BS: De-cluttering - part two

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 May 08 - 04:05 AM

great news.. I have found a home for the mini-fridge that's in my living room. My major post-renovation clear-out is ALMOST finished - I have new, workable chairs and spaaace in the living room.

tonight i have a clutter-free evening, in that nothing's on the agenda - except that new henning Mankell book. yes, another 2nd hand one acquired this week - that's five in the last fortnight.

yes, clutter free room - now, for the clutter-free brain. I invented a type of clearing meditation for my head a few months ago - it seems to work as a sort of mental garbage disposal process. will do some tonight b4 a date with Henning.

freda

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 May 08 - 04:08 AM

Are you at home on your own PC now Freda?

G

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: GUEST,freda
Date: 14 May 08 - 04:45 AM

no, Giok. That's the last step (second last step is connecting my sound system). just visiting! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 May 08 - 10:01 AM

The landing pad in the AquaZone is working great. Knowing that I will have a smooth takekoff from there in a bit, I was able to get some meatloaf sliced that was overdue and, from there, set up a supper plate for poor Hardi so he can have what he ikes later while I'm taking a friend to the doctor's office post-workout.

I think it's important to remember that no matter how gratifying it is to organize for its own sake, ultimately the best reason to do it is so we can spend more time doing the things we want and/or have commmitted to do.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 08 - 02:42 PM

You've illustrated the reason for all of this--it makes things easier to do and take less time. Those areas around the house that are now finished (or on their way) are much more functional. The shelves by the door that hold my gardening stuff are wonderful, and the laundry room cabinets are simple to navigate. And the file box that I use most often is much easier to use when there is air in it. Papers aren't shoved in (you know the move--slip the edge of the paper at the back of the folder then push the document in with the wedge of your flattened hand and spread fingers).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 08 - 06:50 PM

More shredding, and a couple of pickle barrels later a stack of legal papers is lighter (free of duplicates) and now tucked away in a file drawer, and while I was at it I weeded paper from the floor of the office closet, mostly graduate school stuff. Several inches of paper went out, but about 1/2 of it remains in an "sort and file" stack. It was too much to organize as well as thin; this first pass was to get rid of the stuff I positively know I don't need to keep.

On my errand run this evening I'll drop paper off at the recycle bin. Shall I swing by Goodwill while I'm at it? The 4-drawer file cabinet is empty--can I really let go of it? Why not!

SRS Who does actually still have a life and who is getting a bit tired of all of this, but knows it's her own damn fault it got so cluttered.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 14 May 08 - 09:37 PM

My desk is actually functional and I have a fairly large trash can overflowing with the stuff I've thrown away that used to be in the desk drawers. I haven't tackled the most disorganized draawer yet, but hey! no rush, right? There were catalogs I'd saved from (ye Gods!) 1995 in one of the cleared drawers!

Only downside to that is I now have a shoebox full of pictures and other things to scan and store on computer... but I can do those as time and inclination permit. Old checks shredded; LOTS of paper dumped, now on to the sewing projects I've been ignoring!

Progress, it's wonderful. AND JunK is in the other room cutting up boxes for the trash--YAY!

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 08 - 10:22 AM

I need to rearrange some furniture in my office this morning. One of my monitors has been failing (so gradually I could hardly see it until I realized an embarrassing lack of resolution on a photo I had to Photoshop someone out of--only to see on the other screen later that you could still see his legs!) The UPS tracking screen says that it is out for delivery today. Yesss!

The old monitor works for normal stuff like browsing and word processing, so I will donate it.

Catching up:

freda, how is the book?

kat, how is the hair (doesn't it feel good to get a radically new look?) and the editing?

liz, how is the shelf and the dining room table?

andrea, how is the hall and the spare room? Has Ruth helped tidy the house?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 May 08 - 11:10 AM

This feels like death. I can come and go and get the housechores done too, but it doesn't FEEL that way. It FEELS like I should sit in the chair all day instead of going to stretch those happliy sore muslces at the warm pool.

Going,

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 May 08 - 12:36 PM

Thanks for asking, Maggie. I love the hair! I still like to have it long, so will grow it out, but we took off four inches, all that was left of the perm, and it is swinging very healthily! I can still, barely, put it back in a ponytail, though it looks more like a pigtail now.:-)

I also got some more done on the editing. I don't think I'll have it done by the end of the week, but for sure by mid-week next week. Now I have to figure out how to get some paying editing jobs. The magazine is coming up again in June, maybe, but until then...no bites on craigslist, yet.

Decluttering, I am going to list a Victorian rocking chair for sale and get it out. We had a sentimental attachment to it as it was my mom's but none of us use it; it is not comfortable and it's taking up too much space, plus none of my kids or sibs want it!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 08 - 04:27 PM

Progress on the office today. The new monitor arrived, and yes, it is a lot brighter than the one that wasn't replaced, so now I decide to live with it or replace both. ARggggggh!

Filed more papers at lunch. Moved a cabinet out of the office to the hall for now. I had some stacking units in the closet that I've lined along the wall near the computer and will see how those work to hold was remained in the cabinet.

Is our aqua-maid in a slump or catching a bug? What's the next big thing to clear out in the parsonage?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 May 08 - 06:15 PM

Is our aqua-maid in a slump or catching a bug? What's the next big thing to clear out in the parsonage?

Old feelings.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 08 - 07:24 PM

Old feelings, or feeling old? ;-D

I got smart, after I got over the shock of how vivid the new monitor is, and I lowered the contrast and brightness so it is a closer match to the old one. I think I would have lowered it anyway--these things can cause eye strain when they're too bright. And while I was tinkering moving the monitors I found an address I'd been meaning to send to a friend and a whole bunch of little things I piled here to address--then they were buried under the next thing I needed to address.

My office still has piles and boxes, but there is a lot more air and floor space in the middle. My halls now have a kitchen cabinet, a four-drawer file, and a couple of stacking plastic organisers on casters. Looks like this weekend I'll be moving things out to the garage, but I have to clear the garage some before I do that. From there it is garage sale or Goodwill.

Does anyone else remember those plastic slide puzzle party favors where you have to move everything to finally get it into number order?

My house is up to about three of those numbers in line now.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maire-aine
Date: 15 May 08 - 11:23 PM

I made a list this afternoon (while I was waiting for jobs to run), so I started on it this evening. I went through the buffet drawers, and got the diningroom table cleaned off. I also hung a picture and started on the upstairs hallway. Got about a third of the list crossed off. There is something very satisfying about crossing things off. I should be able to get the rest done tomorrow and Sat.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 08 - 11:43 PM

Good work, Maryanne! To make the list look even more realistic be sure to add the "second shift" items also. Not just "hang picture" and "clean table" but "make dinner" and "wash and dry and fold laundry." It makes the list a lot fatter when you really see what all you're doing.

i.e., this evening I put in laundry and washed dishes, then made burritos for my son, shredded a leftover chicken for fajitas for myself, and made guacamole from some ripe avocados for the fajitas. The extra guac was scooped into an ice cube tray and the leftover fajita mix was packaged for later. The chicken carcass was boiled long enough to get the meat flavor for stock.

That usually doesn't wind up on the list.

But no one else here knows about that second shift, right? So I guess I shouldn't mention it. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maire-aine
Date: 16 May 08 - 09:04 AM

Thanks. Laundry is on the list, but washing dishes isn't. Neither is cleaning the litter box, but that's a given. If it doesn't rain this weekend, I'll get some of the outdoor items done. I kept a flowerbox of herbs growing on the front porch thru the winter, so I want to plant them outside. But before I do that, I'll have to pull some weeds in what's laughingly called the "herb garden".

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 08 - 03:33 PM

I have a lot of garden decluttering this weekend. Looks like good weather for it. I have quite a few shrubs to move, one way or the other. If I can transplant, I will. Over the years I've taken the old black plastic pots back to the neighborhood garden center, and I'm hoping they'll help me out by letting me get some back. That would make it easier to transport and place this stuff.

I moved that one cabinet into the kitchen to see how it looks. It doesn't match, but it would be a better use of the space than the table the microwave sits on now. I am leaving it there for a day or two to see if I get any ideas about what to do with various kitchen gadgets (the ones I use and want to keep but that don't have a good place to live right now.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 May 08 - 07:06 PM

Shelf still on sewing table. Dining room table still buried under hats and music books.

I'm a dismal failure at this de-cluttering lark!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: LilyFestre
Date: 16 May 08 - 07:27 PM

We are installing a new vanity in the bathroom this week (YAHOO!!!) and that means I will have the perfect opportunity to go through stuff and get rid of things that are long past their prime or are no longer used and just taking up space.

    Also for this weekend, I have plans to hoe out 2 corners of my kitchen (both closet areas that are currently open and we will be installing doors next weekend). Again, lots of stuff that has been unused for quite some time. It is all going to go buh-bye. I don't even know what half the stuff is in there. One of these closests will be transformed into a wine closet (built in wine racks to free up space that current wine racks take up in the kitchen). :)

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:08 PM

Liz, no such thing--move ONE THING and you're successful; don't have to do any major projects to win! Right, ladies?

SRS, what did you do with the old computer books and dictionaries you couldn't sell to Half Price Books? I've got a 6-ft-tall stack of that sort of thing I haven't a clue what to do with!

Flowers are in process of sorting, wrapping, etc. I'm stacking magazines in the craft room to recycle, too. Anybody want a perfectly good cat bed? My bratlings won't sleep in any of the three we've gotten for them, so out the beds go...

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 08 - 08:49 PM

I took several bags of clothing, rags, rugs, and oddball homemade things that no one uses any more over to the thrift store. It filled a shopping cart when I emptied it all from the truck.

I've had a brainstorm about that computer monitor I need to get rid of. It is a flat panel LCD that still works, it simply doesn't have the contrast I need for using Photoshop. I have a friend with a huge monster of an old CRT monitor (along with a 7-year-old Dell) and I told him I'd let him have this. I'm going go call later and ask if he'd like to come to lunch and pick it up. I'll see if I still have the disk with the drivers, otherwise I'll get them online. Great way to recycle this and when I told him I'd save it for him he was really grateful to get this big CRT off of the desk where he works.

Lin, is JunK still clearing out boxes and books? I had Half-Price books dispose of my computer books. What they tell you is that if it might be useful someplace else they send it to their warehouse to be sent out or donated. They also have a recycle bin dedicated to paper. Have JunK box those computer books and take them over (do you have Half Price Books near you? I see by their web site that they have them in Lawrence, Olathe, and Overland Park, also in Kansas City (MO, I think.) Here's the list.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 08 - 02:35 AM

Late to bed, after sorting and shredding most of one box of family estate stuff. I found some interesting family information and vital statistics documents to file and label clearly.

Busy day tomorrow that includes a lot of recycling projects. Good luck to the rest of you. Liz, I hope you'll post a photo of the shelf once you have it up on Limpit's wall.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 May 08 - 03:19 AM

Don't hold your breath on that one Stilly - she still has to move a whole heap of crap from her room and she's worse than me at tidying up!

I am considering buying her a new book case though... that might help with the clutter a bit... if I can get around to it.


LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 08 - 09:24 AM

A-Round-Tuit, a popular business name for independent repair guys here in the U.S.

I found with my son's room that I simply had to wade in when he wasn't home and start by evicting the dirty laundry on the floor and then use a large plastic trash bag for the true trash. Do that when she isn't home. It also helped that I rearranged his furniture, and the new look was pleasing so he wasn't upset. I let him take a look through all of the stuff I was evicting, so it wasn't like he had no choice, but he had to have a place to put what he kept (he didn't choose to keep any of the stuff I got rid of, telling me that it was just on the floor and furniture from habit, not from use or need.)

Off to walk dogs then head to the annual shot clinic, followed by a busy day of decluttering the world. (I'm taking my pickup over to help a friend who has a small car but a large mattress to get rid of.)

Another good thing about this decluttering is finding things you do truly want that you couldn't find. Last night I came across a couple of binders filled with pages of photos I needed last summer after an old friend (only 50) died of a sudden, massive heart attack. I should have had these available to scan and share with our mutual friends at that time.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 May 08 - 10:44 AM

Well, we are continuing the trend in our house of decluttering the bods, too. Just sent Rog off to get an early morning haircut. HE was up at 630a!! I *thought* because he was going to mow, early, but he really just took his time fixing breakfast and surfing the internet.:-) He'll mow when he gets back. That will also include putting stuff away which is scattered around the yard, including a few more items from my sister.

You are so right about writing down EVERYTHING we do, Maggie. When I was so sick, I used to talk to Night Owl every night. She'd ask me what I'd done that day; small victories were worth counting. I say "nothing" then we'd get to talking and I'd say that I'd done the dishes, or dusted or something. She'd point out to me that those things counted for a lot and I should give myself credit. From then on I kept a list and it really did help. I didn't have so much despair when I'd see what I had already done.

Today, I hope to figure out what we are going to do with all of the books and LPs from my sister AND go through the old glass bottles. Our dau. is having a yard sale but her partner didn't want to get stuff mixed up so we will have one separately, later on, unless we decide to just donate it all to the Goodwill or something. Then it's out of here FAST!:-)

My office closet has been "calling" me all week. I really want to clear it out. Oh, R-o-g!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:33 AM

If you donate it, arrange it in groups on the ground and photograph it. Name the photo with the date and place to donate (i.e., 4-17-08-Goodwill-clothes). I drop all of those photos from the digital camera into the working 2008 donations folder on my desktop, ending up with the original and making a reduced size version for a document.

Then set up a document file and describe the contents of the photo (which you have inserted into the document) and price each item modestly, like for a garage sale, unless there is some conspicuous reason why you can claim more. It ends up looking like a bulleted paragraph for each photo on the page, and the photos don't need to be huge, just a big thumbnail. Total it all up, date it, STAPLE IT TO THE TAX RECEIPT the recipient gave you, and file it for next year's taxes. Until I'm finished with the particular page I leave the document and the image originals (which I will have printed at the camera store) in that working file. Once it is printed I move the document and related photos to the "processed" folder inside. That's the one I'll refer to at tax time if I need to.

I try to set up this document every week or so to keep track of donations, and finish it off at a logical point. Like I've made a couple of trips to Goodwill so they're commingled on the receipt.

I know this seems like overkill, but I'm donating so much stuff that I don't want them to think I am pulling a fast one. I figure my pedantic approach covers all of the bases as far as what I actually donated and if my prices were fair.

The animals have all been shot (and I am covered with cat hair and smell like a dog, duh. . .) and now I'm off to help a friend offload a mattress and any other big thing he can think of to get rid of in my pickup.

If you are methodical about this, kat, you'll find that there is a considerable tax savings in donating items. And think of it--the thrift store puts it out there and probably asks a simlar price, and people will buy them at that price. If you had a garage sale, you know someone is going to come along and insist on paying you 10 cents for something you've priced reasonably at $1. It's the best of all worlds, and you didn't have the work of the garage sale.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:45 AM

Yesterday's Hardi-assisted "decluts" in the kitchen led to a bulk-cooking round that sorts out a lot of the recent "overwhelmed" feelings.

We "made" a whole bag of trash from one kitchen cabinet that had started to "catch" odd, unmatched plasticware.

My ready-for-anything kitchen is almost caught up for a spring/summer set-up-- a set-up I had not realized we need to formalize as much as the rest of the household.

In fact, this whole past year has been a huge AFGO series about seasonality:

My house has to be (and easily can be) a resource center for me, as well as for the people who depend on us.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Charmion
Date: 17 May 08 - 02:49 PM

It's time for me to join this merry band. Edmund is abroad for six months (note 'Catter deployed in southwest Asia), and when he comes home he will start a new job in Kingston, Ontario. That means we are moving, probably next summer, after 10 years in this house.

Where to start? I know where I should get to work -- the cellar -- but my heart sinks whenever my thoughts wander there. So today I shredded a box full of old tax files and personal correspondence, filling up a garden waste bag with paper shreddies and the recycling boxes. Getting them out to the kerb on Wednesday (garbage day) will be a test of upper-body strength, especially when three weeks' worth of newspapers is added.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 May 08 - 05:09 PM

Welcome to the thread, Charmion. Sorry to hear of the six months apart AND the move. I would dread having to move again and we've only been here six years.:-) Good for you for getting started, though!

Maggie, thank you for all of that info. I knew you had a method and I have seriously been thinking of it. I have itemized our taxes the past two years and it has helped, so donations would fit right in and I don't like doing yard sales! (My dau. didn't have hers, today. Her partner, who thought we should keep things separate, was too tired AND didn't think they had enough small items to attract a good crowd. IF they had me and my stuff there it wouldn't have been a problem!**bg**)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Charmion
Date: 17 May 08 - 08:25 PM

I decided to start in the kitchen. Who knows what evil lurks at the back of the pantry, where sun never shines and eye rarely visits?

Among other things that make me blush for shame, I found an unopened container of Duncan Hines chocolate fudge icing. Its best-before date? You'll get a laugh out of this -- 11 September 2001.

My favourite piece of "what to eat" advice comes from that guy who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma -- No, I can't remember his name just now. "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food, or anything that doesn't go bad." The stuff was actually palatable. Too palatable -- I could feel the transfats racing through my system, not to speak of the drop-dead idiocy of allowing myself to be alone in the house with such an attractive nuisance (in the legal sense of the phrase).

Heave-ho.

The margarine that Edmund eats and I don't went with it: by the time he gets back, it will have either gone bad or proven that it won't, and it is therefore condemned twice.

And who knew we had so many cat toys? None of them worth a snap, either; the moggies prefer fingers (chomp), wine corks (bat, pursue) and guitar picks (swat).

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:22 PM

Charmion, I moved a lot of junk in the last couple of moves, stuff in boxes I left in boxes. It "may" have been easier, but only temporarily. Good for you getting started, and paper is an easy target and a good place to start. I have a couple of more quotes from Don Aslett I'll post in the next day or two to do with stuff and paper.

Kat, my main goal with establishing a routine with redundancy built in is two-fold--I don't trust the IRS to simply accept the printout with the statement, if I should be audited and need to provide evidence of my donations, so I keep the photos and make prints. In the 2007 tax papers I have a stack of photos in an envelope that I'll probably toss in a the recommended five years. I also wanted a way to make myself document the donations that was easy enough that I would do it regularly. It's too easy to forget what you did a few weeks out. When you start guessing or lumping, then you might seem less credible if you're audited.

Today I took a friend's mattress to the donation site, and on top of that he gleefully added his old huge CRT monitor after we set up and installed my old flat panel LCD. It looks fine, the contrast problem I was having doesn't effect most of its functionality. He has an elegant art deco-style glass table where his computer sits, and I'm frankly amazed that they had that old 40-50 pound monitor on it. I also took over an extra keyboard to replace his 7-year-old crusty keyboard. When we finished clearing the clutter (he has young housemates who leave a regular debris path) and cleaned and added a couple of bookends for his reference books, it looked so sharp! He'll afford a new computer when he can, but at least now it is easier to use and look at. I almost donated that monitor, but was at his house yesterday and saw the old computer and had one of those "ah ha!" moments.

One of the clutter bunkers in my house is this huge cabinet under the center kitchen counter. It's like Susan described, a bunch of mis-matched plastic containers. I have been pulling out my glass storage jars and pressing them back into service. Considering what I have been learning about plastic, I'm glad I still have them to use as I toss a lot of plastic. The big move, though, is to pull out the my Dad's kitchen gadgets in that cupboard, all quite nifty and probably expensive, and sell the ones I never use. I could put some of my regularly used appliances in one side of this huge cupboard and maybe get rid of a couple of cabinets that are in the corner. My dining room has a pretty chair rail and the picture-frame panelling below, like in my living room, but every square inch of the wall space is covered by furniture so you can't see it!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:47 AM

I didn't get very far, today. Rog worked outside, came in, went and did the grocery shopping, so wasn't much helps after that as he was tired out.:-)

I did empty the three bottle boxes and went through them all. I kept out some special ones that I like. The kids will come over tomorrow to see if there are any they want. The rest I will send/give to a few friends (anyone want one?) and maybe sell a couple. In all of the moves there was only one bottle broken. Some of them were wrapped in papers from 1983 and others from 1995 (I remember that move!) It was one of my favs., but was shattered. Still are some neat ones!

Tomorrow is another day and I hope we get more done.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Charmion
Date: 18 May 08 - 10:48 AM

Paper control is a Big Thing in our lives, too, SRS -- but Canadians don't get the tax credit for "in kind" donations that you do, so I just sort and purge, sort and purge. That's the only part of the de-cluttering process that I'm fully comfortable with.

This is actually not my first major clutter-busting operation; after more than 30 moves between 1973 and 1990, and a nasty divorce in 1994, I flatter myself that I got quite good at it, although it was a wrench every time. But Edmund likes to welter in Stuff and can't pass a charity shop or a second-hand book shop without strong yearning for acquisition. My great failings are crockery -- I can't resist the stuff, especially porcelain and English bone china -- and cooking equipment. Consequently, we have enough china, glassware and kitchen traps for two families of four and a restaurant, two whole rooms full of books, stuffed closets, at least two dozen large plastic sealer bins full of bed and table linen that we don't use and garments of huge sentimental value. How could I part with Great-Uncle Alfred's evening suit (white tie and tails), vintage 1917? My mother's honeymoon shoes (size 7), vintage 1951? My wedding dress? The dress I wore when I married Mr. Wrong?

Oh, God; the problem is even worse than I thought.

I'm familiar with the work of the great Don Aslett, and I fully accept and agree with everything he says with respect to busting clutter. But when you're a nester, and a sentimental one at that, the stuff creeps up on you before you know it.

This explains why I have two full sets of mixing bowls -- one made by my cousin the potter and the other inherited from my grandmother -- and I don't even bake.

Today and Monday will be devoted to cleaning up the garden; it's the Victoria Day weekend, the traditional date when residents of Ottawa can plant tender annuals without fear of losing them to a killing frost. My goal is at least one room's worth of clearance and tidy-ance every two weeks, and a load of clutter re-homed every month.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:04 PM

Charmion, if you try to set a pace of a room every two weeks I think you'll be disappointed--it is a difficult job, and there may be some negotiation involved. Unless you can have the Salvation Army truck back up to the door and load everything in, you might want to set a smaller goal and see how long it takes to reach it. Just a thought--your mileage may vary. I have a lot of stuff in trunks from the family in Connecticut that hasn't even entered this process. I'm working on the most recent generations now, my kids and me, and my parents. We'll get to the greats and grands after this.

I have to mow the entire yard today, and put in a few more plants in the first of several veggie gardens. What decluttering can I do that is gardening related? I need to get over keeping all of the little bedding plant containers. I rarely ever get stuff started from seed in the house in the winter, and yet I hold onto all of this with the thought I'll take that frugal approach. I have a lot of them stashed in the garage and today I'm going to pull them out and put them in the plastic recycle bin. Meanwhile, I was disappointed with my neighborhood garden center--I've taken them lots of black pots over the years to recycle, but now they won't let me have any back for some transplanting I have to do. I have to buy them! I'll cruise through the neighborhood before the trash guy this week and see if I can find some (there are usually a few in sight).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:38 PM

Charmion, can you tell me anything about the very thin porcelain pieces in this photo (cup and saucer)? You can feel the pattern of the painting on it, and though it doesn't show, there is some gold in the paint. I'm trying to figure out what to call these on eBay.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 May 08 - 01:26 PM

Charmion, (JUST Charmion!)

If you need a place to stash Edmund's pileup for him to sort out between getting home and moving into a new place, feel free to load it up and bring it all to our church basement. There's lots and lots of room down there, and we can put up a cot there for his eventual sorting operation. :~) Atticus can take up quarters for the duration to keep him company!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Charmion
Date: 18 May 08 - 06:20 PM

SRS, what you have there is a porcelain cup and saucer made in Japan for export to the United States and/or Britain between 1865 and 1921; I believe the green stripe around the edge indicates 1900-ish and later, as that colour became fashionable at the turn of the century. Your cup may even say "Nippon" on the bottom, or have a maker's mark in Kanji characters.

Here's an article on Nippon ware from a dictionary of antique jargon I found on line at www.jjohnsonappraisals.com:

Nippon - (Ceramics, Japan) (Time Period 1865 - 1921) The word "Nippon" used in the back stamp of famous Asian china, simply means "Japan." Nippon china was produced for export to the United States beginning in 1865, when the country ended its long period of commercial isolation, and ending in 1921, when the United States enforced the McKinley Tariff Act, which prohibited the import of items that were not "plainly marked, stamped, branded or labeled in legible English words." Nippon was considered the Japanese word for the country of origin, "Japan" being the English equivalent, the period of the Nippon china mark ended. While Japan had a long period of porcelain manufacturing, dating back centuries with its close ties to China, Nippon porcelain was produced strictly for Western consumers. Early in its porcelain trade, the Japanese government commissioned a number of foreign experts to come to Japan to train people in the production of European styles. They were highly successful in these attempts at imitation, and much of the Nippon China that was produced bears a strong resemblance to such European porcelain products. Much of the antique Nippon china available has been hand-painted with ornate decorations that, ironically, the Japanese of the era considered excessive and distasteful. During the Meiji period (1868-1912) much of the Nippon porcelain pieces were decorated with gold. Much of this decoration was not very durable and wore away over the years, so it is common today to find Nippon china pieces with the gold rubbed off. Dozens of Nippon china marks were used during this period, representing the work of many different porcelain manufacturers working in Japan at the time. Today, Nippon porcelain is among the most highly collected and sought-after of all antique china.




If you Google "Nippon ware", you will get lots and lots of hits so you can and read around to learn about it.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 May 08 - 12:32 AM

Well one kid showed up and took a bag full of old bottles AND some other stuff left out in the driveway. Yes! The other kid didn't show. He was on-call, so probably had to go work.

I found another box of bottles when we shifted some boxes from one room to another! Not too many in it, though. It's been fun to look them all over.

I hope I get more done this week.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 08 - 12:36 AM

It doesn't have Nippon or any other markings, but I'll check to see if anything is embossed in the bottom. But this is great to know, thank you! One set was broken in shipping (my sister crammed so much in the box I'm surprised everything wasn't crushed) but there are four other sets.

My decluttering today was outside. I planted a dwarf silverado sage under my kitchen window six years ago, and the darn thing is huge. I have to prune it several times a year to see out over the top of it. I decided I'd tired of that and took it down to the ground. I'll be removing suckers for a while, but it is history. I put in a few peppers and a squash in the area where it had been growing, next to the new veggie garden.

I pulled stuff out of the garage that goes in recycling and trash. This occurred when I started digging out the mower and trimmer for the yard work. And guess what--I found the old sewer snake that was here when I moved in. I bought another one a couple of months ago because I couldn't find it. See why I need to declutter?

There are areas around the house that are much easier to work in now, but there is a lot more to do. This afternoon when I needed my spark plug wrench to change the spark plug in my line trimmer I knew right where it was, and it's back there now, where it belongs. That is so nice!

SRS (I will sleep tonight, I am soooo tired!)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 19 May 08 - 02:49 AM

Desk is actually fun to work at. Flowers are sorted, bows made and attached, and added to the pile by the back door that's going to my home town this week. Cut about 3 inches off the bottom of a denim skirt preparatory to hemming it shorter and adding embroidery to it. Two giant piles of magazines sorted to take to the recycle bin at the local grocery store.

Keeping lists helps!

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 May 08 - 03:33 AM

I decluttered the thistles out of a flower bed at church yesterday. That's as far as I got!

The shelf is still here on my sewing table, Limpit's room is inaccessible unless I suddenly acquire the skills of a mountain goat, the dining room table is still buried under hats, so I can't move the sewing stuff out of the sitting room to work on it, so the sitting room is full of stuff I can't move until Limpit's shelf is up and I've room on the sewing table...

I am defeated!

I will go and eat chocolate to cheer myself up.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maire-aine
Date: 19 May 08 - 09:51 AM

I pulled enough weeds to make room for the herb plants, so I got them in the ground before the rain came. The rest of the outdoor chores got washed out.

The diningroom table is still uncluttered, and the furniture has been moved. (I re-arrange the furniture so that I can open the windows in the summer.) I got the upstairs hallway all cleaned up, and the floor & stairway swept.

And our team won first place in the monthly trivia quiz on Sunday.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 08 - 10:19 AM

Maryanne seems to be pulling out lengths ahead of the rest of the pack!

Liz, this is not the Eight Belles scenario! Pick yourself up (brush off the chocolate crumbs) and find one place to work on. The corner of the dining room table. Where should those things really go? Or maybe try a packrat's shortcut--arrange like things together and see if you can streamline the clutter. The lacuna created between the individual categories of stuff on the table will help you begin to move it all off.

Kat prophesied: I found another box of bottles when we shifted some boxes from one room to another! So did I, but it was three largish boxes. Antique trunks, in fact, filled with antique goodies that I forgot I'd put up on 2x4s in the garage and was hidden behind other boxes. Gotta move them into the house before another summer out there makes them deteriorate too much. I think there is a set of china for 12 in one of those. I've wondered where it got to.

My yard out front is lovely. The side veggie bed is going, and to achieve more room in this garden I did declutter--I took out the big sage. Moved around a lot of pots beside the door, stored the unused ones and tossed a lot of oddball stuff, and I gave the boot to daffodils growing out of the turf. Have to figure out where to put them, but I finally was able to mow over that spot and it looks great.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maire-aine
Date: 19 May 08 - 12:08 PM

I just found out that there are hidden benefits to getting older. Our city sponsors a handyman referral service through the senior center, and I'll qualify after my birthday next month. That will help a lot with the small repairs-- I need a lightswitch fixed and a faucet replaced.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 May 08 - 03:03 PM

Well, I've been attacking it, even if I haven't been posting to this thread til now. I refer to it as "beating the interior into submission" -- and, while I've been de-accessioning things left and right, I REALLY wish it would actually start to SHOW one of these days.

Last week took boxes of books to the Nottingham Library sale -- was away the day of the sale, but bought some of the leftovers at half price the other day. But I won -- I took home fewer than I had donated.

Last week, too, I took several bags of fabric I'll never use (I don't actually sew -- and I've already Freecycled the two sewing machines I never used (because I had no room for them -- only hung on to them for 15 years or so...) to a friend who can use them. And this weekend I culled my loose recipe files and now have two binders and a large folder for her later this week -- AND she'll take the Better Homes and Gardens and Food & Wine magazines.

Another friend will get the Cottage Livings and Coastal Livings later this week when we have lunch. Instead of burdening her with rest of the shelter magazines (because she'll never get rid of them -- I've already given her the Fine Gardenings, Herb Quarterlys, British Homes & Gardens, etc.), I'll drop off the last couple months worth to the ER at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. I was there for almost a day with Tom (Express Care) a couple weeks ago, and after I finished my book (which I had only just started), I was left with very little insteresting stuff to read there. I intend to make sure no one else is, like me, reduced to doing my arm exercises to keep from fainting from boredom.

I've got a stack of New Yorkers to go through, but none from the '90s. I give a friend Vanity Fairs; she gives me New Yorkers. In the cubic footage wars, she wins. And she recently decided she no longer wanted the shelter magazines I was heaping on her. (So the other friend above started getting them.)

This morning Freecycled a lamp needing the switch repaired -- I don't know if it's been picked up yet. And have a taker on the three yoga books and sheaf of articles on exercises for stress reduction.

Oh, and today I dropped off a small bag of clothes at Goodwill -- smaller than it was because I gave a shirt to a friend on Friday night and another shirt to another friend at the shanty sing Saturday.

Next thing is going through my "gift suitcase" and getting rid of all the "it was a good idea at the time" potential gifts that have proved unsuitable plus a couple other things that I won't wait til a significant gift giving occasion to pass on.

And it's time for Curmudgeon to start selling on eBay all the antiquish stuff that's been piling up.

I'm researching selling on Craig's List, too -- I think it's time to sell my first born, I mean, the vulcanizer and rubberstamp making tackle including all The Rubbersmith matrices and plates. That biz has been on the extreme back burner since 1990.

Gotta call the guy who buys LPs. (blues and whatever else he might want)...and the guy who buys magazines (he wants the Horticultures and the early years of Wired).

Our financial situation is a bit precarious right now so it's time to start selling what's left to sell and is worthwhile selling.

It's never ending!

Hey, SRS! I thought I was the only one who used the little numbered squares puzzle analogy -- our problem is we've never had the empty square!!!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 19 May 08 - 03:07 PM

Oh, and after I got home today (spending six bucks in gas on Employment Security games I no longer have to play -- but I made an interesting contact) I hauled upstairs and into a trash bag the cardboard from the huge box I tore up several months ago. I'm trying to make my way to the shelves on that wall of the cellar -- and there's way too much crap in the way.

(Story of my life.)

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 May 08 - 04:55 PM

Well, I managed to vacuum two rooms, tidy three hats away and clear part of the dining room table - couldn't do one corner, it's an oval table!

And I ate chocolate.

Yum.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Charmion
Date: 19 May 08 - 10:12 PM

It rained and blowed coldly all day in Ottawa, so only the masochists were gardening. Being quite sane, I went shopping for a cellular telephone (my first!) and ended up with another clutch of books, too. (Gotta stop doing that.) The garden is still a bad mess, which it will stay until I experience a renaissance of energy and the weather improves.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 May 08 - 11:37 PM

Good for you, LtS!! It's a start!

Charmion, very wise, today.:-)

I don't see the decluttering from today's actions, but will soon, I hope. I finally listed the Victorian rocking chair which no one in the family wants, which I had a sentimental attachment to as it was my mother's. It's just taking up space, is not comfortable for any of us, and so I listed it on craigslist, to sell. I also listed for barter, a large Paragon pottery kiln which was given to me and I've never used. I want to trade it for a table top kiln so I can do some enamelling. Wish me luck!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 08 - 11:54 PM

As Don Aslett has stated several times in the book I'm reading now--your family members wouldn't have wanted to leave you things that you didn't want or were in the way. They wouldn't have had you associate them so strongly with the item that you feel trapped by it or with it.

I didn't do much in the declutter field today either. It's Monday, back in harness at work after a very strenuous weekend. I'm usually not kidding when I tell the folks at work that I go back to work on Monday to rest up from the weekend. I passed the day here without making matters worse, which is sometimes as much of an accomplishment as moving stuff out. I will confess that now that I've rediscovered them, I'm dying to bring those trunks in. But I need to have a place to park them first.

SRS