Thursday Take Three

I like alliteration :)

This evening I decided to clean out a peach basket full of papers that has been sitting in my kitchen for probably a year. I was sure it was full of mouse crap, so had been putting it off. But as I went through it I didn't see any mouse muck in it so I recycled a bunch and saved a bunch, and sprayed the keepers just in case. Good thing too, cuz I just remembered that these papers came from my other peach baskets, which I used for my container garden last summer, and they WERE full of mouse crap. So, not sure the stuff is really clean after all. But it's now in a shoebox in any event, so I can go through it later.

Meanwhile, I recycled 32 papers/envelopes, six brochures, seven business cards, a paper bag, and a hanging file folder. Also recycled a lotion container I've had since 2005. All I had to do was copy the product info off it. Ditto with the paper bag! I also put several more papers aside for shredding and will be checking on a large booklet that I think has been replaced by a newer version. Just checked it, it is a duplicate, and it has been recycled along with an outdated catalog!

Results: Satisfaction that I finally did this. It's really not a lot when I realize how much paper I KEPT, but thinking about the mouse junk I may throw half of what's left out too. I mean, I really don't need about half of it - notes from teleclasses that I've never looked at again, for instance. Hell, half my clutter is notes of that kind - real estate classes mostly. I could throw it all out without another look and not miss it ever.

And that's something for me to think about as well. I've been feeling satisfaction with the new thinking that is taking place as to what cleaning and decluttering really means in terms of self-worth. I may not like cleaning or be very good at it, but I AM worth the trouble it takes to get it done. And that could very well include just chucking stuff I never look at, that I saved just in case I'd use it one day. I'm not gonna use those class notes!

This evening I was thinking that I could take everything out of the kitchen so I could hose it down, so to speak - just a good scrubbing with a bucket of soapy water and a Dobie pad or the like. Then when it's done I can put everything back. I'm not just talking dishes and food, I'm talking furniture. Seems to me a good way to get it done right.

Then the rest of the house gets done the same way - except I can't really move the piano out of the living room, lol! I can move it away from the wall, though.

But I think tomorrow my goal will be to recycle some old class notes that I haven't looked at in awhile. This thought produces tremendous anxiety. I can feel that I'm hanging on out of a need for security, but security isn't in the stuff or the notes or the junk drawer. Security has to come from within me. I have to trust that the Universe is a friendly place, and no amount of stuff is going to make that happen. This could be a turning point - I've said that before, so we'll have to see. Clutter is a big crutch for me, but I deserve better. Today I got an email with this subject line: Income Rarely Exceeds Personal Development. It's time I faced my fears and moved to a new level of being and wealth both. I have it in me.