I’ve introduced categories when sorting through clutter before so it doesn’t feel like anything new; however, what I’m doing this time around seems to have the stuff flying out of the room at record speed. I think something is shifting in my brain. I have so much to write about, so I’ll try and be brief in this post and come back and expand on certain points in later posts.

A Quick Way to Sort Out an Overwhelming Mess

You don’t need to be fancy with your categories. Just start sorting things one by one and the first five to ten items will probably shape your list. Add more categories as you go if that helps – be as granular or as high level as you like. The categories have to work with your brain and how you see things. After all, if it’s mainly your stuff in the room, you are going to need to break the attachment and what better way then to put some items in categories where you can make that detachment. It’s all about decisions at the end of the day. Some you can make immediately and some you can’t.

I started working on the following categories a few days ago which seemed to work for me.

• Charity
• Rubbish
• Recycling
• Paperwork
• Useful now (all items in this category should ideally be put in its place if one has been identified)
• Useful future (this is like a future charity box as it’s probably full of delayed decisions)
• Memorable
• Items to sell

Apart from ‘paperwork’ almost everything out of place in the study has been sorted and boxed up and has gone to its new place. I’m so shocked that it’s taking me a while to catch up with my thoughts.

Going back a few steps…

The Mice Came to Give me a Message

I was woken up in the night a few times last week to some familiar scratching noises above the ceiling in our bedroom. I reset the traps in the loft and caught two mice on Monday morning.

As we haven’t caught any for at least six months (I thought they’d gone) my husband called a professional. They’re coming tomorrow.

I thought the company would just go in the loft which I was fine with. Apart from the Christmas decorations all nicely organized, I’m not attached to anything up there. What I didn’t expect was that they’d need to check the whole house… wait for it… including the garage!

I must admit, I did panic a tiny bit but soon calmed down as I knew I had a few days to make it enterable (if that’s even a word).

Then… to make things more difficult, I had side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine Monday evening and all of Tuesday. This left me shivery and achy and all I wanted to do was sleep. So, on my morning off yesterday instead of sorting and organising, I just had to go back to bed for a couple of hours. I was pleased with myself though for listening to my body.

Fast forward to today… I’m fighting fit again and here I am with my tidier study. ALL categorised plastic boxes that didn’t belong are now stacked and labeled in the garage. I had so much energy today it was unbelievable.

I feel like I’ve broken down a barrier somewhere.. and this week’s exercises in Stephanie Bennett Vogt’s book A Year to Clear are working perfectly alongside what I’ve been doing (more on that in another post).

If you’re wondering what happened about the leaking ceiling in the kitchen, the plumber hasn’t had a chance to come round yet. The damp patch hasn’t got any worse though, so we’re ok with waiting. I also put the old sofa back down as it was on its side in the study, meaning that I can use the room again to relax.

Surrounded by less stuff in the study, I was actually able to sit down in there and watch a film with my daughter this evening.

More updates over the next few days.

Until then…

Sandra