I sat cross-legged in my downstairs office a couple of weeks ago knowing it would and should be the first room to pack. Since I started my full-time job last September and then we were gifted an iPad by my husband's employer last Christmas, we just don't use it much. I looked at the piles of papers and books and wondered A) where on earth I should start and B) where the heck did all this crap came from.
I knew the answer, of course, this is the one place I can not blame the clutter on the kids, and the few random sheets with my husband's microscopic typewriter scrawl hardly counted as a pittance. It was me. It is me. I make the piles and the stacks towering from one shelf to the next. You could stand in the room and slowly turn and see books on everything from gardening to child birth, magazines and catalogs that have been dog-eared within an inch of their lives and scraps of fabric mixed with piles of marketing materials. This is my haven. This is where my sickness lies.
I think it started in middle school. I would buy every last magazine - from Teen Beat to Vogue - and tear out ads and spreads that really "moved" me. I would tape up pictures of my dearest celeb crushes next to reproductions of paintings and a cute swimsuit for summer. Looking back, it seems I have been making inspiration boards my whole post-Crayola and Barbie Doll life.
But, now, in my near-manic state of purge and cleanse, I was faced with a monumental decision, "Do I keep my precious inspiration? Or do I suck it up and recycle?"
Enter my 2 new best "virtual" friends: Pinterest and Evernote.
Let me start with Pinterest. I was turned on to this site by my darling friend, Brad, and I was so excited. This is an amazing tool for a picture hoarder like me (and even more so, Brad). Essentially, once you sign up for an account, you move a little "Pin It" button into you Bookmarks Bar at the top of your browser. Every time you see an image that you like, you click the button and add it to one of your pin boards. You can have any number of boards, so you can organize things by theme. It's awesome. This little tool has saved me lots of ink and paper, as I would usually printout groovy images so I could save them "forever". Now, I just "pin" them up, and I have them in a single spot for not only my reference, but anyone else who happens upon them. You can look at mine here. Each pin you post must be described, and within that description, you can enter @mentions, URLs, #tags and prices. It's pretty sweet. Then other people can "like" your pins or even re-pin them to their own boards.
There is just one shortfall that I can see. You can't pin up entire articles, just the image within. So, what's a girl to do? I am nothing without my myriad articles about backyard chicken coops and how to make your own wallpaper!
But, never fear, that's where Evernote steps in. This one has a lovely little bookmark bar button too. And you can clip entire articles, bits of text, just URLs... really, whatever you need to save! But, even more, it has a desktop application that allows you to write yourself notes, lists, reminders, ideas, whatever! The notebooks are not universally accessible, but you can share them out on Facebook, email or via link.
These two applications combined are exactly what I need to let go of all my half-written in journals and Post-it flagged mags. I am so happy. I don't have to try and change who I am and what I need to get through my day - namely, a constant stream of ideas and creative inspiration. And I can keep everything in one (OK, two) accessible places, so I can also decrease the number of crazy emails and phone calls with which I barrage my poor mom and husband that all start one of 2 ways - either "I NEED AN OPINION" or "I HAD A BRAINSTORM!!" I'm certain they both cringe at the words. Although, my mom is a little more used to it, she's been dealing with it for much longer.
...I wonder how long it took her to get all the tape residue off my walls after I moved out.
Regardless, I have parted ways with the bulk of my collection. I have retyped the important things into Evernote, and those things that were just too irreplaceable have been moved into binders. A few binders is much better than the towers of paper from before. So, now, the new office can look more like an office and less like a manic trash heap. Of course, I am getting my own "Mom Cave", so I guess we'll see how it goes. Once a piler, always a piler, but at least I am making progress. Right? Right?
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