De-Cluttering - Week 8 Office Roadblocks Cleared

In my world, everytime I want to put something someplace, something else has to be moved first.  Then that thing also needs to move somewhere where some other thing will have to make way for it.  It's like one roadblock after another, and one of the main reasons why things find places to just pile up.

A couple of years ago I bought a desk specifically to do my artwork on, but as I showed you in week one, it became another surface where stuff magically appeared and took over.  One of the main reasons why the desk never stood a chance of being used for what I had intended was another little piece of equipment that was supposed to work as an organizer. 

I was given a nice big organizer caddy for my craft paints,  but the problem was, I didn't really have a place to put it, once the desk arrived on the scene.  It ended up near the desk, but basically in the way if I wanted to get into the filing drawer. I figured the first thing I had to do was find another place for these paints.....but where? 

Originally I had them in the closet, but .... well, I'm sure you will see me try to clean that out too at some point.  This was originally my spare room, and then became my office.  There are a lot of things I'd rather store in that closet than what is currently in there, but I digress.

This morning I woke up with the idea that maybe the paint organizer could fit into the corner, under my desk.  That would not be a very handy spot for them, but it's not like I use the craft paints all that often anymore, and I'm sure I'd get more use out of my desk it they were moved.  Right now, this is the only solution I can think of. 

So first I had to get whatever was back in that corner out of there. Well, you may recall from week three that I noticed a bunch of big envelopes in a photo I posted and said I'd have to tidy up that corner.  Well, hey, I did that this morning! 

I found a couple of USB cords under there, that had likely been attached to my old computer, but now didn't seem to be attached to anything. I put them in my cord box.  That's really a pie box but who puts pies in boxes these days?  I've long since repurposed it as a place to store various cords.

I have come to the conclusion that I'm a pack rat. I hoard certain things, without even thinking about it.  One of those things happens to be big envelopes that come in the mail.  I reuse them to corral each year's business receipts.  I use them to stuff all the smaller bits of paper into, when recycling.  That keeps little pieces of paper from blowing away once the blue bin has been put at the curb.  I even use the bubble wrapped ones to store other things in, when I think a little padding would be a good idea.  I just didn't realize that my collection had grown as much as it had.  I saved a few envelopes and put them in a neater home elsewhere. There is only room for a few there, so that should help me limit my collection.  I shredded any that had my name and address on them, and recycled the rest.  I'm not sure about the ones with bubble wrap. You likely can't put them in the paper recycle bin, so I guess they will have to go out with the regular trash.  If the are recyclable, please let me know.

So, I got out the vacuum and moved everything that was under the desk, and did a thorough cleaning way back under there.  There is a pull out table that sits under my desk, so I can have it for extra desk space when required.  I had to pull that right out of it's spot in order to tuck the paints into their new corner.  I discovered that I couldn't have used that desk if I needed it either, as I had been storing mail order catalogues there.  So I went through those, filed the few that were still good where they actually belonged, and ditched the rest. 

Everything under my desk is now clean and tidy, but that wasn't the job I originally planned to do.  It was all the major clutter that sits behind me as I sit here.  The stuff that keeps me from the desk where I want to paint.  Cleaning the actual desk off again, won't happen until I can get close to it either.

Now, there are certain things that sit on the floor behind me that live there, and I really don't intend to move them. At least not at this point.  The laptop is there, as is my briefcase.  The bag I use to haul my paint and projects with me when I go to classes or friends or other paint spots is also there, fully packed and ready to go.  Right now there is also a bag containing my hand weights and stretchy bands that I take with me to the exercise classes (that I have not been to lately....but will be going back soon).  I might consider stashing that elsewhere.

There was a three tier filing system sitting there right now too. The idea is to hang that on the wall close to my desk, once we figure out just where everything else goes.  I pretty well have a designated spot for it picked out now, so I just need the man (with longer arms than mine) to hammer in a nail.  I see it's time to do some major filing too, when I get a moment, as that's getting rather full.  But at least I do that on a fairly regular basis.

It's been a busy day.  While I was doing all this, I was also cleaning the oven.  It needed it as my Winter Beans boiled over the other day, and made a mess that had to be cleaned up before I'd be able to use the oven again. 

I do still have the box full of stuff that had been on my desk before the new computer and monitor arrived.  I really do have to get into that and sort through it, as who knows if there is something important that I've totally forgotten.  That's going to have to be some other day though.  Maybe it will be next weeks project.   Right now, sitting in one spot, sorting through a box sounds like a big enough project to me.



 

Clean up some corner of your space and show us what you've done.

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