"It looks like the laundry threw up into the hallway."

My partner came home after a long day of work to see all of my work sheets piled in the hallway ... again.

It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, it couldn't keep up with washing all my massage sheets and getting them back to the office without the house looking like I sheeted all over the place half of the week.

I realized the problem wasn't that I was lazy or easily distracted, it was that there was simply too many sheets.

You see, part of why I was able to get away with it was that I had so many sheets I could have two piles ready-to-fold, two waiting-to-wash, one load in the cycle and STILL have clean sheets at work.

I was still using the amount of sheets I had when I had 3-4 other therapists working with me (hold onto the past, much?).

I had enough sheets for a small massage army.

Enough to cover all the twin beds in a summer camp.

Enough to double-ply the walls of a pillow-fort mansion.

But I'm not hosting a perpetual slumber party over here, I'm seeing massage clients and only about 10-12 per week. Once I realized I only needed about a dozen sheets, I started editing my inventory.

Does it have a hole? Outta here!

Does the fitted sheet have more stretch than fit? Outta here!

Have I been using this sheet since the year had two 00s in it? Outta here!

There's a sweet feeling of seeing a pile of sheets leave knowing you'll never have to wash them again.

What's left is a reasonable collection of sheets that fit well, feel great, and can easily all be washed in a single day. I've escaped work laundry purgatory!

I share this to remind you that if you're finding yourself in some kind of task you can get out from under, it's probably not you. It's probably just your system.

In my case, letting go of what I didn't actually need freed me up to be able to take care of what I do.

We live in a world that always has us feeling like we need more more more, when we can often be happier with less.

What's one place in your life that you can let go of excess to live with a little more joy and a lot less stress?

You might be surprised at how good it feels to get rid of some sheet.