declutter

...but at least I have unpacked almost everything, and reboxed some things I don’t have time to unpack before the visitors arrive.

I’ve gotten almost everything off the floor – in fact, I’ll finish that today – and by Thursday when the visitors start arriving, they’ll have a clean place to stay in for a few days.

I consider this done because I think I’ve cut my “stuff” down by more than half.

If I can get through half a box a day, or make some noticeable progress this month, that will make me very happy.

I think the first thing I am going to do is to go through the books, sort them out by which Half Price Books I can take them to (screw half.com, I don’t have the time or the space to wait for people to buy my shit, and I don’t want to drop it down to a cost of nearly nothing just so people will buy it).

I may sell some of the textbooks on half, but… haven’t decided. I still need to go through everything.

I plan on looking through the books tonight.

I also really need to go through all of the “spare paper” and figure out what to do with that. I have a lot of excess office supplies, notepads, crap like that which needs to have a use.

I need to start writing letters regularly to use up some of the stationery.

I could probably use another spin through the closets to see what (else) I can get rid of in terms of clothes. It’s funny, I have two closets and nothing to wear. Most of my clothes are still not work-appropriate, but I just don’t have the cash to buy more.

I just want to be rid of it all.

Most of the clutter is now confined to just one room – the spare bedroom. My desk is a disaster area as well, but the spare room is nearly impossible to even enter.

I’ve been listing things on eBay every day, as I discover things that I don’t need anymore that might have some income-generating potential.

I still have more things that can go to donation boxes (or the trash, or elsewhere). I just want to be done. It feels like there are so many other things calling for my attention… and there are.

Now that I’m having to declutter while I’m packing, it’s becoming a little more tedious. My apartment is looking more like a tornado ripped through it than usual (that’s saying a lot!) and so, it’s just hard.

Mostly it’s hard because I just want to get into the new place; wake up tomorrow and find myself already moved in, getting ready to get on the plane to travel for Thanksgiving. It’s also hard because I’m having to do this alone; there’s no one around to tell me “you don’t need to keep that”. Which, I suppose, is both a good and a bad thing. I have this strong potential to throw and/or give away too much and too little.

I freecycled my old TV, old sleeping bag and tall mirror last night. Some people are coming by this weekend to pick up a bunch of phone cable and art supplies appropriate for kids. It finally feels like I’m getting somewhere. Stuff is coming up off the floor and going into boxes, and I’m throwing stuff out. I brought a bunch of snacks from the pantry with me this morning to repopulate my work snack drawer.

We’ll see how things go once I get the keys to the new place (Tuesday?) and start being able to move stuff in.

Two garbage bags full of old stuffed toys are headed out tomorrow, as well as three bags of garbage and a small bag of stuff for my coworker. It doesn’t look like I’m really making a dent yet, but I know that soon it will.

My friend is buying two DVD towers from me, and he’ll get those next week. My VHS and DVDs are all gone, save for the few I’m keeping. I have three boxes of books to see if I can sell, and probably more than that once I go through the rest of the stuff.

It will be a huge relief to have all of this stuff just, you know, GO AWAY. And that will make moving that much easier.

Yesterday I sold almost all of my DVDs and VHS tapes as well as one book and one PS2 game (I don’t even have a PS2) and earned $62.

I’ll freecycle my TV soon.

My coworker got my old VCR (and bought me lunch several times in return).

I have a couple bags of clothes/shoes to donate soon, some boxes of old magazines to throw out, etc. I am selling my tall bookcase and two DVD towers. I have miles of telephone cable to toss, an old phone, boxes and boxes of crap to go through and get rid of.

I just don’t want to expend the time necessary to move all the clutter from the small apartment into the bigger one we’ll be getting soon.

The problem with living with tolerating so much clutter is that this morning, I spent 40 minutes looking for a box. One I still can’t find.

I am not sure whether I unpacked it or if someone broke in and took it. Either is entirely possible, though to my knowledge, no one has broken in. Though that COULD explain why my doorknob lock no longer works, and why I have to lock using the deadbolt… never mind.

Anyway, so I don’t know where my purple binder of CDs is. Or my Polaroid camera. Or a handful of other things. I thought they were all in a big brown Rubbermaid tub, but I can’t find that either (I have about 15 of those in various stages of being emptied), but I have seen some of the things that WERE in that tub.

Also, if someone were to break in, they’d probably steal the more important, more sale-able things like, oh, my camera and my computer…

So where the hell is my box? Where is my purple folio of CDs? Dammit. I need to get rid of everything, starting NOW.

...is my goal, until I get to the rubbermaid tubs. Those will be gone through at a rate of one every two to three days, since the density of junk in there is appalling.

This week I will be putting emphasis on getting schoolwork done (which is kicking my ass!) but plan on putting together more bags of shoes and clothes to get rid of. I know I have at least one pair to just plain /throw out/, but several which could still be put to good use.

My feet grew a half size upon moving to Washington, and appear to have grown another half size since. If you live in Seattle, wear a size 9.5 and want some free shoes (in various stages of worn-out-ness, but none that are completely falling apart), let’s talk. Soon. I’ll be bagging these things up this week.

I have a lot of stuff I need to sell. A set of silverware, never used, but in a nice wood box. Some old toys, old computer crap. Generally just a bunch of junk I accumulated before I moved to Washington, which then moved around with me several times…

I’ve been throwing stuff out and giving stuff away. My goal is to ultimately be at a point where I can go through a box of stuff a night.

I gave some things to my coworker to give to the little boys she takes care of sometimes, and have a large pile of stuff to go in the trash/recycling.

I need to reorganize my knitting/sewing stuff – that will help immensely.

I’m sort of balking at the idea of putting stuff on eBay since it costs money to list (and I don’t have the time to really deal much with it), but maybe listing one thing a night and stipulating that I can only ship on Saturdays (which is true) might ultimately make things work.

Especially since I have an serious beef with craigslist and freecycle and the people who use them for their personal gain lately.