Plastic Sleeves

I have a million and one reasons why to save the plastic sleeves your newspaper comes in. Okay, maybe a few.

First, and foremost - they should be recycled. Bring them back to the supermaket with the rest of your plastic bags.

Now, the Clutter Fairy's uses:

• they are great for dog poop. Insert hand into bag, pick up poop, pull bag over fist and tie. Tie again over the whole thing and it won't smell so much in the garbage can.
• use as a disposable glove. I use them when cleaning the toilet bowls and other things where clorox can get on my hands. I even rinse and then dry, and then recycle. Yes, I'm a freak for recycling things
• cover your feet when you have a sprained ankle ace bandage on your foot. I usually use a rubber band (try not to cut off circulation) and do two layers. Works well for protecting a hand wound too.
• back to the dog.... I store individual servings of the dog's food in a bag and tie when he's being boarded at the kennel. Larger than a sandwhich size bag and cheaper (free)
• send them to school in the kids' backpacks if they have a collapsable umbrella - they put the umbrella in the bag and their locker or backpack won't get wet.
• put the wet umbrella in one when shopping. That way I don't have to suffer a dripping umbrella all over the mall. I can just tuck it into my tote. (keep them in the car)
• I put my shoes in them before they go into the luggage.
• I also keep some in my luggage. I take one on the plane and use as my own individual garbage bag. No, I'm not a neat freak - but I hate stuffing things in the back seat pocket (and the airlines don't like it either). They always come in handy in hotels - like for something to put all those little toiletries in and not have to worry about them leaking into your suitcase.
• My husband takes them to the gym - they're just large enough for him to put his small towel into when he's finished with it (cheap gym - no clean towels unless you pay extra).

We're wired

The number of devices in this household is only exceeded by the number of spare wires, USB connections and telephone cords in the "spare parts" drawer in the linen closet. And yet, when given an extra flat screen monitor by my brother-in-law for my home office, there is not one appropriate power cord to work.

on my desk at any given time are:
USB connection for iPod
USB connection for Treo
USB connection for digital camera
USB connection for Wacam tablet

Then there is the wire for the phone earpiece (I won't go wireless - let the next generation decide if it caused brain tumors among their parents), the wire for the monitor (there'd be two if i could get one), the wires for the speakers, the external hard drive, the two printers, the scanner, the two telephones (one cordless so I can pick up and hunt down whomever needs to come to the phone), the DSL, the wireless modem, and of course, the extra USB hub itself.

What is sitting on my floor in the corner is a pit of snaking wires, cables and cords. Twice a year I try to untwine them all. It's useless. I just pick them up, vacuum, and put them back down.

My car is also a snake pit. I have a power cord for the iPod that adapts to the speakers, the power charger for the Treo (as well as one for my husband's Blackberry), cord for the StreetPilot and cord for the video game du jour (plugged into rear power for offspring). Forget the glove compartment, I just reach under the seat and pray something doesn't bite.

I love Gizmodiva

I am the gadget princess in this household. While the kids are satisfied with their Nintendos and my husband has his Blackberry, I am a gadgetaholic. I have an iPod, a Treo, all the stuff for the iPod, a DVR in my home office (do you think I'm going to share?) and StreetPilot in the car. Only the mortgage, the college funds and my own good sense keeps me from going overboard.

So where do I gawk and drool? Gizmodiva.com Everything from fitness gadgets to bathroom humidifiers... telephones to coffee makers. Remember when we used to lust over the stuff in the SkyMall catalogue on airplanes? This is Soooo much better. it's the kind of stuff I dream about.

Coupons - you cut me up

I love coupons. I think if I won the lottery I'd still thrill to getting a five dollar CVS coupon in the mail or finding an online discount code for Amazon.com or 15% off Lands End (two of my favorite ways to keep out of the shopping malls). But every coupon is pulled from whatever magazine or newspaper I'm reading and left where it is. Or they wind up at the bottom of my handbag. I've finally rounded them up to two places. A big ol' plastic bag hanging from my refridgerator and a plastic envelope in the car. The challenge, of course, is getting rid of the ones that have expired because i forgot they are there and never used them. Maybe i can get the kids to edit them. Hah, right.

There is no point in keeping a big stock of paper clips

I went into my closet to grab a few boxes of paper clips. I'm teaching an arts and crafts project for my kid's scout troup. The thing with old paper clips is they get really cruddy after five or ten years. Yes, I've had them in my supply closet for at least ten years. I moved into the house with them from when I used to have an office in town.

They still work (holding paper together) but there's something kind of yucky about them. I feel guilty about throwing them out (can you recycle paper clips???) but where do they all wind up? The bank must have a lot of them. I always clip together my checks with my deposit slip.

I loved that movie about the Paper Clips project in Tennessee. Too bad they don't need any more donations.

The Life and Times of a Chronically Messy Person

Martha Stewart would be all over me like white on rice with a big "tsk tsk" and "get your house in order, dear." That is, of course, if she ever were to look my way. I doubt I'd run into her in the isles of K-Mart. For one thing, I don't shop there. And I doubt she does either.

I have someone who spends a few hours a week working for me and her job is unclutter my life. Clean out my files, vacuum the floors, and tidy up my closets. I don't let her do our laundry because that's too personal (yet she can throw out old boxes of Tampax and an eight year old diaphram found under the bathroom sink). And the kids have to clean their own rooms. I mean, I did it, why do I need to pay someone to pick up after them? At least they don't leave food around - that would do me in.

My mind is cluttered up sometimes too. I work from home and my desk is a mess. They say "a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind" so I guess if a shrink were to examine me I'd pass the tests. But everything is chaotic. Kids coming and going, husband's hours are erratic, dog sheds and parents need (and deserve) my attention too.

I Blog for others. It's part of my job as a PR professional. One of my best friends keeps telling me to write in a journal every night. I stopped writing in longhand years ago. If I can't type I can't compose. So I'm joining every other member of the Web 2.0 world and contributing my say.