According
to the book, I should now be working on books, but I love books and
it's going to be hard for me to discard any,
so I'm postponing that and instead will do “papers”.
I'm a writer and in my office I am surrounded by six
file drawers for clippings,
documents, articles, bank statements, and health records. I also have some of the shelves in my seven
tall bookcases stacked with pages of typed manuscripts. Same with a
'working' table that has no space for work. And
there are several drawers in the family room stuffed with various
kinds of papers, such
as maps and recipes. So
I decided I had papers, not books, that urgently needed discarding. But how was I going to pile all of them in the middle of the room.
Impossible. For most of the discarding, I would have to do it,
drawer by drawer, surface by surface. Sorry Marie. I hope this
isn't a fatal flaw in successfully completing your plan. But when
you discover how much I discard you might understand. Several months
ago, before I read the book, I had already gone through and discarded
two garbage sacks of papers. And I still have tons left.
I don't know if holding the papers and feeling a spark of joy will
work in this category either. The papers I keep will be 'necessary'.
What I discard will be either not necessary or not joyful.
If you still believe I couldn't be worse than you, I have all my
bank books which lists deposits and checks since I graduated from
college. Yes, years of them. If I ever write a memoir of my epic
trip to Europe I can check exactly what I paid for a steamship
crossing.
I started working on this category with all papers on top of surfaces. First off, I realized
this category also includes book marks, business cards, and folder
tabs for new folders. These I kept on two shelves and did reduce
them to one shelf. But I'm keeping notebooks and diaries that I
probably should just throw out, but I can't. Maybe later. I know
the Kondo method would say 'later' means 'never'.
I am failing miserably in this category. I have folders for airline
and hotel memberships and they are full of junk mail, but I'm afraid
I might throw away something important for claiming miles or perks.
I did clean them out a bit, but instead of throwing the whole file
away I just moved it to a more hidden place. Arrgh.
This is much worse than working on my clothes. Three hours and not
even halfway through.
 |
| Some files, map, still messy board, |
I've completed three large book cases on the north side of my
office. I still have two two-drawer file cabinets on that side to go
through later. Now I've moved on to the first bookcase (of four) on
the south side. There are envelopes, stationery, including from
foreign hotels, and a large box of cards (birthday and thank you)
from friends for more than ten years. I'll only save those
congratulating me on my first book to encourage me to keep writing.
And then there's a box of cards from my children and other family
members. I must keep those. I organized new, unused Xmas cards received from charitable organizations into a usable stack. I did
throw away some unsuitable ones. Most I kept for this coming
Christmas and then will discard any still left. (Do I really trust myself to throw them
away later? It's probably not in the Kondo spirit to keep putting
off discards).
I went through years of medical records that were stacked on a
bookshelf next to my books about health. It took me almost two hours
to go through and throw most away. How many years of negative
mammogram reports does anyone need? I did keep some records, mainly
those about major incidents, broken knee, surgery, rotator cuff. I'm
really very healthy so it's amazing that I have so many papers
relating to health issues. But I hate to throw anything out.
This habit may have been inherited. Whenever my mother would ask my
father if she should throw something away, he'd say, “We've got the
room, so might as well keep it.” This created a terrible problem
when it came to clean out the house they had lived in for more than
fifty years. That is one of the reasons I'd like to reduce the items
in my life.
Well, enough about the agony of deciding which papers are necessary
and which discardable. None really give me a spark of joy. Well,
yes, reading over cards from friends is pleasant, so I'm not going to throw
them away. Earlier I said I'd discard those but I changed my mind.
OK, moving on. Maps also come under papers. I have a drawer
stuffed with maps. Marie would say throw them away. They are out
of date, and current maps are easily accessed on the internet. But I
like maps. I've always liked maps and was pleased to know that Ken
Jennings, the 'Jeopardy' TV champ wrote a book about liking maps,
Maphead:
Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks. I
also have a crazy idea that all the state maps I'm saving may some
day be worth a lot of money, when nobody prints them anymore. So I
will keep them for my great grandchildren to get rich. More likely
my children will throw them out after I'm gone.
 |
| What's hiding under the quilt? |
The paper category is not going to be done in one attempt. I forgot
all the paper I have under a quilt covered work table in my office.
The quilt was made by my grandmother and mother when I graduated from
grade school (no middle school in my town). It has a yellow
background with pieced appliques of sixteen sun bonnet Sues made out
of my cotton school dresses. Each square is embroidered with the
name of an eighth grade friend. It's a special treasure to me, but I
had forgotten what it hides. Kondoing what's under the quilt will be
covered in my next blog.
Halloween will be the perfect time also to face the horrors of a
lifetime of clipped, saved, and unused recipes.
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