The Piles of Indecision

Clutter is just a collection of decisions not made

I don't actually remember when or where I came across that quote but when I read it, it resonated. At the time my kitchen table was unrecognizable as a kitchen table. It was a mounded heap of indecision that was spilling over onto the chairs! A disaster zone. The good news is that I was embarrassed by it every weekend when my Sweetie came to visit, so embarrassed that one Thursday evening before he got here, I bit the bullet and in about an hour that sucka was gone. We can now eat meals at the table like normal people.

The bad news is that … the pile just basically migrated to a new location in the house. A few token pieces of paper made their way into the recycle bin and the shredder, just enough to make myself feel good about having done something. The remainder amalgamated itself with another heaping pile of indecision in the next room to make one super-sized pile of crap. This is now my office …

If my kitchen table was a disaster, my office is now a full-on zombie apocalypse. The consequence of years of indecision, unopened mail, filing that I never seemed to have time for and a decade's worth of collecting receipts (just in case; there was that ONE TIME when I was glad I saved it you know!) Yeah, not proud of it. Yet there it is.

(True story: While sorting though a handful of random unfiled papers, I re-discovered an RRSP account that I had totally forgotten about. It was opened when my previous employer started an RRSP matching program and I happily jumped on board to collect the 'free' money. When I left that job, I promptly forgot about it. Yup, forgot about my money. Like really! Who does that?!)

And there are others! The piles are not just financial in nature! Photo albums. Boxes of photos (that will one day be in albums.) A guitar (learning to play guitar is on my life 'to do' list.) A box of tea-lights from Ikea from circa 1997 (not exaggerating!) I like books, several bins of those around including one full of old University text books (one day I will crack open that calculus text and wrestle that beast to the ground.) Birthday cards. Christmas cards. Wedding invitations. Baby announcements. Scuba gear. Skis (cross-country and down-hill.) A lovely wine rack that I bought at an auction sale (but has yet to see an actual bottle of wine.)  And a laundry basket of items destined for the thrift store donation bin.

The piles also congregate in the kitchen in the form of dirty dishes, leftovers, a collection of mis-matched coffee mugs, a juicer on loan from my Mom and a caselot of chick peas (they were on sale so its OK!)

And the digital piles (e-clutter … its a thing!) More photos (but now they're digital.) Memes. USB sticks. High-8 video cassettes. CD's. Outdated software. Apps on my phone that I can't seem to uninstall. Partially edited videos and blog posts. Not sure where to save something? Save it to the desktop and move it to a folder later.

Then, there's the garage. Or should I say the black hole where power tools and garden implements go and are never seen or heard from again … especially when ya need them!

And honourable mention goes to the stuff that comes from other people in the form of gifts, collectibles and (mostly) well-intentioned memorabilia. Things that can't easily be tossed, sold or regifted without hurting someone's feelings.

(True story: When I moved to my acreage, a number of things came with the place; some were useful, some not as much. There was a porta-potty that I really had no intention of ever using and as such, I sold it an auction sale for $60 … much to the dismay and disappointment of the former owner of said porta-potty. The decision to ship the shitter was a no-brainer for me, it was just an awkward conversation having to explain myself.)

Why do I tell you about this embarrassing side of myself? It is a cautionary tale. A real life example of how compounding can work for you but it can also work against you; in the same way that consumer debt is like borrowing money from your future self, delayed decision-making steals time and mental energy from your future self. And future time is more valuable than today-time.

And what does this all have to do with my recent insight into frugality as a means to F.I.R.E?

It seems that Frugality and simplicity go hand in hand. Frugality is mindfulness of how one manages their money. Simplicity is mindfulness of how one manages their physical and mental space. They complement one another when they are in balance.  But when one or the other gets out of whack, the resulting discord manifests itself as wasted time, wasted energy, inefficiency, missing money and as actual, physical piles of crap around the house. The clutter of decisions not made disrupts simplicity.  And in that environment, frugality cannot thrive!

So the piles if indecision must go. As my ex-boyfriend used to say, "If they don't pay rent, let'em fly."  (mind you, when he said that he was usually referring to his farts.  True story.)