Weeding Out

Having more than we need, can use, or have room for are all causes of clutter.

I recently started cleaning out some drawers in the guest bedroom of my home and was shocked by how many things were in them that I had forgotten I owned. At first I was excited about it. It was like having new things. There was a set of pencils I had used in architecture school, a box of fancy gold paperclips that had cost me $12, and a set of hand towels I had used on a photo shoot, but that didn't match the style of either of my bathrooms. Each piece triggered a memory that made me want to hang onto them, causing me to think, "I'll need these things some day, so I better keep them." For a few moments I truly thought, "Perhaps I'll have time to sketch," or "I'll use these clips next time I have to send a note to an editor," and--even more far-fetched--"Maybe I'll redo one of my bathrooms and I'll be able to put these hand towels to use."

I stood there for a moment in disbelief. It was like my subconscious was trying to pull a fast one on me, convincing me I needed to hang onto these things, when in reality they were just taking up space and were of no use to me.

The pencils went into a padded envelope addressed to my sister, an art instructor. The hand towels now grace my mother's guest bath. The gold clips? Well, there are five fewer now that I'm using them. They've been moved to a drawer in my office that I could barely close because of its cluttered contents. It really needs to be cleaned out. Maybe next week.