Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

The Second Pass

I wish I could claim that my executive function was perfect, and that I was always ruthlessly efficient and decisive. But I’m not, so I can’t.

I am pretty decisive; I don’t dither. But sometimes, down the road, I decide that my original decision was wrong. One area where this comes up often for me—and for my clients—is in considering what to keep. Recently, I pulled out a whole lot of family memorabilia for my children to look at. Some of it is super-cool and interesting. However, while I had the box out, I realized that there were things I didn’t need. Why, for example, had I kept the sign-in books from my grandparent’s funerals? I don’t know those people, it’s not like they were famous. I hope my Dad doesn’t get mad at me when he reads this, but I threw them out. Well, technically I recycled the pages and threw out the puffy vinyl covers.

It also dawned on me that while my great-great-grandmother’s album of postcards was cool, I didn’t really want it, and someone might collect those things. This is when the Internet comes in handy, and I am pleased to say that I will be dropping them off at the Metropolitan Postcard Club to be auctioned off in February. Maybe I’ll make some money, but best of all, they will be in the hands of people who appreciate them.

Sure, I should have probably gotten rid of that stuff in 2004 when I originally brought it home (after helping my Dad empty out the apartment I grew up in). But to be fair, it was a big apartment. I brought a lot of stuff home then and have disposed of much of it in the intervening years; it’s a process. My children are older now, and I have more of a sense of what’s interesting to them (not postcards from 1914). It took a few passes, but now what I kept fits in a smaller box and the stuff is more curated.

It’s true of all sorts of sentimental clutter: artwork your child does in kindergarten, things you inherit from a beloved relative, books you love. You may think you want to keep all these things forever. But after a little time, you may go back and realize you don’t need to keep it all.

Just because you aren’t able to be ruthlessly efficient today, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to be organized enough. You can always take another pass—in a month, in a year—and each time, you may do a little bit better. Really, what more can you ask of yourself?