Not quite a horder - decluttering
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We're skipping the home show this year. Washing machine quit last week and new one will come on Mon. Went to the laundromat this morning. Darn machine took the fund for a new sofa.
We had a car once that knew our bank account. Every time we would get a little cash built up, it would need a repair costing that amount. We finally changed our bank. Sounds weird, I know, but it happened too often for chance.
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Ouch, that hurts wren. New machines are so expensive these days! But think of how clean and pretty the new one will be.
The talk of cleaning out of parent houses hits a little too close to home. I thought I was the only one with deep dark family skeletons. My parents (my dad mostly) saved for 50 years. Coffee pot broke? Dad would have a spare out in the garage. Need a tire for your bike? Doesn't matter what size he'd have one. He could pull a rabbit out of hat. Of course you'd have to dig through boxes and boxes of stuff to find it. A few years ago, I had just fallen from my horse and broken my shoulder. With great timing, my dad calls and tells me he sold their house. What?! When did you put the house up for sale? Then tells me they have to be out in three weeks. OMG...what goes through the mind of older people?! We (his kids) had to quickly empty out 50 years worth of
crapgood stuff. My dad wanted to go through each thing and then couldn't part with it. We were getting no where. They were moving from a 2 story 4 bedroom colonial into a retirement 2 bedroom rancher. I had a pickup truck and I brought truck load after truck load of stuff to my own home, garage and basement to "hold" for my Dad. My husband was getting fed up. Finally my own home could take no more. We began piling boxes at the curb at my parents house. It grew to over 50 feet long and 6 feet high. My Dad kept trying to carry things back in. We had to get really mean with him and I still feel bad about this.In an ironic twist of fate, one of the boxes we put to the curb had "ugly" pottery with big flowers. I was later watching an antique show and saw this pottery. It was Roseville pottery that goes for hundreds of dollars a piece. We probably put out many thousands of dollars for trash. And I ended up with 50 years of Christmas crap, tangled light strings, broken christmas balls, and mismatched furniture. My mom passed away soon after and I didn't have the heart to throw out her furniture. For several years I had two dining room sets, two living room sets and other pieces. I'm just now getting to the point where I can donate her things and not feel bad about it. Of course my Dad never wanted any of his "good things" back again and left me to sort and donate. What an exhausting and draining experience!
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Bluebird, What a nightmare! I can just see DH doing the same thing. DS says he's going to take the photos and drop a match on the way out. Can't blame him.
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Wren, I will not let my children read your last post! That thing with the match is exactly what they would want to do. I can just see them dancing around the bonfire. I doubt they'd add the bit with the photos, however. Maybe one of my daughters-in-law might.
My father advised me to have the local auctioneer come (they'll either purchase everything for a lump sum or cart it off to auction) Of course, I did nothing. I will, of course, pass that advice on to my children. The only problem is that before the auctioneer gets here to value the stuff, my #2 son will probably have schlepped all the best stuff off to the dump.
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Wren, tell them to forget taking the picture and grab the washing machine on the way out! Lol...
Oops, misread your post. Someone can grab the photos and someone else get that washing machine!
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Ohhh. I guess I misread the part about the photos too,. I was thinking they'd immortalize the house by taking photos, but i guess you're right, Bulebird. They might (or might not) take those albums. Come to think of it, maybe not. At least one of my daughters-in-law has gone through the ablums with her smartphone and copied anything she might ever want to see again.
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Brookside, that's actually a good idea about the smartphone! I've been wanting to scan old photos but it's so time consuming.
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Wren - That is what my house keeps doing to me. Every time I get some money saved for a new car down payment my house springs another leak or something.
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When my folks died, the family divided up the stuff someone wanted. Called an auctioneer who said not to toss anything. Made a tidy sum from the auction.
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Well, I emptied an entire drawer and my shredder (woodstove) bin is overflowing with financial statements from 1997 and thereabouts. The drawer is pristine. The things that go back in it are piled on top. While I'm proud of my accomplishment, I think it looked better before.
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It's amazing to me how much I can get rid of and still have no more room. Our washer died so we had to make a path for delivery of the new one. I'm going thru stored linens and towels. I have left over containers - probably a good sign.
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Well, talk about clutter! The poor washer delivery men had to carry it around to the back yard because the garage was too full to bring it thru on a dolly. I'll bet you couldn't sell the lot of what's in there for 50 cents if you took out the tools. I was embarrassed.
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I've been having cough/post nasal drip issues. Tea with lemon and honey helps. I can't stand the taste of licorice so fenugreek is out for me! So is slippery elm bark.
My biggest complaint is the cough when I lay down.
I de-cluttered my dining room table. Hooray! I swear every horizontal surface around here is a magnet for junk!
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Oh, I WISH I could take guaifenesin! Unfortunately, it makes me sick...
My go-to tea when I have a cough: quarter a lemon, then cut one quarter in half horizontally. Peel and slice a bunch of ginger root. Add lemon and ginger to two cups of water and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes, til boiling. Let sit for a few minutes. Squeeze lemon juice into water. Strain into big mug, add a glob of honey, and sip. Ginger and lemon have healing properties; the heat relaxes throat muscles and bronchial tubes. I pour it into my insulated travel mug and put it on my nightstand at bedtime.
Some good news: we've been dreading the task of cleaning out the in-laws' home when 92 year old Dad passes. It's a 56 year old house packed to the rafter with "treasures"... and a HUGE pile of absolute crap on the back patio.
We originally thought we'd have to go in and clean it up before selling it, but now one of the sisters wants to have it. Awesome! We can divvy up whatever contents the family wants (anything anyone takes will be appraised and the amount deducted from their share of the estate) and just leave the rest for the SIL. SHE can worry about cleaning it up! WOOT! Major chore avoided!
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Onco Warrier: I love your saying:
"Every box out of the house is another victory in the de-clutter decathalon!"
I am just recuperating from a severe stomach virus....for the first time I was glad that I'd had chemo because it took one of the chemo anti emetics to get things under control for me. Hubby got full blown flu (he had a flu shot) and I got this incredible intestinal flu. But I'm on the mend now and hubby is cured.
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Blessings that is great news! My inlaws have two houses that will need cleaned out one day. A shore house and a city house. Ugh! It's doubtful any of their kids will take either of the whole house- junk intact. They bought a new house and we had to cart all their old stuff to the new house. How useful are 50 year old encyclopedias?! And they weigh a ton!
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Bluebird, At least you know you'll need to rent a big dumpster
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Bluebird - I gave my 50 year old encyclopedias to a church group headed to Africa a few years ago. They did weigh a ton but they had a way to transport them. I donated most of my cookbooks to the library close to me and a few friends. I gave my Southwest Cookie Jar collection ....(half of it) to my family so they could auction it off for our reunion fund. Clothes to goodwill and salvation army. Now I am going to do it again. Still too much stuff. I need to pull out all the new towels in bins being saved in the basement and use them. My old ones are getting ratty. They can be recycled to the basement for flood towels or the garage for yardwork towels.
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Just a thought for all who are dealing with decluttering. My DD works for a local animal shelter. They always seem to be last when it comes to town budget. I donate my towels to the shelter. The animals don't care what they look like. The towels,any size have multiple uses. Now does anybody know how those paper piles triple overnight. I can't seem to keep the horizontal surfaces from collecting stuff.
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In addition to Smilemaker, the animal shelter can use old bathroom rugs, sheets, blankets, and comforters. Ours has a giant washer and giant dryer going all the time. Each animal gets a new towel or blanket every day.
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Wren44
Thanks for adding the extra stuff. Another thought, the cat shelter here also uses the plastic grocery bags for collecting litter.
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Good thing to mention. Ours does too. More for dog walkers than cats tho.
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Smilemaker - That is a great idea about the animal shelter. I will gather them all up this spring and make a donation. Because I have animal allergies I forget about how needy they are. I love all animals so I will also look at the older pillpws, comforters etc.
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Bunkie10 - The animals don't care if towels etc. are a little tattered. I can only use up so many as rags, so the rest get reused at shelter. Thanks for keeping them in mind while decluttering. Now if only I can find a way to get through my paper clutter.
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All the tubs in the basement are rearranged and sorted. I now know what I have in 2/3 of them. Can not wait till spring to start donating. Chairs etc going too. Lots of art...old and cheap mom had. Going to clean out the basement and put a small load in storage so I can get it cleaned up and painted for selling down the road. Have a couple of sepage spots to deal with but they can get to it better if it is mostly empty.
It is snowing again. I mean really 5ft and still coming this season. 46 days below zero this season. Number of below zero days in the last 4 years before this one....8. It has to go.
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