Looks like I'm doing monthly updates rather than weekly. Well, that's ok, BECAUSE. Major breakthrough!
Since my last post, I have discovered the tool I have been waiting, wishing, and hoping for. It's the Fujitsu ScanSnap 510. Click HERE to behold the wonder that is instant sheet-fed scanning! I have been burning up the moveable parts catching up on scanning and absolutely just PLOWING through the files, stacks, and magazines.
I am forcing a new habit of processing my magazines the day they arrive. I can relax on this after this monster project is done, but for now, I want to continue applying the principle of "do the most recent first" (I've seen this mentioned many times in reference to scrapbooking photo collections).
Anyway, this tool is genius. I discovered it accidentally one Thursday or Friday night in mid-february. I read all the reviews, gave it some thought, and bought it from Amazon within 24 hours of learning about it. It arrived a few days later and this last month has been so fun! I should be embarrassed to admit that!
I think the bigger picture there is that finally I can actually see the light of day to getting out from under my obnoxiously large paper collection. Things I had hung onto for so long - work reference materials, valuable information from conferences I've attended - even just paperwork, records, statements, etc. that I've been dragging my feet on because the flatbed just took too long and my software kept freezing on me, losing all the stuff I'd scanned anyway.
Within another month, I hope to report that my piles are H-I-S-T-O-R-Y!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Eighty-Seven
That's the number of plastic storage containers I have accumulated. Now, of course, i didn't realize this since the were acquired one, two, three at a time.
I got sort of stalled the last several weeks with the whole paper taming project and so, with intent to shake up the "chi" surrounding my possessions, I literally tore apart the spare bedroom. Now this room was full of things. Crates, boxes, an armoire filled with things, things on top of the armoire, things stuffed in the closet...under the bed...on the bookshelves.
Not enough stuff to qualify for an Oprah/Peter Walsh intervention, but enough. Enough that i feel weighted down, heavy, unable to move through my own life again. Perhaps this is just a depression manifesting itself, but either way, it needs to be tackled.
So I began. Friday..maybe Saturday. I can't even remember now. But I slogged, I sorted, I tossed, I trashed. And in the end, I have a room that is still not really functional, BUT, the piles are on their way to something. I cleared out the armoire, the closet, under the bed. I also worked in the office, clearing off the shelving unit and the black hole called a closet.
Lots of progress, lots of things to donate and give away. More paper and labels than I will ever use in a lifetime. A hidden stack of MORE magazines, which have been added to the pile to go through. Eighteen years of Writer's Digest (not that it helped much, eh?). INSANE.
I have begun. To lighten, to liquify, to lessen that which holds me down and hold me back. I have 87 plastic storage containers to go through. For the first time in my life, I am thankful for the apparent long winter still in front of us!
I got sort of stalled the last several weeks with the whole paper taming project and so, with intent to shake up the "chi" surrounding my possessions, I literally tore apart the spare bedroom. Now this room was full of things. Crates, boxes, an armoire filled with things, things on top of the armoire, things stuffed in the closet...under the bed...on the bookshelves.
Not enough stuff to qualify for an Oprah/Peter Walsh intervention, but enough. Enough that i feel weighted down, heavy, unable to move through my own life again. Perhaps this is just a depression manifesting itself, but either way, it needs to be tackled.
So I began. Friday..maybe Saturday. I can't even remember now. But I slogged, I sorted, I tossed, I trashed. And in the end, I have a room that is still not really functional, BUT, the piles are on their way to something. I cleared out the armoire, the closet, under the bed. I also worked in the office, clearing off the shelving unit and the black hole called a closet.
Lots of progress, lots of things to donate and give away. More paper and labels than I will ever use in a lifetime. A hidden stack of MORE magazines, which have been added to the pile to go through. Eighteen years of Writer's Digest (not that it helped much, eh?). INSANE.
I have begun. To lighten, to liquify, to lessen that which holds me down and hold me back. I have 87 plastic storage containers to go through. For the first time in my life, I am thankful for the apparent long winter still in front of us!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Kicking My A%@(#$*()Q#@
That's what these last two weeks have done. I can't believe we are only 24 days into the new year and already I am....tired.
Well, carry on. Suck it up. That's my advice to myself. Along with "this too shall pass".
So.
Me-0, Magazines-1
The piles are no smaller. I did divest a large unsorted tear pile that I started sometime in mid-December and got that straightened out finally. Now I just need to re-focus and really kick ass on the piles of whole mags. Since my recycle bin filling of early January, I haven't done much.
I could blame work or something, but I'm not really sure what it was/is. Just have to plug away and try to shift momentum back in my favor.
Well, carry on. Suck it up. That's my advice to myself. Along with "this too shall pass".
So.
Me-0, Magazines-1
The piles are no smaller. I did divest a large unsorted tear pile that I started sometime in mid-December and got that straightened out finally. Now I just need to re-focus and really kick ass on the piles of whole mags. Since my recycle bin filling of early January, I haven't done much.
I could blame work or something, but I'm not really sure what it was/is. Just have to plug away and try to shift momentum back in my favor.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Year End Wrapup
Just a few days late! Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with all I accomplished on this project in 2007. I didn't really get started on it until June, and I have made some great headway into clearing the clutter, once and for all! So much so that it took me 8 trips yesterday to take stacks of magazines out to the recycle bin!
I've even started to extend my decluttering to other parts of the house - I have two boxes going in the kitchen and did a 27-fling in there last night. Actually have more than 27 things already and it was just a rudimentary once-over. Today I want to get some storage for the miscellaneous spices and things so I can organize them better and gain some space in the lower cabinet. That will help in finding homes for all the "crap" that sits on top of the shelving.
If only everything were falling into place so nicely. Humph. I'll just keep on with the forward momentum and see where it takes me. Here's to '08!
I've even started to extend my decluttering to other parts of the house - I have two boxes going in the kitchen and did a 27-fling in there last night. Actually have more than 27 things already and it was just a rudimentary once-over. Today I want to get some storage for the miscellaneous spices and things so I can organize them better and gain some space in the lower cabinet. That will help in finding homes for all the "crap" that sits on top of the shelving.
If only everything were falling into place so nicely. Humph. I'll just keep on with the forward momentum and see where it takes me. Here's to '08!
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