@Lamb Chopped. Thanks for the info. They are airplane parts. At the moment I am to overwhelmed to pursue it, but will indeed not toss them.
Museums that do aircraft restorations would definitely be worth contacting, depending on the age of the material. A friend of mine volunteers at one, and they need everything they can find to help with some of their projects.
Overwhelmed is the right word. Sometimes I just can’t face any more. But any small success at finding a good home for something, even if it won’t actually make any money, makes me happy.
My step-son came today and took primarily items which belong to his family. I can’t quite call them family heirlooms, but near enough. At last he could appreciate the amount of work to be done here and was supportive of my proposals to take so e easier options eg for Mr Puzzler’s main collection, through his society I have obtained very favourable terms with one auction house who will come and collect at no charge, whereas another auction house which might get higher prices wants photos in advance so they can pick and choose, and then I have to pack and arrange carriage, then there are hefty charges for photos, insurance……
Puzzler, It's great that you have found some easier ways. My Dad left a few tools and things we didn't have time to deal with and it was a great relief when some of my youngest brother's friends took them off our hands.
I have a male friend in his 70s who has no family in NZ and I'm so relieved that I won't be one of the people dealing with his double garage full of chainsaws (at least 4 of different sizes) and various other building, gardening and woodworking equipment.
I understand overwhelmed. I have some of my mother's socks, much less important, and can't somehow get the oomph up to find them a new home!
My Mum's (clean, white) knickers are doing discrete duty as the highest-quality rags in the shed at the moment. As entropy takes its inevitable toll, they will inexorably slide into oily anonymity. Mum grew up in the 30s and threw nothing away - she would laugh, I think. I think she and your husband would have a surprising amount in common, as would my Polish friends - wasting food is a massive offence to them, and offering what you can't eat to others is the very best solution.
Another old friend's Dad is nearing the end in an old-folks home, and she has recently had to sell the house. I am currently wearing one of his (new) shirts - when he found something he liked, he bought a lot! I think I have the 1950s farmer look going on quite nicely...thank you JL :-)
@Lamb Chopped. Thanks for the info. They are airplane parts. At the moment I am to overwhelmed to pursue it, but will indeed not toss them.
Museums that do aircraft restorations would definitely be worth contacting, depending on the age of the material. A friend of mine volunteers at one, and they need everything they can find to help with some of their projects.
Our industrial museum does that with antique engine drawings, and also reproduces and sells some as posters to interested visitors. I am sure an aviation museum would be very interested in your husband's work in that regard @Graven Image - you might be surprised to see what spoddy engineers like to put on their walls, strange widgets as well as beautiful airframes! And all sorts of gifts which can't be displayed and are not useful, can be sold on to support running costs (well, that's what we do with the donors permission).
Not so much progress this week as it has been back to admin, as various new bits of paperwork arrived. Because of various family and legal complications, I have been left not just with a load of stuff to declutter, but a load of legal hassle which could have been avoided. That has made me decide, once the big specialist collection is dealt with, to try to get rid of as much as possible as soon as I can, whether it makes what it’s worth or not. So the local auction house will be on the receiving end sooner rather than later.
Today I was cleaning out a desk drawer which for years has held our spare keys. I found keys and more keys to autos that date to when each car had both a door and a trunk key, I found keys to homes we have not lived in for 20 or 30 years. Sort of a fun trip down memory lane before I dumped them all in the recycle can.
I found a box of keys in Mr Puzzler’s desk, most of which are meaningless. As I find more, I keep adding to it, but the latest finds are suitcase keys- pretty useless. I did find keys in the box to drawers and cabinets, which seemed almost miraculous finds.
We found an ice cream tub full of keys in my father's study, some of which were labelled, but with labels which meant nothing to us.
We haven't thrown any of them out yet, two years after my father's death, just in case we finally figure out what e.g. "Jim's box" or "motorbike" mean.
I think the keys are crying out to be made onto an art work!
This week we have emptied our house for a build which will affect every room. No extension but many walls moved, a chimney and chimney breast coming down plus new steels.
So we put the old kitchen wall cupboards in the shed and filled them with all the kitchen stuff. Furniture and other stuff also in the shed. Piano etc wrapped in dust sheets, polythene and gaffer tape.
Phew! We’ve moved out to a holiday park. All neat an and tidy here.
I’m looking forward to moving back (around six weeks) and finding a place for everything then (hopefully!) keeping everything in its place.
I have decluttered a fridge freezer. I happened to mention to my hairdresser that I had one to get rid of and she said her husband would collect it. No money was mentioned but she has offered me a free hairdo. I always have a cut and colour, so I am pleased with that deal!
Fair deal there, @Puzzler. I only ever have a basic dry cut so it would be a very poor exchange for me. My regular hairdresser knows me well and doesn't try to talk me into any change, other than reminding me if she sees me out and about that a trim might not be a bad idea....
I do need to sort out a declutter of my deceased chest freezer, as I've decided to have a serious rethink about what to replace it with. I have a fridge freezer which is not quite enough freezer space so I do want something else, and until this chest freezer died, it was full enough, but I always had bottles of frozen water in it to keep it full and working efficiently.
It occurred to me that as I have essential medication that needs to be kept in a fridge, and I did panic when the previous fridge freezer died, a second, smaller fridge freezer might be a better choice. I did use the chest freezer as a useful extra surface, though. Decisions, decisions...
Update. It is seven months since Mr Puzzler died. Paperwork is sorted as far as I can get it until the New Year.
The main collection has all gone* , some sold, the rest waiting in an auction house. Other valuables, eg watches, clocks, silver, also gone to auction. Some books, gowns and robes collected. Family have taken all they want. Some furniture has been collected by a charity for restoration/ sale.
I am waiting for three more people to collect what they have earmarked.
Electrical, electronic and mechanical items are sorted and stored in the garage, awaiting final sorting from elsewhere in the house, then going to general Auction. I will be adding books, records, CD, and anything else I don’t need or want.
Until this morning I felt the situation was more or less under control.
* Just as I was beginning to feel the beginning of the end was coming into view, a whole load more things have come to my notice. Youngest grandson called to help fetch Christmas decorations from the loft, which is a complicated manoeuvre, as the ladder rises from my tiny study, so it needs three people to extricate things safely. He found my bridge, but not the crib set. He revealed more of the main collection( groans), more old electronic items, documents, and much more, untouched since we moved here ten years ago, as well as items of mine I know are there. It is a good three hours work for three people to bring them all down and remove them to more accessible storage, pending sorting prior to going to auction or the tip. I don’t know when I can get that kind of help.
No, it is just manpower I need, thanks. I am quite capable of deciding what needs to happen to most of the stuff. It is just the sheer volume now.
Yes, Sarasa, I hope they will have availability, but maybe not all at the same time. One grandson works in retail. Maybe my son can get a friend to help, plus the younger grandson. And I can prepare by getting my little study tidied.
I feel soooo accomplished today. No, I did not paint the whole house, remodel my bathroom, or do 15 loads of wash. I cleaned out my sock drawer. I threw away all of those socks with no mates that I kept waiting for the mate to appear. Not likely to happen any time soon. I donated all those socks taking up room that hurt my feet and I was never going to wear them again. I lined the good socks up in the drawer by color. Some days all we can accomplish are small pleasures.
I feel soooo accomplished today. No, I did not paint the whole house, remodel my bathroom, or do 15 loads of wash. I cleaned out my sock drawer. I threw away all of those socks with no mates that I kept waiting for the mate to appear. Not likely to happen any time soon. I donated all those socks taking up room that hurt my feet and I was never going to wear them again. I lined the good socks up in the drawer by color. Some days all we can accomplish are small pleasures.
I feel soooo accomplished today. No, I did not paint the whole house, remodel my bathroom, or do 15 loads of wash. I cleaned out my sock drawer. I threw away all of those socks with no mates that I kept waiting for the mate to appear. Not likely to happen any time soon. I donated all those socks taking up room that hurt my feet and I was never going to wear them again. I lined the good socks up in the drawer by color. Some days all we can accomplish are small pleasures.
That's my favourite kind of de-cluttering achievement!
My sock drawer is due a sort out but is not yet at the "Argh, got to do this today and now!" stage. What had hit that point was my bedside chest of drawers which now doubles up as a hypos supplies, medications, and medical devices storage space. It's now clean, tidy, organised, and with space for the next lot. It's amazing how much debris can accumulate in those two small drawers.
I've been intending to do something similar: my whole undies drawer needs a blitz.
This may sound like a daft question, but are there places where you can donate bras that haven't been used? I have recently completed the search for the more-or-less ideal support mechanism, but this has been achieved via an inordinate number of futile purchases on the interweb. I consequently have several never-worn (except to try them on and find they didn't fit) bras, but not a scooby of how or where I might dispose of them.
It seems criminal to just throw them away, but would anywhere take them?
This seems like an odd contribution from a man, but one of the charity shops near here has a bra bin outside. I think (like old specs and even old tools for which there might be a limited market in this country) there are places in the world where a container-full of this stuff is very welcome.
I had never heard of op shops for various types of donations and I think it's a brilliant idea. It must save the workers time in sorting stuff too. I am not doing too well on the decluttering, but have made some progress on the organisation side of things. Husband and I like to visit the Swedish furniture store and in their "as is" section I've found a number of little nylon containers which are great for keeping drawers tidy. Glasses, tables, hairbrush now kept together and not just floating around in the drawers. I keep going back hoping to find more of different sizes and shapes as they are very useful. I do have some books ready to donate and some other stuff to sell, so progress is low but ongoing. How are others doing?
It has taken 6 months since Mr. Image died but I am now down to the last box of things to be sorted. It feels good. I did donate some things that were of some value and I should have sold, but I did not have the energy and it went for a good cause. It felt good just to have it gone. I did take a break and organize my food cupboard in the kitchen. Moving in 3 years ago I just put in stuff here and there that I had moved from our old house and never did organize it in any way. Now everything is sorted and stored with like things, cans, baking needs, oils, and such. My son looked at it and said, it looks too good to use anything.
Graven Image, I think you have done really well to get through it all. My sister and I took 3 years to go through things at the parents' place. First 6 months was I think just getting used to the idea that it was now all ours to deal with. We gave away a lot too that Dad would probably have preferred that we sold, but everything takes headspace to deal with and I think we just knew we couldn't do everything. Books and records were given to charities and we had two garage sales. Sister sold some audio/radios to a guy who advertised for them in the paper where I live and he was happy to drive to negotiate purchases. My husband helped with that in a moral support sense. It is a big job and I'm going to try to downsize more in my retirement to help the kids out. Dad used to call it his revenge on us, but I don't want to do the same to my kids.
I think your organisation of the food storage sounds great. We need to do something similar here. We have a tall pantry and it's too deep in my opinion. I'd love to get it changed, but need an interim solution in the meantime. I think we might have to install a metal one with a runner that pulls forward when the door is open. We had one at our previous home and it did work well, but am not sure if it's the right height for the current house. I might have to do some measuring and investigating!!
Graven Image, that is a real achievement. I continue to make progress, little by little, but still lots to do. My plan: a work in progress
1. Assemble stuff in garage to be collected for auction- tools, gadgets, vintage radios, hi fi, phones, microphones, lamps, etc…..other stuff to charity shops, books to Oxfam / NT bookshop.
2. Use empty garage for storage of other items in order to clear rooms for
3.Decorator to do cleared rooms, whilst I go away on holiday.
The great Sock Sorting has taken place. One bag for recycling, smaller bag of socks to be unravelled for darning wool.
ION I've finally finished knitting a new pair of boot socks: they look rather ... lumpy 😳, but they fit so an older pair has been retired.
The charity bookshop that I volunteer in also sells a few random other things. At the moment they have a lot of wool that another volunteer has donated. I must check if I have some sock patterns and if I do buy some of the sock wool.
I admire people who can knit, as I am not one of you.
I used to know the basics, and even had quite a lot of input into a Lopi sweater about forty-mumble years ago (I started it, my mum did the complicated bits like grafting sleeves and doing cuffs; and my sister had a go at it as well, before starting on one for her husband and then a little one for the bump that would shortly become my nephew). I've long since forgotten the art, and doubt that I'd be any good if I tried again now.
That's a pity. There area lot of lovely yarns out there, and a lot of simpler patterns than Lopi sweaters. I love wool shops - the colours, the textures, the endless possibilities. I'm working up a waistcoat at the moment in a beautiful merino, pale grey with dashes of gold, russet and chestnut.
My other retail paradise is artists' materials. I had the excuse of art classes starting next week to buy some gouaches.
I spin wool on an electric wheel but I admit I tend to prefer spinning lumpy art wool rather than neat dk. I got out of the habit of spinning and crocheting during lockdown, a side effect of the low grade depression I developed then. Once my doctorate is finished I am intending to re-kindle my love of crafts but I am determined to work with the materials I already have as I seriously don’t need to add more clutter to the house.
Belatedly joining in this thread. (Good to see Lothlorien’s OP)
Mr Bee and I are having sort-out Saturdays and tackling a cupboard or storage area each week. We’ve sorted one cupboard, one under bed storage area and half of our photo album/assorted photos/framed picture cupboard.
Taking 3 large bags of curtains and fabrics tomorrow to the charity shop that supports the local charity for blind and partially sighted people that I volunteer for.
An exhausting job!
Your progress sounds great Tree Bee as does Puzzler's. Some progress here, Cheery son has begun ploughing through his washing basket and we are discarding or passing stuff on as he goes. Husband did a big sock sort a few weeks ago, then Cheery son, not understanding the process tossed a whole heap of dirty socks into the bag. That might be my job for tomorrow, resorting and matching as I suspect there will be dirty and clean socks that are matches!! Have also begun getting some things together for the local auction house and we plan to deliver those in a few weeks' time. Am looking forward to getting rid of the stuff that's useful, just not to us!!
I’ve realized that I’m not going to be able to do the Marie Kondo method precisely as she does. I just don’t have the physical strength and stamina to deal with everything in a particular category at once. So what I’m doing is I’m having to go through areas and simply decide, without trying to figure out where they are ultimately going to go, what sparks joy and what needs to go. And then putting the “keepers”back in the location. I have a lot of clothes that need laundering, so in some cases the ones in that category are going to go into a “to be laundered” place/bin/etc. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think I’ve got it in me to actually wash everything that’s going to get donated but my understanding is that places like Goodwill will wash them anyway even though they would prefer you to wash them first.
I have managed to get through a dresser drawer! The first! :-) Since I’ve been literally trying to do this and not succeeding for years now, this is an achievement! Go me!
Well done @ChastMastr ! I heard something about Marie Kondo on the radio relatively recently - that she now has children and her house is not quite as tidy and minimalist as it used to be and she is fine with that. The radio presenter made some comment like, "Do you really want to be thinking about whether something gives you joy or would you rather just have a glass of wine?"
I'm sorting things slowly and not putting pressure on myself. The fact is that I do have a fair amount of sentimental paperwork and I do actually want it. I can look round my (fairly cluttered) study and there's very little in here I want to get rid of. I've kept things for a reason and I like having them around. I like to think that the children particularly will know that their stuff is important to me - I've got @mark_in_manchester to thank for that thought.
Having said that, our bins went out today containing a couple of very old garments I'll never wear again and an old handbag I'll never use. Can't actually think why I kept it.
Yes, it does really matter to the kids, at least some of us. My mother returned our school papers, teeth etc to us a few years ago, saying she didn’t need them and basically someone who cares should keep them.
Yes, My Mom collected all of the above including bronze baby shoes. I tossed most of it, the teeth were the first to go, but I still enjoyed the thought that she cared.
Wow, Puzzler, that is great news! I did some internal house painting before Christmas and am very pleased with the fresh result, especially as we've rejigged some of our paintings to group them attractively. I'm sure you'll be thrilled once your Decorator has been.
I did a very small job last weekend, but it's been nagging at me for years, so am pleased to have it done. About 35 years ago I inherited my Nanna's old singer sewing machine. It has 3 drawers either side of the knee space of the cabinet. These drawers have been a mess of old buttons, needles and pins, spare parts for the sewing machine, old name tapes from my Dad and Aunt going to boarding school 60 years ago.
I have now sorted all the stuff into baby food jars. I haven't sorted exhaustively, but I've left the contents of each drawer in their original spots, but have tidied them into the jars for storage. Some things that were rusty have been tossed, Things that were broken have been tossed, but I've kept everything else. I hope this might also help with moth control as I suspect they are hiding and laying their eggs in hidey holes like these. I have some lavender to strip, so I'll add some lavender bags to the drawers as well.
Comments
Museums that do aircraft restorations would definitely be worth contacting, depending on the age of the material. A friend of mine volunteers at one, and they need everything they can find to help with some of their projects.
My step-son came today and took primarily items which belong to his family. I can’t quite call them family heirlooms, but near enough. At last he could appreciate the amount of work to be done here and was supportive of my proposals to take so e easier options eg for Mr Puzzler’s main collection, through his society I have obtained very favourable terms with one auction house who will come and collect at no charge, whereas another auction house which might get higher prices wants photos in advance so they can pick and choose, and then I have to pack and arrange carriage, then there are hefty charges for photos, insurance……
I have a male friend in his 70s who has no family in NZ and I'm so relieved that I won't be one of the people dealing with his double garage full of chainsaws (at least 4 of different sizes) and various other building, gardening and woodworking equipment.
My Mum's (clean, white) knickers are doing discrete duty as the highest-quality rags in the shed at the moment. As entropy takes its inevitable toll, they will inexorably slide into oily anonymity. Mum grew up in the 30s and threw nothing away - she would laugh, I think. I think she and your husband would have a surprising amount in common, as would my Polish friends - wasting food is a massive offence to them, and offering what you can't eat to others is the very best solution.
Another old friend's Dad is nearing the end in an old-folks home, and she has recently had to sell the house. I am currently wearing one of his (new) shirts - when he found something he liked, he bought a lot! I think I have the 1950s farmer look going on quite nicely...thank you JL :-)
Our industrial museum does that with antique engine drawings, and also reproduces and sells some as posters to interested visitors. I am sure an aviation museum would be very interested in your husband's work in that regard @Graven Image - you might be surprised to see what spoddy engineers like to put on their walls, strange widgets as well as beautiful airframes! And all sorts of gifts which can't be displayed and are not useful, can be sold on to support running costs (well, that's what we do with the donors permission).
We haven't thrown any of them out yet, two years after my father's death, just in case we finally figure out what e.g. "Jim's box" or "motorbike" mean.
This week we have emptied our house for a build which will affect every room. No extension but many walls moved, a chimney and chimney breast coming down plus new steels.
So we put the old kitchen wall cupboards in the shed and filled them with all the kitchen stuff. Furniture and other stuff also in the shed. Piano etc wrapped in dust sheets, polythene and gaffer tape.
Phew! We’ve moved out to a holiday park. All neat an and tidy here.
I’m looking forward to moving back (around six weeks) and finding a place for everything then (hopefully!) keeping everything in its place.
I do need to sort out a declutter of my deceased chest freezer, as I've decided to have a serious rethink about what to replace it with. I have a fridge freezer which is not quite enough freezer space so I do want something else, and until this chest freezer died, it was full enough, but I always had bottles of frozen water in it to keep it full and working efficiently.
It occurred to me that as I have essential medication that needs to be kept in a fridge, and I did panic when the previous fridge freezer died, a second, smaller fridge freezer might be a better choice. I did use the chest freezer as a useful extra surface, though. Decisions, decisions...
The main collection has all gone* , some sold, the rest waiting in an auction house. Other valuables, eg watches, clocks, silver, also gone to auction. Some books, gowns and robes collected. Family have taken all they want. Some furniture has been collected by a charity for restoration/ sale.
I am waiting for three more people to collect what they have earmarked.
Electrical, electronic and mechanical items are sorted and stored in the garage, awaiting final sorting from elsewhere in the house, then going to general Auction. I will be adding books, records, CD, and anything else I don’t need or want.
Until this morning I felt the situation was more or less under control.
* Just as I was beginning to feel the beginning of the end was coming into view, a whole load more things have come to my notice. Youngest grandson called to help fetch Christmas decorations from the loft, which is a complicated manoeuvre, as the ladder rises from my tiny study, so it needs three people to extricate things safely. He found my bridge, but not the crib set. He revealed more of the main collection( groans), more old electronic items, documents, and much more, untouched since we moved here ten years ago, as well as items of mine I know are there. It is a good three hours work for three people to bring them all down and remove them to more accessible storage, pending sorting prior to going to auction or the tip. I don’t know when I can get that kind of help.
Yes, Sarasa, I hope they will have availability, but maybe not all at the same time. One grandson works in retail. Maybe my son can get a friend to help, plus the younger grandson. And I can prepare by getting my little study tidied.
Now I need to do them myself.
Yay! 👏🏼
That's my favourite kind of de-cluttering achievement!
My sock drawer is due a sort out but is not yet at the "Argh, got to do this today and now!" stage. What had hit that point was my bedside chest of drawers which now doubles up as a hypos supplies, medications, and medical devices storage space. It's now clean, tidy, organised, and with space for the next lot. It's amazing how much debris can accumulate in those two small drawers.
I've been intending to do something similar: my whole undies drawer needs a blitz.
This may sound like a daft question, but are there places where you can donate bras that haven't been used? I have recently completed the search for the more-or-less ideal support mechanism, but this has been achieved via an inordinate number of futile purchases on the interweb. I consequently have several never-worn (except to try them on and find they didn't fit) bras, but not a scooby of how or where I might dispose of them.
It seems criminal to just throw them away, but would anywhere take them?
Answers on a postcard ...
I think your organisation of the food storage sounds great. We need to do something similar here. We have a tall pantry and it's too deep in my opinion. I'd love to get it changed, but need an interim solution in the meantime. I think we might have to install a metal one with a runner that pulls forward when the door is open. We had one at our previous home and it did work well, but am not sure if it's the right height for the current house. I might have to do some measuring and investigating!!
1. Assemble stuff in garage to be collected for auction- tools, gadgets, vintage radios, hi fi, phones, microphones, lamps, etc…..other stuff to charity shops, books to Oxfam / NT bookshop.
2. Use empty garage for storage of other items in order to clear rooms for
3.Decorator to do cleared rooms, whilst I go away on holiday.
ION I've finally finished knitting a new pair of boot socks: they look rather ... lumpy 😳, but they fit so an older pair has been retired.
I used to know the basics, and even had quite a lot of input into a Lopi sweater about forty-mumble years ago (I started it, my mum did the complicated bits like grafting sleeves and doing cuffs; and my sister had a go at it as well, before starting on one for her husband and then a little one for the bump that would shortly become my nephew). I've long since forgotten the art, and doubt that I'd be any good if I tried again now.
My other retail paradise is artists' materials. I had the excuse of art classes starting next week to buy some gouaches.
Mr Bee and I are having sort-out Saturdays and tackling a cupboard or storage area each week. We’ve sorted one cupboard, one under bed storage area and half of our photo album/assorted photos/framed picture cupboard.
Taking 3 large bags of curtains and fabrics tomorrow to the charity shop that supports the local charity for blind and partially sighted people that I volunteer for.
An exhausting job!
I have managed to get through a dresser drawer! The first! :-) Since I’ve been literally trying to do this and not succeeding for years now, this is an achievement! Go me!
I'm sorting things slowly and not putting pressure on myself. The fact is that I do have a fair amount of sentimental paperwork and I do actually want it. I can look round my (fairly cluttered) study and there's very little in here I want to get rid of. I've kept things for a reason and I like having them around. I like to think that the children particularly will know that their stuff is important to me - I've got @mark_in_manchester to thank for that thought.
Having said that, our bins went out today containing a couple of very old garments I'll never wear again and an old handbag I'll never use. Can't actually think why I kept it.
I did a very small job last weekend, but it's been nagging at me for years, so am pleased to have it done. About 35 years ago I inherited my Nanna's old singer sewing machine. It has 3 drawers either side of the knee space of the cabinet. These drawers have been a mess of old buttons, needles and pins, spare parts for the sewing machine, old name tapes from my Dad and Aunt going to boarding school 60 years ago.
I have now sorted all the stuff into baby food jars. I haven't sorted exhaustively, but I've left the contents of each drawer in their original spots, but have tidied them into the jars for storage. Some things that were rusty have been tossed, Things that were broken have been tossed, but I've kept everything else. I hope this might also help with moth control as I suspect they are hiding and laying their eggs in hidey holes like these. I have some lavender to strip, so I'll add some lavender bags to the drawers as well.