Minimising is better than organising

by | Clearing Clutter

If organizing your stuff worked, wouldn’t you be done by now? Courtney Carver

I’m brilliant at sorting work files, systems, cupboards but now I’m thinking that organising has been my way of dealing with the objects and information that I have accumulated. Whilst I can be well organised I then get more stuff and must reorganise as I run out of space.

And so the cycle continues.

I’m now reflecting that organising has been a way of failing to address the underlying issue of why I need so much stuff.

As I gave away over 100 glasses to the charity shop (we used to have parties in our back garden), I thought – why hadn’t we rented or used plastic glasses, why did we have a selection of glasses for every guest they all had to be washed.

Then I look at the books; my tendency is to read a review, think I want the book and buy it when it first comes out. But many books, and CDs and Blue Ray Discs were never played and now available at a low cost. Money wasted. Whilst I played the CD (maybe only once why not use Spotify?) some of the films and books were pristine.

I need to stop organising

I am so good at sorting, filing things away, but the better way, I think, is to ask if I will really need to use something again. For example, the photos I use on my websites, I save them but it would be easier to search online again rather than to look through my business photos folder, how great it has been to delete – and saved so much memory too.
I’ve also been saving client notes in filing cabinets, now I’m scanning them and sending them to my clients too so we are both clear on the notes I have and I can remove more paper from my failing cabinet.

My forthcoming move means I have to move 6 filing cabinets to 3 and to move from 3 shelves in a book case to about one shelf in a cupboard. I have folders I haven’t opened in more than 14 years, but will I want them … this is now getting hard.

I’ve already realised that I’ve given away some things that I now want – a spare single set of bedding, when I gave away 3 sets. This is a bit annoying as its going to cost about 20 to buy a sheet/duvet cover/ 2 pillowcases but I may be able to manage with just one set as I only want the single set for a few months.

I’m on my journey to getting rid of the things I keep just in case, and the stock I keep – do I really need 4 moisturisers, 3 toothpastes, 32 highlighters! I’ve got a lot of office stationery ready to give to a school/ voluntary organisation.

This is an ongoing journey and more posts on this topic will follow.

Image by ElasticComputeFarm from Pixabay

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