When Being a Clutterbug Pays Off

Point number one: While I'm not a hoarder, I'm certainly a keeper, in the sense of wanting to keep things that might be useful or I might need later. I do fight this tendency, as one does not have unlimited storage space. Tactics with which I have had moderate success:

• I try to convince myself that unless something has sentimental value, or would be enormously difficult or expensive to replace, I don't need to always keep it.
  
• I create defined spaces that are for keeping certain things, so that I know where to put them and where to look for them and if I already have some. So if I find a good rubber band, it belongs in the little drawer with the tin foil and plastic wrap. If I go to put one in there and there are six already there, out it goes.
  

Point number two: Bargain-hunting tendencies to the contrary notwithstanding, when I find a thing that embodies the perfection of its use, I'm willing to pay more to have it, because it will satisfy me in a way that mere saving does not. Though sometimes one leads to the other, as when I bought slippers years ago at Building 19 because they were cheap, then loved the design so much that replacing them with other cheap slippers of different design was unsatisfying. I wore other slippers for some time, finding them unsatisfactory, and in recent months have gone back to the old ones, worn as they are. (I couldn't stand to throw them out, even when I bought others.)

The problem was that I didn't know what brand the good slippers were, so I couldn't replace them even at a higher price. I tried to find similar ones online, but the most likely suspects (Lands End, LL Bean, Eddie Bauer) didn't have the right ones. Frustrating.

Then we come to today. I had one of my rare urges to clear up clutter, so I started dealing with the desk/clutter space--the one in the kitchen, not the one in the office with the computer. Some of the items on the kitchen desk are valid (a bin of gloves and scarves, a little CD player, stamps and envelopes), but over time things get put there and things get put on top of them and, well, it was a precarious mess. But I started working on it, recycling much paper, and do you know what I found?

A page ripped from a catalog I don't remember getting, a company I barely recognize the name of, that was sent to my old address so it's from 2006 or earlier--a page with the exact slipper I wanted.

High enough to be warm, but not so high that I can't step into them without sitting or using my hands to pull them on. Solid sole, so I can take the trash out without fearing damp. Soft warm lining!

I went to the website, and they still make it (the price went up, of course).

I found a coupon code online for free shipping plus ten percent off.

Do you hear that? That's the angels singing.

A few further notes:

• Yes, I have cleaned off that desk in the last five years. But not, apparently, the file folder that page was in.
  
• I'm not using this as a reason to not throw things out going forward. But it's certainly a nice reward for the cleaning today. I think I've gotten slightly better, even in the last 5 years, at both not keeping things, and recognizing and obtaining things that are important to me, so the same situation is unlikely to come up anyway. And I do like things tidy ... though you'd certainly never guess that by looking around here.

Hmmm. I think I've lost track of my own argument here. Here, look at the cat instead!

Smiley boy.

P.S. This is my 1500th post. Doesn't that sound like a lot?