What did you declutter today? Part II

[marvholly]

I had planned to finally get to the good resale shop east of me to donate the load of stuff I have had in the car for about a month. However, once again 'life' intervened.

My Dad is back in the hospital. Breathing problems. *Lucky* it was another bout of congestive hear failure NOT summer pneumonia. This is the 2nd time in the past 6-8 months. However, this is a known, ongoing health issue since <2000.

[Jennsnoopy]

Got rid of 50 things from a combined purge through the dining room, living room and den!

[snafu]

Jennsnoopy, Good on you, getting 50 things purged is a major accomplishment.
MH: hope your dad is recovering
DS: It must be a big task to get Passover stuff back to it's basement cupboard. It likely means regular kitchen/linen items returned similar to a mini move for a couple of rooms.

[gambler2075]

I've been slipping a little from my minimalist targets... I did watch Hoarders again, and it re-motivated me.

One case was a woman with a doll collection, which, when piled in one place, was 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide, and about 20 feet long.

Another was a woman who lived in (not surprisingly) absolute squalor.

Hoarders - Video - A&E TV

On the other extreme, a nice blog post about minimalism.

3 Life-Changing Truths from 3 Years of Minimalism | Becoming Minimalist

g

[marvholly]

guess it is summertime & the living is easy. No one has posted here in a while or in my case a LONG time. Its been a bit nuts w/my Dad's problems.

I FINALLY took the PILE + box of stuff that has been in my car a couple months to the better charity resale shop yesterday. 80 items total. This shop is opposite my routine route. Now I can load up the pile in my foyer (after the temps here go down) for a regular drop.

[disneysteve]

I'm still trying to keep on track. The other day, I had to get some folding chairs out of the garage. That required me to deal with some accumulated clutter, empty boxes that needed to be recycled, etc., so I cleared up that area.

Yesterday, I took care of some papers and old mail. I also went through the binder of reports from my temple board position (I'm vice-president) as our new year starts today. I put a large pile of papers into the recycling bin and I'm now ready to start fresh for the new term.

[Cassius King]

Cleaned a room in the basement and now I'm the proud owner of a home office! Even found an antique desk to go in there! Just got done putting the desk in there, brought down my old recliner and wired up the stereo. Currently sipping on a beer and listening to a Grateful Dead show from 1977. Gonna be real nice to have somewhere to help focus my attention on my investments and reading. This is an exciting next stage of my life and I'm very excited to devote as much time to my investments as I have other hobbies I've had in the past. Time to get back.

[snafu]

Cassius K: sounds like you've created an office from former storage space. Great plan to have a desk, recliner, stereo options, a beer and a *go to* place to review investment options or what if scenarios.

DS: YeeHaaw! another section of the garage decluttered, hope there isn't much more to do. Great Temple binders are sorted and ready for next season's activities. Would Temple work benefit from an iPad? The binder material could be scanned into an iPad and membership data tracked more efficiently. [just a thought]

[flippinterp]

I cleaned off the piles of paper on my desk and reorganized them into an accordion folder. While it was semi-organized before (one pile for insurance bills, another for bank statements, etc), I can now see the top of the desk for the first time in over a year!

[snafu]

flippinterp: Great that you can see the top of the desk for the 1st time in over a year. Is it ok to remind you that 80% of the papers we retain are never needed; if we can't quickly find the 20% that might be useful we have merely frustrated ourselves. Scrolling through months and years of bank a/c data is faster and more efficient than shuffling through the pile on your desk. How and how often do you use the information detailed on bank statements? Once insurance bills have been paid and subsequently acknowledged, how is their usefulness extended? Do you add another step and file, old, paid bills? How many have you referred to later on? Could you find what you were seeking?

I am genuinely bewildered by all the paperwork that is retained, filed, archived and even moved to new residences. Three years ago my DSIL asked me to help organize their move from family home to condo. I was shocked that she had meticulously filed every bill, Notice of Meeting, invitation etc. for the 22 yrs they had lived in that house. She would be paying the movers to move stacked [floor to ceiling] cartons of useless paper to the storage space strapped condo. She was totally unaware that it would cost several hundred dollars in hourly rate and weight of goods. She also had two, 5 drawer file cabinets crammed with papers from the past 3-5 yrs.

DSIL was shocked when I asked how often she had referred to all that paper. It never occurred to her that the time and square foot cost of all that paper was pointless. I was sure she would need to rent a storage unit @ $90. monthly for all that paper. Sure we must keep several years of tax receipts, legal documents and warranties but we need to answer the question...'what is the worst thing that would happen if this paper went to recycle?' Unless it's current, not available on-line, difficult/expensive to get a copy, or experience tells you the vendor is problematic...once acknowledged, I don't understand making so much work for yourself.

Use it or lose it is a reliable motto for paper

[disneysteve]

DS: YeeHaaw! another section of the garage decluttered, hope there isn't much more to do.

I wish I could say I was making progress in the garage but that isn't true at all. What went out recently was just empty boxes that had accumulated in the past couple of months. That barely scratched the surface of what needs to be done in there.

[snafu]

DS: You deserve a garage that stores stuff visible, reachable, useable, accessable.

[dorymay]

Hello, I have just found this site tonight and I think I am going to love it very much. I am going to be moving to Florida this Sept. and I have a ton of things I need to declutter and having a place to talk about it willl help me keep on the right track. So tomorrow I have to go grocery shopping and will have to declutter my cupboard and refridg. Then the next day I will start decluttering as I start packing. Wish me luck

[marvholly]

My adult kids got me an immersion blender for Christmas. I have not used/needed my full size unit since then and prob not for quite a while before. It is going into the donate pile.

[snafu]

mh: you can likely sell your full sized blender on Craig'sList if you're ok having strangers coming to the house. Try to have a neighbor or someone with you for the few moments a prospective buyer shows up.