A Malkuth of Me,  domestic goddess,  life

The Great Office Purge 2016

It’s that time again folks! The Great Office Purge 2016 is about to begin. Those of you who know me know the drill. Once every two to three years, whether it needs it or not, the office is purged. As I get older I realize why Grandma Connolly always discouraged gifts that collected dust, because quite frankly – at some point it goes into the declutter pile and unless it’s really loved – it ends up going to charity.

So this year I have designated several  piles of crap that everything will go into. I need to decide which crap stays in the office and what leaves it. Whatever leaves it needs to find a new home. I have space for 7 totes in the basement. This could mean a lot of stuff is being boxed up for charity. Especially if I haven’t used it in the past 10 years. If it’s a decorative item that has no sentimental value – buh-bye.

  1. Things that don’t belong in my office (i.e. things that belong in a proper storage area)
  2. Gardening and seed starting supplies
  3. Craft supplies (or other supplies) that I don’t use every day.
  4. Paperwork older than 7 years that I can shred.
  5. Boxes of books (for promo and selling)
  6. Product and supplies (for Sephira Alchemy)
  7. Books that don’t have a home or shelf space. (I need a new bookcase)
  8. Ritual supplies I no longer want that I can give away.
  9. Clutter (useless crap I’ve collected that I can give away)
  10. Trash

The plan is to drag everything from my office into the living room and put it in piles. Then, one pile at a time, I go through and decide whether it stays, goes into the trash, goes into storage, goes back into the office,  goes to charity, or gets sold or given away. Seriously – my office after a few years can begin to look like something out of HOARDERS. It’s just how it is. It’s the room that when the main part of the house needs to be cleared  of clutter we have no place for — into my office it goes.  Two years of that – any room in a person’s house will begin to look like a nightmare.

My clutter has moved into the spare bedroom, too. I have seed starting supplies AND boxes of books in that room. Might as well pull all of that out while I’m at it so I can purge that mess, too. I might also get rid of all the stuffed animals and paintings and use the top of that particular bookcase for my Aerogardens. I was going to just utilize Shred-It day at our office or credit union to get rid of all the useless paperwork, but the reality is I might actually have enough crap to call the shred-it place and have them bring over a bin (or two) for us to fill. Matt has five boxes of crap downstairs that he wants to go through, and I have three boxes upstairs. That’s a lot of bullshit paperwork we don’t need.

The downside to this project is it could, realistically, take me a few weeks to finish it up. I’ve started (because I was looking for something) and have already thrown out a bag of trash and three empty cardboard boxes. Once my office is purged, then it’s the great blanket purge of 2016. Finally – I will have a spare bedroom full of crap for charity.

At that point, I can call whichever charity will come pick it all up – and give it away.  Basically – cleaning out my office is all about cleaning the rest of the house. Once I get my office in order – then I can go through each room and get rid of what no longer serves me. Trust me – that’s a lot of shit.

But I know we’ll both be happier for it, and I won’t have to do another office purge for at least 2 more years. (One of these days I’ll learn how NOT to collect clutter.)

 

Steph is an award winning and bestselling author of thrilling steamy and paranormal romances, dark urban fantasy, occult horror-thrillers, cozy mysteries, contemporary romance, sword and sorcery fantasy, and books about the esoteric and Daemonolatry. A Daemonolatress and forever a resident of Smelt Isle, she is happily married and cat-mom to three pampered house cats. Her muse is a demanding sadistic Dom who often keeps her up into the wee hours of the morning. You can contact her at swordarkeereon@gmail.com

3 Comments

  • Lisa Manifold

    Yay! Good for you, Stephanie! You’re in a much better place than I was, having done this before. I haven’t lived anywhere as long as I have here, so have never had to look at my house ten years in and realize I have some hoarding tendencies that need to be kept in check. It may take a few weeks, but you’ll feel so much better!

  • Patricia Stoltey

    I also need to do a major purge, starting with the office and moving on through every room. Then I can finally get new carpet. All this should happen as soon as I’ve recovered from a major attack of spring fever which followed close on the heels of winter doldrums.

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