I Need Pile-oholics Anonymous

Stress.  Truth time.  I know where a lot of mine comes from... Piles of stuff surrounding me.  Some of this is my fault.  Some of it is lack of storage.


Wait.  If we don't have the storage, or place to keep things, we shouldn't have the things, so we're back to me... or at least the people here who are managed, taught, and raised by me.  Phew.  More stress.


Back to the piles.  It starts when I don't know what to do with something... Too good or important or official to throw away... so I start a neat little stack of things to deal with later.  But I don't have any better ideas later, and by then, the neat little stack becomes a bigger one, which eventually becomes less neat and morphs into the pile.  

It doesn't help that I have 2 desks, which allows 2 growing stacks, and moving piles from one place to the next.



I was recently very much enjoyed reading a book entitled Going Dutch by Katie Fforde, in which one of the heroines, Jo, deals with things similarly, so she provided a little insight...
She said she didn't like to clear things up, because it required decisions and she didn't like making them.  Her answer, at that moment in the book, was to grab a ribbon and put it around a pile of papers to make them look like they 'needed to be there.' 

Not only does dealing with paperwork require decisions, it requires follow-through... like filing.  When things get into files, they feel well-taken care of, and forever it seems.  
But it's not true.  The files get full and months turn into a new year and things need to move on to a new place.  What to keep?  What to toss?  What might we need?  The truth is, though, even though we have it, if we needed something, who could find it?  I have been lucky in being able to put my hands on things fairly readily, if not too conveniently... But that means I've been cluttering up my tired brain remembering in what odd place they're likely stashed.

Junk mail that didn't go straight to recycle
and was pulled out of the desk pile

I have done a pretty good job in cutting my prior piling problem by throwing away most junk mail as it arrives.  Instead of keeping odd catalogs I might want to look through, to keep the clutter and temptation reduced, the catalogs go directly to recycle.  (Some sneak through the system.)

The ever-growing pile of printed recipes and
often-used cookbooks that don't go back in place
because the shelf is a bit out of reach

Our entry: Drums from Prince Stoic's recent move into
a smaller apartment, chairs and ottomans waiting for the
garage addition, boxes of financial paperwork moved in
the recent carport clean out.  Aaaaargh!

Mugs and such overflowing their shelves
as people contribute their own personal additions

That step really helped, but it wasn't enough.  Multiply the propensity to hold onto things by 10 (people), and I've got a houseful that overwhelms me.   

Extra mattress we use for guests that has
no other home.  :(