It's silent. It's sneaky. It creeps about in corners: clutter. When the state of the house aggravates you to your last nerve, it's tempting to launch an all-out battle in the war against clutter.

First, though, know your enemy! There are as many reasons for household clutter as there are clutterers. As Pogo says, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us!"

Take aim on your household's clutter problem by going to the root of the problem: your own thinking.

What's your clutter personality ... and which of these internal voices strikes a chord?

Do you know where your tax records are? Chances are, they're swimming in a stack of paper ... somewhere.

Rafts of paper flood into the average home each day. The mailbox discharges letters and bills and bank statements. Briefcases explode with professional journals, pay stubs and calendars. School backpacks unload children's artwork, meeting notices and sports schedules.

Paper clutter costs money, time and stress. A missing permission slip derails the entire family on the way out the door. Hide-and-seek bills lead to late payment fees. Lose the roster, and it's back to the Yellow Pages each time you need to contact the soccer car pool.

Without a plan for paper management, a household can drown in a rising tide of paper. Take back your time with these simple tips to pull the plug on paper clutter:

For most families, food budgets are relatively elastic. Compared to fixed expenses like mortgages or car loans, they're the area where you have the most choice about how much to spend each month.

Think so? Think again! Visit the supermarket, and you'll be subjected to a barrage of proven tactics, all designed to encourage over-spending.

Check out this article from MSN Health and Fitness, listing 10 Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know.

It'll help you wise up to the many ways the market is after your wallet.

Our favorite:

There’s nothing haphazard about the layout of your grocery store. ... Walk in the front doors and chances are you’re faced immediately with hard-to-resist items (not on your list) like fresh-cut flowers or just-baked loaves of bread. Just try walking past them en route to a carton of milk without tossing something extra into your cart. In fact, research has shown that 60 percent to 70 percent of what ends up in our carts is unplanned.

10 Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know

A freezer can be a powerful kitchen friend for food storage, menu planning and convenience, but to use the freezer to best advantage, you have to know what's inside.

Okay, so our free printable freezer inventory form isn't for everybody.

Check out this clever freezer inventory solution from blogger Lunch In A Box: refrigerator magnets.

Using magnetic freebies, color photos from the weekly food ads and a bit of creative inspiration, she's created a simple, visual reminder system to keep track of freezer contents:

Magnets To Track Freezer Inventory

With food prices soaring and energy costs at record highs, it's time for an energy-saving tune up for your refrigerator and freezer. Keeping food fresh--while conserving energy--can bring a helpful boost to the strained pocketbook.

Try these tips to minimize energy use and save money on groceries:

• Fill the freezer, but give the fridge some air. The freezer works most efficiently when packed as full as possible. Need to fill in some space? Tuck extra ice for cold drinks or cold-packs for summer picnics into any empty space in the freezer.

  A black-out bonus: full freezers keep food frozen longer if a power outage occurs.

  The refrigerator is a different animal; it needs air circulation to keep food at an even temperature. Packing a refrigerator too tightly means some foods become too cold--and may even freeze--while others aren't kept cold enough for proper storage. Let the refrigerator breathe to keep food fresh longer.

Celebrate Earth Day--and lighten your footstep on our planet--with these ten first steps toward more-sustainable living, from LighterFootstep.com.

We liked the idea of slaying energy vampires: those small, silent electric devices that feed on a trickle of power even when not in use. Unplug them, or invest in a power strip with an on-off button to make it easy to stop the power from flowing when it's not needed:

Ten First Steps Toward Lighter Living

Finance blogger J.D. Roth has an intriguing concept for better financial organization: a Money Day.

Using a vacation day during the work-week (so that you'll be able to visit or call financial institututions), spend 8 hours doing all those put-it-off financial chores. On Money Day, you might set up money management software, close dormant accounts, or call credit card issuers to request lower interest rates.

Print this article (from IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com) as a guide for your Money Day--and make major strides toward better money management:

Money Day

Ah, springtime! With the first day of spring, we look forward to gentle breezes, warm sunshine ... and yard sales.

Here at OrganizedHome.com, we encourage holding a yard sale as a great way to cut clutter and score some cash.

Intoxicated by the season, though, it's time to share a buyer's guide. Brush up on your yard sale shopping strategies with these great tips from Curbly.com:

Yard Sale Shopping 101

Tax Day ahead--do you know where your paperwork is?

Resist the urge to file it (your tax return) and forget it (your records) with this easy five-step plan to get your file cabinet in order from TheNest.com. Best tip: "Make your file cabinet your friend!"

Check it out, to conquer chaos in the home office:

File Cabinet 101: Five Simple Steps to Getting Your File Cabinet And Your Life In Order

It's Spring!

Warming breezes scour the last of winter from house and garden. Spring rain awakens the earth and calls forth new life.

Meet the rising sap with a new broom. Spring clean indoors and out to prepare home and hearth for the return of warm weather.

Our Spring cleaning chore checklist will help you take care of important seasonal chores and welcome Spring to an organized home: