resolution

The last time I made a New Year’s resolution was at least a decade ago, and I think I resolved myself against New Year’s resolutions. Kind of like giving up Catholicism for Lent.

Anyway, this year, inspired by unclutterer.com, nubbytwiglet.com, and my paid-off credit cards, and abetted by the Harvard semester leaving me class-free for a whole month, I’m embarking on a huge project to purge my apartment of everything I don’t need, don’t use, don’t love, or am not willling to care for properly.

I’m overwhelmed by “stuff” I’ve accumulated, and a bit jealous of my boyfriend’s incredibly pared-down possessions.

I have two touchpoints:

1. Smart consumerism is only buying products that you need or that help you to pursue the remarkable life that you desire. (Erin Doland)
2. Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. (William Morris)

I know both of those sound totally loopy and new-age-y, but they provide really functional and flexible guidelines. This process also isn’t really as drastic as it sounds. And having them written down on business-sized cards in my wallet provides a good touchstone when I’m shopping.

I have eight sort+toss points, ranging from five-minute projects to weeklong or longer:

1. my nail polish box
2. my makeup and toiletries
3. my shoes
4. my clothes
5. my books
6. my desk area and archives
7. my clutter
8. our kitchenware

I broke out tiny ones that should probably belong to a bigger lump because I need small, attainable action-steps. Some of these will take weeks, and I need to be able to check things off a list if I’m going to progress. Big jobs will be broken into subtasks.

Sort+toss means that I’ll pick one of these areas and attack it until anything I don’t need/love/use is gone, and the things I do need/love/use both have a home and are respectfully served (i.e. buttons replaced, shoes polished, etc.)

Status report: I already went through my nail polish, which meant special ordering a new box to replace the old one that was falling apart; now neither definition of the word “tacky” exists among my nailpolishes. Shoes are organized and I did throw away a lot of ill-fitting and poorly-made and falling-apart pairs, but I still need to set aside an afternoon for leather-care and polishing. Some pairs I do love but that I have not treated lovingly need a trip to a cobbler’s. Attacking my clothes means first purchasing proper “archival” storage for suits and formal dresses, and also buying another dozen or so nice hangers. Books will be a longer process, and involve multiple trips to used bookstores to sell stuff; I have about 40 cubic feet of bookshelves in our front hall, and about half as many books still in stacked packed-up boxes in the bedroom. That won’t do; sort and toss means anything that I can’t store correctly has to go. Whether it’s new shelving or fewer books, something’s gotta give. My desk area is done and immaculately organized; and Cristo tamed our massive kitchen overflow to immaculate necessities as well, spurred on by the influx of gifts from my parents.

Oh, and art supplies! I’ve sorted our joint holdings into four big plastic bins by media type (dry is markers and pencil; hard is sculptural; soft is craft, fabric, ribbons; wet is paints and brushes), I just bought a great steel portfolio case at an 80% post-Christmas discount at A&C, and dragged C. to Utrecht a few weeks ago to hit a sale on print racks: we now have a gorgeous hardwood one corralling all of our giant sketchpads.

Clutter is an ongoing battle, but one that I feel like I can actually win this year, especially with my boy by my side.