Cleaning Out Closets

I think it must be contagious because even though I am not the most meticulous of housekeepers, lately I've been cleaning out closets - not just at home, but at work, and in my mind. The closets I'm cleaning don't all look like closets. Some are email inboxes, some are piles of papers to be filed, some are stacks of books on the garage floor, some are old habits that are not doing me any good.

Last week we had new flooring installed in our home. Prior to having this done it was necessary to move the furnishings into the garage - so that there was nothing left in the rooms. This week, with fresh new flooring in place, each room is a clean slate. Looking at the garage, I've started thinking of everything that needs to be moved back into the rooms - and more importantly of everything that does not need to be moved back. At least half of the things that I had stashed in closets, drawers, filing cabinets, and various nooks and crannies don't serve a useful purpose. They are there because "sometime" we "might" use them. I have just gotten my family's permission to not move everything back into place. Instead, we will move back only the items we need or use frequently. The others will go into two piles - one to be sold or given to others and one to be tossed in the trash or recycle bins.

It has been so refreshing to only move back in those things we need or use frequently.

So, the contagion has started to spread - I cleaned off my desk at work today; I deleted emails older than 6-months from the folders I had set up to store them "in case I might need to refer to them"; I took the inbox off of my credenza so that mail cannot pile up in it. That was very refreshing too.

Now, the contagion is beginning to spread to my co-workers and staff - they were talking in the office today about "fall cleaning" and the destruction of unnecessarily stored paperwork.

And, the contagion is beginning to spread to the less tangible. As I was putting some needed and useful items back on the shelves at home my mind began to wander to all those unneeded habits and routines that do not add anything to my life. I started thinking about how much more time I would have to spend with my family, friends, and activities I used to enjoy - if I just change a few things. Fall cleaning - indeed!