Daisypath Anniversary tickers

February 08, 2012

Productivity Makes Me Happy!

Last night, BB and I had a discussion. OK, it was at midnight and it was an argument.

Apparently, in my crazy haze of whatever-ness, I had been giving off the impression that I neither needed, nor wanted him around for anything other than the "handyman" and "babysitting dad" routine...needless to say, it was a rough night for me.

Thankfully, I had already decided to stay home today, due to Littlest One's ear infections, so I slept in until about 15 minutes before needing to wake everyone up for school. We had a good, easy morning, with the kids getting done what needed doing with little hassle and only a few reminders that it was a school day and they needed to be moving in a timely manner...

After the boys left for work/school, I got busy! I have done 4 loads of laundry (leftovers from sick children and changing bedding and towels, and then being interrupted by craziness yesterday) to completion.

I was spurred on, because a friend of mine is moving and needs packing boxes...and so I trekked downstairs and emptied something close to 3 dozen cardboard boxes.

The scary thing? Over 2/3 of the contents were GARBAGE. Things we had been stacking up, putting aside to "go through later on", that were years old...yup, nothing like recycling 3 year old coupon inserts from the paper, or outdated requests for information from various clubs and institutions...good times I tell ya.

I borrowed my folks' paper shredder, so I'm going through all the clutter of old paperwork (who keeps 10 years of phone bills????) that have vital information in them, so that BB doesn't have to use the company document bins to shred our personal information.

We're off to Target to purchase some plastic storage tubs (I am currently in love with the clear ones that have lids with locking latches) to store the things that do need stored, such as kids' papers from school (I'm starting to get those magazine archive boxes to keep each year separate). I figure that when they grow up, I'll simply pass along the acid-free archival boxes in their tub(s) with all those cute little glitter and macaroni projects, journals etc for them to decide what to do with.

I'm sort of a freak about this, because, as the 4th of 5 kids, almost none of my school projects were saved for any memories, other than the hand prints in plaster, and school pictures on ornaments sort. As opposed to BB who kept literally every piece of paper his hands touched in his public school and university experience. We still have 3 boxes full of binders with his college assignments, nevermind the changes that the electrical engineering field has seen in the years since he graduated...

At any rate, I'm determined to have this house only keep the things we love and use. The rest can go!

And now, I'm off to change a toddler's diaper (please let potty training be productive also!!!), and head to the store for containers in which to house that which I cannot let go of...

Oh the irony...

It did get me thinking though...what did people do before they had attics and basements in which to house copious amounts of stuff? When did we acquire this need for storage containers, and shelves in closets or rooms to house it all? Why can we not let go of this insane need to have things?


No comments: