Today was Day 1 in the Danielle-Takes-Back-Her-Office campaign. Having given all five SIX (technically) SEVEN bookcases a thrice-over, I culled out some books to take to Powell’s in March, and set aside another pile to skim through between now and then (to determine whether they’re worth keeping or not.)

The biggest obstacle in my view was that, besides collecting many “storage” boxes and piles of miscellaneous things, my office was the home of the Burn Box, which has grown from a discrete paper bag to a large open receptacle for all receipts, sensitive info and things with our address on them. Since we’ve finally realized that our address is (imagine that!) publicly available from the post office, the entire box needed sorting and culling for really-needs-burning items vs. really-needs-throwing-away items.

Did you know that about 4/5 of any credit card offer you receive can be tossed? It’s just the preprinted acceptance form you want to burn (or shred. Or both.) Did you know that, since buying our first house, we get anywhere from 2-5 credit/mortgage/loan offers a day?? (I finally discovered the toll-free opt-out line, hope that helps in a few months. 1-888-5-OPT-OUT.)

It took me over two hours, but I cleared the entire box and threw most of it away, reducing the actual burnables to 2/3 of a banker’s box, which Johan will dispose of tomorrow (his parents have a fireplace, unlike us.) The box was put back in the garage, and suddenly I have six or seven square feet of carpet at my disposal. Tomorrow, there will be more wars waged. I will have my office back.