Media overload = increased Thanskgiving productivity

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The long holiday weekend. If you're traveling and spending it with family, then yes, you can use up the days quickly. This year I didn't go out of town and spent a minimal amount of time at Thanksgiving dinner, so man, this has been a long weekend! Usually I can easily fill up extra time with movies, audiobooks, and podcasts, but people, I am media-ed out! Okay, only after listening to NPR's Splendid Table Turkey Confidential, and then after watching Nova Science Now's Can I Eat That? (I know about food molecules and stuff now.) And then I finished a Horatio Hornblower movie I had started the night before. But then I was really done for real. I went for a lovely walk before dinner, but after that, I had to be home. I didn't know what to do, but I have a lot of to do's, as most home-owners can imagine.

By Friday I was almost glad to busy myself with tasks I had procrastinated on for weeks or even months. I finally vacuumed my car after thinking about it for much of this autumn. I even carefully wiped down the interior. Dang, my car hasn't been this clean in...six months? A year? Later at home, I looked at my kitchen and realized I'd rather clean out my fridge than watch yet another hour of Netflix. Only media saturation could compel me to choose this task, but the fridge needed a serious cleaning, not the routine one. I even washed three shelves. I spent some time looking for my fridge's mysterious drip pan. I've read you're supposed to clean it, but I can't find it anywhere. Funnily enough, my mother has never heard of drip pans, so I couldn't get help by phone. Maybe yet another year will go by with a dirty drip pan—if it exists. I did get down on the floor and dust off some of the refrigerator's coils—supposedly you can save a lot of power by cleaning them off. See? This is stuff I would never do during regular life. 

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I then shined my sink a la Fly Lady and did the dish drainer mat. Is this super interesting to read? Probably not. But I do find it noteworthy that I can reach my quota of distraction by media. At some point I will choose to do such tasks. Today? I already mailed two low-priority items I had been meaning to send out for at least two months—an Amazon return and some old family photos. Apparently a bit of boredom or ennui can get your home cleaner. And it feels good to cross those items off my list! Who knows when I would have gotten to them without a surplus of free time. Maybe turning off the TV and backing away from the Internet can create this free time, but the lazy holiday of Thanksgiving seems to be just what I needed to get things done. All of this should be balanced by some fun, so I hope to get more of that done this weekend too.

Maintenance, maintenance

So you can tell I've been away from blogging about slogging through old relatives' stuff...regular life schedule has taken over. I still need to mail out some photos and mementos to extended family--I found items that I don't need to keep and can be passed on, e.g. a great uncle's WWII pins/medals. Chores like that are on the list of to-dos, but they are hard to prioritize when the routine stuff still needs to be done, along with a busy work and personal life. Eek!

I know the Fly Lady constantly mentions routines. Some of her music is cheesy, but that "Routines, routines" song is awfully cute and true. I wonder why I resist routines so much? I think I fear I won't have enough time to deal with work and personal stuff--maybe it's a scarcity of time mentality. But routines are part of maintenance...which keeps things moving smoothly. So while I still have to deal with old photos, mail some items out, and make some trips to the thrift store, I need to trust that my time is well spent doing routine maintenance tasks, whether it's cleaning the bathroom or my car, or dealing with a pile of mail. Hopefully I'll find that I will have time to do the extra chores of decluttering after attending to my own routine tasks. I've heard that's how you keep the engine of life greased and moving smoothly. I hope I can trust that it's time well spent, however busy I am in other areas of my life. I also need to remember there's still time to "go out and play," as the FL says. It's not a choice of either I do all the tasks OR I have fun. I tend to imagine I'll go all Martha Stewart--so I need to find a less extreme vision of keeping up with routines and dealing with home stuff. I hope I can trust that I have the time I need.

Summer Sun and Wide Open Spaces

Thinking about clutter makes me think about spaces...today I am tired of the indoors and ready to write about the outdoors instead.

I have a large corner lot with lots of space in my backyard. Theoretically I could garden up a storm, but I do live in Texas and have been through multiple “hottest summers on record” in the last six years. I am thoroughly in awe of Texan gardeners who keep up beautiful gardens. We have pests, diseases, freezes, and 100-degree+ days, not to mention the fascist yet necessary watering restrictions. So I have the large yard with some nice old trees, but the ornamental plants are not what I would have in the garden of my dreams. It's not like I haven't tried to personalize the spaces—the afternoon summer sun has killed probably three lavenders, a verbena, an Indian paintbrush, and possibly more. I'm not sure how these same plants survive and blossom in other yards. I call mine a “hot backyard” and for the most part have put my gardening dreams on hold until I move somewhere else.

What do thrive are Turks caps, which are okay, but they seem like a 1970s plant. (They were there when I moved in.) I did put in some survivors--Copper Canyon daisies (very fragrant), Lantana, rosemary, another yellow daisy-type, prickly-pear, and then a plant that said Jerusalem Sage but came out having purple flowers instead of yellow. It's very fragrant and aggressive. Hope it's not an invasive on the no-no list. Despite these few survivors, I have decided it's too much time and heartbreak over dead plants to make over my yard space, at least on my own. I have felt comforted by hearing the folks on Central Texas Gardener say that folks have taken serious hits to their gardens the last few years. While I see others with tidier, livelier gardens, it's difficult to find the plants that survive and thrive in this drought.

Though I sound pretty fatalistic about my yard, I actually love gardening under different conditions. In Colorado we had a 90-day growing season and I obsessed over planting my summer flower garden, sometimes from seed. It was a short show, but I easily had stand-out beautiful beds each year, sometimes featuring a row of tall sunflowers in the back. Texas is a whole other world and I haven't quite adapted or found the energy to fight for a great garden here. Perhaps if my space were smaller and more manageable, I could focus my energy on keeping a limited number of plants alive and well.

I will say that I've never lived in a state with such enthusiastic gardeners. I mean, our local PBS station has a weekly regional gardening show mentioned earlier, Central Texas Gardener. I've never seen that type of local program anywhere else. We also have a master gardeners' program, a garden society, seminars, etc. Here people are serious about their gardens, which is thoroughly impressive given all the problems year-round. I salute you, Texas gardeners. Maybe your backyards have more shade, but clearly you are skilled and working hard to keep things looking so good.

Despite the brutal afternoon sun, I hope to get back to gardening sometime soon. Nature is so healing, and it's all the more fun to be a designer and watch things pop up over a few weeks. When or how I'll get back to it, I don't know, but a garden is a serious must-have in my ideal outdoor space. Because I agree with what my mother says--plants are healing for the soul.

A Day at the Auction...My Hot Tips

This morning I feel like I'll leave the auction-going to the Brits on the BBC show Cash in the Attic. To be fair, it's just the fatigue talking. I didn't get the greatest sleep so it's amplifying my tiredness. Here's what I've gleaned from attending my first auction as a seller of numerous items.

Auction lesson #1: Smartphones and the net change the process.
People do check to see what items are going for online, so as a seller, you should check too. If something is particularly valuable and easy to pack and ship, consider opening your stuff up to a national or worldwide market if your local auction house might not generate the right interest. I have a collectible WWII knife that did not meet the reserve, and I am sure I will have much better luck online. The net also makes the buyers more savvy which can be both good and bad for you when it comes to bids. At any rate, online info is a major reality and your buyers often have a sense of the national market.

Auction lesson #2: You have no idea what's hot and what's not that day with that group.
This truth added to the entertainment factor. The crowd might be in love with that 1940s pocket watch and then totally pass on some interesting Victorian furniture. Some of my stuff got next to no interest while other items really surprised me. An old fishing stringer got $20 or more while a cute aqua pitcher got zero bids. Who's to say? But when you are disappointed with one lot, the next sale might just cheer you up. 

Auction lesson #3: Try to treat the sale as entertainment when possible.
This is difficult if you must get good money for some valuable items, so my non-expert advice is to be careful where you sell your stuff if you can't take the sale lightly. If it's stuff you can more easily part with, you can more breezily let go of the outcome and enjoy the sale. If you seriously need to get a certain price, do your research before and consider your choices of auction houses, consignment stores, and classifieds beforehand. 

Auction lesson #4: Items might not sell and you still have to part with your stuff somehow.
I used a newer auction house outside of Austin. I knew that this meant some larger and more valuable items might not catch the right group of people, and unfortunately that was the case. (I wasn't willing to go ridiculously low.) I now have to make plans to move some furniture to a consignment store or directly to another buyer. 

While lesson #4 is not fun, I'm happy to report that several smaller items did get more than expected, so it was still a worthwhile sale and I had an interesting day. I also enjoyed seeing who bought what and how my inherited clutter is another person's treasure. The lady who danced when she bought my punch bowl was especially awesome.

In the end, the marketplace determines the demand.  Perhaps an auction is the place for a Zen master to practice the art of letting go in more than one sense. I'm not Zen, but Zen-like skills are certainly useful when we face unpredictability, which is what an auction is all about.

Family Stories Hidden in Boxes

Some large furniture pieces are now out of my house. Feels good and a bit shocking. Need to buy a new bed frame and perhaps a dresser or shelf. We'll see.


Yesterday went through another box of old papers--looks like my grandmother never purged her own parents' box of letters and legal papers, so....I found stuff relating to my great-grandfather's siblings. While it helps me piece together some interesting stories, you wonder how much this procrastinating of dealing with boring paper clutter just literally pushes boxes of papers on to the next generation.


Yes, I found a poll tax from 1915. That sounds cool to some, but I have "it's really old" fatigue. I'm thinking this should have been trashed a few generations back. But, it's not all bad. I learned some stuff, like Great-Grand Aunt Mary* had a cafe or bar called Mary's Tavern. And if the newspaper clipping was saved because he was her husband (as he had her last name), her husband was killed by a bolt of lightening in the street. In the same family, Great-Grand Uncle William had a bride of 16 who died of typhoid fever after a month of marriage. It sounds like a TV mini-series. While I resent people not dealing with a TON of the less interesting papers, it is amazing to see the drama three, four, and more generations back. How much happened that we'll never know because no one actually wrote out a narrative? Or just didn't know it would be of interest later down the line?

*Note: ancestry.com informed me that it's not great-great aunt but great-grand aunt. I'll take their word for it. 



Another person whose paperwork has been left was my great-great grandfather who was a Methodist pastor. Because he qualified as a public figure, little items about him would run in the paper, like how his five children had "sore eyes." (What is that? Pinkeye?) I call those papers the old form of facebook. I also have various legal documents and letters that are so dusty they make my skin itch. I realized that not only was he a Methodist pastor (among other jobs), but his father-in-law was as well. I had known this but not really put it together as two generations of reverends. The funny part is that I was not raised Methodist and had zero experience with Methodism until I was maybe in my 20s. I'm not Methodist today, but it's interesting to see it was a big thread in that side of the family. In contrast, my grandfather's side was raised Church of Christ, which is quite different, I would guess. I wonder how many denominations are part of my entire family tree--I would guess all of them in the end.

It's worth being careful when sorting through things--the stories are good to know. But I hope to lose the stuff that does not need to linger in boxes anymore, e.g. my grandmother's 1928 perfect spelling test.  Or a stack of 1930s real estate documents and land abstracts. It's not interesting, and it's accidentally unkind to never cull that stuff. At least I'm getting a few rewards in learning some details about people I knew little about before.
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Update: Hours after writing this, I found most of Mary's estate documents from the early 1960s...and guess what I found? Keys to the tavern and house. SIGH. Well, I wasn't sighing, but that's the polite version. 

I'm So Excited!

And I just can't hide it. 
That's because the auctioneer came over today and we went over items to sell. They'll come back a in a few days to take stuff away. Goodbye bedroom set that has been in the family since 1940. You served your purpose, and I even kind of like you, but just not enough. 

All this empty space begs the question, am I too old to shop at IKEA? Facebook friends say NO, IKEA is okay. Perhaps I will enter the Swedish maze and breathe slowly to get through my mild claustrophobia--when I can't find doors or windows for ages, I get a little nutty.

Fare thee well antique dresser with fold-out drawer that serves as a desk!

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Fun fact: English folks used to be taxed according to how many closets they had. Hence the commonness of those big wooden wardrobes a la Narnia. (I have a big one in my bedroom.)

Sad fact: Antique wardrobes aren't selling for much these days, should I ever move the hefty one out of my room. Alas.

Gonna Go Back in Time...

Phew! I am tired today. Went through a box of genealogy research. I may be off a little, but I have 8 or more banker's boxes of genealogy papers, most gathered in the 1980s when my grandmother went on a genealogy kick. The woman was kinda amazing given that we didn't have the net for easy research. I can only imagine what she would have done with ancestry.com. She was old-school and went to state libraries and also requested records from government agencies.

I got sucked into ancestry.com's free 2-week trial over a year ago--it was so addictive, I was a little concerned for myself. When I canceled after two weeks, I was glad--I might have needed an intervention. Anyways, today I went through a few family lines and sorted papers into folders, writing names in huge print for easier future access. I continually see that my grandmother's research matches up with what's online, and sometimes it's useful for filling in some details. I am nowhere near retirement age, but I can see how people can spend a lot of time researching this stuff. I probably know a lot more about my family members than most people my age.

Because of my ancestry.com connections, a member contacted me to tell me my great-grandmother was 1/64 Cherokee. That makes me...1/512 or 0.001953125 Cherokee. Something to say at parties, I guess? Fun to know nonetheless. And before the net, Grandma had tracked most of that line if not all of it. Impressive. She could have been an investigative reporter, perhaps?

From a decluttering perspective, I don't have to save every paper because a lot of it is online today. Another win for technology and more space for me.

Cleaning for the Cleaners...and Pondering Mortarboards

I'm sitting here as the carpet steam cleaner guy preps some rooms in my house. Nothing makes me see all the stuff scattered around my floor like the carpet cleaners because I have to really pick up and vacuum before they come. It's been two years or more since I had the carpet cleaned, so this is overdue. My family used to joke about "cleaning for the cleaning lady," but having cleaners come out is definitely a motivator to deal with items I don't even see anymore.

Went through an old trunk in the infamous garage yesterday...found WWII papers and orders. That's okay. But I did come across some English papers from 1934 and 1936--my grandfather earned A's and kept them. I know I still have some OLD school assignments, but I'll have to consider, as I get older, how to streamline those types of mementos. The room I'm sitting in now has a bag with not just my high school mortarboard, but also my college and grad school caps. Do I really, really need all three to remember the events? (I do love that I wrote "Adieu!" in masking tape on my high school hat.) I graduated--it happened. I've gotten jobs as a result. Perhaps now's a good time to part with at least one...some kid can buy it at a thrift store for a costume. I'm not against keeping some things--but when I'm pressed for space and trying to leave less behind, I want to be thoughtful about how much I leave, let alone schlep around when I move in the future.

Okay, so the truck engine that runs the steam cleaner isn't working right...someone else might need to come out to do the job. Hopefully this can get done today and I won't have piled things onto furniture for nothing!

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mor·tar·board noun \ˈmȯr-tər-ˌbȯrd\
1
: an academic cap consisting of a closely fitting headpiece with a broad flat projecting square top
2
a : hawk 2 b : a board or platform about three feet (one meter) square for holding mortar

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mortarboard?show=0&t=1341523239

Wacky Picture Wednesday

A couple pictures today...wacky kichenware from years gone by, found in the garage. 

This is an egg nog set, for those who looked at me quizzically when I said I had one. I actually like the golden clear glass look, but I don't think I serve nog enough to keep it.

My dad said this was his grandmother's coffee pot/server. Percolator still works!

I didn't photograph the biggest meat cleaver I've ever seen in person, so you'll just have to believe me! I assume Great-Grandma used it in getting the fried chicken ready...

Clutter as Social Entertainment

So I guess at some point it can get a little old listing off the various things I'm finding. But tonight I provided some entertainment at a dinner party of middle-aged folks. We discussed my weird finds, the value and superstition of feng shui, and tracking down items' value online. People reminisced about the magic of slide rules, told of valuable paintings found in storage, and I even met an auctioneer! Not everyone is in my situation, but at some point in life, people can relate to dealing with their older relatives' stuff. It happens. 


And to some folks, it does sound novel that yesterday I was going through Christmas cards from 1957. (They said I could have written a story based on them. But, the cards mostly had cute black and white photos of children looking retro and wholesome. "The George Westervelts wish you a Merry Christmas.") There is an interesting factor to this sorting--I can even enjoy it in certain moments. Yet the sheer quantity of stuff is what makes it annoying. It's not 100% bad; it's just taking too long because of the layers. This is a distinct chapter in my life, but I will be glad when I can pack up my own items someday and know I have only my own stuff. At least I have some stories and am learning more about my relatives' lives. (And what a reminder to toss out/recycle paper over time!)

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Hardest clutter of the week: sympathy cards from decades ago
Simpler clutter: grandparent's college report cards and transcripts from 1940s
Easiest clutter: evil antique bedframe that I tripped on--taken away by charity. Much joy.

Give-away Endorphins

So as I wrote in my last post on obscure LPs from the 1930s-1950s, those puppies went to Recycled Reads on Burnet. Fair enough. Tax write-off and money for the Austin Public Library, of which I am a frequent patron. (And can I tell you there was a little mob of people waiting for the store to open at noon? Apparently it's popular.)

Today must be Give-away Thursday because I also had the Movin' and Groovin' team from Covenant Presbyterian come by and take away a super comfortable but not so hip La-Z-Boy recliner. Man, it is soooo comfortable, but I am tired of looking at it and never using it. The great thing was that the men loading it up said it was going to a family today. Movin' and Groovin' collects furniture for the Foundation for the Homeless, so the chair will be used by a family coming out of homelessness. It feels good, I gotta tell you. I know thrift stores are good charities, but this one is pretty cool too. And never fear, I still have another La-Z-Boy left in my living room. And now I can go cute chair shopping.

Saturday Salvation Army is coming by to pick up the green antique bedframe of death. Okay, not quite, but it has some very sharp corners on the footboard. I actually tripped over a cat carrier in that room, fell backwards onto a corner point, and seriously injured my back. I kid you not. Injury by clutter and antiques. It will feel really good to get that thing out of the house. Here's hoping it goes to a careful and non-klutzy family who will not impale themselves on it. Could I sell it? Possibly. But donating is quick, the movers know what they're doing, and the S.A. is a good charity.


Next big project: actually trying to sell things via auction. A larger task!

Shakespeare on Vinyl--The Price is Right?

So eBay can really let you know where things stand.


That Orson Welles 78 rpm vinyl set of Shakespeare's entire Twelfth Night? Someone else's set was listed for $18 and it didn't sell at all. Plus it weighs at least 10 lbs. and would be a nightmare to ship.  A nice gentleman at a local classical record store said there are a lot of LPs from the 1930s and 1940s out there, and there just aren't many buyers. (All the classical folks switched to CDs, he said. Understandable.) Hello, Recycled Reads Austin Library store.

I've got dramatic highlights from Julius Caesar featuring Marlon Brando. (Wow, is he hot in that photo.) I've got Hamlet with John Gielgud. I've got the Old Vic players doing Romeo and Juliet. I even have Chaucer's Canterbury Tales on 33s. That may sound cool to someone, but seriously, it's not. I like Chaucer, but I don't need him on LP, and unfortunately, I don't think it's worth much. I will still keep googling around to check values, but when some of these actually go for about $8, it's just not worth the hassle of shipping.


I imagine one of my grandparents put together a set of the Bard on LP from a garage sale, but who knows. When my grandfather first passed away, I think we found one if not two 8-track players plus a pretty good collection of tapes. In their time, they had quite the media collection. I think 2012 is an okay year to usher out the 78s and just keep CDs and mp3s around, though I confess I have a few cassettes. Oh well. It's not like they're 70 years old yet!


Twelfth Night eBay listing here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390433409362?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Keep It Clean and Healthy

Today I have an eye infection. Can't say how I got it, but I realized why women in the past wore scarves over their hair while cleaning. I constantly touch my hair to get it out of my face, and yesterday I dug into a dusty, moldy box with yearbooks and photos from 1939 on. Yuck! The box even smelled bad. No memorabilia is worth health problems. I threw out a lot of stuff and need to throw away more, but wow, what a reminder to be careful while cleaning. 

We constantly touch our faces and hair, and my shorter hair hits my eye area. I really need to wear a head-scarf and perhaps rubber gloves. And while a garage is okay for storing some items, the heat of the summer can't be good for paper and photos. (Some photos melted with a leather wallet!) Not a good way to preserve items and keep them dust and mold free. Will try to return any kept items to climate-controlled indoors. I can hear Peter Walsh's voice saying we must properly store items if they're truly valuable to us.

Running around Town

Dropped off old photos at art school. Apparently a collage artist is very excited to get them. Yay! (I hope she likes cows.)

Dropped off old yearbooks and random stuff at Recycled Reads. They keep all donations out of the landfill.

Dropped off kitchen goods and tools at Foundation for the Homeless. They can  use items when people move into their own apartments.

Dropped off clothing at Goodwill.

That's a more complicated run than I'd like to do normally. I listened to The Essential Johnny Cash to keep myself happy and sane--Johnny knows how to lament while keeping you happy at the same time.  Will make next donation run simpler and just one stop.

I was thinking there's really no excuse for not giving away a surplus of items--in Austin we have so, so many good options for donations and recycling. Very grateful for that.

Will use the rest of the day for my own home maintenance and chores. Phew!

WWII and Math Clutter

After sorting a LOT of photos and finally hitting some with my parents and my own generation, I hit a WWII box. Lots of Army paperwork. Will keep some, will shred some.


But I nearly had a mini-anxiety attack when I found TWO slide-rules. Slide-rules, people. Today's college students don't even know what those are when I mention them. I had to take some slow, deep breaths. I dream that they are worth something on e-Bay. Or perhaps a school-teacher will wow students with them. I just know that occasionally, some obscure item freaks me out. My only memory of a slide-rule is seeing one during a class museum visit. And now I have two. Plus a weird Bausch and Lomb magnifying stick.

Deep yoga breaths. Must take another few days off from photo boxes and 1940s stuff and focus on newer, larger items.

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I just checked online. e-Bay has them starting around $15, and people are bidding on them! I guess if I call it a "Vintage Slide Rule" someone will want it. I will have to judge if it's worth the time to upload pics, buy shipping material, and mail them, but I'll consider it.

Finding Photos a New Home...(Please Leave My Garage!)

Taking a break from sorting photos from the 1970s. Laguna Gloria art school will take the travel and landscape shots and see if the teachers can use them. Less than 10% are photos I want to keep, so there's no question these need to leave my house. They can have one last hurrah in someone's art project before going into the trash. (Sorry, Earth--photos are not truly recyclable as of today.) 

Gotta give Grandma travel props, though. Photos are labeled and here's what I've seen in the last few days:
Hawaii
Australia
Greece
Spain
Morocco
Canada
England
Denmark
Norway

And I've seen other countries represented in past stuff. For someone born in the early 20th century, she really got around! She had a long career as a school teacher and said she squeezed every penny out of her education. She certainly was able to see the world, sometimes with Grandad, sometimes with friends. Mad props.

I am still at loss for what to do with all the slides, though. Maybe I can find a junk artist or someone really creative? Will ponder craigslist...

Positive decluttering thought: Today people use digital cameras like crazy, so they won't drive their future relatives nuts with all the paper photos. And the Earth wins too. Yay technology!

I'm off to attend a Juneteenth food event as my fun reward. Hurray!
 

Recycling Keys and Today's Chore

So Austin's city recycling cannot recycle keys, but today I found a scrap metal business that does. I'll be visiting them next week. I have inherited many keys to God knows where, so I am glad to find out they're recyclable and will perhaps go toward buying me a Frappaccino or ice cream. I'll try out Southside Recycling on S. Congress Ave. And now I know to take them my random nails and screws that I keep finding everywhere.


Good local recycling link I found today: findgreen411.com; http://www.findgreen411.com/austin-recycle-building-materials.html


Chore for today: Visit Hazardous Waste Disposal to drop off batteries and fluids. 

Avoiding Burnout...What am I Feeling? What am I Needing?

I am tired, folks. Maybe I should not be writing about decluttering! Tomorrow will be a Hil Life Administration Day where I take care of my stuff only and steer clear of dealing w/ relatives' clutter. Yay!

Certain clutter is just harder to get through. Today I tackled letters from the 1960s and photos from the 1990s...earlier this week I was on letters from the 1940s and photos from the 60s and 70s. Don't call me a hippie, but I think these personal objects carry more "psychic energy" than old buckets and tools in the garage. It's hard to face others' mementos and decide what is worthy enough to be part of my treasure trove...What do I personally want to remember about this person? What am I willing to pack up and move somewhere else?


It's pretty amazing how many pieces of paper go into the bin...some family members might cringe at that, but honestly, my relatives seemingly never culled their own stuff, so this sweep has to be brutal. And because these are such personal items, this work is extra draining. It's an opportunity for good self-care. The popular questions are "What am I feeling? What am I needing?" I feel excited that I have time to get to the nitty-gritty personal items, but I need to back off some for a few days and rest. Yes, I have a-ways to go, but if I don't avoid burnout, it will take me that much longer to get back on the decluttering horse. (Ugh, is that an awful metaphor? I must be too tired.)


To give you an idea of what I'm looking at, here's a list:

Most photographed in grandfather's photo envelopes:
1. Family reunions
2. Cattle in pastures (If only I could make money off cow photos!)
3. Hunting excursions and dead animals
4. Landscapes


Most photographed in grandmother's photo envelopes:
1. Travel landscapes and landmarks
2. People traveling


And then of course there are the general family photo albums with regular family photos throughout. As you would suspect, the cattle, landscape, and landmark pics are easy to toss. The ones with people are tougher to judge. 


What am I needing? To get off the computer and do something relaxing. See ya!


Action tips for any declutterer: 
1, If you have photos or letters you don't love or need, consider lightening your load. It is a gift to your family to declutter these items!
2. If you are tired, listen to your mind and body! Back off. 

Pandering to Cat Lovers

So a friend said he'd be more likely to read my blog if it had cute pictures of cats on it. He has zero interest in decluttering. Assuming those who like cats and those who read about decluttering can overlap, here are some photos of my assistant supervisor. He likes to keep an eye on me from the couch. And I am aware that pages with cats get a lot of traffic, so here's my shameless use of his cuteness.

He's a fan of the belly rub when we take breaks from decluttering.

An artistic shot.

I have read that animals are very sensitive to changes in their environments, and sometimes I wonder if my cat would prefer a simplified environment. Cats are supposedly very clean and fastidious animals. If only he could tell me his feng shui preferences! Hopefully my efforts somehow lower his stress levels too.

You Can Throw Photos Away?

Yes, more obscure finds in the garage.

I gave Goodwill a slide projector that had a delivery date of 1968 on the box. Mm hmm. And guess what? I still have Kodak slide projector that I am holding onto because I am left with many slide carousels of photos--I don't know if I plan to have a quick slide show marathon to see what's on them, but I have the green guilt about just pitching slides. And what if there're some super cute photos of my relatives? But wait, they already left me tons of paper photos...


You can see how quickly I sound cluttery like them.


My grandparents did some international traveling together, so I assume I'd see slides of them running around Spain and whatnot. However, my grandmother was a bit famous for traveling without my grandfather sometimes. She'd find some friends or a group and go wherever--China, Japan, Russia, you name it, she went there. As evidenced by the gobs of travel brochures, tickets, maps, and knickknacks she accumulated. I love that Grandma was a world traveler and just couldn't get enough. What a free spirit! But I can also see that Grandma used things to hold onto her memories--many things! And she left many photos and slides. I've gone through two or three large boxes of souvenirs and pitched most of the paper stuff. Thank heavens my city has an awesome recycling program! But her photos and slides are just sitting in boxes, taking up space. And I don't plan to move them for the rest of my life, so...

I was raised never seeing anyone throw out photos or slides. There usually isn't a need to do so--but seriously, who needs hundreds of travel photos when they aren't your own? I hadn't considered throwing out photos until I had a professional organizer over a couple times. She confidently told me I don't have to keep pictures. Really?! Awesome, I thought. But it still feels...wrong. Almost disloyal or sacrilegious. But she's right. I have to pitch stuff. These aren't my memories, whatever false guilt tells me. I can keep "enough" ancestors' photos and still have plenty for the trash. While I've recycled the souvenirs, I am still psyching myself up for a serious trash attack on the photos. It's gonna be vicious, people. (Note: My city cannot recycle photos due to the chemicals used. Photos must go in the trash. The other option is to donate them to a community art school.)


I'm not just being mean to Grandma in this discussion. This purge makes me consider my own mementos--I have traveled to several countries and have a good amount of photos and paper stuff, mostly from my late-teens and early-twenties. If I don't streamline what's really important, who's going to want to go through my European museum brochures and souvenir postcards? I've done some sorting in the past, but I don't want to be a hypocrite. The difference is, I get the impression my grandparents never sorted, whereas I've done some here and there. Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up during the Great Depression and I also went through a phase of watching Clean Sweep and Hoarders. Thank you TV and the age of prosperity. You keep me in line. 


Final obscure find:
I went to the Salvation Army and gave away some kind of fishing net with an anchor. When I told the man collecting donations to be careful because it was heavy, he said, "Oh, it's a seine." I had to ask him to repeat it and and sure enough, I got home and looked it up and yes, he was right. I've had a seine in my garage and didn't know it all these years. Here's Merriam-Webster's definition:

Definition of SEINE

: a large net with sinkers on one edge and floats on the other that hangs vertically in the water and is used to enclose and catch fish when its ends are pulled together or are drawn ashore 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seine?show=0&t=1339336692

Adventures in My Relatives' Garage...Still

Decluttering this house doesn't cease to amaze or at least amuse me when I find things hiding in my garage. At this moment I have three weed wackers in my garage--I had four last week, but a friend took one off my hands. I had three Coleman camping stoves without knowing it--I gave the oldest one away last month, and today I found a secret one hiding in a wooden chest that I had never peeked in. (Tribbles?!) It's another one to give away while I keep the newest and prettiest one. That's the thing when you end up inheriting the belongings of three or four relatives--the buck stops with you, and you end up with duplicates, especially if folks were somewhere on the hoarding spectrum. Yikes!  

 The secret third stove hiding in a wood chest.

 The new and pretty stove I'm keeping.

If they had only kept a current inventory of what was lurking in our garage, perhaps these relatives would not have kept buying stuff they didn't know the already had...Well, maybe the less hoarding relatives could have purged duplicates. Or not. Even though my dad could declutter masses of stuff, I do recall him famously saying that "a man can never have enough coolers." Au contraire, Father. We had some bitter words years ago as I counted about nine coolers in the garage. Last week I parted with two of them with satisfaction and relish--I'm now down to a reasonable three ice chests--gotta have one set aside for fishing and those dead fishies.

I know separate households need their own items, but purging duplicates is a good idea while you're living. Otherwise some poor relative ends up unearthing three or four (or six!) space heaters, buckets, trash cans, tents, what have you. I could have the garage sale to end all garage sales, but yuck, that's a lot of sorting and pricing. (I'll keep on with my slow and steady donating and occasional selling, but perhaps a sale is in my future.) The lesson: if you're breathing, get rid of duplicates now, please. Otherwise you're creating a seemingly never-ending adventure for the living when you're gone. 

What the heck is a Coleman Catalytic Heater? Check out the fashion on those happy warm people!

My three weed wackers, plus a cattle prod in the background.

And did I tell you about the two boxes of STAMP COLLECTIONS I found in a file cabinet in there? Do 4 cent US stamps have value today? Do I really want to labor to find this out? Sigh. At least we have the internet to research these things. 

If you have any hot donating or selling tips, or you're a stamp expert, feel free to share.

Grab Your Hankies--It's Good for Your Soul

I've been writing about decluttering and sometimes relating it to bereavement. I don't spend all my time decluttering and even less grieving, but this is the time of year when I do remember my father's passing and make an effort to watch a film that deals with grief. Before this loss I never would go out of my way to watch a film and say, "Thank goodness that really showed loss." But in the last few years I've learned that we often lose opportunities to bring up grief as time goes on, yet we feel grief come up in small pieces here and there, especially when important dates roll around. It's hard to know if grief is welcome or appropriate after a certain amount of time, and it can be plain hard to access. That's why movies provide some occasional moments where we can release feelings we might be carrying around, perhaps unbeknownst to us.

I take special note of any good "grief movies" because today I feel grateful when I see a good one. (Nicholas Sparks sometimes fails us.) It can be a relief to see a film take on the universality of suffering that we all face--loss of loved ones. Yes, it sounds dark, but a good cry can be like a release and leave you feeling cleansed and even lighter. At any rate, here are a few of my top recommendations in no particular order if you're looking for catharsis and a good story:


1. Lars and the Real Girl--This story has a bizarre plot line that could scare some away. A young man works through his repressed grief for his deceased mother as he becomes attached to a human doll. Sounds crazy and disturbing, but as most who've seen it know, it's a beautiful story about a community laboring to help a man through his grief. Stars the lovely Ryan Gosling too. This was the first movie I watched where I realized I needed some time and space to just focus on grief--the everyday chores were taking over and I needed permission to just focus on my feelings through the story of someone else's loss. I know tons of peers who also love this movie just as a film in general.

2. The Family Stone--This is a good one for dealing with the Christmas holidays without a family member. It's an offbeat story and a bit dark and quirky, but you sympathize with the family as they learn they're losing one of their own. Plus it has some funny moments and a good cast including Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, and Dermott Mulroney.

3. The Boys are Back--I have no clue how Netflix found this one for me. This movie sold me on Clive Owen. A man takes on the role of single father to his two boys. Set in the outback of Australia, you see the difficulties and frustrations as this pack of men struggle to become a new family unit. This is a real bereavement film because loss moves the plot from the get-go, but I liked how it shows the process of a family adjusting to a new way of life. Also has good acting, funny moments, and distinct Australian scenery.


4. Shadowlands--Okay, so I saw this one ages ago and already knew it was a great movie. But some of the lines about loss still resonate with me. The story of C.S. Lewis and his rather surprising marriage late in life is worth seeing, and I remember the English countryside as gorgeous. Stars the great Sir Anthony Hopkins. Very British, very repressed, and worthy of many Kleenexes.


5. Hachi: A Dog's Tale--So this one had me crying when I saw the trailer. Put dogs and loss together and you have a snotfest. Richard Gere plays the middle-aged owner of Hachi, a lovely Akita. If you saw the trailer, you'll know the plot revolves around Hachi's loyalty to his owner. The story is based on the real Japansee Hachi who waited faithfully for his master for many years after the owner was gone. Directed by Lasse Hallestrom, rated G and a great film for dog lovers. 

6. Disney's Up--This is a late addition to this post that I forgot about. I had no idea what to expect from this movie and was shocked at how it blatantly tackles bereavement while still being an animated children's movie. The beautiful message is that while we grieve, sometimes it is okay to move on to newer adventures and relationships. That's probably why it was such a successful film.


I watch more comedies than dramas, but I am thankful for movies like these. Plus the ones I've listed have enough warm moments to make you glad you saw them. I don't like darkness for darkness's sake, but sometimes it feels right to tune into someone else's grief story and enjoy the moment of relating to their feelings. I'm sure that's what makes good art good in many instances--when we can relate on some important level, it becomes much more meaningful.

And if you want to think of it as decluttering your grief, it is important to clear out any backed up feelings from time to time. This can lead to better health and resiliency.


For more grief movies, you can google "movies" and "bereavement" to see much more comprehensive lists. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment.

Rebelling is not helping...but I'm still good.

So I've take some time away from this blog for other life stuff--as Mike Nelson, author of Stop Clutter from Stealing Your Life, says, life is not about decluttering! We have other fun, higher purposes. 

Nelson's book is not really a how-to, but more an exploration of why we clutter. One of his interesting theories is that some cluttering comes from rebelling against our parents, even as adults. I found this quite intriguing. It's funny how we can claim our independence by not doing what we should do, which ends up as self-defeating. (My go-to example is of the student who gets bad grades to piss off his parents, when in reality he's hurting his own future the most.) While clutter reminds me of 5th-grader who is having fun fun fun getting away with not doing something, the consequences of clutter do hurt in the end. Nelson advocates fully leaving home so you don't have to rebel anymore. It's no longer about claiming independence from Mom or Dad—it's about you and your own life and productivity. If you are fully on your own, you're no longer reacting to anybody through clutter.

I had mentioned that I would do a post about my mother and the kitchen, and without going into too much detail, I would say that she was the more "serious" clean parent, while my dad was the more fun, less tidy parent. So who did I want to be more like? Mr. Fun Dad. He was quite responsible, yet he usually looked like he was having a better time day to day. Mom looked more stressed, so I mistakenly associated super-cleanliness with being less fun. Today I would say my mom is fun, but to a kid's eyes, I couldn't see it as much back then. She was just really busy and needed a certain level of cleanliness to feel happy. But, I don't have to do things her way either. I can be tidier, but I opt to not be quite as compulsive as my mom once was.

Shame has certainly popped up as I have bumped into other folks and their attitudes toward tidiness. I have known some folks who are quite judgmental about clutter and can make it a topic filled with anger and self-righteousness. Getting rid of this clean good/clutter bad split makes rebelling less necessary. Messy does not equal bad or unlovable. Clean does not equal good or lovable. It's just easier in the end and visually less stressful. As organizational guru and author Marcia Ramsland says, clean is not a moral issue. It feels like it sometimes, the way some people act. But making it less of a hot-button or moral issue means I don't need to take on any negative messages that make cleanliness or neatness a moral statement about my worth. I wonder if many of these critical people require orderliness just to achieve a sense of calm. Perhaps that's why they get so angry sometimes?

My fear of being boring and tidy is also right brain rebellion. Some clutterers fear that organizing will stifle creativity. Organizational guru Julie Morgenstern touches on this—she says some creative people are afraid they'll lose their creative juices, but in the end, they are freer to pursue their creative passions all the more when things are in order. Just her mentioning this fear makes me feel better.

I am still absorbing these messages and need to buy into them, but it's a relief to know that I could stop reacting to the fear of being high-strung or so busy cleaning I become boring. I've heard that having a clean home is a major key to having a vibrant life elsewhere. I can't really escape that truth...as much as my 5th grade self wants to skate by and get away with being messy, it just doesn't work. And that's a good adult realization.

Facebook Clutter?

I've had a love/hate relationship with facebook for years. Call it my paranoid streak, but I don't trust a 20-something with that much personal data.


Still, facebook has given me many happy hours and fun conversations, shared links and photos, messages, etc. For a long time it served its purpose in my life and allowed me to keep up with people.


But this year, I've really hit a weird spot--and I've started to see it as clutter.


Facebook makes a LOT of sense if you truly use it to communicate with people you either frequently see or it becomes a major way of staying in touch with important folks far away. Yet I've noticed that lately, my most important communications are taking place off facebook, and when I really need to hear from someone, it's not done through FB. If I have a need, I need to call or maybe email...FB is not the main way to communicate in my closest circle of friends.


So that means FB is more about lighter connections for me, usually, and those are not connections I need to view every single day. That doesn't mean that my friends' or aquaintances' updates and news are clutter in and of themselves, but with that newsfeed running and running on a daily basis, it's all starting to run together. And it's hard to see what's urgent or important when there's just so much text going and going...it has become clutter. Especially in the visual sense.


I'm sure FB has lots of high-priority information for circles that use it to keep in touch, but for me, on a day when I really need to hear from a friend, my post/update can get lost in the shuffle. A friend recently said to me,  "Oh, if I had seen that you wanted encouragement that day, I would have said something. I must have missed it." As I shared my frustration with a few friends, I started hearing that others too had been a bit hurt of miffed that their comments or photos didn't warrant comments. But, to be fair, we are all so barraged with updates and photos, it is hard to keep up...and the only solution I can think of is to directly reach out to those who we need to connect with--a status update is not guaranteed two-way communication. No one is really obligated to reply as in a real conversation.


I took almost a month off facebook and can tell you it looked the same when I went back--if something urgent or amazing had happened, I wasn't going to find it amidst all the typical newsfeed stuff anyways. I don't know when I'll deactivate again, and I do plan to just delete someday, but the main thing I've learned is that in this phase of my life, facebook is no longer a major "social utility" that I need. I've also heard of people quitting due to similar frustrations as well as freaking out that it was sucking up so much of their time. At least for the visual clutter, perhaps FB needs a feng shui master to consult with them? Maybe that's what the timeline update is going for.


The irony is that if I wanted more action on this blog, I could get it if I posted it on facebook. What a pickle, eh? I'll hold off for a while...it's fun to "live off the grid" and see what happens.

No Finger Pointing with Feng Shui

I'm going to delay a bit in talking about the kitchen and memories of my mother...instead, I was thinking today about feng shui and why it's an alluring philosophy for cleaning up one's act. It hit me: it's completely out of the schema of family and friends telling us to clean up. 


I am not particularly into Eastern philosophies, though I do some middle-of-the-road yoga. I sorta kinda believe spaces have energy. We are sensory beings, and sensory overload stresses me out at some point, just as a lovely, airy space brings peace. So yes, there's some "energetic" quality to spaces. Aesthetics matter and impact our feelings.


Focusing on aesthetics and "energy" (emotional response?) helps "detoxify" the negative feelings toward organizing. I read a basic feng shui book by Mary Lambert and while I don't believe everything in it, reading that book felt so freeing. If organizing is based on space, flow, chi, etc. then cleaning up gets depersonalized and framed in a new way. Kind of a superstitious way, but it's a fresh approach with no baggage and lots of promise to help me directly. When it's not about disapproval and the shoulds, it becomes more about benefiting me and my household. That is pretty darn shame-free. No family voices, no grumpy  roommates, no societal expectations of what women should be doing in the home. Just a motivation to be more functional, peaceful, and self-sufficient. 

Reading Lambert's book, I loved the idea of decluttering as "moving on," which is so key when dealing with estate clutter. Out of everything in that book, that concept comforts and motivates me the most. Saying "it's okay to move on" makes it easier to let go of items and boosts my energy level. It also alerts me that I am doing something difficult--sometimes it feels good to move on, but sometimes it brings grief. But moving on will happen, even if it needs to be in spurts. I also became aware that I wasn't always sure it was okay to move on--so I learned more about myself and past habits. (Turns out I am pretty sentimental.)


As for feng shui itself, I don't believe specific furniture arrangements will bring good luck into my life, but I do believe freeing up space will help me stay on top of paperwork, not trip on something in the dark hall, etc. Instead of just doing a chore, I am helping myself out. And aesthetically, it just looks and feels better. Perhaps feng shui entices the clutterer to have internal motivation to get organized, rather than calling attention to outside forces from the past or present. They say wanting something for yourself is the key to changing a habit, so I'll take the motivations I like from feng shui and leave the rest.

Kitchen Update...Decluttering and Shopping?

I received an emphatic email from my second cousin saying I simply must get my own dishes. He recommends I keep 'em about ten years or so, and if you have kids, let them ding them up. Then you move on. I don't have much time to post, but I will say I did eye some dishes this weekend. The were (gasp!) square. Whoa. (I was shopping at Kohl's and didn't realize they sold kitchenware.) And while I don't know how old the inherited dishes are, they are at least 8, if not older. I like rules that give me more permission to spend money. If you're gonna say I need to, then what can I do?

Green Guilt and Recycling Hangers and Electronics...

My declutter extravaganza continues, and of course I suffer from Green Guilt. In order to keep stuff out of the trash, here are some more local recycling tips--the hangers one is new to me. Guilt-free feng-shui!

Gobs of Wire Hangers Should Go to the Cleaners
Got a bunch of wire hangers you don't need? Don't trash them! Austin dry cleaners will take them and recycle them. Who knew?

Electronics Clutter
My older tip: If you have electronic trash, i.e. dead laptop and cell phone batteries, old Earthlink CDs, CD cases, cords, etc., your local Best Buy has a recycle drop near the entrance. 

Regular household batteries need to go to the Hazardous Waste center, the same place you take paint and other chemicals. See http://www.austintexas.gov/department/austin-resource-recovery for more recycling info. (Doesn't resource recovery sound like a rehab center?)

Letting Go of Books, False Guilt, and Fears of Jericho

As I said in my first post ages ago, I am still digging through a few generations of clutter along with my own. The great archeological dig through my deceased relatives' stuff continues, but now I am spending 50% of my energy on my own stuff--bum bum bum! No one to blame but myself if I don't like having this stuff around.


It's Spring Break and I have time to spend on those little (big) nagging projects, and tonight I decided to check the shelves and tables in my bedroom, where I obviously keep my own books. And as I sat trying to understand why it's hard for me to let go of my own books, I realized I had a couple things going on: guilt and "the shoulds."


I think I learned about "shoulding" from the Fly Lady. Yes, there are things you should and must do in life, but false guilt and obligations are just yucky, icky motivations that pose as "shoulds." And I was "shoulding" over my books, as in, "You should read that shiny Jennifer Weiner book again--you bought it, and you enjoyed it before, even though the mystery plot was weak." Or, "That John Eldredge book had some great spiritual lesson. If you don't read it again, you won't remember what wonderful thing it taught you!" (Religious shoulding is the worst.) I've known about false guilt for years, but having guilt and fear over my own books is a bit much.


When I was younger, I was more attached to my books, but with the internet, my awesome public library, and Netflix, I have constant access to information and entertainment. Yes, these things change my decisions on whether I want to keep a book, as well as if I really should in a healthy sense. I also sometimes think if Armageddon comes and I can't get to the library or get a TV signal, then yes, I will want all those books because I'll be bored and poor. I guess I need to live on faith that I'll have enough books left to keep me entertained if things go the way of Jericho, that show where the U.S. gets nuked. I'll be busy farming in the backyard anyways. Oh, the things I think of while decluttering.


I'm pretty sure Hoarders' Dr. Robin Zasio would call my outlandish fear a thought distortion. And after reading much of Dr. Zasio's book, The Hoarder in You, I can recognize how my thinking is similar to my relatives' who went through the Great Depression. I recommend her book if you inherited some mess and/or are fighting your own clutter tendencies. It's definitely helped me this week as I attacked areas of my home--it sheds light on  mindsets that get your relatives and you into trouble. Clearly the fear of scarcity, along with false guilt, take up both mental and physical space. As Dr. Zasio says, if you are already fighting clutter and needing space, it's okay to let go of an item of value if it's just not valuable enough to you anymore. Fair enough.


I've decided to ask myself these questions as I purge the shelves:
Do I love this book?
Will I read it again?
Do I have weird should/guilt feelings about it?
Am I okay with giving it away to the library or another charity?
Will someone else get more pleasure from it at this time?
Is it worth the space it takes up?


Wish me luck.

HOT LOCAL TIP: If you have hard-to-give-away books, e.g. several yearbooks from the 1950s and 1960s, Austin's Recycled Reads will sell them or responsibly recycle them. Hurrah! You can try to sell yearbooks online, but I noticed most vendors are just selling reprints, not actual old books that are all signed up.