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The Cure for PRD*: How to Keep Only the Right Stuff

*Pack Rat Disease

 

By Jan K., The Proofer and Rick Subber

 

If you missed the first of this two-part article about PRD, please go to The Cure for PRD: How to Throw Away the Right Stuff (http://tips.janktheproofer.com/Pack-Rat-Disease-Part-1.htm).

 

By now, you may have successfully gotten rid of all of your old stuff or you are well on your way to finally clearing out the closets, spare room, and that storage area under the stairwell that had become a nightmare of cardboard boxes, old suitcases, and big paper shopping bags filled with whatever it is that you put in them 15 years ago. You’ve been enjoying that feeling of finally taking care of a chore that’s been hanging over your head for the last 10 of those 15 years. Somehow, the house just feels “lighter” now and less cluttered, doesn’t it?

 

Now that you are in PRD recovery, and the long-term diagnosis isn’t quite so grim, it’s time to go for the final round of therapy: Learn how not to save stuff in the first place. This may not be pleasant, and you may experience some side effects. But keep your eyes on the prize: a spare bedroom that you can actually make over into the scrapbooking room you’d really like to have.

 

Here are some tips that will help you to put your PRD into permanent remission:

 

Learn to be Brutal

 

It’s your birthday, and Uncle Jake has just given you one of those It-Does-Everything gizmos that the late-night TV infomercials have been hawking. It says right on the package that it will catch fish, darn socks, and whiten your teeth--guaranteed. Uncle Jake loves his (even though his teeth aren’t any whiter…yet, he says), and he just knows that your life will never be complete without one. You thank Uncle Jake and make some appropriate comment. The gizmo goes back in the box, and you enjoy the rest of the party. In the morning, while you are taking stock of your booty, make some firm decisions about what presents you are going to keep---and which ones are destined for immediate donation (with the It-Does-Everything gizmo topping the list).

 

Use this same decision-making process whenever you come across something that you would have otherwise been tempted to “put somewhere” (and then more than likely forget about), by asking yourself this one simple, straightforward, brutally honest question:

• Am I really going to use it? (read it, do it, bake it, etc.)

 

If your first (and brutally honest) answer is “No!” or “Well...probably not,” then don’t keep it, even if it is something that was given to you as a gift (like that It-Does-Everything gizmo). Don’t feel obligated to keep stuff you don’t like and know you’ll never use “just because”---just because someone else has one and thought you should have one, too. (And if Uncle Jake ever asks you about that gizmo, tell him that although it is an essential technology for the maintenance of civilization as we know it, it wasn’t right for you, so you rapturously honored him by passing it forward to someone who could take full advantage of and appreciate its many amazing features.)

 

Making the brutal yes or no decision can be hard when you first start the practice. It will get easier as you go along. It won’t be long before you don’t even hesitate to make the decision not to keep something that just a couple of months ago would have ended up shoved in a corner under the box that has that thing in it that you got as a Christmas present four years ago (even though you really can’t remember right now who gave it to you or why it is you put it in that corner to begin with).

 

Create Permanent Storage for Your Stuff

 

There really are going to be things that you do need to keep or want to save. After due consideration of the brutal yes or no decision and having answered “Yes,” the most important thing you need to do right now is to put it somewhere. Choose a place where you keep stuff just like it, a place that is accessible, a place where you can go immediately to find it when you are ready to use it.

 

Adopt a single storage system for your papers, files, and bits and pieces. Decide to do hanging folders in a filing cabinet, three-ring labeled binders, manila folders in a drawer, or labeled cardboard boxes in the basement. Make sure that your storage system, whatever it is, is easy to access. Your storage system should be well marked so that, at a glance, you know what you can find in which box, binder, or folder.

 

Bonus Tip: For more help creating a workable storage system, see “More about Getting Organized: Rule of 3, Part 2” (http://tips.janktheproofer.com/Get-Organized-Part-2.htm).

 

Don’t Put Things in a Pile

 

You know what I mean. You’ve clipped newspaper articles and magazine ads, and you’ve printed emails that have a “never fails” recipe for cherries flambé (it’s so fun to say, it must be fun to bake--and besides it is a really pretty picture!). You’ve got a pile of odd-sized pieces of paper and bits of newspapers and magazines that an entire Boy Scout troop could use to start their next camp-r-ee bonfire. And even as you continue to add to the pile, you know you’re really probably never going to actually sort through it looking for that cherries flambé recipe because, let’s face it, when was the last time you bought currant jelly just to have on hand for the spur-of-the-moment “I think I’ll bake cherries flambé today!” idea.

 

Don’t keep it unless you immediately create or already have a place for it. In other words, only keep something if you put it in a binder, in a labeled box, or in a hanging folder--right now while it is in your hand.

 

Bonus Tip: If you cut out a recipe, informative article, or print an email that contains something that you are honestly contemplating making, buying, or using for some special event or purpose, then put it in a box or folder that you will go through on a specific date, or at a scheduled time. Have a “weekly folder” in which you file away these bits and pieces. Sunday morning, while you are enjoying that second cup of coffee and a sweet roll, go through the stack. Consider each item and make a final decision to act on it--or throw it away. And remember that if you keep it, it has to go, right now, into a permanent folder, box, or other storage place (not just back into the “weekly folder”).

 

Bonus Tip: Regardless of the storage system you create, be sure to keep the same types of items in the same types of storage. If you have three-ring binders for recipes, one binder each for meals, salads, snacks, and desserts, then put all of your recipes in these binders, buying more binders when you need to. Don’t intermingle “Household Cleaning Tips” with that cherished recipe for cherries flambé. Use red plastic storage tubs only for Christmas decorations. Use blue storage tubs only for camping gear. By adopting a storage system you’ll know, at a glance, what tubs you need for that impromptu weekend camping trip…and won’t end up with a tub full of tangled Christmas lights instead of the tub full of camp bedding.

 

Limit the Storage Space for Sentimental Stuff and Other Keepsakes

 

OK, just nod your head if you still have the pair of socks you were wearing that day that you…[fill in the blank]. You have no clue why you’ve kept them all these years, except for the fact that the few times you’ve gone through that box and saw those socks, they put you back in that moment. It’s a good feeling. And so the socks go right back in the box because you just can’t part with them. That’s OK. We’ve all got that “pair of socks” thing that we’ve been hanging on to during the years, through all the moves, and through all the re-organizations of household belongings.

 

Personal treasures are just that---personal and treasured. But there does have to be a limit of just how many of these treasures you can hang on to. So, here’s the tip: set aside one big box, footlocker, plastic storage tub, or old suitcase for your keepsakes. Limit yourself to whatever you can fit in that one storage space. Decide which of the touchie-feelies gives you the best warm fuzzy--and keep those.

 

Bonus tip: Got too many touchie-feelies and can't bring yourself to get rid of any of them? Then consider taking pictures of things, and keeping the pictures! Take pictures of that great refrigerator art that little Jessica painted during the two weeks that she was home with the chicken pox. Print the pictures or save them to a CD. Then choose just one of Jessica’s Picasso-quality sketches, and put it in a manila envelope along with the pictures. Got 13 bowling trophies from the string of seasons when your team won every tournament? Get the gang together, pose for a few pictures with the trophies, and save the pictures--not the trophies.

 

The idea here is to save some one thing that represents the whole carton full of stuff and keep only pictures of the rest. The sentiments will feel the same, without those feel-good feelings getting quashed by thoughts of “Geez, I really need to get rid of this junk.”

 

So, stop feeding the Pack Rat who lives within you. Here’s how:

• Stop carelessly saving everything … throw away or give away stuff unless you can convince yourself that you’ll use it at least one more time after you save it. Next time you use it, you’ll need to convince yourself of that same thing.

• Stop randomly stowing stuff away … create permanent storage places that will organize your valuable stuff and help to minimize how much you save, and to maximize the likelihood that you will dig it out and use it.

• Don’t put stuff in a pile … that is, don’t “temporarily” save stuff as a substitute for making that brutal “stash it or trash it” decision now.

• Allow yourself to save some sentimental touchie-feelie stuff (in, say, one box that you can lift all by yourself) that you want to be able to lovingly look at later. And then be sure to drag the box out and look at the stuff--maybe every year on your birthday. Those feel-good warm fuzzies are only warm and fuzzy when you are feeling them!

 

PRD is curable. You do have the “right stuff” to keep only stuff that is right for you! By hanging on to this thought you'll keep your PRD in permanent resmission!

 

Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan's free crafts, recipes, tutorials, other resource sites, and free content articles, as well as Jan’s business services. Be sure to visit Mom's Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005 to present. All rights reserved.

Rick Subber, retired, was a planning and market research manager for The Morning Call, based in Allentown, PA. He is now an adjunct faculty member at Moravian College, teaching management, marketing, and other related business skills. Visit Rick’s website at www.rsubber.com.

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