Brain Dumping Update

Another busy two weeks leading into the Labor Day weekend, and my brain is buzzing again. I really need a PenSeive*. Work has kept me busy through most daylight and into the night hours, but the past few days I had a surge of free time so took the opportunity to plug away at the latest stack. I cleared probably almost 10". Lucky for me, it was a pre-sorted "No Scan" pile, so I could move quickly through it.

Never content to let progress stand too long, I just on a whim decided to bring in a new foot-high stack from the armoire in the spare room. This puts my "beside the desk" pile back up to max height (i.e. the top of the desk). But even though I'm "refreshing" it, I feel like I am making progress. Better progress than ever before.

The last time I caught up this much was when I wasn't working back in 2002-2003. I didn't have the same type of plan in place to clear it all back then though. It was more like "wow, cool that I have all this". Now, I want it GONE! Plus I have better tools - better pc, scanner, software, etc.

Also during August I pulled out two crates from the closet. I *think* these are the only two in there with magazine/paper-related materials. The rest is all office supplies that will need sorting and purging at a later date. That's part of the bigger declutter plan!

I'm hoping this stack from the armoire is old enough to just toss 99% of it. That fact is what drives me forward. Realizing that if I had a better system of reading my materials when they're current, the info will mean more. I am pushing myself to get this backlog done so that I can read and enjoy and use the CURRENT magazines and websites.

I am to the point of tossing without even looking (big deal for me!) at articles having to do with technology (although when I do occasionally read one, they are amusing in how much things have changed since the dark ages of 1998!), skin care (nothing changes, every magazine covers this seasonally), and health and beauty products. These "new and exciting" products are now 5, 6, 7 years old...so many new ones have come out since then, why bother? I'll find the new, cool stuff. I might make a note of a cosmetics company that is new to me, but that's about it. Toss, toss, toss!! Bags and bags of trash, leaving the house nightly! SO FUN!

*A PenSeive is a magical object from the Harry Potter books. It allows one to remove thoughts from one's brain and store them away for either safekeeping or pondering at a later date. Removed thoughts can go back into one's brain when ready. A fabulous concept that really should be invented for us Muggles**.

** The 7th book in the series came out July 21. I decided before reading it, I would delay the inevitable ending of the series (No!) by re-reading the entire series before culminating in the last book. So the entire month of August I have been reading Harry. I'm on Book 6 now, so am completely immersed in HP culture.