Really! I think I need a 12 step program.
For an addiction to office supplies.
Who in their right mind, aside from a retail store, needs so many office supplies?
Two closets and full closets. A desk with huge drawers. A mini cabinet next to my husband’s desk. An old chest of drawers. All packed. Piled up. Stack on the shelves. in crates. In boxes and containers.
Everything clean and tidy. Organized. Simply TOO MANY THINGS!
And this, after he had already purged the office supplies a few months earlier!
I had gotten rid of boxes and boxes of hanging files. Pens and pencils thrown away by the 100. Tablets thrown away, those that were given away at congresses with other people’s names. Dusty folders and files. Deep floppies…does anyone still use them?
Things I didn’t even know I had, let alone ever used.
Old computer cables, plugs and chargers. Additional telephone wiring. Where do all these come from? What happens if I throw the same one I would need?
Enough staples to last several lifetimes. Sticky notes of all sizes and colors. Partially used magazines that didn’t feel quite right, so they put them away in a drawer.
Even after a serious purge, I still had a supply cabinet and closet stocked with office supplies.
But enough, it was enough. It was time for her to admit it: I, Joan, am an office supply addict.
And with that, the extra supply cabinet had to go.
After all, it was our guest bedroom. It hadn’t been a home office for months.
Who needs a supply closet in a guest bedroom?
We had plenty of room to store supplies in our shared home office.
Big enough, don’t you think? And yet even this wardrobe had to be downsized.
Somehow, things that weren’t office supplies found their way onto the shelves, like two boxes of purses!
Outside those are gone. Given. Thrown off. Stored in my bedroom closet, where they rightfully belonged.
How easy it is to let the excess build up, grow and take over.
Especially for those items that we think are so valuable. Usable. And necessary.
Before we know it, we have to add more storage to hold it all.
Here’s a GREAT tip… use your current storage limits as a guide. If you notice you need to ADD more storage space (another cabinet, drawer, shelf or shudder, a PAID storage unit), then STOP. Take a break.
There’s your warning sign: DANGER. DANGER.
It’s time to let go instead of hold. To thin the herd. To take stock of what you REALLY use.
Recognize that you don’t need anything else; in fact, chances are you can get by with less.