Three Fences, One Workbench, And Four Houses

I took a trip down memory lane last evening.

After three fences, one workbench and four houses later, I decided it was high time to go through the organizer bins I have neglected for 17 years! Yep......17 years.

Last night, I took control! I bull rushed those bins with their nightmarish clutter and junk and I did battle! Not only did I fight off the enemy of disorganization and mess, but I actually won! Now there are four bins with drawers that make sense.

No longer does one slide out drawer contain anything from rubber stoppers to push pins or rusty nails or bent screws. Nope, we are lookin' good! Some drawers even have the labels from the box that was housing the 3 1/2 galvanized screws! Wow!!

Here's the point. I spent probably two hours to sort, pick through, throw out, clean up an area that I had just flat out neglected over the course of 17 years. Was the disarray ruining my life or my family? Of course not, however, it did bug me sometimes to look at the mess and after .00075 seconds I would flush that thought and move on with my day.

Going through the 100 plus slide out drawers was actually quite fun. I had the Red Sox and Indians game on and I actually found myself having a great time! It wasn't all about getting a much needed job done, but rather all of the great memories connected with some of the nails, screws, electrical outlet covers, wiring, that made the time really cool.

There were the outlet wall covers so that our daughters wouldn't put their fingers into the wall plug in (or did Karen buy those so that I wouldn't do that???). There are the 'child-proof' drawer thingymajigs. There are the many sized and multiple threaded screws from when my father-in-law built (he let me supervise!!!!) the custom work bench for our basement in Iowa.
The galvanized nails from our very first fence. And then the tons of 'extra' bolts, nuts, washers, doohickies, from stuff I have put together over the years. I never have figured out why all the leftover parts????

After getting the stuff sorted and tossing the junk that should have been tossed the day I last touched it makes for a much more tidy and efficient workbench. It's nicer to look at and I know where I can find everything. The drawers actually work when I pull them out!! The clutter and junk is gone!

Clearing up the clutter makes for a better environment. Clearing up the clutter on my workbench is really no different than life. Life gets cluttered and sometimes we need to take some time and focus on getting it cleaned and cleared up so that it all works better!

MTC!
Mark