Jealous, Jealous I tell you!

[callistra]

Spurred by Fe2h2o's successes in decluttering her bookshelf, I have gone into the small spare room and selected some selected stuff for disposal. And I have written a reminder to myself to start freecycling stuff.

I was thinking about the articles redbraids posted the other day, and right now I do feel like I am owned by my crap rather than me owning my crap. It's got a nice warm dry place to stay, it doesn't get disturbed (or used) much and can't really be abused. I'm also rather bound by paper. I have essays and stuff from uni, ramblings from highschool, bills, my tupperware paperwork from 2000 and a shedload of filing to go. I have crates of baby clothes to sort through, obsolete bottle stuff i never even used, bits and peices of fourish expressing pumps, a good dinner set, a normal dinner set, lots of asian style dinner sets, stashed tupperware from 7 years ago, disposable plastic cups, marbles, unusable pram, attachments for a second child onto unusable pram, high school artwork, femmeconne artwork, grand parent artwork (she died maybe 15 years ago and i still have her paints etc in the same bag i got them in), cameras from freecycle, about tp go back to it! :-)

And that's just the junk I can name in the small spare room! Oh, and 2 or 3 christmas threes i think too! I think i need to do this the other way. I need to sit down and write a list of what i want to be in the spare room, label the shelves, and then be firm when more stuff tries to move in.

Comments

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

I was given a copy of Scaling Down: Living well in a Smaller Space (http://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Down-Living-Large-Smaller/dp/B000GYI1MO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3503614-9874316?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186711192&sr=8-1) for Christmas (it was on my wishlist... not a pointed comment from someone:-) ). I recieved it on Boxing Day, and almost every person who visited that day(quite a number) picked it up and expressed great interest in it.
I started reading it when everyone had gone. I realised there was a lot that would be helpful for my parents (who were about to downsize), so I skim read it, marked a couple of bits, and lent it to mum. She read a bit, but decided it was too much (and too familiar), so she returned it—except that my sister was there, and she asked to borrow it...
I finally remembered to ask her for it back on Monday—of course, she's snowed under at the moment, so she didn't remember... but it's on its way:-) (Two reasons for mentioning this. Your list idea is one I remember was in that book, but it had a whole pile of ideas! And I'm in a 'needing a kickstart' phase, so I read. I'll pull out 'Home Comforts' (http://www.amazon.com/Home-Comforts-Science-Keeping-House/dp/0743272862/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3503614-9874316?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186712504&sr=8-1), I've requested 'Sink Reflections' (http://www.amazon.com/Sink-Reflections-Overwhelmed-Disorganized-Order/dp/0553382179/ref=pd_ybh_6/104-3503614-9874316?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0Q5QMJPQB93AAV495JNR&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_p=280800601&pf_rd_i=ybh) from the library again, I've just thought that I'll ask redbraids if I can borrow her 'Confessions of an Organized Homemaker' (http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Organized-Homemaker-Secrets-Uncluttering/dp/1558703616/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3503614-9874316?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186712663&sr=8-1), and obviously 'Scaling Down'.)
I am inspired to do more throwing out—now to fight sleep deprivation... Bilby was _not_ happy for some hours:-(

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Oo, Sink Reflections from the library! Now there's an idea!!

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

I've also added it to my wishlist—I figure if I'm borrowing it again and again, I should probably get it to have on hand:-)

[callistra.livejournal.com]

True
;-)
It's a good way to measure the value of a book. I am looking at my books again with a critical can we throw out more stuff type of look in my eye. Time to set fire to everything and start again I think.
:-)

[starla80.livejournal.com]

If you have clothes/shoes/accessories that you want to get rid of, you are more than welcome at the clothes swap on Saturday! If you can't make it to the swap and want to donate that kind of stuff to charity, I can collect it from you as I will be arranging to donate all of the leftovers from the swap. :)

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

You can definitely borrow COAOHM, which I like a lot. Some of the ideas are a bit too much, but I like her goal of being more organized so that she can do LESS housework not more.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

That is the main reason I got into flylady and decluttering. Less crap = less cleaning up. I've been steadily decluttering for years though, but every christmas and birthday seems to top it up again. :-)

But having less crap means less hotspots. And it does mean it is easier to clean hotspots when there's less junk on them *by default*.

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

I have heard nothing but good things from people who are into flylady. I really like the idea of only doing 15 minutes of cleaning. That can make such a difference in getting things DONE. And the planning, which I don't do but I have seen F do.

[lilysea.livejournal.com]

The other day I took two big wooden Ottomans to the Op Shop.

A week after that, I took a coffee table and an armchair to the Op Shop.

Today I took ten hand-painted wineglasses to the Op Shop (and two bath towels, two sheets, a skirt, and a Chinese bowl, and a mobile...)

and then I wondered today why I still had so much stuff! *grin*

But the loungeroom is looking much more open. (:

(The study is scary though. I don't go in there because there's so much stuff, even after muchos decluttering).