Sorry for the extended silence, but with all of the preholiday chaos at work (huge deadline on December 21), in our house (houseguests arriving on Dec 21 and baptism for SC on the 22nd), with travel (headed off to see the in-laws on the 23rd...with a 12.5 hour drive each way), and the postholiday lack of internet access, I haven’t really had a chance to catch up. I am still attempting to regain control (and do the laundry).
There is so much talk about resolutions at this time of year that it seems as commonplace as breathing. Will I be working on weight loss in 2008? Absolutely. But the only reason that it waited until 2008 is that the new WW@Work session only begins at the end of January. I don’t view that as a resolution, because it is just a life process that took a hiatus while I was pregnant and subsequently establishing my milk supply. What I do resolve to do in 2008, however, is declutter. We started the process in December as outgrown/outdated/outlived clothing went into boxes and bags. The whole clothing purge is still not over. Mr. D and I have a habit of only buying “classic” styles and then keeping them forever and ever. We are also pretty easy on our clothes, so they tend to stay in pretty good shape. The problem is that we still buy more clothes as if we need to freshen our wardrobes. Capitalist pigs are we. We have, therefore, decided to nip the bud on both ends of the problem. Stop buying new clothes and get rid of clothes that we haven’t used in a while because of size, style, or any other reason.
Once we finish the clothes, we need to tackle books and papers. Given that we are both Ph.D.s, we have a LOT of books and a LOT of papers cluttering our house. Too many. For us, getting rid of a book is like cutting off a limb- something we don’t take lightly. I’m certain that this process will be the slowest and most painful of all.
And I won’t start talking about our hobbies, because those alone are a great source of clutter. We have decided that the hobbies can stay if they are organized and we only add to the hobby stash when absolutely necessary (to finish a project, play a game, give a gift, etc.).
The thing about The Great Cleanup of 2008TM that makes us sure to succeed is that we are approaching it in baby steps. None of this “we’ll finish clearing out the attic tomorrow for sure” type mentality. Too large a job in too small a time. But promising to fill a box with trash from a particular room or clear out a drawer in the file cabinet? Those tasks are completely manageable. And if you do enough small tasks, the large task is accomplished.
So, what’s on your list this year?
2 comments:
Decluttering is always on my list and I'm trying (so hard) to not buy any more yarn until I knit with some of the yarn I've had hanging out in my closet since 2004.
Weight loss, definitely. I just started on Nutrisystem. And I do want DD to have a real room, not just a large alcove off our bedroom (we have a strange house). So, I have been working on giving up our office for her, and I will either move into the alcove or into the guest room downstairs.
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