Clutter

Today I'm beginning the long, frustrating experience of de-pack ratting my life.

It's remarkable how much stuff accumulates over the years. Envelopes. Scraps of paper. Lighters. Tons of lighters. Credentials, of course. Programs. Rosters. Old bills.

Anyone else ever put themselves through this and come out on the other side organized and less stressed? Seems like this is a relatively recent phenomenon. Seems most of the "de-clutter" books and magazines and such came out this decade.

 

You go through it when you get married and your wife likes things neater/more organzied than you do.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) the de-cluttering doesn't last long and is a process that must be repeated many times.

Before getting married I had a sign on my desk at home - "Please don't straighten the mess on my desk ... you'll confuse me and screw up my whole world" as I had systematic clutter. Despite the appearance of clutter and mess, I knew in which pile or section of clutter I could find the document/paper I was looking for.

 

In this case, a child is on the way. I'm wondering if sports writers are worse regarding clutter than the general public.

 

The only thing that really stings when I've had to downsize is getting rid of some of the reporter's notebooks, especially the ones with the baseball games I've covered. I probably still have a lot scattered about, but I'd love to go back to see some of the notes I took about whatever it was I was covering in 1998 or something.

 

Candles.

 

I set out a few years ago to get rid of half of everything I own. Project Half. I never fully completed it, but I threw a ton (maybe literally) of stuff away. And I could barely tell you what any of it was.

I think I could toss 75 percent of what's in my house and never miss it. Like Tyler Durden says, the stuff you own ends up owning you.

 

I'm probably moving in about two months and a significant portion of what I own won't be coming with me. My own version of Project Half ... or at least a third.

Of course, I got rid of a bunch of stuff a year ago before moving into where I am now.

 

Am I married to you?

My wife has so many damn candles it drives me insane.

We recently moved into our new place and I have forbidden (forbode?) her to put them on display. So far, she's obliged.

As for "de-cluttering," all it takes is a move. I pitched all kinds of shit just three weeks ago. It was a liberating, rewarding experience.

We're about to have a yard sale, too.

I suggest keep anything you can make a few bucks on. And I'm talking a few.

I'm selling shit dirt cheap. I'm not into haggling. My golf clubs? They're going to $10 with the bag. And they're decent clubs.

I figure stuff will move at a cheap, cheap price and I won't have to pitch in the trash.

 

Awesome.

My wife and I have been known to forbid each other of doing certain things.

No candles for her. No sports photos on the main floor for me (those are relegated to the basement).

I asked her to lose some shoes. I had to toss out some t-shirts and ball caps.

 

Once you have kids, 99-99/100% of all your sentimental crap immediately becomes worthless, and rightly so. As Floyd Little once said, "The only thing I know about sentiment is it comes in the dictionary between 'shit' and 'syphilis'.

Which isn't even true.