The De-Clutter and Clean Up Support Thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
821

In my last post I was making noises about a storage unit.

Here’s the problem:

My current apartment is about 700 square feet. If I didn’t have the piano or the art/fiber-based hobbies it would be plenty of space but I do have those hobbies. Let me correct that - they are actually a bit more than hobbies. In the past I have been paid to perform music, and I have been paid for the art and craft items I’ve created. I’m hoping, in a year or two, to get back to the art at least as a side business.

For everything I need to/want to keep, that is, stuff I will use, and space to live in I need about 1000 square feet.

I am not intending to get a bigger place to live until I have finished going through all the stuff at the Old Place, but I’m out of space in the New Place. I think this has something to do with my cleaning up the Old Place stalling. That, and there are a LOT of memories tied up in the place. It’s not as bad as it was, but it still weighs on me.

The Old Place also continues to deteriorate. The roof leaks, there’s water damage, mold is starting, Virginia creeper has penetrated the back door in two units and is growing inside the building now… it’s just getting worse and worse.

So I pulled the trigger. I’ve rented a 10x10 storage unit. I probably could have put everything I want to keep into a unit half that size but it would have been solidly packed. In this one I’ll have room to move and sort. It’s less additional per month than a larger apartment would be, I can move my stuff from the Old Place to the Storage Unit which is cleaner, drier, has fewer critters, and at this point better lit. Much of what I want to keep is not temperature sensitive, and I can pack things up so they’re protected from damp. I’ve got a folding table and a chair set up in it already as a sorting area.

It’s located between work and home, so stopping by after work to sort/organize/pick up a box of donation stuff will be convenient (the local Goodwill is between the storage unit and home, so I can do it along the way). On days I get off work early in the afternoon I could put in an hour or two of sorting/packing/deciding before I go home. Or I suppose I could go home, turned around, put in an hour or two, then go home for the night.

The goal is to get all the “keep” items into either my current apartment, the basement storage at the apartment (this will be freed up for things that might be temperature sensitive), or the 10x10 unit. That’s about 810 square feet of space. If everything I own fits into that, then if/when I get 1,000 square feet it should hold everything without feeling cluttered.

I am actually ENTHUSED again about the clean-up!

Won’t be able to do much on it until Tuesday, my next day off, but I feel a sense of relief and ability to move forward again. The storage unit doesn’t have all the emotional baggage the Old Place does, I hope that will help, too.

So… the new plan is as follows:

At the Old Place stuff will either be tossed as garbage or boxed and taken to the storage unit. (I might use my cardboard boxes for this, as it’s not intended for a permanent storage and makes it easy to distinguish “stuff to work on” from “completed”)

Further sorting takes place at the storage unit, into “keep”, “donate”, “sell” or “actually, this is garbage, too”. If I think I can sell something the eBay store I use for that is literally just one block away from the storage unit.

Keep items will be sealed and boxed into heavy duty plastic/rubber bins (my late spouse’s business left me literally dozens) that are labeled as to contents. There are a couple items of furniture, the largest being the professional drafting table. I could also use this space to store summer items over the winter to free up more space in my current living quarters.

I want to be able to hand my keys to the Old Place over to the old landlord by spring. I’ll have spring to October 1 to find a larger place to live if I manage that, with the goal being a new place large enough for me and all my crap, at which point I can hand the keys to the storage unit back to the nice folks who own it.

I realize the perils of renting a storage unit, but this is not in addition to what I currently have for storage, it’s to replace the rapidly deteriorating current storage, and moving it all will force me to finish dealing with it. After which I have a plan to find a place that fits me better and will eliminate the need for the storage unit.

822

That’s excellent news! Glad you’ll be able to sort thru all that stuff over the coming months. (Bring mittens!)

823

I know I’ve only posted a couple times. I hired a woman who needed emergency cash to pay a speeding ticket to come help. Except for books, if it was in a box that hadn’t been opened in years, it was tossed. Valuables were saved, but I didn’t want to sort through this stuff, My theory was, if I haven’t needed it in the last X years, I don’t need it now. If she wanted anything, she pretty much could have it. She asked before taking a couple things she thought I might want to save, but I was pretty ruthless.

She totally cleaned out the room I was using for storage. Literally, moved all the furniture out, swept and mopped the floor. Put a dresser and a bed back in there and that was it. Now it also holds my extra beekeeping equipment, but is still relatively empty. I have boxes and boxs of books stacked in the main entry - it’s about 12 X 30 and undecorated except for an antique wardrobe (no closets in my 180 yr old house) and an ornate antique pump organ (what was I thinking?).

Since then I’ve cleaned my bedroom - it’s a large room, about 16’ X 16’. I’d like to put in some built-in shelves. But I have so much more room than I used to even with a few large dog beds on the floor. I’ve clean the kitchen island that was a catch-all. I’d like to do something with the walls - they’re unvarnished horizontal beadboard. I’ve removed the wallpaper (about 7 layers), but I’m not sure about painting them. A light color would brighten up the room, but paint is so drastic. In my living room I need to arrange the furniture. The cleaning person just threw everything in there higgledy piggledy

Still, I’m keeping up with what was done and have made more progress since. And I’ve gotten much more discriminating about what I bring into the house.

StG

824

I need someone like that to help me! Where’d you find her?

825

Actually, she was posting on a local FB page, talking about the ticket and the fact she couldn’t afford it. I did tell her she could probably go to traffic school cheaper, but I don’t think she’s known for her fiscal sense. I offered her $10/hr, cash at the end of each day, and she took me up on it.

StG

826

That’s awesome! What a good way for two people to help each other out. :slight_smile:

I got two more boxes of stuff sorted/put away/thrown out today, and have identified some more stuff that, honestly, I just don’t care about anymore.

827

Since I rented the storage unit I’ve moved 2 pickup truck loads to the unit from the Old Place. They haven’t picked up the trash at the Old Place for two weeks (which is the interval being paid for) so I couldn’t throw anything out, the dumpster being full, but I’ve got stuff staged to go out the door when room is available in the garbage again.

828

More dusty electronics into the trash! Wheee! I’m gently coming to terms with the fact that

  1. I don’t use any of this stuff myself
    1.a. I don’t KNOW how to hook up most of this crap myself
  2. Replacements for anything I decide I can’t live without aren’t all that expensive, are often much smaller and more user friendly than old equipment, and - bonus - aren’t dusty.

My trash bin was emptied this morning, so I have the space to fill 'er up again this week.

I have a one last big box from the movers, that has some stuff I want, plus two giant-ass speakers that I can finally let go of (long, widow-y story behind them) but it’s got a bunch of stuff I wanna keep in front of it.

I think I need to move all my stuff out from in front of it - which is a chore of its own in a puddle-prone basement - and then TIP THE BOX onto its side & slide all the big, heavy shit outta it.

Then get everything up the narrow steps, all without hurting myself.
That’s a bit daunting, and if I fall, there’s literally noone to hear me or help me.

Has anyone used TaskRabbit for this sort of thing? I guess I can check Craigslist or Five Miles.

I’m not weak, but falling while alone (esp. hitting my head on the way down) is a longtime fear of mine, heavily exacerbated by my newly isolated living conditions.
But I want this stuff outta here, dammit!

829

Oh, forgot that I found a stash of small, potentially pawn-able (I hope) items. It’ll give me a little errand to run e.g. excuse to get outta the house, and maybe I’ll get enough for the laundromat I gotta visit today, too.

TaskRabbit looks nice. Bit pricey, but useful.

830

My last actual move to new living quarters I bit the bullet and hired actual professional movers. Worth every penny. Also, everything done in under three hours.

I’m just accepting that I’m now middle-aged, don’t have the stamina I used to, and shouldn’t be doing some things on my own anymore.

In other words - use TaskRabbit, or your neighbor, or whatever, to get some extra assistance. Not worth getting hurt doing this.

831

I need some encouragement to post the furniture I need to get rid of. FB or Craigslist? Both. The weather just turned cooler so I’m finally getting motivated to get my car back in my garage. Plus, I just got laid off. I’ll take every $10 bill I can find.

832

I read this, marched right downstairs to my box labeled “Electronical Widgets” [sic], grabbed a handful of cables and a dozen AC to DC transformers (left one 9 and one 12 volt), and tossed them in the Goin’ To Goodwill garbage bag and tied it up tight.

Thanks for the inspiration! Now, if I can apply this principle* to other parts of my life…

*“I’d rather buy a replacement than be cluttered.”

833

Sorry about the layoff, man. If you’ve got stuff already identified as sellable (e.g. you’re not gonna cry if it’s gone AND it’s worth something decent) then hellz yeah! Post that shit!

You can almost make it your new job just selling stuff (it takes time to market, and answer people’s questions, just like at a “real” job) plus there’s something rather enormously satisfying about people coming to your door and paying you to take away your crap.

Craigslist is hit or miss, depending on what you’re selling. I’d personally say FB Marketplace is more user friendly these days.

Also check out the FiveMiles app; it’s stupid easy to use and I’ve had good results.

Oh, glad I could help @digs it’s nice to know I inspired someone. :slight_smile:

834

@carnut any luck yet?

I realized I really do hold on to too much crap, and while I didn’t deal with any large objects today, I did thoroughly purge a bunch of small piddly things that kinda add up in the corners.

835

Good for you!

(Can I just say that hearing “piddly” made me feel good? Weird, I know. Great word!)

836

Speaking of, my alarm woke me from a vivid dream this morning, in which I was sorting through piddly little crap & explaining to a friend why I had hung on to this or that. Old Post-It notes with various scribbled reminders and passwords figured prominently.

I was about to throw some of it in the wastebasket when the alarm went off!

837

So years ago I finally started donating my book collection and got rid of thousands of book. Then 2 years ago I started emptying the house for real. Slowly getting rid of stuff by garbage and better stuff by Good Will or free-cycling and other methods of giving stuff away. We’re hopefully close to moving. 60 gallons of legos went to my nephew for my great niece as did a Barbie collection. etc.

I recently sold my pool table, pin ball machine, a lathe and a piano. Lots of really big heavy items gone. Yay!

I’m still getting rid of stuff a garbage pail at a time. Too much pack ratting my first 17 years in this house.

My nephew is taking a decent amount of my lawn equipment. I don’t plan to have a tractor next year.

838

Years ago, I nailed a birthday gift for my beloved Other Shoe, with a pair of nice speakers he’d reallyREALLY wanted.

Today, just over seven years after his death, I took those (damned heavy) things to Goodwill, along with the old-skool receiver required for most hookups.

I don’t want them, I couldn’t hook them up if my life depended on it, and I’m relieved to have a good chunk of one corner of my basement back. Doesn’t mean I haven’t been crying over it. I miss him, and I hate letting go of pieces of him and his memory like this, even if the item itself was a giant, heavy, space-hogging albatross.

839

:hug:

840

I know just how you feel. I still haven’t been able to clean Bob’s clothes out of the closet. And it does feel like I’m letting go of pieces of him