Friday, January 6, 2012

Taming the bulge

I am told one of the most common (and least kept) New Year's resolutions is to "tame the bulge", i.e. diet and exercise. That is not my subject. Rather, it is taming the academic bulge of every expanding papers, reports, filing cabinets, books, and book cases. Of course, those who do everything electronic do not have to worry about this. It is all on their laptop or iPad. I am not there yet. How do I cope? Not well, but there is a simple rule I have been following at both home and work the past few years that seems to be helping.

Do not buy any new filing cabinets or book cases.

Hence, whenever one buys a new book (or two or three) one has to throw out or give away one (or two or three).

Similarily, when one wants to force new files into a filing cabinet one is forced to throw away some old ones. It is amazing actually how easy this is.

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