Still on Course

During the previous year, I posted a lot about simplifying. I haven't abandoned my quest for simplicity, even if I haven't been writing much about it. I have been moving forward, but only in stages.

I tried several strategies at first, and they really helped. But then work or life would interfere, and although I'd keep trying to do those things (with varying levels of success), I'd sort of hang there for a while. Then, I guess the muse would visit or the spirit would move, and I'd clean out another closet or implement some new practice on the path to simplicity. Two steps forward, one step back.

One of the main things I've been trying to do is to get rid of stuff. It's amazing how many possessions one person can accumulate, and sometimes it's hard to let go of even things I don't really like or hardly ever use. (But it was a gift! But I might use it one day! yada yada yada) But those extra things just weigh me down and stress me out. A lot.

But I've been on a roll again lately, and some advice in an article by Martha Beck titled "The Joy Dividend" has been very helpful to me. She offers this advice as a way to help you decide whether or not to purchase things. But it's also really great for helping decide which things to keep as you purge your possessions. Here's her plan, with my addition in parentheses:

1. Top Dollar Items: "I really NEED it, and I really LOVE it." (Definitely keep it)

2. Bottom Dollar Items: "I really NEED it, but I don't really LOVE it." (Keep it, but no multiples)

3. Remaining Dollar Items: "I don't really NEED it, but I really LOVE it." (Keep it)

4. No Dollar Items: "I don't really NEED it, and I don't really LOVE it." (Toss it)

Beck explains that she uses capital letters for need and love to push the definitions further than we usually take them. If I stay true to her heightened definition of the word, more and more items will end up in category 4, and I buy or keep only things that have true value for me.

I like this system. It certainly makes shopping easier, and I've found it especially helpful in streamlining my closet. It helps me get rid of everything I don't really love wearing--those gifts that don't fit well, those things that I don't really feel comfortable in but hang onto because I remember exactly how much I paid for them, those articles that hang there season after season but I never seem to get around to wearing.

I'm moving ahead. Progress, not perfection.

In & Out

My new paperwork/mail/email systems work like this:

Mail: I get the mail. Immediately I trash the junk mail. I open everything else right then. My magazines go in my reading basket by my chair. My husband's magazines go in his reading basket, yes, you guessed it, in the bathroom. (It's a guy thing, I guess.) I file what needs to be filed. If it's a bill, I throw away all the inserts and put the bill in the new tray I bought for the office desk. If it contains information about a meeting or appointment, etc. I record that information on my calendar immediately. That's it. It takes only a minute or two, and both my desk and my kitchen island (where mail used to languish and multiply) stay clean. Every couple of days, I pay the bills that have accumulated and file them. Nothing's lost and nothing's forgotten.

Email: A week ago my email inbox contained, I'm ashamed to admit, 1252 items. 1252!!! The number alone gave me heart palpitations, but surely all that must be important, right? Wrong. I started with the oldest ones and deleted wholesale. If I didn't even have any idea what was back there, how important could it be? As I got nearer to today's date, I paid closer attention to what was there, but most of it was simply stuff I hadn't deleted way back when I should have. So I deleted everything but a couple of items. Those, I created folders for and moved them into the appropriate one. My rule now is to handle every new email as soon as I read it. If it's junk, I delete it. If I need to respond, I do it right then and then delete. If it's an appointment, I record it in my datebook and delete. If it's something that I may need later, I move it to the appropriate folder. Right now, there's only one item in my inbox, and it's only still there because it's an ongoing group conversation that I'll delete as soon as all have responded and the matter's settled.

So easy. So simple. Right? It's just a habit that I'm trying to do until it becomes second nature. I'm breathing easier already.

Prerequisites

A couple of items on the list really jumped out at me--#26 Create a simple mail and paperwork system and #30 Keep your email inbox empty, for instance--but it made no sense to attempt to alter my patterns without recognizing and dealing with some prerequisites. It doesn't matter how I handle incoming mail if my office looks like a tornado just passed through, or you can't see the color of my desk because papers cover the top of it.

So, I put those two off until I'd done the basics. I told you yesterday about cleaning and organizing our home office. I also started the process at work. The first thing I did was to follow #28 Clear your desk. I began by completely cleaning off the top of my desk. Now, it holds only my lamp, a couple of framed pictures, a blotter, a pencil holder, a coaster for my coffee cup or water bottle, a business-card holder, and an inbox. It looks so much better now. There's plenty of space for working--a vast, peaceful expanse--and my inbox contains only items that I will handle within the next day or two. Everything else was filed, recorded, or thrown away. The drawers aren't too bad, but I'm taking it slowly and organizing one drawer a day. Another new rule: I do not leave work for the day without my desktop being clear. It forces me to handle things immediately, and it feels wonderful to walk in my office the next morning and see that clean desk. Such a simple rule, but so effective. Seeing all that clutter as I entered my office every day used to raise my stress level before work even began. Now, I see the desk and actually feel calmer.

My mail/paperwork/email systems? Tomorrow.

The Next Step

Ok. Confess. How many of you have put an item on your to-do list that you've already done just so you have at least one thing to check off and feel relieved about? Come on, come on.

That's how I felt when I was reading over the list for the first time and ran across #39. Exercise. Aha! At least that's one I already do. 6 days a week I do some form of cardio, usually power-walking or jogging, and 3-4 days a week I strength train. My program's not set in stone. I change when I'm bored or discover something new and interesting, but the main idea is that I do it. I know I need to add Yoga, but I haven't found any classes that work with my schedule, and I haven't been able to discipline myself to do a video. But, I digress . . .

As I said yesterday, I wanted to start with things that would provide an immediate and positive impact on me. One of my first choices was #9. Purge your stuff. The desire to purge my stuff is one of the things that set me on my quest to simplify, but how do I do it without becoming overwhelmed and quitting? I came up with a one-thing-a-day plan. I resolved to do one thing a day that will declutter the spaces I live and work in. I might clean out one drawer, or one cabinet, or one shelf. I put a bag in my closet, and one item a day that I don't ever wear or that I don't really like or that doesn't fit me just right goes into it. When it's full, I donate it to charity. This rule does double duty, because I declutter one thing at home and one thing at work every day. I've been amazed at how easy this is and how good it is making me feel.

I did get one good jump-start last weekend. During the pursuit of my doctorate, I neglected things around the house a little bit, and our home office had become a wilderness, a totally out of control space. Just thinking about it spiked my blood pressure. Walking past it made me want to cry. Papers and books were piled everywhere. It was hard to find anything, and I was always worried that I hadn't paid one of the bills or that an important paper we needed was lost. So last Saturday I decided to just jump in, and my wonderful husband joined me. We cleaned off every flat surface, organized every drawer, went through the cabinets. (Well, except for two that contain only family pictures, baby books, high school annuals, etc. They need organizing but not purging, and they don't affect my daily stress level. I'm saving them for a summer project.) Every paper was filed or thrown away. I was so happy and relieved, and for the rest of the day I'd occasionally just go to the office, walk in, and smile.

Tune in tomorrow for my next step.

Not Enough Bookshelves

During my two-year doctoral leave adjuncts occupied my office at HU, so I'd had to move a lot of stuff out to give them room to put their books on the bookshelves. Most of the books I moved home were ones I thought I'd need for my research. Quite a few books, actually. Add to those the ones I acquired during the course of my doctoral studies and you can imagine how many books were stacked all over the second story of our house.

When I finished writing the dissertation a month or so ago, my husband helped me move all those books back into my office at HU. We just piled them on the floor in a corner because I planned to reorganize as I reshelved.

A couple of days ago, I thought I'd spend the afternoon whipping my office back into shape. Easy, right?

I soon discovered that one afternoon will not be enough. It's not so much the simple act of placing books on a shelf that takes so long. It's deciding where to put what. Do I organize by time period? By author in alphabetical order? By gender? (That makes sense if you realize that one of my areas of concentration is Women's Lit.) By genre?

I think I need to block off at least a whole day for this task. And I'm gonna need more bookshelves.

Booking It--Storage

“How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or do you just put it where it falls on?”

Oh, my. If there is any one part of my life more disorganized right now than any other, it’s my books. Part of it comes from having some of my books in my office (which other people are using during my absence) and part of my books at home. Of course, this leads to the problem of never being quite sure where the book I need is—at home? at the office? lost? Who knows? Major stress.

My books at home are arranged (somewhat) by genre, or at least they started out that way. Downstairs in the office is my Escape Reading Fiction. Upstairs, where I’m working on my dissertation, is a bookshelf arranged by : Shelves One and Two: Works of Jane Austen, Austen Criticism, and Criticism relevant to my dissertation; Shelf Three: 18th Century Fiction Read for Comprehensive Exams; Shelf Four: Non-fiction, Poetry, and Criticism Read for Comprehensive Exams. It's a big bookshelf.

As I said, though, that’s how they started out. Now, there are piles everywhere because I grab what I need as I need it then pile it on a chair, the table, the sofa, or the floor—fully intending, of course, to replace it later. Dream on.

Actually, I have been forcing myself to straighten up after each major milestone. So if you came upstairs right after one of my comprehensive exams, or right after I finished Chapter 1, for example, you might discern some order.

But in between? Fuhgettaboudit . . .