So far this week, the reclamation projects have taken anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour and a half to complete. The idea was to start small and gain confidence and momentum on easy victories while building up to more complex and time-consuming projects. And today's project was nothing if not time-consuming.
Two chrome shelving units, six shelves each. How long could it take tidy that? Given that I'd stashed a 5" stack of paperwork and design projects on one of the shelves, I gave myself two hours: one hour for filing and an hour to take care of everything else. In other words, I was dreaming.
Even though the shelves are on wheels and are thus easy to move, I hadn't swept under or behind the units since they'd found their homes next to my desk. Doing so today gave me a new-found appreciation for the precision and flexibility of the word yuck to cover everything I found there: dust, cat fur, graphite, pencil shavings, shredded paper bits, post-its, eraser crumbs and crud of indistinct origin.
The shelves themselves held an astonishing amount of books, papers, and supplies of all kinds, including office, art, school, computer, and pet supplies. I cleaned, I organized, I tossed, and I filed, until I thought surely I must be done, or if not done, then at least close. And then another hour would go by and I'd realize: nope, not even close.
Seven hours after I started, I was done. But more than any project to date, this one was worth the effort. While there are still a few projects I need to do to finish things up, with the chrome shelves organized I feel like I've finally reclaimed my study.
Yeah, this should only take an hour to clear out, no problem.
Okay, maybe two hours.
Oops! Forgot about all the stuff crammed behind everything. Rats!
Okay, so it was 7 hours, not 2. But it looks so much better!
Everything tidy and in its place. Wait! What's behind the shelf?
Reclaiming the Chrome Shelves
