Sierra Mountain Times

Mission: Seek and Destroy

So, it’s the New Year. Out with the old and in with the…what? Since I no longer make resolutions (which I never keep anyway) it occurred to me that this is a great time to clean house. Not the whole house, just my closet, desk and dresser drawers.

What a mess.

Guess I should confess that in the ‘run up’ to Christmas, I always have tunnel vision. From about October first onward, my time is consumed by my projects, whatever they are for that year’s holiday gifting. Typically those gifts are ones which I knit, sew or paint.

When I am in that tunnel vision mode, I tend not to clean up what I start before moving on to something else. The other problem is that instead of putting things back where they came from, I tend to just push or throw them aside. In the case of my closet, I tend to open the door and just throw things in the general direction of the shelves or only half-hang shirts and jackets. By the time I ‘surface’ after the holidays, I start wondering who made the big messes in my bedroom and studio.

Well, that would be me, of course.

The big clean up started in the closet where I began to wonder who bought some of these clothes and is it possible I’ve worn them all?

Some of the items I kept running into were t-shirts with sleeves that are entirely too short to be comfortable. You know the kind. The sleeves have almost no under arm part and when you put them on and they bunch up in your armpit. The other problem with them is that the sleeves are so short they hide nothing and I mean nothing. Every ounce of flesh that can ‘jiggle’ is just hung out there to, well, ‘jiggle’. It’s bad enough that I bought one of them, but why did I find about six of them in the closet? Didn’t I learn anything the first time I wore one? Into the ‘give away’ bag.

The next things I found were two pair of jeans I’d never even worn. The tags were still attached. Since the size is what I am now wearing, I’m in a quandary about when I bought them and why I haven’t worn them. Hmmm…put those in the keep pile.

At the bottom of a big pile of tossed clothes, I found a Christmas present I’d purchased in August and couldn’t find during the holidays. Guess I’ll keep it to give next year.

When the closet was finally clean, I could actually see that there are some really wearable things in there and I’d also filled three black garbage bags full of stuff. Most of the clothes are in great condition, but they are like the short-sleeved tees, not very flattering on me, but I’ll make sure they’ll have a good home.

On to the next project…dresser drawers.

Do you know anybody that needs 40 pairs of socks? Neither do I, but that’s what I counted. It would be bad enough if they were the only thing I’d been hording in there, but there were other things too. About fifteen pair of pajamas, only three of which I wear with any regularity. Why do I keep these things? I actually do know what my rational was: 1) they need new elastic that I’m going to put in ‘some day’, 2) the hems of the pants are too long and I have to shorten them ‘some day’, 3) the top or bottom is missing but I’ll find it ‘some day’, 4) it’s too hot – or cold – tonight but I’ll wear them ‘some day’.

Well ‘some day’ came this week and I tossed the single pieces that don’t match anything and put the still good stuff in the give-away bag.

Now, on to the desk. You’ve head the term black-hole? Well, that just about describes what I cleaned out. I have no idea where some of this stuff came from or why I shoved it in the back of a drawer in the desk. Among the items: an eight year-old rebate check (uncashed) for a hundred dollars, two ID cards from a former employer (I retired in ’01 and was supposed to turn them in before I left), a box of note cards I’d looked everywhere for and two, never used and outdated, credit cards. The rest of the stuff was just plain junk, old bank records and various detritus. I had two bags of shredded paper by the time I was done.

There were a few gems in there: a picture of my baby grandson in the tub (he’s 17 now and will love that) and about fifty cards (birthday, Valentines, anniversary) from my hubby telling me how great I am. Think I’ll save the cards and show them to him the next time he gets upset with me.

So, now that I’ve done all that work, I have a word of advice. If you decide to clean out a desk or whatever, wait for a burn day. Then without looking at the stuff, just empty the whole drawer into the burn can and torch it. Trust me; you don’t want to discover an eight year-old rebate check that you have to shred.

Happy hunting.