When my girls were little they would always want to go with me when I ran errands. They were all talkers. Sometimes my ears would actually hurt from hearing them chat nonstop. Since there were five of them the constant chatter and questions could get on my nerves. Once in awhile I would tell them they could go with me in the car if they just wouldn't talk. They agreed not to talk but of course that never lasted very long. Life is just too interesting and there are too many questions to ask to be silent.

I would much rather hear the chatter of children than all the noise going on all the time everywhere I go these days. I personally feel as a professional organizer that is one of the reasons people are disorganized and can't seem to focus. I organize for women and I organize for seniors. Within the 60 year difference in age noise is still a problem. The older generation seem to filter out more of the noise and not just because they are hard of hearing.

Let's take a typical day, if we are lucky we wake to the sound of birds chirping which is a peaceful sound. The T.V. can be turned on and there is tons of noise there. The advertisers are trying to convince us to buy products and if we don't buy them then our lives aren't complete. The more they convince us we need to purchase their products and sometimes whether we need it or not if we fall for their sales pitch and buy it and when we don't use what we buy it becomes clutter as well as a waste of money. The mute button is my favorite button so I can turn off all those sales pitches.

The radio can be turned on; Mp3 players can be stuck in our ears to listen to music, news or sports. Perhaps there is street noise, family members talking or frantically shouting to others to find their keys, lunch, briefcase, homework or other things so they can get off to school and work.

If we go to a store there is music blaring from the sound system. I have had to leave stores before as the music is too loud or it is the kind I can't stand. Just driving down the street we are bombarded by bill boards shouting at us to buy this, buy that. (In some states you are lucky because you don't have bill boards).

In restaurants there is the loud chatter of people on their cell phones, or talking to each other, the sound of dishes, scraping of chairs and a myriad of other sounds. Even our cars can talk to us, in the grocery store at the checkout counters they have T.V.'s blaring at us. I avoid shopping at these stores. A few years ago there were talking cash register machines; again I avoided the same grocery store that now has the televisions.

In the evening the television and all its noise is turned on. They even ruin the movie or show as they have to play music as the actors talk and in some movies the sound is so loud the dialog gets trampled in the noise.

The point is with all our waking hours being constantly bombarded by noise of some kind we need to turn it off and think what we want for our lives. Do we want an uncluttered home, office, or work space? If so how are we going to achieve this goal? One of the most important tips to becoming organized is to choose a room and then choose an area to focus on, I recommend organizing from the inside out. Start in the closet by starting on the floor. Zoom in on one specific area and work for 15 minutes (set a timer)-noise can be a good thing too.

By knowing you have a time limit and by knowing it won't take you forever gives you energy to continue the project. Take time to admire the progress you have already made and give yourself a pat on the back. Organizing can be fun and easy, we need to cut out the noise and listen to ourselves and address our own needs, not needs someone else thinks we have. Marilyn is a creative organizer who helps women, seniors and their families create space and end clutter in their homes and offices by setting up custom made systems. Marilyn invites you to visit her website http://www.marilynbohn.com where you can find solutions to your organizing needs. She offers free tips in her blogs, articles and videos for your home and office organizing solutions.