More seriously, I have eight boxes ready to deliver (probably Thursday) to our nicest thrift store, as well as a few things for the less-fussy thrift store. I also have a few more books to donate to the library's on-going book sale, some greeting card fronts (mostly Christmas) for a church that uses them in various projects, and some things to recycle. I am seeing progress!
P.S. Yesterday I shredded financial paperwork from seven years ago, and I've started organizing paperwork for this year's taxes.
We got a bagful of books out yesterday to the nice new Oxfam book shop - games and anime mostly. However, I can see that it is going to be a source of books when it opens.
I am happy and proud-ish to report that my new sexy shredder is doing its job marvellously well - this is such a great step forward for me, dealing with masses of sort of confidential, private documents, many of which from years back.
I've already filled more than 2 entire 110-litre bin bags just with shredded stuff, with a 3rd big bag in the making! And I've only had the shredder for a week now. This is such a relief!
Of course other paperwork resurfaces which will need to be looked at and decided on whether it's still needed and worth keeping. But as I'm not even yet done with the shredding of definitely no longer needed docs, I'll do that later, again step by step. I'm really pleased with my progress so far, even though it's just a start.
I've posted this elsewhere but yesterday I was rewarded for my cleaning efforts by finding a book voucher - which I immediately used, so I only need to pay $3 for a $33 book.
I'm having a less than fun time at the moment, tidying my Dad's house. He's been in hospital since before New Year and, having had a toe amputated has both a wound and a balance problem. He's always had hoarding tendencies and an inability to be arsed, but this has come to a head with the need for a clean environment with clear floors.
Four full wheelie bins of rubbish and 3 of recycling later, I've barely made a dent but my main problem is little mounds of duplicate items. New packs of socks, instant mash and individual hotel soap has all gone to the local homeless charity, paper tablecloths have gone to church, I've taken flower bulbs, liquorice and baking tins. My problem now is pseudo medical items: support bandages, shoe inserts, analgesic heat patches, cans of deep heat-all new. Any ideas for who might accept these items are welcome.
I'm fully ready for this task to be done (when you may see some of this repeated on the Difficult Relatives thread).
Could you get advice from the hospital (or maybe your local chemist) about the various bits and pieces? If they're still in their packaging and not out of date, is there any reason why they couldn't take them off your hands?
This article makes me feel better - good enough is good enough, as in all aspects of life.
I’m still on my 15 minutes decluttering a day - and I think I will be for ever more. Turns out that’s how it should be, no end game - just a good enough home.
A visit up into the roof space yielded empty boxes (will help in giving order to the garage) and a few things destined for a charity shop. Slowly, slowly I’m getting that space emptied.
Chemists can't take something back if it has left the store, unopened or not. Is it worth asking the homelessness charity?
Even unopened prescription meds? My doctor kept trying me on different meds, experimentally, and most didn't help, so now I have various meds that I don't use. I was going to take them back to the chemist so they could give them to someone else who might need them. It would be a waste if they can't have them back.
Even unopened blister pack medications - my daughter was given a much bigger generic version of a tablet, so big she couldn't swallow them. We couldn't swap them or return them: We now have to check the size before we leave with the prescription.
That is a shame. I don't know about medical missions. I know there are people with my health condition in the US, who really want one of the meds I had, but they can't get it because it's not on their insurance, as it's not specifically designed for this condition, and is still experimental. But it works fantastically for some people (just not for me). But then I don't know if it would work for them. And even if it did, they would only have that one pack and then no more, so no good for them in the long run.
I do also have a friend in the US who has the condition that one of my other meds is specifically designed for (it's experimental for my condition, but not for hers, and I know she takes this med and it helps her). But I'm not sure of the legalities of sending meds overseas, and meds always say you mustn't share them with people they haven't been prescribed for.
I guess I will try to find out about medical missions.
Mail order pharmacy kept sending eye drops for a number of months after Mr Image had said stop. They would not take them back and insurance had already paid for them. It was a long story, that would fill the hell thread, but the upshot was he had a great supply of very expensive unopened eye drops which were usually prescribed for only six weeks following surgery. We asked and our new eye doctor was happy to take them to offer to patients who would have a problem playing for the drops following surgery.
Yes, I've sometimes found a physician who was willing to quietly take unopened meds and direct them where they'd be useful. And when one of my $10,000+ chemo pills stopped working, I just took the (unopened) packet to a friend in my cancer group who'd recently been put on the same thing.
2 more 110-litre bin bags filled with shredded stuff. That's 4 altogether now! (I may, or may not, divulge one day why I do have so much paperwork. On the other hand, I think it's probably also one of those strange old family traditions which have long outlived their usefulness, and which was: throw away as little as possible, you might still find a use for it at some point. WW2 experience, or even before? Fascinating, in any case.)
It is really beginning to make a difference, and I'm quite enjoying it. I think this proves that sometimes it's not that you simply are a lazy bastid, but that you just don't have the right tools to make change easier. It like that. Makes you feel less guilty, because everyone might have had that problem in the same circumstances.
... throw away as little as possible, you might still find a use for it at some point ...
That might explain the enormous amount of stuff in the garage and workshop at my dad's old house: I imagine he frequently thought that a use could be made of most of it. Mercifully a couple of (absolutely heroic) friends have cleared it out, and the stuff is probably now cluttering their garages and workshops ...
My husband was born during the Depression and was a child during the World War 2. His father died when he was three, and his mother raised him and his five brothers with very little money. They were all pack rats.
There was a barn on their property, and it was full of objects that might prove useful some day. Some of them did. I don't know who cleared out the barn after his mother died.
Vets seem to have no such qualms. Georgie-Porgy regularly benefitted from medication for her thyroid condition that was handed in when no longer needed. I was always grateful as 3 week's supply cost $72.20.
Likewise someone's cat benefitted when I took her for her final vet visit.
I did not buy a waffle iron today. I like waffles, but knew at the most I would only use it once a month. The price was a real bargain but I keep on walking down the aisle. I am feeling good about my decision, but wishing we had someplace near by that served waffles.
Ooh waffles mmmmm. I have my mothers stovetop waffle iron that is over 50 years old and gets used regularly, around once a year. Regularly but not frequently. The taste of those waffles beats any that I’ve ever found locally, and I can eat them in my pyjamas.
Today I removed all Christmas items from the roof space and am shocked to see that I have filled 8 see-through boxes, and that’s without the trees and after decluttering. I’m going to have to spend Christmas at home sometime soon. It’s all destined for the far more accessible garage so I’ll be more inclined to decorate when the time comes.
Today I removed all Christmas items from the roof space and am shocked to see that I have filled 8 see-through boxes, and that’s without the trees and after decluttering.
I am trying my own decluttering, of mounds of paperwork built up over some considerable time. Words cannot describe how much I hate this process - it's like peeling my own skin off. But it must be done: the piles are starting to take over the world.
FWIW: Whatever piles any of us have got, they're not likely to be as bad as I saw in a "Midsomer Mysteries" episode tonight. It's called "Dark Secrets", and it's one of the later ones with Tom Barnaby's cousin John.
{TRIGGER WARNING IN THE SPOILER BOX.}
Triggers about severe family dysfunction, and severe (but neat and controlled hoarding).
Two of the characters are an old hippie couple--dear people, but not altogether in touch with consensus reality, partly due to drugs back in the day.
Anyway, they live in a largish house. On the first floor, there are stacks and stacks of newspapers about ten feet high. There's a ritual to it: the day's paper arrives; he takes it to her; she decides she really doesn't want to deal with the news right now, and asks him to put it aside for her; and he climbs way up on a ladder to add it to a pile!
The piles are all exquisitely neat and straight, and they are many. This must have been going on for years.
I am, thankfully, not at that stage, though it has taken up about 20% of my electively useable living space, i.e. other than the hall, bathroom and kitchen.
I realised that storing neatly isn’t decluttering when I visited a young friend’s house. It’s as neat as a pin, but she could have twice the space if it weren’t full of storage - both furniture and boxes.
I’ve now decluttered and got rid of two storage boxes from the hall - it’s much more pleasant walking down there now!
I reckon that the sort of furniture you have makes a difference too: we had friends in Newfoundland whose house, while not particularly large, was decently proportioned, but they had such a lot of furniture*, and it was so big (and ugly) that the place always felt cluttered.
We used to imagine it with our furniture in it: it would have looked twice the size it did. Having said that, shortly after we met them, they changed the colour of the walls from bright scarlet to pale cream, and you'd have thought the walls had been pushed out by a foot in each direction.
* most of which she reckoned were great antiques; when D's father (who was an auctioneer and knew about that sort of thing) visited them he said afterwards that he thought it was mostly a load of junk.
There are 250 books in bags in my hallway. That's just from the bedroom. Next stop, decimate the books in the lounge (and the bathroom - you have to have a bookshelf in the bathroom) and thence to the spare bedroom. Epsom Methodist Church Book Fair has finally prompted me into action. It simply has to be done - a bit like ripping a plaster off. My books are part of me but it's got to happen sooner or later if my man and I are ever going to share a home (our ultimate plan). I am a hoarder, he is a minimalist - we need to meet half way. (And he's worth it - I mean, he cooked AND washed up last night AGAIN!)
Just to reiterate my first paragraph: I'm not implying that you're like the folks in the show. More that you're probably not.
(angel)
Well, there are characteristics we share. I would rather make a pile in space I don't vitally need in order to function (even if I could use it creatively if it were there), rather than deal with things as they arrive and keep the space open and unoccupied. Or at least, that's the conclusion to which my behaviour forces me.
However, I will spend the next hour going through another batch of this stuff before going to a lunchtime concert.
600 books now raising money for Action for Children and other worthwhile causes.... now to sort the bookshelves to hide the gaps so that I am not tempted to replace them.
FWIW: Whatever piles any of us have got, they're not likely to be as bad as I saw in a "Midsomer Mysteries" episode tonight. It's called "Dark Secrets", and it's one of the later ones with Tom Barnaby's cousin John.
{TRIGGER WARNING IN THE SPOILER BOX.}
Triggers about severe family dysfunction, and severe (but neat and controlled hoarding).
Two of the characters are an old hippie couple--dear people, but not altogether in touch with consensus reality, partly due to drugs back in the day.
Anyway, they live in a largish house. On the first floor, there are stacks and stacks of newspapers about ten feet high. There's a ritual to it: the day's paper arrives; he takes it to her; she decides she really doesn't want to deal with the news right now, and asks him to put it aside for her; and he climbs way up on a ladder to add it to a pile!
The piles are all exquisitely neat and straight, and they are many. This must have been going on for years.
I guess this makes me very dysfunctional, but I have piles of books like this. I have seven bookcases and they are all full. So now the books go in piles. I buy them from charity shops, four books for £1. I even gave lots of my books to charity shops when I got a Kindle, but then for some reason I started buying them again. I initially thought I might use some as sketchbooks - drawing portraits over the text, for an interesting look - but now I just buy them because I can. I know it's daft to buy them, but I do. I justify it by telling myself the money goes to charity. And it's something nice to do, to buy four books, and I make sure they are interesting ones that I want to read, but I rarely get round to reading them. My house isn't tidy though - it's a mess. Just my books are in neat piles. Not high enough for a ladder though - I don't let them get too high or they fall down. I should add that I'm not a hippie and I've never taken drugs. I'm not sure how in touch I am with consensus reality - I had to google it to see what it was!
Comments
Whoops, ha ha ha wish I had it for the last election indeed. Electrical that should be.
P.S. Yesterday I shredded financial paperwork from seven years ago, and I've started organizing paperwork for this year's taxes.
I've already filled more than 2 entire 110-litre bin bags just with shredded stuff, with a 3rd big bag in the making! And I've only had the shredder for a week now. This is such a relief!
Of course other paperwork resurfaces which will need to be looked at and decided on whether it's still needed and worth keeping. But as I'm not even yet done with the shredding of definitely no longer needed docs, I'll do that later, again step by step. I'm really pleased with my progress so far, even though it's just a start.
I’ve just sorted out my coats. I have all sorts of coats - three dog walking ones because they need washing so often!
Now to the utility room 😳😵
I know, I know - books don't count ...
Four full wheelie bins of rubbish and 3 of recycling later, I've barely made a dent but my main problem is little mounds of duplicate items. New packs of socks, instant mash and individual hotel soap has all gone to the local homeless charity, paper tablecloths have gone to church, I've taken flower bulbs, liquorice and baking tins. My problem now is pseudo medical items: support bandages, shoe inserts, analgesic heat patches, cans of deep heat-all new. Any ideas for who might accept these items are welcome.
I'm fully ready for this task to be done (when you may see some of this repeated on the Difficult Relatives thread).
I’m still on my 15 minutes decluttering a day - and I think I will be for ever more. Turns out that’s how it should be, no end game - just a good enough home.
Even unopened prescription meds? My doctor kept trying me on different meds, experimentally, and most didn't help, so now I have various meds that I don't use. I was going to take them back to the chemist so they could give them to someone else who might need them. It would be a waste if they can't have them back.
I do also have a friend in the US who has the condition that one of my other meds is specifically designed for (it's experimental for my condition, but not for hers, and I know she takes this med and it helps her). But I'm not sure of the legalities of sending meds overseas, and meds always say you mustn't share them with people they haven't been prescribed for.
I guess I will try to find out about medical missions.
I think the homelessness charity is my best bet, though it might be worth asking my Dad's occupational therapist if his respite home might need them.
Many thanks for the help.
I also managed to declutter some duck legs too; you can probably guess the method.
It is really beginning to make a difference, and I'm quite enjoying it. I think this proves that sometimes it's not that you simply are a lazy bastid, but that you just don't have the right tools to make change easier. It like that. Makes you feel less guilty, because everyone might have had that problem in the same circumstances.
There was a barn on their property, and it was full of objects that might prove useful some day. Some of them did. I don't know who cleared out the barn after his mother died.
Likewise someone's cat benefitted when I took her for her final vet visit.
I’ll put it on my bucket list
How big are the see-through boxes?
{TRIGGER WARNING IN THE SPOILER BOX.}
Two of the characters are an old hippie couple--dear people, but not altogether in touch with consensus reality, partly due to drugs back in the day.
Anyway, they live in a largish house. On the first floor, there are stacks and stacks of newspapers about ten feet high. There's a ritual to it: the day's paper arrives; he takes it to her; she decides she really doesn't want to deal with the news right now, and asks him to put it aside for her; and he climbs way up on a ladder to add it to a pile!
The piles are all exquisitely neat and straight, and they are many. This must have been going on for years.
I realised that storing neatly isn’t decluttering when I visited a young friend’s house. It’s as neat as a pin, but she could have twice the space if it weren’t full of storage - both furniture and boxes.
I’ve now decluttered and got rid of two storage boxes from the hall - it’s much more pleasant walking down there now!
Just to reiterate my first paragraph: I'm not implying that you're like the folks in the show. More that you're probably not.
(angel)
We used to imagine it with our furniture in it: it would have looked twice the size it did. Having said that, shortly after we met them, they changed the colour of the walls from bright scarlet to pale cream, and you'd have thought the walls had been pushed out by a foot in each direction.
* most of which she reckoned were great antiques; when D's father (who was an auctioneer and knew about that sort of thing) visited them he said afterwards that he thought it was mostly a load of junk.
Well, there are characteristics we share. I would rather make a pile in space I don't vitally need in order to function (even if I could use it creatively if it were there), rather than deal with things as they arrive and keep the space open and unoccupied. Or at least, that's the conclusion to which my behaviour forces me.
However, I will spend the next hour going through another batch of this stuff before going to a lunchtime concert.
(no angel - the halo would strangle me)
I guess this makes me very dysfunctional, but I have piles of books like this. I have seven bookcases and they are all full. So now the books go in piles. I buy them from charity shops, four books for £1. I even gave lots of my books to charity shops when I got a Kindle, but then for some reason I started buying them again. I initially thought I might use some as sketchbooks - drawing portraits over the text, for an interesting look - but now I just buy them because I can. I know it's daft to buy them, but I do. I justify it by telling myself the money goes to charity. And it's something nice to do, to buy four books, and I make sure they are interesting ones that I want to read, but I rarely get round to reading them. My house isn't tidy though - it's a mess. Just my books are in neat piles. Not high enough for a ladder though - I don't let them get too high or they fall down. I should add that I'm not a hippie and I've never taken drugs. I'm not sure how in touch I am with consensus reality - I had to google it to see what it was!