Tossing It

Been organizing a bit.  Done in stages.  Not even close to complete, but enough to see a difference.  Completing My Space recycles itself as a semi-annual initiative, seeing a spurt or two every six months.  The area is divided into zones.  Starting with the closets, I half filled a sturdy lawn and leaf bag very quickly, then it sat for months in a too conspicuous space until last evening.  At a Farmer's Market discount store some time ago, I purchased very flimsy plastic bags super cheap.  Our state no longer allows them as they clutter the environment, though perhaps not, as they tear easy.  The stuff once in them which is no longer in them may be biodegradable.  When I use them in the garden, they tear.  But if I transfer some boxes of games and puzzles with missing pieces, some dead batteries with early leaks, and some plastic clothes hangers that once held children's clothing which has since been donated, I could get that bag into the weekly garbage bin.  I transferred the items from the sturdy bag to the flimsy one.  It tore, but not such a large disruption as to return the items inside to the floor.  I tied the open top, then transported it carefully to the plastic bin in front of my garage for next week's pickup.

Papers are more pervasive, dominating much of my downstairs.  A little at a time, I harvested them from the kitchen and living room, transferring to small corrugated boxes that once held k-cups or beer bottles.  Then I took the box of unsorted papers, got a stack of file folders and labels with a red stripe across the top, along with a pen.  One paper at a time, or a few if clustered, I made a folder for it, alphabetized the folders in anticipation of later papers that can be put there, and in two sessions I finished.  Along the way, some could be recycled, moving a few at a time to a recycling bin in the kitchen.  Others were better shredded, moved to a separate pile, then run through the shredder next to my living room secretary desk.  A few need to go to the synagogue's Genizah where papers with the Name of the Lord are respectfully destroyed, usually by burial as an adjunct to a funeral.  Now I have alphabetized folders in a small box and a handful of scattered papers on the living room floor that can use a new home.  Next, I need to take the files that I made and take them to the file boxes in the living room and laundry room, consolidating them with pre-existing files of the same name if available, recycling the manila folder for another session in a year or two.  One day I will need to go through the files for mega recycling and significant shredding, but for now, just being off the floor and alphabetized in a file box will complete the project.

Then return to the back zone of My Space and the desktop in My Space, both perpetual works in progress.