If you want something to sing while de-cluttering

If you want something to sing while de-cluttering, I've got the perfect thing. I wrote these lyrics myself to try to encapsulate some of the difficulties that are dealt with while trying to make decisions about what to discard and what to keep.

“Let It Go, Let It Go, Let It Go”

(sung to “Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let, It Snow”)

Well the piles inside are frightful

Acquiring was so delightful

No place for the chi to flow

Let it go, let it go, let it go

I’ve squirreled away so much it’s scary

Now I want a home that’s airy

I’ll have to train myself to throw

Let it go, let it go, let it go.

Bridge:

When I’ve finally gotten rid

Of the things kept since I was a kid

There is plenty of open space

Room if I wanted to pace

Emotional attachment is clinging

But I’ve set myself to flinging

There’s someone who needs it mo’

Let it go, let it go, let it go.

My memory’s not eternal

So I wrote it in my journal

My keepsake pile is dropping low

Let it go, let it go, let it go

Bridge:

I’m afraid I have been obtuse

I thought someday this might find a use

Embarrassing, it appears

That was thought twenty-some years!

There’s stuff I’d thought I’d try repairing

There’s so much, I’m despairing

It’d stretch out in a mile-long row

Let it go, let it go, let it go.

I’ve finally stopped delaying

I’ll stand no more “some-day-ing”

Stop shifting stuff to and fro

Let it go, let it go, let it go.

Bridge:

There are projects I just might do

Talents in me I just might pursue.

Just because I give this away

Won’t mean I’m blocked from essay

These knickknacks sure were pretty

Before they broke and got dirty

There’s just too many to show

Let ‘em go, let ‘em go, let ‘em go.

Bridge:

When I toss a gift from a friend

I’m afraid that they’ll note and contend

But it’s not like it’s theirs, it’s mine

If they’re kind, they won’t malign

Well, the heirlooms that I inherit,

Unused, they lose their merit

Antiques they are, but even so

Let ‘em go, let ‘em go, let ‘em go.

Bridge:

When I come to what I collect

I must pause for a sec’ to reflect,

“Discarding it all’s a beast;

I’ll part with what I like least!”

We’ve finally cut the clutter

And put it out by the gutter

If it happens again I’ll know

Let it go, let it go, let it go!

What to do with all those magazines?

Many organizing books and professional organizers will tell you that you should deal with those stacks of magazines by going through them and tearing out the pages of the articles that you really want to save and then put those pages into binders.

I say something completely different.

DON’T DO IT.

Just DON’T.

TOSS them without looking at them.

Here’s why. First, magazine articles are so short and shallow these days that it is likely that any advice you find in a magazine will be common sense that you can find on the internet if you search for it. Yeah, magazine articles are fluff these days. Second, if the craft ideas don’t grab you in that intense “OH-MY-GOSH-I-MUST-MAKE-SOMETHING-LIKE-THAT-IMMEDIATELY-OR-I-WILL-DIE” way, you will never do it and you will likely never look at it again. Looking at it and thinking, “Oh, that’s cool” is not a strong enough reason to keep the craft idea. You’ll never get to it, with all the other important and urgent things of life. You just won’t, and it’s not because you’re a weak person. In fact, you won't get to them because you are a strong person; you will find other activities more important. And you’ll be perfectly right NOT to get to it, because IT ISN’T IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO YOU.

So dump those extra magazines in the recycling bin. Or blindfold yourself and do it. Or ask your Significant Other to do it at the dead of night while you are asleep so you won’t know of the deed until it is an accomplished fact.

Get rid of them.