Sunday, June 10, 2007

Simple Things

It has been a little while since I last cleaned my office. It never ceases to amaze me how the stacks of paper grow. They seem to take on a life of their own - and they were slowly evicting me from my own office. Nothing a couple of hours of round filing can’t fix. I find myself chuckling (to myself - there’s no one else around) because it would go much faster if I were able to part with more of my “important” papers. In my cleaning furry, I found some papers that I had set aside from the last time I cleaned. I set them aside because they needed immediate attention.

And there they were, a month or more later, right where I left them - except now engulfed by one of those super-animated aforementioned piles. These tasks were not, apparently, as critical as I once presumed. The world did not come apart at the seams and the sky did not fall. The whole Iraq catastrophe predates these piles, so I can safely say that wasn’t due to inattention on my part.

I am the worst file keeper in the world. I have a few critical papers that I usually know where they are, but when it comes to the everyday filing… well, I think perhaps it’s supposed to be done everyday. Fortunately when it comes to my work I don’t need to worry too much about my own records except for contact information - and for that I have my BlackBerry and Mac. Actually, my Mac does a dandy job of cataloging my past work as well.

The clutter does not trouble me per se; I usually get the itch to organize when it becomes more and more difficult to find what I need. Simple things, like a pen, or my stapler… once in a while it’s more important things - like my wallet. This time I didn’t hit one of those moments of pure frenzy when I need something not now, but right now - and I can’t find it. That’s usually what it takes and sometimes more than once. This time, I didn’t let it get that bad and I’m not sure why.

Now if I could only find my keys…

12 comments:

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OldLady Of The Hills said...

LOL, LOL...Oh Mike...are you sure you are not in my house? I swear...you could be! In fact...come on over and help me remove some of this clutter---Papers, more ppers, and then some more papers!!! OY!
It is a dilemma that never ends---(I hate to tell you that...)But, I'm happy for you that you put a big dent in your piles of papers!

Part of my problem is I have run out of room. No room for any more filing cabinets...I have four, each with four drawer, all legal sized....Filled to the brim! And no room for anymore...As I said, it is a dilemma. Almost 76 years worth of "Stuff" as George Carlin says....I see no answer, by the way.
Oh and dear Michele sent me to see you today!

kenju said...

Ha! I have almost as much stuff as Naomi; 3 file cabinets completely full and in need of cleaning out. I lack the discipline to do it, now that I sit here at my computer so much....LOL

craziequeen said...

Wow, Mike - you sounds just like MB who spawns piles of stuff everywhere - I have to regularly tell him to clear away his stuff....added to which he can never find anything....

So we bought a shredder and he just shreds everything one in a blue moon.

Michele sent me to read about your bad habit :-)

cq

Anonymous said...

Sounds like my office at home. :) Heck it even sounds like mine at work. Every one in a great while I get the urge to purge...and I go forward and try not to think of it.

Of course, the very next day I am needing something I threw away. :)

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Anna said...

Hilarious Mike....I am one of those people who has things organzied but in every room I have a mandatory junk drawer that is like a black hole....

I have to clean the black hole like every 3 months because I can't put anything in it anymore.

:)

Belizegial said...

I enjoyed reading "A boy's Hero".

As to the clutter, I keep one filing cabinet of clutter. The rest I just throw away as I go along.

The less clutter around, the better I can breathe, think and even find my keys when there is a pressing need to do so :)

Have a great week,
Enid

Bobkat said...

My filing is usually in the form of piles of papers on my desk too! It really is a task I ahte doing but I cna usually find the important things - they're in a pile somewhere! LOL! Really important stuff does get sorted better and the answer to the rest of it is that if I don't need it and the world hasn't ended because I didn't attend to it then it gets shredded!

gautami tripathy said...

I too am a hoarder. I tend to accumulate things. Mostly books and music.

But I can still find my stuff under any pile! I am organised in a disorganised way!

Michele sent me..:D

X said...

I have what I'd like to call an organized mess. It's really not THAT messy, but I know where everything is so it works. Now that I'll be moving, I need to weed through everything and purge. You've inspired me to...um...go to bed. But I'm REALLY going to think about cleaning up that office.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Every year I go out n buy those file-sized, see-thru plastic containers, n still got two empty ones left!
I never part with hard-copy-past work, or temporarily abandoned WIP. That doesn't include the notebooks, info, periodical clippings, or artwork, n doodles. Thank goodness a CD holds so much, media needs a container too! Then there's all the supplies, n the larger 3-d fun stuff which goes in crates.
I've come to the conclusion that my apartment is really a storage facility, not a place for open space... (The office is every room here now!)

I did baggie-up receipts today, must be the spring-clean bug...