Clutter is a killer. Do an online search for “house clutter stress” and you’ll find more information than you ever want to know about the negative effects of living in clutter, starting with the anxiety that comes from wasting time looking for things.

Keys are a good example of objects that disappear in a mess. But lost keys are not the only problem created by clutter: you may lose track of bills and forget to pay them, and be unable to relax at home when faced with so many things to put away and/or clear out.

Even though I have space to hide much of my clutter, I realize there’ll never be enough, and when papers pile up on my desk, I can’t find my checkbook, and fabric starts to take over a room, I feel the stress the experts are talking about. Like most people, I can attest to procrastinating when the clutter crisis seems like it could take weeks to solve.

We all know that the logical solution to the problem is to rid ourselves of whatever is cluttering our living spaces. However, some of us are tossers and some are keepers and from my experience most households have at least one of each.

The next best thing, according to an article on WebMD, is to devote only 15 minutes at a time to clutter removal, starting with the site that is the worst offender. Home organizer Lisa Jacobs says, “It can be a corner, a shelf, the top of the microwave. If you clean up your counter space, you will breathe.”

Before reading this advice I decided to tackle three bathroom drawers that held make-up, hair products and an assortment of other items, most of which I couldn’t find when I needed them. Now everything has a place and I don’t waste time looking for toothpaste or the hairdryer.

But I’ve been slower to start on the next project, which involves an entire room and a closet. Jacobs’ suggestion is a good one. I feel less like procrastinating when I think about tackling the job in 15-minute segments, lighter hearted, and more confident I can get things under control. And in 15 minutes, I ought to be able to find at least one thing to toss that won’t cause a rift between me and my husband.

Now, would someone remind me why I went shopping at Costco as soon as I made my clutter removal resolution?

Ann Oxrieder has lived in Bellevue for 35 years.  She retired after 25 years as an administrator in the Bellevue School District and now blogs about retirement at http://stillalife.wordpress.com/.