I reached my goal of getting rid of 1,000 things by clearing out another file drawer.
This particular drawer had all kinds of manuals. I thought, “When was the last time I referred to any of these?”
My husband said, “Just throw them all away.”
“What about this shower mixer for the upstairs apartment?”
“Oh yeah, keep that.”
Hmph. Most of them went to the garbage.
I did learn something though, just by thumbing through the dishwasher manual, and that is if you prewash your dishes (I do) that your glassware could become permanently cloudy. The reason is that detergent needs food soil to act upon. If it’s not acting on the food, then it’s acting on the dishes. Wow!
I worked in intervals of 20 minutes, playing my music mix on YouTube. This usually consisted of Live from Daryl’s House, an Internet TV show that features Daryl Hall performing with his band and various guest artists at his home, and now club in New York. Sigh. That guy is a genius. Everyone looks like they are having so much fun.
Which I was not. Having fun, that is.
At times I felt like I was in hand-to-hand combat. Which come to think about it, I was. My shredder was still broken, so I had to shred confidential papers by hand. I imagined that I could become a victim of identity theft if I didn’t shred these papers and mix them with coffee grounds and bacon grease.
This drawer was a mish-mash of stuff. Here’s what I found:
- Paperwork for a mattress we purchased in 2000.
- My son’s fourth-grade Lexile reading score was 370 above the grade mean.
- The amount of garbage I threw away weighed 5lbs.
- I collected another ream size amount of scrap paper. Go QUSP!
In conclusion, I wonder why it is so hard for me to do this. One blogger, Diane Henkler, decluttered her entire basement in three weeks.
I decluttered two file drawers in three weeks. Ugh!
The goal of getting rid of 1,000 things is done, but it is just one aspect of decluttering my entire office. I’ll continue the challenge and will conquer.
Wondering if I can just leave my clutter in a room wall the door over and move away. In 100 years someone will realize the house footprint is larger than the interior space and start to poke around. Discovering what they initially think is a treasure trove, only later to discover someone has simply procrastinated they’re housekeeping for a century. I’ve known more than a few artists that after holding on to years and decades of work have a burn party where they release all of that energy back into the universe and stop holding on to the idea that one day it might be valuable.
BTW: Daryl’s House opened a place in Pawling. Worth a visit if you’re ever in upstate NY.
Please invite me to the burn party whenever you know of one. Also, I’d love to go to Daryl’s club.
Nanci…I hate to see you go, you and Charles…but tell me the truth….are you happy you started going thru your things sooner?? I say bcz I also started to pack and declutter 4months ago…so when the end of this coming February when my lease is up…I won’t have but only a car load to take to Houston!!
Anyways, I’m going to miss you sis!! May Jehovah be with you my dear sister!! Bye for now
Yes, I am glad I started to declutter. I am happy to hear about your goal to just move with one carload. I’m so glad we can always keep in touch.