badly written and I ended up with them.  So I got rid of lots of books and now have just what will fill my bookshelves in the Living Room. How big are my bookshelves?  They cover part of one wall ceiling to floor. About 100 square feet of shelf space. I know, that’s still a lot of books.

While you’re in there purging books don’t forget to dust the books you keep and dust any bookshelves you may have. Also be sure to clean underneath bookshelves and dust that very top shelf.

The other things that we are working on today are magazines, papers and video games. Those might be your real areas of struggle. And we’re going to whip them all into shape today! Here are a few tips about magazines and papers …

Don’t try to keep every magazine you own. If you have lots of magazines that you just want to get rid of, consider donating them to a local library or hospital. If an article or recipe is worth keeping, its worth organizing. Cut out what you want to keep from the magazine and then use an accordion file or notebook with pockets to keep the cut out items. You can even use a photo album to mount articles, pictures and recipes that you save from magazines. If you truly must save a whole magazine how about buying or making magazine holders so that they can all be stored together on a bookshelf? Here is a picture of magazine holders. The first are purchased holders, the second are fashioned from cereal boxes.

Organizing papers can be extremely frustrating. However, if you take the time to organize your papers and create a usable, easy system for keeping,sorting and storing papers, it will be easy to keep up the routine and the papers won’t overwhelm you.

Start by sorting through all the papers. Make piles of papers that are alike, for example; bills, correspondence, important papers to keep like insurance company letters, receipts, deposit slips, bank statements. Now look for some containers to keep those papers in. I like accordion folders. They don’t take up much space but will grow with your collection of papers, plus they usually come with labels.

Go ahead and take the time to label your container, whatever you decide to use, and put your papers in it. Make it a habit of going through mail as soon as it arrives, or as soon as you see it, and discarding junk mail. Don’t keep junk mail for one minute unless you’re using it to stoke your fireplace in the winter. Keep your file where it can be accessed easily and help your spous learn to use it while you learn to use it too.

Clean off your paper jungle areas in your living room today and get yourself a simple, straight-forward filing system going.

On to the video games …….

UGH. I would like to stop right here. I know how messy video game consoles and games can be in the living room. I finally had to have a cabinet made just for the games and movies. One the bottom shelf I have shoe box size plastic boxes that hold extra controllers, odd shaped games and other components. There is a place on that shelf for the game consoles as well. Do they stay there?  No. But there is a place for them.

So organize your games and movies today and tell us how you are taming the video game space eater at your house! Let me know how you’re doing.