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Blog: Minimizing Financial Clutter
 Visual Noise
I just returned from seeing The Screwtape Letters, a play based on the book by C.S. Lewis. Screwtape, a.k.a. the devil, gave the audience a multi-sensory experience of what Hell is like. The glassy-looking walls glowed red to simulate the intense heat we associate with our concept of Hell. But Screwtape also told the audience that Hell is NOISY – full of incessant, loud, unpleasant noise. The auditorium filled with a cacophony of such sounds, and to an auditorially-sensitive person like me, it WAS hell.
The experience reminded me of a client – a professional singer/songwriter – who once described her cluttered house as being "visually noisy". The state of disorganization of her things was as unpleasant to her as an out-of-tune song. And the thought of keeping her house in such a state, while far from being Hell, caused her great distress. She couldn't focus on what she loved (her music) with so much "noise" in the background.
How about you? How visually noisy is your home or office? What kinds of noise act as barriers to achieving your goals and living your dreams?
Noise from the Past
Unfinished projects, no longer of interest to you. Old clothes that don't fit anymore. Bags of handouts you picked up at that conference 5 years ago, but haven't looked at since. These are examples of things from your past that clutter your present.
Noise from the Present
We're bombarded daily with information. But there's no filter; it all appears to be equally important or urgent, so we keep it on our desktops, in our e-mail in-boxes, wherever we can find space to stick it until "someday", when we're sure we'll have time to process it all. But there are only 7 days in a week, and one of them isn't named Someday.
Noise from the Future
So many ideas, so little time… You might want this then. You might want to do that then. You might need it then. So here it all stays, a daily reminder of a vague notion of your future, cluttering up your today.
To be financially organized means we must clear away the noise that distracts us from our financial goals. We need to let go of past spending habits that keep us from saving money or eliminating debt. We need to safely dispose of obsolete and irrelevant paperwork. And we need to confidently believe that we will have what we need in the future without having to save everything today.
We have the power to turn down the volume!
posted on: 1/17/2010 11:30:00 AM by Katherine Trezise
category: Finances
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Minimizing Financial Clutter
by Katherine Trezise
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About Katherine:
Katherine Trezise is president of Absolutely Organized, based in Baltimore, MD. She is president-elect of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. Katherine holds a masters degree in business administration, is a Certified Professional Organizer® and a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®. Absolutely Organized specializes in helping people organize their homes, paperwork and financial records to make room in their lives for the things, people and activities that are most important to them.
Katherine's Website:
www.absolutely-organized.com
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