Just in (lost) case declutter

Those who know me, know my holiday pre-planning/packing list is legendary.

I don’t write a new one for every holiday, that wastes time. I have one ready, typed up in Word, pre-filled with all your holiday ‘must-haves’. That said, one size doesn’t fit all – there’s not much of a need for a snorkel in Tennessee – so there are amends for every trip.

At least I know that all the essentials are there – of course, all this is a bit of a moot point when your case doesn’t show up.

Moving office clutter

I work in a digital team. You ‘d think we would have nailed the paperless office thing by now.

We’ve moved locations maybe four times – each time I’m proud to say that we get rid of more stuff.

24 crates, 11 people – this doesn’t add up

Our latest move was last week. We moved 11 people and it took 24 crates. There were at least four shared crates and the rest matched up to an individual. I managed with one. It doesn’t take a maths genius to work out that some of my colleagues used more than this!

I threw away loads of paper. I filled at least one recycling bag.

As a team loads of files and stuff from as far back as 2001 was bagged and binned.

Still decluttering

I’m in my new space now – and after a week I’ve thrown out an old make up bag. I shouldn’t have moved it in the first place.

The comb was a freebie for Just Seventeen magazine. I dread to think how long I’ve had that.

The ties that bind

There’s someone in my team who is holding on to some ‘just in case‘ ties.

When questioned,  it’s clear that he has no intention of ever wearing them. They are university-branded for a start. And let us not forget, he’s keeping two.  This is partly because one is in a display box and “it’d be a shame to just throw it out”.

He’s even said he would never ever wear one of them. Why won’t he throw them away???

This reminds me of the Minimalists’ approach to just in case. They invite you to try the 20 dollars/20 minutes rule. The idea is that if you have something that’s could be ‘just in case’,  ask yourself:

“Can I replace this for less than $20 (if I need to) and will it take under 20 minutes to do so?”

The answer for these ties is a resounding YES on both counts.

I’m going to steal them from the desk drawer under cover of darkness – be warned!!

Feeling inspired

It’s almost two years since I started my decluttering journey.

The office move and some recent conversations with friends who also do this (usually because of moving house) have inspired me to do some more.

Like I did back at Easter 2014, I’m going to use Easter 2016 (that’d be this weekend then) to throw out more stuff that I don’t need!

Wish me luck.