Good as Good

 Earlier today, I continued some work on a decluttering project of mine. Over the years, debris has accumulated in my bedroom, and earlier this year I felt that it had gotten out of hand. So I embarked on a project of de-cluttering, removing the unwanted, the unneeded, the unused. I made some progress, though that progress quickly slowed, and stopped. Lack of time, lack of energy, lack of interest. I'm sure we've all been there, right?

One point I was working on early on - and most recently, today - was going through old notebooks and folders and seeing if they are worth keeping around. When I first started, I had (at least) two stacks of notebooks and folders, from college and even high school. I went through them, one by one, dealing with them as I saw appropriate. Folders, in most cases, could simply have their contents discarded (with one or two that were thrown out WITH their contents). Notebooks have proven trickier, depending on how much was used. If the clear majority of the pages WERE NOT used, simply remove the used pages and keep the remainder intact. If the clear majority of the pages WERE used, remove the unused pages and throw out the remainder. This works well enough, though it can become difficult to call if the used/unused levels are close to being the same.

And for the record, I'm tossing them into the recycling.

It may seem heartless of me to be throwing these items, filled with information and memories out. Perhaps it is. But at the same time, I haven't looked inside most of these in years, probably not since I added them to the stack. As they stood before, they just took up space, unused and unread. Now, at least they might serve some purpose beyond getting in the way.

I will admit, most of these supplies aren't looking too great. The folders tend to be stretched open, with bent corners and worn spines. The notebooks are even worse, many with crooked wire rings and clearly missing pages. These things are not good as new, not by a long shot. But they are good as good; worn, but still usable, and may last for some time longer (as long as you're careful in handling).

Clear away that which does not serve, but save that which is worth saving.