I could use a second laundry basket. I’d also like a maid. But I’ll settle for the second laundry basket for now. The first one is full of the mismatched socks that accumulate every few weeks. I store the basket right beside my drawer of lidless Tupperware and my boxes of photos to be dated and sorted. Librarians sure are organized. We alphabetize our spice racks and we color code our kid’s underwear. You betcha, we sure do.

The sorry truth is we are just as hapless as the rest of the world and librarians could use some help too. Is one of your New Year’s Resolution’s to de-clutter your life? Fortunately the library is a great place to start.

You can Throw out fifty things: clear the clutter, find your life with Gail Blanke. Or you could Eliminate chaos: the 10 step process to organize your home & life with Laura Leist or perhaps you would like to Simplify your space: create order & reduce stress with Marcia Ramsland.

Are you feeling the love yet? No? Ok – try How to cheat at organizing: quick, clutter-clobbering ways to simplify your life by Jeff Bredenberg. Still not doing the trick? Well then – When organizing isn’t enough: shed your stuff, change your life with Julie Morgenstern. It is all a matter of perspective.

As Sarah Susanka, celebrated architect and the author of the best-selling Not so big house says – we need to embrace The not so big life: making room for what really matters. But perhaps you are not yet ready to embrace change? Perhaps you believe that your household chaos is actually harmonious? Or fostering creativity?

If so, then you might want to read Eric Abrahamson’s and Avid Freedman’s book A perfect mess: the hidden benefits of disorder: how crammed closets, cluttered offices, and on–the-fly planning make the world a better place. But beware – if we are not careful, Leslie Caine tells us in her mystery novel, we could be Killed by clutter and that would be a real crime.