got through the stack mentioned in the last post.

did a couple of big stacks from my study. Not really finished with those yet. Tossed what needed to be tossed and divided the rest according to which course it belongs with. Organizing each of those stacks will be more time consuming than glancing and either tossing or piling.

On the upside, I found a few successful activities that have been buried for a few semesters now. My hope is that by the time I get through all of the stacks, I will be fairly well equipped to put the main courses I teach on autopilot.

I need for teaching to take as little energy as possible over the next year or so. I’m determined to plot my escape.

I believe I’ve finished processing all of the reasonably current personal paperwork that had been stacked to the ceiling. I know that when I tackle the room that I laughingly call my study I’ll find several boxes and bags that are old, old, old, but I’ll think about those when I get to them.

Next project—The two foot high stack of work folders piled next to my desk.

Got the box of stuff from Wednesday processed. Again, mostly tossing and filing. The shred stack is getting pretty big.

Made a discovery a few minutes ago—the top of my desk. Had heard rumors that those existed.

I found a smaller collection box today, filled it up, and processed it. Mostly tossing and filing. I did find a few things that need to be entered into the Contacts section of my PDA, but I decided it would be easier to do them all in one go rather than pulling up the software multiple times per day.

I got all three of my inbaskets cleared out in the process.

I filled the box back up for tomorrow by removing all of the random papers stacked in my desk drawers.

2:45 pm—My big project actually didn’t take as long as I thought, so I’m currently working my way down that huge box of “in” that I mentioned earlier. I’ve filled up a Target bag with stuff to toss, started a shred pile, completed a couple of 2 minute tasks, and filed quite a bit.

3:37 pm—Wow. What a great surprise. When I got halfway down the box, I discovered that the whole bottom half consisted of decorating magazines. Those can simply be set aside until I’ve completed decluttering and deep cleaning the house. It’s fairly pointless to start thinking much about decorating (at least beyond recreationally) until those projects are done.

I’m pretty tired now, so beyond tidying up the space I’ve been working in, I’m probably done for the day.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I swapped afternoons helping each other clean. The day we worked at my house we threw out three BIG trash bags full of stuff. The papers I kept went in one of two places: a copy paper box or its lid. The box is “in” and the lid is “in-urgent”.

Since then I’ve dug several things out of in-urgent and accomplished them, but the lid is still about half full.

I need to:

Email Krisha re: invoice DONE 6/7

Mail stickers to Rachel

Cancel credit card account

Take care of an online privacy task

Get car insurance quotes

Check into switching phone companies

Mail sets of papers to several people

Write proposal to switch publishing companies for next year

The only thing that will take a while is the proposal. I’d like to get all of these things off my plate in the next week or so. Unfortunately, today isn’t going to be the day. I have a big project to do that will probably take most of the day. Fortunately, there is a pot of gold (ie a paycheck) at the end of the rainbow, so the work won’t seem TOO burdensome.

The scary thing is the box. It is FULL, FULL, FULL. And those were just the papers in the living room and piled on the dining room table. I think that I’m not even going to collect any more until I get that box processed. Surely I can handle a handful a day. A lot of it can probably just be shredded.

That’s it for now. Gotta get to work.

How long did the initial setup process take you? I’ve read the book twice and am completely intimidated by the thought of collecting and processing my entire existence.

Thanks in advance for any/all pushes in the right direction.