by Keith Robinson

Are you a piler? You know, someone who has piles of stuff all around your home and office? Do you live, or work, with a piler? If you said yes and are looking to eliminate piles of paper, books, clothes, etc. from your home or office, this post’s for you.

I used to be a piler. Big time. Every flat surface was a place to put my stuff. This leads to disorganization and general messiness. Which leads to lots of stress. A while back I decided to take a stand against the piles. It’s been great and it’s relatively easy to do.

Get started NOW.Leads to lots of stress

As with most things, if you make a commitment to do the work you’ll see good results, but the first thing you need to do is start. Sometimes you just need a little nudge or an epiphany. For me it was the realization that a messy place really did stress me out. For you, maybe it’s reading this post! ;0)

Keep flat surfaces clear

Once you’ve made that commitment to eliminate piles the first thing you should do is check all your flat surfaces.

A hallmark of a person who has piling issues is that every flat surface around them will have a stack of something on it. Their floor with have piles of clothes, or CDs or cords. Their desks will have piles of papers, notes or books. Clear those surfaces off right now by putting all those things you pile away.

You’ll need containers

If you’ve got a problem with paper — get a filing cabinet. Buy bookshelves, racks, hampers, boxes to store your stuff. You don’t have to be organized right away within those containers, but get into the habit of moving your piles out of site and into their proper place.

A special word about mail and inboxes

One of my biggest hurdles with piles is mail. Mail, for some reason, tends to pile up no matter how hard I try, but I’m getting better with it. As it stands I usually try and sort and deal with my mail as soon as it comes in. I recycle or trash all the junk and file the rest. If I’ve got bills to pay, I file them into a file that I’ll address at bill paying time.

That leaves mail for my wife. This tries really hard to get piled, which creates a problem as she has pretty big problems with piles and is still on the “to-be-reformed” list. This problem crops up elsewhere as well and is usually solved with an inbox. However, as we all know, an inbox can pile up, creating a tricky problem. I’ve personally taken to using a pouch that hangs on the wall. It looks nice, isn’t flat and keeps (erm, hides) her mail until she is ready to deal with it.

Don’t forget the trash can

A trash can or recycle bin is a reformed piler’s best friend. Anything you put in it will be out of your way forever. It’s really amazing how great it can feel to throw something away for-ev-er. For some people it can be hard, so start slow. Go through your newly contained stuff, or your existing piles and trash those things you’ll never need or use again.

Daily organization and clean up

In order to get rid of piles forever, you really need to keep at it. Those piles are sneaky and can creep up on you if you don’t keep an eye out for ‘em. A daily cleaning and organization routine is best. It’s easier than it might appear and gets easier as you get more organized.

I spend a bit of time in the morning and a bit of time in the afternoon almost every day to make sure my things are in order. I make sure my dirty clothes aren’t on the floor and that everything is put away and filed. It takes me all of about 10 minutes and it keeps almost everything out of site and out of mind. You don’t need to be a freak about it, just make the commitment to keep it as clean and clear as you can.

The slanted surface

If all else fails, you could try filling your home and/or office with slanted tables and countertops. That’ll keep the mail from piling up on the counter.

D. Keith Robinson is an associate editor of Lifehacker. His special feature Getting To Done appears every Monday on Lifehacker