I have a tendency to put stray papers and other random items on every available surface that isn't the floor or a seat (and sometimes surfaces that
are part of the floor or a seat). It's either because I don't have a spot set aside for said random item or because I know that if I put it away, I will forget about. This means things of varying importance pile up on my computer desk, my TV cart, and the TV trays that I leave set up next my couch and my desk. When I do end up cleaning this stuff up, I tend to move it from one surface that I intend to clean to another that I intend to clean later. Bills either stay on the intended clean space or move to a space that is already clean (otherwise, I'll lose track of them like I did my registration stickers for my car, and that would be bad (I did eventually find the stickers, though)). Books get stacked on the TV cart until I convince myself that I'm not reading them any time soon and should really put them on a bookcase. The same can be said for DVDs and video cassettes that I've watched since the last time I cleaned. The papers don't generally get cleaned up until a) I have company coming or b) everything is piled onto the last unclean surface and I'm forced to find a place for everything, whether it's a filing box, a bookcase, the garbage, or a cardboard box.
The cardboard box solution is the last step in the junk shuffling chain. This is usually the fate of random items that I still don't have a place for but I don't feel ready to throw away, but I really shouldn't leave it lying around, so I pick up an Amazon box or a shoebox and dump it all in. I am able to find things by remembering which cleaning cycle I last saw them in and going to that box. I have yet to reuse or run out of boxes. This either means that the problem isn't that bad (yet) or I get too much stuff from Amazon.
The best part of the cardboard box solution is the reminiscing I get to do when I get the urge to sort through one of them. I'll find notes, sketches, story and blog post ideas, random craft items (glow-in-the-dark
lanyard, anyone?), mysterious numbers, and other things. I've never had an entire box "expire", though I have ended up throwing out several items in a single box (usually receipts or attempts at solving
figure logics). One day, I will hopefully go through those boxes and finally find a home for all of those random items. Perhaps a
plastic box. Promotion!
Labels: cleaning, observations
