BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: maire-aine
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 04:31 PM

Things continue to move along. The guy from the lawn service came by and cleaned up all of the dead leaves & branches that accumulated over the winter. I cut down a bunch of branches & some grapevines, so he'll come back tomorrow and pick them up; he didn't have room in his truck for all of it. Another guy is coming to pick up my lawnmower tomorrow, for a tune-up, etc. I haven't used it for 3 (maybe 4) years. Now watch it snow over the weekend.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: GUEST,MAG at work
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:08 PM

I decluttered pounds worth of catalogs from my desk at work I know I will never get through. My boss should be happy.

They are already in the recycle crate at home (pickup tomorrow).

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:48 PM

I guess I am taking a break from decluttering...maybe in sympathy with maeve.**smile** I seem to be getting more fo my writing and editing done, which is good, but that means I don't do some of the other stuff I'd like to get donoe.

I did get a lawn guy to come over to tell me how much to clean up our huge backyard with dead 6 foot weeds...take him and his crew a whole day with several truckloads= $300 NOT doable, so next weekend Rog and I are determined to get out there and tackle some of it, at least. I'd like to burn them as that will keep them from sprouting, but it seems too dangerous...too close to neighbours, so we will have to mow them down every week or two without fail...or maybe find a kid to do it for us for not too much.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: mouldy
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 11:48 PM

Hello from NZ!

I have a planned de-clutter of old sweaters for when I get back....coz I'se been buying el cheapo machine washable (proven by what I got last year) merino ones whilst killing time in (very, at the moment) Windy Welly! So far I've bought 7.

I think I'd better stop now.

I hope this break from renovating the house will fire me up anew, but it took me 3 days to get over the jet lag this time, and I have a nasty feeling I'll be totally cream crackered when I get back on 5th April.

Andrea x

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:59 AM

Good to hear from you, Andrea! You'll have a lifetime supply of sweaters at this rate!

Kat, how many people and how many hours was that job going to take? Isn't there a high school kid on the block you can hire to come in and tackle it? It might take him longer, and you want to be sure the job is safe, but have him work with you and see what happens.

That said, I have to mow the weeds again and begin cutting out some of the shrubs I've decided I don't want to leave where they are. Lantana comes up every year in a spot that is a little crowded now the vitex is getting big, so I'll trim out two of the three plants. And I'll start digging a bed and toss the sod into the compost (minus any dirt I can shake off).

Four days off. My abbreviated spring break. Let's see what I can get done in that time.

First, to research the problems with my washer and fridge. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 08:01 AM

When he's finished Kat, send him over to me so I can finally cut and clear the buddliea that's been taking over the garden for too long!

Even with a large portion of it brought down in the snow, it's still too big and although it's sunny out there, I'm not up to doing manual labour just yet!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: maire-aine
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:29 AM

Yesterday, I went for an early evening OWL WALK thru a nearby park. It was organized by our local Nature Society. The leader played some tape-recorded owl hoots/screeches and we got a couple of answers from the distance. We (about a dozen of us) didn't see any, but we knew they were there.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:41 AM

Maryanne, we have owls, hawks, turkeys, vultures, herons, cranes, lots of big birds in the woods across the road and at the bottom of the yard along the creek. And every so often we get lucky to see one, but I hadn't thought about playing recorded calls to see who will answer. Did the leader play a commercially available tape?

That high school kid of Kat's could stay busy for a while, if room and board and air fare were built in. I have one of my own and two of his friends here this morning--they spent the night playing video games. I wonder if I could budge any of them to help cut up and stack the limbs I took down last summer? Probably not--working for mom isn't as entertaining as working for someone else. I removed all of the limbs but two main big tree branches are still intact on the ground. Maybe I need to get motivated and take out the saw and cut it up myself. What I really need is to get myself a chain saw. I'd use it several times a year, so would justify purchase versus rental, I think.

I've decided to break the day down this way: I'll garden for a while this morning. When I reach a logical stopping point (probably when the boys need to be taken home) I'll take along this week's load of laundry (including gardening stuff) and swing by the laundromat. Wash takes 25 minutes. Friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow, so I need to do some meal planning. The house looks pretty good, if I can cram all of my son's stuff into his bedroom. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:53 AM

Get the chain saw and I doubt you'd be able to keep the boys away from it... you know what men are like with power tools!

You may be able to download bird calls from the 'net... I know there are sites that have them but whether you can actually download and put on a speaker I don't know.

Decluttered more colon today. I never really believed those biology lessons where they said the human intestine was 27ft long, but I'm rethinking it now.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 01:12 PM

I came home from a recent trip to find the usual mail-for-Susan on my desk and a flyer on my chair. Puder gadgets. I asked Hardi what that was for, hoping it was his way of telling me we were going wireless. "Just trash," he said airily, and he took it away and tossed it.

Today I happened to see that the color of my modem's ethernet cable had changed from blue to bright yellow-- I became instantly emotionally erect and ALSO saw an antenna I've never seen befor, innocently peeking out from behind some other equipment.

I teleported to HIS workspace-- and that SOB has HIS laptop set up with a wireless card, in the next room, out of easy sight! I'd THOUGHT it was odd to see the NY Times page up on his puder when I went up to bed, but I assumed he'd left a saved page showing, the fink.


Well, I was heading upstairs for a nappie-poo, so I took the wireless card out, and took it up to MY laptop, and plugged it IN!


Two can play this game! :~) If we can only afford ONE we will have to SHARE!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 02:59 PM

And here's something that happens about once every 5 years-- I want some advice!

One guest room is now also an office.

Can I just wrap a strap around the mattress and its covers, and stand the box spring and mattress up like a Murphy bed, on its foot end, with no Murphy frame! If I attach the resulting upright bed to the wall with another set of straps so it doesn't fall on my head at the desk? With a bench against it for the pillows to live until needed? Huh, can I can I?

And then let it all back down when I need it to be a bedroom? Cuz I can make the straps, easy-peasy, and tuck them between mattress and box spring when they straps are not in use, and drape it all when it's Murphied, with a chenille anti-ugly throw.

Whaddayathink-- genius, or bad idea? No kids here (or cats allowed upstairs) to bring it all down on themselves. The wall is paneled in heavy wood-- plenty deep enough to grab screw eyes for the straps/clips.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: mouldy
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 04:07 PM

There's only one way to find out! Just clear anything breakable out of the way the first time you do it!

Andrea x

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: maire-aine
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 04:43 PM

Maggie, the owl calls were things he'd recorded himself, but downloading them sounds like a good idea. He just played them on a little hand-held tape player, but the sound carried real well in the still night.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 05:42 PM

Susan, I've seen some non-closet Murphy bed kits that are very attractive. Here is one I found easily in a Google search. I've seen them set up in some of those programs that rearrange rooms, make the most of limited space, etc. This attaches to the wall so the frame doesn't fall over, so I think you could set up a Murphy bed, but you could also take it with you if you move.

Got some thistles and other big spring weeds dug out of the side yard and are now in the compost. Kids have been dropped off, but I decided not to take the laundry over yet. If I wait a day I think I'll end up with two baskets full and I can do them at one time. Back out to the garden.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 08:51 PM

Kat, if you can get the yard mowed down as much as possible, you can smother out weeds with 4 - 6 inches of compost. It's easier than trying to dig it all out.

I usually give up and use roundup on the stuff that keeps coming back, but it's hard to get it on the bad stuff without getting it on the good stuff.

I sure hope I move a lot of stuff Sunday; it would be nice to have more room in here.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 09:32 PM

Thanks, MAG, that'd be a lot of compost, though. Our lot is 82' wide X 170' deep. The house sits near the front, so the backyard is BIG. My brother said there is good grass back there and if we can keep up with watering the grass will crowd out the weeds, but that would require buying an expensive irrigation pump as we could not afford to water with tap water, esp. during the summer.

Our son-in-law told me, today, he's lining up a dump truck and one of those little bobcat front end loaders to clean up and level their backyard. IF he gets it soon, he will come over and do ours, too. I've told Rog we have to get the dead, tall stuff taken out this weekend. Then, if we can find a kid in the neighbourhood who will mow it for not too much, we might be able to keep it under control. Some of them grew over 7 feet last year!

Right now, I see clutter all over inside the house and I hate it. I haven't had time or ability to do anything with this week or last even and it's really bugging me. I did see a few things i mean to get done, tomorrow, I hope. I am giving away an antique chair which needs to be recovered and some big, HEAVY books: a dictionary and a couple of others which no one uses. When Morgan is ready for one, I'll find another. Getting those items out of the LR will help.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 01:11 AM

Kat, when I moved into this house I hadn't seen the entire back yard. There is a cyclone fence across the back and it was overgrown with vines and brush, but that isn't at the property line (because that's in the middle of the creek). This lot is 76' at the front and is 217' long. Kind of pie shaped, the back is only 50' wide. It seemed plenty big enough, what we could see of it. Still, we enjoyed finding that last 25'.

That said, I can't imagine trying to cover this lawn with compost--way too much. I keep it mowed often enough that I can keep mowing (if you don't mow often enough then you know what I mean). I use a heavy-duty string trimmer around the edges. The dogs running around back there is surprisingly good at keeping most of it clear.

Today was good. I completed digging a small bed near a fence, I dug out a lot of thistle and other lumpy big spring weeds in the front and side yard. I enlarged a bed down at the curb area (it now is about 7 feet deep, back from the street) and I planted two bags of iris roots that I hadn't gotten around to putting in last fall. Those planted last fall will bloom, these will simply grow the leaves this year, but they're out of the bags. I have a couple of boxes of iris rhizomes still to plant, and I have a veggie garden to dig at the side of the house.

I also cleared out the compost. There were too many branches that wouldn't break down, so I pulled them out. I have two bins at the side of the house for kitchen waste, and one had been sitting there for several weeks. I dug a hole in the compost and pored it in. It smells, best I can describe, like a really strong poopy baby diaper. I buried it over and put the sprinkler on it to run low but for a long time. I hope to keep the dogs from getting into it.

I can feel it in my back and butt, all of that digging. I'm outta here for now! To sleep, perhaps to dream (as long as I take a motrin on my way to bed.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 04:58 AM

My ass aches from all the stair climbing I've done this week... sort of like a 10hour step class...

Did manage to declutter the magazines though, gave a few things to a fellow stitcher and have 5 box files here waiting to go in the shelves behind me. Looking through, there are not that many patterns I want to scan but too many to have them up in the loft, so I'm going to be clearing another shelf next week and hopefully getting something arranged here.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 11:53 AM

I'll be de-cluttering my wallet this afternoon to get the items needed for dinner tonight. The kitchen is looking good and I've cleared off the Kitchen Queen, aka Hoosier Kitchen, in preparation for using it as the serving center for all of the cups and utensils for the meal. I mentioned a number of months back about wanting to use it this way. I think I have it set up right this time.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 12:47 PM

No Murphy frame plan here-- no-bucks plan instead. Don't think I need the frame. The box spring and mattress are already sans frame, so I think I'll just tip them up onto the wall. There is nothing breakable in their lay-back-down path.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 04:03 PM

There could be people though in the path at some point..I would consider elevating them on blocks for ventilation and tipping them sideways so they couldn't do much harm and would be easier to flip down. mg

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 09 - 06:38 PM

Good idea--leaning it with the long end on the floor would mean it wouldn't fall as far and might be more stable.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 11:30 AM

Dinner went very well, the kitchen was easily cleaned and everything put back, though I washed a sink full of dishes this morning.

When this group comes over I scurry to get dishes out of the way to soak quickly--"help" is never very helpful. Last time the matriarch in this group was over she "helped" and I survived, but it could have been much different. This time she was stacking dishes in the dish water and I told her I generally scrape the food off before putting them in the dish water. "Why don't you use your dish washer?" I never have, I don't like them, I have to wash the dishes before I put them in or else I have to re-wash them after it finishes.

I counted the sharp knives before I started the dishes. That's what I meant by "surviving" the last visit, when I came up with a handful of silver and a sharp knife positioned to slice a finger. How has she managed to wash dishes this way and survive to her late 70s?

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 12:01 PM

Oops. It went before I finished.

Still waiting on the tax return, so I'm keeping my purchases modest. I'll pick up a few dollars worth of wood mulch to establish the "stepping" area in my garden that is laid out now, and maybe go get some free compost, to work it into the beds that I'm developing new this year.

I emptied two bags of leftover iris rhizomes during the week and maybe I can finish up planting the rest of them. They'll provide a nice green texture this year and bloom next year. And then I can use those big plastic milk boxes for something else garden-related.

There is always plenty to do around here until the next infusion of cash. But why is it that the thing you really want to do is the cash-strapped project? Human nature, I guess. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 02:39 PM

Well, we had a little extra this payday, so bought an old-fashioned weed whacker which Rog will apply this afternoon. I was going to declutter the big dictionary and two other tomes, but Morgan informed me he needs the dict. when he finds critters to look up and also to sit on at the table, so it stays. I am getting one antique chair out, even if it's only to the car. He wants it, but there just isn't room.

I am also doing dishes and laundry, today.

Rog had to turn on the water to our swamp (evaporative) cooler. Our house heats up very quickly when it starts getting warm. Yesterday it was 81F inside and I thought I was going to croak. I don't do heat, well! It is supposed to get warmer, today, so we are now prepared. I don't like using up extra energy so soon in the season, but I just can't get anything done when it is that warm inside.

Oh, yes, and we got the 1040 instruction book so I can work on taxes. I like to have a hard copy when doing them.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 02:44 PM

The bed will be tied to the wall quite securely; plus it will not fit on the wooden wall sideways.

Hardi got me a wireless card of my own!!!!

It's still at least a month too early for Spring cleaning, here, but we did chuck out a rug yesterday and cut another old one (a freebie!!!) to use for the van, decreasing the leftover piece to a good-sized one for the dog corner-- mud reduction for the house. The chucked-out one is stretched out in the grass waiting for rain to restore it, and then that will be a dog rug, too. Cuz the green one (the freebie) might be better for my bare feets on the back porch, instead of the dog corner.

Hm....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 04:07 PM

Yesterday I did my first clothes line drying of the season, and since we had company over for dinner, of course I forgot to go check it before dark. At about 10pm I took out my new (from xmas) rechargeable Coleman lantern and set it on the ground next to my basket and I removed, shook, and folded the sheets and towels. Worked great--much easier than groping in the dark or trying to use a flashlight while I work. Can't hold it and fold at the same time. I think this will become a habit--I used to go out and get laundry at dark even if it wasn't quite dry and would have to put it in the dryer. Now, as long as I don't leave it out so long that it picks up nighttime dew, I'm set.

I'm pacing myself today. I've cleared out the debris from last year's cannas in a corner bed in the front, and I'm spreading the soaker hoses today. That bed is where one of the front soakers ends, with a nice coil through the bed so the cannas look great all summer. I need to get a couple of extra regular hoses for running irrigation this year (soaker hoses are great in gardens, but that doesn't mean a soaker has to run clear from the faucet. It can start at the edge of the bed, with a regular hose connecting to that point.)

I need to learn to fix the weed whacker I have, but if I wait to use it until I get it fixed I'll be up to my eyeballs in tall weeds. I guess I'm going to be a two-whacker family, and I'll get the book a friend told me about regarding the repairs of these tools. I have plans to put another workspace for this kind of project in the garage--I have an extra exterior door that is propped up out there. I'm going to run a horizontal 2x4 on the wall and fasten the door hinges on this door to that 2x4, and it will be at a height that when I need an extra counter space I can lift it out and up from the bottom, hinges at the top back edge, and slide my metal saw horses under it to hold it up. It might not be elegant, but it will do in a pinch, and if I get tired of it, I take it off the wall again. This is kind of the opposite of Susan's Murphy bed, because it fastens at the top edge. My Murphy door. :)

I have my hay for mulching, and I'll go out in a little while and get the wood mulch and some compost. I'll at least get some of this seasonal garden under way and watered by evening.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 05:50 PM

I like the idea of your extra counter space, Maggie. Reminds me of an old camper some relative had with a table like that, only it had a one piece leg that would come up from the wall, at the bottom, to hold the table edge up, so it looked like a V with the table resting on top, across it.

I did all of the dishes. Yesterday it felt as though I needed a wheelchair my ankles were being so weird. Today they hurt, but not as bad, so I am glad I was able to do the dishes. I have a doc's appt. on Thursday next.

Also picked up a lot of junk lying around the house, put away some laundry. We ran errands and the place does look better.

I was trying to think of what I could use as cheap mulch for my flower garden, with newspaper under to keep out weeds. Aha! Maggie mentions hay and there I go! It shall be done! Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 08:03 PM

Coastal hay doesn't have seeds in it so it works out really well. I bought a bale for $10, and if you bought several it would probably be less. For my uses, that will last a while.

Soaker hoses are almost finished. I came in to look up something, and I'm back out again for a little while. I need to get mulch and compost. This evening I'll work in the house some more. I started clearing a desk in my office and though I put one bulky thing away I can't see much improvement when I look over at it now.

MAG, how's the new computer working out? Andrea, are you still buying sweaters? Anyone else out there getting snowed on still? Kat, have you tried putting your feet up?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 10:35 PM

I feel baffled about my feet, Maggie. I've put them up, soaked them, exercised them, massaged them, etc. The doc wants me to go to an ortho guy but I don't think I am interested! I do need to get new shoes...expensive, but necessary. Thanks, though.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 02:50 AM

Yes SRS, -- Maggie -- the computer is working out just fine. I still don't know how to exploit all its capabilities.

I have been vegging out on huhu, catching shows I have heard about for awhile.

Dollhouse -- Joss Whedon -- creepy but addicting.
Firefly -- same.

I have been trrying to pick up in case anyone comes to look at the stuff I'm selling tomorrow.

2 more weeks to official yard sale season, when the paper does a map and everything, but there's just too much crap in here.

The kitties don't help; I found another broken glass from them knocking stuff over. and they create more laundry.

Did I mention one of the boys got castrated last Monday? I'll try for the other one this Monday but he's pretty sly about being caught.

Brother caused a huge ruckus at the vet's; got away and into his office and he was not pleased.

Just got home from a dance where my contra band plays and am a bit wired.

Also going over a few songs for Singtime Frolics in Portland next weekend. Can't wait!

That will mean a vacation from tryingto get this mess in order.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 03:58 AM

Actually, my buffer is full and I can't figure out how to clear it. the screen keeps locking up on me and I have to log off to unstick it.

sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 04:42 AM

Today I need to do all the chores I haven't felt up to doing all week, because the Mother in Law comes over for lunch today. Child is still in her pit, my legs feel like they belong to someone else (long day of standing on marble and stone floors yesterday... we had a concert) or at least I wish they did, they ache so... I just want to curl up in bed and eat chocolate.

But that means I'd have to get up, go out and buy the chocolate first.

Ho hum... better get on with it.


Happy Mothering Sunday all!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: maire-aine
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 11:57 AM

Just took a pan of oatmeal-butterscotch bars out of the over. They're for the pub quiz this afternoon. The last little bit of ice/snow has disappeared from the back yard. It's still too early to do much work, but I'm going to try to clean up the black raspberry patch tomorrow. I cut back the spent canes last fall, but the new growth needs to be staked up, and there are some weeds to be pulled.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 12:40 PM

Madly shoving stuff into baskets and all before anyone gets here to look at stuff.

I may have killed my old monitor by dropping it.

Got change at the bank, stuff draped over blankets all over the living room, cats all chased outside and boxes changed.

Also threw a fes fishing worms into bushel baskets (plastic) full of last years leaves that don't fir into the composter, to speed up the decomposition process. (red worms not available here.)

Still miles to go.

I may have to figure out that online bookstore thing, to cut down the boxes and boxes of books I have sitting around the den to the point you can't get to the shelves. A lot are library discards that were just too valuable to get sent to the landfill. I needed to give them a good home, but this isn't necessarily it.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 01:50 PM

MAG, there may be an easy answer to your computer buffer problem, but you'll have to tell us more about what programs you're running when it happens and how much RAM memory you have. Why don't you start a new

TECH: New Computer - buffer full message

thread and see if John in Kansas (fondly referred to as JunK on some of these earlier threads) has an answer on the top of his head. It may be a matter of resetting something in there. If you're viewing programs online now, that probably has something to do with it.

Out to the yard. I've had a couple of phone calls this morning, news from friends, but now I'm going to go dig a veggie garden.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 04:19 PM

In for a short rest, a drink, and to visit the loo, but I think this is a de-clutter entry rather than gardening, though it is eligible for both.

That Chinese puzzle I mention regularly is fully in effect this afternoon.

I am digging a new veggie bed, so of course I have all of the weedy sod to toss in the compost. I only have a little ready for now, so I want to pick up compost from a free city place and buy several bags of wood chips to put down a walking path in the garden. I had some manure and top soil in bags in the pickup already, so I've pulled those out. I need to go to Home Depot to get the wood chips, and a local park to get the compost.

I'm building a new compost pile, I usually have two or three going in different stages at any given time. Last year's compost hasn't been breaking down properly, there were too many branches in it. They allow air in and it all dries out, it doesn't rot, heat up, and break down. This week I've spent time pulling limbs and sticks out of that pile, and today I approached it with wheelbarrow and shovel to move.

But there's a fence post in the way on the left of the new compost pile location. If I expand the pile that way, it'll block access to this post I put in place several years ago when I didn't have dogs and I put in a more elaborate compost enclosure on the same spot. I had three posts and a tall stake (the posts were recycled).

So today I've loosened the post but I can't get it out by myself without digging a lot bigger hole. I've got it leaning and I'll wait till my son comes home and helps me drag it out of the way. (The concrete footer is the problem). And on the right side of the new compost pile is the loose stack of big limbs I cut down last summer.

SO. . .

I emptied the bags of manure and top soil out of the truck. I put in the fluorescent light bulbs that burned out (they don't go in the regular trash) to take over to recycle at Home Depot when I buy my wood chips.

I've lugged a tall trash container back and spent some time cramming it full of sticks from the pile beside the new compost (keeping them parallel to each other to get more in). If I take a container of sticks to the curb each time there's trash pickup I'll have them out of here by the end of the month.

Just before coming in for my drink and rest, I pulled out the limb saw and I'm going to go cut up the rest of that pile of large limbs and drag them out to the front for tomorrow's trash. I don't have a chipper, there's no point in waiting for one to appear magically, so out they go. This is why I pick up free compost from the city. It's pretty woody and finishes breaking down in the garden.

Once the limbs are out of the way, I can take my wheelbarrow full of last year's compost and dump on the new pile, and then I'll alternate with old compost and new dug-up sod from the new bed on that spot. I have a sprinkler out back that I'll set up on top of the pile tonight and water to see if I can't get this to start heating up again and work it fast this year. I'll keep my eye open for any lawn clippings neighbors haul out to the curb and bring them home to put on top. Those are always the best for jumping the biologic activity in my compost.

I need to compost parts of my house also, I think.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 05:23 PM

(sigh.)

Haven't sold a thing. Most people are coming by for "odds and ends," which is a tiny fraction of what I am trying to move.

I thought plus size women would be flocking over; the two who have come were not willing to pay $5 for a business suit or $2 for a good pair of jeans.

At least I'm getting to sort through more stuff since I am stuck here until my advertised time is up.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 05:41 PM

Think I'm gonna need to Murphy up the van, now that the foam base is laid and carpet over top. Still a lot of stuff sitting on top of it for the rest of the occasional-use bedding. But better to keep it on board than bring it all in and stow it back out when needed.... hard to put cleats on the vinyl sidewall trim. Have another plan but it will mean WORK, ew.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 07:51 PM

Isn't it so disheartening when you try to sell something at rock bottom price and some cheap so-and-so STILL tries to beat you down?

I make greetings cards for a hobby (and as a sort of occupational therapy... cutting up all that paper instead of wanting to stab people with my letter opener at work....) and I charge the barest minimum for all paper, less than half the cost of materials for the hand sewn ones... and people STILL want me to drop the price (currently £1.00 each for a unique, hand made card), even though all proceeds go to charities.

Makes you want to hand the thing over with a loud speech about next time Little Timmy hobbles over on his crutches, you'll have to tell him he can't have bread AND milk this week because you didn't make enough money on the sale.

De-cluttered 2/3rds of a bottle of Pinot Grigio and most of a box of cherry liqueurs. Today was a good day!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 08:09 PM

I hope you were serious and it really was a good day, Liz. Pleasant anyway.

Thanks for the empathy.

I am now free and can go buy groceries.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: maire-aine
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 08:47 PM

Our team came in 2nd place in the quiz, and the oatmeal bars were a hit with everybody that tried them. There were a few left over, but I'll give them to my neighbors across the street (they've got a bunch of kids), instead of keeping them around here.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 11:30 PM

MAG, you have a couple of good options. Both require some work, but they can result in some tax benefits or cash in your pocket.

Scan through eBay and see if the size and type and period of the suits you're selling are there. If they're selling for prices you'd like to aim at, then find, borrow, or make yourself a mannequin (I have a blouse I stuffed with paper and sewed the neckline, sleeves, and bottom shut, and it has a hanger "built in" to this stitched in arrangement). Put the suit on it, and photograph front and back. Try to keep the background neutral. A wooden door, a curtain, but not an interior shot of your house. Try to keep hands and feet out of the photo. Photograph the label. Describe the wear, any mends, or if it is in perfect condition. Put it in a box and weigh it, calculate the postage, and you can start low and charge postage, or you can add a couple of bucks to the postage (calculate shipping it to the farthest point from you in the U.S. via USPS usually works for this) and call that your opening bid and be sure to promote "FREE SHIPPING."

Yes, this is work, but once you get the hang of it you may decide to sell a few things online. Unlike a garage sale, where you rely on people who want these things to come up your driveway, this is putting it out where people who want it will search for it.

If this is too much work, then follow my second suggestion: you know how much you'd get (ballpark) on eBay for this suit. You might even print up an auction with one like it as a point of reference. I use a sewing cutting board (a big cardboard piece with a grid on it) and photograph the item on it (it helps for scale). Bag it up and donate it to the Goodwill or the Salvation Army or whoever is your charitable organization, and ask for a receipt. Before you forget (I do this monthly), create a Word document, and describe the suit, made by X designer, size X, $200 new, etc. I'll do a new paragraph for each photo, and if there are several things in the photo, I price them each and add them up next to the photo. Anyway, put down the thrift store or eBay value when you state the value. Maybe you know it is reasonable, based upon research, to sell this for $45 on eBay. So list it as a $45 donation, and I usually take the photo and reduce it and add it to the side of the description in that document. I print it out every month and if I donated all to the same place I attach one receipt and just list it as March 2009 donations. The metadata on your photo, if you have a digital camera, can back up when you took the photo and help jog your memory if you wait a while to do the donation sheet.

I had a little over $2000 in donations to two main organizations based upon the thrift store, garage sale, or eBay price of things. I've been sorting out estate stuff for years, and I have a lot more ahead of me. This is one way to at least keep your taxes down, or avoid paying each year, by donating stuff you don't need but that retains value.

This is long, and I'll leave this as a stand-alone post, because if you want to print it for yourself as an idea of how to deal with these items, it's here and ready to go.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: MAG
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 12:12 AM

Thanks, SRS -- since I do the long form and always have enough (mostly medical) deductions to make the minimum, all additional charitable contributions are worth it.

Getting the receipt can be the hardest part.

(The contribution thing works for me better than the Ebay thing -- I'm just not up to another learning curve right now.)

I really did get through a lot of sorting today; still have the room set up with stuff I'll leave for a couple of days so a couple of friends can come and look for free.)

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 12:15 AM

I worked on my compost, dragged cut up limbs and a bunch of sticks down to the curb, and I finished enough of a chunk of the new bed I'm putting in that I was able to add some amendments and plant my tomatoes. This is probably 1/3 of the final size.

I had a shopping list when I went out and I remembered to buy everything that was on it. How often does that happen?   

Liz, have you tried selling your cards in art shops or on eBay? List them as "suitable for framing" or something to show how special they are?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 12:19 AM

MAG, I hashed through it once before on one of these threads--the way I see it, I'm at an age where enough people have died that I've inherited so much stuff, to say nothing of all of my own stuff I don't need any more, that I can donate stuff this way for some time to come. Might as well. Put it back into circulation and maybe get back a refund, or at least, avoid having to pay taxes over what was already withheld. But you're right, you have to use the long form and form Schedule A & B to itemize deductions to take advantage of this.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 05:40 PM

I can't get moving today. I feel like I sat in my chair and just stared at the computer all day. Ugg.

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 05:55 PM

Not that many art shops here in east London, I sell them at our concerts where we expect to get 'that sort' of person in the audience. As my cards are neither rude, faintly obscene or mention bodily functions or by Moonpig.com, my target customer is limited depending on the area we are in. The sort of person who would come to a concert of classical orchestral and ecclesiastical music is the sort of person who would buy a pretty flower card, blank for your own message.

Ebay is an option but it would cost me as much to send them out to people as I charge for them. I did have a thread here, with a link to the Flickr photos, around Christmas but got not a tickle. I'm still happy making them whenever.. I'm getting a better idea of the sort that sells. Strangely enough, it's the simplest ones that were a last minute 'oh my goodness, I've got to have more stock and I have nothing left to make them with' panic idea that are selling best.

Still, it stops me killing my work colleagues....

Nothing happened today... spent the day sewing and taking Limpit to her piano lesson.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 12:17 AM

Seems to have been a lost day today. But I think I know why--I walked the dogs this evening and noticed that the oak tassels are beginning to fall. My brain was foggy and I didn't realize why. This is one of the worst allergy times of year for me. I haven't been sneezing yet, but I haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders, either. Allegra, stick with me now!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: March 2009 De-clutter & Spring Cleaning
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 06:19 AM

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