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Post by doctorz on Jan 5, 2010 16:07:10 GMT -5
OK. This is it. There is nowhere in my house to store anything anymore without it residing on the floor in plain sight.
I can't stand it.
Over Christmas I learned that my mother wanted me to take the mahogany dining room table that I grew up with. It is a very expensive and well made table with three removable levees that must be stored flat to keep from warping. I took the levees home with me and had nowhere to put them. All my closets, the garage and the attic are full of stuff. This must end.
I've read that you should do this systematically and carefully. I am sorting out what I can sell and what I can throw away, but I'd rather take the blitzkrieg approach and throw all the crap out the door. I know this is wrong so I'm trying to restrain myself from piling it all in the middle of the yard, setting fire to it and dancing naked around the flames!
I'm using the following criteria:
If it belongs to my wife, I don't touch it.
If it hasn't been touched in a year, out it goes.
If I can't make at least $40 on it by selling it on EBay, out it goes.
If it doesn't fit NOW (clothes), out it goes.
If I can't make heads or tails about why I bought it or what it's used for, out it goes.
I did the largest closet last night and put a total of 6 large boxes out in the street. The closet looks somewhat cleaned out, but it's still full.
Tonight is the bookcases in my work room. It won't be pretty.
Do you have any cleaning out the junk stories to share?
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Post by spackle on Jan 5, 2010 16:34:27 GMT -5
I can relate! I'm a real packrat and I just MOVED. Imagine the carnage. One bit of joy amidst all the pain is that I found a charity shop run by a nursing home for low income folks that was overjoyed to haul away all the stuff I didn't want, except old mattresses- they wouldn't touch those (I must have cooties). They were just opening a new shop, so those ugly warped chipboard bookshelves- they loved 'em. The office chair that, when you sat in it, would slowly sink you toward the floor- their fixit man would make it like new again. The toaster, bathroom scale, audio tape holders, ancient word processor- they took them all and much much more. That doesn't help with the actual sorting, but it's an alternative to heaping it all up on the curb. And all that iffy stuff that you're not sure whether to try eBay or toss it, maybe you can feel good about giving it to someone who needs it, and don't have to put forth the effort of selling it. Just sayin'. Good luck!  |
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Post by Hellcat on Jan 5, 2010 17:04:49 GMT -5
I just finished some house cleaning too. I'm a very bad housekeeper, and sometimes the clutter tends to overwhelm me. The junk mail is the worst. If I don't shred it the second I get it, it might sit there for weeks, even months. My parents had this problem too. They never threw anything out! I've been going through a lot of their old stuff, and I've found old check stubs going back to 1974. I kid you not.
My friend wanted to come over for New Year's Eve, and I realized that I'd better clean up the place. She's a pretty easygoing, non-judgmental person, but I still wanted the house to be somewhat presentable for her. The living room was a disaster, with junk mail, magazines, videos, cardboard boxes, and other clutter all over the place. I spent all last week cleaning up the room, doing a little bit each day. That's the only way I can approach a big job: by breaking it down into smaller, manageable bits. Otherwise I become overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.
As the week went on, I could actually see parts of the living room floor that I hadn't seen in a while. I broke down the boxes and tied them up for recycling, and discarded a huge amount of junk mail and other papers. I felt great when I was done, and my friend and I had a nice New Year's Eve.
I'm not done cleaning, either. Yesterday I got rid of a bunch of junk from my kitchen. (I found a can of salmon that must have been in the back of the cupboard for at least ten years!) Now I have room for all my cans of chicken broth! There is still a lot of work to do, but I've got some good momentum going.
In my neighborhood we put the recycing out on Monday nights, and I've decided that every Monday I'm going to put something out. This isn't a New Year's resolution, exactly. It's more like a long-term goal that I've set. I like the way the living room and the kitchen look now that they've been cleaned up, and I want to extend that to the rest of the house.
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Post by Bix Dugan on Jan 5, 2010 18:11:22 GMT -5
You could have a garage sale! If you don't have a garage, have a yard sale!
If you don't have a yard...try Craigslist.
There are usually people on CL that offer to take away your junk that DIDN'T sell at your garage/yard sale.
Or you could store your stuff at Phantom's new house! It's empty RIGHT NOW!
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Jan 5, 2010 19:22:33 GMT -5
Or you could store your stuff at Phantom's new house! It's empty RIGHT NOW! That is true. The apartment that I'm moving out of however is a different story. Pray for me, I might not survive this. |
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Post by solgroupie on Jan 5, 2010 19:32:52 GMT -5
the only thing harder than moving is cleaning junk out of your house. poor doc has to do one - phantom has to do BOTH.
i come from a long line of packrats. my dad found receipts my grandmother saved from the electric company dating back to the forties. beat that, hellcat! i'm not that bad, but bad enough. i always have the feeling - as soon as i throw it away, THEN i'll need it for some reason, so i stuff it in a drawer or closet or under a bed.
i'm not a great housekeeper, but i try to stay on top of it for the most part, so things won't get out of control. stick to your criteria, doc. and the yard/garage sale isn't a bad idea, nor is craigslist. or ebay. or fire.
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Post by spackle on Jan 5, 2010 21:02:27 GMT -5
Sorthing through stuff sucks. Moving sucks. And then there's trying to find room in your new place for all the stuff you couldn't bear to part with, or didn't have the energy to go through and just threw in a box while looking the other way. I'm sure it will be months before I can even acknowlege the little boxes of mayhem waiting for me under tables, in closets, pushed into corners. I can feel them lurking there, biding their time, waiting for a moment of weakness on my part before they POUNCE! I'm doomed.
Phantom, you can do it! Just find yourself a bulldozer....
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Jan 5, 2010 21:16:53 GMT -5
Phantom, you can do it! Just find yourself a bulldozer.... Thank you for your support. But be aware that if it doesn't work out I may track you down and kill you. Don't take it personally. |
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Post by spackle on Jan 5, 2010 21:56:13 GMT -5
Thank you for your support. But be aware that if it doesn't work out I may track you down and kill you. Don't take it personally. Quite all right. Better you than the stuff in those boxes. |
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Post by thetoxicone on Jan 5, 2010 23:23:10 GMT -5
If I can't make at least $40 on it by selling it on EBay, out it goes. Just make sure you actually put it up for sale, I've had an ebay/amazon/craigslist for sale box in my computer room for a few months but I have gotten around to listing anything. I'll add to this by saying, I just returned about 100-150 cds to the local thrift store donations bin, since I'll buy pretty much anything that sounds interesting for less than a buck at garage sales and thrifts, many of which I end up not wanting at all. Also try moving a few thousand miles away because you really realize what is important when you have to find a way to get your possessions from Iowa to Alaska (in my case) and all you have is a 6x10 trailer. I got rid of so much stuff in the months before I left it still amazes me. |
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Post by Hellcat on Jan 6, 2010 0:31:04 GMT -5
i come from a long line of packrats. my dad found receipts my grandmother saved from the electric company dating back to the forties. beat that, hellcat! Nope, can't beat that. But then I haven't finished digging through their stuff yet, so it's still possible that I might.  |
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Post by doctorz on Jan 6, 2010 10:26:24 GMT -5
One thing I've found out is that there are lots of guys that prowl our neighborhood with pickup trucks waiting to pounce on curb offerings. You don't have to donate stuff if you don't want to, they dispose of it for you. Very convienient. Everytime I've left a box of stuff on the curb it's been taken.
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Post by solgroupie on Jan 6, 2010 11:26:41 GMT -5
i saw a guy that looked exactly like santa claus take my broken microwave from my curb. he worked for the city, but i swear it was santa.
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Post by doctorz on Jan 6, 2010 15:07:08 GMT -5
I figure the "trash fairies" either use the stuff themselves or sell or give it away to others in need so I think very little if any of what I put out ever ends up in a landfill.
As of today 18 boxes of crap went out to the street and that's only from one closet and one room. Granted they were the biggest two in the house, but that is the majority of the junk. This Saturday it's the garage and attic's turn to be cleaned out. Next week the kitchen gets purged.
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Jan 7, 2010 14:51:10 GMT -5
Doc, pay for my ticket and I'll fly out to help you! I ADORE purging and organizing ( I'm a whackjob, I know) and have assisted many freinds in their quests to see their floors and windows.
Rule #1, go to ecycle.com in your area and see the places that will take your old/broken/hopelessly outdated electronics, batteries, and what have you. Do NOT throw them out so they can poision a landfill and your drinking water with lead and mercury. Many places process this stuff for free, or charge a nominal fee. And if the stuff still works but you just don't need it, they will clean it up and donate it for you!
2) Unless you are regularly audited, writing a history of the county, or starting a museum, any paper work you have over five years old can get recycled. I am terrible about this, especially cards and letters. Now, don't chuck your daughter's first finger painting or your mother's last birthday card, but those twelve year old "Happy Birthday Dentist Y" office passaround things from the job you quit a decade ago can go to the Great Blue Bin In The Sky. Same for check stubs, receipts, expired warranties, and instructions to your VCR.
3) As for donations, follow the Golden Rule: If you would have your feelings hurt by recieving it, don't give it away, just chuck it. Filthy T shirts with pit stains, mangled toys, and rusty tools all fall into this catagory. Just because someone needs to shop at Goodwill or recieve something from a shelter doesn't mean they have no diginity and would be happy to inherit your crap. And it just shoves the job of sorting and tossing to the nice volunteer ladies at the Salvation Army. Which makes you not only a bastard, but a lazy bastard.
4) Now, about those books...
I am to books what others are to CDs, and buy many more than I need in a lifetime. They sit in half read, mocking piles around the house until I give in and haul them up to Half Price Books. I highly recommend your local secondhand shops in selling books, by the way. Unless you have very valuable first editions or antiques, which you will want to get appraised, it's the fastest, easiest way. Ebay may generate higher bids, but shipping costs will gobble up a lot of profits. With secondhand stores you walk out with some pocket money and a smile.
A word of warning: double think about what books you're selling. I thought I sold my signed copy of Good Omens and bought another copy before I found my orginal. Doh!
Just drop a line if you want assistance...
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