From Nancy Rupert in Canada
A very good cleaning tip I never seem to be able to adhere to concerns clutter: touch something once. Don't put the junk mail down, sort through it and get rid of it instantly. Put papers in their proper place immediately, so they don't gather in piles around your home.

From Jamie Tiernan in GA, USA
Here are some suggestions for organizing. I like to use baskets (small baskets from Pier 1 work well) for desk supplies and papers. For larger stuff stylized boxes (that you can find in houseware stores or even WalMart - or plain that you decorate yourself) work very well to tidy things up. If you can find boxes that are in three square sizes you can decorate the outsides and then stack them in an area of the room that is out of the way but where they look nice. I also tuck many things in closets. In our spare room I have cinder block shelves that I built to hold all my note books of course work and research notes. You can also place baskets on the shelves that can hold papers for you. Since we don't have clothes in that closet it helps us use that space better than just stacking things in the floor.

From Rochelle Jourdan in NY, USA
I make my own note pads out of recycled paper that can not be reused in the printer due to wrinkles. I have a paper cutter & can do a good stack of them. I've made note pads, ½ the size and ¼ the size of the normal paper. I punch a hole in the top & pull a string through & knot it. Some of the pieces get ripped off & taken for shopping but the notes are always in there that need to be. I also keep a "napkin holder" of old paper for the kids to draw on or cut up.

From Sally Blyth in New Zealand
I always read junk mail immediately, even before I open my exciting mail (and definitely before bills). Most of it can get chucked immediately without cluttering the place up - but I get to find out about any specials, sales, events, happenings etc BEFORE they begin, so I can choose to go if I want, rather than lament reading about it afterwards.

I have a large ring binder folder, which I covered with a nice book cover paper (that school kids use to cover books), and in which I put odd recipes I get from magazines, friends, etc. I have divider cards for each basic category - soups, mains, desserts etc. I try to put them in straight away, but if I don't get to actually insert them into the folder, they all go straight on top of it on my cook book shelf. I know where to find those odd recipes if I need them, even though it may take a little while to find a specific one if it's not filed.

Instead of writing notes and telephone numbers and important info on scraps of paper by the phone, that will inevitably get lost or thrown away - buy a little notebook and just write everything into it. It needn't have any order, but at least you'll know that in that book somewhere, is the number you needed and probably would have thrown away had it been on a scrap of paper. You can note down info about your house, contact details for tradesmen you'll probably never use (but may need one day), the cost of jobs done by tradesmen to compare to future quotes, interesting facts and figures you hear about, good quotes or jokes, books or films people have recommended, anything really. You can even keep your "to do" list in it. I have one of these books, and I don't know what I would do if I ever lost it.