By Micki Bare

The decorations are packed away, the wrapping paper and ribbons are cleaned up and the leftovers are gone. The tinsel has been picked out of the vacuum-cleaner wheels and the dogs have readjusted to everyone going back to work and school. That’s my cue. It is time.

No more excuses — I must organize my office. There are piles of receipts, stacks of “important” papers, old newspapers and magazines, folders, coupons, letters and statements stacked here and there. I can find what I need when I need it, but there comes a time when the clutter makes it impossible to work.

While I have a tendency to make piles with honest intentions to get things filed another day, I am motivated by a clean, organized workspace. Luckily for my type-A personality, I can overlook two or three neatly stacked piles. If there is an empty surface onto which I can relocate a pile so as to work on something unrelated to that particular stack, I can get things done.

However, during the chaotic, over-scheduled month of December and the schedule-less break, I created so many piles that I can hardly move about my office. There are stacks on either side of my desk, piles on the filing cabinets, heaps on decorative tables and mounds in several locations across the floor.

Every time I head into my office, I become discouraged and disheartened by the mountains of pending stuff.

It is so bad this year that satellites have detected it and the Geological Society of America is working on naming the newly discovered mountain range that is my workspace.

To actually accomplish something in this nice, quiet, everyone-is-back-in-school-and-work atmosphere, I have to wade through the clutter, gather essentials and relocate with my laptop into the living room.

What on earth did home-office workers do before wireless Internet?

Things have gotten so bad that I will have to resort to shopping. Before I can even think about getting organized and cleaned up, I need organizational products.

The disaster in my office highly motivates me to shop for supplies I should already have so things don’t get this bad in the first place.

Fresh, new tri-cut folders, folder boxes and accordion organizers will motivate me to get things back in order. After shopping — and maybe a short break for a cappuccino — I look forward to working my way through each stack with my arsenal of organizational supplies.

Once everything is filed away neatly and I can once again see the surfaces in my office, I will be motivated to dust, sweep and mop. There is nothing like a clean, open, airy office to lift my professional spirits. Once I’ve cleaned the place, I will be motivated to work for hours on end and get caught up with everything.

Well, everything on my initial list. Unfortunately, I can’t stop time from ticking away during my organizational efforts. The task list I create before I organize will grow with each passing minute. Every time I open an email or answer the phone, the list grows like mold on cheese left in the sun.

What we really need is a two-day holiday in January devoted to clearing our piles of pending stuff. On those two days, we would all head into work at the usual time. Jeans, T-shirts and sneakers would be the appropriate holiday attire. After coffee, we would all retreat to our offices — ALONE.

Playing music or listening to the radio would not only be permitted, but recommended. On these two days, no one in the entire business world would be allowed to email, mail, call, text, tweet, fax, meet or even have an idea.

We would simply spend two solid work days organizing, filing and making lists of things we need to get done once our offices are back in order.

On the second afternoon of the two-day clearing piles of pending stuff holiday, we could all empty trash, dust, vacuum and clean windows. The holiday would have to fall on a Thursday and Friday so we could relax and celebrate over the weekend.

On Monday, when we all return to our offices, everything would be clean, organized and ready for action.

You have to admit, this holiday of mine is a brilliant idea. Teachers have teacher work days to catch up on their paperwork and reorganize their classrooms. It is the same concept, just tweaked for those who primarily work in a square-ish space with a desk, computer, printer and filing cabinets.

Unfortunately my holiday does not yet exist, I suppose because it would be rude and unreasonable to ask the business world to “wait up” so we can get caught up.

So, off to the supply store, I go. But first, I believe I will stop for that cappuccino.
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Micki Bare is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro, N.C., and author of the book, “Relative Expressions.” She lives in Asheboro with her husband and three children. Her e-mail address is mickibare@inspiredscribe.com.