Decluttering and Simplifying

Once or twice a year I like to go through the closet and clean things out.  I supposed the desire to do some spring cleaning hit me yesterday, and I took it to a whole new level.  It started with the photos on my external hard drive.  I switched to a new editing software and was learning about organizing the photo library.  There were around 4,000 photos on that drive, and I knew many of them could be deleted.  What better time to do it than when I’m working on organizing.

I love organization and lists, but it seems like things get out of control despite my best intentions.  This year, I didn’t even buy a calendar for our house.  I know, I know.  Who needs a paper calendar with a Smartphone.  There’s just something I love about writing birthdays and travel plans on a calendar.  So, I decided I would start using the iCal on the MacBook Pro.  No, it’s not the same as a paper calendar with pretty pictures, but it’s fun to use.  And we plan on getting iPhones soon, so everything will sync.  Synchronized organization!

I got through a decent number of photo folders, but was getting hungry.  I started getting ready, and then got sidetracked going through the closet.  It’s a natural time for closet organization with the seasons changing.  This time I went through with serious determination. All those clothes that I thought about getting rid of before, but left in there, positive I would wear them the very next week, were gone.  No hesitation.  However, I waffled on a few pairs of pants.  Over the years, I have spanned six different sizes.  I still have some of what I like to call my “big girl pants” (and no, I don’t mean maturity level).  It would take some dedication to have to wear those pants again, but what if we have kids and what if I gain 60-80 pounds like some of my friends have?  So, I held on to them.  Perhaps I’m setting myself up by keeping them…hmm, it’s not too late to put them in the Goodwill bag…

After pulling out stacks of clothes and organizing what was left, I felt like I’d tackled enough for the day.  Unfortunately, a few hours later I stopped at one of my favorite clothing stores and bought five or so items to “replace” what I had pulled out of the closet.  But I got a good deal!  Everything was 40% off!

Today, I decided to tackle my personal email account.  That Type A part of my personality feels the need to save a copy of all my sent messages…in my personal email…which I use to email friends and family.  Who does that?  I looked in my sent mail folder and had over 3,500 messages dating back to August of 2008!  Look at what happens when I have unlimited storage space.  Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining to have a short trip down memory lane, but that was way out of control.  I deleted everything, and changed my settings so that no copy is saved.  If I need to keep something for some reason, that’s what the bcc is for.  After deleting all those messages, I was again hungry, and could not bear to go through the rest of the folders today.  Just imagine how many “real” messages I’ve saved if I had 3,500 irrelevant sent messages?  I couldn’t face it.

Now that I have started the decluttering process with new vigor than ever before, I am hoping the I can continue to stay organized and simplify life.  It makes it much easier to enjoy down time if I’m not worrying about the clutter around the house.  I’m optimistic.  However, the means I should probably go fold the laundry…