A Cure For Hair Magazine Packratitis - Well Maybe!

I have written about my packrat habits many times before but the subject keeps popping up, over and over again. I have learned to love my disease and cope with it.

Unfortunately the people around me are often horrified when they are thrust in the core of my packrat hell for the first time. Others try to adopt my coping mechanisms which includes total denial, learning to gingerly walk without tripping on exploding piles of hair, fashion & beauty related books, magazines, papers and CDs. Others just blatantly ignore the mess, never mentioning it to me for fear that I might ask them to help me clean it up.

My packratitis is part of me, so no environment that I ever inhabit for more than a few hours is safe.

This means that HairBoutique.com is a classic case of my packratitis at its most rampant. Luckily I am the boss and only have to answer to the City Fire Marshals who inspect the building and my COO who randomly has fits when he sees mountains of hair books, magazines and related pieces of paper about to burst out into the street.

Recently the lease for our HairBoutique.com was up for our renewal after 8 years here. An average human who has not been infected with packratitis can not even begin to fathom the amount of "stuff" I have accumulated over the past 8 years. Never mind all the hair, beauty and fashion related products in the warehouse or the many rooms dripping with literally tens of thousands of hair accessories.

Luckily I don't have day to day jurisdiction over organizing products. I do have jurisdiction over buying them but then someone else has to keep them organized. Thank goodness. I can't begin to imagine if I was also able to stockpile products. Eekkk

As part of our lease renewal for five more years, the HB.com building will be undergoing some major remodeling and related changes. As a result, many of the rooms will be re-carpeted and walls repainted. Lucky me, I get to pick the colors. Unlucky me also has to figure out where to move all my stuff while the rooms are being redone. As a result, I have been figuring out ways to handle my packratitis with some success, I might add.

My first task to getting control over my viral packratitis was to delete. Lance and B have worked out a system to reorganize my two libraries. Yes, I have so many hair, fashion and beauty related books and magazines I have two complete libraries. Lance and B worked out a plan for moving the books and magazines older than 1999 into a form of organized storage. Loads of magazine separators and white file boxes were delivered at the dock and Lance and B have worked out a system.

Lance has spent the last two weeks organizing and sorting as well as consolitating. He is almost finished with the "A" which mean that all of my Allure Magazines have finally been reconnected. Now he is on B and focused on Bride's Magazine and all the other B topics.

While I am so thrilled that all my magazine and book stuff is being organized, I am starting to worry that when it is all finished they will install some sort of electronic cop to keep me out since I tend to make a huge mess whenever I am around hair, beauty or fashion magazines.

The Flash has suggested that I charge admission to Karen's Stuff Museum. The only problem with that is all those wonderful magazines permanently stored under glass that I couldn't get to. Not a good thing for me so definitely not an option.

Meanwhile, I am happy to report that all of the hallways are completely cleared of any piles of anything. No boxes overflowing with yellow notepads full of my interview notes or article outlines. No CDs stuffed with hair images or even the line of mannequin heads that I had assembled to show off various updos I had done in beauty school.

Whew, the energy really flows nicely. Our Feng Shui Master would be proud.

Meanwhile, I have moved into yet another office that is completely uncluttered. It is only a matter of time but for now it is nice to be able to find my keyboard without a stack of fashion magazines sliding off onto the fall.