Tag Archives: hoarding

January 25, 2012   Blog, Clutter Control   No comments

True Confessions of a Professional Organizer: Magazine Hoarding

How come I can’t get rid of my Southern Living magazines?

With a little downtime on a cold wintry Sunday, I decided at last to go through my Southern Living magazines. This collection, dating back to 2008, is one I have hauled with me through two moves.

Said magazines, which I acquired a subscription to as an Independent Southern Living at Home Consultant, are not something I “need” to keep, for any logical reason.

  • I don’t live in the South
  • I don’t regularly travel to the South
  • I don’t live in a growing region anything like the South

So, I decided, time to purge. But just tossing the whole lot was NOT an option. I KNOW there’s valuable stuff in these magazines. (Just what I can’t specifically say right now…some cool decorating ideas, fabulous recipes…) I can’t just dump ‘em. Maybe I’ll sit today and go through the whole stack. Maybe I’ll just whip through one or two a day to whittle it down to nothing.

Grabbing one off the top of the stack I think, “This’ll be easy and quick. I’ll just tear out the good stuff:  deco ideas for a binder and recipes for my recipe folder, and recycle the rest.” Exactly what I would tell a client to do.

And it did start out easy. And quick. I whipped right through the regional features and travel content.

Then I got to an article about a den makeover. “Hmm, I don’t think I’ve read this. Oh, I love what they did with that fireplace. Yikes, I can’t believe they painted the parquet floor!” Finished the article, moving on…

Recipes. This’ll be fast, I’ll just tear out what sounds yummy. This one, that one, another and another…All of them sounding delicious (and I’d just had breakfast). Turn the page, “Chicken Dumplings – Mama’s Way and Your Way”, I need this too.

You can see where this was going.

These magazines have been taking up precious shelf space for YEARS. I’ve passed by them, ignored them, not consulted or needed them until now. Now, I can’t live without them.

What am I going to do?

 (The stack still sits there.)

 

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