Day 23

I don't know why, but I have a weird thing about odd numbers. It feels like odd-numbered days are harsher days, odd-numbered years are unsettling. I always prefer to turn an even number (out of luck this year, I'll be 37 on Thursday). Holy cow. I've never written that out before. That looks SO much older than 36! It would totally get rounded up to 40!! Though, really, who cares--the numbers seem more meaningless all the time.

Well, now that I ran the gamut of emotion around my age, let's get back to the fact that this is Day 23 of my independent project. Last night there was a minor crisis in the putting away of the the clothes--I woke the baby up on the way to the closet, and he was NOT happy. I felt terrible! He sat up in his crib, crying and looking at me through squinty, tired eyes, not understanding what was going on. And when I took him out to change him (since I had to pretend to myself that it was actually a good thing I went in there since his diaper was looking kind of full) he lay down on the changing table and just sadly said, "Bed."

I put him back in the crib as quickly as possible and scooted right on out of there, leaving my shoes in the middle of the floor and my clothes in my bedroom. I must have put them away earlier today, because they're not out anymore, but to be honest I don't remember doing it. Maybe my new habit really has become subconscious!!

Awesome. In the meantime, my dresser looks great and I love waking up to it. The remaining homeless items are now living temporarily on the bottom shelves of my night table, where they're out of the way until I have time to deal with them. My super-awesome friend Nate, who I just found out is my #1 blog-fan, and I were talking about the dresser leftovers tonight. She suggested putting everything in a box and getting it out of the way, and then looking at it again in 6 months, at which point I'll probably be able to toss most of it easily.

It's not a bad idea--I know that when I work with clients we usually come across at least one shopping bag full of old mail, half-finished projects and miscellaneous stuff that was cleared off some surface and hidden away just as guests were arriving. The hiding-of-the-stuff, of course, tool place several months (or years) before our session, and we were looking at it with fresh, and more objective, eyes. Very often it is easy for them to toss things--bills that have since been paid, coupons that have expired, fliers for events long over, phone numbers of people they don't remember, wires and plastic pieces that have no clear identities, projects they're no longer interested in, and other items that aren't worth the time to sort through and store.

Sometimes there are items they want to keep but still don't know what to do with--photos, gifts they don't exactly like, torn out articles about the five most important foods to buy organic (thanks Nate) and how long makeup lasts before you should toss it. Also: Catalogs with pages folded down or torn out pictures of things they'd like to buy or places they'd like to visit; warranties; kids' drawings; charity mailings; buttons in little envelopes with the designers' names on them; thank you notes that never got sent; used Chapstick; pens; rewards cards from stores they never really go to; receipts; loose change; gift cards; and checks. Once I found a $50,000 check. That was an awesome day.

So that leaves us back where we started, though with a greatly reduced pile. And, again, I think the next step is just setting aside the time to create permanent, logical places for these things to go, with enough room for their cousins to join them when they come to visit. It may also be time to start letting go. I'll make one job easier for you: You will almost surely NEVER use those buttons. Unless it's some fantastically unique button from a fabulous piece of clothing that you love, toss the buttons.

And it is almost as likely that you will never refer back to the magazine articles. The only time you're going to look at them is when you're going through old papers to clear up space in your home. At that point you'll probably say, "Hey, this is a great article! It's such useful information!" and put it in your keep pile. DON'T! Toss the articles; the information is probably outdated and you can find it all online.

Keep the checks.

You can often have them reissued if they're past the deposit date, and you can make a few calls and have certain dividend checks become direct deposit checks so you can skip this step in the future.

Anyway, taking time to make permanent homes + releasing things to the universe + maintenance = clearer space + (eventually) more time to do the things that are really important to you. Actually, scratch that last part. Start doing the important things now. Sprinkle them in each day while you're going through the backlog and you'll be living a more rewarding life starting right away.