Maybe itís the weird weather, maybe a lingering cold. Maybe a latent New Yearís resolution, one that is actually achievable.
But I am on an organizing binge.
It started last week in the basement. Itís funny, those boxes and bins in the storage room have only been there three years. And yet I had almost no idea what was in them. Plus they were spilling off the shelves and creeping into the middle of the floor, as if they had the ability to slowly move by themselves when no one was looking.
No more!
I went down Saturday morning, armed with a black marker, strapping tape, and a waste basket. (That last item is very important when reorganizing.) Then it was hand to hand combat. Open a box, sort through it, toss what looked toss-able, mark the box, tape up the sides if they were ripped. Then on to the next.
All those boots are now in two bins and marked as such. Noahís boxes of miscellaneous went down from four to three, with a little creative repacking. Malikaís bins went down too, although I lost track of the exact number that she has. Some people are born pack-rats, and she is one of them.
Old letters and cards have their own spot on a top shelf. Will they ever get read again? Maybe not, but maybe. Rugs up there, stuffies over there. Hereís an empty bin, lets put old eyeglasses and sunglasses in that one.
"Scrap-booking stuff." "Lorelyís misc." "Tins." "Daveís mags and music." Everything got labeled.
Well, almost everything. A pile of stuff started to grow in the middle of the room. A thing-a-ma-jig that holds CDs. A kit on learning to play Bridge. An Etch-a-Sketch. (It works!) Three boxes of odds and ends finally sat there, plus a box of clothes that need sorting by Cindy.
And they are still there. Thatís another part of organizingñ donít make any hasty decisions. Let it rest, like fine wine. I have learned that the hard way, tossing something that I ñ or Cindy ñ later regretted.
On Sunday I did the same thing to another storage area in the basement. Then to a drawer full of junk in my closet.
Whatís going on? I donít know. But itís a mental thing, like being motivated to lose weight. Thatís the correlation to the start of the new year. If you arenít motivated, it ainít gonna happen.
Itís fun to do, that is for sure. Fun to see shelf space, fun to find old treasures. That pile of newspapers and magazine articles about the 1987 and 1991 World Series victories. Go Twins! A picture of me and my sister Lynette from an ancient Christmas. A brick, hand-painted by a little girl who just knew that her dad would like to have it on his desk.
Itís also great to know where everything is. Even if you donít have any use for it.
I wish I could bottle up this organizing drive. It would sell perhaps as well as those pills that we see advertised endlessly during football games. Maybe better.

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