It’s amazing how much stuff you are able to throw away after you’ve allowed it to sit I a pile for several years first….  I say that because I just spent my entire day going through stacks and stacks…and stacks…of papers that have been piling up for years, and when I realized how many of those papers should have been thrown away after first reading them I had no choice to admit to myself that I have a serious problem – I am a certifiable paper hoarder!

My office at home had gotten so full of stacks of papers piled up on the floor, on the desk, even on the chairs, that it had become unusable for the last year.  It was so full of stacks of papers everywhere that I have been going into my husband’s home office and working from his desk most days, which drives him crazy – at least he says it drives him crazy. I think he secretly likes having me in there making piles of paper all over his space (tee hee). No question about it, I’m a paper hoarder, but at least I am finally admitting it which they say is the first step on the path to recovery…

My husband and I spent the entire day today filling massive trash bags with all my old stacks of papers to clean up my office.  We went through every pile one by one and with every new stack I would look over it and think, “why in the world did I every keep this stuff??!!”  No joke – if you’d seen how many trash bags were filled today you wouldn’t believe your eyes.  What my eyes can’t believe is how amazing my home office looks now! It’s like a Christmas miracle in April!!! 

This lockdown time of pandemic is the perfect opportunity to go through every stack of paper in your house, go through all the old piles that have been collecting dust forever, empty out those closets and just THROW THINGS AWAY!  You will be shocked how much stuff you find that you can get rid of. Spend the weekend getting all your unnecessary garbage out of your life.  Trust me – it feels AMAZING!!!!  

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )