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(Photo: Creative Commons image by sue_clark98.)

I have this tendency to hang on to things, thinking I might need them some day. I do pretty good with resisting this tendency to hoard in regard to physical things, but other things? Not so much.

By other things, I mean things like bank accounts and domain names. I always think, “Well, but what if I need them some day?” and so I leave them be, even though I’m not using them. SoI vowed to make some changes in this area.

I started by calling up my credit union and closing my checking account there. I hadn’t used it in over a year, and didn’t see any reason why I would use it in the future. I felt good after making the call, and I told my husband what I’d done.

He wondered why I’d left the savings account there open. I thought about it, and realized that it was the old “but what if I need it?” excuse. “Well,” I thought, “What if I DO need it?” I could open another one, among other things. This is not a permanent choice. So I called them back up and closed my account entirely — an account that I’d had for over twenty years. I felt even better after that.

Coincidentally, I got the quarterly statement from the credit union in the mail that day. I was so happy, knowing that I’d only get one more statement from them and then that would be IT. One less envelope to open. One less account to reconcile. One less paper to file. Five more minutes in my life every quarter. I felt good. Remembering that good feeling will give me the help I need to continue battling the tendency to hoard.

(Photo: Creative Commons image by mrmanc.)

Our house is relatively clutter-free, and I consider myself fairly organized, but there is a limit to my organization. I have files and a couple of filing cabinets, for example, but I tend to put things away in them and then never look at them again, so the files get thicker and thicker. Then when I do need something from them, I have quite a few papers to look through. Flipping through paperwork can take a lot of time.

I got a letter this weekend from my flexible spending account that prompted a flurry of paperwork hunting. I’d expected the envelope to contain a check for the several month’s worth of expenses that I’d submitted last month, but instead it was a reminder notice saying essentially that I had until the end of the year to spend the money, and until March to submit claims. There was no mention of my most recent claim, and no check.

“No problem,” I thought, “I’ll just resubmit it.” I pulled out the file that my expenses should be in and flipped through it. Nothing. I flipped through it again. Still nothing. Now I KNEW that I had carefully copied everything and put it away before sending off my claim. Apparently finding the copies was going to be another matter.

I checked the next most likely spot: our computer room closet, which I sometimes use as a staging area for things that I think I might need before filing. Nothing. But I did notice that the closet was a mess, so I figured I might as well accomplish something while I tried to think of where else the paperwork might be. So I put an old fax machine into the Goodwill pile. I started shredding some photos that I no longer needed. About 5 minutes into the shredding, our shredder began making an awful noise. I unplugged it and tried to fix it, but that didn’t work.

So far the hunt for paperwork had cost me an hour and a shredder. (Which I’ll wait to replace until I can find a deal.)

Frustrated, I decided to flip through the original file folder one more time. Third time’s a charm, right? It was. My paperwork was stuck in among the airline claim information. But it got me wondering, how much does disorganization really cost us? How much is our time worth? How much do we miss out on in the form of missed deadlines (for rebates, bills, etc?) and missed opportunities (expired coupons, freebies, time we could have spent doing something more interesting?) I’m betting it’s a lot.

(Photo: Creative Commons image by PurpleDee.)

I heard a few seconds of a radio ad the other day. I’m not sure what the ad was for, but the line was, “You don’t have to give up style to bring simplicity to your life.”

It had never occurred to me that simplicity might mean giving up style. Actually, I think that a lot of very stylish things are stylish because they are simple.

To me simplicity means clean, beautiful lines. It means ease of use and longevity. It’s the polar opposite of clutter. It’s easy on the eye, mind, and soul. What does simplicity mean to you?