Any Space Here?

I have been doing pretty well with the de-cluttering activity. One of my decisions early in moving into the New Apartment was to figure out how to use the storage spaces (closets, shelves, cabinets) as well as my own organizing tools (boxes, bins, and baskets) before I started "finding homes" for things  needed to get rid of.

Well, I completed stage #1 and have moved into stage #2: sorting through the remaining bins/piles/boxes and finding new homes for everything... or getting it out of my house.

This is a new process for me; usually I just store it, with the notion that I'll find the time to de-clutter later. Lesson: not the process that works for me. Once it is in a box, on a shelf, stored, I will forget about it. Which is a great reason not to keep it. If I never use it, don't have a need for it that makes me search it out at least annually, and don't have a sentimental attachment to it... why clutter my life with it?

Begone!

Yesterday's coup: tossing into the Goodwill bin boxes and boxes of stationery cards I bought and never used. No matter how pretty, they're now history. Someone else can use them with pleasure.

Today's coup: emptying my remaining filing bins of empty hanging file folders. They will be donated, too, and thus my bins are 1/3-1/4 full. I can re-purpose/organize them more efficiently, once I get through all the loose/unfiled papers and all the paper storage bins. I currently have eight: my goal is to get down to four (or three!). Everything else will end up at Goodwill/in the shredder/in recycling.

I feel as if I've lost ten pounds, but it's all paper. Better yet, I've saved myself the cost of hanging file folders, regular file folders, and printing with my copier. Now if I could get the copier to work...