A while ago we wrote about getting rid of clutter in our home office (”Lower Debt and De-Cluttering My Office”), which also serves as our library. (Yes, we each own a lot of books, so together we really do have a home library.)

At that time, we said that we found that the process of cleaning up our office was kind of like de-cluttering our finances, especially eliminating debt. In cleaning up our finances, for example, we consolidate our accounts (like consolidating stacks of papers), pay off debts (get rid of paper we don’t need), put some of our expenses on autopilot and automatically add to our savings accounts (cleaning up mess and putting in place a process for putting things away as we get them). The problem with doing all this work is that it is so very easy to fall back into old habits. That is, we once again accumulate piles and stacks of papers or we run up credit card debt again, just to later have to go back to do another major clean-up.

But recently, I took a look at our office and noticed that it is still pretty neat! I wondered how that happened! Do you know that I could not think of one single thing that kept the office pretty neat? Maybe it’s as simple as not being able to stack as much stuff anymore, because in the cleaning process we also got rid of some furniture that somehow always begged to be cluttered with papers. But maybe it’s also the case that we now go through our papers more often so that they simply do not pile up as easily. Then again, maybe it is just pure coincidence – and maybe it’s just a matter of (a very short?) time before the office is cluttered again. But for the time being I revel in the fact that we have kept the office pretty clean for a few months now.

The clean office also reminded me of the post we wrote a while ago. There’s no question that it is a good idea to de-clutter one’s life, one’s office, one’s finances, etc. But that is only part of the battle. It is just as important to keep things in the “de-cluttered state,” to not accumulate crap again. This is much easier to do with finances than it is with more intangible things like the mess in the office or in the kitchen, because much of our finances can be put on autopilot, but rooms in a home can’t be put on autopilot to clean themselves! Like I said earlier, once a personal finance autopilot is set you are all done, and you simply don’t need to touch whatever you set on autopilot again, or at least not until you have some major life changes that require you to make changes to the autopilot settings. If only more things in life could go on autopilot, right?

Tags: eliminate debt