Beware the siren song of the "organizer" bin.

Today I picked something small to declutter: this innocuous-looking bin in my desk. It holds office supplies and since my desk has no drawers it acts as one.


Because I usually pick what I need from the top of the bin, I had no idea what was actually lurking deep down inside:


To me there are two kinds of "bad" clutter: the kind that sits out in open spaces and openly mocks you, and the kind that hides (and multiplies) in boxes, bins, drawers, and other closed spaces. These closed spaces simply invite clutter, since they hide it so well. Open or closed, they are both evil in their own way.

This bin had so much stuff in it that I usually had to flatten out the top with my hand or it wouldn't slide back under the desk (and this fact I blithely ignored due to chronic laziness). Well, the drawer has had a makeover:


It's less than half full now and yet holds more than enough supplies for my home office (where serious work gets done that involves kitty-cat binder clips). Here's what got booted:

• 2 cat pins (no clue, don't ask)
• 3 dried-up rubber bands and 2 dried-up erasers
  
• about 25 binder clips and at least 50 paper clips
• 3 pencil sharpeners (isn't one enough? you tell me)
• one of those weighted paper holders for typing (yes, I used this ALL THE TIME. Ok, maybe not)
  

I am now 12 cents richer and found an adorable pair of small scissors that will be perfect for journaling.

...anybody need a binder clip?