Road to Minimalism : Getting Rid of Excess Office Supplies

I cut down on coffee a while back. I have some from time to time whenever I find myself in cafés. The most recent was last Saturday, after class, while waiting for an Uber. Although it gave me a bad case of migraine and a stomachache later that night, it also got me going to go through our office supplies at home.

This week’s decluttering pick is : office supplies.

I’ve been wanting to work on one category per day for this minimalism project of mine. It proved to be a gargantuan task. Some days I just really don’t feel like it, other days I feel like plunging into work preparations. That Saturday night, however, was an opportunity to clean up I did not pass up.

My going-through-stuff got me to discover how much paper products we have of excess that I figured, we probably have enough to cover us for our entire lifetime and probably that of the next.

As of writing this entry, I have disposed a good deal of the notepads and notebooks. Some really old ones with yellow molds I unfortunately had to dispose. Others I gave to a colleague that I know would be extremely happy to receive some, while the really good and unused ones, I would be donating to my cousin who will use it as prizes to high school students for an event.

Meanwhile, a large pile of paper products ranging from cellophanes to construction papers, as well as envelopes, index cards and folders, I have to figure out how to reduce them at least in half. I was thinking of bringing them to the office which I know some colleagues would put into better use. I still have to sort that pile out, though. For now, I just arranged them into a neat file but it remains as what it was, clutter.

The last item I took care of were pens and pencils. How many pens and pencils should a person need? I took the pens one by one and tested if they were all functioning. Most of them were still good to use. Some, I chose to bring to my office and would probably give some away for other colleagues who need them more than I do. The others were brought by my father to his office for his own use. We’re still left with quite a lot so if somebody’s in need of (a) pen/s, you know where to look! Unless they run out of ink, I think the three of us at home are good for the next couple of years for pens.

Thanks to this mini-decluttering of paper products, I was able to liberate two/three shelves where I could stow more important items that are more relevant to my life right now. I was also able to clear 98% of the clutter occupying my desk. It felt so much better after that to the point that I wanted to get started with another category!

A message to family/friends who took their time to choose the perfect notebook/notepad for me : thank you so much! You made me extremely happy when I received these gifts from you. I hope you're not offended that I'm giving them away. I know that it will make someone else just as happy as I was when I got them from you. I'll always be grateful for that gesture but it's time I let them go because the quantity of the pile is starting to weigh me down. Thank you for understanding and your support!