The Pain and Pleasures of Decluttering

Over the last few months I’ve, well to be honest, my husband and I have been trying to declutter. You know how easy it is to keep things you really don’t need anymore. Well, we have decided that instead of doing this in stops and starts we need to just get it done in an organized way. The first areas we are working on are his office and my son Jalen’s bedroom.

It’s amazing the amount of things you come across that you had put away until later. We’ve found paid bills dating back years. There are half-finished stories that we have started to write and never completed. We are both avid readers who also love to write. Some stories can be completed and will be kept, but others we will discard.

We’ve found things that made us stop and smile and recall beautiful moments in our lives. A picture taken years ago on a trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica that we thought was lost. There are pictures or notes from loved ones who have passed on. A feeling of grief and pain is the first emotion, and then discussing the happy moments spent with them were precious. Memories to last a lifetime that death can never erase.

 Jalen’s job is to go through his toy box and dispose of old toys and give away the ones he has outgrown. While watching him at work it was surprising to see him take up a baby toy and say, ‘Can I keep this for special memories?’ Just like us, children like to hold on to things that have special meaning.

Organising

While decluttering we are also organizing this time around. This way we will be better able to keep stock of what we have and periodically dispose of as the need arises. We are stocking our novels separately from our nonfiction books. Marketing books will be kept together, and the same will be done for books on writing. Yep, my librarian and indexer training are being put to good use.

We plan on buying a few plastic storage boxes and CD-storage racks to help us make better use of our limited space. There are quite a few duplicate CDs that can be given away, plus lots of floppy discs we can’t access. I guess if they’ve been lying around for years we can well do without whatever secrets they hold.

If I was doing the decluttering all by myself it would be a big chore, but sharing it with my family makes it fun. I’m looking forward to continuing the job next week.