I'm throwing things away like it will never be a need for trees or post its ever again.
It's funny, considering I HATE throwing things away (you know, in case you happen to throw something out that would have come in handy one rainy day), that rather than save up time to do a good sifting through in a timely fashion I end up with the "alternative technique" also known as "The Box Technique".*
First, I throw away some stuff that I know I will never use again.
Second, some stuff will be very important to save, so they stay.
Third, that pile of "maybe maybe" will end up in a box that will be labelled "can be thrown away in three months (or a year)"
I started the box technique since I know that I am bad at throwing things away. I put things in a box and put it under neath the bed or in the closet. And then wait... maybe 1 year? And if I haven't gone into the box or wondered about some of the things, they clearly aren't as essential as I thought.
I guess there will be a lot of boxes in the house for a while now.... all these papers and things relating to the articles not yet written... not to mention other things like biology books, chemistry handouts, conference abstracts etc.
But the fridge got cleaned yesterday. And I have started cleaning out the freezer.... but not the BIG one. Ah well, I am sure that most of it can go to the trash, sad but true. Time to do do more, and chat less.
*the other option is to be on the phone with a friend and chitchat since that keeps my brain occupied and hinders it from thinking "hm, really shouldn't throw that away in case this and that happens". This alternative is better than the third one, which would be called the desperate one, i.e. "slightly drunk makes decision making easier" (again, it is overriding the over thinking part that is key).
3 comments:
Thank you for these ideas! Just in time, for I'm moving to a smaller apartment soon and clearly I can't take all my crap with me, especially those things that I've kept for YEARS "just in case". A lot of throwing away needs to be done now (or selling or charity, whatever applies!)
I hate to throw things away too! I take a very similar approach although admittedly, that 3mo (or a year) can turn into much longer because I will forget about the box all together. As long as I can resist the urge to go through the box again whenever I "find" it, I can be successful at throwing at all in the trash.
neuropharma: good luck with the throwing!
MXX: yes, go throw the box is still something I have to do :) But I end up throwing a lot of it away sicne I know that I haven't missed it.... then all gets easier being tipsy and going throgh it :D
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