Getting Organized

The act of getting organized doesn't seem all that hard. Basically it takes a little grunt work up front, but then you have a system that only needs upkeep, not an overhaul. Right?

Lately, I have been trying to get my act together and get to this organizing business. I am here to say it's not as easy as they make it look on TV. No wonder people get paid to come in and dictate what to keep on how to keep it. We are all tied to frivolous things. Well, I know that I am. Good, bad, or indifferent, that's how it is.

The first part of any organization is the sorting of what to keep, what to toss, and what to donate. This should be simple, and yet sometimes I get hung up on the toss decision. Sometimes it's not good enough to donate, but I know where it came from and why it was important so I don't feel it deserves the trash can, so I end up keeping it.

As I go through my stuff now, every drawer I open, every shelf I scan, I ask myself, why do I have this? For example the collection of matchless socks. Was I hoping that one day, 5 apartments later, their mate would just appear? Of course not! But why then are they still in my drawer?

I think I grew up with the "waste not, want not" mantra being drilled into my head. Now in adult life, it makes it harder to get rid of things that bog you down. You tell yourself, "Someday that could be useful!" or "If I just bought this piece it would work!" But you know deep down that's never going to happen. The opportunity cost of keeping something is what you really need to weigh out.

My next challenge comes with boxes of random things that I at one point cleverly thought, this is organized, put the lid on the box and called it a day. Except, I can't tell you what's in that box, much less why I have it. I did pretty well with the filing cabinet, so onward to the depths of mysterious boxes!