Time Management Tuesday: The October Purge Results Post

Oct. 31st

We did, indeed, each find an item a day in October to get out of this house. That's sixty material possessions we don't need to spend time dealing with. That's more than 22 cubic feet of belongings that won't cause disorder in our lives, leading to self-regulatory failure. Seriously, someone (not mentioning any names, Civil Guy) measured the heap, did some calculations, and came up with 22+ cubic feet. Evidently that's not much when you're talking loads of gravel or concrete. But we're talking stuff.

Oct. 1st

Now, why does anyone need a specific unit of time in which to clear out? Why not just do it on a regular basis? I think we're pretty good at that, and we've become quite good at not bringing unnecessary material things into the house in the first place. But I noticed something happening last month that suggests providing yourself with a dedicated Toss Time makes sense.

It's All About Mindfulness

22 cubic feet from another angle

What I noticed was that I was noticing things. The misshapen work gloves I haven't worn in years, for instance. I'd just been dumping other gloves on top of them. I've known for a long time that I can't do a thing with the ravioli attachment for my pasta machine, but I've hardly been aware of its existence. That didn't mean it wasn't taking up space in the pantry. Every year when I pull out winter clothes in the fall and put them away again in the spring, I've seen but haven't seen, if you know what I mean, a pair of black pants that are two sizes too large for me. They looked very good on me when I was 25 pounds heavier than I am now, so I've been holding on to them in case I gain back that weight. I've had them for, maybe, fifteen years. Well, if I gain that weight now, I'll have to buy some new pants.

My point is that somewhere along the line we stop being affected by a lot of our possessions. We can't make a decision to keep or ditch them because we're barely aware of their existence. But exist they do. You could compare living with unnecessary junk to living with mild chronic pain. You've become accustomed to it. It's become a norm in your life. But it still impairs your function.

A dedicated time for cleaning house requires mindfulness of us.When we're done, some of the things that have been lying on the raised hearth and the dresser will be gone. We won't have to spend time moving them around looking for things. They won't have a negative impact on our willpower, wrecking our ability to stay on task with work.

Ha-Ha, Gail. Now What Are You Going To Do With That Pile Of Junk?

Fortunately, the last day of October was a Saturday. While I was busy baking cookies with my leftover Halloween candy Sunday afternoon, someone else cleared off the entire worktable. Some things were thrown away. Some were placed in the church tag sale area of our cellar. A couple  of books are going to family members, the others will be going to a library book sale later this month. There's a large pile of clothes waiting to be bagged for the Salvation Army. But that's an easy task. Getting to that point is what is difficult.

And, no, I have not yet read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  I ordered it on Interlibrary Loan, and it came in while I was on vacation. I'll try to read it before next year's purge.

Time Management Tuesday: How This Year's Purge Is Different From Last Year's

As you can see, we've started pulling out the big stuff now. My cellar TV room is beginning to look as if we're getting ready for a tag sale. I'm talking about the October Purge at Chez Gauthier, in case someone just surfing by is wondering what this picture is about.

During last year's purge I started focusing on one spot or another in the house.

"I realized that just getting rid of thirty random items out of an entire house wasn't going to do much to help me organize my environment, improve my impulse control, and manage my time. But focusing on specific areas, like that kitchen counter, could. Thus I got rid of table cloths from the china cabinet in the dining room so that I won't have to spend time on my knees in front of it looking for linens when I'm expecting guests. I worked on the pantry so I, well, could walk through it, to be honest.

I got rid of some random things, too. But, really, the way to get a usable result from a possession purge is to apply a little logic, do a little planning. I may do an annual purge."

Weeeeellll, that's not how things have been going this year. I definitely have just been scooping things up, and I think that's what my husband has been doing as well. Me, I've been picking up what I'm going to call "floaters"--things that were just lying around here and there through the house. If I was in the attic putting away suitcases, I would see something that hadn't been used in years and didn't work very well, anyway. An item that had been moved into the pantry months (a year?) ago to get it out of the way is now on the purge table. It's really going to be out of my way soon. Picking up one item to get out of here sometimes led to finding more.

It's been more random than last year. This probably says something about the state of my house and my mind recently.

Next week: The 2015 Purge Finale with a complete set of pictures.

Time Management Tuesday: Prepping For National Novel Writing Month When You Write All Year Long

I took part in National Novel Writing Month back in, I believe, 2004. I had an exciting time and began an adult book that I think about and make notes for now and then. But then I thought, Hey, Gail. You are a so-called pro fessional writer, published and all that. You should be writing like this all the time, not just in November. So I didn't do it again.

Not that pro fessional, published writers can't take part in NaNoWriMo. A couple of well known children's lit writers of my acquaintance have announced on Facebook that they're taking part this year. And NaNoWriMo has such a pull. All the other kids are doing it. And a rough draft in 30 days!

But it isn't always convenient to do a traditional NaNoWriMo project, if you've been writing all year. I know, myself, I just finished a rough draft in August. That's not an ordeal I want to repeat so soon, when I have a second draft to do and a November event I'm attending that I need to psyche myself up for.

What if you're like me, but you feel bad about not being able to partake of the National Novel Writing Month fun?

Writer Jennifer Derrick can offer you options. In her blog post NaNoWriMo for Professional Writers she describes ways to turn National Novel Writing Month "into an event that benefits your writing career." They all involve using November for what I call a "set aside time" to do some kind of intense task.

It turns out, there are many things writers can do in a month-long binge that don't involve writing a book-length rough draft.

The October Purge

If you have been following the October Purge Chez Gauthier, here is your visual on where we stand as of today. We've got about a week and a half to go.

Time Management Tuesday: Okay. Let's Go Over This Purge Business Again

We're on Day 13 of this year's October purge. As you can see, we're not quite halfway through the month, and the dreck we don't need is piling up.

What Does Stripping Your Environment Of Unnecessary Material Items Have To Do With Managing Time?

Last year I wrote about the Environmental Disorder Leads to Self-Regulatory Failure study. I found the following quote related to it: " ...people who sat by a messy desk that was scattered with papers felt more frustrated and weary and took nearly 10% longer to answer questions in a color-and-word-matching task, in comparison with those who were seated by a neatly arranged desk."

Okay, you may say. That's a good reason to purge my desk. But why the whole house?

Because many writers work in our homes. Many writers also have day jobs or families or both. We don't have all the time in the world to write to begin with. If our extended environment is causing frustration and weariness, impairing self-regulation, that's going to impact how effectively we can use our time.

There are all kinds of of nonwork-related reasons for getting rid of material things you don't use. But we only deal with time here, so I'll pass on that.

I have fifteen more days of stuff to get out of this place. We haven't gotten to the big stuff yet.

Time Management Tuesday: So I Guess The Purge Is Going To Be An Annual Thing

I am sure you all remember last year's October Purge chez moi. It did not involve ridding myself of people who didn't agree with me. Nope. Can't help you with that. What the October Purge was about was imposing order, working on the theory that maintaining  order in your physical surroundings helps to maintain order of other kinds--self-regulation, self-discipline, willpower.

Quite honestly, I hadn't given a lot of thought to doing this again this year. But someone else who lives here was psyched to do it. And now the fire has been lit under me.

The October Purge was inspired by an essay about Joshua Fields Millburn, who got rid of one possession a day for a month. We're doing a variation this year, because two of us are getting rid of one item a day. And, for novelty, by which I mean, fun, we're making a heap of this stuff to get a nice visual of what two items a day for thirty days looks like.

Here is the difference between Day One and Day Five.

Purge 2015 Day One

Purge 2015 Day Five

Check back to see how we do with this. You know I will keep you informed.