Not my office, but almost could have been.

Not my office, but almost could have been.

When I’m working with a client and they say they need help editing or decluttering, the three things I hate hearing are:

1. I can’t throw that away because a friend gave it to me.
2. Someone might be able to use this for an art project.
3. I’m eventually going to look at that (huge stack of unread magazines).

And yet, y’all?  When Claire came over to help me organize my office last Thursday, do you know what came out of my friggin’ mouth?

1. I can’t throw that away because a friend gave it to me.
2. Someone might be able to use this for an art project.
3. I’m eventually going to look at that (huge stack of unread magazines).

Somebody shoot me.

While I’m not fodder for an upcoming episode of Hoarders or anything, my office had gotten to such a state of anti-grace that the act of walking into it was depressing.  I found myself working downstairs more and more, sitting on the couch and hacking away on my laptop with Cartoon Network on in the background (virtual babysitter…go ahead and judge), while my office sat vacant.

My copy of Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life has been mocking me for months.

Shouldn’t I, as a designer, be able to keep things looking good?  Shouldn’t I be the first one to wrestle Clutter to the ground and beat it within an inch of its life?  Sure, but everyone needs help sometimes.  All this to say, the next time a client tells me, “I can’t throw that away,” I’ll say, “I know.  Let me.“