declutterbug

tonight i have been working on the room again. i am not sure how i can keep plugging away and it still looks either a) bad or b) worse but really not ever c) better or d) showing vast improvement

i need ot move a filing cabinet in from my housemate's patio (don't ask) and so i have to clear out the place where it is to go. that means going through the boxes of filing that currently reside in a tower *right there* (points to place where file cabinet will go).

alas, i went through a small drawer of filing/important papers and they are now strewn everywhere. that said, i also managed to condense two boxes of filing down to one, with the exception of some tax info, which i will put elsewhere.

i would love to stop and rest and watch some csi. but the room is too messy for that--i can't just leave it like this (nowhere to sleep or sit--the bed doubles as the tv viewing area).

how do YOU tackle papers?

well, this time i made a bit of a mess. i went into a large crate on my shelves and emptied it out. it's not quite back together yet...

In this fifteen minutes, I:

*cleaned out a vitamin holder (a wooden box) that had a bunch of supplements in it. tossed the expired ones, rehoused the container. the "good ones" are on the floor next to me--they will be the next 15 minutes' starter task. :)

*tossed out all my mags except for the two "guy fashion rags" i bought a few months ago to look at for style ideas. (actually the mags will be recycled)

*put away more laundry--2nd half of new basket and a partial bag of stuff i washed this weekend @ t's and just brought home today

seems like there was more, but that seems to be it!

12 steps. no, not those kind.

*undid 1/2-full clean laundry bag that had been sitting there for weeks

*straightened 1 drawer (pjs)

*straightened shelves under hutch (sweatpants, outdoor clothes, exercise clothes, shorts)

*got rid of two pairs of shorts

*emptied 1/2 of another full laundry basket (that just arrived home today after being washed, dried and folded @ t's

*put some stuff on piles (things for the hat-n-glove drawer)

*cleared top bookshelf and put a few books away. the others are piled on my hutch thingee

*put some items that will be going to t's or into storage in the hallway

what can you get done in 15 minutes?

i wrote my dissertation that way and am now "dr. wen"

alas, i'm about to set the timer and see what can transpire in the decluttering arena in 15 minutes.

I was looking for decluttering inspiration, and came across this site. I haven't gotten to read it all (yet) but it looks like there are some good things there.

Enjoy!

I did some unpacking last night (from the trip before last--d'oh!) and I also organized somes stuff in the room that looked messy. Now, instead of being in a pile and a bag, it's boxed up. It's not GONE, but it's less obviously a mess!

I keep taking baby steps.

What about you?

What can you do today--something small--that will bring you closer to a clutter-free life?

Other People's Organizing

I helped T. clean out her garage for the bulky pick up this week. She gets one freebie from the city per year, and she will lose it if she doesn't get her stuff out there this week, on Wednesday. Things had to be less than 6 feet so she needed her demo crew (me) to ensure that things my height or shorter or the city would fine her. She also had a bunch of crap to sort through, most of which was left by the previous owner.

She had an over-6 foot tall door to saw (luckily it turned out to be hollow core), wood to sort and saw, and other junk to wade through. Some of it was, well, uhm, something you'd take to a party where they said to bring an item that you weren't sure what it was and you'd all sit around and guess. Many of the mystery items were homemade, and I wish I'd taken a picture of this, uhm, thing. It was a foot long board, about 5 inches tall, with 4 round holes cut out of it. You could see the markings where the person made the calculations to get the cirles "right" (whatever that is for a mystery object). Then, the creator screwed it to another board perpendicularly. a side view would look a lot like an L, whith the holes being in the vertical portion. A series of peepholes? A place to store PVC piping? A small finger puppet theater? One of those little cracks in the castle wall where you can put the tip of your gun through? What to do with something like this? T. offered it to her neighbor, who declined.

I hauled stuff out of the garage, broke down cardboard boxes, sawed a door, tried (in vain) to dismanltle, bash and bend a screen door so it would be less than 6 feet, and in general, breathed a lot of moldy, dusty air. Eww.

The thing is: I had no problem with these tasks. Had it been my garage, my stuff, I don't know if it would have been so easy.

I'm great with Other People's Organizing (and cleaning). I've sorted out friends who were Big Messes. I've helped them figure out what they need to keep and carted off their excess junk. I've helped them figure out their "styles" and put together systems that work for them, so they could easily maintain their new, organized, clean space.

But my stuff? No go! I'm sure it's because there are emotional and other factors at work when I deal with My Stuff, ones that just aren't there when I deal with Other People's Things.