last good country

Organized purging;

Lately I’ve noticed more people discussing simplifying their lives. In some cases this has to do with paring down physical possessions, in others simply re-evaluating priorities and time commitments. I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing something like a big purge for a while, but always get overwhelmed as soon as I start. Today, I saw the phrase “liquidity as luxury” and finally some of this all clicked, and will perhaps inspire me to actually get going.

The last time I really purged anything was in 2008. A few months earlier I had ended a long relationship and while moving I threw out so much stuff. Honestly I can’t remember what most of it was, so I must have done a pretty good job. It’s been over two years now, though, and I realize I still have far too many things. I have things I never use, and the things I do use aren’t organized properly. I’m not looking to be able to be a nomad on demand, but I really do need to get things in order. The big areas are:

Clothing

For some reason I have an entire dresser full of clothes, and I’m pretty sure I never wear most of them. I keep things for too long, especially things that have worn out or been torn, etc. Eventually I want my wardrobe to be made up of the very basics. I want all of my collared shirts to be hanging and I want to cut down on the number of t-shirts I have. This part of the to-do list is rather simple, donate anything that’s still good that I never wear, throw away things that are worn out, and organize what I want to keep. I’ll allow myself one medium-smallish rubbermaid bin for souvenir and band t-shirts. Eventually I want to have a rotation of collared shirts, a few nice pairs of jeans, a few pairs of casual pants, a couple pairs of dress pants and then one or two suits that fits me well. I do own a tuxedo that fits, so that is good to keep.

Workspace

I have a crap desk I bought at Target years ago that has no drawers. Instead I have some plastic thing with three drawers that are all literally full of junk. Full to the point of being unable to really function as drawers. I generally stuff my mail into one drawer, and cables and other things into the others. It’s a mess. No, I don’t really need that old 802.11b access point from college. That sort of thing. I need to just throw most of this away. On my to-acquire list is a nice desk with drawers, but that might have to wait a while. I’ll allow myself one medium-small rubbermaid bin for computer accessories or cables that I may legitimately one day use. All cords must be secured and all things going into this bin must be working and useful. As far as all the other junk I’ve put in there, any important papers can be filed with my other papers, and any mementos and other things will go into yet another bin. I will give myself one small bin to put keepsakes in, but they have to be worthwhile. Everything else goes. All I want remaining in my workspace area are things I use at least once a month. This would mostly be a pen or two, a notepad, my SD card reader, my checkbook, envelopes and stamps. Possibly some tape and blank CD-Rs.

Technology

My primary computer at home is a 17” Intel iMac. It’s an older model, from late 2006. I also have an iPhone 3GS and an iPad. The iPad is pretty much my go-to device at home, unless I am working in Photoshop or writing something of considerable length (I don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard yet). My setup is failing in a few areas, I’m running out of hard disk space on the iMac and the Superdrive is broken. There’s also too much WiFi interference in my apartment building, so I can’t get a reliable connection. Eventually I will need to get a Wireless-N access point, most likely an Airport Extreme. I could get the one with network storage, but I’d rather just buy a USB hard drive. I’ll also need to purchase a USB DVD writer for the iMac. Once I have these items all in place, I can do things like rip DVDs for my iPad. I’ll also eventually get an AV cable to hook the iPad up to my television. Sometime in 2011 I’ll replace the iMac, but for now I’ll have to make this set-up work. I suppose I’ll also need an 802.11N dongle for the iMac since it was the last revision without N support. I know that this section involves purchasing items rather than purging, but it is an effort to make things work better and more efficiently.

My Closets

The bulk of my “stuff” that remains is either in my closets or on my bookshelf. At this point I’m not going to consider purging any books. Instead, I’ll focus on the totes full of junk as well as my collection of jackets/hoodies/etc. I really don’t know how I ended up with so much stuff, but it’s all just falling off hangers, stuffed between boxes, etc. I like having a hoodie for travel, especially when on Amtrak (it gets so cold). Other than that, if the others fit with the t-shirts then I can keep them otherwise I need to donate them. I’ll keep a few jackets but make sure there is space for them. The other stuff, the things I kept last time I purged will need to be re-evaluated and then placed into a proper bin.

What’s the point of all this? Well, for one, to be less cluttered. As my days get busier and busier, I have less time and energy to search for things. I have less patience for things that don’t work how I want. I don’t need to have four of a Thing I never use, and zero of a Thing I need. I’m sick of tripping over piles of my own clothes because I have no room to put them away, even though I still have nothing to wear. This is also good preparation for any sort of eventual move, which will happen at some point. The most frustrating part of moving always seems to be that there’s so much crap you have forgotten about but you end up moving anyways simply because you are stressed due to moving and don’t want to deal with it.