Oh boy, am I tired!

[DrKMcK]

This morning I was out and about early. Took the car to be inspected, then off to the pet store to buy...bugs! Yes, more crickets for Myo the gecko. Then over to the hardware store to get casters for a bunch of small tables that I am using for tanks. Finally, I went to the fruit and vegetable market/grocery store to shop. (Whoever thought I would ever, in my wildest dreams, be buying vegetables for bugs!!!
Okay. Get home, sort out the crickets, put the food shopping away, and get the casters put where I can grab them when I'm ready to attach all of them. For me, all of this is a lot. So, I spend time on the site and also played with Ted E. Bear (This is a daytime hammy week for him).

One of my friends calls and lets me know she is in the neighborhood, has time, and knows I want to get rid of a whole bunch of knick-knacks I've had for several decades...really! So, over she comes and we manage to box up 7 boxes of glass bowls, espresso sets, vases and all kinds of other glass brick-a-brack. Some of this stuff I've had since my daugter was a baby, and she's 38!!!

I have been trying to reduce the crap I've collected over the years. I was truely brutal. We managed to clear off both Wall units. What I want to do is to have all of my craft stuff, my knitting and crochet, my computer things and my pets.

I've been working for about 4 years now to digitalize all of my photos, and that is nearly done. My entire library of nearly 7,000 books is either on the cloud, on my hard drive or on my Kindle. No more books...or nearly none. This winter's big project it to get all of my music in digital format. Most of the tapes are now converted. The vinyl albumns are next.

I bought a paper shredder that crosscuts everything into teeny tiny squares. It does paper, plastic credit cards and even soft cardboard, like the cartons cans of soda come in and torn up pizza boxes. I have medical records from years and years of private practice that cannot just be casually thrown away. The shredding of all of this is another winter project for 2014-2015.

I want things to be simple, just my hobbies. The rest can all go.

This coming weekend I am starting all of the clothes closets and dresser drawers. I no longer need all the blazers and jackets. All the dressy pantsuits for work aren't worn anymore. I want it easy to get in and out of, you know? So, by the end of the month the clothes will be done and the winter projects will start.

How did I ever collect all this stuff???

[Scampi16]

sounds like you have been busy pity you can't come and do mine. i'm a collector of lots of things and a bit of a horder just like a hamster lol, trouble is i don't like throwing things away so not as brutal as you have been with your old nicnacs. i really need to do that sometime.

[Pebbles82]

I am impressed! It's a nightmare isn't it. I have a junk room 'hanging over me' and have been threatened if I don't clear it, other half will do it - and that would not be good! He has no idea how important some of my junk is or where it is (like on the floor!) and could get trodden on. I clear the junk room about twice a year, but it is still almost at the point where I can't get the door open - and it isn't even full of junk! It is part ward-robe, part drying room, part office, and part cupboard - of course is going to get full. Although I have to admit to being a bit of a hoarder (maybe that's why I like Hamsters lol). Yes it is very tiring doing these clear-outs. It's not just the time and physical effort it is all the decision-making along the way! My big bugbear is paper. I just don't know where all the mountains of paper comes from! My post is much less than it used to be due to email, there is rarely anything important in the post, but somehow these piles of paper just appear everywhere. Sometimes I just bung them all in a carrier bag in the junk room lol! Then when I go through them all, most of it goes in the bin and about 1/8 of it gets filed.

[DrKMcK]

Originally Posted by Scampi16

sounds like you have been busy pity you can't come and do mine. i'm a collector of lots of things and a bit of a horder just like a hamster lol, trouble is i don't like throwing things away so not as brutal as you have been with your old nicnacs. i really need to do that sometime.

I had to be brutal. Otherwise none if it would go...

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

I am impressed! It's a nightmare isn't it. I have a junk room 'hanging over me' and have been threatened if I don't clear it, other half will do it - and that would not be good! He has no idea how important some of my junk is or where it is (like on the floor!) and could get trodden on. I clear the junk room about twice a year, but it is still almost at the point where I can't get the door open - and it isn't even full of junk! It is part ward-robe, part drying room, part office, and part cupboard - of course is going to get full. Although I have to admit to being a bit of a hoarder (maybe that's why I like Hamsters lol). Yes it is very tiring doing these clear-outs. It's not just the time and physical effort it is all the decision-making along the way! My big bugbear is paper. I just don't know where all the mountains of paper comes from! My post is much less than it used to be due to email, there is rarely anything important in the post, but somehow these piles of paper just appear everywhere. Sometimes I just bung them all in a carrier bag in the junk room lol! Then when I go through them all, most of it goes in the bin and about 1/8 of it gets filed.

Paper...the bane of my existence! I wind up with tons of catalogs. You know, you scan it, see some things you like and put it aside to "look through later". Then I wind up with 70 of the stupid things! What really happened was I had a heart attack in 2010. For 3 years I really couldn't do much and I wouldn't let anyone else help. It was always."I'll get to it." I finally decided that this was getting stupid and I want to only have the things that really matter to me now, at this point in my life. So, the great clean-out is underway.

[Pebbles82]

I think it sounds great - it can be quite cathartic, even though hard work. It must have been awful after your heart attack (if that isn't stating the obvious!). I kind of know a bit what it is like when you can't do things as had a run of ill health over the last couple of years, and I hate things piling up. Then when you can do things the amount that needs doing is overwhelming. I've had a bad flu virus for over 3 weeks now - it laid me flat for about 2 weeks - now I haven't a clue where anything is lol! I have a horrible 'stash' by the side of the bed where I keep losing things. And all my clothes washing routine has gone to pot so there are piles of stuff everywhere and I can't remember whose clothes are where. Hence our 6 year-old is going to school in Batman socks tomorrow (they are mostly black so unless the teacher rolls his trouser leg up no-one should notice!). I had a major clear out like yours before selling a house about 10 years ago. I thought I had got things quite minimalist after that, but my house contents still filled a huge storage room! I sold 300 books. That took a few years as a book lover. Twice I nearly sold them - had them all in the boot of a car, then took them all out again - the pangs. Then I had a moment when I just felt ready. What I did was only keep 3 shelves of books and went through them all and only kept the ones I really really liked - ones I might pick up and dip into now and then or ones I might read again - mainly poetry books and travel books and the odd special one. Most of the rest had no great attachment to them and I sold them all to a second hand book shop and got a fair price. Never looked back. Our problem at the moment is not really too much stuff but lack of storage space - so what do I do? Fill the only useful space in the living room with a Hamster cage lol! I'm working on the lack of storage - have found all kinds of homes for things - and now I can't remember where they are. Plus we have loom bands and lego everywhere. Need a lego storage solution.

[DanniDorrito]

My days, I felt tired just reading all of that! You have been busy!

Going to bed tonight is going to be heaven for you

[Melainia]

I'm with you, DrKMcK. I need to just get rid of all the stuff I don't love or use. I'm thinking about hiring some people to come and haul it all away. This company says you don't even have to prepare it, just point and they load it on their trucks and take it away. Some people fantasize about a perfectly set up home with all the right furniture and decorations. I fantasize about an empty house! With only computer, pets, chair, bed, and one set of dishes/linens for each person. A closet with minimal amounts of clothing that all match each other so I could close my eyes and pick an outfit... maybe someday.

[BrainGirl]

I'm impressed! I get easily exhausted too from exertion but I'm panting just from reading that list! Well done

I have a problem collecting things too, especially fabrics. I actually just got rid of a huge pile of my fabric stash but to make it easier to let go I donated it to a group that makes little quilts for sick babies in the hospital. I've decided that since the only things I reliably get around to making are chinchilla hammocks and kitty toys that from now on I will only buy fleece. All my quilting cottons went and wow were there a lot

So...I know how difficult it is but also how good it can feel!

[cypher]

This is making me feel tired too lol! not to mention reminding me just how much I need to do it too, really do wonder how so much stuff accumulates over the years.
Job well done by the sound of it