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.

----------

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.