Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 messes that I need to clean up sometime this year:

The closet from hell.

1. The closet in my office, which is stacked full of unused notebooks, 3.5 floppy computer disks, video games, and other assorted ancient technology.

2. The "beauty box" of crap on my beside table, which holds things like hand cream, lip balm, Ben Gay, and other things one might need for a good night's rest.

Bathroom stuff box

3. The "bathroom stuff" box that sits on the bathroom counter because it's stuff we use every day, or did - some of it we stopped using but it is still in the box. You know what I mean - the stuff like Preparation H or face cream or something.

4. My briefcases. I have numerous briefcases and book bags, most of which have something in them. I need to go through all of them, keep what I want, and hand the rest over to someone else who can make use of them.

5. The drawer in my office desk, which holds ink pens that probably date back to 1993, assorted staples, 3x5 cards, paper clips, Sharpies, pencils, sticky note pads, scratch pads, and other smaller items one might want within reach.

My pile of unread books. Still in their bags!

6. My bookcases in my office, which hold more books that are unread than read these days, because I went through the "books I've read" part and sent a bunch to the library, only to fill the slots with more books that I have yet to read. I really had hoped Kindles (of which I now have 3) would cure this problem but alas, books grow by leaps and bounds seemingly all by themselves.

7. The warranty drawer. We have a filing cabinet drawer stuffed full of warranty papers for practically everything we've ever bought. Many of the items are no longer surviving, have blown a fuse or busted a gut or whatever, and so sent to that merry trash bin in the sky. The papers still survive, though. I strongly suspect that for the most part, they can all be sent to the recycling bin, but one must look to be sure.

The warranty drawer. Note the 1991 truck, which we have
not owned for 20 years, and the other files which begin
with "19.."  - yes, they are at least 17 years old.

8. My journals. Alas, I have boxes of journals and I need to throw them away. However, I want to look through them first. Most, I suspect, are the "woe is me" kind that one tends to have when things are not going well, but there may be a gem or two in there someplace. I think too it might be interesting to make a timeline of where I was and what I was doing in given years, using the journals, before I burn them. And they will be burned.

9. The attic. I haven't been in the attic in years but I know that we still have tax records from the year we married up there. Since that was 33 years ago, well, understandably there is a paper problem somewhere.

Under the bathroom sink.

10. The bathroom vanity (or under the bathroom sink). I clear this out periodically but since we apparently never put anything back from whence it came, stuff piles up and then I end up with three shampoos and no conditioner. Once that becomes an issue, it is time to go through that thing again and see what the problem is.

11. My makeup drawer. I still have, truthfully, eye liner color that my mother gave me when I was teenager. I still use it because I can't find anything else like it! But I also have mostly empty containers of face powder, blush, and eye shadow. Time for a lot of that to find its way into the trash can.

12. The tax box. I really, really dislike keeping up with our accounting, particularly since we run several businesses, but it must be done, and should be done more regularly than I do it. So if I have one "resolution" for this new year, it is to keep on top of this. That is, if I can get 2016 out of the way. Egads, what a nightmare.

13. And last, but not least, my clothes dresser could use a going-through. I have three drawers that I never open, and whatever is in there needs to simply be tossed so I can regain the space. Let's face it, if I haven't worn panty hose in five years, I am not going to wear panty hose again ever.

My dresser. Note the three drawers I marked as "not opened."

So there you go. Not resolutions, but stuff that needs to be cleared away at some point. Feng shui and all of that.

Wish me luck!


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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 481st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.