May 06 2009
What Stays and What Goes?
This morning I woke up very angry and irritated at everything, mostly myself. In this state I usually find myself cleaning. Sorting. Throwing things out. What I’ve noticed is that over the past two years I have accumulated so many things, books, magazines, notebooks, loose pages of materials for writing and for my TEFL work.
My problem is that I don’t know how to throw things out (mind you I did dispose 3 bags filled with paper to the recycling bin), and if I really sorted carefully I probably could have disposed of three more. Why do I choose to keep useless scraps of paper, old magazines and notebooks which will probably never get looked at again? Probably because I think that one day I might need them. Though looking back, I think I’ve forgotten I had half the things stored away. Maybe this is because I am a writer and I try to use most of the materials I have, being a TEFL teacher there are loads of lesson plans and handouts that could be reused for future lessons, but the majority can probably look forward to the recycling bin. Still, it remains among the rest of the heap.
Do you have problems with hoarding things? How do you decide what stays and what goes?
A bigger house would be nice, I’ll even settle for a good sized study and filing cabinet.
Thanks for adding me to your blog roll. I like your blog too, and will add it to my blogroll as soon as I figure out how.