weekend check-in

[wychwood]

How's everyone getting on? I didn't do much last week - finished a couple of small projects up so I could put the component parts away instead of having them sitting around for months (or years, in one case...). But today I'm planning to go through the rest of the non-fic bookcase I've been working on; I'll update in comments as I go, hopefully!

Comments

[tanaqui]

Thanks for making a check in post!

Since the last check in, I have got rid of one of the boxes of books I'm donating to the local charity shop. The first week, they were only accepting one box/bag per person a day. Last week, they weren't accepting any donations on either of the days I had time to make a trip there. :-( This is discouraging, but I will persist, especially as I made another box of books — so now all the books I'm keeping can fit on the shelves.

I have the garage much better organised and am nearly done with breaking down some final bits so they will fit in the car for a trip to the tip. (Week after next, maybe?)

Another load of household recycling went on Monday, so that's down to less than a bag's worth. (Now to stay on top of it....) I also cleared several things off the dining table and/or my to-do list. All of this is reminding me how much nicer things feel when there isn't visual clutter everywhere....

As a result of all of this, I was able to return two more of the plastic storage crates I borrowed. And I've identified some more areas to work on/things that can leave the house over the next couple of weeks.

(I shall be back later to cheer on other people's efforts! Love the accountability these posts provide.)

[wychwood]

Last week, they weren't accepting any donations on either of the days I had time to make a trip there.
Oh, how inconvenient! And disheartening, when you've made all the effort and got that far. I assume there's no other suitable donation locations?

All of this is reminding me how much nicer things feel when there isn't visual clutter everywhere....
Yes! I do love having a nice clear table, on the very rare occasions it happens. And good job getting rid of the crates!

[tanaqui]

There are other places I can donate, but this one is extremely close and very convenient... WHEN they're accepting donations. (I also like the charity that the shop supports — can't say that for all of the local charity shops.) So I'm not quite ready to give up on them just yet.

[wychwood]

Yeah, that's a pain! Better luck next time.

[kaberett]

Congratulations and commiserations -- we spent rather more of yesterday than we'd intended to hunting a charity shop that would accept electronics!

[wychwood]

I hope you found one! But if not, I believe British Heart Foundation shops do - my local one certainly does.

[kaberett]

Alas our local BHF did not, which we were very surprised by, but we did find somewhere!

[wychwood]

Argh, how unhelpful! Glad you found somewhere, anyway.

[tanaqui]

Oof, yes, finding somewhere that will accept electronics/electrical goods is tricky. I hope you were successful in the end.

[wychwood]

I went through the rest of the bookcase and removed a bunch of books I don't expect to read, including a whole collection of mighty but ancient tomes about sailing and seamanship. I surrender that particular dream for the sake of shelf-space!

I did keep quite a number of books that I haven't read and had no recollection of owning, but which look fascinating... mostly archaeology-related. I should probably pull those out and put them on the to-read shelf instead, but that's full right now!

The whole case still needs sorting into some sort of order and shelving properly, but there will be significantly more space to do it in now.

[kaberett]

Oh well done! I have segregated all the books I acquired from charity shops that I probably don't want to keep but do want to read before I get rid of them, and it's a finite and manageable number, but I have yet to get started on them because library (ebook) holds keep arriving faster than I'm managing to get through them...

I shall attempt to take inspiration from you on this one!

[wychwood]

Haha yes, I'm definitely acquiring books faster than I read them right now; need to spend the next few months working on that...

[tanaqui]

Good work on the bookcase! Maybe you need to put all the books you'd like to eventually move to the to-read shelf together, so you can find them to move them across as you get room?

[wychwood]

Might be a plan! I think I need to pull everything off and put it in categories so I can work out what I have - categories, shelf-heights, etc...

[kaberett]

Oh hurrah, I came to check if there was a check-in post and indeed there is! :)

We got our car back from the vet (figurative) this week, and oh boy have we made use of it.

• a bonus pallet that had been abandoned by our block's bins for Some Time is now at the allotment, where it will definitely get plenty of use
  
• my Accumulated Cardboard has also gone from the garage to the allotment, and is now acting as mulch around my fruit bushes before the weeds got going for the year
  
• one (small) box of our own Misc Stuff deposited at charity shop #1
  
• via divers alarums and excursions, some (bulky) electronics deposited at charity shop #3 (after #2 weren't interested), so now there is much more space in the house all of a sudden
  
• trip to the tip! so we have got rid of: metal recycling (including some bits of greenhouse that got damaged in Storm Eunice, i.e. 18^th February 2022...), waste electronics, a dead TV (which go to a different bit of the tip than the small electronics), dead batteries, and a selection of plastic waste from the allotment (with some of it brought home to recycle via our normal waste streams)

Alas the tip did not take polystyrene, despite Someone On The Internet claiming it did, so we're going to have to rethink our approach to that. But! Getting stuff out of the garage for relocation and/or disposal made it much easier to move a few things that had been lurking by the back door to their actual homes in said garage. :) I did acquire a spade from the reuse shop at the tip, but I've been in need of one for a while now so I am very happy to consider that a fiver well spent!

[wychwood]

That sounds like an excellent array of achievements!

I have arranged for a friend to take me on her next tip trip and am looking forward to it a lot, if only because I'm sick of clipping the corner of the dead dehumidifier every time I do something in the spare room...

[tanaqui]

Oh wow, so much progress — well done! And hooray for more space.