Yesterday, I decided I really needed to start cleaning out some of my junk. I sometimes forget just how much of a pack rat I am until I see some of the piles laying around the house. The sad part is that I am even better at hiding things than I really noticed.
I started off yesterday just trying to clean out one pile of stuff next to my desk. I had a bag of random stuff and then a few piles. Well, that quickly spiraled out of control. I ended up going through those piles, as well as 2 drawers in one of my filing cabinets and my desk shelves. All in all, I think I threw out about 10 bags of garbage (and that was just from one small corner of my apartment).
I tried to pull away very hard from my pack rat ways and just get rid of stuff that I knew I did not need any more and was holding on to for that "one day when I may need it again". All in all, it worked out pretty well. I got rid of lots of stuff and freed up a bunch of space. The two filing cabinets drawers pretty much got completely emptied. There was stuff from 2 and 3 jobs ago still sitting in them. I also found some ATM receipts from the mid 90s. Along with all sorts of other junk.
It was liberating to get rid of so much stuff. And thanks to my new shredder, I was not too worried about the bank statements and whatnot which bit the dust. I have some more stuff to shred tonight (the shredder automatically shuts off after too much work) and still have 2 more drawers to go through, but it is getting there slowly.
The big goal right now is to keep the momentum up. I still have a ton of this kind of stuff that just needs to get tossed. The three main areas right now are the rest of the filing cabinet, the hallway closet and the bedroom. The bedroom mainly is clothes I need to get rid of. I have a ton of laundry built up that needs to get done and sorted in to keep and give to charity piles.
The one catching point for me right now is a lot of the junk is computer and electronic equipment. Since we have dumpsters and not city garbage picking things up, I may have to do a little research in to the best way to get rid of this stuff. But, since I have a ton of it, I think I may just call a company that picks this stuff up and pay them. It may be easier in the end.
If all works out, I hope to have the house "trimmed down" by mid-month. Will be a nice way to start the spring.
