So, inspired (as always) by my friend Fawndear and her current de-cluttering/purging/organizing adventure, AND sick to the teeth of a mess that currently consumes a particular room in our home, making it largely unusable, AND realizing that in order to feel less crowded in the house we need to GET RID OF UNNECESSARY STUFF, I have decided the time has come for me to clean out, purge and organize the home office once and for all. Although I have always been a rather organized person (and a neat-nick!), I have never been able to keep the creative space in our home organized. Everywhere else in the house could look like a room out of a magazine (although, despite my intentions, it rarely did for more than a day at a time), but walking into the creative space in the house was like walking into another house entirely. Realistically, though, it's not even accurate to say "walking" into the room was like walking into another house, because it, at any given point in its history, has been more of a climb, scramble, hop, jump, or even just a look, into another house, after which you walk away, because you cannot stand to be there.
And that is a huge part of the problem, of course, because I cannot stand to be in it, because it is such a devastatingly overwhelming mess, and, therefore, never actually clean/purge/organize it, it just gets worse, and worse, and worse, ad infinitum.

I started tonight.

Amazing Husband and the Boys had 'the gang' over for D&D, the girls were variously occupied with watching movies and whatever, MIL went out with a friend, and I tackled The Room Formerly Known As The Office. I had lately christened it The Room Of Shame, but, after tonight, it will, hopefully, become The Organized And Inspiring All Purpose Creativity Room in the near, near future.

I have had an extraordinarily significant epiphany through reading about Fawndear's journey: I am a Hoarder.

Whew, it took a lot out of me to write that "out loud."

I would never have categorized myself as a hoarder, I don't fit the archetype. I have always been organized; a place for everything, and everything in its place. I have helped friends with organizing, and been offered a job as a professional organizer on many occasions. However, the fact remains, I Am A Hoarder.

How do I know? Well, the signs are all there, once you know what to look for: nearly everything that is in the way in The Room Of Shame is mine. Not the kids, not Amazing Husband's, not MIL's, MINE. AND, I have a very valid, reasonable and convincing argument for every tiny bit of it. And nearly all of those arguments come down to one of three basic points: one: I MIGHT need it someday, I HAVE A PLAN to use/make/work on it some day, or I am EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED to it.

So.

I have started my adventure. I believe my journey will be more challenging than I want to believe, and I do anticipate that the road will be long and hard. But I am determined, and I will NOT give up.

I am, as Amazing Husband is fond of saying, going to eat the elephant one bite at a time, this time. I have always tried to stuff the whole darn elephant in at once in the past, and I am sure that has not helped.

I am going to celebrate the steps along the way this time, as well. I have a tendency to look at all that I did NOT get done, rather than recognizing the progress I make along the way--and, sadly, that is true in all aspects of my life--so I am going to take yet another inspiration from Fawndear's blog, and stop to revel in joy of accomplishment as I go!

And, to that end, I have pictures of my (tiny but significant) accomplishments of the night.

I was able to let go of this 17-year-old box:



Which has housed my scrapbook items from high school and college drama since shortly after Amazing Husband and I received a lovely engagement gift in it, 17 years ago. I could not part with those items. I haven't come that far, and, to be fair, a genuine goal of the future Organized And Inspiring All Purpose Room IS to be able to create things like a scrapbook of all the drama productions I was involved in, in high school and college, and having never achieved a space in which to work on such projects, I do not feel that I can, in good conscience, let go of that project, until I have actually had a space in which to attempt it. If it sits in a space in which I could perfectly well work on it, and don't, for the next 17 years, well, then, clearly it wasn't that important to me after all.

I have relocated those keepsakes to a large and sturdy Victoria's Secret Bag, and I believe they fit quite well in it. They are readily organized, handy, and easily accessible now.



It's a tiny bit of progress, but, off I go!