declutterbug

Our family purposefully chose to downscale and move into a small on-campus apartment four years ago when I returned to grad school. Our friends and family have been rather astonished by our insistence on living in such a small space (750 sq ft). But the world's standards, this is not really very small, but for the affluent area of SoCal where we live, our lifestyle is quite unusual.

So I've taken a brief video to show part of our home. It probably does look a bit cluttered, but there's not much space for clean and serene when you've got so many people living in such a small area! But I have worked hard to declutter the extraneous, to pare down to what is essentially for daily living. It's a work in process, and I think the result is quite cozy and home-y. :)

Last night I went back down to my room for Round II of sorting. I got my butt kicked by the piles o' paper. Eventually, I just stacked it all back up and declared it done for now.

Next, I put 4 banker boxes in the place my file cabinet was going to go. Ki and I were supposed to relocate said cabinet of wonderful organizingness to my house a few months ago, but that didn't happen. I'd "cleared" space in anticipation. This really means I moved several boxes from the place the cabinet will live to in front of the TV cabinet, and what that really means is that they stuck out well into the MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR.

The contents of the boxes I moved TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR were going IN the cabinet. It seemed like a good idea at the time: move boxes, put in file cabinet, empty boxes into file cabinet, and VOILA. But two months later, well, it wasn't particularly convenient to have a pile of banker boxes on my floor. It would have been okay if it was just them, but, alas, with all the other "no place to put it" stuff on the floor, things were mucho crampo.

The room isn't in great shape by any stretch of the imagination, but it's somewhat better. I just don't have the ROOM for systems. Things need to be stacked, in rows, thereby blocking access to other things. Think storage unit. And if you think it's all crap I don't really need, well, you may be right about the old filing and such. I'm going through that, pulling out things like tax documents and tossing old papers I no longer need. I wasn't the one to pack those boxes--I was merely informed to come get them. Ki just dumped it all in. Some of the folders are intact, but overall there's no system. That means whatever logical order I had over at 517 is completely destroyed. Hence, the paper-by-paper sort through.

But the other stuff? It's my bills and receipts from this year. It's my dance teaching materials. It's stuff I need to get to regularly and easily. And it's piled up. I find when things aren't accessible (e.g. I have to get into the third box down, second row back,) I don't put things away properly afterwards because I know I'll just need to pull everything apart again in two days. It's frustrating.

If I were reading this, I'm sure I'd think something like "wellllll, if you leave that box out, and put another one you don't use much in the back, things will be easier!" Alas, the ratio of "need to get to it" and "don't need to get to it" is like 8:1. So for every box I may need once a month (and therefore don't mind having tucked away or in storage), there are several others I need pretty frequently.

I'm trying to figure out what to do about this...

Typically T and I dance on Tuesday nights. Tonight, however, T. is having work done on her house. Woo--new sewers for Rita! (Rita is T's house.) So, I went downtown and took some of my old clothes in to the used clothes shop. I ended up with a new-to-me belt and $17.24. Not too shabby. I was going to take the remainder over to another shop, but I ran out of steam and so I went home.

I decided it was time to work through some of the junk in my room. I undid a small bag, and also started in on a pile of "filing." I got some of it sorted but of course it became dinner time. And so now I'm eating, and chatting with my housemate and blogging.

I agree that blogging can take a lot of time. I see it as writing, but also as a social activity. I am writing for myself, of course, but I am also writing for and to my readers, many of whom I know.

Some I've met online, and I read their blogs and feel a kinship with them--I wonder how their kid is, or whether their disability payment came in, or how the move is going. I also keep in touch with several friends via my blog--they know what I'm up to because I post. Blogging allows me a certain level of regular connection I might not otherwise have with a diverse group of peopple.

I also meet folks I wouldn't have met at my local coffeehouse, or dance class. They live in Florida, in Utah, in a little town in the midwest. I feel my life is better and broader for hearing their perspectives. And I believe writers need not only quiet space and time in which to write, but also new experiences and ideas. I also truly enjoy reading their blogs--many of them are well-written, amusing, and generally a pleasure to read (and engage with).

Like any activity, I try to keep blogging within the time I can "afford"; that said, I do feel like I need to check in every once in a while and let folks know I haven't been abducted by aliens. I also find that if I write out things either on my blog or in my journal, I feel better in general. It helps me vent, plan, think, dream and laugh (often at myself). In some ways, it's a record of my life.

I guess I'm of two minds here: obviously, I don't recommend blogging to the exclusion of everything else. But you can use blogging to feed your soul a little so you have more fodder for your other writing, or so that you are relaxed and open (or keyed up and passionate) when you approach that poem or essay.

As someone who writes, I can also say that sometimes I need to take a break from hired gun writing and from the pressure to produce creative writing or engaging articles. Some folks go for long walks or bike rides, others meditate at the beach. Some play video games. Others blog. YMMV. :)

Thanks for the food for thought--it was great to think about why I blog and then try to articulate it a bit here.