A small decluttering

[adair]

I did not get rid of a lot, but what I did is very significant in my thinking process about letting go of stuff. I loved WordPerfect back in the day. It was much easier to use and to make corrections and edits than Word. However, as things go, Word really began to dominate in usage, and I was eventually required to use it at work. I had Wordperfect at home, but it began to fade in the early 90s. I bought an update, back when software came in big boxes, with lots of discs and handbooks - my box was about 4 inches wide. I also had 3 heavy user books, on that slick, heavy paper. I have not used WP in years - my computers are now Macs, and in any case WP is no more, but for some reason I held on to all this software and manuals. They took up about 9 inches of shelf space, on a high shelf in my office area. I think I was so irritated that the software I thought was much the best lost in the sales race and did not let go of useless stuff out of some kind of demented loyalty.

I am editing the desk and reference shelves over it because we are getting a new iMac with a 20 inch screen. B uses a laptop running Snow Leopard, and that OS is getting seriously out of date. He wants a bigger screen to watch various videos, and I would not mind using it either. So we are making space for this bigger device, and the extra stuff it will have - DVD/CD drive (Apple no longer includes them in their hardware) a touch-pad, 2 speakers, a back-up drive, and a lot of cords. This means I have to clear the shelf that will be behind the computer, and therefore find places for stuff or get rid of it. I gained 9 inches on my upper shelf, and moved the OS manuals for Snow Leopard and Windows XP (yes, we have old systems) to that space. I also discovered the reference shelf had 2 different editions of The Dictionary of Word Origins and 3 Bartlett's. One of the word origins is going to Books to Prisoners; I have seen requests for something like that and I am going to see that someone who needs it gets it. I am looking over the Bartlett's to decide which one to keep.

All this seems to say that I am getting over at least part of my need to hold on to books that I will probably not need again. It is a very small step, but I'll keep reminding myself that no evil happened from this action, and space was gained.

Comments

[tanaqui]

Well done for letting go of the WordPerfect stuff! Things like that can be weirdly hard to get rid of, can't they? We know rationally that we don't need to keep them, and yet.... But realizing we can let go of those kinds of things definitely is a big step forwards: I've found taking that step has helped me with my own uncluttering.

I've now finished putting all the paperwork through the shredder (even if the shredded paper isn't out of the house yet) and spent the past couple of days uncluttering (and reorganising into some much better storage) medicines, toiletries and gardening sundries (plant tags, ties etc). That also involved letting go of a few "just in case" things, where either the "in case" is never going to happen or I can easily buy another one for not much money (and may well have to, as the thing may have deteriorated past the point of still being usable.)

[adair]

Thanks for the encouragement. Books are probably my biggest 'too much' that I have, in a small house. I've noticed that they are a problem for a lot of us on unclutter. Reporting little successes, and cheering each other on, helps so much.

Congratulations on shredding paper, and even more on deciding it can be shredded. Holding on to documents is another big issue for many of us - probably partly that fear of making a mistake. You are really moving forward.

[fred_mouse]

Well done on spotting a pattern in your clutter! I, too, hold on to software related things for far too long. I have a stack of CDs next to the computer that need to be sorted out 'when I have the energy'. I threw out one or two the other day, when I realised that they were for Windows 95! Plus one that was given to a friend when it turned out to be a duplicate.