Friday post

[adair]

I did not get much decluttering done this week - too busy with other things to give it a lot of time.
I did take 5 books and about a weeks worth of newspaper to B2P - I use newspaper in packing.
Three different books came back with me in a little case labeled Hogwarts Library. These showed up in the workroom, and I remembered one of the prison libraries asked for them, so they will go in the big plastic box in the garage awaiting the next book pickup.

I did putter around throwing away little sample-size bottles of hand lotion left from travel, that I somehow thought I would squeeze the last drops out of. They had been sitting around for months. I also threw away a lot of little packets of sample skin treatments that came in catalogs I got in the mail. I clearly was not going to try them, so out they went. It's part of that It Might Come In Handy Some Day that causes a lot of saving of objects for no good reason. I need to apply the same clear out process to my makeup drawer, with stuff I bought but never used much. None of this makes a lot of new space, but at least it helps clear surfaces.

Comments

[tanaqui]

This week, I've so far shredded around 10 inches of paperwork.

I'm now working my way through two medium sized boxes of old work notes, which will probably be another 36 inches to shred. At the moment, I'm taking the files apart: removing and getting rid of plastic folders, paper clips/staples, and anything that can be immediately recycled without shredding. I'll then have a big stack of paper ready to feed into the shredder while I watch TV. (Makes the shredding less boring; makes me feel less guilty about spending hours watching tennis on TV....)

None of this makes a lot of new space, but at least it helps clear surfaces.

I find it helps make "mental space" as well, because I'm no longer being guilted by things that Might Come In Handy Some Day but which... I never actually use.

[adair]

Ah, yes, sorting papers. Work notes do tend to cling on. I finally got rid of most, not all, of mine about 3 years after I retired. I still have most of my print-outs from my early fandom days, when fan email lists were new, and not easy to save unless you had your own computer at home. This was 1990-95, and I was on Usenet, Virgule, 2 slash lists and 2 B7 lists. I sorted one box last winter and kept most of it, but at least it was somewhat organized and the tractor-strips off the paper. I have another big box to work on someday soon, I hope.

Congratulations on clearing your guilt on saving too much, presumably by letting it go. That is a big achievement.

[hooloovoo_42]

I have the same issue with "oh, I might need that later" items. Sometimes I use them. Sometimes I think I'll use them and can't find them. Sometimes I wish I had one, but haven't. Such is life!

[fred_mouse]

It is my firm belief, that 'oh I might need that later' items are Schrödinger's items, such that you don't know whether they are there or not until you need them, and that in general needing them causes them to not be there.