Clutter

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I have been trying to clean my office/craft room for over a year. Just recently, I bought shelves (from Ikea…yay, BILLY!) to put into my closet. Of course, because I put a new shelving unit into my closet, all of the crap stuffed in there must come out! Now, my floor is covered with papers and notebooks and Pottery Barn catalogs and ELLE magazines and old wedding stuff and gift wrap and gift bags and…you get the idea. It has taken over double the time to put things back into the closet than it took to get it out. Why is this?

During the process of cleaning, I have realized that I am a pack rat! I don’t throw things away! I’m not like my in-laws, who save every box they get (which makes it a battle sometimes with my husband). But I’m not the happy-go-lucky-toss-everything-out kind of person that I originally thought I was.

For example, I have folders upon folders of college material. For some weird reason, I thought someone somewhere would benefit. I think only two of my books have been used and only one notebook of old tests. Really.

For further proof that I am a pack rat, I have material from high school!!! Why did I keep this stuff for so long? Granted, my husband is a teacher. Maybe somewhere in my imagination, I envisioned coming to his rescue with loads and loads of English worksheets? Get real.

Do any of you have this problem? How did you convince yourself to let go? Any tips on how to clean out a room efficiently?