Clutter is my worst enemy

Like many other working mothers, I am often buried under mounds of clutter.  Look at my kitchen counter during the work week, and you will find everything from Optimus Prime to a Princess Sofia tiara to a book on financial management of healthcare organizations, mixed in with some dirty dishes and cookie crumbs.  Surrounding all of this stuff is, of course, piles of paper.  There are catalogs and junk mail, newspapers and advertisements. (Seriously, why do I need to get junk mail five times per week from various State Farm agents and local gyms?  Am I on someone's marketing list as fat and underinsured?) Buried in the mess are bills and other items that require attention, and often I spend my precious free time on the weekends sifting through the mess to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.  I know that I should be devoting more time to decluttering, but it is a task that is difficult to start and even more difficult to sustain.  If your attention focus is better than mine, try reading these tips on how to declutter your finances.  I followed the first one (buying a shredder) but I never seem to find time to actually pull it down from the closet shelf and use it, so the items that need shredding also keep piling up.  If you have any other tips for decluttering finances (and busy households), I would love to hear them!