Decluttering "the Box"

After determining that the project to locate all the hammers I own was a low priority, I whipped myself toward tackling my nightstand, a constant area of activity and many failed attempts at customization.  I knew I couldn't do it all at once, so I decided to tackle a small portion and see how it went.  Although small, I focused on a hot box of constantly shifting miscellany.  Literally, a box, the box that holds "smalls" that I sometimes think I will die without upon waking at 2 am or that I want as I prepare for bed.

It was a homemade box, crafted with quite a bit of thought for the contents, with compartments I sized to fit the items I wanted beside me in the evening.  As anyone might have predicted, in less than a year, it had become a junk-all, and I was pretty sure there wouldn't be much left if I decluttered it.   Although I anticipated a big payoff, it would require a lot of decisions.  I wanted to do it, but I didn't want to.

I dumped this ugly box on the counter and what I got is pictured below.

At that point, I pulled out the items I thought I would keep, and I came up with the small collection below.

One hour and eleven (11) minutes later, I had finally dealt with all the remaining items, one by agonizing one.  Happily, I actually found a house key I didn't know I had!  Sadly, very little of it went into the trash, only the paper notes (sans one), the 2 pencils (with hard erasers), and the cut up credit card.  I did manage to donate a worn belt I discovered whilst putting away the two laces, and some costume jewelry went in the trash while looking for a little box for the ear plugs.

Then I needed something to hold the remaining, loose items, so I went in search of a small container.  Because these items happened to be of such varying shapes, I couldn't find the perfect box, bowl or basket, not until I went back to the pile and made another cull.  I compromised by putting the file inside the nightstand rather than on top and decided I could get up off my ass to find one if I really needed a pen.  After that, the search went better, and I found a wooden, lidless, square box that served my need.  The final assemblage is in the pic below.

I'm now exhausted, so decluttering the interior of the nightstand will have to wait for another day.  I don't think I could go through all that again so soon!