Peace of Mind Organizing

August tiny projects challenge: Day 5

21 August 2020

It’s the fifth and final day of my Tiny Projects challenge! It’s been fun to look around and identify little projects that pack a punch. Today, I spent a half hour on the Elfa rolling file cart that lives under my desk.

Here’s a before photo:

A little background: I’ve had this file cart ever since I started my business 15 years ago. The idea is that it holds action folders and other papers I want to keep close at hand. It evolved into a place to store documents pertaining to my family—not genealogy, but rather documents for my father and brother, Scott, who sometimes need my help. I also used to store all my brainstorming and planning documents, most of them handwritten, in the cart. And there were client files stored there.

The truth of the matter is that I rarely accessed any of the documents, except the front three hanging files. I went through those in the first 15 minutes of my session. That was easy; I weeded some stuff out, but really didn’t get let go of that much.

Then I got to the brainstorming/planning documents and decided to hold on to them for inspiration in the near future. I made a note on my Trello task management board to go through them, which I’ll enjoy doing. I just didn’t want to take the focus away from decluttering today. Behind those were several folders of documents relating to NAPO-St. Louis. I was on the chapter board for a number of years, off and on, and had accumulated a bunch of paper. I didn’t even realize I still had that stuff! So into the recycling (or shred, as applicable) bin it went. I moved the client files to archival storage. And that was that.

Here’s the after picture:

And here’s the satisfyingly large pile of folders I emptied:

Now I have a ton of room in my file cart. (And there will be more, once I go through the brainstorming/goals folders.) The items I am keeping will be easier to access. The deadwood is gone. And the cart itself is much easier to maneuver. Its design requires me to pull it out from under the desk in order to access it. It’s always been quite unwieldy. Now it feels light!

After five days of tiny challenges, I feel energized. It’s been so great to check these little projects off my list. I’m already reaping the benefits!

Tagged with: 15 minutes, closets, organizing, paper management, tiny projects

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