REorganization

It never ceases to amaze me how much CRAP one can accumulate over a
period of time.. I have been cleaning out some drawers in my den and
am aghast at the amount of unwanted items in each drawer. I am a
freakin' pack rat, I swear. I have things I used to play with as a
child. I still have the old card stock from a store I worked at...
basically, the outline of all the price tags I used to tear out and
slide into plastic containers. It's really trash, but I saved it
because I wanted to make "flash cards" for my Cherokee book. Never
did. Today it finally made it to the trash, after several glances
over the years and the thought, "But I could still use
that!!" (Yeah, right.)

So, I've been working in short spurts, in small areas, a little at a
time, to clean this mess up. I think that if I were left in here by
myself for the next three weeks I could cut my den's contents by a
fourth. Dangit. It just dawned on me that I forgot to get food when
I was downstairs, and I'm still hungry. Anywho. I've found that
drawers are definitely the way to go. Because of how they slide in
and out of their containers, you have to be wary of piling too much
stuff into them or it gets caught. Also, depending on their depth,
they can either be difficult to dig to the bottom of or they can
offer at-a-glance contents. Tends to make you really think about
what you put where.

What I've been doing over time is emptying out small boxes into these
drawers, cutting back on the amount of things I've kept in storage or
the closet. Unfortunately, I did not abide by my friend's new rule,
which is to throw something out every time you buy something new.
So, I've since bought new things and now have just as much stuff.
But, better than double it. See, by keeping my drawers full of
stuff, I'm constantly getting annoyed by having to paw through things
after having them so neat for a while. So, I scour for things to
throw out or give away, thus keeping them neat. Sneaky, huh? My old
method consisted of piling unused stuff somewhere until it was so
high it annoyed me, then I'd shove it all in a box and store it. No
more. I have to live with my crap or get rid of it.

It will hopefully be even easier once we move into the house next
month. It may sound ironic, but I have the feeling that having MORE
space will help me MAKE space. See, this is my argument: If I'm
OVERcrowded by clutter, I get claustrophobic and overwhelmed. I
become accustomed to seeing things messy and simply overlook it after
a while out of sheer necessity. My den has been doable because I've
kept a spot clear enough to keep me thinking things are neat.
Because of seeing things "neat," however, I can't stand looking in
messy drawers. But, see, the messy drawers are small enough to
tackle so long as I do them one at a time, and each is pretty much
designated so I can reorganize things into their proper places as I go.

As a result, I've made contact with each item recently, thrown out a
few things I don't want/need, and now I know where to find that
doohickey from five years ago now that I actually need it. And if
for some reason I'm not sure of its location, I don't destroy my
whole den tossing stuff out of boxes looking for it. I simply wing
open all the drawers instead.

Armed with this knowledge, I'm forseeing this: The downstairs of the
house is kept immaculate (my definition) and organized. My playpen
upstairs is my personal storage room and workspace. I expect it will
be messy for a while but over time I'll get that cleaned up, too.
Why? Because currently I have to scour my stuff to find things to
toss. I want, badly, to drag some stuff out of the storage room and
go through it, but it's cold in there and there are a/c's in my way.
I'd have to really DIG to get to anything, which overwhelms me to
even think about. Having all my storage in that one room, which will
be big enough to work in and have my hobbies in, will enable me to
pull things out as needed, converting it all to drawers or trash as I
go.

I know, my logic is a bit odd, but I'm sure it will work.

On another note, I feel I'm letting go of a lot of my past,
converting it to mere memories. I found an easter Snoopy which Mom
had given me on Easter a ways back. I'm not particularly fond of the
stuffed animal, but I've kept it because it was one of the last
things she gave me for Easter. I already had my own place and she
came down and hid stuff everywhere as if I were still a kid. I
decided today that the memory of that day will stay put, the dog
doesn't need to. It's not like I take it out and stare at it
regularly, anyway.

I also just realized that I don't like Hickory Farms sausage
anymore. Never been fond of sausage and their sausage is exactly
that. I do still like the cheeses, though. From now on, I suppose I
should be looking for those gift boxes that only have the cheese and
crackers...

Well, back to snacking and packing...

~nv