52 Weeks of Organizing: Week 11 - Another Doomed Space

This week, Laura's 52 Weeks of Organizing post didn't really sink in until I started my Week 11 task. She speaks of how those of us participating have been really good about not chastising ourselves for the things we aren't accomplishing. That is true - what I don't get done, I'm not worrying about.

However, what I have been doing is a lot of self discovery and self realization. I know I'm a scatter brain who suffers from a continuous lack of organization. It has been a life long affliction, likely starting early in my childhood when my bed was packed with stuffed animals (my protectors) and grew through the endless things I started to pile up in the corners of my bedrooms (one day, I'll explain the pluralization of that). Sheet music, stories, magazines, books, school notes - anything that can be piled was.

It has followed me into adulthood and the things I've learned to pile has expanded as well - as has my tendency to hoard. My things bring my comfort, the chaos my piles create give me control. It's quite a discovery that I could spend hours dissecting because it is tied to a whole bunch of weirdness in my life but let's just say I think I'm beginning to see where some of the behaviour stems from and that, I think, is part of the battle.

I could organize and tidy until I've completed my list but I know there would be an entirely new list next year because, like my battle with weight, I need to work through the root cause in order to repair the problem.

That's right - psych 101, new on Barefoot Deliberations! ;)

Back to the reality of the task at hand. I realized that our Phone Desk hadn't been seen in a few years and it was as good a time as any to tackle that Doomed Space. As I emptied the contents of the desk, my feelings were mixed. I don't know how or when my house became so cluttered and I'm not sure why I don't deal with things as they occur.

As I sifted through the things piled on the desk and organized them into manageable piles - keep, recycle, freecycle, trash, rehome. I found a few things that made me laugh.
Just a few of the weird things I found... See the motorbike toy? The head? The Christmas pin I spent an hour hunting for at Christmas? It's amazing the treasures you find during this process!

First I discovered that my husband's dedicated cubby had junk (like garbage) at the back. Second, we chuck a lot of stuff up there that doesn't belong. Third, we have things that neither my husband or I can identify tucked away in the desk. Fourth, I have not sorted through some of the stuff since 2005.


But sort I did. I dusted too. And I've got this pile to go through while watching something on TV (as suggested by Laura in today's post).


The end product is something I can live with and my husband was again shocked with the progress. He actually forgot the oak phone desk has a tambour front it's been so long since we've been able to close it!



This week was a good week for me - I learned some things about myself and I'm going to finally deal with the enormous stack of ignored documents!