I spent the entire day yesterday uncluttering.  Here’s what I put on Facebook:
What am I going to be for Halloween? Clutter free! I just cleaned out the linen closet. I should have taken all these pillows to the Melbourne Free Market when I went Sunday.  Aaaarrrgh!  The linen closet would be much more empty if I didn’t use it to store all my “sheets to cover all the plants in case it freezes.”  Note to self: stop buying light bulbs and batteries. Now.  I need to find somewhere else for the tall filing cabinet to go so I can get it out of the back office. If I took down my dining room cabinets and reinstalled them 2” higher I would have lots of options.  Hmmm, I just went thru the cabinet and I can probably 86 about half the files, yikes, shredder here I come.  I’m thinking I don’t need the film – yes film – from the 90’s Horizons Mag covers, Nor the hard copy files of the writers and speakers from way back then.

(Hours later) Oh right, I need to go back to this file cabinet and go thru the files to see what I can recycle. I forgot that in my quest as I got sidetracked into the linen closet, the utility closet and the back office closet.  The batteries and light bulbs are now in the utility closet next to te kitchen.  I just discovered a new blender in my kitchen pantry! And the only reason I’ve migrated to the pantry is because I wanted to move the light bulbs out of the linen closet and into the supply cabinet and I had to move something out of there and into the pantry. You know how that goes.  Oh wait, I’m supposed to be cleaning out the file cabinet in the back office… stop distracting me, ya’ll.

(Later) How did I get so much Corning Ware?   An important part of de-cluttering is to have a big enough staging area to keep things out of the way. I just bagged up all my old computer cables I’v had stored for 10 years…  All the mismatched towels in the back office closet I didn’t know were there, are going in the giveaway stack. Linen closet is done, utility closet next to kitchen is done, I’m halfway thru the back office closet… wow, and I count myself as not a clutter person. I wonder what else I was lying to myself about?

SCORE! I found a rolling cart for hanging folders in the back closet I can totally use.  And a second one also – SCORE!   (Hours later)  Ok, the crazy mad Un-Clutter is over with, floors are clean and it’s time to chill. Oh wait, my only job this morning was to review all the files in the big metal file cabinet in the back office and see what I could recycle and clear. I didn’t do that.

(Hours later)  Whew! The giant 5 drawer file cabinet now has 4 drawers free and the recycle bin for the paper is full to the top.  I moved the cabinet into my office. I can eliminate 3 bookcases in here by placing things in the cabinet, plus I can close the doors on it all. I should have done this years ago.  end of FB###

I now have all the business files in one room, that makes the most sense anyway.  One reason I did this major clearing out was to help move the energy and “make room” for change to happen.  It being Halloween/Samhain makes it a prime time to move energy from darkness to light, so to speak.  I thought about what I might have here from the past that could be holding me back from anything.  Hmmm, maybe all my old files. Well, about 300 pounds of them anyway; 90% of them now shredded in the recycle bin.   Afterward I cleaned the floors, making them ready for new steps to be taken.  Are you laughing at me taking the metaphors literally?  That’s okay.

Learn the alchemy true human beings know. The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open –Rumi