Just earlier this week, I tackled another purging opportunity: Our office closet and the office itself. There was so much garbage, junk and miscellaneous pieces of paper, crafts supplies and more. Kyler collects POP! Heads and I found a stash of ALL the boxes in our giant desk. Thankfully, those were tossed. We found notebooks that are better left in the trash, I found scrapbooking papers just tossed inside my craft box and I found SO MUCH MORE!
See here:
Note that I have A LOT of newspapers, that’s because last year Kyler and I thought we were moving to New Mexico to attend UNM, but because my diagnosis pushed that to the back burner, we’ve just had all those newspapers sitting up there. Also, UNM was gonna make me start ALL OVER in my English Writing program. So we were like: “nope! back to Bozeman!”. But good thing I kept all those Wallstreet Journals from my Econ class, cuz I am using it for THIS move!
Rooms like an office can be weird. Our office is almost our junk drawer/storage. It’s like our own studios. I do my homework in here, and I write for my book and this blog because I feel most creative in this absurd, chaotic setting. But I know where almost everything is….So I had to ask myself these questions:
When did I use it last? Or is it just taking up space?
Can I put it somewhere else with similar characteristics?
This was helpful when I was clearing through my scrapbooking stuff. I had some old photos from 4th, 6th, and 8th grade with all my scrapbooking stuff, so I sorted through those photos and then put them in a memory box, and then organized my scrapbooking papers by color, wrapped them in a rubber band, stacked them inside my craft box and then was able to add other office supplies like paper clips, colored pencils, crayons, and more.
Old magazines?
Is there any useful information that I want/need from it anymore? Such as recipes or makeup tips.
Duplicate?
I have a stationary thing that has a tape dispenser, and room to put pencils in it as well as a couple other different trays….But I already have a desk lamp with the same stuff (minus the tape, but Kyler has a tape dispenser) and I already have a jar from the dollar store that stores all my paper clips...which I should maybe get rid of because I don’t need that much space…
Binders & Notes?
Are you gonna use it in the future? I keep my binders until they are peeling and I keep my folders so long as they keep me organized and feeling productive. But I also have this one, 1” binder from Staples that I bought IN HIGH SCHOOL that I still have today and it’s in BRAND NEW CONDITION. It’s one of those indestructible binders and if you want/need to, you can replace it every year for free, but keep your receipt for that.
Second Note: I keep all my notes from my English & Literature classes. Say I read a piece of material and had really good notes for it, and then need the same story/poem/background information from really good discussions, I can go back and look through the lecture I already had from the last class, and it can give me another edge. Plus, it’s nice to have a ton of notes on British Literature that date from 600 AD to the 20th Century.
Binders & Folders & Dividers
I went through all my binders, and took out all the bad dividers- ones with classes written on them or other notes that belonged to a different class that just can’t and shouldn’t be used anymore. I also went through my folders, tossed random pieces of paperwork that I didn’t need and decided whether or not I should keep my folders. I think all my folders were in good condition, so I don’t think I had to throw any away. I also put all the folders together in one of my ringed binders. It will all stay out of the way until it is time for me to gather supplies to put in my backpack for my first day of classes (Monday August 29, 2016!!!).
Writing Utensils
Every year, I like to go through all the pens and pencils and highlighters that wander into various parts of pencil bags, my desk, the bottom of my purses and backpack and collect them into one big pile. I grab a piece of paper and start testing to see if they work. If they aren’t going to work for next year/semester, I toss them.
No sense in hording them or accidently grabbing them in class for notes, and then they fail you during an exam or in a lecture. Hey! A note taking system in class is very important and it sucks to suddenly have to switch highlighting colors or even pens in the middle of a lecture. Kyler and I really dislike having to switch from blue to black pens- or the other way around- in the middle of class. And I especially dislike having to switch between types of pens like ballpoint pens to a pen that seems to bleed a lot and get all over my hand cuz I am left-handed or whatever. Point is: if it’s dead, toss it.
Then as usual, ask yourself if there are items you can go without. Because Kyler and I will be moving to Bozeman and will most likely live somewhere smaller than our current apartment, we’ve got a lot to get rid of. PLUS, it’s another way to declutter our house and that means I have less to clean/deal with and can focus more on my studies.
Happy Purging!
Comments
Post a Comment