Not a Hoarder, But Definitely a Packrat

My brother is coming for Thanksgiving week! He's done this the last few years instead of coming for Christmas, and we all have a good, relaxed time. 

Since my home office is also our guest room, I have to clear things out in order to have room for the airbed. And of course I don't mind when the result is someone I love coming to stay, but that doesn't make it not a production, because I am a Keeper of Things.

[I used to say I was "a bit of a hoarder," but when I learned more about actual hoarders, I came to realize that isn't the right description for me. I used to watch and love the TV show Clean Sweep, but when Hoarders came on, I saw the difference. Hoarding is serious and very sad. And not me.]

I am certainly a packrat, though, the queen of keep-it-in-case, a Keeper of Things. I do work on this tidy-up project more than once a year, but in the same way that I will fill a larger handbag if I have one, my STUFF expands to fit the space available.

He gets in on Saturday, but we had the cleaners come Tuesday, so that was my initial target for clearing some space. I thought that I had taken Before pictures a while ago, but the only ones I can find are for the garage, which is a separate clean-up project. So all you get is After, but you can imagine the space filled with boxes and totes and paperwork and various knitting paraphernalia. All over every surface.

Is it perfect? No, far from it. But it's so much better.

Look at all that clear floor space! We won't look in the closet, though. I'm setting myself the goal now to have everything in the closet gone through and assessed before next Thanksgiving. Doesn't mean the closet will be empty, but what's in there will be intentional. I just added a reminder to my calendar.

In related news, my desk drawers are also overfilled to the point of impacting their usefulness, so I decided to multitask during boring, why am I even in this meeting? work meetings, and start on clearing them out. They don't need to be empty, mind you, but I want to know what's in there, and be able to get to what I want.

First up, in about half an hour Tuesday, this drawer started here:

Was emptied:

And is now here:

It's better! I will admit that I didn't go through every single thing, but I did a quick sweep, tossed or moved some things, and that's good enough for me today. I know myself, and if I push toward a goal that's too hard, instead of powering through, I will lose steam, decide it's not happening after all, and give up. Much more fun to read a book, you know?

Slow and steady is the key for me. Know thyself.