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Simply..binning, shredding, getting rid....

6/9/2018

17 Comments

 

Specifically papers. Personal papers you don't want to keep.

It's hard for most of us, and we're all different, but here's what's working for me.

I am easily overwhelmed but I want the job done. They weigh on me these thoughts from my past. They served their purpose, but that was then and this is now and they don't spark joy they just give me an uneasy feeling every time I look at them.  I motivate myself by looking at blogs and videos (there are millions of them, including mine!) I remind myself that I have rarely if ever regretted getting rid of stuff. I look around at the areas I have cleared and feel the calm spaciousness. I also remind myself that it is highly unlikely that anyone else would ever want to, or have the time to, wade through them. I won't be leaving them to my old university either :-)

I consider just burning the lot, but I am too curious about what I've written....

Sometimes I start with a quick first pass getting rid of the obvious throw-aways. That reduces the pile. Good. Then I might do one of several things. I tell myself I will stop as soon as I feel overwhelmed (I've just done that with a drawer of cards which have been sent to me - very emotional.) I will go back to it another time.

Or I commit to dealing  with the first 2/5/10 sheets, read them, decide keep or shred and put them in the keep folder or shred them straight away. I know I may go through the keep folder again at some point but as the aim is to reduce the pile I try not to put 'maybe' ones in there. I get some momentum going and begin to enjoy it.

Or I set a timer for 15 minutes and tell myself I am allowed to stop when it goes, or keep going if I feel like it. I often do keep going - it's the starting that's the hardest.

I've been 'Kondoing' since I first came across Marie Kondo's book in 2014. i knew that her tender animism towards objects combined with a kind of ruthlessness or clarity of purpose was for me and it's worked well for me. The loft and the basement are clear. Yay! The bags of shredded paper go into the compost bins. A friend who took a welding course when she was seventy and has been making sculptures ever since, took away a box of old tools from the shed yesterday. An art teacher is taking a big bag of surplus paper and materials. The old lanterns have gone to the charity shop since I bought the lovely new ones, and a feeling of lightness is coming over me, and a spark of - is it excitement? - is stirring somewhere deep within...

Find out what works for you and go for it!


Picture
this afternoon
17 Comments
Mary B
6/9/2018 05:01:56 pm

Thank you for your sound advice,your kindness and your beautiful photograph ! Will you be making that wonderful view available as a card ?

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 05:21:34 am

I am planning to do some more cards and will keep you posted!

Reply
cathy
6/9/2018 06:17:34 pm

I think it takes more than 1 time to minimize. things that I think are so important today & that I'll always want/need can be the first to go when I go through them again in a couple years. what I need to be careful of is not collecting & saving so much that future cullings take as long.

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 05:23:34 am

Such an important point Cathy! I find I don't want to buy much - I prefer the space.

Reply
Damsonlily
7/9/2018 12:43:26 am

What an excellent overview! And when I read it, I realised that I mostly worked like that as well, clearing the old house.
I do have one tip to pass on.
I found several very large boxes of papers, invoices, orders etc, which belonged to my father. He had his own business. I knew there were personal things in there and I did not feel up to tackling them, given everything else I had to do.
So I outsourced them to my son.
He was delighted and is slowly going through them, sifting through things to shred and now and then sending the odd photo or note by email, for me to identify. He says he is learning much about his grandfather that he never knew and is really enjoying the process.

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 05:25:33 am

What a very good idea. Your son will be glad to know you are not saving such boxes for him! I am doing this for my family as well as for me.

Reply
Mary
7/9/2018 02:22:08 am

Excellent advice and a fabulous photo. Must have felt like the universe was rewarding you for all your hard work.

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 05:26:25 am

Isn't it wonderful that we can still be thrilled by rainbows!

Reply
Linda
7/9/2018 04:55:38 am

You are finding 'your' way, Freda, and coming up bubbling. Looking forward to what comes next!

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 05:27:10 am

So am I Linda (still got little idea).

Reply
Judy
7/9/2018 09:52:22 am

Some people are oblivious to clutter and some even seem to enjoy it. I'm not one of those. I have found that the less I have to store and maintain, the more time and energy I have to enjoy the rainbows that come my way. Yours is so lovely. It looks as though you have borrowed a swatch from it to paint your garden.

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 01:22:39 pm

It was such a lovely surprise. I do agree about less to look after and more energy for other things.

Reply
cath
7/9/2018 10:56:29 am

Beneath my desk I have two 9 l storing boxes. Filled with writings and articles-essays related to my writing. Once a month I go through each box, just looking. Most of the time I find papers and essays I can let go just like that. When going through the pile I put aside what I want to read before I let it go. As I am a slow reader and don´t feel like reading this stuff each day I select max. twenty for the month. It means my progress is slow but it is more important that there is progress, month by month. I did leave my poetry out of this. It is a category of its own and more difficult. Like photographs. And personal mail. Ah well, one step at the time...

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 01:25:40 pm

One step at a time is the only way to go! And it sounds as if you are making wonderful progress in a very measured way and in a good direction Cath.

Reply
Lucille
7/9/2018 12:09:53 pm

What a wonderful picture.
I'm struggling to get going again as the garden is proving to be such a headache and not nearly so easy to Kondo as a house! At least a shredded paper stays shredded. The ivy and brambles keep climbing back in! And they have pulled all the fences down.

Reply
Freda
7/9/2018 01:28:12 pm

Oh that sounds like a huge task. Can you get help with that? Gardens certainly don't stay put once sorted!

Reply
Lucille
8/9/2018 04:44:44 am

Looking for help now! It comes at a high price though.




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    Simply Christmas
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    Simply Draw
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    Categories

    All
    Live Simply
    Live Simply
    Simple
    Simply Beautiful
    Simply Bin It
    Simply Chill
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Do A Good Deed
    Simply Draw
    Simply Draw
    Simply Eat
    Simply Fitter
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    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

    All words and images copyright Freda Waldapfel 2010 - 2020

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