Feng Shui and Money

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #895 - 09/14/09 09:46 PM

I got my pants made Saturday and I've made up most of my top today.  I just have to attach the collar by hand and then helm the bottom and sleeves on the machine.  Then a gentle wash and press and I will be ready to go.  Since I only have one week left on my unemployment, I'm looking at temp/part-time local work.  I'm going to go out tomorrow and give my resumes to some temp agencies to see if I can find something that will bring in a little cash. 

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boos_mom
Message #896 - 09/18/09 11:54 PM



I picked up a few (maybe 8) tops, t's, and a tank at the thrift store this week.  I cleared out another two bags of work clothes I don't use.  One bag will go to a church drive this weekend and the other donate to the thrift store.  I also donated a bag of skinny-teen-ish clothes to the foster care agency this week.  Hopefully, DH has dropped off two bags of baby jars at the recycle container at the nearby school today (they get the proceeds from papers, plastic, cans, glass etc. dropped off).  Oh, and a couple of bags of baby clothes/stuff went to a local non-profit agency for low-income families.

keriamon - hope your efforts have been fruitful!

I'm hoping this weekend will bring more decluttering opportunities to post about on Monday!

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debtheaven2007
Message #897 - 09/19/09 12:23 AM

Boos Mom
Good for you! It sounds like you're making great progress! Just curious, why don't you take the stuff yourself? I'm just saying that because DH tends to put things off or be forgetful. If I do it myself I know it's done ASAP.

NYCsep
Kudos, you're making money out of the decluttering process, lol!

Keria
So have you finished that suit?! LOL

One of the PF blogs I read regularly just did a thing on "autumn cleaning". One of the posters said that the problem with her basement was the "inside perimeter" of that room. The outside perimeter was shelving and OK, the problem was the stuff in front of that outside perimeter. I got such a kick out of that, because that describes my basement decluttering problem perfectly! Apparently I just have one too many perimeters, LOL.

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cdarrow26
Message #898 - 09/19/09 02:54 AM

Wow, I've noticed this thread before, but never read it.  I started reading it tonight and couldn't stop!  Actually, I ended up reading the first 12 pages or so and then the last 5 cuz I'm exhausted and ready for bed.  I REALLY need this...I am surrounded by clutter and "stuff" and it makes me crazy.  I took a vacation day today to try and tackle my basement.  It has been getting wet and I can't figure out how or where it is happening, but, it is so completely full of stuff that I can barely move down there.  It's just awful...But, then I was really upset to find things that had been ruined.  I get so overwhelmed with the mess that I just don't know where to start so I usually end up not doing anything.  I want a clean and organized house, but I do have a hard time parting with "stuff".  I grew up in an extremely cluttered home.  My room was usually the cleanest room in the house, but I think I inherited that "clutter" gene.  Some of my family, I would say, border on hoarders, so, I really want to get this under control.  I've read a lot of great posts here and it has really inspired me to get to work and do SOMETHING!  I am in the middle of a bathroom remodel and have a dumpster here for the rest of the weekend.  I plan on getting busy the next two days and purge, purge, purge.  Thank you!

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keriamon
Message #899 - 09/20/09 03:46 AM



Yes, I finished my suit.  I went to a temp place and a caregiver place and put in resumes.  I also applied for a job at JoAnn's (craft store--imagine that!) and Sears.  I have an interview at Sears next Tuesday.  I'll probably see about putting in some more resumes at temp places then too.  At this point, I'm just looking for a temp job locally to make up for the loss of unemployment pay. 

 

Cdarrow, welcome.  While you have that dumpster, you might want to really consider just throwing everything in the basement out.  It doesn't take much to cause mold; even stuff that doesn't get wet can mold when there's a lot of moisture in the air.  So it's probably not worth the assault on your sinuses to try and sort through most of it and figure out whether or not to keep it.  You don't even want to give stuff like that away because it can introduce mold into someone else's house.  Except for things that are irreplaceable (grandma's china, your yearbooks), it should all just be tossed out.   

 

As Karen Kingston would say, if you haven't needed something so bad in the last 1-3 years that you went down there and hunted until you found it, it's not really needed.  And once you have it empty, you can find out where the water is coming from and get it fixed (something that's definitely needed for the safety of the house!).  And then you can see about turning that basement into something useful--like maybe a den.  My parents finished out the basement in our old house and put a wood-burning stove in it and it was very cozy all winter; we spent most of our time there watching TV.  It was also cool in the worst part of the summer.  Or it could be a crafting room or game room.  Lots of possibilities if it was just free of the stuff you honestly don't want. 

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cdarrow26
Message #900 - 09/20/09 12:25 PM

keriamon  Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions.  I read this entire thread from the beginning yesterday!  I went to the library to try to get the Karen Kingston book, but my small town does not have it.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to throw out everything in the basement.  I can't do it physically-my allergies kill me after much more than an hour and a half working down there and there is just TOO much stuff for one person to do and I don't have any help.  I DO need to go through everything...you see, most of it is my stuff that I moved here last year.  The problem is, I moved into the family home and unfortunately, my parents and siblings still have stuff here, quite a bit of stuff, and there is definitely stuff that I want and need that I have not been able to unpack yet.  My mom lives half way accross the country now so I really don't see this problem being taken care of any time soon.  I feel like I will be forever living with other people's junk...The basement was a beautiful finished basement when I was young, so, it can be again.  I just need to get to the root of the water issue and can't do that til I can navigate down there.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #901 - 09/21/09 04:58 AM



Karen Kingston mentions this problem.  She calls it inherited clutter.  She gives a funny example: A friend says, "Can you look after this ugly sofa for me while I go to New Zealand?"  Two years later your friend still hasn't come back and the couch has grown roots.

 

She suggests that one, you never let people leave junk at your house.  And two, if that's not an option, you put a deadline on when it has to be out.  "If you're not back to get the couch in 6 months, it's going to be recycled into firewood."  And then stick to it.

 

The water in the basement is a HUGE problem.  That's actually an honest-to-goodness house emergency (as in a NEED, not a want; as in something to tap your emergency fund to fix!).  And the fact that your allergies are killing you when you're shifting around down there says the mold has already taken hold, and a lot of stuff is going to be ruined.  I suggest you tell your family that the basement is flooding and that their stuff has to be out in 1 month so you can get someone in to find and correct the leak.  This could be pipes leaking from upstairs or it could be a cracked and leaking foundation.  But wherever the water is coming from, it's sure to ruin that nice basement room that's underneath the junk, and you also have to worry about it ruining the foundation and/or floors in the upstairs of the house.  Water damage is no joke, and it's usually not covered by home owner's insurance, meaning the longer you wait, the more will probably come out of your pocket to fix it.  Even a small amount of water is not good.

 

You may want to consider renting a PODS unit for a couple of months and just move your stuff straight out of the basement into it.  That gets it out of the way for a construction crew to come in and also gets it out of the water so maybe you can salvage it.   

 

If your family doesn't get their stuff within the next month, it's likely to be so ruined it will have to go straight into the anyways.  But don't let someone else's garbage get in the way of SAVING your house from major damage.  Yeah, I know, family will whine and pitch a fit and ask you to rent a PODS unit on your own dime and move all their junk out of the basement all by yourself, just to let you keep it at your expense for the next two decades, but sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say, this is my house and I'm not going to be a second-class citizen in my own house.  I want my basement back, so get your stuff or say goodbye to it forever.  You don't have to live with other people's junk; you don't have to inherit other people's work that they just don't want to do.  Either this is your house, or it's not your house.  And if it's not your house--if you are just borrowing it or living there in exchange for maintaining it or anything like that--then I'd actually suggest you look into giving it up and getting an apartment or rental home that comes empty and clean.  You'd feel better.

 

Because you come from a family of clutterholics, it's going to be harder for you to break free than it would be for other people.  That's why you have to be more strict and more extreme.  I know I have messy tendencies and learned some clutter-hoarding from my mother.  I've overcome the hoarding, but the messy I still have problems with.  I thought I had it good and licked by the time I got out of college, but then I ended up with my husband.  He's as messy as I was in my worst messy days, and I fall into messy again so easily because he never picks up after himself.  And it gets to be so much easier to make a mess of my stuff than to pick up after both of us constantly.  Messy breeds messy.  Your family's junk will breed more junk. 

 

Basements, by the way, are symbolic of the past.  Too much junk in the basement keeps you stuck in the past.  If you have problems with your family, you will go in circles and not get anything resolved.  Any lovers you have tend to all have the same problem, like you're dating the same person over and over again, just with a different name and face.  Or else you will stay sing

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keriamon
Message #902 - 09/21/09 05:05 AM



single and moon over a lost love and be unable to move forward.  Your career is not likely to go anywhere and you may end up feeling like you're stuck in a dead-end job, doing the same boring work over and over again.  In short, you will feel like there's nothing new coming into your life, that you're not going anywhere.  It's also connected to the subconscious, and all that weight pulling down under you can cause (or exacerbate) depression, hopelessness, lethargy, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc. 

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keriamon
Message #903 - 09/21/09 04:19 PM

Well, I got a little good news in the mail yesterday (I was picking up Saturday's mail); I'm qualified for an emergency unemployment benefits extension, so I've got 13 more weeks of unemployment coming to me.  That makes life feel a lot less tight. 

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MP Dunleavey
Message #904 - 09/21/09 06:18 PM

Keriamon, what a relief! And who knows if it was brought on by your recent scrubbing of the kitchen/bathroom...?

I do think that clearing clutter and cleaning up forces us to shift our own energy in a positive direction. I just signed up on an organizing website--www.gothamorganizers.com--and got the first email tip. it was just a little encouraging nudge about getting rid of paper. but you know, i took the 15 minutes and made a dent in the paper clutter in my office. it's not bad, really, but i don't want ANY. and this winter, i've decided, i want to clear out our attic (we don't have a garage, so that's where all the baby stuff goes, and old books, and clothes, and oh my goodness--i forgot we HAD that!).

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keriamon
Message #905 - 09/21/09 08:17 PM



Attics are symbolic of higher aspirations.  When they're cluttered, it can feel like your dreams never come true.  You can wind up always getting something short of what you really want (e.g. a job, but not a job you really like; money to go on a vacation, but not enough to go on the vacation you really want).  Raises can get blocked, as can promotions and other forms of recognition--anything that represents you moving-up in the world or achieving goals.  It can also be linked to spirituality problems--failing of faith, unhappiness with your current faith or worship group, wanting to be more spiritual, but not feeling able to achieve it, etc.  People with problems in the attic may also be flaky: never completing goals, never being on time, never keeping promises, having unrealistic dreams.  In short, people who seem to live in Never-Neverland and who are unreliable.  Which isn't to say that might not be really sweet people, but you know they're people you can't depend on for anything.  (Although clutter anywhere--not just attics--can make some people chronically late, if only because they can't find what they need when they need it.)

 

Of course, you can have some stuff in the attic without problems.  Christmas decorations, luggage, out-of-season clothing, etc. is all fine and dandy, so long as it's neat, organized and it's stuff you really do want.  Strings of lights that you're afraid to use because they're old and might be a fire-hazard: toss.  Clothes for a baby when your youngest is in elementary school and you've had your tubes tied: sell or donate.  Broken luggage: either get it repaired this month or toss.  The same is true of any place in your house--garage, basement, storage buildings, closets--you name it.  We all need a place to keep things that we only use rarely (like grandma's punch bowl), and there's no problems keeping it, so long as you really do use it.  If you're a happy loner and don't entertain, give grandma's punch bowl to someone else in the family who might use it.  Don't insult the punch bowl by not letting it convey punch once a year.  And when something has died, let it be buried; don't keep it on life-support in your house with promises that you will take the time to fix it or find someone that might can recycle it.  Just let it go on.  Give yourself a week to a month to get something repaired or donated or recycled; if it's still exactly where you left it after all that time, put it in the trash, because it's clearly either not important enough to you to fix, or not important enough to anyone else to recycle. 

 

*Sigh* This has made me think of something large and dead in our lives--my husband's car.  Some of you may remember, when I made my huge effort to declutter back in the spring--when I was clearing out the attic in the garage and everything--that I got my husband's old, dead truck hauled off.  Guess what?  Back in July, my husband's car died a final death and it's been sitting in our driveway ever since.  It's keeping us from fully using our driveway.  I can't let the horse out to mow because it's in the way.  And it's sitting in the career section of our property.  I've told my husband he needs to get on Craigslist and find someone to haul it off (I found the last guy in the paper), but you ought to hear all the excuses he has for not doing that!  Mind you, he found the time to hunt on Craigslist to get a car to replace it (we just picked it up yesterday).  I better get on Craigslist today and see if I can find someone to haul it away.  Come to think of it, I think the house started to go downhill after it died.  After all, seeing a dead car right in front of the house every day isn't exactly encouraging.  Just goes to show you that you have to keep constant vigilance against things that might sabotage your overall efforts.  You can't say, "I'll let this one thing go for a while," because it attracts other things that you let go.   

 

Oh, and speaking of some things I HAVE accomplished (besides being surprised with a few more months of unemployment), I finshed a figure I have

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keriamon
Message #906 - 09/21/09 08:19 PM



been embrodiering on for months.  I lacked so little, yet I kept avoiding finishing him (I guess because I felt I had other things more important to do).  Saturday night, though, I sat down and finished him, then traced out my second figure.  I got started on her yesterday and made some great progress.  This is going to be a gift for a friend, and I'd like to have it done by the end of the year.  I also got baptised and confirmed at church yesterday.  Funny enough, I started going to church for Lent.  I have been making a "Financial Lent" thread the last couple of years on here to try and help people develop some new financial habits.  I didn't need financial help, but I decided I was tired of being spiritually bankrupt, so I gave church another go, and liked the one I started at so well, I've stayed and have become a full member.  That was something I've felt that I've needed for a while.  So, not everything you get when you do feng shui is about money or a job.  (BTW, the dead truck that I cleared out was in our wisdom/skills section, which can also be linked to spiritual matters--maybe why I finally got a spiritual resolution?)

[Virgil Showlion]

2007debtheaven
Message #907 - 09/21/09 08:30 PM

Keriamon
Congrats on the UE benefits, and on joining the church! That's a lot of great changes, and hopefully a good job will follow.

I still haven't done the old CDs / videos in the guest room. We have guests arriving on 15 October so I will try to do it by then. It's a PITA because we all need to do it together, otherwise I'd just get on with it. It's not messy or anything, but there are baby videos and music, and DS3 is 11 now. I have two friends at English-speaking churches that organize Xmas sales, so it MUST be done by the end of November so I can give the stuff to them for their church sales.

I think I burned myself out doing DS3's room, lol.

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keriamon
Message #908 - 09/21/09 08:30 PM



Oh, and something I've had to remind myself to do: open a door or window to let a little fresh air in if you are feeling depressed, lethargic, or unable to motivate towards any goal (if you work in a building with no opening windows, take a "smoke" break outside for 5 minutes).  We've had almost constant rain for a week now and the constant gray skies are pretty depressing (how do people in Seattle ever manage???).  It's not raining now, so I opened the front door and I'm already feeling better.  It's too humid to open all the windows, and I will have to shut the door shortly, when the A/C comes back on, but just a little dose of fresh air can be energizing and worth the small loss of home-cooling energy. 

 

And Mia, I'm trying the Gotham cleaner link you provided; I am following her tips and reminders on Twitter.

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2007debtheaven
Message #909 - 09/21/09 08:39 PM

cdarrow
Like Keria and the others, I would REALLY encourage you to find and fix the water problem ASAP. Water damage is really insidious. We had basement flooding in DS1's room for months last year, it turned out to be a blocked pipe next door. (The three homes on our side of the street were originally one huge property). Easy to fix once we found the problem, but it took months because the neighbor initially refused to dig up his lawn to access the lookout which should never have been buried in the first place. I was going mental, we even hired a water diviner! I bought a special water vaccuum and we vaccuumed twice a day for six weeks. And this was in DS1's room, not in the storage room next door! (Happily DS1 was not living at home for most of that time, when he was he stayed with his younger brother.)

It cost us 12K in peripheral damage and unnecessary work: we redid our old cracked patio thinking that was responsible, and the laminate floor in DS1's bedroom was ruined (we replaced it with tile). We're not on great terms with the neighbors anymore. We got 7K back from insurance, thank Gd, but it still cost us 5K. I can't imagine keeping anything except for precious keepsakes if the stuff is wet and moldy. Can you hire a neighborhood boy for a few hours to help you carry the big stuff out? And take allergy meds so you can spend more time there? Of course it's not healthy but you need to get the stuff out to fix the problem. Just tell your family that the furniture is ruined and you need to it. Even if you do need to rent storage for a while it will be less expensive without the furniture. Also, you may have a bad surprise with your water bill depending on where the water is coming from. I sympathize, it was a NIGHTMARE. We had all of DS1's furniture in our living room, kitchen and dining room for two months. His couch and rugs were ruined but we saved all the rest (wood). Just thinking about it makes me crazy! Good luck!

ETA: The silver lining of the story was, DH finally saw the light about his stuff (actually some of his stuff flooded too). Hence the effort to get everything in the storage room off the floor (when possible, of course.) And DS1 got a newly redone room out of it, LOL. We paid to have the room tiled, and DH painted it. Here insurance won't pay for the cost of the repair, but it will pay for the collateral damage (ie new flooring, couch, etc). Look at it this way: this is the universe trying to help you get that lovely basement room back!

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dianartemis
Message #910 - 09/22/09 12:17 AM

I got 2 lovely wicker clothes hampers with lids to store my recyclables in.  My apartment complex doesn't have onsite recycling, so my family members let me add to their bins.  Before I just had an 8-gallon trash can w/o a lid and a paper bag.  I couldn't store those outside, and my livingroom always looked messy because I could have paper or plastic sticking out of the tops.  My home looks more peaceful now.

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teh mom
Message #911 - 09/22/09 01:23 AM

I also got baptised and confirmed at church yesterday

That is the best news ever! Congratulations!

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cdarrow26
Message #912 - 09/22/09 01:45 AM



2007debtheaven  I've been meaning to tell you  just how envious I am of you...I spent a year in Dijon as an exchange student 20 years ago.  I am so in love with France...I'd love to live there!  What part do you live in?  Thank you for all of your suggestions...I am working on it the best I can.  Just for the record, the basement didn't "flood" but it is getting wet/damp, likely through the foundation.  I do take my allergy meds before working down there and still can only stand about an hour or two at a time.  I really don't have anyone to help me...the dumpster will be gone tomorrow probably, so, I guess I am SOL on getting it cleaned out right now. 

keriamon  Thanks for all of your support and suggestions.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned in an earlier post, a lot of the stuff is "inherited stuff" that was already here when I moved here.  I guess it IS my house, but I'm not sure technically how you would define it.  I moved into my parent's home and have a rent to own contract with them.  I am responsible for all repairs, maintenace, taxes, etc. so I guess I "own" it, just like if I had a traditional mortgage on a house somewhere else.  It's really tough dealing with family....I have tried to "gently" prod people into getting what belongs to them, but that tactic really has not worked.  The majority of the stuff that is left that is not mine belongs to my mother who lives in Florida, my house is in PA, so, logistically, it is difficult for her to "get" her stuff.  I tried to have a discussion with her tonight about her needing to think about what is left here that is really "important" to her (my grandmother's diaries, etc.) and part with the rest.  Even if she "wants" it, why pay to store it indefinitely...let me just say that it was NOT well received, which I knew before starting that conversation....she very abruptly ended the conversation and treated me like I was 12...mother's have a way of doing that....**shrug**sometimes I wish I had never bought this place, but I can't imagine giving it up...

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #913 - 09/22/09 05:38 AM



Diana, what a great idea!  Wicker hampers look a whole lot better than even the color-coded plastic bins that a lot of people use for recycling.  I actually hate to use them for clothes, because I hate having to dig clothes out of the bottom of them, but I use an old one of my husband's to store rag-towels in; I've also used it to store vacuum cleaner parts.  And right now it's in the living room serving as an end table beside the couch too, LOL.  There are a lot of uses for hampers besides for clothes.

 

Hmm, a tricky situation Cdarrow.  I think you might want to see about getting the other Karen Kingston book, "Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui."  It's all about changing the energy in a place in ways other than just getting rid of clutter and rearranging the furniture.  I think it sounds like you really need to space clear that house--that is, get rid of all the energy in it that doesn't belong to you.  People can leave behind more than physical junk--they can also leave behind energy.  In the most extreme form you get things like ghosts, but living people can leave enough energy behind that it can make a place very uncomfortable for the next occupant. 

 

I had a roommate who was probably severely depressed and was certainly viciously manipulative ("emotional vampire" is a phrase that comes to mind).  While it was a breath of fresh air to have her move out, her room, where she had spent so much time holed-up, was just unbearable to be in.  It was freezing cold, even with the vent to the A/C closed, and I got the creeps just walking past it, even with the door shut (cold air would blow out from under the door, even).  I had a Wiccan friend come over and do a form of space clearing on it.  Would you know it, the next day I reopened the A/C vent and it was never cold in there again.  And I never felt weird about it either.  I repainted it for good measure (and also because she had ruined the paint on the walls) and vacuumed every square inch of it on my hands and knees with the hose attachment--that was part of symbolically getting rid of all traces of her.  And it became my study room, where I spent the vast majority of my time for the next two years. 

 

Methinks you need to do something similar to your house because it doesn't know who it belongs to.  And it can't know who it belongs to because you don't know who it belongs to.  I'd start with the space clearing ceremony Karen outlines in her book, and then I'd think about repainting or redecorating some rooms--especially rooms which very definitely belonged to another member of the family: sis's bedroom, the kitchen that mom overran with her favorite rooster motif, dad's hobby room, etc.  Your bedroom will actually need the least attention, because you know and it knows that it belongs to you.  But getting the other rooms and the house to know they're yours (and only yours) is going to take some work other than just clutter clearing.

 

I think if you were able to do that, you could put down real roots (funny, isn't it, how a house you've lived in for ages doesn't feel like it's your house?) and the clutter hoarders may take care of their problem for you, as you will project to everyone that it's your house.  You will be confident and no-nonesense about it and hopefully your mother will quit trying to treat you like a 12 year old that doesn't get to have an opinion.  You might also do some of the energy-clearing techniques just around the inherited junk to send out a strong energy-message that it is not welcome in your home and you want its owner to come and get it.  Energy-clearing around it can also make it easier for others to deal with it; if you've got a big pile of stuff that makes you feel hopeless and defeated before you even start on it (clutter, especially large piles of it, stagnates energy something terrible), clapping around it and over it can stir up the energy enough that you can feel uplifted enough to do something about it.  And clapping around other people's stuff regularly might stir up the energy around it enough that those other people

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keriamon
Message #914 - 09/22/09 05:39 AM



will motivate to come get it. 

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cdarrow26
Message #915 - 09/22/09 12:42 PM



keriamon  Thanks...I do really want to read both of her books, but my small town library does not carry either.  I will need to talk to a friend and see if they can check it out of a larger library for me, or else I will try to find the extra money to buy them.  Or, I could go plop myself at Barnes and Noble some weekend and read it...LOL!

I really have made a lot of progress in physically "changing" the house.  Before I moved in, I ripped out all of the old carpet to expose the hardwood floors, painted a few rooms, and had the kitchen completely remodeled.  It was gutted to the studs so it is all "new".  I am currently in the middle of doing the same with the bathroom, so, hopefully all of these changes will help.

I definitely think a good "space clearing" would help.  I will try to get more information about it.  I'm sure there is a lot of negative energy still in this house...absolutely sure about it.  Funny thing is, my sister who previously lived here is Wiccan, but much of the negative energy is hers, so, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for her to do it...LOL...

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keriamon
Message #916 - 09/22/09 05:15 PM



My former roommate was very sensitive to spirits.  I guess you'd say a form of psychic.  But she left something very definitely evil in that room when she left.  You know the old saying, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.  I think that people who are gifted spiritually have to be careful that they don't fall big time.  If you are receptive to spirits, you are receptive to hearing both the good ones and the bad ones.  Throughout religious history, people who have very clearly heard the word of God have almost, to a man, heard the word of the devil just as clearly.  People like that have to learn how to differentiate between the good and the bad--just as we all learn who we can and can't trust in real life.  So it's quite possible that your sister, like my roommate, attracted the wrong crowd.  Or she could have been practicing black magic, which is allowed, but generally frowned upon by most other Wiccans, simply because they believe in the concept of karma--whatever curses or bad things you try to do to others will come back on you.   

 

www.spaceclearing.com/html/what-is-space-clearing/what-is-space-clearing  Here is a brief introduction to space clearing, so you can see if it sounds like something you want to so. 

 

www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/0553069160  Half.com has a copy for 76 cents, plus $3.49 S&H, so $4.25 for a copy. 

 

www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/9780767903592  The "Clear Your Clutter" book for $4.47 total.

 

I really love the AllBookstores.com price comparison engine; I've been using it for ages to get books on the cheap.  I got my husband an out-of-print book for less than $30, I think it was, from a bookstore in New York; everyone else wanted a minimum of $100 for it.  And when it comes to books for me or him, I buy used.  We have too large a book habit to buy new. 

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MP Dunleavey
Message #917 - 09/22/09 09:11 PM

Hi Keriamon, thanks for that info about the attic! It makes total sense, and it has validated my instincts, which are to get some more shelves and bins and keep organizing it. I did quite a bit earlier this summer, but in a way, it only underscored that there is still junk that has to go. (And also, you guys, the discussions about 'inherited clutter' are very useful. a friend dropped off a bunch of his junk...because we have a big house and he has a small apartment. i wanted to be generous, but now I am going to ask him to move it on out.)

P.S. This is a little spooky, or not, but ever since I have been cleaning and decluttering--no joke--a lot more paying work has been coming into my life. In fact, before I left home today on a biz trip, I put a beautiful shell I'd found in my career corner. I just felt that its energy was positive somehow. I just landed, and already I have gotten some promising news of new projects. Am trying not to get too excited, however, ITE (In This Economy), things can change on a dime. Still....

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973beachbum
Message #918 - 09/22/09 09:26 PM



I live in a small house.  1400 sq feet, which is not so bad but...no basement or garage.   I have long done the for everything that comes into the house something has to go out!   There really is not extra space to store things and I have even resorted to storing thing in the attic.  Can you really see me going up into the attic to get a blender?  Nah, I can't either!  The previous owner in his infinite wisdom did not like the way cabinets made the kitchen look cluttered.   So he took all but one upper and one lower out.  Have you ever been in a kitchen with almost no cabinets but a really big closet in it?   

 

We had talked about redoing it but I could not figure out how to make it work with out removing everything including the walls.    We just did not want to spend that much money on it at this time.    So yesterday I took everything, and I mean everything!, out of the kitchen and put it in the living room.  All the food and all the pots and pans etc.  I then put everything back trying to be more organized.  Surprisingly everything fit back and does not look cluttered at all. 

[Virgil Showlion]

2007debtheaven
Message #919 - 09/22/09 11:02 PM

Mia

I promise I don't work for Ikea, lol. But their wooden shelving system is great: cheap and sturdy and easy to install. And it's modulable. When we replaced and moved our boiler / hot water tank in June to another wall, we just went back to Ikea and got more shelving for where the boiler had been. The dimensions had changed slightly since buying what we had 10 years ago but it was still compatible.

Letting people stuff in your home (or office) is like lending people money: no good deed goes unpunished. (cdarrow this comment is not addressed to you! Your family's stuff was already there.) DH's partner let friends keep stuff in their office basement. They recently got a third partner who wants the basement cleared up so they can use it as a conference room. So DH's partner told his friends to pick up their stuff. He probably could have given them more notice (I think he gave them a week or 10 days), but nobody said thank you for having stored it for all these years, they were all PO'd they had to find another solution. Some of them are artists so understandably they can't just chuck their artwork. One, a close friend of his, was so POd that he took all his artwork off their office walls. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, now their walls are bare and he has even more stuff to store.

cdarrow, I live in a suburb of Paris, not too far from Versailles. Come live here for a while, it becomes a lot less glamorous, LOL. Basements flood, cars break down, there's traffic, kids get sick, even in Paris, LOL.

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keriamon
Message #920 - 09/22/09 11:02 PM



Mia, at the very least, you need to be getting some storage fees for that stuff!  Obviously you don't want your home to become a long-term storage facility, but it could be a way to make a little extra income.  My husband had a friend who stored some stuff in the upstairs of our garage for a few months and paid him a storage fee.  It was cheaper for him than renting a storage building and it gave my husband a bit of extra income; I think he finished paying off his student loan with it.  Of course, if he's willing to take it back, you can always work with that!

 

I found plenty of people on Craigslist willing to haul off my husband's car.  I told him last night he needs to clean it out one evening this week and I'll get someone to get it either this week or Monday next and he said he will do it.  He needs to transfer some stuff out of it into the new car anyways, and dig out his registration.  So all that's left past that is to throw away trash and to put away a few thing still in it that belong in the house or garage.

 

Beach Bum, are there any countertops at all in your kitchen, or are they in place, just no cabinets under them?  It sounds like you've got the problem licked anyways, but if you need more space, you might consider putting up shelves, either above or below the countertops.  You can paint some simple board shelving and nail a piece of half-round trim to the outside edge and it would look quite nice.  If you went with a colored wall and white shelves (and painted the existing cabinets white to match), it would look cute, I think.  Very farm/country.  You can also look at European interior design for help on expanding your kitchen possibilities cheaply; most European kitchens are very small and also lack cabinets.  They do a lot of things like hang pots and pans from hooks on the wall or ceiling.  You might also get an antique or reproduction "pie safe" and put it in your kitchen to store things like cereal and bread and anything perishable. 

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luckytobeme12
Message #921 - 09/23/09 05:59 AM

cdarrow, wonder what your mother would say if you were to tell her that the basement is in danger of flooding/major water seepage.  Would she hustle to decide what stuff to keep? 

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MP Dunleavey
Message #922 - 09/23/09 02:28 PM

Thanks for the Ikea reminder, debt. I hate going there. I literally have some kind of mental spaz-out when i'm in that store. It makes me crazy! But partly because i love it. Isn't that insane? Anyway...

I know just the shelves that you're describing, and I think they are cheaper than getting the Rubbermaid ones. Great idea. This is the winter of Clearing. The Great Clearing.

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cheapcat
Message #923 - 09/23/09 03:20 PM



Don't let the basement issue go unchecked for too long. We just had to rip out 2 giant closets in our basement. A small amount of water had seeped in and was absorbed by the drywall. There was a slight musty odor & then we noticed a 2' wide grey mold stain on the wall. We were going to seal the leak & replace the drywall, but there was grey, brown, black, orange and yellow mold(!!!)between the closet walls & under the floor so we had to get rid of it all. There was a gap in the concrete behind the back wall of the closet, so we mixed concrete, filled in the gaps and are waiting for it to finish curing so it can be painted with Drylock sealer. We've primed & painted the rest of the basement & it does feel so much better.

My DH is in a band that used to rent out a practice room. It was damp, moldy & cluttered. The band was there for years & never seemed to make much progress. They moved out of the space in December & didn't really play for about 6 months. A friend asked DH if they were interested in playing a show, so they got back together & have been booking more shows than they ever did while in that awful practice space. DH has also been filling in with a few other bands, so losing that old space was one of the best things that ever happened!

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dianartemis
Message #924 - 09/23/09 03:34 PM



Thanks Keri.  I actually got the idea from a friend.  I was house sitting and she has some nice wicker cargo-type chests.  A light bulb went off.  I found the perfect ones at WalMart for $24/ea.  The other places were $30 or more and didn't have lids.  They're a nice chocolate brown.  I also spent a couple of weeks looking for the perfect ones.  If they weren't just right, I wasn't going to buy them.

 

Does anyone have any good ideas on where to get plain picture frames that don't cost an arm and a leg?  I've visited multiple thrift stores, and I'm not finding anything close to what I want.  I've got a bunch of postcards and pictures from trips and I'd like to start displaying them.  If I get 5 or 6, then I can rotate them around whenever I feel a need for a decorating change.  I've got some Paul Klee prints from several years ago that I'd like to start with.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #925 - 09/23/09 06:04 PM

Diana, try a Dollar General or Family Dollar or Fred's.  They often have things that are cheaper than Wal-Mart, but better than The Dollar Tree.  Our Dollar General has a number of decent-looking plain picture frames.  Remember, you can also paint them colors to both match your postcard and to change up your feng shui colors. 

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2007debtheaven
Message #926 - 09/23/09 06:30 PM

Does anyone have any good ideas on where to get plain picture frames that don't cost an arm and a leg? 

You can probably guess what I'm going to suggest ... yes, Ikea, lol. Very cheap wooden frames in many sizes.

Mia I too have love-hate relationship with the place. But every four or six months, I need my fix. I've been twice recently because we just redid DS3's bedroom and we framed some artwork we bought this summer. I need one more frame but then hopefully I won't want to go back for months. They don't really have discount stores here so Ikea prices are unbeatable: 10e for a duvet cover and pillow case for the kids' beds, 11e for a huge black wooden frame, 4e for a desk lamp, 7e for a floor lamp. Believe it or not I hate shopping but I like my house to look good. I go when it's not crowded. DD's floor lamp just broke, at the mall the cheapest one is 40e. So I will end up shlepping to Ikea to pay 7e instead and to get the last frame. 

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cdarrow26
Message #927 - 09/24/09 03:10 PM



keriamon  Thanks for the links to order the books.  I actually had already gone on Amazon that morning and ordered a cheap used copy of each.  It only cost about $10 for both.  I'm very much looking forward to reading them.

I was able to make a little more progress in the basement.  I NEVER have energy to do anything after work, but yesterday I came home and got right to work and tore down more of the ceiling.  Unfortunately, the paneling is not something I will be able to do on my own.  I went and looked outside yesterday at the side that the water seems to be coming in from.  I know it is hard to diagnose until I can get the paneling down and see if it is obvious where it is coming in, but the drains from the gutters go into the ground there, so, I'm thinking there may be a broken drain pipe underground  

My mom will be here next week and hopefully can move her items to storage, giving me room to work on gutting the rest of the basement.  If anything needs to be dug up outside, I really need to get a move on it, cuz once the ground freezes, I'll be SOL.

luckytobe  My mom is very well aware of the water seepage issues in the basement...

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keriamon
Message #928 - 09/24/09 08:13 PM



Yes, you could have a broken drainage pipe.  I know they have things like that in the city, but I've never lived in a house with them; our gutters have always drained onto the ground--you just direct them so that the water flows out, away from the house.

 

Something you should do before you call in an expensive professional is check your gutters and the down spout.  The best way to do this is to get up on a ladder and look at them, but if you don't have a tall enough ladder or are afraid of heights, you can sort of check by spraying your roof on that side with the waterhose.  If a lot of water spills over your gutters, then either the gutters are clogged or the downspout is (likely both).  When water just spills over the sides, it can run back up against the house and then cause seepage under the house or into a basement.  Relative to other home repairs, having someone come out and clear your gutters and downspouts is not terribly expensive.  If that's the only problem you've got, you'll get off light. 

 

If the underground drainage pipe is broken, then I would expect that to require some excavation work and that will be more expensive.  Although, if you don't live in a city that regulates water drainage, you could just get the downspout cut off above the ground and use hosing to direct it away from the house, and plug up the underground portion.  In short, reroute water flow away from the broken part. 

 

If the downspout/gutters are not the problem at all, then you might be in for a very expensive solution.  I have seen advertisements for services like All-Dry, but I'm not exactly sure what they do to keep water from seeping into the basement.  But that will be worse expensive than the gutter problem, I can tell you that. 

 

BTW, tearing out paneling isn't hard to do--that is, provided you aren't interested in trying to salvage any of it.  You will need a pair of heavy gloves, one hammer, preferably sledge, and a crowbar.  My mother tore out a couple of non-loadbearing walls at our old house that were just paneling on top of 2x4's.  She just whacked a hole in it with a big hammer and then used the crowbar to pry it off, or if she worked the nails loose enough, she could use the crowbar to pull the nails out and get it off that way.  I'd think tearing out a ceiling would be a lot harder. 

 

Oh, and if if makes you feel any better, clutter and the stangant energy it causes can keep you from having energy to motivate; the more clutter you clear out, the more energy you will have to clear out clutter.  It's sort of like exercise that way: the more exercise you do, the more energy you have.  It's the getting started that's hard, and you've already done that.  So just keep rolling.  Even if you just set a timer for 15 minutes and do 15 minutes worth of decluttering or tearing-out, that will put you 15 minutes closer to being finished.  It all adds up eventually. 

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boos_mom
Message #929 - 09/24/09 09:31 PM

Just curious, why don't you take the stuff yourself? I'm just saying that because DH tends to put things off or be forgetful. If I do it myself I know it's done ASAP.

2007DH - because my DH is working on trying to help me out around the house more.  Yes, before stuff would sit around until DH got around to it.  But, we've developed a system that so far is much better, and it provides some relief for me.  

I didn't get to clean out as much over the weekend as I hoped, but I've been working on things at night after the kids go to bed.  One of my goals is to clear off the couches and do some switching around, putting the most comfy couch by the bigger tv.  And I just found a friend is due in December, so I'll be handing off baby clothes and gear to her (too bad she just missed the batch I just donated), so that should clear up some space. 

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2007debtheaven
Message #930 - 09/24/09 10:12 PM

cdarrow, I'm thinking it could it be a broken / dead / unplugged / clogged sump pump that you may not even know you have. Ours was dead, and unplugged. One of the masons discovered it during the basement flooding, I hadn't even realized we had one. Apparently my ex decided to unplug it and put shelves over it, 25 years ago. In our case it was not the cause of the flooding, but it could have been. Obviously it has since been put right.

Good for you for continuing to deal with this! Please keep posting on your progress, I know it's hard work but I always find that posting really helps! And Kudos to you for dealing with it after a hard day's work! I think that once your mom arrives she will realize the position you're in.

Boosmom
It's great that you and your DH have found a system that works for you and helps you out! And also that your baby clothes will be going to a "good home"!

That neighborhood yard sale
I just found out it's this Sunday, I can't do it because that's the day DS1 leaves again for four months. But a very close friend is doing it and offered to take my stuff and give me the proceeds. She's in very bad shape financially, but she does very well at this sale because she sells only recent designer gear. I don't want to clutter her upmarket stand but I will give her a few things. She refuses to take a cut, so I've decided if my stuff sells I'll take her to lunch.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #932 - 09/25/09 03:55 AM

recent designer gear = very bad shape financially 

?

 

I'll say this for having read the "Clear Your Clutter" book; I stopped caring about my posessions nearly so much.  My mother taught me that everything I own is a valuable collectable that will one day make me really rich.  After I read the book, I realized that my mother's on crack; the odds of actually owning something worth huge sums of money (that was cheap to start with) is about even with getting a lottery ticket worth the same amount.  And lottery tickets take up practically no space!

 

Next week I'm tackling the house... again.  Unfortunately we have a flea infestation.    I need to get picked up so I can vacuum over and over again.  I'm also going to see about getting some diatomaceous earth.  I knew it killed a lot of bugs, but apparently it will kill fleas too.  Even with it, we're looking at a minimum of three applications over the course of three weeks to hopefully stamp out the fleas.  Once I'm picked up, I'm going to try a space clearing.  See if I can't get some things to improve around here.   

 

Wow, I've just been reading up on DE.  Not only can we kill the fleas in the house, but I can dust it on the cats to kill the fleas on them AND feed it to the horse to deworm her (something she's needing).  Oh, and we COULD use it as a cat litter, but it's a bit expensive per pound for that--unless the co-op is running a sale on it. 

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cdarrow26
Message #933 - 09/26/09 04:11 PM



One of the 2 books I ordered came today "Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui" so I am very much looking forward to reading it.  It looks like an easy read so I'm sure I'll get thru it today or tomorrow.

I spent 2 hours working on the basement this morning...now I literally can not move.  I'm sure I will pay for it later...I got most of the paneling down on the one "suspect" wall and have about 90% of the ceiling down.  I can't start tearing the carpet/tile up yet because there's still too much stuff down there to work around, but I am feeling good about how much I got done today.  I was shocked that the dumpster was still here when I got home from work yesterday, so, figured I'd better get to work first thing this morning and take advantage of it.  I even ripped up the vinyl tile in the hallway downstairs...now, if my cousin shows up to work on the bathroom, it'd be a pretty good day...

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LadySimon
Message #934 - 09/27/09 01:18 AM

I have a question about the red flowers by the front door for good luck.  Do they have to be real?  I live in an apartment with no place to put a pot out front w/o tripping on it.  Plus I have a major black thumb.  Would it work if I got fake/silk flowers?  I got 3 red daisies and put them on my desk at work and I seem to be having some pretty good luck there.  Thoughts?  Ideas?  Thanks!

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2007debtheaven
Message #936 - 09/27/09 11:55 PM

recent designer gear = very bad shape financially 

Yes, I know! It got a bit tense at one point. I brought my stuff over early afternoon, much later than I had hoped to. (Took DS1 to the airport). My friend was thrilled, it was going really well for her. She bragged to her DH, I've made over 200 so far! Her DH was fuming, and pointed out that she paid for at least 1K for all that stuff. The irony is that this year, most of her designer gear didn't move but all her 5YO's cheap clothes sold out.

Tidbit, for people who do garage sales: my friend keeps all the designer tags, and puts them back on before the yard sale.

Anyway, my bedspread did not sell. My friend wants to do another yard sale in another neighborhood next weekend and offered to take my bedspread, but I think I'm just going to take all the rest of my stuff over to Goodwill during the week and be done with it. This is the second time I've tried to do the annual neighborhood yard sale and packed up 90% or 100% of it again. Plus today DD decided she wants to finally get rid of all of her stuffed animals (as I was walking out the door, literally) so I sort of lost it and forbade her from moving them out of her room till I get rid of this stuff. Goodwill is only 10 min away plus it's on the way to DS3's middle school so doing multiple trips there is not a hardship. 

cdarrow, kudos to you for carrying on! You'll get there, I promise, lol!

LadySimon
Welcome! I don't see why fake flowers and / or plants wouldn't work, but Keriamon is better at that sort of detail than I am.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #937 - 09/28/09 04:25 AM



Fake flowers and plants are mostly the equivalent of live ones.  In your case, the color of the plant is the important bit, so fake or real is equally good.  The only benefit to a live plant over an artifical one is that a live plant has more of an effect on the energy of a room because it is alive--in the way that a pet has more of an energy effect than a stuffed animal or picture of an animal.  But if you can't have a live plant in an area because of light issues or weather or because you will kill it, then artifical is certainly better than nothing at all (or a dead plant).

 

BTW, feng shui really frowns on dried flowers; it's always better to use real or fake flowers than dried ones, because dried ones are considered dead.  At least artifical flowers look like live flowers. 

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LadySimon
Message #938 - 09/28/09 05:17 AM

Cool.  Thanks so much for the advice.  Never really liked dried flowers myself.  But am true believer after this summer.  In June I went all out and scrubbed and re-organized everything in my apt in anticipation for a visit from a relative.  Once they left I was left with a wonderfully neat and organized space.  A week later I got a job offer and started July 20th!  Good pay, with tuition re-imbursement, and they work around my school schedule!  Couldn't have asked for more!  Now I'm looking to spruce up my love life, since it's seriously stagnating, and I realized I had totally let my organization go.  While I was organized I had met 2 really great guys, whose friendship has now gone nowhere.  Need to get on the ball with this!  Gotta find that book!

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Wodenodin
Message #939 - 09/28/09 06:53 AM

What does feng shui say of storing away old things of definite value? Antiques. Some are treasures (I love them) and some less so but probably worth saving- antique mason jars, etc.  We don't can food and would not actually use them but I think that someday they could be a hedge against starvation if we had to sell them. Or they could supplement our retirement as they will increase in value as time passes.  They were also my Grammas, who I loved dearly. I'm doing a massive clearing of clutter but continue to cling to the antiques.

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keriamon
Message #940 - 09/29/09 03:52 AM



Woden, all possession, whether antiques, heirlooms or new things from a store, are meant to be loved and viewed.  Storing Christmas decorations out of season is acceptable.  Storing stuff because it might someday be of value is really clutter.  Where I live, Mason jars, old and brand new, are beyond cheap.  I can't imagine a very rare vintage Mason jar, worth tons of money.  My suggestion would be to get whatever you can out of them and then put that money into a savings account or retirement account.  I assure you, the money you put into one of those things will increase in value a lot faster than your Mason jars. 

 

Remember, Grandma and Grandma's canning jars are two different things.  Hold your memory and love of Grandma in your heart, not in her possessions.  If you say, "I can't get rid of this because I love it like I loved Grandma," then if your house ever burns down or gets blown away or what-have-you, then it will be like losing Grandma all over again.  But if you separate the love of her from the love of her things, then no robber or force majure will ever take that away from you.  Karen Kingston writes about how people are emotionally devestated when they lose their possessions because they do that--they put too much emotion into their material things. 

 

Mind you, I'm not saying go out and sell everything that you ever inherited, but think about it this way: all of our possessions absorb our energy, like a solar panel absorbs sunlight.  If you surround yourself with too many things that belonged to other people, you can start to feel as if you really don't know yourself.  You may feel that you have no direction or purpose.  You may also find yourself easily manipulated by other people--always someone's doormat, or worse, abused physically or mentally--or with low self-esteem.  All of that stems from being buffeted everyday by energy flows which are not your own.  Keep what you love the most of grandma's, what fills you with happy memories and positive vibes, and then let the rest of the stuff go.

 

The other thing about keeping too much of Grandma's energy around is that you create a false sense of Grandma being there.  That's when it becomes emotionally devistating to lose your things because when those things are gone, so is the remnants of Grandma's energy.  Which, by the way, is totally separate from the spirit of Grandma, which can be with you any time and any place and is wholly separate and above material things.  That is what you want to feel and hold onto, not her energy remanants.

 

As for the Mason jars, why not keep one or two and sell the rest?  You can get kits that can turn a Mason jar into a lamp for a farm/country look.  Or you could put them on display with some pretty marbles or rocks in them, or you could use one for a spare change jar.  Like I said, their value is neglible and you can earn more money using a bank AND have a lot more space in your home.  And you will retain your invested money if you put it in a bank; if something happens to your jars, there goes your money; there is no FDIC for mason jars. 

 

For people who like to buy antiques or get things secondhand from thirft stores or yard sales, you can do a modified form of space clearing to clear out the energies that belong to the former owner, and allow your own to take over it.  Whatever it is, give it as good a cleaning as you can, while thinking about how this is now YOUR lamp, couch, etc.  You can then clap your hands over it (as many times as you feel like doing) to disperse any energy remaining on it.  Wash your hands afterwards and that's pretty much it--do whatever you want to with it.  Karen Kingston has an article on her website about a special procedure for beds, however.  If you should get a used mattress, or eject an ex lover from yours, instead of clapping it out, take a broom handle or golf club or something similar and whack the mattress however much you feel is necessary.  You can then use sound (like a bell or your voice) close to it to harmonize it, or you can waft the smoke from incense over it

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keriamon
Message #941 - 09/29/09 03:54 AM



(juniper, sage and sandalwood are generally considered good scents for cleansing, but foremost you should use something you like the scent of).

 

If you apply this technique to something, it will lose all energy association with its former owner and you will probably find that you generally forget that it hasn't always been yours; it will not often--if ever--conjour up memories of whoever owned it before.  So it's probably something you do NOT want to do to grandma's wedding ring, but something you do want to do to a wedding ring that you buy used from a pawn shop.  Although, if grandma was hateful and you don't have good memories of her, but you inherited a lot of nice stuff that you would like to use if it didn't give you the creeps and remind you of her, then space clear away on it.   

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keriamon
Message #942 - 09/29/09 04:03 AM



I got some good news: a lady from church has commissioned me to make something and offered to pay me more than I was going to ask for.  I'm going to do a cleaning up this week and tackle the flea problem (I managed to find some diatomaceous earth, so hopefully it will kill the fleas).  I'm also going to do a space clearing and maybe things will get even better. 

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #943 - 09/29/09 04:04 AM



I got some good news: a lady from church has commissioned me to make something and offered to pay me more than I was going to ask for.  I'm going to do a cleaning up this week and tackle the flea problem (I managed to find some diatomaceous earth, so hopefully it will kill the fleas).  I'm also going to do a space clearing and maybe things will get even better. 

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Wodenodin
Message #944 - 09/29/09 08:02 AM



keriamon

 

Thank you for your take on it.  Many, many things are going right now, though I'll still think long and hard about the jars : )

They are one of a few things that remind me daily of how frugal the woman was. That does make a spare change jar incarnation for one a very good idea. My parents are very materialistic. My grandparents were depression-era and very much the opposite.  Growing up, I felt they were my sanctuary from the strange world my parents created where the size of your paycheck and your precise position on the corporate ladder matter above seemingly all else.  Perhaps I'll save the jar decision for last.  Fifteen moving boxes to Goodwill this past week and much more stuff going this weekend, as well as toys and games passed along to neighbors with kids lately.

 

I have been contemplating the burden and the true price of too much stuff.  For us, it's been a huge one. Moved to a city an hour and a half away & wound up with a house that needed to be gutted down to the studs and redone. Everything went into storage at $177 a month to get through that. Then DH had a series of accidents leading to a hand surgery, foot surgery, needing a piece of metal extracted from his elbow, a major injury at work that turned into back surgery and then knee surgery this past spring. It definitely put the house project on hold and there the stuff has sat at $177 a month for 60 months. We finally got the last load out of storage this past weekend and are presently living in box hell while going through all of the stuff.    We tallied up the total storage cost:  $10.620.00. Perhaps we can serve as a warning to others on that one. Never put your stuff in storage because you just don't know what all is going to happen next that may prevent you from getting it out in a timely manner. The original plan was slated at six months, then the first accident happened & things went downhill from there. Through all of his injuries, I couldn't do it all on my own to finish the house and get stuff out of storage. I had my own sixty hour a week job and on top of the usual life chores (where he was generally too injured to help) and he needed care and someone to drive him to doctor visits, physical therapy, etc. I'm sure glad we're through all of that and can move on to another chapter.       

 

As I go through each box and touch each item, I ask myself if I'd ever pay $10,620 again to store it.  Amazing what all can go when you look at things from that perspective. 

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #945 - 09/29/09 01:06 PM



cdarrow26,

What great progress you have made!  Just a suggestion, that I hope will work for you too.  When I have a huge project (like when I started decluttering my mothers' 3500sq ft home), I start at the entry (in your case the entry to the basement).  It helps to walk into an area that has been cleared and cleaned when facing the work left to be completed.  It also helps with getting rid of things because you can see how you want things to look and that provides further motivation to complete the rest.  Since the items you have to dispose of belong to others, ensure nothing of yours is cluttering up the basement.  If you have things you will store down there (because you will regularly use them) see if you can organize those items (on shelves) now before your mother arrives.  When she sees how nice your space will look once her things are gone it may help her realize the trouble her items are causing.  Best of luck!

---

keriamon
Message #946 - 09/29/09 07:00 PM



Woden, it sounds like you are making great progress already.  My mother was pretty materialistic too and put a lot of emphasis on the value of things.  She spent her money on things, and then expected her things to increase in value.  She called possessions "investments."  I have since learned a possession is never an investment; an investment is money in the bank.  Which isn't to say that I don't own anything, but I spend a smaller percentage of my money on things and put a larger percentage of it away as savings, because that's where the real investment lies.  I never expect my possessions to be worth more money than I paid for them, so it makes it a lot easier to purge them when the time comes. 

 

Clearing clutter is a skill, like swinging a golf club or driving a stick-shift: the more you do it, the better, faster and smoother you do it.  You are very unlikely to get all of the real clutter out on your first pass through your living space.  Sometimes you have to leave something in place and think about it for a bit longer before you decide one way or the other what to do with it.  And, as your life changes, things that aren't clutter now will become clutter in the future, so you have to make periodic passes back through to declutter things which have fallen out of use or favor. 

 

Your grandmother sounds a lot like mine, and I know mine wouldn't want to burden me with a bunch of stuff I can't use and that's just taking up space; she'd rather I sold it, made some money and put that in the bank.  My grandmother's never been a rich woman, but she's always had some CDs and money in the bank.  She'd always rather have that than a bunch of possessions.  That's what survivors of the Depression did: they saved, repaired and recycled their possessions so they didn't have to buy new, so they could save money instead.  The canning jars were never there to make money, but rather to save it by preserving food that didn't have to be bought. 

 

Time for me to get back to house cleaning.  I'd like to put down the DE today and start killing fleas. 

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boos_mom
Message #947 - 09/29/09 07:58 PM

She spent her money on things, and then expected her things to increase in value.  She called possessions "investments." 

My mother is always offended when folks make their offers at her garage sales.  My mother does not even know the word "depreciation".  That and the fact that she spent X dollars on something to purchase it encourages her to hang onto it because she "will evenutally" use it.

I've been pecking away at the clutter, here and there.  Cleared off (and DUSTED) the bedroom nightstand/ lateral file drawer and dresser.  Definite visual improvement!  Also pecking away at the living room clutter and the kitchen counter clutter.  Slow and consistent progress is better than nothing at all and really is a great motivator to encourage me to keep going.

Also, decided to try and break in some (new) wedges that I was going to donate.  It actually seems to be comfy enough.  I had bought two pairs on sale, and the first pair took a while to break in.  So, I wasn't really wanting to deal with that again.  (I had tried them on maybe 6 months ago, and they seemed to pinch.  Maybe it was the post-preggo hormones still at work.)  But, since I tried it out and they are okay now, I'll save myself $80 from not needing to buy something else.  Comfortable shoes that don't kill my feet are important to me.

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LadySimon
Message #948 - 09/29/09 08:54 PM

What about keeping things from childhood?  Once I left my parents home for good I stored most of my toys/stuffed animals.  Over the years I've weeded out what was left down to a trunk and one box that has what I consider keepsakes.  Is this holding onto the past?  I have also inherited certain things - dishes, a headboard, a lamp - from my mother and grandmother.  Most of these things I use on a regular basis, or at least use during the holidays (Like grandma's milk glass cake plate).  The catch is I always get "Do you ever use xyz that I gave you?"  Some of these things I would like to pass on but I don't know what to say when I get asked this question.

[Virgil Showlion]

2007debtheaven
Message #949 - 09/29/09 10:53 PM

LadySimon
I have stuff from my childhood, and I'm nearly 50! I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as it's stored neatly and your past doesn't overwhelm your present. I have about two boxes of stuff neatly stored on shelves in the basement. I have stuff from my kids' childhoods too, again, neatly organized. Your trunk and box sound fine to me!

The catch is I always get "Do you ever use xyz that I gave you?" 

That's harder. The ideal answer is either "Yes, I use it on **** occasion", or "No, I never used it, but it was so beautiful / useful / whatever I decided to pass it onto somebody who would." Or, "I really don't have a lot of space and I couldn't find a place for it, sorry." But that's definitely easier said than done with certain people.

I have a friend who is an interior designer and HATES having people give her stuff she doesn't like or want and expect her to keep and display it. She moves a lot, and always says, "Oh, that broke in the last move, what a shame!" LOL. At first that sort of shocked me but over time I've come to think there's nothing wrong with that. She earns a good living through her impeccable taste, often does photo shoots in her home, why should she carp up her home with stuff she doesn't like or want just because somebody gave it to her?

But I think most people feel forced to keep at least some stuff like that. I guess the ideal is to minimize it as much as possible.

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keriamon
Message #950 - 09/29/09 11:17 PM



Lady Simon, if you use something and like using it, then, by all means, keep it.  Just because something is old doesn't mean that it needs to go.  It's all about usefulness and/or love.  If something is useful but you don't love it, you can still get rid of it (Karen Kingston gives an example of having a clothes iron that worked, but she found one that worked so very much better that she got rid of her perfectly useful iron and bought this supremo iron because it was BOTH useful and something she loved).  But if something is loved, you can just keep it, useful or not.

 

Personally, I've gotten rid of almost all of my childhood things.  I had my mother donate most of my old toys to her church and to a lady she knows that runs an after-school program for poor children.  I have a plastic box with some things that I just didn't want to part with.  My old security blanket lives in the trunk of my car; I've put it on the ground to sit on while working on my car, taking a nap outside, and it's there if I get stuck somewhere in the winter.  My most favorite old stuffed animal lives with the Christmas decorations and I put him out under our tree every year.

 

The catch is I always get "Do you ever use xyz that I gave you?"  Some of these things I would like to pass on but I don't know what to say when I get asked this question.

Either these things are yours to do whatever you want with, or they belong to someone else.  Other people cannot keep tabs on your possessions as if they were only on loan to you.  If you have something that you want to get rid of, that someone else gave you, first ask if they want it back or want to pass it on to someone else in the family.  If not, dispose of it in any way you see fit.  If you were given something as a present, it's not polite to offer it back to the giver; just get rid of it.  If someone asks you if you still have/still use X, just say no, you didn't have a use for it.  Don't be apologetic; like I said, this is your stuff, and you are not answerable to anyone on how you use it.  If you are firm on the matter, it will be dropped.  Of course, some people might get huffy and then refuse to give you stuff in the future, but that will just mean less stuff for you to have to get rid of. 

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LadySimon
Message #951 - 09/30/09 09:10 PM



Thanks for the advice.  I have done that on some things.  I got an iron and a crock pot for christmas one year and gave both to a friend who really needed them and was short on cash.  I had a perfectly good iron and a much larger better quality crock pot.  I move often too and do pretty well getting rid of stuff during every move.  There are a couple things that I have absolutely no use for but my grandmother gave it to me and I she has asked me a couple times if I've used it.  It's small and packed away neatly but....I know I'll never use it.  Too kitschy for me.  The other stuff I've been given I use or do something with definitely.  Unfortunately I have a major soft spot for grandma!!! 

 

The toys/books/games I have from childhood are all neatly stored in my trunk and the one small box.  I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one attached to an old blanket or doll!  lol!  There are a lot of memories in those things that I kept.  The others were sold or donated years ago.

 

The only other thing that I have a lot of is books.  Love love love books.  I don't feel they overwhelm me because I will read my favorites over and over and occasionally sell the ones I'm tired of.  The catch is right now they are all stacked and stored in a wicker trunk.  Need to get shelves for them asap!

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keriamon
Message #952 - 10/01/09 05:40 PM



My husband and I have a lot of books.  I started cataloging them on Library Thing.  I think I have about half of them logged, and that's approximately 300 books and magazines, so you can assume our total collection is around 600.  Again, keeping them neat and accessible makes them useful.  Also, we go through our bookcases a couple of times a year and purge anything we didn't like and don't think we'll read again.  We take those books to a used book store and trade them in on credit for more books! 

 

I'd never consider our books clutter, because we're frequently in them, but sometimes if you can't get rid of a collection of things, it helps if you change it up.  Let's say, for instance, you have more pictures than you have wall space to hang them.  Instead of leaving some pictures in storage forever, change your pictures out two or four times a year (with the changing of the seasons).  That gives your house fresh energy and keeps energy from stagnating around things in storage.  Think of energy as dust; the longer something sits, the dustier it gets.  When you change things up, you get rid of the dust-energy (as welll as real-life dust). 

 

The same thing can be applied to childhood toys or antiques or anything else.  Maybe get a little shelf or top of a bookcase or plate-rack above your kitchen counters and set out a few of your old toys, antiques, punch bowls, etc.  And then change them out when the seasons change.  That will keep your collections from accumulating too much stuck energy and will allow you to enjoy whatever it is that you have.  Remember, something doesn't have to be useful in order to be a keeper; it just has to be loved.  So put out grandma's tea pot for looks instead of for use.  But if you find yourself avoiding putting something out time after time (this also goes for seasonal decorations, like Christmas decorations), then that's a good clue that it really needs to be purged from your collection, because it's already not useful and it's obviously not something you love enough to want to put on display. 

 

 

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keriamon
Message #953 - 10/01/09 05:45 PM

Oh, something I have seen that's really cute to do with old games is to glue the pieces to it, as if it were in play, and then hang it up on a wall.  Obviously it's really cute in a game or bonus room.  It also fixes the problem of missing too many pieces to really play, but hating to throw it away because of all the good memories.  Some people have them mounted in a large shadowbox, but that depends on how much money you want to spend and how you want to lay out all the pieces. 

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LadySimon
Message #954 - 10/01/09 06:51 PM



I think that's my problem, once I have enough shelves for all my books, I'll feel better about them.  Right now I can never find the one I'm looking for and it's irritating.  I would have gotten the shelves a long time ago, but I live alone in a second floor apt.  How do I get them up the stairs?  I moved just a few months ago, and while I've made friends, don't think any of them are the "can you help me lug these up the stairs" kind, at least not yet.  Darn!  Need a husband for an afternoon to cart them up and assemble them!  Lol!

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #955 - 10/01/09 09:05 PM

Actually, if you can spare some cash, there are businesses that specialize in just that sort of thing.  I've even heard of one that was name something like "Husband for a Day" and they did handyman sorts of things.  Or just find someone that advertises handyman services, "No project too big or small," and hire someone to come help you get your shelves in the apartment, and assembled, if necessary.  Shoot, if I was a teenage boy, I'd be happy to get $20 to carry one or two things up the stairs.  That's pretty easy money. 

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cdarrow26
Message #956 - 10/04/09 09:40 PM



Well, it's been a busy few days, but thought I'd stop in and report on what's been going on.  I think I have my mom on the same page now as far as getting rid of the "stuff".  She flew in last week and I had asked her to bring my book "It's all too Much" by Peter Walsh.  He has a lot of the same views as Karen Kingston does about clutter and holding on to "stuff".  Well, as we are leaving the airport, she says to me, "I re-read about 3/4 of the book on the plane and you are absolutely right.  Nobody should have any of the stuff in your house."  So, then after we get home, I show her the "Clear your Clutter..." book and she sat down and read the whole thing and has been telling everyone she has seen about it, so, I think we are definitely on the road to progress.  Although we were not able to tackle the basement, we are going to set a date for everything to be removed by, and she has been going through other stuff left in closets, etc. here so I will be able to reclaim some more of my living space.  I also finally got my sister to come take some of her stuff from the basement and to say that anything else I might find here of hers I am free to get rid of.  Whew...what a relief!  I would say by spring we should be able to get it cleared out.  (That'll be the next time my mom will make the trip up...)

I also had a contractor here to look at the basement.  I don't have an estimate yet, but know what is going to need to be done....excavate around the foundation and add drainage and seal...not an easy job and not cheap (I'm sure...) but, I'll have to figure out how to pay for it once I have the actual estimate...

Thanks again for everyone's support!

 

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2007debtheaven
Message #957 - 10/04/09 10:44 PM

cdarrow
That's great news! You've made a huge amount of progress in a short time: gotten your sis's stuff out, got your mom on the same page, gotten more closet space, found out what the problem in the basement is. You must be SO relieved! I hope the fix isn't too expensive. Be sure to get at least two estimates.

We had a huge financial setback last week. We own a 1BR apt we rent out and we have been trying to evict the renter for 18 months because that's how long she hasn't paid rent. (We do have insurance and thank Gd they has been paying her rent, albeit four months late.) She left end of Aug after the eviction notice was served (she snuck out) and we finally got the apt back on Wed (bailiff changed the lock). That's the good news. The bad news is she TOTALLY TRASHED the apt. Hammered all the floor tiles to bits, tore off the tiles in the shower so the wall is damaged, tore out and broke the kitchen cabinets and counter, tore apart the wardrobe, etc. We are waiting for an estimate, I'm guessing 15-20K, EVERYTHING needs to be redone. Hopefully insurance will pay 8K (their maximum).  

So, in a bizarre reaction I don't really understand, I spent at least 14 hours this weekend doing paperwork. I've been putting off dealing with my papers basket for months. I cleaned out the papers basket (eight hours), cleaned out my desk drawers (two hours), reorganized my rental file (two hours), burnt a bunch of old papers from my vertical files (two hours). I probably need another hour or two to completely finish the papers basket (it's not just papers, it's stuff I don't know where to put). But it's 3/4 empty now!

I don't really understand why I felt compelled me to do all that. Control over what I can control I guess. I also helped DD go through all her stuffed animals, three ended up in the basement and the rest ended up in a bag for our "Goodwill".

Also the stuff for "Goodwill" is in my trunk, which is full. I purposely didn't take it over last week because their big annual sale was this weekend and I was scared they would be refusing more stuff. I will take it over there by Wed at the latest.

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keriamon
Message #958 - 10/05/09 03:00 AM



Debt, maybe that paperwork sort-out was necessary; maybe something will come up with your apartment insurance claim that will require you find papers that are now findable.  That, and you're probably right about the control thing.

 

Can you file charges against her for vandalism and property destruction?  I doubt you will ever get your repair money back out of her, but I think I would feel a certain level of satisfaction if she actually got arrested and went to jail for what she did.  I don't see a difference between a stranger breaking out the windows in your house and a renter ripping out tiles and things inside your apartment.  Although I might feel more satisfied if I did get a judgment against her and then got to put a garnishment on her wages or a lien on her car.  For $15,000-$20,000 in damages, it's worth getting a lawyer.

 

Be sure and do a space clearing in that apartment after you fix it back up and before you let it out again.  And as part of the ceremony, write down your intention for the space: to have a nice, considerate tenant who pays rent on time every month, doesn't get in trouble with the law, and who leaves the place as clean as he or she gets it.  Without a space clearing you might end up attracting the same sort of bad egg.  Also make sure you get a Social Security number on the new tenant; makes that whole court-ordered wage garnishment easier to accomplish--just in case.

 

Wednesday night, my husband and I went to a friend's house to pick something up, and she invited us to stay for dinner.  We have eaten at her house before, but always as part of some larger group of people/pot-luck; this was their family dinner.  We sat at the dining room table; it was covered with a tablecloth and the dishes were set.  The food was put on the table and then a couple of candles were lit and some nice jazz music put on.  She said they ate dinner like that every evening.  She said it made the kids calmer and everyone spent more time eating and talking and less time wolfing down food in order to leave and do something else. 

 

It was so pleasant, in fact, I decided to replicate it.  Currently, we have an over-sized table in the kitchen which is the sewing/craft table.  We have no dining room and we have no bar stools for the little bar we have.  Normally my husband and I take supper on the couch in the living room, while watching a movie, and we usually take our other meals at our computer desks.  But we have a small, portable table that we use re-enacting.  I brought it in Friday evening and set it up in the middle of the kitchen.  Then I put a tablecloth on it, dished up the food and put it on the table, lit some candles and put my birthday flowers on it.  Then I turned on some violin music.  My husband and I both enjoyed our dinner that way.  Because the table is portable, I just cleared it off and then broke it down and put it away. 

 

I'm thinking, though, that I'd like to have the table available all the time, not just dinner.  Because I really should eat my breakfast and lunch both at a table.  I had read in a couple of different books on dieting that you should have this sort of set up at meal times because it helps you slow down and you tend to eat less and fill up faster.  I had never put enough stock in it to try it before, but having experienced the difference firsthand, I was inspired to try it and I want to repeat it.  My friend and I were talking about it, and we also discussed the fact that you can develop eating habits associated with place.  For instance, I frequently eat at my computer, so computer and food become linked in my mind.  Which might explain why I was on here the other night, thinking I really wanted some cereal, and then realizing that I was still quite full from dinner.  Maybe, just maybe, if the table becomes linked with eating food, then I will not want food unless I'm actually hungry or sitting at the table (and it will only be used for eating, so I won't sit at it unless I want to eat).

 

So, long story short, I'm going to see about moving around some furniture a

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keriamon
Message #959 - 10/05/09 03:01 AM



So, long story short, I'm going to see about moving around some furniture and the exercise equipment (again; I just moved it a couple of months ago) to see if I can't make room for a permanant table in our kitchen.  Maybe this will help me and my husband with part of our weight-loss goal.  It also helps make the house feel better.  Something Karen Kingston talks about is the lack of ritual in our lives in the West.  Having a "formal" dinner every evening can be a ritual (note: eating dinner on the couch every evening isn't a ritual, even if it is a habit).  Certainly I don't feel like having a lot of dirty dishes or a dirty floor in the kitchen when we're eating in there and the table looks so nice. 

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2007debtheaven
Message #960 - 10/05/09 08:04 PM

Keria, I can file charges and probably will. But, since the insurance co has paid out 18 months' rent and should pay 8K in damages, I was told by the agency that I need to make sure that I should file rather than the insurance co. She said I don't want to do anything that could make them think I'm "taking over" and give them an excuse to stop paying. This is a small family RE agency. The mom is owner / broker, S(on)IL is salesman / realtor, DD is property manager. SIL and DD were out of town for a funeral for five days, so I dealt with the mom last week. She told me to wait for her DD to talk to the insurance co before I file. Also I need to wait for the estimate and see how much insurance will pay and how much we will pay. That will probably take a few weeks. Only then can I decide whether or not to take a lawyer. I'm actually hoping I can even add myself to the insurance co's lawsuit but maybe I'm dreaming. I'd be happy to split the difference with them.

The space clearing is a GREAT idea! I will definitely do that when the time comes!

I agree that it's great to have a real table for meals. You can still eat in front of the TV sometimes but that way you don't do it every night. Could you move that big crafts table somewhere else? Then instead of a portable table, you could find a smaller table for the kitchen. I fear if you have to set up the portable table every night you will get bored of it after a while. It's better to have something more permanent if you can swing it. I think you were talking about setting up a crafts room, if you finish that, could you move that big table there?

Also, I did go to "Goodwill" today, and my car trunk is empty again. Too bad we don't get tax deductions for donations here.

Now all that is left is the CDs / videos in the guest room (but they're all neatly on shelves) and the annual basement purge.

And I did what I always do, I burnt myself out with all the paperwork. I'm probably going to consider that basket "done" for now. I have guests coming mid-Oct but I don't think I'll get to the CDs / videos by then. It's weird that every time I have a decluttering plan something else ends up coming up.

ETA: The estimate JUST came in. 23800K. I'm definitely calling a lawyer tomorrow.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #961 - 10/05/09 09:36 PM

Too bad we don't get tax deductions for donations here.

You can get deductions.  You to ask a tax accountant what is now required for donations like that, but they're still allowable; just the paperwork requirements have recently changed.  When I donate to the local Goodwill, they always ask me if I need a receipt for tax purposes.  I never get one because we don't have enough deductions to itemize. 

 

I am better than halfway through the great furniture move.  I now have the craft table (but not its contents) in the computer room and the treadmill (but not exercise bike) in the living room.  I still lack some bookcase moving.  But once I get my sewing stuff out of the kitchen floor, I can set up our little table there and leave it up.  When we have money, we can buy a regular kitchen table and not have to use our portable one. 

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2007debtheaven
Message #962 - 10/05/09 09:58 PM

Keria, no, here tax deductions are only for cash donations. Believe me I've checked..

This has hit me, very badly, and I need to deal with it. I wish you all the best. I will come back if and when I can but not any time soon I think.

Hugs to all of you.

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LadySimon
Message #963 - 10/06/09 01:01 AM

I think I've finally figured out why I don't feel comfortable in my living room.  It's my couch.  I have tis enormous faux black leather couch that just sucks up all the energy in the room like the black hole that it is.  The once lovely couch I just HAD to have.  It's too big, too ugly, too bulky, just too much.  Going to try a softer color and smaller size.  Like a chair and a loveseat.  Found a camel color microfiber that I like.  Looks comfy.  Think it's completely change the attitude of the room.

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RichinOz
Message #964 - 10/06/09 04:02 AM



I have been reading this board since it started and have had an interest in feng shui for some years now.  Earlier in the year we seemed to have money constantly going out with little coming in and were always playing catch-up all the time. I tied some red ribbon around the pipes under the sinks as well as put three frogs facing the front door and now money seems to be 'staying' longer in the household. 

 

Also just reading about the children/creativity area - no wonder we never get anything finished! This area of the bagua can cause problems with unfinished projects - did the kitchen up two years ago and the bi-fold doors still haven't finished being painted (although DH did do one coat a couple of weeks ago even though his intention was to finish them), DH started painting the master bedroom 18mths ago and the window frame still hasn't been finished, got a pile of mulch delivered 14mths ago and still haven't finished the garden beds. The room in this section also happens to be the bathroom which by the way needs redoing and has tiles missing from the wall. Have placed a cure (I read that 7 chinese coins is suitable with metal as a cure in this area) Let's see if these small jobs start to get finished.

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dianartemis
Message #965 - 10/06/09 05:15 PM

I went on a multi-week insomnia blitz, so I didn't finish my desk, and now it's worse than usual .  My certain goals for the week is to put away fans and clean off my desk.  My maybe goals for the week are to sort the linen closet, change out and sort seasonal clothing and take what I'm not keeping to goodwill.

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2007debtheaven
Message #966 - 10/07/09 08:41 PM

Update
After spending two days on the phone, thank Gd things are looking less dire. It seems that our insurance policy on that rental covers vandalism, so hopefully they will pay a decent part of the 24K. We have an appt with the insurance adjuster on Monday, I was amazed to get an appt so quickly. 

So fingers crossed for the insurance.

maybe something will come up with your apartment insurance claim that will require you find papers that are now findable.

Keriamon, you were absolutely right! All the rental papers were in a separate file box but they were not that well-organized. Now that they are I was able to pull out the paper I needed yesterday within seconds, literally.

All my decluttering is a reaction against DH's clutter. Last night I did his "paper basket" which was three times higher than the actual basket. (We have "matching baskets" on our shared desk.) I stayed up all night but now DH's basket is finally just "gently overflowing". His file method of choice is boxing it all up at the end of the year and sticking it in the basement with the year on it. So I've decided to go through those boxes too (in the winter when I do the annual basement purge). I've told him somebody has to and if he won't, I will.

He doesn't even open his mail, he says "it's just a bank statement" but everything is folded in three, in an envelope, it takes up a ton of space. When he saw his basket this morning he thanked me profusely and told me I was welcome to open anything I want. I handle ALL the family stuff, yet he gets three times as much mail as I do. So from now on I'm opening his mail, throwing out the carp / envelope, and dealing with the problem at the source.

[Virgil Showlion]

LadySimon
Message #967 - 10/07/09 10:15 PM

With all the paperwork I've been getting lately I'm thinking a shredder would be a great investment for my sanity.

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keriamon
Message #968 - 10/08/09 12:38 AM



Debt, are we married to the same husband?  LOL.  My husband has the same feeling about not opening mail where he THINKS he knows what's in it.  Although he used to just throw it away.  I open it, check it out for any notices or other correspondence that's supposed to be read, then file it by the month.  I constantly recycle the files; when a new month rolls around, I purge last year's stuff and start over again.  My husband has commented that he has been glad on a few occasions that I actually file that stuff, because it's helped when we've had a dispute or otherwise needed to look at something we paid out a few months ago. 

 

I keep a basket in the living room.  I typically open the envelope, toss that in the can (I have his and her trash cans at either end of the couch!) look over the statement, and then toss it in the basket.  When the basket gets full, or once a month, I will take the stuff to the filing cabinet and file it all at once. 

 

Lady Simon, black is also a color associated with water.  It could be that your black couch is just too much water for the house bagua and/or the room bagua.  Although I certainly won't discount that overwhelming size or lack of comfort could be the problem.  If you can't buy a new couch right now, you could try and balance it out with some throw pillows and a throw over the back in a different color, or a couch cover.  Come to think of it, earth dams water, so anything earth would cancel out the couch's water.  Earth colors are, oddly enough, earth tones--including orange and browns.  Maybe that's why you want to go with the camel-colored couch instead?

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cdarrow26
Message #969 - 10/08/09 01:07 AM

It seems that our insurance policy on that rental covers vandalism, so hopefully they will pay a decent part of the 24K. We have an appt with the insurance adjuster on Monday, I was amazed to get an appt so quickly. 

That's great news!  You've been in my thoughts and I'm glad it is working out better than anticipated!

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LadySimon
Message #970 - 10/08/09 03:07 AM



Keriamon,

 

It could be.  I have bar stools, book shelves, a dining table, and a tv stand that are also black.  I tried to balance it with natural 2 wicker chests and red throw pillows but it's not enough.  Thinking the camel/caramel color chair and loveseat will fit better and soften the overall feel.  I tried to put a throw over the back but since it's faux leather it just slips right off.  Lol!  In addition all of my electronics - tv, laptop, dvd player, printer - are charcoal gray.  That can't be helping.

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keriamon
Message #971 - 10/08/09 09:21 PM



Yeah, that sounds like too monotone a color scheme.  While black has its uses, it's also a fairly depressing color.  Usually people that decorate with it are turning inward, trying to deal with personal problems like self-esteem, sense of self, grief, etc.  It's often a color that powerless people are attracted to, because it's a powerful color; it tells people to back off, leave you alone (which can be a very necessary statement if you busy trying to sort out yourself; you can't find a sense of who you are if there are other people constantly trying to push and pull you their way).  It's also not a color that invites friends or entertaining; it's all about self.  If you don't feel particularly like dwelling on your inner-self constantly, that can have a lot to do with why you don't feel comfortable in the "room of lonely ego."

 

White, by the way, is a metal, and metal holds ("creates") water, so if you have white walls or carpets, you're drowning in there! 

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2007debtheaven
Message #972 - 10/08/09 11:07 PM

Debt, are we married to the same husband?  LOL.  My husband has the same feeling about not opening mail where he THINKS he knows what's in it.  Although he used to just throw it away.

I WISH mine would have just thrown it all away all these years, LOL! Our desk is in a niche behind the dining room. His and her baskets on both ends, computer in the middle, trash bin under the desk. I do exactly the same thing, open the envelope, throw the junk if there is any and the envelope in bin or the fireplace (we don't shred, we burn). As of yesterday I've been doing it with DH's mail too. I too generally empty my basket regularly but that's the first thing I get behind on, when I get behind. I never get behind on laundry or dishes, but I definitely do on paperwork.

Lady Simon
What about a colored rug to go with the throws, and some "accents" like colored candles? Colorful art on the walls? Also a couple of pieces of double-sided tape would probably keep the throw in place and not damage the couch. But if you don't "love" it, I'd try to sell it and get something that suits better, especially if you plan to be there for a while.

RichinOz
DH has this same problem, he starts something and doesn't quite finishes and moves onto the next project. It has taken me years but now we finish one project, then we start the next one. Can YOU finish some of those projects? DH is pretty proud, and as soon as I start finishing something he hasn't, he does. I like to do one project at a time but since he too tends to be "all over the place" at this point we've got it down to two projects at a time, generally one indoor project and one outdoor project, so he can go between the two depending on the weather.

Also, this is a FS classic about money leaving the house, try to keep the toilet seats down.

cdarrow
Thank you! I appreciate it! I am still extremely nervous about how much they will pay, but knowing they cover vandalism was a HUGE relief! To be honest I was SO upset that I didn't even remember we had insurance. It was only when DH asked me if I'd called them yet that I went "D'OH!" and did.

[Virgil Showlion]

RichinOz
Message #973 - 10/09/09 01:39 AM



2007DH - we do keep the toilet seat down, as much as possible with a DD4.  DH wanted to go to the hardware store and get some materials to start a deck out the back, yes it would be nice to have an area to sit outside however we would then need to buy an outdoor setting, I just said I would rather get the rest of the yard completed before you start on that.  Me doing some of the jobs, well most of it's painting and he has told me numerous times he doesn't like the way I do it and he would rather do it.  I did manage to finish the rose garden with weeding (a handful at a time) and mulched it all. Also when we do have some time it's difficult with a DD4 and DS 14mths as they both want to help.

 

I think paperwork is the first thing to go when things become hectic for most people - I know it can grow very quickly if I don't do it. As a fan of Flylady the habit this month is paperclutter so am working on getting rid of it one file/pile at a time and really deciding how much of anything do you really need.  I'm thinking of scanning all the bills for a year and then shredding originals - if a really need a copy I have it on file then. 

 

I know this thread started with some challenges - now that 2007DH has done her paperwork how about we all get in and get rid of some.  I know I feel more in control when I know where everything is and have a sense of peace when I look at a empty filing basked (doesn't happen too often though).

 

LadySimon - FS is a lot about how you feel - we got rid of a large 3 seater and 2 arm chairs and replaced it with a 2.5 seater lounge (actually didn't really have a choice the dog decided to wee all over it and couldn't get rid of the smell) and went the opposite way from a beige/caramel to a dark steel blue. It is amazing the difference in the feel of the room and for me it feels more inviting. Also tastes change as you grow as a person the lounge you loved and had to have just dosen't suit your lifestyle anymore.  We also had a large ugly dark dining table which I wanted to get rid of for a few years and DH didn't, in July this year DH put it out for a local clean-up now just to get rid of those ugly chairs. Getting rid of something allows for something new to come into your life.  How about getting rid of the couch and leaving the space empty for now if that's a possibility - live in the space without it and see what happens.

 

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LadySimon
Message #974 - 10/09/09 02:29 AM

RichinOz - As much as I'd love to, I would then have no seating in my living room.  Plus I have guests coming to visit next week and I'm going to need it for them to sleep on. 

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LadySimon
Message #975 - 10/09/09 02:41 AM



Cont...

 

I'm thinking of selling it after they leave and then buying just the overstuffed chair.  I live alone anyway so I'm really the only one that needs to sit down!    My carpets are camel color and the walls are a light...tan I guess.  Kinda earthy.  I do have some small wooden accent pieces in their natural finishes but they just aren't large enough to go against the black.  I think you're right that I'm drowning in here.  Need to add a little island just for me!

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2007debtheaven
Message #977 - 10/12/09 11:51 PM

I wrote a very long post here the other day but it never posted. Ugh.

The gist of it was:

RichinOz, the mere fact that your DH can do them himself puts you WAY ahead of the game! I try to get DH to keep to two projects at a time, one indoors, one outdoors. That way he can move between them, and it takes the weather into account. Also our youngest is 11, DIY is much harder with small kids!

LadySimon
Before you decide you want just an oversized chair, think about the implications. Do you really want ONE seat in your LR? I'd try for a smaller couch or a loveseat. When my ex left (nearly 18 years ago, definitely water under the bridge) he took the antique farm table and chairs. I was alone with three kids under six. I found a smaller, pine version on sale with six chairs. I asked to buy the table and four chairs, they said no. So I bought it with six chairs, thinking, I don't want to be alone with my kids forever. I decided if I bought the six chairs they'd be occupied one day. A year later DH filled up the fifth chair, a few years later DS3 filled up the sixth chair. As my family grew that table got too small, we gave it to a good friend for her country house and bought a bigger one. It was the first piece of furniture DH and I had ever bought together. I still get emotional when I see that old table at my friend's country house.

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2007debtheaven
Message #978 - 10/13/09 12:05 AM

Rental update

I stayed up again all night last night because I was totally freaking out about the appt with the adjuster. I went through ALL my vertical files and now there's TONS of space in that dedicated desk drawer, even after putting back one of the three big files I took out a few years ago because they didn't fit in that drawer anymore. One was DS2's file (he's in college), now it fits. Another was my payslip file which will stay in a separate drawer (it's enormous, here you have to keep ALL your payslips). The third is DS1's file. It's still on a shelf, and it's the ONLY file I didn't go through last night (out of over 20!). I'll go through it and give it to him in a nice file box when he finishes grad school in June.  

Keria, last week I wrote out a wish for a good insurance payout in purple ink and put it in my "wish" box in the wealth corner.

All this to say, the appt with the adjuster today seemed to go very well. I do have to file a police report, but she suggested waiting till after the bailiff comes next Monday.

She said that she can only give me a figure in about a month, after she gets more info (ie bailiff's report, the police report). She needs to check the details of our policy, but says that "they should cover at least a good part of it". She even told me to get an estimate to replace the boiler / hot water tank (she is scared it will explode!), for all the appliances (although some may not be covered it depends on the policy) and for a better lock for the front door (it originally had a three-point lock but the bailiff always installs a cheap lock when they repossess a place). I thought that was GREAT of her. And she told us we could start the reno as soon as the bailiff comes and I filed a police report.

So all in all, good news. The contractor is redoing the estimate to include the boiler, appliances and lock, next Monday the bailiff comes, and I will file the police report on Monday or Tues. I have a 12K LOC I can use to at least get the ball rolling on the reno. I will worry about financing once I know the final amount and that won't be for a while.

So still a headache, obviously, but I can deal with the headache, it's the 24K (and now plus the boiler and the appliances and the lock) I can't deal with.

Also, this is OUR insurance co, the PM's insurance company will offer something up to 8K max when they get the bailiff's report. I'm hoping and praying we'll get 75% between the two, anything over that will be a miracle.

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Stay Put
Message #979 - 10/13/09 01:41 AM

I started re-reading my oft-recommended book "Clear Your Clutter with Fung Shui" by Karen Kingston and I was reminded of the number of people who wrote in to tell her that money problems eased up after clearing out their clutter.  Some of that was because they sold their clutter and got cash for it, and some of it was just that when they got rid of the clutter, cash seemed to flow in. 

While stationed over in Okinawa, I got to see "Fung Shui" first hand from some of the most uncluttered, simplistic practitioners of the philosophy.  Of course they were all in abject poverty still, but they did have the tidiest huts.  Fact.

[Virgil Showlion]

LadySimon
Message #980 - 10/13/09 02:31 AM



2007debtheaven -

 

You have a point.  There is a matching loveseat that goes with the chair for not much more.  Maybe I'll get that one first.  I spent the weekend cleaning my bedroom and closet.  Didn't realize I had so many clothes.  Thinking of putting some up on ebay.  I slept very nicely in my newly cleaned and organized room though!

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boos_mom
Message #981 - 10/14/09 12:47 AM



2007DH - glad to hear that things are looking up for you!

I haven't been able to do much cleaning lately, as I got sick and then we did a weekend getaway with the kids, which was great (but not that relaxing for me with all the preparations and packing, and then unpacking and laundry).  So, I'll have to start up again this week with my mini-cleaning-sessions. 

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keriamon
Message #982 - 10/16/09 05:28 PM



I don't know about the rest of the country, but it's been rainy and gloomy here more days than not for about a month.  It's starting to feel like Seattle!  So much gloom has really made me feel bad (no wonder Seattle has the highest suicide rate of anywhere in the U.S.) and unproductive.  So yesterday I went through the house and turned on every single light--hall lights, lamps, lights that we often forget we have, like the ones over the bar)--all the lights in the house.  And I started to feel a bit better yesterday afternoon and picked up a few things.  So first thing this morning I turned them all on again and I'm hoping to acutally get some stuff done.  As almost all of our lights now have CF bulbs in them, it won't cost a lot of electricity to run all these lights anyways.  So, if you're feeling undermotivated or blue, try turning on a lot of lights. 

 

I bought a magazine the other day called 870 Home Hints (a special issue of The Family Handyman).  One that seems useful to a lot of people here is that there is now fabric spray paint.  Supposed to run about $6 a can.  You can just spray-paint your fabric a new color (I think it's supposed to work on vinyl too).  It can cause fabric to be a little stiff, so don't use it on napped fabrics like velour or velvet.  But if you have a chair that you really like, but the upholestry doesn't match and you can't afford to have it recovered and you hate slipcovers, or can't get one to fit it, then try painting it.  Would also work for the cushions in kitchen and dining room seats, if you feel you can't recover them yourself.  Just use newspaper to cover any exposed wood or metal that you don't want painted. 

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cdarrow26
Message #983 - 10/16/09 09:22 PM

So, if you're feeling undermotivated or blue, try turning on a lot of lights. 

Thanks for the tip!  I'll have to try this.  It has been pretty gloomy here too, not to mention the SNOW we got last night.  It is starting to get darker earlier and earlier and I feel myself just wanting to curl up until spring!  I feel like a slug...I will give the light thing a try!

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keriamon
Message #984 - 10/17/09 05:08 PM

Ooo, snow actually makes me feel like doing things.  But it's not something we get a lot of down here in TN.  We get flurries a few times every year, but it tends to only stick once a winter, and even then it's a one-day thing.  So snow is rare enough to be exciting.  I still get all fired up, like a kid, even if I'm not working and won't be missing work because of it, lol.  The Farmer's Alamanac, though, is predicting several decent snows for us this winter.  My mother said she had heard that the sun was starting to enter a more dormant period starting this year, and it would not put off as much heat, and everywhere would start having colder winters and cooler summers.  Certainly this summer was cool for us.  We had one miserably hot week in June and then nothing.  Not one day over 100 in August.  We even had decent amounts of rainfall all summer except September. 

[Virgil Showlion]

LadySimon
Message #985 - 10/20/09 07:42 PM



Hey keriamon, didn't know you were in TN, so am I!  Just moved here in January.  The snow last winter was a whole new thing for me to get used to!

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boos_mom
Message #986 - 10/21/09 08:16 PM

I got another box of stuff ready for donation, returned some borrowed baby items, gave a bag of clothes to a relative, and cleared out more space in the living room, as well as cleared part of the couch I want to move to a different room.  Just have to finish up the rest of the couch so DH can move the furniture around.  I am hoping to get more things ready for donation and breakdown cardboard boxes for recycling and do a drop off this week. 

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keriamon
Message #987 - 10/22/09 03:32 AM



LadySimon, you must be in a snowier part of TN, because I think we only had one snow last year and it didn't even stick 24 hours.  I'm in middle TN, although my husband and I both are from the eastern parts (he the Smokies and me the Plateau).

 

I've got company coming Sunday, so time to dig in and clean up again.  It's not too horrible around here, but still a few hours' worth of work.  LOL, I told my friend, when I invited her, she needed to come so I could get the motivation to tidy. 

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #988 - 10/22/09 06:24 PM

Ugg, I have to spend tonight going through all of my clothes.  I am only 10 weeks pregnat and yet next to nothing fits!  It is so hard to hid the little bump already (I have a very small frame).  It is so hard to build up the motivation for this when I come home from work exhausted (preg hormones plus the drugs I am on), DH is out of town and I have to take the dog for his walk.  I need a little pep talk!  I have to get this done tonight! I spent an hour this morning (yes I was an hour late to work)trying to find something that fits and hides this wonderful little secret. 

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GusitaRenkr
Message #989 - 10/22/09 06:30 PM

Abundance, at least you have a good excuse for being late. I have been an hour late for work trying to find my car keys. I have heard the Bella band allows you to wear your pants unbuttoned and helps hold them up.

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #990 - 10/22/09 06:39 PM

Abundance, rubber bands and untucked shirts. At 10 weeks my pants didn't button anymore so I used a rubber band as a button extender. I didn't start really showing till 16 weeks but by 10 my pants were snug. Also remember exercise is great. Keeping in shape is supposed to help with labor and keep us from gaining too much weight. Like I did. Plus it's supposed to help with the energy levels.

But all I'm up to is slowly purging stuff so that when we get the house we won't have to move so much stuff. I never thought house hunting would be so frustrating. It seems like every time we find one that might work for us, something isn't quite right. One house has the bathroom on the 1st floor and the bedrooms on the second. That doesn't work well for me because I don't want to risk the steep stairs the house had at 2am if I had to go. Another one said it had 2 bathrooms. The second bathroom was a sink and a nonworking toilet in the attic! It didn't even have a proper floor. Right now it looks like we are going to be staying till the end of our lease.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #991 - 10/22/09 06:41 PM



abundance - you could also just use a regular rubber band to hook on the button and run through the button hole.  That gave me a few extra weeks before buying pants.  Just make sure your tops are long enough to cover up the waist area.    You might need some new tops though.  I know my 'rack' got bigger kind of early on.  People might notice and suspect if you start hanging out of your shirts.    Frankly, I think I wasn't so concerned with wearing 'nice' things after a while, and just trying to find something that didn't make me itch or feel hot (oven was such the appropriate analogy for me).  I'm so happy for you. 

 

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #992 - 10/22/09 07:06 PM



Thanks for the advice ladies, keep it coming.  This is one case where feng shui will definitely help me in the money arena.  I plan to go through everything and box up stuff that isn't going to fit (we will be moving before I have my body back again).  Of what is left I will be able to easily see what I need to buy (including colors- I am notorius for having a giant wardrobe with few matching pieces). 

As for the "bump" I am normally a size 0, at my 7 week appointment my dr laughed because she could already feel my uterus bumping out of my abdomen.  I am not really supposed to exercise yet (only walking and gentle yoga) due to repeat miscarriages.  So, I am stuck with a bump at 10 weeks!  I have been using the rubber band trick since week 7 (my clothes are normally very tailored to my body so any increase in size makes them not fit). 

boosmom, thanks!  Yes, the "rack" has developed it's own life (need to go bra shopping tomorrow).  None of my button-up shirts botton at the top anymore!  I have already had to spend about $200 to get a few work shirts (they need to look like my normal clothes as I don't want anyone guessing the secret until I've had the next us at week 12).   None of my friends (5 pregnant in the last year) are near my size either so borrowing is pretty much out (plus I haven't told them yet).  This is going to be an expensive time!

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LadySimon
Message #993 - 10/22/09 09:26 PM



Actually, I'm in middle TN too.  Guess i'm just not used to snow.  It snowed once then took several days to melt off my porch.  Seemed like a lot to me!  Lol!

 

I'm trying to make some changes to my house, getting some new furniture and getting rid of the old.  Still having problems finding help though.  I can rent a small pickup from uhaul for the furniture, not worried about that.  It's the muscle I'm needing.  Someone suggested asking a friend's teenage son for help, but none of my friends have kids that old.  Need to rent a hubby in middle TN.  Lol! All the movers I looked into are to actually move me somewhere else.  Need ideas!

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dianartemis
Message #994 - 10/22/09 09:37 PM

Do you have any male co-workers?  If you belong to a church...how about asking some members for help?  Heck, ask the high school football team .

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cdarrow26
Message #995 - 10/22/09 10:06 PM

LadySimon  If you go through the Uhaul website, there will be a link for e-movers or something like that.  You put in your location and it will show you what is available in your area, what services they offer, and what they charge.  I used it to find movers when I moved last year, but there were tons of listings on there for people to help with small jobs, cleaning, organinzing, packing, etc.  If you are buying NEW furniture from a store, won't they deliver?  I know the fees are usually pretty high, but me being a single person with little options for help, I usually just end up paying it...HTH!

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boos_mom
Message #996 - 10/26/09 08:34 PM



I did get to break down a bunch of boxes, and DH stuck them in the camper of the truck along with the donation box, so at least they're out of the house.  I also worked on going through #1's clothes some more.  Got another two bags of clothes ready to donate and give away.  At least this process has significantly made clear to me that #1 really does not need any more clothes.  If I do find something that is too cute, it's definitely bought in a bigger size.  Thankfully, some things just don't look as cute in a bigger size, so that eliminates the purchase urge.  And thankfully, gymboree's clothing lines have gotten a lot less cute since the requirements for lead screening in children's things (including clothes) started up this year.

abundance - I'm small too.  I used to wear more form fitting clothes, but pg changed that for me.  Things often felt too constricting.  Even now, after #2, I don't wear such fitted tops anymore.  Loose and cool, especially when you've got to carry a warm little one against you.  My internal thermostat broke after I got pg. 

 

[Virgil Showlion]

2007debtheaven
Message #998 - 10/26/09 11:50 PM

Rental update

The final estimate is 30K, but that includes the boiler / furnace and appliances, which we are apparently covered for (not at 100% of course because nothing is brand new.) We got the bailiff's report late last Friday, and we finally managed to file the police report on Saturday. I had tried to file a police report the previous week, to no avail, I spent nearly eight hours getting the runaround. Then I decided to wait till we got the bailiff's report (a legal document) and try again and it worked.

We sent the info off to the adjuster, and now we're waiting. I'm hoping for a 23K-24K payout based on what she told me before we got the final estimate. Fingers, toes, legs, arms, all crossed.

But I'm finally coming out of it, I've started exercising and socializing again. I had a couple of really really bad weeks there, but hopefully the worst is over now. I know it's only money but 30000e is a heck of a lot of money.

Of course my paper basket is getting fuller, and yes, I ignored that too, LOL.

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2007debtheaven
Message #999 - 10/27/09 12:02 AM

AGH!

A&P I wrote a LONG post on suggestions and MSN zapped it! Agh!

Long story short, check out places I'm guessing you're probably not used to shopping at, like Zara, Mango, and H&M. You can get either basics or "fun" items there, then get other items at a more upmarket maternity shop.

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2007debtheaven
Message #1000 - 10/27/09 12:06 AM

Ack, it also zapped the comments to everybody else!

Here is the condensed version, lol.

Lady Simon
I think getting the loveseat is a great idea! All the best!

BoosMom
Good for you for working so diligently and making so much progress! I tend to go overboard, pull an all-nighter or two, burn myself out and start out at square one. Not a good idea, your way is much better!

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LadySimon
Message #1001 - 10/28/09 01:44 AM



Thanks 2007debtheaven!

 

I found the loveseat I want but it's almost $600!!!  Although it's good quality I'm too much of a cheapskate at heart to shell that out, even offset by whatever I get for my old couch.  Going to have to keep looking!  Will keep you posted.

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1002 - 10/28/09 04:20 PM

2007, thanks for the suggestions.  I hadn't thought of those but they are located in my town and the couple times I have been in them the pants have been the right shape.  Those would be cheaper options for these in-between sizes.  Thanks again and glad to hear that so far your insurance is playing nice.  I am sure this was a headache to go through, hopefully the final outcome will be better than you can anticipate.  Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

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2007debtheaven
Message #1003 - 10/28/09 06:51 PM

Lady Simon
My niece found a couch set she loved that was very expensive and ended up finding the same one "gently used" on Craigslist for 75% off.

A&P
I hope you can find what you need there. I've never actually been to Mango (I shop at the local mall, which has Zara and H&M but not Mango) but I took DD (17, size 4) shopping on Monday and we were both very happy with the purchases from H&M and Zara.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1004 - 10/28/09 08:55 PM



DH2007 - thanks, every little bit helps!  Unfortunately, I don't have the time to do all-nighters with little ones.  So, I usually do at least 30 minutes each night (usually longer as I get caught up in it) after the kids go to bed.  It does seem to help me build momentum and encouragement to keep going. 

The holidays coming up will be a bit challenging, as I do sometimes buy several items trying to find the "right" gift, so stuff piles up until I get to do returns.  I will definitely try to minimize that this year and try to keep my focus on clearing out stuff, not accumulating.

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keriamon
Message #1005 - 10/28/09 09:21 PM



Well, I didn't end up getting the house cleaned up because I caught a cold instead.  Still, I've been feeling like I was trying to come down with something for nearly two weeks, so now that it's happened and I'm starting to get over it, maybe I will go back to normal energy levels.  Sometimes it helps to just get sick and get over it, than to linger, fighting it off and draining yourself for weeks at a time.

 

Due to my continued unemployment, my husband and I have decided that I should look for work here, where we're living now, as opposed to where we want to move to.  Not that I will stop looking for work where we want to move to, but I am also looking for work here where we are now.  We live near three metropolitan areas, including Nashville, so my chances of finding work are much better.  Chattanooga is much smaller, has no oulying cities of any real size, and has been hit harder by the recession; it will be harder to find work there.  With the economists predicting rising unemployment through early to mid-2010, with a minimum of two years after that to get back down to normal unemployment levels, it looks like we may be stuck here for a while longer. 

 

But I have decided that if I do get a job here, we're going to spring for some house upgrades that we didn't want to do just before moving (we live in a trailer, so whatever we spend on upgrading, we won't get it back in sale price; if we're staying a few more years, however, it will be worth our while to spend the money just because it will make us more comfortable).  First, we need a new fridge; that should give us some noticeable savings on energy because our current one leaks air like nobody's business.  Then I might see what it would cost to have a dishwasher installed.  Buying a dishwasher is no real skin off our nose, and there used to be a dishwasher in the kitchen, so there's room for it, however, having it installed is something else entirely.  When we removed the old dishwasher, we didn't turn off the water before pulling it out.  It wasn't until I thought about it afterwards that I told my husband, you know, there should have been water going to that dishwasher, just like their is water in the pipes going to the faucet; we shouldn't have been able to pull it out without turning off the water first.  So there's a plumbing problem somewhere that wouldn't allow us to just hook up another dishwasher and go about our business; there's no water in the pipe to the dishwasher.  Also, the old dishwasher was wired directly into the fuse box and a mouse ate through the wire.  There's no electrical plug under the counter to plug a new dishwasher into, and you can't splice into the old wiring because of the mouse damage.  So we'd need an electrician AND a plumber to put in a new dishwasher.  There's the rub. 

 

If we stay, though, I'd paint the kitchen walls and the cabinets.  And I'd probably rip the carpet up in the master bath and probably the spare bath and put down self-adhesive tiles, because the carpet is old, yucky, and it's really stupid to have carpet in bathrooms anyways.  And I might just rip up the carpet in all the other rooms and paint the subflooring and put down some oriental rugs (which we seem to have a knack for finding cheap).  And I'd probably paint the walls in all the other rooms. 

 

Which, you know, as soon as I did all that, one of us would find a job in Chattanooga and would have to sell, LOL.  But, maybe that's what we need to do in order to move.  Karen Kingston specifically mentions that if you're not close to your house, don't love it and take care of it, things will always seem to go wrong with it: you'll be broken into, you can't sell it, etc.   

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2007debtheaven
Message #1006 - 10/28/09 09:31 PM

Keriamon

I agree, as soon as you do even part of that, you'll probably find a job in the other place, lol. But that's life, and you'll enjoy it in the meantime!

My BFF didn't have a hooked up dishwasher in her first house. It had its own space but it wasn't hooked up. Instead she hooked it up to the kitchen sink (I think. It was something like that) at night when they went to bed. Maybe that could be a compromise if the real installation is too costly.

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justeloped
Message #1007 - 10/31/09 11:43 PM

Hey all,

Not quite Feng Shui related, but I've been reading up a bit on minimalism and I LOVE aguynameddave (he has a great blog) where he reduces his personal possessions to 100 things. I'm trying to get there now... I'm at 130, so I have a ways to go, but minimalism and Feng Shui seem to have a lot in common.

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boos_mom
Message #1008 - 11/02/09 08:03 AM



2007DH - glad that things are looking up for you.  (sorry, forgot to include that in my earlier post).

Didn't get to do much clearing out this weekend, but we did move the couches around to my desired arrangements.  DH really likes it.  He gets to use the good couch now. 

Not so great thing was the washer died this weekend, and the part that died costs about $300 (same thing happened once before while under the extended warranty).  So, we went to Sears to get a new one.  First available delivery date wasn't until Wednesday, unfortunately.  At least it gives us time to clear out the laundry room.  A couple of my relatives like to use it as a storage room for their small stuff.  Rather annoying, especially when I'm trying to do laundry. 

[Virgil Showlion]

goddessofrock
Message #1009 - 11/02/09 03:37 PM



My left shoulder and my sinuses have really been bothering me and i have been going to acupuncture and doing yoga which seems to be helping but it is taking awhile to get back to normal. Does anyone know the "cure" for that?

 

We moved into my grandparent's old condo recently and cleared out all of the expired food, changed the water filter for the fridge, etc. My aunt needs to pack some of the knickknacks up when she visits at Christmas!

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dianartemis
Message #1010 - 11/03/09 04:22 PM

Goddess, you might try a neti pot for your sinuses.  I have a relative who's used one for a couple of years now, and they haven't had a bout of sinusitis or other sinus infection in more than a year.  They've even stopped using the nasal spray.  I think they use it once a week.  I use one because I get really bad nose bleeds in the winter and this helps with keeping the sinus membranes moister.

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goddessofrock
Message #1011 - 11/03/09 05:29 PM



dianartemis~~ My system tends to be hot/moist so i kind of need to dry out/balance.  I am trying to figure out what may be out of whack in my house that may be aggrivating this.

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dianartemis
Message #1012 - 11/03/09 08:22 PM



Neti pots use salt water or saline solution, they tend to initially draw moisture out of your sinus membranes.  My sinus membranes tend to not produce enough mucus in the winter time, the neti pot promotes that particular activity, w/o going overboard.  It also makes for a hostile environment for cold and flu viruses.

If you want a cheap try, get a bottle of eyewash or saline solution.  Do not get anything that says enzyme cleaner or disinfectant or contact lense cleaner plus saline.  My dad grabbed the wrong bottle once...I still get the giggles when I think about it.

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dianartemis
Message #1013 - 11/05/09 06:48 PM



This weekend (I have a 3 day weekend), I'm going to tackle the bane of my decluttering efforts...my desk.  I'm going to start on a minimum of 1-hour/day.  I may do it in only 30 minute segments, but this is beginning to effect my financial planning efforts and money management.  I look at the silly thing, cringe and find anything else to do, because I just do not want to deal with it.  I paid every single bill late last month because I just didn't want to face it.

 I will do better!

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LadySimon
Message #1014 - 11/05/09 11:35 PM



Ugh.  My desk looks the same way.  Think I'm going to invest in a shredder to motivate myself and make things easier to get rid of.  Either way, something's gotta give!!!

[Virgil Showlion]

goddessofrock
Message #1015 - 11/06/09 03:39 AM



Ugh. My grandparents passed away 2.5 years ago and we just moved into their condo last month.

 

I cleaned the microwave for the first time in probably 3 years. Nana would be rolling in her grave if she saw that.

 

And I cleaned the countertops in the kitchen and the mirror in the bathroom (those I had cleaned a few times already)

 

I need to consolidate all my finances/paperwork this weekend!

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goddessofrock
Message #1016 - 11/06/09 04:31 AM

Ugh. There was hand lotion that expired in 2005 under the bathroom sink. I am going to bed! Everything just needs to be more thoroughly organized from the attic to the basement.

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1017 - 11/06/09 01:35 PM

Goddessofrock, love the screen name.  You have quite a project on your hands.  I am a little sick like this but I love clearing and decluttering new spaces.  One thing that works best for me is to start at the front door and move inward (with your bedroom being the first private space completed).  Get three boxes/bags/containers and use one for throw, one for donate/sell and the last for keep.  Starting at the front door and making those decisions about everything there will help that space become yours.  Having that space done gives hope that you will complete the whole house and for me gives me the energy to keep moving through the house.  Hope this helps!

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cdarrow26
Message #1018 - 11/06/09 02:15 PM

goddessofrock  I love your screen name too!  I am dealing with a very similar situation.  Last year, I moved into my parents home and have since been dealing with cleaning out 40 years of other people's c.rap.  It's physically and emotionally exhausting.  MOST of it is at least out of the main floor at this point, but there is still a lot in the basement, garage, etc.  When I moved here, it seriously looked like one of the houses from "Hoarder's" and I have to keep reminding myself of how much I've done, cuz there are still day's I'd like to just throw in the towel...Maybe we can keep each other motivated!

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goddessofrock
Message #1019 - 11/06/09 04:07 PM



The upstairs bathroom is done.

 

The baby's room is done except he shares a LARGE closet which is 75% my aunt's stuff and I don't know what is relevant and what can be tossed until she visits next month.

 

My room is organized except for paperwork which needs to be consolidated. (WEEKEND PROJECT!)

 

the entry closet is all set.

 

The kitchen and 1/2 bath I need to look and see what is under the sinks. (WEEKEND PROJECT!)

 

The den is all set (I am however getting a strong vibe to switch the painting that is there with the one in the baby's closet.)

 

And the attic I really need to encourage my aunt to go through with or without me. It is like 10% our stuff, 20% her stuff, and 70% stuff from the grandparents that should be sold or donated. The attic could actually be cleared out and used as a craft room or something if there wasn't so much STUFF!

 

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Who_is_JohnGalt1
Message #1020 - 11/06/09 04:46 PM

I need some opinions, PLEASE!!!

Some background info:  My dear dear dear husband has TONS of stuff.  He has a lot of hobbies that come with  ALOT of stuff.  I am a minimalist and hardly have anythings, except books, some yarn and some scrapbooking stuff.  When we got married, we had one bedroom appt that was STUFFED WITH STUFF.  We always knew that we need more space.  When we moved to MA last year, we got 2bdr appt, bc we were expecting.  Our current apartment is STUFFED WITH STUFF too. We just don't have enough space.  We've been house hunting for over a year now and keep hoping that we will be moving any day now.
Here is my question:  should I just give up for now and wait to organize and make everything Fung-Shuie in the new house (once we get it) or should I attempt to do it now, in the apartment.  The thing that is stopping me is that I feel no matter how much I'll try to clean and organize and such, there is just not enough space for the things that we have.  You think I am just using that as an excuse??
Let me hear your thoughts, please!!!
Lena

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1021 - 11/06/09 05:34 PM



lena - you should start now, since I assume that you will be purging items and since you will be moving, who wants to keep and move stuff that will only get purged later?  Especially if you will be paying movers to move stuff that you don't want.  I know how you feel though.  It's overwhelming and difficult to figure out where to start.  And I get easily distracted when I am doing something that's not exactly fun.  But, I just start off with 30 minutes (which usually turns into at least an hour once I get going) each day.  Focus on one small area at a time.  It's easy to start working multiple areas, but then none of it gets really clear, and then motivation gets low b/c you do lots of work but don't see results.  And honestly, your DH should be the one to be helping/doing a lot of the work, since he is the accumulator.  If he doesn't change his behavior, your hard work will be for naught as it will just start piling up again after you move.  Good luck!

In my news, I did not get to do much decluttering this week.  With the washer dying and looking for the new one, waiting for delivery (laundry room did get cleaned up, just not by me), and then doing laundry, I have been negligent.  So, I will definitely do some clearing this weekend!

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CoffeeGirl
Message #1022 - 11/06/09 05:52 PM



Hi ladies! I wanted to bring your attention to the sticky thread on the main board that is discussing technical difficulty with the MSN boards. If you have experienced any trouble, even if it's a duplicate of someone else's problem, and even if you have mentioned it here on this thread, please go ahead an report it again on the main board. It is very helpful to me to have all of the issues reported in one location.

Thanks!

CoffeeGirl

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #1023 - 11/06/09 05:54 PM

Lena, DH and I are in the same situation. We're house hunting as well and what I'm doing is starting to pack already. We're purging as we pack. Right now all that's really packed is our spring stuff( since we have to be out by March 31st anyways because that's when our lease is up) and anything that DS won't be able to use for awhile. His bigger clothes are packed but I left them in a spot I can easily get to them. Our place isn't stuffed with stuff( mainly because I still have stuff in my parents basement) but we have our share of junk that could use to be purged.

It's not as easy as I thought it would be to keep up with the housework with DS here. First it was sleeping when he was napping because I was so tired and now it's he seems to know when I plan on doing something that means I'm not going to be at his instant beck and call. He'll wake from a dead sleep and cry if I try to go to the laundry room. And once he knows my plan has been thwarted he's right back asleep. But my mom is more then happy to come over and keep him occupied while I get stuff done. I've started finding ways to work him into the cleaning. Like making the dumpster  a regular stop on our walks and he loves hanging out in the laundry. I can't wait till he can face forward in his front pack. He's curious and loves looking around.

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Who_is_JohnGalt1
Message #1024 - 11/06/09 07:12 PM

Thank you ladies.  The thing is, though, is that I don't think we have that much stuff to throw way.  Our place looks very cluttered for the lack of space, so we just stick things where we find room.  That's why I've been waiting to get a house in hopes to have more space for things.   But may be I am just being delusional
Lena

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #1025 - 11/06/09 07:56 PM

Lena, I'm sure you can find something. Like clothes that no longer fit, paperwork that needs to be shredded, that kind of thing. That's what I'm getting rid of.

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goddessofrock
Message #1026 - 11/06/09 08:14 PM



Lena

 

Do you have any friends who are really good at organizing who might be willing to help/advise in exchange for a homecooked meal or something? Sometimes you just need someone with a fresh viewpoint to help. 

[Virgil Showlion]

Who_is_JohnGalt1
Message #1027 - 11/06/09 08:22 PM

Marti,
Yes!!!! You are 100% correct.  I still have all my slutty skirts from my pre-wifey and pre-motherly days    May be this would be the time to get rid of it.

Lena

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icantbreev
Message #1028 - 11/06/09 10:12 PM



Lena - I agree with other posters that you should start going through stuff now. It sounds like you're kind of a procrastinating perfectionist: one who waits to do something until the "perfect" situation occurs. In the meantime, while waiting for the "perfect" situation, things only get worse. I have to admit, I'm like that, too, but I'm learning to overcome it.

The bottom line is, you've gotta get the hubby involved in the purging. It was a struggle for me and my husband, as he has packrat tendencies and comes from a long line of packrats. However, slowly but surely, he has come to realize he doesn't need a bunch of stuff and is pretty good about starting to get rid of stuff on his own, without me prodding him to do it.

My suggestion is to go through one drawer, one cabinet, one section of each closet at a time and start asking yourself  when the last time you used the thing was (and I'm not just talking about "your" stuff - go through kitchen wares, linens, etc. and PURGE!). Don't keep anything you haven't used in a year (unless it's a seasonal item that you use at least once a year) and don't keep things that are broken or trashed. The idea of, "Well, I'll get it fixed one day", is a distant dream we all have. If the thing's been sitting around broken for more than a year, you don't need it and you don't need to get it repaired. Move on.

And be brutal. Get rid of the lotions and potions you've been holding onto forever. Purge household cleaning items that you found didn't work or that you don't like (make sure you dispose of them properly). Get rid of that expired food in your pantry or things you know that no one is going to eat.

I agree with another poster who suggested bringing in a fresh eye to help with your organizational issues. Basic rules are: (1) like things go with like things (all household cleaning items in one place, perhaps a plastic tote), (2) items should go in their logical places (like spices near the stove ), and (3) when something comes in, something else goes out.

You can do it!

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Who_is_JohnGalt1
Message #1029 - 11/06/09 10:17 PM

Lena - I agree with other posters that you should start going through stuff now. It sounds like you're kind of a procrastinating perfectionist: one who waits to do something until the "perfect" situation occurs. In the meantime, while waiting for the "perfect" situation, things only get worse. I have to admit, I'm like that, too, but I'm learning to overcome it.

Holy crap, this is scary how you hit the spot!!
OK, fine, let me just get through my midterm and off to "organization land" I'll go.  I actually bought two books on the subject, can you believe it???
Lena

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boos_mom
Message #1030 - 11/09/09 06:48 AM

procrastinating perfectionist

The book I read, Buried in Treasure, talks about the internal thinking processes of those with compulsive hoarding disorders, and perfectionism can be a major contributor to hoarding.  You should definitely check out the book (library for me).  I am like that in that "appropriate disposal" of our clutter is important to me, so that would always be an obstacle in my attempts to declutter.  But, DH has been helpful in taking things for recycling or to the donation sites, while I focus on the decluttering.  And, we just got our curbside recycling pick-ups started, so now, we can just put things in our own recycle bin and it'll get carted away every other week!  Makes me feel good to at least try to minimize impact on the environment while trying to clean up. 

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #1031 - 11/09/09 03:28 PM

I'm doing the happy dance right now because I'm finally caught up on all my laundry. Even folded and put away which is usually where I just give up. Turns out the kid loves the laundry room so I just toss him in his stroller and take him down there with me. I put the clothes underneath in the basket which is just fine because we have front loaders. Have to bend down anyways.

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dianartemis
Message #1032 - 11/09/09 06:48 PM



Marti - at least he's cooperative about it! 

I didn't get to my desk this weekend, I wound up being busy w/ some unanticipated family stuff.  I'm tutoring after work this week.  I'll have to wait until Friday, as I have the day off.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1033 - 11/11/09 01:37 AM

Started working on the rec room last night, the adult half vs. the exploded toy area.  I also watched a bit of A&E's Hoarders while recycling boxes and putting stuff in the donation box.  Boy, does that help motivate me to continue the efforts! 

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dianartemis
Message #1034 - 11/12/09 06:17 PM

Desk...definitely my desk.  I'm cleaning it off Friday morning, before the weekend! 

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icantbreev
Message #1035 - 11/12/09 06:27 PM



That Hoarders show freaks me the hell out. I'm going to make my mother-in-law watch it next time she comes to visit.

 

My weekend project is going to be our coat closet and laundry room. Both small, doable areas. I love nothing more than opening a well-organized, fresh, accessible, clean closet. I think it's a little bit of a sickness.

 

Lena, how goes the exam and the de-cluttering?

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Who_is_JohnGalt1
Message #1036 - 11/12/09 07:33 PM

Exam was super hard .   I have started walking around our apartment and picking up small things and just throwing them out.  Starting tomorrow, I will pick an area and concentrate on that only.
Thank you so much for asking
Lena

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goddessofrock
Message #1037 - 11/13/09 03:01 PM



Is anyone looking forward to Thanksgiving so that they can get stuff done??

 

I don't have school that weekend so I am hoping to catch up on that and Feng Shui the condo!

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LadySimon
Message #1038 - 11/17/09 05:01 PM

Goddessofrock...oh I totally am!  I have to work on Thanksgiving, but going to spend that day making lists and doing stuff online that I can get done at work.  Then the rest of the weekend will be spent make things pretty for the holidays and clearing out junk.  It's not big stuff, just little crapola that gets piled up everywhere.  Thinking a shredder would help wonders.  And cleaning out my closet so there's more room too.

[Virgil Showlion]

keriamon
Message #1039 - 11/30/09 05:55 PM



I've been busy lately looking for work and putting in a lot of resumes, so I haven't spent much time on the message board.  Glad to see that everyone seems to be doing well.  My house is pretty messy right now, although it's been worse.  I did a quickie clean a couple of weeks ago, so that's keeping it from being terrible.  I've got company coming over either this Wednesday or the next, so I need to start tackling it.  I also want to get it cleaned up so I can put up Christmas decorations. 

---

keriamon
Message #1040 - 11/30/09 11:21 PM



Hey, something I read today on Karen Kingston's blog is that red is a powerful, energetic color when you wear it.  She quoted some studies that found that soccer teams with red jerseys had a disproportionately higher chance to win a game than teams that didn't wear red.  She suggested that people who need a pick-me-up, or who are struggling to find the energy to clean or the strength to declutter wear red--tops being better than bottoms, since you see it more. 

 

As we're heading into Christmas anyways, indulge in wearing red!  A red Christmas apron, for instance, might be just the trick.  in feng shui, red is a color that is used to control chi and is pretty well all-powerful.  You use red to stop energy from flowing out of toilets or down drains; you can put it in trash cans to stop energy from being thrown away; you can also use it as a quick fix for bad feng shui problems. 

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #1041 - 12/01/09 12:04 AM

Hey ladies. Right now I need to pack away some of munchkin's stuff. He's outgrown a bunch of his clothes. He's growing faster then I can handle. I can handle him outgrowing his clothes. I'm having issues with him not needing me every second that he's awake. He's even attempting to hold his own bottles.

But I got rid of a massive bag of garbage this weekend and got caught up on laundry. DH and I have been sick the past month or so. So we got behind on a couple of things. But we made sure to keep the kitchen clean and the place picked up. I also figured that if repairing the house is good for positive energy then taking care of some stuff I needed to do wouldn't be a bad idea. The left half of my face is numb because I went in for some dental work. Next Monday the other half is going to be numb. I am never putting off dental work again.

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LadySimon
Message #1042 - 12/02/09 10:11 PM

Happy Holidays everyone!  I'm trying desperately to keep up with my place but with work and school falling sadly behind.  Did manage to pull out my christmas stuff and clean out my closet to accomodate the new stuff I bought on black friday!  new stuff in, old stuff out.  Need to see if goodwill does pickups, got a bunch of donation stuff for them.

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boos_mom
Message #1043 - 12/02/09 10:32 PM



I got sidetracked as well with Thanksgiving and gift shopping.  However, I did a bunch of returns (darn online shopping) this past weekend, so I've freed up the space the bags were taking up on the 'unused' couch.  At least, I'm pretty much done with most of my gift purchases, just a few straggling gifts to get.  Just got to start wrapping and distributing.  Yay!

Last night, I also worked on the dining room table paper pile problem.  I think tonight I will do more of the dining room table and clear off the living room coffee table for the mini-fake tree.  #1 has been talking about Christmas trees and lights a lot, so I hope it won't be too disappointing with the mini tree.  I'm a bit nervous about having a tree and the ornanments, as #2 is rather curious and probably would be touching and pulling things off anyway.  I'm hoping #2 will listen and not break things for the most part. 

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dianartemis
Message #1044 - 12/03/09 01:26 AM

Its been 3 days since I got my desk all cleaned off and it's still clean.  The only things that are now on it, are receipts for updating Quicken.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1045 - 12/03/09 06:49 PM

I got the coffee table cleared off and set up the mini tree last night!  Even got out the little lights that have Christmas music hooked up to it. 

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dianartemis
Message #1046 - 12/03/09 09:20 PM

Even got out the little lights that have Christmas music hooked up to it. 

Gack!  Two of the radio stations here started playing Christmas music the week before Thanksgiving!   Having worked retail for multiple holiday seasons, I was always so glad when Dec 26 hit.  "Cuckoo" moments were never so close as Christmas week.

Yes, I'm a Grinch when it comes to Christmas music.  I neither need, nor care to listen to it for more than a few days...a week is pushing it.  How many versions of the same songs can you stand to listen to for hours on end?

---

boos_mom
Message #1047 - 12/03/09 09:24 PM

Well, there is a volume control on it, so it can be muted.    Yes, christmas music can get annoying.  But, when it's being sung by a preschooler who never gets all the words right, it's extremely entertaining and light-heartening (moreso when it's your little one that you can't believe is getting so big so quickly!).

---

dianartemis
Message #1048 - 12/03/09 09:49 PM

I like variation.  Kids who are learning the tunes are the best, just for that reason...they don't sing the same thing twice.  I'm not a total Christmas Grinch...just when it comes to the same thing over and over and over (ad nauseum) again. 

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keriamon
Message #1049 - 12/04/09 08:13 PM

How many versions of the same songs can you stand to listen to for hours on end?

LOL.  Actually, I just put together my own CD of Carol of the Bells--30 different versions of it--including in the original Ukrainian.  My husband was making fun of me for playing it last night while I was putting up the decorationgs.  He joked, "Now on WGN Chicago--the Carol of the Bells Marathon."

 

But they started playing Christmas here the week before Thanksgiving too, which is a new record.  And I refuse to listen to Christmas music before then.  My CD of Johnny Mathis didn't come out of the case until after Thanksgiving. 

 

And, in truth, I don't like to listen to Christmas music in the car.  There's a lot of modern stuff that I don't like; I grew up listening to the golden oldies of carols... from the 40's and 50's, so I'm rather a purist.  I only like to listen to it when I'm at home, doing something Christmasy (like decorating or making presents), and I'd rather play my own CD of favorites than listen to the mish-mash on the radio. 

---

boos_mom
Message #1050 - 12/07/09 07:22 PM



This season has been really fun, since the oldest one is really into the Christmas lights we see driving around and singing all the songs.  They both like the mini-tree and have been good about not knocking it over, sometimes we'll just sit in front of the tree with the house lights out and admire the tree. 

I have been working on the dining room table, tossing old papers and things.  Maybe it'll be clear by Christmas...  or not, since I still have to wrap presents...  But, I'll keep plugging away.

[Virgil Showlion]

l_duttinger
Message #1051 - 12/09/09 11:48 PM

BOOS MOM:  I clear off the table every week.  In 2 hours it's full again.

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turtlegirl1970
Message #1052 - 12/10/09 04:02 AM

I don't know very much about Feng Shui, but my Christmas tree looks so beautiful! Is there a proper area to put it in? I hope not, because I really only have one choice. 

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goddessofrock
Message #1053 - 12/10/09 04:40 PM



My friend and her two year old were over for dinner. 

 

When asked "What do you say at Christmas?" she replied "MERRY PISSMASSS!"

 

PRICELESS!

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boos_mom
Message #1054 - 12/11/09 08:31 PM



I think I may need to just put the stuff on the dining room table in a box and work on purging from there.  And, I'll move some of the file trays and file folders to some other nook.  We did clear off a little more space enough for another place setting.  Also, I've been wrapping up and distributing some gifts.  Of course, we just got the first present for one of the kids in the mail the other day.  So, it will be challenging to reduce clutter for the next few weeks.  We'll definitely need to donate some toys after all the presents are opened!  

---

boos_mom
Message #1055 - 12/11/09 08:36 PM

goddess -  #1 makes envelopes and likes to write names on them.  Sometimes, she needs my help in the spelling.  We work on phonetics with her letters, and sometimes I repeat the letter she just said.  Well, one envelope ended up getting addressed as "GRANDMAASS"    That's a keeper souvenir!

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adradon
Message #1056 - 12/18/09 01:59 AM

I don't really believe this stuff, but I did get a mirror to put under our money jar I keep in our bedroom. Thought it couldn't hurt although I have no idea if it's in the money corner or wherever it needs to be. We recently started to remodel our bathroom. So far we saved 20% on the vanity and sink...it was the last day of the discount where we went and we had no idea they were doing it before we went. We had purchased a BBQ grill at another store on sale for $149 and when we went back we saw it had been reduced to $99. I dug out the receipt, took it to the store and they gave us the $50 back. The day before DH wanted to go pick up the wall panels we are going to put in, we got a gift card for $25 in the mail for the store where we were going to get the wall panels. So in less than a week we have saved about $100 on just these three items. Things like this just don't usually happen to us. I got the mirror two weeks ago. I don't really know if it has to do with the mirror, but I'm I'm leaving it where it's at just in case.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1057 - 12/28/09 08:29 PM

Well, as expected, the dining room table didn't really get cleared off.  But, I did write the thank you cards, and I've been picking a few of the old toys to put in the donation box.  Unfortunately, I probably won't get to work on going through all the old toys until maybe after the new year, just maybe do spurts here and there at night.  I'm also trying to take care of all the gift returns quickly to help reduce the extra clutter.  It actually wasn't as crazy at the stores as I thought it'd be.  Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

---

abundanceandprosperity
Message #1058 - 12/29/09 02:47 PM



Woohoo!  I finished going through all of my clothes and packed up all the ones that won't fit me until post-pregnancy!  I feel relieved.  Every time I went to get dressed in the morning I had to wade through clothes that no longer fit and I couldn't see what I actually had to wear.  Now I have room to hang my scarf shelving, my coats and everything is neat and orderly.  Just makes my day better! 

Hope that all of you experience similar success!

Next up, the attic.  We are moving in less than 7 months and I won't be able to fit up the stairs (haha) in another month or two so it is time to see what is there to 1) purge 2) donate 3) bring down for use 4) pack for the new home.

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dianartemis
Message #1059 - 12/30/09 06:10 PM



I've dominated my desk for the last two weeks!    I've kept it cleared off and papers filed away.  My desk is like the stuff-generating dining room table. Now I just need to do the same thing for my desk at work...scary doesn't begin to cover it, but I can find pretty much anything I need in under 30 seconds, so at least it's an organized, scary mess. 

My New Year's goal for home is to keep up on the home desk and to do the same for my work desk.

Happy New Year.

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1060 - 01/06/10 06:47 PM



Getting ready for a house guest and our move.  Found enough items to donate to fill 10 garbage bags (and we declutter regularly) probably enough items to take a big chunk off our taxes for next year.  Knowing where we are headed in life and what we do or do not want to move with us has really helped me cull things.  Donation pick up was a couple days ago.  The same day we receive a generous offer of nusery furniture (used by people we know well) that is already in the location we are moving to!  So we don't have buy the items, ship them or assemble them!  Plus the furniture is worth around $2k new!  I chose to see all of this as a really positive response to decluttering and feng shui.

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dianartemis
Message #1061 - 01/06/10 08:06 PM



Abundance, congrats on the nursery furniture.  I bet it's a relief not to have to worry about it.

I overdid the deep cleaning I started on New Year's.  I have 3 more rooms to finish, which I'll do this weekend.  I decided I'm not moving the heavy stuff or my bookcases or appliances, but everything else is fair game. 

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boos_mom
Message #1062 - 01/06/10 08:52 PM



abundance - great that you got nice furniture! 

Unfortunately, I have been doing more R&R than decluttering.  I think I need to decompress and rest up a bit before going back to decluttering.  I've gotten some toys and kids things together, but there's a lot of work still needed.  Maybe this week.... 

[Virgil Showlion]

Sam814 - 11wks
Message #1063 - 01/06/10 09:01 PM

This thread is great!  Have you all read the book, or is there a place I can find it online?

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dianartemis
Message #1064 - 01/06/10 09:08 PM

Some of us have read it and some of us haven't.  Keriamon mainly posts regarding the Fung Shui part of all this.  My library actually had it, so I checked it out.  I will say that even though the book was a little woo-woo for me in some parts, it was overall very good and has some great strategies for decluttering and how to deal with some of the emotions that we can attach to stuff.

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2007debtheaven
Message #1065 - 01/10/10 08:17 PM

Hi Everybody

Happy new year to all. Wishing you all health, happiness and prosperity.

It looks like things are going well with the clearing and decluttering. Abundance, congrats on all that progress and the baby furniture!

I haven't really been on this thread in a while. I didn't accomplish the two tasks I wanted to: further decluttering the basement, and going through the old DVDs / videos in the guest room. Oh well. DH is no help with the former task, and I just couldn't get up the energy for the second.

We are in pretty bad financial shape due to the trashed rental. The reno ended up costing 33K, and five months later we are still waiting for an insurance settlement, so I've been very anxious and in a funk, as well as busy with the holidays. It's just going on forever, every time they say they will make us an offer, then they turn around and ask for yet more paperwork. I have been dealing with that very promptly, at the expense of the rest, I guess. The reno was finished about Dec 10 but the agency closed for two weeks at Xmas so we still don't have a renter.

The rest of the house is still in good shape. I have a couple of bags for Goodwill that I will drop off this week.

Anyway, I am happy because today I finally did my paper basket for the first time since late October. It took me six hours but everything is up to date and filed, and I have about 15 envelopes in my bag to mail. (I think that is a record!)

We have a close Japanese friend who travels back and forth between here and Japan. He brought us a tiny tiger (for the Year of the Tiger) and told us to hang it facing the front door. Hopefully that will help bring us good things this year! I also have a paper in a jeweled box about the insurance settlement, per Keriamon's suggestion.

I hope Keriamon is OK. I've been thinking about her and wondering how she is.

I am also looking for a job. I have two more applications to send out but after six hours of paperwork, I'm done for today.

Sam, welcome! Just join in with your goals and accomplishments!

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1066 - 01/20/10 05:12 PM



2007 dh  that is great progress in reality.  I think I would procrastinate on the rental paperwork so good for you that you stayed on top of it.  I'll bet you end up with the perfect renter this time and the delays have been to keep it available for the right person. 

 

Thanks everyone for the encouragement.  I am trying to take care of things while I still have energy (somewhat) I know it won't be long before the third-trimester is here and exhaustion and discomfort become my constant companions .  This weekend we finished prepping the basement for our long-term guest.  I have kept up with my clothing rotation (as soon as something doesn't fit over the belly it gets packed into a box for the move.  I am already starting packing the nursery/baby gear that we are receiving and won't need until the move.  Tonight and tomorrow night I need to finish what I can in the attic. 

 

Any feng shui ideas for attracting the things I want to purchase?  There are some pieces of furniture I don't want to move and would like to sell here and find used replacements here (better market).  I know what I want and can't seem to find it (this includes everything from the dining table to the vehicle). 

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1067 - 01/28/10 04:36 PM

Has anyone "seen" Keriamon? It has been a long time...

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dianartemis
Message #1068 - 01/28/10 06:03 PM



No, I was just wondering the same thing.

I hurt my back earlier this month, so sitting at my desk becomes pretty painful after a short period of time.  As a result, my desk is messy again.  But much less messy than it was last year.  I hope to get it cleaned off this weekend...again.

[Virgil Showlion]

boos_mom
Message #1069 - 01/28/10 07:29 PM



DH just took 3 bags of stuff for donation run.  Then, last night I filled a bag of clothes.  I still need to go through the old toys and see what we can get rid of.  I swear I never had so many toys when I was little! 

I also have a bunch of baby clothes/stuff that I've been hanging onto, in hopes of passing them on to a BFF, but they've been having difficulty getting pregnant.  I know I don't want to give it to her beforehand.  In the meantime, the stuff takes up a lot of closet space.  I'll wait a few more months and then maybe check out consignment stores, since I saved the nicest stuff for her.   

Yes, I do hope keriamon checks in.  Maybe she's found a new job.

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1070 - 01/28/10 07:42 PM



Wow boosmom that's a lot of progress!  It is so nice of you to hang onto favorites for your BFF.  Somehow my closest friends all had babies in the last year and yet not one has offered to loan us a thing.  I am trying not to take it that they don't love me as much as I love them .

I am hoping the same for Kerimon.

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boos_mom
Message #1071 - 01/28/10 08:02 PM



abundance - maybe they're hoping/planning to have another pretty soon, so they figure they'll need their stuff.  I know I held onto #1's stuff b/c I knew I would want all of it if we had another of the same gender.  I didn't really get rid/give away things until we knew #2 was not the same gender (and I saw it myself, so I no doubts there).  I bought a ton of stuff for #1, channeled my shopping urges into stuff for the baby (oops).  So, there's a lot to go around.  And, now that I'm done after #2, I can start giving away his stuff too. 

Unfortunately, kids toys and stuff aren't all that small, so it's not as much stuff as I'd have hoped.  We also have things we get for toys that never get used or are similar to what we've already got, and I don't know where to return them, so I end up storing them until next Christmas and give them for all the toy drives that go on.  I could check if any of the local non-profits need toys throughout the year for birthdays.  It'd be nice to free up the closet space.

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Marti loves her lil monkey
Message #1072 - 01/29/10 08:35 PM

Abundance, I know I'm keeping all my stuff because DH and I are planning on having more. DH's family is known for having boys( finally a girl after 16 boys!) so I'm pretty sure our next will be a boy.

Right now everything is all over the place here. So no decluttering, no deep cleaning. 

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dianartemis
Message #1073 - 02/02/10 07:17 PM

I need to tackle my desk again.  I'm gonna try to get to it tonight.  I swear, something gets set on it and it breeds like rabbits.

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abundanceandprosperity
Message #1074 - 02/02/10 07:30 PM

Thanks for the suggestions.  I am sure they are thinking of having more kids in the coming years.  It is just funny to me because a lot of them borrowed things from friends who will want it back when the second one comes.  So why wouldn't they loan their stuff (not their borrowed stuff of course) until the second one arrives?  I am fine with it in reality and able to buy whatever the baby needs it just seems weird and I can't figure out if I am putting something out there..