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Clearing out the clutter

December 26, 2007 |

With 2007 winding down it’s time to reflect about the years events and consider upcoming 2008. Once of the things that will help bring 2007 to a close and prepare me to dive into 2008 will be to clear out the clutter. By nature I’m a stacker. I have stacks and piles of things in various places. It starts off innocently enough on my desk with a sheet or two and before you know it a pile has been born. Who knew creation could start so simply?

Cluttered Desk

Eventually the pile becomes more than the desk can handle and it becomes a stack or two. Hmmmm…..is this how rabbits multiply? Pretty soon there are several stacks and a mini skyline is born. Once again I’m getting the idea I have a production factory here. Overall, I have a good idea of what is where and can locate things. The taller a stack get, the more difficult that task becomes. When I haven’t touched a stack in a while or I get tired of looking at it the stacks gets relegated to a box. The box then goes into the closet. It’s the place where boxes live, isn’t it?

Cluttered Closet

Over the course of the last couple of years the closet in my office has become home to office supplies (on the shelves), my son’s old pc parts and cpu’s (look under the boxes), books, 3.5″ floppy disks (I don’t even own a computer with a 3.5″ drive anymore), ebay items that are waiting to get listed or did not sell (wire basket shelf storage), and of course the boxes full of paper stacks. What is in the boxes? It varies from invoices, receipts, junk mail, bills, and even school projects. Business and personal stacks are mostly separated, but occasional there is an errant page to be found in the mix.

For some time I have been looking to create an in-house studio. Working from home and homeschooling takes up quite a bit of space. So far, I have not been successful at convincing my family to help me turn a portion of the attic into a studio. I did get a warmer reception to my idea of the closet being a good size for a sound booth.

So while my dream of an in-house studio may not be close to a reality, a sound booth will be soon. Well, as soon as I can clear out the clutter. Which brings me back to my reasoning for posting the pics of my embarrassingly cluttered desk and closet. My goal is to be done by Friday, December 28th. Not just the clearing out of the desk and closet clutter, but the throwing out and recycling of unneeded stuff. I mean, do I really need the plastic case to a CD that is only God knows where?

By Friday the closet should be empty, the boxes should be gone and all the stacks inside the boxes should either be filed or thrown. The ebay items will be donated to Goodwill. At the very least I can take a tax-deduction. My son is on his own with his items. I am taking them out and putting them in his room.

With that done the goal is to spend the weekend turning my (hopefully) empty closet into a sound booth. My husband has stated, “As soon as you clear out that closet I can get to work on your sound booth.” Will it happen? I’m looking to you to keep me honest. If by Friday I haven’t posted a pic of my empty closet. You have my permission to call me out.

I’ve gotta go now. The boxes are calling me. Wait a minute, wasn’t there a Twilight Zone like this?

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Comments

6 Comments so far

Shawno on December 26, 2007 8:31 pm
Good luck! Earlier in the year, I moved our whole “living room” around so we could have better “studio space.” It was a daunting task, but it was worth it.

Also, what kind of headphones are you using? I noticed them in the photo of your desk. I’m in the market for a new set.
jennifer on December 26, 2007 9:25 pm
Hey Shawno,

The headphones I use are nothing fancy. We picked them up at Target for around $30. They are the Sony MDR-XD200. I’ve had them for a couple of years already. They are pretty cushioney on the ears and have worked well.

Of course, there are better quality headphones out there, but that usually means a higher price. While I do hope to own a quality set someday, I’ll keep these until they break.

Good luck with the headphones search.
Todd on December 27, 2007 10:25 am
I applaud your Friday goal. It inspires me.

Have you considered a small explosive device? Kinda wipe the slate clean? B-)
jennifer on December 27, 2007 11:24 am
Oh I would if I didn’t still need the closet.

On the treasure/trash hunt side of things, today I have found things I forgot I had, things I thought were lost and things that should have been thrown away in the first place.

It’s actually been kinda fun. I think it’s all the interaction here and on Twitter. Seems more like a community project than a “Go Clean Your Room!” thing. Of course the carrot at the end of the stick for me is the sound booth. It motivates me to no end.
Shaine on January 22, 2008 9:01 pm
For me the problem is that I don’t want to let go of an idea once I’ve thought of it, so getting up and putting something away is unthinkable. That’s how I end up with piles of stuff on the desk.
MorningBrewCast: Coffee Fun » Blog Archive » MBC 51: Confessions and Starbucks in the News on February 18, 2008 8:27 am
[...] more about the evolution of the sound booth you can check out Jennifer’s blog Here are the before and after [...]