~ How Many Piles Do You Have ~
Since I have been back in town, I have decided to reorganize my house and my business. After having to go through all of Mom's things when she passed away, and I brought back lots of her stuff, I decided that I had too much stuff.
Mom was VERY organized. I think it would put most folks to shame. She had boxes labeled with what was in it. Copies of receipts, warranties, manuals... whatever would be needed if someone were to take the item. She had files on her computer organized like her Christmas card list (sending and receiving), birthdays, anniversaries, reminders of appointments, anything you can think of. She even had a file labeled, "Upon My Death", which included account numbers, phone numbers, names, passwords, what she wanted for a funeral, songs, etc. in order to simplify things. Now, that did make things easier for my sister and I, just not emotionally easier.
I have always considered myself to be organized, but I didn't even come close to Mom's organizational skills. I would have to call her the Mother Theresa of organization. Some people may call her a little crazy or OCD, but this was always how she had lived her life, after all she was a secretary for one of the Superintendents of a school district.
When I arrived back in Denver with my truck load of her "stuff", I had to unload 
it in a hurry to get the truck back so as not to pay additional rental. I was overwhelmed with the chaos I had in my house. So for the past couple of weeks, I have been re-organizing...my home and my office. Let me tell you, I have certainly found things I thought I no longer had. I didn't just take her things and put them away. Nope! I ripped apart my kitchen and pulled out everything I had and compared it to what I brought back with me and put things in piles. I did this with every room in the house and even my office.
My piles consisted of keep, donate, garage sale and toss. I did this with every room. Crazy? Yes! But do I feel better? Absolutely! Not only have I been able to reduce the amount of "stuff" in my house, I was able to toss out things that weren't useful or had broken, have a garage sale and make a little extra cash and what didn't sell, I added to the donate pile.
Am I finished with my clean out project? Not yet, but everyday I do a little more. Often times we just put things away rather than reviewing what we currently have and try to reduce the amount of stuff we keep. Through this process, I have learned that just because it was Mom's spoon or wall hanging or whatever doesn't necessarily mean that I am required to keep it. Her memory will always be with me and I don't have to keep some little trinket to keep her memory alive. How many piles do you keep?
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