I'm using this to give a short update on my declutter effort. And since spring cleaning is just around the corner for a lot of you; getting a few tips head start won't hurt.
I haven't gotten to a point yet that I am comfortable with yet. Albeit, the path is proving to be fruitful. I've thrown out lots of stuff I haven't used in long while. Even things I would have hung onto emotionally in the past. It's true what they say. It gets easier over time.
Similar to the Zero-Inbox phenomenon; once you get use to deleting e-mails while you're processing them you get really fast and good at throwing away what you don't need anymore.
I'm not necessarily decluttering because I need more space but to get the stuff out of my life that I don't have any use for anymore. And somethings I just want to get rid of because they are bulky and ugly. I currently don't have any designated storage room anywhere in the apartment. Things I do keep, wonder into closets and drawers, or worse on top of closets.
So what kind of stuff has to go? Mostly things in the "hey this might be useful one day" category. These are usually items such as pieces of cables, spare parts to some device you don't even own anymore, or magazines that contain some tidbit of info you might want to access within the next 2 years. The way I deal with this currently: If I haven't used it in the last 2 years then I throw it out. I'm going to stick with that until I've gone through about every box, drawer, and closet in my apartment. Keeping at it, is ridding me of a lot of unnecessary garbage. When I'm through I'll try to narrow the parameter, to one year. (Iterative processes are the new buzz after all)
I started with what I could get rid of the easiest. Magazines. Even-though Iamwas the sort of person who didn't like to throw away printed words. It always made me feel like throwing away part of my knowledge, or knowledge in general. But modern day Internet gives me no more excuses to keep outdated stale knowledge in form of magazines around anymore. Heck I don't even buy them very often anymore. Usually only if they come with good freebies, as DVDs or software.
After that I started at my man pile. Man pile, huh, what's that? You might be asking yourself right now. Well if you have to ask. It's that "pile" of boxes you have(assuming your a guy) with a bunch of cables, old hardware, tools, scraps, power bricks and what have you in them. Just about every guy has one of these piles and usually we tend to nurture them over the years. (And the thing is women might not speek up about it but it often drives them mad.)
Do I really still need a PCI Diamond Monster 3D 4MB VRAM video accelerator card? The frak I don't. I haven't even had a PC that can interface that thing for the last 1.5 years. Let alone, would have any benefit of using it. Out, out, out. It has to go. It's mostly all just emotional baggage none of us need anymore.
Sure it feels cool to go on a geek-spasm and reminisce about the "good old days" that nobody would wish upon themselves today. But, you can do that without the physical stuff collecting dust in your man pile.
Toss it!
Power brick you don't own the device for anymore.
Toss it now!
Maybe you could use it down the road? Probably not. Make an exception if it outputs 5 or 12 volts, since that's pretty common amongst devices(That is if you are handy with a soldering iron). 5V especially considering USB devices. But you probably wouldn't need 3 of those bricks. I certainly was surprised how many useless bricks(power supply adapters, usually the big bulky black boxes that take up 3 outlets at a time) I had. I threw out so many crap cables, bricks, extension cards, mice, keyboards, cpu-coolers that I had two storage boxes to spare in the end. I threw them out as well. Empty boxes just mean more space for new clutter.
So if you haven't used your rubber duck in a very long time make him leave, even if it means buying a gun and pointing it at the little thing and making the NRA proud of you in the process ;P
Happy decluttering!
I haven't gotten to a point yet that I am comfortable with yet. Albeit, the path is proving to be fruitful. I've thrown out lots of stuff I haven't used in long while. Even things I would have hung onto emotionally in the past. It's true what they say. It gets easier over time.
Similar to the Zero-Inbox phenomenon; once you get use to deleting e-mails while you're processing them you get really fast and good at throwing away what you don't need anymore.
I'm not necessarily decluttering because I need more space but to get the stuff out of my life that I don't have any use for anymore. And somethings I just want to get rid of because they are bulky and ugly. I currently don't have any designated storage room anywhere in the apartment. Things I do keep, wonder into closets and drawers, or worse on top of closets.
So what kind of stuff has to go? Mostly things in the "hey this might be useful one day" category. These are usually items such as pieces of cables, spare parts to some device you don't even own anymore, or magazines that contain some tidbit of info you might want to access within the next 2 years. The way I deal with this currently: If I haven't used it in the last 2 years then I throw it out. I'm going to stick with that until I've gone through about every box, drawer, and closet in my apartment. Keeping at it, is ridding me of a lot of unnecessary garbage. When I'm through I'll try to narrow the parameter, to one year. (Iterative processes are the new buzz after all)
I started with what I could get rid of the easiest. Magazines. Even-though I
After that I started at my man pile. Man pile, huh, what's that? You might be asking yourself right now. Well if you have to ask. It's that "pile" of boxes you have(assuming your a guy) with a bunch of cables, old hardware, tools, scraps, power bricks and what have you in them. Just about every guy has one of these piles and usually we tend to nurture them over the years. (And the thing is women might not speek up about it but it often drives them mad.)
Do I really still need a PCI Diamond Monster 3D 4MB VRAM video accelerator card? The frak I don't. I haven't even had a PC that can interface that thing for the last 1.5 years. Let alone, would have any benefit of using it. Out, out, out. It has to go. It's mostly all just emotional baggage none of us need anymore.
Sure it feels cool to go on a geek-spasm and reminisce about the "good old days" that nobody would wish upon themselves today. But, you can do that without the physical stuff collecting dust in your man pile.
Toss it!
Power brick you don't own the device for anymore.
Toss it now!
Maybe you could use it down the road? Probably not. Make an exception if it outputs 5 or 12 volts, since that's pretty common amongst devices(That is if you are handy with a soldering iron). 5V especially considering USB devices. But you probably wouldn't need 3 of those bricks. I certainly was surprised how many useless bricks(power supply adapters, usually the big bulky black boxes that take up 3 outlets at a time) I had. I threw out so many crap cables, bricks, extension cards, mice, keyboards, cpu-coolers that I had two storage boxes to spare in the end. I threw them out as well. Empty boxes just mean more space for new clutter.
So if you haven't used your rubber duck in a very long time make him leave, even if it means buying a gun and pointing it at the little thing and making the NRA proud of you in the process ;P
Happy decluttering!
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