I’ve recently been helping a client get organized, mostly with stacks of files and other “important” papers. I can understand certain behaviors that result in the accumulation of “stuff” that we pack into containers that eventually get stored in the garage. I’m guilty of some of those behaviors myself. I’ll read a magazine and either tear out pages or mark them in the magazine and then throw them into a box, with the intention of getting back to whatever it was I wanted to look at again. But more often than not, months later when I’m cleaning, I’ll just throw them out. Whatever it was that I needed to get back to was obviously not that important and easily forgotten. I also have various pieces of paper lying around containing lists of things that I need to remember. Luckily I live in a tiny space so my “stuff” can’t get out of hand, but I do seem to spend a certain amount of time and energy transferring contents of one list to a new master list. After a few months, I’ll downsizing and throw them all away, which is a great feeling. But I soon start another list and another pile of magazine pages, and the cycle begins again.
Why do we accumulate stuff? I’m realizing that the things that I write down, the lists I make, the magazines I keep, are things that I want to remember. I write down the anti-aging ingredients that my skin care must have in it. I keep a list of the things I want to accomplish around the house and yard. I tear out pages that have something inspiring on them so I can have it around in case I need inspiration. After awhile, the intentions I have with all this stuff isn’t the same as when I first read it and I’m presented with the dilemma of what to do with it all. I just have nowhere to put this collected information and have to either file it away (which means I’ll never be reminded of it unless I go through the file) or throw it away.
The times when I’ve thrown a list away, I’ve trusted that I’ll remember the important things when the time is right. I can always research the best way to get rid of stains on the grout in the tub when I’m ready to actually tackle that task. No need to keep that torn out piece of magazine paper and keep it on my desk not only to remind me what cleaning solution will be best for the job, but also to remind me to actually get in there and do it. So, throwing those things away is freeing, and immediately my to-do list shrinks. A win-win.
Do we really bombard ourselves with so much information on a daily basis that we have to start writing down the stuff that doesn’t fit in our brains. Reminders to buy new hardware for the kitchen cabinets, research potential accent colors for the bathroom and clean out the wasp trap in the backyard. What happens if we throw the lists away? Would we spend the week paralyzed not knowing what to do? Something tells me we would do the things that are right in front of us. We would get to them when the time was right. And maybe, just maybe, we’d free ourselves of the insurmountable bits of information we think we need to absorb so frequently.
