(no subject)

[phi]

Hello, my name is Saira, and I'm a hoarder.

I never used to think of myself as a hoarder, because my family moved every one to two years. The longest we stayed in one place was four years, and that was kind of mindblowing for everyone. And of course, with every move, the kids were allowed two boxes for clothes and two boxes for toys and books and other sundries. Now that I'm all grown and not living in a dorm anymore, boy howdy do I collect all kinds of crap. My parents are hoarders too -- it just wasn't obvious until they retired and stopped moving around so much. Without being limited by how much they could afford to move they just collect and collect and the piles of stuff everywhere are scary.

I'm going to try to follow the one-in one-out principle, and also get rid of one additional item each day. I'm not, however, going to count the spouse's belongings in either the "in" or the "out" column.

I've also got an enormous stash of fiber and yarn that I'd like to either work through or give away. I'm going to try to stick to no net increase in stash, so no buying new yarn until I either knit or give away a ball of yarn, and no new fiber until I completely spin & ply an equivalent quantity of stash fiber. I tried this last year, and it kind of worked. The obvious flaw is that the total amount of yarn keeps increasing as I spin fiber into yarn.

So far for the year:


Jan 1:

In:
1 Kindle
1 pair of slipper socks
2 Dalarna horses
1 foot scrubber thingy
1 necklace
1 paperback novel
1 comic book
1 set of Swedish beads
1 Swedish board game thing?
1 new handbag

(All Christmas gifts, which I'm counting, since none of them were really things I needed)

Out:
Nothing

Jan 2:
In:
Nothing

Out:
1 broken tape measure
1 ratty floor rug
8 used bubble mailers that could potentially one day be re-used (haha, yeah right)
1 bobbin lace board
1 set of foam alphabet floor mat things
1 frayed ipod cable
1 novel

To go out (no really, going to put them in my car and drop them off at GoodWill any day now)
50+ unwanted books



Total so far this year:
In: 11
Out: 7
Net: +4

Not doing so great, but I plan to keep on keeping on.

Comments

[zillah975]

You're ahead if you count them all separately! You got rid of all eight bubble mailers! You might have kept one, just in case, so maybe they should count as one each? :)

[beachlass]

I like the way you think!

Sounds like a great start to me, phi! And yarn, oh, how I hear you on that one. I ruthlessly purged my yarn chest last year of acrylics, BUT IT IS STILL SO FULL.

Last year, at Christmas, my son stole a whole bunch of skeins of yarn out of my stash and wrapped them up pretending to be new presents. He said I didn't need any new yarn, so he was gifting me with yarn I already had.

Smartass kid. (Of course, he was right. And I was like... OH, I forgot I had this!)

[phi]

LOL! Too funny. I was just digging through one of my bins looking for a box of blocking pins, and came across a whole bag of cashmere I forgot I had. You know the stash is bad when you forget a whole four ounces of cashmere!

[beachlass]

*snorts* Oh yes. One of the "gift skeins" was beautiful laceweight silk.

Now ask me if I've used it yet. (Or, rather, don't)

[kept_wench]

:) I think I like your kid. I haunt thrift stores looking for cheap yarn myself.. re-teaching myself how to crochet. I stay out of yarn stores because I simply don't have the money.. been out of work for 2.5 years and hubby's income barely covers the necessities.

[adair]

The Kindle might become a way to slightly reduce the book acquisition, if you are willing to buy titles available as ebooks. I have a Nook, and am using it for some of my book purchases. It's tricky, because you can't pass the book on to someone else if you don't want to keep it, but I think it will work for some sf and mystery titles. I'm waiting for backlist titles to become available in epub digital format.

Yarn, yes, it accumulates so fast. I've established two rules. 1. The only yarn I can buy is for a specific, planned purpose, with design, pattern and recipient all in place. 2. When disposing of yarn, don't think about the cost. I've put yarn up for sale, cheap, at garage sales. It never sells, but it can be given away near the end of the sale. I someone looks at it I run up and offer it. It probably joins some other stash, but at least it's not overflowing my yarn baskets and drawers.

[finch]

You could count the fiber as potential yarn and thus no new fiber until the yarn you spun is used or sold?

I have gotten rid of (and avoided buying new in paper) so many books since I got my ereader! I hope you enjoy your kindle.