I am a former teacher, and my husband and I moved into our “dream” home, which is a 30-year-old 1500 square foot ranch in the foothills of Albuquerque, when our youngest left home in 2008. We furnished just the way we wanted it; it was beautiful and spare.
Then I changed careers, but held onto to all the teaching supplies. We moved all our old stuff from the old house, including two old couches (aka, “giant scratching posts”), rarely used. When my parents died, I got all their stuff.
I recently have been reading two books by Miss Minimalist, I sprung for her larger tome, The Joy of Less. This is the best book I've ever read on the subject. Then I found out that she has a blog. Joy! So, I'd been reading her book in little bites here and there, and this Sunday, I'm going to have a monster garage sale. I wanted to share mostly what I've gotten from this book, mostly in the form of questions.
Oh yeah, diary, one more thing: This week, I gave Old Job the axe. As in, I'm sorry, I can't keep this two-job thing going; it's wearing me out. Next Wednesday is my last day. Onward and Upward.
13. WHY do I have so much freaking glassware and crystal? First of all, I'm clumsy. That bodes ill. Second, I decided last November that drinking alcohol is not something I need to do, given my family genetics and own tendency to drink it until it's gone. Yet, I have two sizes of Irish Coffee glasses, a margarita set, a set of wine glasses, liquor glasses, etc. I didn't even drink liquor when I was drinking alcohol. Oh yeah. This is going in the garage sale. Priced to move.
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| Holyoke Pattern, Mikasa Bone China. Tell your friends. SRSLY. I want to sell this shit, but I'm not giving it away. |
12. WHY haven't I sold my mom's china yet? I wrote about it here, and yet I still haven't gotten around to selling it. Well, that changed. After doing some arm-chair investigating, I listed the pices on Ebay. Know anyone who is interested in a set of Mikasa Holyoke bone china?
11. Redundancy. For me, that is the bane of my cluttery existance. Baboo and I, each time we moved, would buy new towels for our new home, or rugs, or what have you...and then think, gosh, the old stuff is still perfectly good. We'll hang onto it. In case we need it...in case, you know, the world banks fail and we need extra towels to get us by.
The next thing you know we've got a linen area full of towels which, frankly, make me lazier than ever . Why wash when I can just grab another towel? old towels: garage sale, $1 each.
And race T-shirts? Really? Even the good tecchie ones: I have, like, fifty of them. In contrast, I have two pairs of running tights and three pairs of running shorts.
10. Sentiment. My parents died, in my opinion, far before their time. My mother was an artist and collected some beautiful things, but they aren't practical things, especially for a 1500-foot single-story ranch. I can't hang all her paintings; I just can't. But I can take pictures of them, keep the ones I can hang, and sell or give away the rest. Various paintings: priced to move.
As for our own lives, I am very proud of the fact that years ago I switched from collecting shot glasses and other chotchkes to magnets. They take up far less room. They are our one cluttery indulgence.
If you are hanging onto something because of a perceived, future, tangible value - just look it up on Ebay. A thing is only worth what people are willing to pay for it.
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9. Garages and basements. Why clear out clutter when you can just stick it in the part of the house where you don't have to look at it? Our 1-1/2 care garage contains: our four bikes, a couch, several bookcases and cabinets, a mini-fridge leftover from the days that we kept things in our room that we wanted to keep for ourselfves and way from the hungry, hungry hippo, aka, the teenage Boy; tools that "every homeowner should have," you know, in case your roof falls in and you want to fix it yourself; many Christmas tree ornaments, despite the fact that for the past three years I have decorated out 4-foot tree with finisher's medals from that year; artifacts from hobbies in which we no longer indulge like golf clubs and cross-country skis, a weight bench we NEVER use...all going in the sale on Sunday.
Now, I also have a scanner. See where I'm going with this? the plan: scan all pictures, put them up on Picassa for people to see, and then offer the photo albums to my cousins.
Also, Sweet Baboo had an extensive music collection when he and I got together. I had a few. along with the photographs, these are being converted to digital form, to reside in "the cloud".
7. Ambitions. By and large, the most organized room in the house is the kitchen, which Sweet Baboo pointed out was probably because I use it every day. I'm ashamed to admit he's probably right. Still, there are things I have and never, ever use, such as:
- a pastry wheel (I don't have an oven and don't like baking. It's picky work and a lot of trouble.)
- four can openers
- a french press (very messy and too much trouble and I personally believe that the the "best coffee" idea is based on a combinatino of the placebo effect and cognitive dissonance. No don't bother, you won't convince me otherwise.)
- a very expensive espresso machine that stopped working three years ago
- several pans that do the same thing
5. Teaching supplies. Yes, I still have these, despite resigning in 2008. I have wire in-baskets, an overhead projector, and assorted teaching materials, lots of red pens, scizzors, rules, etc. I think these might be useful for home-schoolers and people who are motivated to "enrich" their kids at home. They aren't useful for me.
4. Books. Honestly, I think it looks cool to have all those books, but I don't re-read them. They sit, and collect the dust and powdery mold that aggravates my asthma. I live 1 mile from a public library, too. They are getting listed on half.com. Also, bookcases. If we don't have books, we don't need bookcases. The only exception might be that we get rid of the little cutesy shelf eterges and put stuff, organized, in bins on the bookshelf instead.
3. Double-duty. Himself and I do not have nightstands. We do, however, have an oak filing cabinet that we still need for important things, and I have a small wicker cabinet that I use for my magic supplies (makeup and hair)...so, they are going to be our new nightstands. Everything needs to have a purpose.
2. Floors. My intermediate goal is to get stuff off the floor. The new rule is that in a closet or other area if it doesn't fit on a shelf, cull. Don't stack things on the floor.
1. Lazy. All in all, as far as I'm concerned, having less means having less crap to look through when I'm trying to find something, and also having less to clean, because remember: I. Am Lazy.
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