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unclutterEven though I know intellectually that I'm making progress, I don't feel that way. I'm seriously starting to consider the "cover clutter you're not working on with a sheet" method.
As usual, I haven't been keeping track of numbers precisely, especially outs (generally underestimated). I've probably forgotten some things.
Previous net: 39 out
Out:
1 old coat to Goodwill
1 bag clothing to Goodwill (arbitrarily counted as 15 items)
2 boxes books and stuff to Goodwill (arbitrarily counted as 50 items)
3 pillowcases to Goodwill
1 box electronics and batteries to recycle (this is going to cost money, but not much money and it's worth it for the lessened guilt--I'm trying to make more of an effort to recycle odd, non-single-stream stuff in this mass decluttering) (arbitrarily counted as 5 items)
2 work shirts from last job to return
3 or so bags of recycling (lots of shredding, more magazines!)
Total out: 80
Organizational supplies in:
1 package of DVD sleeves
1 paper sorting tray
1 package wooden hangers for coat closet
In:
2 books (that will go out again as soon as I read them--and this week I read two books off my to-read shelf and put one of them in the sell pile!)
2 pairs jeans
1 new coat
1 set sheets (the set it's replacing went to Goodwill or mockup fabric pile, depending on level of cat vomit stain)
Total: 6 (this should probably be a bit higher, but I'm not sure what I'm forgetting and my outs are underestimated, so whatever)
Running total: 39 + (80-6) = 113
I sorted through books again and identified which go straight to Goodwill and which I will attempt to sell or trade in first. There are still some books on my shelves I am not sure what to do about (e.g. a novel I really didn't like, but which has a very sweet personalized signature from the author, a fellow alum; a couple Discworld novels I don't like but am thinking about keeping for completeness), but not a lot. So once those books are out of here that will be less visual clutter and more shelf space. Still haven't identified which books I might consider replacing with ebooks.
I went through more magazines: all I have left to do there is go through the photography magazines and cut out articles.
I did a rough cut at my filing cabinet and additional paperwork, and got from a totally full filing cabinet plus a box and a half of paper to a 3/4 full filing cabinet plus half a box of paper that needs to be further sorted. At least it's something manageable to go through with my mom.
I've started going through fabric stash and started a pile to sell/give away.
I started a pile of ratty towels and blankets to give to an animal shelter after I buy new towels.
And yet...everything still looks like crap. It's discouraging in the extreme.
And now, a question for the community:
DVD cases.
I'm going to stick all the DVDs (and we only have about two shelves of one bookcase--not a lot compared to most geeks of our acquaintance) into sleeves in a binder to save shelf space. The question is what to do with the cases.
1. Stick them in a box in our storage unit (our storage unit is mostly for camping gear--too expensive to replace all the time, too bulky to reasonably store in our current apartment. I know, storage units are bad, but $30/month is way cheaper than moving to a larger place).
2. Recycle (?) or throw them away.
The only pro I see to keeping them, since I sincerely doubt most of them would be "worth more" with original packaging, is that someday I would like to have a house, and one thing I enjoy about visiting friends is looking at their bookshelves and DVDs (it's one of the big drawbacks to digital, IMO). So I would like to be able to have the DVDs all out in their nice cases to look at.
But...houses are a long way away, and I'm not sure this is really all that important, anyway. OTOH, as there aren't that many, it's not like the cases would take up that much storage space.
Any pro/con arguments I'm not thinking of?
As usual, I haven't been keeping track of numbers precisely, especially outs (generally underestimated). I've probably forgotten some things.
Previous net: 39 out
Out:
1 old coat to Goodwill
1 bag clothing to Goodwill (arbitrarily counted as 15 items)
2 boxes books and stuff to Goodwill (arbitrarily counted as 50 items)
3 pillowcases to Goodwill
1 box electronics and batteries to recycle (this is going to cost money, but not much money and it's worth it for the lessened guilt--I'm trying to make more of an effort to recycle odd, non-single-stream stuff in this mass decluttering) (arbitrarily counted as 5 items)
2 work shirts from last job to return
3 or so bags of recycling (lots of shredding, more magazines!)
Total out: 80
Organizational supplies in:
1 package of DVD sleeves
1 paper sorting tray
1 package wooden hangers for coat closet
In:
2 books (that will go out again as soon as I read them--and this week I read two books off my to-read shelf and put one of them in the sell pile!)
2 pairs jeans
1 new coat
1 set sheets (the set it's replacing went to Goodwill or mockup fabric pile, depending on level of cat vomit stain)
Total: 6 (this should probably be a bit higher, but I'm not sure what I'm forgetting and my outs are underestimated, so whatever)
Running total: 39 + (80-6) = 113
I sorted through books again and identified which go straight to Goodwill and which I will attempt to sell or trade in first. There are still some books on my shelves I am not sure what to do about (e.g. a novel I really didn't like, but which has a very sweet personalized signature from the author, a fellow alum; a couple Discworld novels I don't like but am thinking about keeping for completeness), but not a lot. So once those books are out of here that will be less visual clutter and more shelf space. Still haven't identified which books I might consider replacing with ebooks.
I went through more magazines: all I have left to do there is go through the photography magazines and cut out articles.
I did a rough cut at my filing cabinet and additional paperwork, and got from a totally full filing cabinet plus a box and a half of paper to a 3/4 full filing cabinet plus half a box of paper that needs to be further sorted. At least it's something manageable to go through with my mom.
I've started going through fabric stash and started a pile to sell/give away.
I started a pile of ratty towels and blankets to give to an animal shelter after I buy new towels.
And yet...everything still looks like crap. It's discouraging in the extreme.
And now, a question for the community:
DVD cases.
I'm going to stick all the DVDs (and we only have about two shelves of one bookcase--not a lot compared to most geeks of our acquaintance) into sleeves in a binder to save shelf space. The question is what to do with the cases.
1. Stick them in a box in our storage unit (our storage unit is mostly for camping gear--too expensive to replace all the time, too bulky to reasonably store in our current apartment. I know, storage units are bad, but $30/month is way cheaper than moving to a larger place).
2. Recycle (?) or throw them away.
The only pro I see to keeping them, since I sincerely doubt most of them would be "worth more" with original packaging, is that someday I would like to have a house, and one thing I enjoy about visiting friends is looking at their bookshelves and DVDs (it's one of the big drawbacks to digital, IMO). So I would like to be able to have the DVDs all out in their nice cases to look at.
But...houses are a long way away, and I'm not sure this is really all that important, anyway. OTOH, as there aren't that many, it's not like the cases would take up that much storage space.
Any pro/con arguments I'm not thinking of?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-02 08:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-02 10:52 pm (UTC)Maybe that will help you cut down on your DVD cases, if not get rid of all of them?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-02 11:12 pm (UTC)With regard to the rest, think positive look how much you have achieved and while it does take longer and seem like we're making slow progress, just keep thinking it is progress and it is forward . . . therefore we are winning! Little by little but winning.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-03 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-03 03:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-03 04:39 am (UTC)Then again, you have to ask yourself...is that something you are going to do?
One possibility is to put the cases in your storage unit for now and then decide later if they're actually something you care about. For example, maybe you decide you really love the folder thing and can get rid of them easily. Or maybe you miss having the cases and want them back. But that way you can have a little distance without having to make the decision *right away*. Since you have the storage unit anyway...