Three Bags Full…of Trash
…and my office is more clean and organized than it has been in three years. I had my youngest son put shelves up in the mud porch (in New England, that’s the room between the front door and the actual house, where we store boots, snow shovels, coats, and just about anything else we can shove in there that won’t be harmed by freezing in the winter and baking in the summer). I put everything that was on my office floor and various surfaces on those shelves. Except, of course, the trash.
When I watch that show called Hoarders, I actually get scared. I’m not close to a hoarder…yet, but I understand the compulsion to hang on to things for “someday.” I have a place in my kitchen drawer for twist ties recovered from store bought loaves of bread. We have every cord of every appliance with a detachable cord we’ve ever bought (and a few that weren’t detachable but my dh cut them off “just in case”).
Every so often, though, I can feel the ruthless streak slash through me, and I grab up the trash bags and start pitching. My latest mean-clean streak lightened me of: software boxes for outdated programs I don’t even use any more; market guides for a class I teach from 2004 – 2007; outdated software manuals; endless piles of printouts of every revision and microrevision of my latest novel; a torn and broken window shade; a pile of bookmarks and promo detritus gathered at writer’s conferences in the past umpty dumpty years — and that’s just the trash.
My mudporch shelves neatly hold: books I may — or may not — ultimately sell or give away; a bulky old CD player I don’t use anymore since I got my fabulous iPod (three Christmases ago); some of my daughter’s things she left out last time she visited; a box full of all the cords, screws, bolts, and gizmos dh says we cannot throw out (even though we don’t know what any of them go to, or used to go to).
I wasn’t ruthless enough this time to get rid of the four manuscript boxes I’ve been keeping around since I sent in my first few manuscripts to my publisher. They’re sturdy boxes. I may use them. I was able to shove them deep into the office closet, in the previously unused space beside one of my filing cabinets.
I also made a box to go to Goodwill, of books I know I can get rid of, and some organizers and clipboards I’ll never use, but someone else may enjoy.
Next up is filing things where they belong (what a concept), and reorganizing my storage shelves so I can reach my paper, toner, labels, etc. without major contortion efforts.
I feel so light. So un-hoard-y. I’d share a picture, but my camera download cord is not among the many cords I liberated from the nooks and crannies of my office. When I find it (I taped an orange post-it to the end, so when I find it, I’ll know what it is), I’ll share.
