ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS

By Ramona Creel of OnlineOrganizing.com

Let's talk for a few minutes about "waffling." You know what
"waffling" is, don't you? It begins one day, when you decide to
get rid of that old waffle iron you never use. As you put it in
the donation bag, you think to yourself, "But what if someone
wants waffles?" You take it back out. Then you think, "That’s
silly. No one has wanted waffles in 5 years." You stick it back
in the bag.

This goes on for another 15 minutes until you finally think the
unthinkable – "But I might need it someday." You put the waffle
iron back in the cabinet, where it continues to collect dust for
another 5 years. Why do you do this? It’s not because you are an
evil and indecisive person. You have simply never had a solid set
of CRITERIA for determining an item’s worth. No longer!

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU USED IT?

If you haven’t touched something in the past 12 months, chances
are that you’re not going to use it in the next 12. Clothes and
sporting goods seem to be some of the worst offenders! It’s
natural for people to have a hard time letting go of the past.
And if an old outfit or a bowling ball really means that much
to you, then put it away with your keepsakes. If you feel like
you need to hang onto ancient financial paperwork, send it to
offsite document storage. Just don’t take up valuable space in
your ACTIVE storage areas with items you don’t use.

WILL I EVER NEED THIS AGAIN?

Be honest and realistic about this one! At what point will a
green shag toilet-seat cover be crucial to your survival? If
you can picture a specific, concrete instance when you will
need it in the foreseeable future, then by all means keep it.
"I might need it someday" isn’t a good enough rationale.

CAN I ANSWER THE 5 W's?

If you can’t conjure up at least one plausible scenario
requiring the use of that green shag toilet-seat cover or
dot-matrix printer from 1988, you may want to ask yourself
if it is worth hanging on to. Try to provide solid answers
to each of these questions:

- WHY WOULD I NEED IT?

Try to come up with one specific concrete occasion when you
would need that exact particular item again -- not just
"I might need it someday."

- WHERE WOULD I NEED IT?

If the item in question is only useful up north and you now
live in Miami -- or only useful in a corporate environment
and you're now self-employed, why keep it?

- WHAT WOULD I NEED IT FOR?

What purpose does this item serve? Are you still involved with
that activity? No reason to keep letterhead from an old job or
tap shoes if you gave up dancing.

- WHO WOULD ASK ME FOR IT?

People seem to hang onto stuff because they are afraid someone
will ask them for it someday. If it's the IRS or the police,
keep it. If not, think twice.

- WHEN WOULD I NEED IT?

Okay, you might need it "someday" -- but when is will that day
arrive? Three months or 35 years from now? Is it worth hanging
onto that long?

IS IT EASILY REPLACEABLE?

Okay –- so let’s say you do get rid of something, and then
decide that you need it 6 months later (my mother claims this
always happens to her, as a justification for postponing
cleaning out!) This isn’t always a problem. Ask yourself what
would be required for you to replace this lost treasure. If
we are talking about an expensive or hard-to-find item, you
are certainly justified in thinking twice before tossing it.
You have to consider cost versus benefit –- it may cost you
more (in time, space, energy, or money) to keep the item than
to replace it IF and WHEN you ever need it.

WHAT IS THE WORST THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN IF I GOT RID OF IT?

When my clients are anxious about discarding an item, they are
really saying, "I’m afraid of what might happen if I got rid of
it." This is simply fear of the UNKNOWN -– uncertainty about the
consequences of their actions. So I ask my clients to let their
apprehensions run wild, and to imagine the absolute worst-case
scenario. Quite often, the worst-case scenario is not that bad.
Will the world end if you toss out that ring binder you haven’t
used since college? Probably not. This knowledge helps dissipate
the fear and makes letting go a little easier.

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Ramona Creel is the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com -- offering

"a world of organizing solutions!"

Visit OnlineOrganizing.com for organizing products, free tips, a speakers bureau

-- and even get a referral for a Professional Organizer near you. And if you

are interested in becoming a Professional Organizer, we have all the tools

you need to succeed. (Copyright 2000, Ramona Creel)
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