Posts Tagged ‘drawers’

Wow! It Pays to Declutter!

30 January 2013 Written by Lois Hjelmstad 3 Comments

Just when I'm in the middle of writing my annual (?) blog about decluttering. Just when I'm in the middle of my annual (no question mark) decluttering projects. Just when it is all getting boring and ho-hum – been there, done that, every dang year….

I was cleaning out the middle drawer of my desk yesterday. Way in the back I have a couple of little boxes that are space-holders so that the divider with all the neat little compartments doesn't slip back there. 

Well, I pulled them out and guess what? In one of them was $81. The same $81 dollars that Les gave me for my 81st birthday, a year ago last October. The same $81 dollars that I stashed there in a quick moment to hide it just before we left on a trip. (I never leave money in the house so that was odd.) The same $81 dollars that I had rummaged through every drawer in the house to find. I had this vague recollection of hiding it far in the back of somewhere, but finally gave up.

And then two hours later, I removed everything under the sink in the basement, wiped the shelf, and put back the trays, the vinegar bottle, and the little brushes. And just before I shoved in the old canner with all the rags, I impulsively rummaged through the rags. OCD, perhaps.

And guess what? There at the bottom were my favorite pair of red "cheater" glasses. In the rag bag.

Anyone want to guess how long and how hard I had looked for them?

Wow. It pays to declutter.

Probably pays to declutter our minds, too. Who knows what we will find?  

And what have you found when you deep-clean?

 

Declutter Your Life – Papers

08 February 2012 Written by Lois Hjelmstad 0 Comments

As I continue to go through files, empty drawers, and toss old calendars, I remember that I did a series on decluttering last year. Since I have a lot of new followers, I'd like to post that series again. I will probably edit a bit, too, because anything I've written before always gets edited. Whether it needs it or not.

Here is the first one:

Forget the play-offs, the Super Bowl, and folderol. January at my house is reserved for cleaning my office and files. That's fortunate, because I am usually so tired of crumpled wrapping paper, bedraggled bows, and cartons of half-eaten fruitcake that I am ready to be ruthless!

Of course, with taxes coming up, the financial files were first—the many EOBs (Explanation of Benefits), the twelve bank statements for each of four different accounts, the pages of hassles with the credit company, the receipts from purchases (some for things useful, others not so much), the letters long since answered, the letters that never got answered.

As for the seven other file drawers, each year I try to leave less of my life for my children to sort. There are, of course, a number of items I need as long as I continue to speak and market books. But I also have tall stacks of various marketing strategies that are already out of date. Wake up to 2013, woman.

Some things I leave because I want the kids and grandkids to see me as a real person. Some things I still have because I'd like at least one of the four to say, "Wow! Mom actually did this?!"

And some I keep because I can't bear to throw those parts of myself away—not yet. They prove I am alive.

But now it's the first full week of February and every drawer feels and looks emptier. Many books on the shelves have moved on to someone who can use them now. I cleared the clippings taped to the hutch above my desk so new pictures and pithier quotes can take their place.

And I find this year, as I did last year and the year before, that those pieces of paper, those scraps of history, those little mementos matter less each time I clean my office.

Once again I tell myself that my authenic life-and-legacy resides in my soul and in the souls of others.

Empty those wastebaskets and recycling bins.