We dream of having a clean house – but who dreams of actually doing the cleaning? We don’t have to dream about doing the work, because doing the work is always within our grasp; the dream, in this sense, is to attain the goal without the work. ~Marcus Buckingham
That’s something I could dream. The house clean. All the mess on my desk straightened. Decisions made about what to keep and what to throw away without having to consider each item. You know, you might need it someday. Doesn’t matter that you haven’t needed it for ten years or that even if you had needed it, you would have never known where it was. You look at it and you’re sure that the day after you throw it away, that will be the day you need it. Or it has sentimental value. Or …
That’s where I am. In the process of sorting and cleaning and rearranging my office a bit. I’ve been saying I’m going to do this for two, maybe three years, but I always had a book to write or grandkids to see or well, you name it and it came in ahead of housecleaning my office. Eventually things do get to a critical clutter level and I think my office got there several months ago. But that last Hidden Springs mystery had to be finished first. Finished it and sent it off Monday. Now, before I begin again and that does have to be soon with another deadline looming in the summer, I’m taking this week to dig out from under an avalanche of paper and books. I even went online for hints of how to get your office organized. The post I found had some simple advice. Find a big trashcan and fill it.
I grew up in an old farmhouse with only two closets that my father added to the house. A house needs closets, but in the old days they had wardrobes instead. I read once that the reason for that was some houses were taxed according to how many rooms they had and closets counted as rooms. Anyway, my mother didn’t have much space to store extras. We did have a screened in porch that ran across the back of the house where she had her washer and the freezer. Things tended to pile up on that porch and Mom used to say she’d like to take it down in the field and give it a good shake.
Might be a plan for my office, but guess I’d better stick with just filling that trashcan. Maybe next week I can post a picture of my much neater office. It’s always good to start a new book with a clean desk.
Do you like cleaning and organizing? Want to come over for a cleaning frolic? LOL.
Thanks for reading.