Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Walking Down Memory Lane on Memorial Day
Memorial Day was a kind of a washout, but my husband and I took advantage of the unexpected free day to start on a project we’ve been wanting to tackle. My husband has been eager to get rid of our storage space. Some of you may remember how I disdained storage spaces in Out of Chaos no. 5, but I changed my tune five years later when we turned a closet into a bedroom for my son back in my old apartment.
Now, my husband is on a mission, and the plan is to move the sleds, camp trunks and holiday decorations into a much smaller, cheaper storage locker in our building and make space in our closet for the old tax returns. However, there were several boxes of (well-organized!) letters, including some from my late mother, and papers relating to my acting career that I needed to go through, as well as some other miscellaneous things that could be passed along.
I started out strong on Saturday, filling up a recycling bag while regaling my kids with the dramatic, arty letters that I’d sent my parents in my 20s, and reading the steamy ones from old beaus to my husband when the kids were in the other room. It was pretty fun.
I emailed a good friend to ask if he’d like me to send him his letters, which I enjoyed rereading, but didn’t feel I needed to keep, and thought he might get a kick out of. I was thrilled when he emailed right back to say he would like them—but then he added that he had some of mine for me! Well, stuff goes out, stuff comes in.
At a certain point, I was getting overwhelmed and I had to tell myself, just as I would tell any of you, “You don’t have to get rid of it all, just try to get from three boxes down to one.” I did it—but it wasn’t easy!
We still need to weed through the hand-me-downs I’ve saved for my younger son and store them in the camp trunk, since we earmarked the space where they are currently stored for old tax returns (and the letters and memorabilia I couldn’t part with).
Even though we’re not quite finished, it’s funny how once you start a project like this, you start seeing other things that can go, and other space you can make. And it’s infectious! By midafternoon, my daughter was bagging up her old slime-making materials to make room for more makeup.
I know that sitting in the house, taking a walk down memory lane isn’t everyone’s idea of how to spend the first weekend of the summer, but getting rid of two huge bags of recycling, and posting a bunch of stuff to give away on the neighborhood list-serve makes me feel lighter, and that’s a great way to feel right before summer. Remember, any reorganization, no matter how minor, is an opportunity to lighten your load.