What do YOU do for trash?
Without a trash can, nothing goes anywhere. Everything, but everything is on its way to the trash can – it’s just a matter of when.
Your trash can and recycle bins are like the drain in your sink. Without one, your stuff floweth over and your space gets pretty mucked up.
Yet, waste receptacles are an overlooked tool in many home offices. Sometimes they’re too small, too far out of reach, or completely non-existent. Any of these scenarios are invisible barriers that slow you down and distract you while you’re working.
The gift of having your trash in flow is that it gives you clear space to work, think, and focus. Ahhh.
Here’s what I do for trash in my own home office
What works well for me:
When I’m almost overwhelmed, I clean up. My office *always* used to be a mess. Now that it’s more manageable, I more easily notice when I’m at the threshold of overwhelm.
When about 80% of my desk surface is covered, I start feeling a little panicky and disoriented. When I feel this, I stop whatever I’m doing and clean up until my desk is almost (or completely) clear. This happens about every 1-2 weeks and takes about 15-30 minutes, but I don’t schedule it. I just pay attention – then act.
My trash can is located just to the right of my desk – within arm’s reach. I’m right-handed, so anything I need to throw away is usually in that hand already. I don’t have to get up. In it goes without a second thought.
The recycle bin is under my desk where I can reach it. I toss out more paper than anything else. No matter what direction I’m facing, I don’t have to think, I just throw it in there and keep working.
I tie an existing habit to a new habit. (Hat tip to Havi.) Our trash pickup is on Monday morning, so on Sunday night, along with the rest of the household, I empty my office trash as well. This keeps the unwanted stuff flowing out of my workspace.
What I’m working on
Recycling. Because the recycle bin is under my desk, I can’t actually see it. We don’t have recycling pickup (like we do for garbage), so I forget to empty the bag and it gets way out of control. Sometimes I have to forcefully stuff things in. This is quite shy of my goal of flow.
I hate to vacuum. It’s loud, mind-numbing, and it upsets the Inspired Cat. Technically, though, tiny bits on the carpet constitute garbage. After a while, the schmutz starts to bug me, so I drag out the old watermelon of a vacuum to deal with it. Grudgingly. I confess, I’m not working very hard on this one. 
What do YOU do for trash?
What works really well for you? What are you working on?
Share your insights and ideas! Remember to be kind to yourself and others.
Organized under Creating order, Making peace with piles. Labeled as clutter, flow, garbage, home office, maintenance, overwhelm, trash, What do YOU do.
339 days ago,
Sarah Tieck said:
Hi Jen! I actually think of the vacuuming process as a way to suck up old energy … old stuff that is sort of invisible, but there … it is part of my pre-weekend ritual … gets the stuff of the work week gone, and allows for a fresh start.
339 days ago,
Alexia said:
I actually handle it like you do. I have a trash bin on the right, under my desk. Don’t recycle because the trash service wants an extra ridiculous amount of $$ for it, but paper usually gets saved anyway.
339 days ago,
Qrystal said:
It’s funny you’re talking about trash management, because I recently bought myself a new garbage can! Yay!
But seriously, when I was shopping for it, my whole goal was to find one that made me smile (and not be too big or too small, specs I purposely left vague in my mind). The one I chose is yellow, with the classic smiley-face grinning at me from the top and front of it. I get to be reminded to smile every time I use it! 
For recycling, I use a stack of two plastic piece-of-paper-sized baskets. The top basket holds paper suitable for reusing (i.e. blank on one side), and the bottom basket is for stuff that is ready to be brought out to the recycling bin. I’ve been reusing paper for years, and the key to it is to make a quick scribble with bold marker on the part that’s unusable, just to make it very obvious that it’s Scrap Paper. I use this paper for brainstorming, note taking, planning or calculating… pretty much anything that doesn’t need to exist much longer than the time I’m actively using it.
As for vacuuming, I am surprised at how often I’ve been doing it. I think it’s because I love the rug in my office, and it looks best (most inspirational!) when it’s freshly vacuumed. My cats hang out in my office though, with or without me, so the “freshly vacuumed” look doesn’t last very long… so I save it for days where I’ll need the inspiration. I can’t vacuum first thing in the morning, though, because of how crazy-noisy it is… so I try to remember to do it the day before those days I encourage myself to get a lot done. In fact, I’m going to add notes to myself on my calendar to do this every Monday and Thursday evening, because Tuesdays and Fridays tend to be days I really push myself!
Qrystal´s last blog ..My Teaching Philosophy
339 days ago,
Wendy Cholbi said:
My recycle bin is one of my favorite office tools. I keep it under my desk at my feet, where it’s easy to toss junk mail and envelopes. Paper makes up the majority of my office trash, so the recycling bin gets used much more than the trash can.
I love the way you describe your desk clean-up process. The fact that you notice your feelings of disorientation and pay attention enough to act on them. Usually I don’t catch these feelings until I’ve tipped over into the land of “I’ll never dig my way out of these piles.” So my intention is to start noticing earlier, and pay attention to how that feels.
Maybe someday I’ll be able to notice *and act* before the overwhelm is complete, but for now I’m just practicing noticing.
Thanks for the peek into your process! I wonder if having a small handheld dustbuster-type vacuum tucked somewhere into your office would be helpful for quick mini-vacuuming jobs, so you wouldn’t have to haul out the big beast as often?
Wendy Cholbi´s last blog ..Welcome to the Wendy & Meredith Show!
339 days ago,
Rosaland said:
I can so relate to this. At the point of overwhelm, after that period of avoidance, I just start, doesn’t matter where – just pick a pile, toss or file or put away. As bags fill out – make trip out to the dumpster. I find the action, the motions, fuel more action. I also have to remind myself it does not all have to be done at once if I move that project forward every day. This includes art supplies.
339 days ago,
Gina said:
LOL! I think we had that conversation about clutter=constipation. Gotta keep the flow going or energy becomes sluggish. I have my trash can right under my desk, and that was a good point about remembering to flush, I mean, empty it. My paper recycling gets piled up on the floor next to my desk and when I head out to the garage, I grab it and put it in the bin.
by the way, my husband was talking to me last night, stopped in mid-sentence and said: wow, your desk looks awesome!
339 days ago,
jennifer said:
(laughing) Looks like I have some vacuum-recovery coaches on hand if I hit rock-bottom!
@Sarah – How cool! You’d be more than welcome to do the same in *mine* every week if you felt like it!
@Alexia (waving) I see you!
@Qrystal – I lovelovelove that you decided on a trash can that makes you happy. How incredibly cool. It’s amazing how vacuuming *does* make me feel more energized and creative. Hmmm. Way to go on the calendar addition!
@Wendy – Paying attention. Now that’s where it’s at. Go, you! If I can catch that threshold moment, I can save myself hours, days, even weeks of frustration. Let me know how this comes along for you!
@Rosalund – Ah! I love how you describe the physicality of clearing and throwing away. It can be so invigorating and satisfying!
@Gina – Wahooo! A hubby-compliment! That’s so cool!
Remembering to flush (I love this) makes all the difference, doesn’t it?
338 days ago,
Margaret Oscilia said:
Yikes I think my desk is approaching 70% full and yes – it makes me feel so much better when I clean it!
The best thing we’ve ever done to help us streamline trash is a making it easy to get to the recycle bins in the garage. We have a split level home with the kitchen/living mostly upstairs. The garage is on the lower level. Who wants to run up and down the stairs everytime you have recycle stuff? Who wants to have piles on the stairs of stuff either!
We found a darling basket that is made to sit on the steps – squarish in shape and the bottom sits on a step, and it goes up to the next step – it’s cute even when it has recycling stuff in it!
338 days ago,
Jessica said:
This morning when I stepped into my office, I realized that was exactly why I was feeling overwhelmed–my computer desk had a stack of stuff to file, and my dining room table had become a temporary holding spot a project’s overflow. I’m much less messy these days than I used to be, but like you, my tolerance is also much, much lower. It’s awesome to know I’m not the only one who can’t work effectively with a really messy desk.
And, for vacuuming, it inflames my allergies so much I stopped (mostly) and splurged on a Roomba. I *love* it–I can turn it on, close the office door, and let it do its thing. I get away from the noise and the dust and come back to a clean office.
Jessica´s last blog ..How a Slip ‘N Slide = Phenominal Branding Power
337 days ago,
jennifer said:
@Margaret – I love how you noticed the invisible barrier that comes with a split-level home (multiple annoying trips up stairs) – and made a cute and creative solution to deal with it! (It’s so nice to see your smiling face here!)
@Jessica – It’s amazing how the tolerance level decreases over time and provides an incentive to keep things clean. This still amazes me. Love the Roomba idea. You might be on to something there… Hmm…