Lee’s Office (part 2)

Yesterday I called a couple of home organizers to get an idea of what they can do for me and how much they’ll charge to do it. On the plus side, if I hire someone for six hours, we’ll book an appointment and I won’t be able to procrastinate my way out of it. On the minus side, it’ll cost several hundred dollars. I haven’t decided if I’ll hire one or not, but it’s under consideration.

Meanwhile I received several private emails from people who either didn’t believe my office was as bad as I claimed it was, or who thought it was probably even worse. Honestly, it couldn’t get much worse, but we’ll start with a photo of one of my bookshelves, which is one of the least problematic areas in my office.

On the floor:

• an empty toner cartridge that has to be recycled

• a basket of junk I don’t use (I honestly have no idea what’s in it)

Bottom shelf:

• UPS unit (uninterrupted power supply)

• two storage boxes (in use)

• modem and router

• an anthology of women’s literature

• four stacking trays filled with printer paper, labels, overhead transparencies, envelopes

Second shelf:

• the pile on the left: scanner, two empty storage boxes, a box of stationary and an old teddy bear

• a storage box filled with promo stuff (bookmarks, biz cards, etc.)

• two binders (white) filled with stuff I wrote as a freelancer

• a magazine file filled with research material used when I was a freelancer

• binders (black) filled with photographic slides from when I was a sessional lecturer in earth sciences

Third shelf:

• printer (in use)

• all-in-one fax machine (no longer in use, although the tray makes a handy paper caddy) and it’s accompanying telephone, which works when the power goes out

Fourth shelf:

• a stack of recycled printer paper

• books

• a pile of photos on top of some of the books

• assorted cat toys

Fifth shelf:

• more books

Top shelf:

• books I can’t reach—genealogy, gardening, plus a dozen issues of academic guidebooks for which I was the project editor

How much of this stuff do I actually use/need? Maybe twenty percent. Why do I have all this stuff? For one thing, I have the shelfspace for it. A lot of it seemed important when I put it there five or ten years ago, but I haven’t needed it since. Meanwhile, many things I do need and use are piled on desktops and the floor because I have no shelfspace for them.

For the rest of this week, I will ponder whether or not to hire a home/office organizer. If you or someone you know has worked with one, I’d love to hear about it.

Until next time,
Lee