A Strange and Wondrous Sight

Jae's Home Office De-Cluttering Journey ~ Part 5

Today I am going to share a personal story that strengthens my belief that, just as clutter begets more clutter, de-cluttering can inspire more de-cluttering ... for anyone.

Sunday morning, I picked up my cup of coffee, and I sauntered into our living room. Sitting in my chair, I leaned back, put my feet up on the ottoman, and sighed into cushioned comfort. I was all ready to spend a leisurely hour listening to the morning news. Then, as I was raising my cup to take that first sip of coffee, out of the corner of my right eye, I beheld a strange and wondrous sight. It was so strange, and so wondrous, that I just stopped.

Frozen in place, with my coffee cup poised about a foot from my open mouth, I slowly turned my head to try to fully comprehend ~ to try to make some sense out of ~ what I thought I was seeing. As I heard my husband walk into the room to join me, I still could not take my eyes off this unusual vision. And, as he sat down on the couch, I cautiously asked ...

"Am I still dreaming? Or did you really clean up the coffee table?"

To which he replied offhandedly, "Yeah. I did it last night while you were sleeping. The piles were getting kind of high, and all of your office clean-up kind of motivated me."

I was speechless ... which any of my friends will assure you does not happen often.

Now, this certainly is not a designer-neat coffee table. But to my husband ~ the organizationally-challenged "Oscar Madison" of this real-life Odd Couple ~ this is extreme neatness.


And, to celebrate this moment of pure, unexpected, organizational delight, I have provided a closeup picture. Am I going a bit overboard about this? Yes, I am. But let me put this vision into perspective for you. Some of you may be able to relate.


Up until this amazing view ~ where the piles of magazines are each only two inches high ~ those three piles ranged in height from six to twelve inches! They created a sort of paper stairway monument to all of the information my husband had gleaned from them. And he really does read every one of his magazines cover to cover. Hey, he's a geek ~ an information junkie. He's more concerned about organizing what's inside his head than what's on the coffee table. Thankfully, over our 25 years together, this Ms. Neat and Mr. Geek have learned how to respect each other's neatness comfort zones.

But, back to my Sunday morning story of the Strange and Wondrous Sight.

As I finally managed to take that first sip of coffee, there were even more surprises for me. Not only did my husband "neaten up" the coffee table while I slept Saturday night, but he also removed all of the address labels from each of those magazines. This time-consuming process ~ which I have done many times ~ created a huge pile of recyclables ready to go out the front door. He wasn't interested in saving any of them ~ or any of the previous issues that had already been saved!

Oh yes, up until now, we have saved them! Usually, when those piles on the coffee table get over 12 inches high, the magazines get transferred into this bookcase, where the last 12 months of each magazine is stored.

Years ago, I bought these wonderful, inexpensive cardboard magazine holders ~ often called Banker Boxes. You can tell by how worn they are, that they have been around for awhile ... at least 20 years. So obviously, they are extremely durable. Today, they are also available in many different sizes, colors and construction materials ~ made of not only cardboard, but plastic and very sturdy fiberboard.

In this small storage cabinet with doors, I also use Banker Boxes to store small gift bags, tissue paper, and gift tags. They work great for old research papers too, which was helpful when I was a student.

And, even my old journals are easily, and neatly stored together in this simple organizing product. So, try them. You'll like them!

But, back to the Sunday morning story ...

My husband had even one more surprise for me. For his grand finale, the love of my life proceeded to explain that in going through this spontaneous de-cluttering process, he realized that he did not need to receive all of those car magazines anymore. Just about anything he needed to know, he could find online. Thus, we could cancel all of the subscriptions except one! He still wanted that one magazine because it was his favorite, and he just enjoyed laying back and leisurely reading it. BUT, we did not have to keep months of back issues even of that favorite magazine.

At that point, I was thinking to myself, "If this is some kind of sign of a space alien body invasion, I am not reporting it."

Then, finally, my Organizer Self snapped out her surprise-induced stupor and realized with an internal scream, "FREE SHELF SPACE!" Which I desperately needed because of the dilemma I was facing in my home office de-cluttering project.

Remember where we left off last time?
In front of the "Guilty as Charged Case"?

Well I have made a good deal of progress on that case. I sorted through and cleared away a couple of easy-to-deal-with boxes on the shelves. Plus I went through that big box sitting on the floor with the clutter on top of it. Whoohoo!

However, by clearing away that box on the floor, I found a classic organizational challenge behind it. I must have been unconsciously trying to shield myself from the trauma when I put that box on the floor.

The newly-placed post-it labels on those two white file boxes read "Family Photos" and "Our Photography". And inside of them is the same dilemma many families face ... how to keep our favorite photos in a way that offers easy, organized access to our cherished family memories and other favorite snapshots.

With my husband giving me the unexpected gift of freed up shelf space in our living room, the first part of my photo storage dilemma was solved. Up until that morning, I had been really stumped as to where I was going to store the contents of those boxes of photos. Now my only concern is ...

What kind of photo storage will eventually
be sitting on those freed up shelves?

I knew that I did not have anything that would work in that spot. And that's when it hit me.

I was going to have to go shopping.

I had been putting off the shopping trip because I wanted to make just one trip. I've been keeping a list of things I will need for "final touches" as I've been nearing the end of this project. But, this photo storage reorganization has to be addressed now ~ before Mr. Geek realizes what he has done.

Although there's lots of research to be done about photo storage before I walk into a store to touch and feel the products, I've have been totally re-inspired and re-energized by the strange and wondrous sight of a neat coffee table and an unexpected gift of Free Shelf Space.

Sigh!



Until next time ..

I wish for each you
a strange and wondrous sight of your own,
and an unexpected organizational gift
that is exactly what you need
to be inspired and energized.

Peace & Light,
Jae