Discardia_ More Life, Less Stuff - Dinah Sanders [47]
When the pile gets unappealingly high (or reaches one foot, whichever comes first), whip through it quickly and pull out obviously stale stuff that you can now discard or shred, or for which you have since created a file folder because you turned out to need those papers all together very often.
Here's the really sneaky part: Since you know that you'll be adding to it again soon, you are not required to completely file or discard everything in the stack. If you feel anxious about what to do with it, just leave it on the bottom and deal with it next time when it's less emotionally loaded or uncertain.
Is it perfectly orderly? No. Do I know right where to look for something when I turn out to need it? Yes.
Less time filing = more time for working on things that really matter to me!
Keep an eye open for those places where you’re burdening yourself unnecessarily and then shed most of that needless weight.
Symptom #18: But I Might Need It Someday
Solution #18: Someday Is Now
It’s reduce-reuse-recycle, not refuse-regret-repeat.
—Tiana Thomas, Discardian
“Just in case” crowds out present opportunities
Traveling in the 21st century continually reminds us of how much we have in common with people in other places. I’ve been able to pop into a corner store for some forgotten item in cities from Nairobi to Nara to Newcastle. If that’s true while traveling most places on the globe, it’s even truer in your hometown. Quit hanging onto so much stuff “just in case.” Come on. You aren't on the moon! Let the excess go.
Right now, set down the book and go recycle all but one each of your recyclable “useful” hoardings, such as glass jars and paper sacks. Trash the trash. You do not need 80 rubber bands.
Start now
Find it a little daunting to think of going through all the stuff you’ve saved? It won’t be any easier decades from now or for someone else to do it. Discardian Diane Christeson shared her experience with this challenge in the Discardia Facebook community: “This is my year for Discardia. I turned sixty, and after some inner debate about how to mark the event, I decided to accept myself—to dump the negative attitudes I've held about myself for too many years. And my mother died. I had to clean out her house; she and Dad had lived there 31 years, and I can't count the times I heard ‘It might come in handy,’ and ‘It'll be more expensive later, so we stock up,’ and the like. Because their house is 400 miles from mine, it took me four months to clear out more than 50 cubic yards of junk and extraneous useless stuff. And that doesn't include what went to family, friends and charity. Since I recovered from that task, I've been on a crusade to clear out the extraneous and useless from my and my husband's home and lives. Feels great!”
Fifty cubic yards? What a task! It’s far better not to have to do it all at once. Let’s start with something smaller; give your medicine cabinet an emetic. Purge it of all no-longer-recommended home remedies (including everyone’s favorite: ipecac syrup), expired medications, beauty products you know you'll never use and any other useless crap clogging up your shelves.
Note that prescription drugs—especially antibiotics, hormone medications, and antidepressants—should never be flushed down the toilet because modern treatment facilities are not designed to remove those medications. You can minimize their impact on the environment by taking all your unwanted or expired medicines to an appropriate disposal facility. Find their locations by calling your local pharmacist; in many of the saner parts of the world, this safe facility will be your pharmacist. You can often donate unused and nonrancid cosmetics and other sundries to local homeless shelters. If you really think you might need something, but you haven't needed it in the last year, put it in a box or a bag with