Irrational Clutter
The “after” from my office closet: loosely organized office supplies. I neglected to take a “before” photo.
Hello Friends:
For those of you who reached out after my last post to wish me well in healing my body, thank you. It means so much to me!
This year, New Year's came came and went for me with little fanfare. I was in pain and not feeling very celebratory. Instead, I resolved to "Go Slow". Janauary came and went without a habit tracker, which is kind of a big deal for me.
Then, around Chinese New Year I started feeling a tiny bit better, more like myself. I contemplated and made my habit tracker for February. The things I choose to track were mostly focused on my healing, for example: physical therapy exercises three times a day and walks outside twice a day. I also included "daily declutter".
You see, despite working as a professional organizer all these years helping other people let go of clutter, I am just like you. I have a family and a home that gets messy. During busy seasons of life, things get shoved into dark corners and forgotten. And, I have irrational clutter that is entirely my own doing.
What is "irrational clutter"? For me, it is things that I hold onto thinking I "might need them, someday" when in reality there is no need to hold onto these items in vast quantities. This is quite embarassing for me to admit...deep breath. I have been hoarding cardboard boxes and packaging materials in my office closet and basement. There, I said it!
I have a small shop on Poshmark where I sell some of our nicer clothing items that we no longer need. At the moment there are seven items for sale in my "shop". Because I occationally sell things online, I have felt it necessary to hold onto more than a dozen cardboard boxes of varying sizes. For some months now, these boxes were falling at me every time I opened the closet door in my office and have created a box avalance in a corner of our basement storage room.
One Sunday afternoon in February I was feeling better than I had in months. That day, I finally realized my box hoarding was ridiculous. I had way more boxes than items for sale AND whenever I order something online, it comes in a new box. Most of my "collection" ended up flattened down for recycling. I kept a small number of boxes and flat mailers for clothing that would fit in a drawer in the room (that drawer was another decluttering win).
In addition, I have started letting go of the boxes in the basement. Decluttering and organizing the basement is another project in itself. While I would love to tackle it all in one day or even over a weekend, I know my body is still healing and I do not have the stamina for that right now. Instead, on most days, something (including many a cardboard box) will be leaving the home. Often I share the embarassing items over on Instagram.
I'm curious, what is your area of irrational clutter? I would love to know!
All my best,
Carolyn
P.S. Open Office Hours will now be held on Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern. If you would like some accountability with your organizing projects, send me an email to be added to the list.
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