Comments on Cranky Fitness: Getting Rid of Stuff You Don't Need

My method is to grab empty cardboard boxes (about ...

2008-03-21T17:27:00.000-04:00

My method is to grab empty cardboard boxes (about four at a time) open them up and then go from room to room with a laundry basket, filling it up and eventually filling all the boxes. Then I seal them so there will be no peeking nor backsliding. I use the interval from New Year's to mid-April to clutter-clear the whole house (three floors) and make a major donation (up to about twenty-five boxes so far) to a charitable community organization which will accept the whole load unopened and sort it on their end, &c. Then I treat myself and my life partner to a nice lunch at the same restaurant that gave us all the free boxes! Good Luck to all of you working through caretaking all your clutter and slowly getting free of both the caretaking and the clutter! From Chris in South Portland, Maine, U.S.A. I am 64. I jump up and down with joy when the project is finished each year! Thanks for reading my post.

I've totally found the solution to my holding-on-t...

2007-11-19T19:05:00.000-05:00

I've totally found the solution to my holding-on-to-crap-I'll-never-use problem-- give it to someone else! I love love LOVE freecycle (check it out, there may be a group in your area). I find something around the house that is just taking up space, is in great shape but not worth selling or having a yard sale for, and I post it on Freecycle. Someone comes to pick it up, take it away, and hopefully love it and use it the rest of its useful days :) Makes the pain of getting rid of things better. At the worst, someone takes it from me and throws it away themselves!

Cindy, if you still play at least some of those lp...

2007-11-18T09:50:00.000-05:00

Cindy, if you still play at least some of those lp's, you're way ahead of me! (And hmm, dishes and lp's are the same shape... don't know what to make of it psychologically, but it seems you like circles). Circlephilia?

Bag Lady--I'll have to have the Lobster what that Oprah episode to put my single box of warped lps in perspective! (And I bet you're nowhere NEAR as bad).

The Bag Lady rarely watches television, so almost ...

2007-11-18T08:39:00.000-05:00

The Bag Lady rarely watches television, so almost laughed her ass off when she sat down on Friday and watched Oprah, only to find it a program about hoarders. the Bag Lady had been worrying (a little) about the amount of 'stuff' in her house, but after seeing them take 75 TONS of garbage out of that house, and hold a 3-day garage sale in a 10 thousand square foot warehouse (and make $13,000.00!!), she feels better. There's no way she has that much stuff...is there?

I'm in the middle of moving...leterally. I sold my...

2007-11-17T17:41:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of moving...leterally. I sold my house and I'm in temporary housing until I can move into my new one. I ditched a lot....but also ended up quick packing a lot too.

My "thing" is dishes. I have several sets. Dinner sets...everyday (2), more formal, and Christmas. Luncheon sets, dessert sets, single place settings, etc etc. I packed and I'm taking them all! LOL

Oh, my LPs are in good condition and I still have a turntable, so they're going too. I'm downsizing from 7 rooms (1500+ sq ft) to 4 rooms (1050 sq ft), so lots has to go...but not my LPs!

Poppy, if you figure out how to donate "junk in th...

2007-11-17T09:21:00.000-05:00

Poppy, if you figure out how to donate "junk in the trunk" to goodwill, let us know how, okay?

And Decaf--yeah, I'll admit, our cat has a few practical uses too. Bed warmer, bug chaser... but most of her value is purely sentimental!

Maryanne--yikes, sounds like you have some work ahead of you too! But hopefully it will all be worth it with the new place. (Ulp... 47 years worth of parent's stuff?)

Health related? Surely anything that involves dust...

2007-11-17T08:46:00.000-05:00

Health related? Surely anything that involves dust and mold must be health related!
I love the cat picture--she is clearly saying "What do you foolish humans think you are doing with My House?"
I have not started packing much yet, since I'm not allowed to put anything in the not-quite-finished New House until the workmen stop using the basement for a workshop. I've run out of things to throw away from my parents' 47 years of keeping stuff. However, when I moved seven times in seven years I didn't get rid of anything except my television on the sixth move--still don't have one ten years later--and it wasn't all stuff I use every day either.

Mary Anne in Kentucky, soon to move from two houses into one. Eek!

LOL. Cats ARE useful. They are fun to hug when it'...

2007-11-17T02:07:00.000-05:00

LOL. Cats ARE useful. They are fun to hug when it's cold. Even if it annoys them, it's still fun because they annoy you so much!

Do I have trouble throwing things away? Hell to th...

2007-11-16T18:44:00.000-05:00

Do I have trouble throwing things away? Hell to the yeah!

I have all kinds of junk in my trunk.

Even more helpful packing/moving advice! I hate d...

2007-11-16T18:25:00.000-05:00

Even more helpful packing/moving advice! I hate decisions, and because we're starting early, I have a ton of time to change my mind back and forth. Which is not a good thing.

I'm pleased to discover the Thing can cut herbs--because fresh pasta dough? That's seriously not happening.

Although now there's one more thing to move from the "toss" pile to the "keep" pile!

My husband and I are very good at finding the othe...

2007-11-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

My husband and I are very good at finding the other persons belongings useless, but we don't throw them away... Oh well, maybe we're bad, but not hopeless.

That cutting thing is for parsley and other herbs. Just roll it over the herbs on a cutting board until they are finely cut. Mix parsley and garlic with butter and put on a warm, rare steak! My mother used it for nettles (yes, the burning ones) when she was little. My grandfather was a health freak, and the family quite poor. I love nettles in soup (great iron source!) but raw? Mum says that it doesn't burn if you cut them well. On the other hand, there was always one that wasn't...

Technique my mother-by-marriage uses:Sweetheart - ...

2007-11-16T09:19:00.000-05:00

Technique my mother-by-marriage uses:

Sweetheart - I have this (put name here) it is a family heirloom and I really want you to have it.

or

I am trying to clear out and why don't you and M take this to where you live and sell it and YOU keep the money you get for it.

Then there are my techniquest for getting rid of M's things (like papers from 12th grade) -- this idea obviously for Lobster---
just put them in a trash bag while Crabby is not looking and out with trash. DISCLAIMER -- M figured it out and insisted on going thrrough all trash bags before they were actually thrown out.

Hope these help

Grins and Groans
O.

Bunnygirl, I feel your pain. My evil sister (who I...

2007-11-15T23:57:00.000-05:00

Bunnygirl, I feel your pain. My evil sister (who I swear was adopted, the strong physical resemblance is pure coincidence) went through all my belongings and threw out the ones that weren't "important." (Definition of important being hers, of course.)

Crabby, I have just the book for you. For some reason, people keep giving it to me:

Clearing Clutter with Feng Shui

My m-i-l has 2 words for this: Pitch it.

2007-11-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

My m-i-l has 2 words for this: Pitch it.

I've moved several times over the past few years, ...

2007-11-15T20:56:00.000-05:00

I've moved several times over the past few years, and every time I do I end up getting rid of/giving away a bunch of stuff. And the thing is, it's true what people say -- I never miss the things once they're gone. Out of sight, out of mind. :)

Karen isn't particularly a packrat, but she does h...

2007-11-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

Karen isn't particularly a packrat, but she does have a lot of books. She refuses to get rid of any either. So about once a year she has to buy a new bookshelf.

We are most likely moving as well (by spring, Lord willing) and Karen is predicting at least twenty boxes of books.

Your cat is very pretty. Karen mentioned she must be the cause of much vacuuming.

-- P

It's great to hear I'm not the only one who has tr...

2007-11-15T18:11:00.000-05:00

It's great to hear I'm not the only one who has trouble tossing stuff! I'm loving the tales of Sneaky Stepmoms, boxes of old 78's, driftwood floating through flooded basements, untossable clothes and shoes, graveyards for ugly furniture, and other tales of moving & storage woe. But then some of you sound quite ruthless and efficient!

Sorry it's another bonkers sort of day, but what awesome comments--and it's great to meet new folks like adora and wendy and dawnie!

Hopefully I can do a little better job catching up with everyone when things calm down a bit. My blog visits may be somewhat curtailed as well, unfortunately. OK--gotta dash, Stager Dude just left but Termite Inspector Man Approacheth!

Well, the bag lady being my sister, I do have pack...

2007-11-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

Well, the bag lady being my sister, I do have pack rat genes. However, having been forced to downsize, I have gotten rid of lots and lots of stuff. (Uh, quite a lot of it to her.) It is so very frustrating when you just know you had a pasta cutter, (or whatever) but can't find it. Even though it will be the only time in your life that you would use it, you tear the house/apartment apart looking for it because you know you had one - somewhere, sometime in some other universe, or it fell into the black hole in the closet.
Sorry rambling there.
Good luck with purging Crabby.

I have a hard time throwing things away because I ...

2007-11-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

I have a hard time throwing things away because I know I will desperately need it as soon as the garbage man comes and takes it away.

I would be happy to give things away. I'm too lazy to have a yard sale and think it is such a waste to throw perfectly good items in the trash.

One of the biggest problems with constantly losing and gaining weight is I have clothes ranging in sizes from 7-18. I should open up my own vintage clothes store and sell it all off. I haven't been able to get into the single digits in over a decade but still hang onto them in the hopes I'll be able to again. I do get rid of the larger sizes when I lose weight only to have to buy more when I inevitably regain. Of course, you know as soon as you throw it away it comes back in style, right?

Watch a few episodes of Clean House on the Style Channel - that should get you inspired to toss the useless stuff (and give you a good laugh because the host of the show is crazy).

Good luck with the purging.

Hey everybody! Let's all go party at Leah's...nobo...

2007-11-15T15:31:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody! Let's all go party at Leah's...nobody's home! We can fill the Goat's Lunch Pail with comments and surprise the heck out of her when her 'puter comes home from the hospital!! :)

Ditto to Wendy Dunst's comment. I get rid of every...

2007-11-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

Ditto to Wendy Dunst's comment. I get rid of everything. I have even thrown out my husband's cell phone.

(The pictures CRACKED me up!)

I don't like moving. I resist change. I am a serio...

2007-11-15T15:04:00.000-05:00

I don't like moving. I resist change. I am a serious pack rat. But I'm told I come buy it honestly - my grandmother was the same way.

And I have ready excuses:
1. That has sentimental value!
2. I might need/want that someday!
3. The landfills are overflowing - I don't want to add to the problem.

Unfortunately that leads to the problem of the junk crowding me out of the house. So every so often I have to get tough and do a purge. I find the easiest thing for me is to identify things that are still useable, but that I won't use, and either give them away or donate to charity - if I'm not actually throwing things in the garbage, it's much easier. If all else fails, I will stand there and hand things to my husband so that he can put them in the trash bag - somehow that hurts less than actually putting things in the trash with my own hands. How crazy is that?

My storage solution is leave a ton of stuff with y...

2007-11-15T14:56:00.000-05:00

My storage solution is leave a ton of stuff with your parents when you flee the nest :D

But I should probably get around to tossing out university and college notes, as they're not doing me much good collecting dust in my house and cds that I haven't listened to since high school that aren't anywhere near tolerable now (or even then, come to think of it).

Personally, I'd like to get rid of a large papasan chair and a couple of ikea poang chairs that are occupying too much realty in my abode.

My house is apparently where ugly furniture goes to die

I meant to say too, there's a virus warning floati...

2007-11-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

I meant to say too, there's a virus warning floating around that's just another HOAX. The Olympic Torch/invitation thing. I checked it out at snopes.com and you can too:

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

Who was it said "Two moves are equal to 1 fire." ...

2007-11-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

Who was it said "Two moves are equal to 1 fire." I think Benjamin Franklin. So, Crabby, during your move you're likely to get rid of some stuff whether you mean to or not. Or break some.

What REALLY irritates me is I dither over getting rid of old software and manuals and floppy disks and stuff. That's so absurd! I still have my old Mac G3, and if I ever figure out how to get stuff off the hard drive I might need the software....ACK. **dithering madly just thinking about it**

AND I have a husband who likes to rescue things out of the trash. I don't complain too much because (besides a lot of junk) he got a TV, a perfectly good Gateway computer and a beautiful huge cherry entertainment center out of the trash. And a brand new Juicy Couture suede diaper bag. We have a real nice grade of trash in our building.