Clutter-weeding ...

limey • Jan 2, 2010 2:18 pm
[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I'll just put this in here, where it'll be out of the way ... in case I need it someday ...[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Today's result: One empty drawer.
To bin - assorted keys to I don't know what, a teeny tiny funnel, a scuzzy room-fragrancer oil burner thang (yuk)
To burn, ceremonially - my late brother's dope pipe (I'm not going to use it ...)
To charity shop - one unused scrapbook
To ebay - one Armenian duduk which I'm never going to learn to play.
Moved to other locations - small notepad (empty), diary (part full), business-card wallet.
Clodfobble • Jan 2, 2010 2:30 pm
Go limey! One drawer at a time, you can do it!
limey • Jan 2, 2010 2:43 pm
Thank you Clod :blush:!
I just feel the house is choked with stuff, and so am I.
It felt so good when I emptied a little box of crap that I'd been keeping because I was keeping it, and then fixed the box and put it to better use. I thought "I could enjoy getting that feeling now and again".
Now I have a whole empty drawer ... [SIZE="1"][COLOR="Silver"](I wonder what I can put in it :cool:)[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Juniper • Jan 2, 2010 2:53 pm
I would like to do the same thing. Problem is, I have an entire house full of crap and the amount of labor it would take to pack up and transport it all to the proper destination (donation, garbage, ebay, etc.) is just so overwhelming!

I have a huge pile of donation stuff in my garage and also in my mom's condo garage. A few months ago I resolved to take one car load of it a couple times a week to the Goodwill drop-off on my way to school, but I didn't. This quarter I don't have to go in till 12:30 three days a week, so I'll have much better chance of doing it, at least with this pile at our own house.

And I have so much to add to it.

A lot of it, I think, could be sold on ebay - but that would take time and energy I don't have. At least I can use the charity deduction on my taxes.

This will be the year I simplify my life and get rid of all our unnecessary crap!

I say that every year . . . . . ;)
jinx • Jan 2, 2010 2:57 pm
Way to go limey!
Ever hear of Fly Lady? I've used some of her tips in the past and fall back on them when things start to get out of control - although I refuse to keep my kitchen sink clean and dry and don't wear shoes in the house. The "fill a trash bag with crap in 15 minutes" is brilliant though. I made my kids do that in their rooms just this morning...
limey • Jan 2, 2010 3:01 pm
Juniper;622755 wrote:
I would like to do the same thing. Problem is, I have an entire house full of crap and the amount of labor it would take to pack up and transport it all to the proper destination (donation, garbage, ebay, etc.) is just so overwhelming!

...


Yabbut, yabbut ... so do I. The thought of clearing the whole house is daunting to the point of not being doable. Which is why I've done a box (measuring 12" by 8" by 4", I should add!) and a drawer. Baby-steps, bite size chunks ...

And jinx, yes I've heard of the fly lady, but she's a bit too regimented for my liking. Then again, as with all this stuff, you pick what works for you and leave the rest, I suppose.
Cloud • Jan 2, 2010 3:19 pm
Fly Lady is great! "progress, not perfection!"
monster • Jan 2, 2010 8:07 pm
limey (et al).....

you should set up a site like this

http://sendmesomething.org/

(orig posted in wtf thread. it's sfw.)
limey • Jan 3, 2010 6:18 am
monster;622821 wrote:
limey (et al).....

you should set up a site like this

http://sendmesomething.org/

(orig posted in wtf thread. it's sfw.)


In another life maybe - I need to do this on my schedule, and not have lots of post arriving at the house, either :headshake ... It's bad enough having to work out the postage rates on the stuff I ebay - I've burned myself more than once on that :yelsick:!
limey • Jan 3, 2010 9:58 am
So ... while I was in the mood, I had a look in the bureau desk. This is much more difficult as it is a repository of reminders of dead relatives (a reliquary, I suppose).
I have moved usable stationery to the stationery storage place.
Tested all writing implements and binned those that don't work, while putting those that do where the pens live.
Binned all unusable/irrelevant papers.
Moved three diaries to the diary storage place.
Left all the relics where they are, for now. Maybe this should become the main reliquary in the house?
TheMercenary • Jan 3, 2010 10:03 am
Juniper;622755 wrote:
At least I can use the charity deduction on my taxes.
BINGO! Better take advantage of it before the government removes it from being an option. We have donated thousand of dollars worth of stuff that way. Including two cars.
limey • Jan 4, 2010 1:53 pm
Today I tackled my laptop bag:
threw away fistfuls of junk mail
banked 4 cheques (oops) for a voluntary organisation I involuntarily am involved with (this involvement is another piece of clutter I'm getting rid of!)
did a little involuntary voluntary book-keeping
drafted an email to get me out of involuntary voluntary involvement with said organisation ...
Sundae • Jan 5, 2010 12:09 pm
Keep it up Limey!
I've no idea how I'll keep on top of things when I move out of here. I might need a regular Cellar reminder (Mum told me to empty my wastepaper bin today... felt like a teenager again, but she was right)
skysidhe • Jan 5, 2010 11:28 pm
Good stuff limey.

You're spring cleaning already!
monster • Jan 5, 2010 11:58 pm
Spring cleaning is bullshit. I have natural urges to Autumn Clean and Even New Year Clean....but come Spring, fuck the inside of the house, I need to get out of it....
skysidhe • Jan 6, 2010 8:08 am
ya really who does that? In the spring time I mean,.

I do New Years clean and by spring time I'll be working on my garden. I need to chose the perfect climbing rose as a natural screen. I got plans about the kinds of perennials I want too.
limey • Feb 12, 2010 4:13 pm
I knew I should put this thread where I'd find it again.
Yesterday Best Beloved and I took a whole load of board games to the charity shop. And I've liberated about forty books (so far ...) for other people to enjoy.
Tomorrow - a bedroom drawer, methinks!
And on Monday I'll post (=mail) a little piece of electronic equipment that I don't need any more to where it might be more useful ...
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 13, 2010 2:13 am
You go, limey. :thumb:
SamIam • Feb 13, 2010 9:57 am
TheMercenary;622929 wrote:
BINGO! Better take advantage of it before the government removes it from being an option. We have donated thousand of dollars worth of stuff that way. Including two cars.


Got any more cars? I'll come get it for you! I'm sure I can figure out how to become a tax deductable charity. Maybe the Church of SamIam. :D
skysidhe • Feb 13, 2010 10:16 am
Your cleaning chronicles are fun to read limey.
limey • Feb 13, 2010 11:58 am
Not one but TWO drawers got The Treatment today.
For someone who wears a skirt or dress only on about five days a year (if that) I had a helluva lot of pairs of tights ([COLOR="Purple"]and stockings[/COLOR] :3_eyes:).
Now I have a binful of ones with ladders, holes or bobbles, singles etc, the charity shop has a bagful of spares and I have just what I need.
Voting will open in another thread as to what I did with the suspender belt ...
[SIZE="1"](thank you sky ;))[/SIZE]
limey • Feb 18, 2010 5:25 pm
Some of the jewellery stash got weeded today - a handful of rings, an armful of bracelets. I keep looking at all the jewellery-type stuff and thinking "Well, I might wear it someday", but I never do, so someone else can.
Oh, and a bronze owl from the dining room windowsill, and a big blue jug from the kitchen worktop that I never use.
All off to the charity chop tomorrow.
[SIZE="1"]I'll keep the typo thank you![/SIZE]
Trilby • Feb 18, 2010 5:46 pm
hee hee - charity chop ! It's the pork you give to the homeless!
limey • Feb 19, 2010 9:28 am
And, from the bottom of the crockery cupboard to the charity shop - one pressure cooker, one of those sets of pans that are three segments of a circle to fit on one stovetop burner, a vase I never use anymore: for recycling - seven glass jars and a small bottle.
Cleared enough space for the huge Christmas dishes my mum never used but I think I will - once a year.
limey • Feb 19, 2010 1:23 pm
... and a box of books ...
My this feels GOOD :jig:!
Pete Zicato • Feb 20, 2010 5:06 pm
I just shredded a bunch of papers for 2004-2007. It does feel good to get rid of crap.
skysidhe • Feb 20, 2010 11:16 pm
limey;635743 wrote:
Some of the jewellery stash got weeded today - a handful of rings, an armful of bracelets.

I keep looking at all the jewellery-type stuff and thinking "Well, I might wear it someday", but I never do, so someone else can.




:eyebrow:

limey;636027 wrote:
... and a box of books ...
My this feels GOOD :jig:!


I love riffling through books.
limey • Feb 21, 2010 5:10 am
skysidhe;636337 wrote:
:eyebrow:



I love riffling through books.


I love books too, sky, that's the trouble! With so many that I ought to read on the shelves I don't know where to start. The other day I took a box of books to the charity shop and then went to the library and took a couple of books out to read. Perverse maybe, but there is the library, and online bookshops, so I think I've realised that I don't have to own all the books I might read one day.
skysidhe • Feb 21, 2010 9:11 am
I don't keep everything I read.

Our library is too small to be user friendly ( imo) so I search used bookstores. I can trade those books in on something else for a discount and I buy online and those books can be traded at a used bookstore too or given to charity.
limey • Feb 21, 2010 10:57 am
Today, for a change, I didn't so much throw stuff out as tidy it up. Have reduced the chaos that was in the gloryhole under the stairs to some sort of order, including moving two bags of dustsheets up to the attic and boxing all of the Christmas decorations ready for next year!
limey • Mar 30, 2010 8:52 am
I'm still keeping on keepin' on with this ... a couple of sweaters that I haven't worn in a year or more here, a cushion I'm bored with there, a quick clear-out of the table linen drawer contents ...I even persuaded Best Beloved to have a Coat Cull and a Trouser Trounce to make some space in his drawers :p:. A shabby shoe shuffle is next on the list.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 30, 2010 8:57 am
Since your vacation plans have been foiled, you can spend that time trashing stuff. ;)
Shawnee123 • Mar 30, 2010 8:58 am
I picked up an old shirt out of a pile, and decided it would go to Goodwill. I threw it back in the pile. Maybe later. I made the decision, though. :lol:
limey • Mar 30, 2010 9:48 am
xoxoxoBruce;644211 wrote:
Since your vacation plans have been foiled, you can spend that time trashing stuff. ;)


Nope. We've booked another cottage elsewhere ... ;)
monster • Mar 30, 2010 11:32 am
I got rid of three bags of clothes and a frying pan yesterday. And came back from the charity store with less than that, honest, and a new set of shelves to store more of the crap I'm not parting with on (rather than the floor ;) )
limey • Mar 30, 2010 12:11 pm
monster;644253 wrote:
... came back from the charity store with less than that...


That's the tricky part, fer sure! Well done.
monster • Mar 30, 2010 1:09 pm
well I might be undexaggerating, hard to tell, but I'm sure it wasn't more and....I got shelves! :lol: And the skates and shin guards and hockey stick were infinitely more interesting than what we got rid of..... ;)
limey • Jul 27, 2010 11:45 am
The procrastination thread has resurfaced, so why shouldn't this one:p:, especially inspired by the "100 things" thread, too. I've recently restarted trying to either get something out of the house (throw out, give away, sell, take to charity shop) or tidy up some neglected pile of crap each day. Just chipping away ...
Razzmatazz13 • Jul 27, 2010 11:52 am
Go Limey!

I'm trying to cut out practically everything I own, I'll be moving cross country soon! Everything I want to take with me must fit in my tiny car. It's been slow going thus far, I also have taken down one box (plastic container) and one drawer so far...
limey • Jul 27, 2010 12:08 pm
Razzmatazz13;673024 wrote:
Go Limey!

... my tiny car. ...


That's bigger than my car - you'd be surprised what you can fit into it!