Now, Later, Never

When I prepare or set aside tasks to do later, later rarely comes. Sure, time marches on and it literally becomes later. But completing the task that I deemed I would attend to later? Most often I can't even remember what I intended to do. Case in point (besides posting new content here, a-hem). Three sorted stacks of paper under a storage cabinet in my office/studio. Uh, given the amount of dust bunnies collected and the rusty nature of the staples, these stacks of paper have been there for an ice age. What on earth had I thought I was going to do with them? And what unique properties did I discern in sorting the papers into 3 separate, distinct stacks?

Later became now the other day when I began in earnest to wrestle my studio into working shape. I removed the staples from stack #1 of yellow lined paper, covered on one side only with notes from graduate school classes (which I finished 12 YEARS AGO! What kind of person keeps used paper for 12 years? No, don't answer that.), and then chopped the stack into quarters.

I am constantly in search of scrap paper on which to make notes and jottings when I sit at my desk at the computer. Now I've got a 2.5 inch tall stack of scrap paper. To keep it corralled and handy, later became now yet again when I finally cut into some of the baking soda boxes I've kept stashed for future useful purposes. (Let's not consider how long I've been holding onto the boxes...)

"Countless uses" indeed. A few cuts, one fold, and a quick taping with gummed paper tape and,

a scrap paper dispenser is born.

Stack #2 of dusty, rusty paper under the storage cabinet got a similar treatment and now resides in its very own dispenser on the kitchen counter, along with a pen, for making grocery lists. Stack #3 of used, dusty paper is in good enough shape to run through the printer for drafts and things that don't need a pristine, blank canvas. 

Sure, it's only 3 stacks of paper, but the psychological benefits of having dealt with them is huge.

Next up: relinquishing horded textiles now that I have finally found what seems like a responsible, local(ish) textile recycling company that accepts and processes damaged clothing that is not fit to be resold. It wasn't easy to find a textile recycler that accepts materials directly from consumers, but Ohio Mills Corp. seems to fit the bill. If anyone has experience with them or information about the company and their practices, please share in the comments.