I should begin this segment with a disclaimer: I am not the brilliant inventor of sorting bins, nor do I claim the creation of them as my own work of genius. There are men and women from long and brave lineages of professional organizers who first pioneered the idea of sorting bins; May their names live long in peace and honor.
There is something miraculous about sorting bins. No, sorting bins are not magical. They do not possess Awesome Powers that make you Magically Organized. They simply create a visible picture of your own mind and emotions.
Kids Organizer Bins
The Stuff that Bins are Made Of
The shape of sorting bins is incidental; they may be paper or plastic, bag or box, carton or crate. The size of sorting bins should simply reflect the size and or total number of items you are de-cluttering. The number of sorting bins is largely a personal question, because we do not all share the same organization of mind and emotions. However, I recommend beginning with three sorting bins:
Things things things(???)
Like the size, shape, and number of sorting bins, the labels are negotiable. You might call "Things" "Keepers" or "Want." You might call "things" "Donate" or "Do Not Want." You might call "Tthings(???)" "Not Sure" or "Save for a Month." But the core concept of these sorting bins is that one receives items you know you want to keep, another gets items you know you do not want to keep, and the third accepts items you are unsure whether you want to keep or get rid of.
Personal Value Scale
I am now confident that you are thoroughly capable of choosing and labeling your sorting bins. If you have not yet read "De-Cluttering Part 1," now would be a good time to pause and catch up. However, if you have, you can now begin with the first item in your Pile o' Things To De-Clutter. As you do, I recommend that you very carefully adhere to the following steps where possible:
1. Pick it up.
2. Hold it.
3. Look at it.
4. Think about it.
Note: I take for granted that you are not including truly necessary things in here like a tooth brush or your cell phone. While many of us would love to be free of the constant demands of personal communication devices, we usually view them as modern-day necessities. Clutter is about things you do not need, not things without which you would quickly lose contact with your friends and family, or personal hygiene.
Now ask yourself: "Would I give this up if someone offered me ten dollars for it?"
If the answer is "Yes," it goes in the "things" bin, short and sweet.
If the answer is "No," ask yourself another question: "Would I give this up if someone offered me a hundred dollars for it?"
If the answer is "Yes," it goes in the "things" bin. Usually. Something that is easily replaceable (and 0 is not that much over the span of your lifetime) is rarely worth cluttering up your life with.
If the answer is "No," ask yourself a third question: "Would I give this up if someone offered me a thousand dollars for it?"
There is very little in our lives that we would not give up for a thousand dollars. Among my most treasured possessions that I would give up for a thousand dollars, I include each individual piece of artwork except one (which is, sadly, not actually worth a thousand dollars), all my clothing (in a package deal, for that matter), all my furniture, and even my own hair. Yes, I would shave my head for a thousand dollars. Okay, on second thought I wouldn't. (For ten thousand dollars, though: Move over Britney!)
The only things I would not sell for a thousand dollars are my cat, the contents of my computers, one or two books, and a letter from my favorite author. None of these are intrinsically valuable in and of themselves, but knowing where they stand on my Personal Value Scale allows me to understand not only what is necessary to keep me alive, but what is necessary - really necessary - for my happiness. These are what I call Things.
Intrinsic vs. Emotional Value
If you are holding an item in your hand right now that you would not sell for a hundred dollars, but would probably give up for a thousand, the question of which bin to place it in is probably more difficult. Many of these items may be considered collectors' items to which we feel no personal attachment, but which we believe may become valuable "some day." These items are really just things.
But other items are actually Things which spark some important memory, commemorate an event, or symbolize a relationship that is still important to us. These are not items that we keep because we think some day they may make us wealthy. Rather, they are Things that hold a personal value to us as individuals, and which other people would not recognize as valuable if they saw it on a shelf at Goodwill.
For example, you might consider selling a pair of earrings that your husband gave you for your tenth anniversary if someone would give you a thousand dollars for them, but the value of those earrings is not intrinsic: The value is in the memory of that special day and the relationship that they symbolize.
The good news is that I encourage you to place those items in the Things sorting bin. Even if you seldom use them, only pulling them out once a year for Christmas parties or Valentine's day, there is value in them that could not be easily replaced, even for ten times their intrinsic worth.
If you are holding an item, on the other hand, that you would readily part with for a thousand dollars, but have been hanging on to because you think it may be useful in some far distant future when you are hypothetically stranded in a hypothetical cabin on a hypothetical mountain suffering from hypothetical hypothermia and need Flight for Life to come rescue you...
I think you get the point. Although I admit that I am exaggerating, I am confident that the point is clear: There are Things that are important to you and would be difficult to replace, and then there are things that you keep because you think you should, or because you are afraid you may need them some day. While it is a good idea to keep a first aid kit and a working flashlight in your home, an old short-wave radio that you keep in case of emergencies may not be important enough to store in your garage until you have grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Growing Up
A final note on things bins: It is my strong recommendation that you remove things from your home as soon as possible - ideally immediately. The longer a thing or a pile of things sit in your home, the more likely you are to rummage through and begin finding things you "might" need some day. If you feel guilty about throwing away a bunch of stuff, donating it to the Salvation Army or Goodwill is a great way to send your lower-case things to a new home where they can become grown-up, happy, upper-case Things.
The Maybe Bin
Now that you know what to do with Things and things, how do you decide what to do with those items that you just cannot make up your mind about? What about the broken music box that your parents gave you for your tenth birthday - the last really great present you got before your family split up? What about the Christmas Barbie that you bought for twenty years ago and, though she is now worth about 0, that is not quite enough for you to part with her, yet?
You will find that most of these are just things. However, regret is not the goal here. I have a few of these objects of my own, and I keep them because they are each one item and relatively small. I do not keep the entire collection of Christmas Barbies out in a display case.
My advice is to put these in the Bin o' Items to Consider Later, but I do not recommend storing them for another twenty years before you decide what to do with them. Instead, label the bin clearly with today's date, and in about a month go back through those items. You will be surprised how many of those are immediately identifiable as things. You may also be surprised what items you suddenly realize are Things...at least, for now.
As your life changes your PVS changes. This is healthy! Do not fight it. It means you, like those things you let go, are growing up and learning how to value what is valuable and how to not value what is not valuable.
This article outlines the simplest way to sort through the confusion of your life and possibly the easiest way to really see how much of your life is cluttered with things and how much of your life is enriched by Things. As the things bin becomes fuller and fuller you may find yourself becoming more excited and experiencing a sense of accomplishment. That is what de-cluttering is all about.
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Nov 09, 2011 16:31:30
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