Clearing the clutter from the Secretary desk |
I'm not as bad as some and I'm not as good as others at clearing the ephemera and paper clutter from our lives, however like Vicki I have wondered, "why do I do this?" I can reason my way around this rather harmless addiction with any or all of the following justifications :
This article, cartoon, clipping will make a good blog story someday; or
Here is a website I can check on later; or
I will mail this off to Sandy or Carlie, or:
Oh, Bonnie will want to know about this; or
Here is a book I would like to read someday; or
That's a place to visit on our travels; or
This is a lovely card that I will prop here and enjoy a while longer, or
This will go in the scrapbook about my father, my grandparents, etc.; or
That's a cause I want to donate $ to and will send off a check soon; or
I will have to read that offer again, perhaps I want to subscribe; or on & on...
I have inherited this tendency to accumulate interesting items,
I am Teofils's granddaughter.
I am Teofils's granddaughter.
First step of the clutter that then goes to the secretary desk. The kitchen counter is now happily cleared except for current cooking magazines |
This time I found some old newspapers back to 2005 about interesting events happening locally, the 2006 invitation to our friends' surprise 50th wedding anniversary in Indiana hosted by her cousin with directions, etc., scaps with phone numbers of I know not whom nor what, some odd buttons from something that found their way into the stack, a wedding invitation from 2008, graduation announcements from this year relatively current and now easily tossable, and some recipes which no longer sound appealing. Once I found some cash, maybe $20, which I don't recall setting there and then I shuddered, "here I go it's happening!" This time I had maybe a paper grocery sack less than 2/3 the way full with junk, so it's not so bad it just looks worse than it is.
You get the drift and maybe you have other reasons or maybe you are able to escape the Great paper chase, maybe you are a minimalist, a real neatnik who tosses all immediately. I once thought that computers were to rid us of paperwork and now I have learned that I print things from them and there is another stack!
I thought when we moved to MN from CA I would no longer receive so much odd/junk mail, most of which I do process immediately into the trash can in the kitchen, but there is the occasional item for the litter pile or later to be dealt with. I thought wrong. I bought an address stamp for us when we moved here because I was sure I would no longer receive those return address labels, you know the kind, handy for envelopes, but address labels have become so ubiquitous that they have a separate side in the desk drawer and a folder atop the secretary, boy was I ever wrong there! Besides now that we send less in the snail mail and do more business online, how many address labels does one need? I carry a small supply in my purse when I carry a purse, handy to slap onto tickets purchased at charitable drawings rather than entering the information by hand on those small lines. Many labels go to the waste basket right away. But after my efforts I still have quite the assortment of address labels, seasonals, and so on.
I do not donate to many charitable organizations, willy nilly, only my few longtime favorites, besides the local church, so it is not that they have me in their sights as the next unaware victim to send them $5. I feel no guilt in not sending them back their nickels that they send me nor in keeping the notepads and not sending them any money, because this is unsolicited. Jerry's 93 year old mother does donate $5 to every ragtag appeal and consequently gets more junk mail than anyone in La Crescent, attested to by her mailman who has a big route in this little town and outghta know. Now she takes her junk mail seriously because it is addressed to her "personally" so she reads every word, never mind that her dementia precludes comprehension or retention of what she's reading but she retains stacks of junk mail to read. Her end tables and kitchen table display foot high stacks as testament to her devotion to the printed word! This sight makes me ever alert to not over indulge my pack rat tendencies to that extreme!
The desk now can close |
Patriot Bears aligning |
Oh and another thing, the bedroom patriotic bears are well pleased. They live in that room next to the desk atop their bed which is now adorned with their magnificent Salute of Roses quilt for which they waited many years, these bears are quite neat and picky and intolerant of paper stacks of distraction. They have exercised restraint, recently with company from Colorado, but that is another blog story. I just don't want to try their patience too far.
Home of the patriot bears and the clear secretary desk |
i can really identify with this...
ReplyDeletei have a similar desk/bureau - but its rarely clear enough to allow me to close it
Oh, I understand the paper explosion which happens overnight :-) I've resolved to deal with each piece of paper only once - as soon as I pick it up, I have to decide what to do with it - put the new address in my address book, file it, put it in the "to pay" file, bookmark a website on the laptop, email a link to a friend, put it in the recipe book, or face it, nothing will happen so bin it. Hopefully this will reduce my heaps!
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