All The World's a Staging Area

During dinner with the Mrs. the other night, the conversation turned to the project. She brought up the stated purpose of One Room At A Time being just that, one room, and that everything I have done to this point (in terms of listing on eBay™) originated from many rooms. I agreed, but clarified that one room was the goal, while many rooms was the necessary path at the moment. I followed with an explanation, which I now share with you.

I am a clutterer. This is different from a collector, in that there really isn't any specific organizational structure to what is kept. No filing system, no albums, nothing that defines a collection. It is also different from a "pack rat," which involves pretty much keeping every physical item with which one comes into contact. My mother, sad to say, was a prime example of the latter. When we cleaned the house she had lived in for just over a quarter century, we found things that the vast majority of humanity would call trash. OK, so maybe just the Mrs. was calling it trash, but the point is that even I had to shake my head in disgust as I threw away junk mail from the '80s and coupons that expired a decade ago and things broken beyond any conceivable repair. I then came home to my clutter and realized that I was frighteningly close to the same status. Still, there was a distinct difference. Nearly all of the things that filled the various rooms of my house had some value, just not exactly value to any person living in my house other than me. Boxes of magazines that "will be read some day." Stacks upon stacks of computer items (in a previous life I was a Computer Dude). Camping supplies, tools, clothing, home repair and maintenance items. Stuff. MY stuff. Somewhere in that psycho-alphabet soup they've put in my file is the label OCD, and most who know me would say it fits. Dang it.

So, anyhoots, the problem with being a clutterer is that clutter migrates more than vanishes. In my meager defense, I will throw things away when they have lost value, although it might take an epic passage of time before I come across them again. If my chaos called a brain senses even the slightest potential use, then an item retains value and must be stored somewhere. Granted, it would be nice if I could put, say, that open package of safety door latches (which holds three of the original seven) in a specific location designed for Household Hardware Needed in the Future, then things wouldn't be so...cluttered. This, of course, depends upon actually having a specific location designed for Household Hardware Needed in the Future, which is not the case at the moment. Why? Well, because that location now holds other items. Aha! Now we come to the crux of the problem!! In order to focus specifically on ONE room, there must be a place in a different room to hold the items that are truly worthy of keeping. If the determination is made that Household Hardware Needed in the Future will go in the place that currently holds The Computer Undead, then The Computer Undead must go somewhere. If it is determined that The Computer Undead needs to go where the Inherited Train Stuff now sits, then the Inherited Train Stuff must go somewhere. And so on, and so on, and so on. That is why I am selecting items from many rooms at present rather than just one room. I have to find the space, or as I am apt to say, the staging area, to put the things that will be released into the hands of others who will cherish and find value in those things. I will call this space The Staging Area For Items of Value Destined For New Owners. Yeah.

I'm gettin' there...