Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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Blackhawk
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Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

I've been in this house for 18 years now, and I've got a lot of expansive, stuff-intensive hobbies (miniature painting, tabletop crafting, RPGs, board games, comics, fitness, etc) and have given up other stuff-intensive pursuits that have left 'stuff' behind (physical video game collections, dead tree books, religion.) The kids grew up in this house. One was two when we moved in, the other... well, we didn't even know he was already in progress when we moved in. They've had a legacy of baby stuff, toddler stuff, elementary school stuff, junior high stuff, high school stuff, hobby and interest stuff, and various periods of good old-fashioned toys. Michelle lived here, then moved out, then moved back in a decade later. We've had pets that have lived with us and pets that have died. Stuff that was given to us. Clothes that we got for this or that, clothes that we wore, clothes we never touched, clothes that are special, and for the kids, clothes they outgrew. Relatives have died and left us 'stuff.' And then there is just the 'life' stuff that accumulates. From kitchen utensils and coffee pots to the back scrubber in the bathroom to that bottle of body wash we were given for Christmas to old papers stuffed into the file box to paper manuals for appliances. Stuff happens, and it keeps happening.

Now, it's not like we haven't gotten rid of stuff. We've taken many, many loads of stuff away for donation, recycling, yard sales, friends, and the dump. But everything leaves a mark. Everything builds up, and even when it's gone, bits remain. Active things build up, too. Hobbies result in odds and ends that you know will be useful someday, but not for anything specific. But they're sure to be useful for something, someday! That plastic case would make great windows on miniature terrain (if I ever make terrain with windows.) Some of those kitchen utensils are really useful - or would be, if we every used the one ingredient they're designed for. Old appliances still work, even if we've got a newer, better version. Slowly, all of those little things build up. Michelle moving back in a few years ago accelerated the process by adding the flotsam of one life to the jetsam of another.

An author I read years ago put it this way: Containers exist to keep your stuff from getting out of control. If a container is full, you can't put more into it. You have to take something out first. And your home is a container, and your stuff includes your family. If your non-family stuff takes up so much room that the stuff that's your family doesn't have room to live, you've overfilled your container.

Well, our container is full. It's been that way for a while, and we've been managing for getting rid of stuff as we bring new stuff in, but that maintains the container in a state of perpetual 'full', as in 'no room to live.' But we've hit the breaking point. A few things made us realize this. Simply turning around has twice caused something expensive to fall and break. Now that I'm working out regularly, the fact that I barely have room to spread out my arms is kind of noticeable. And a couple of completely new interests (fitness, VR) has resulted in no longer being able to put things away. There are no more places. And yet people all over the world have houses way smaller than ours and manage just fine. The problem is us, and the problem is our stuff.

So we started a purge a week or two ago, and the process continues.

This isn't another case of rounding up the obvious old stuff for donation. To put it in computer terms, the usual spring de-junking is like running a system cleaner and defragging afterward. What we're doing is reformatting the drive and reinstalling.

In the closet, for instance. I didn't just get rid of clothes that didn't fit. I got rid of clothes that didn't fit, I got rid of clothes that I didn't like, I got rid of clothes that I liked but - being totally honest with myself - I knew I'd never wear. I got rid of clothes that I go for specific purposes that are unlikely to ever occur. I got rid of special purpose clothes that I had multiples of (like gloves.) I gave more than half of what I had away.

The renovation of my painting area (described in both the Home Improvement and painting sections) was a part of this process. It's amazing how many bits and pieces of things I kept for "if I ever make...", how many duplicate or redundant tools and paints I've ended up with. Sculpting tools, picks, brushes. I have so many duplicates and extras that I'll never need them all. Two dozen bottles of specialty streaking paint I found on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents apiece. Many duplicate craft paints because if I have an idea I'm more likely to just pick up another 79 cent bottle while I'm at the store than wait to get home, check, and maybe have to go back. Model building supplies when I have finished exactly two models in the last 25 years, none in the last 20. Model railroad bits that someone gave me when I don't do model railroads... but you never know when several dozen decal sheets will come in handy! (Yes, I do. Never.) If I was a pro and had a studio... maybe. But I've got so much 'just in case' stuff that I can't find the things I need.

I've been in the process of doing this throughout the entire house. I expect that a third to half of everything we have will vanish soon.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Daehawk »

Simple solution....tie up your closest neighbor and use their place as storage.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

See, that's the problem. I don't need more storage. I need to change my thinking so that I'm not storing stuff that doesn't have any meaning and that I'm unlikely to ever use.

My current system makes me a gas. I will expand to fill my container!

(And yes, I know it was a joke.)
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Madmarcus »

Blackhawk wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 8:01 pm My current system makes me a gas. I will expand to fill my container!
Become like water; take the shape of your surroundings but do not expand to fill them.

As a sometimes Taoist and sometimes physical science teacher I love the analogy!
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

*puts his sandal on his head*
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Paingod »

Blackhawk wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 8:01 pm See, that's the problem. I don't need more storage. I need to change my thinking so that I'm not storing stuff that doesn't have any meaning and that I'm unlikely to ever use.
We're moving from a 2,400sq ft house (basement, 1st, 2nd) and intending to build one that's maybe 1,200 - across three layers (basement, 1st, 2nd). Roughly half the living space. By deliberate choice. My wife is tired of having mounds of "stuff"

She's never done what I did. Each time I moved from age 17 to 25 I shed excess "stuff" and just kept a core of important memorabilia. That alone takes up about 2 shelves in a bookshelf. It's all I really need to keep if you told me I had to gut everything again. As it is, I've packed almost everything I own into a 3x3x5 space in one corner of our bedroom - with the exception of things like my lathe and portable spray booth.

My wife, though, has filled the house wall to wall with things she's dragged all over the country from when she was 18 until now. She's one of those people who HAD to use a storage unit just to keep her "stuff" safe until she found a place for all of it. Now she's going through her own purge and each weekend when I go home, there are several bags destined for the transfer station or Goodwill. Even with that, I'm hardly noticing a dent yet. She's going to need to lose about 4/5 of the "stuff" she's got in order to hit her goal before moving.

It can be hard to let that go when you've had it so long, even if you never use it.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by YellowKing »

We moved into a rental last year while building and are about 2 months away from moving to the new house. Needless to say, I found out real quickly moving will teach you how much stuff you don't actually need. We got rid of two full storage units of stuff in the move to the rental, and still have more stuff we need to purge.

One big thing I did was purge all my "collectibles." Because all they actually collected was dust. Everything I've kept is functional. If I can't read it, play it, or watch it, it's gotta go. :D

My wife has been pretty good about helping purge in the moves, but she has to do it slowly and in her own time. She's very sentimental for one, and she grew up dirt poor (like stealing food poor), so it's VERY difficult for her to throw something away that has value. So it's not uncommon for us to hold on to something for months because "so and so might be able to use it." She's gotten better, but it's a bit frustrating because my idea of getting ready for this next move is "rent a dumpster and start chucking shit in it so we move the minimal amount of stuff possible" while her idea is to "let's just pack everything up and move it, then we'll figure out whether to throw it out or keep it once we get there."

The idea of paying people to move boxes of crap I'm just going to turn around and donate or throw away is probably the biggest source of conflict we've had in the entire house buying process.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Blackhawk wrote:I've been in this house for 18 years now, and I've got a lot of expansive, stuff-intensive hobbies (miniature painting, tabletop crafting, RPGs, board games, comics, fitness, etc) and have given up other stuff-intensive pursuits that have left 'stuff' behind (physical video game collections, dead tree books, religion.) The kids grew up in this house. One was two when we moved in, the other... well, we didn't even know he was already in progress when we moved in. They've had a legacy of baby stuff, toddler stuff, elementary school stuff, junior high stuff, high school stuff, hobby and interest stuff, and various periods of good old-fashioned toys. Michelle lived here, then moved out, then moved back in a decade later. We've had pets that have lived with us and pets that have died. Stuff that was given to us. Clothes that we got for this or that, clothes that we wore, clothes we never touched, clothes that are special, and for the kids, clothes they outgrew. Relatives have died and left us 'stuff.' And then there is just the 'life' stuff that accumulates. From kitchen utensils and coffee pots to the back scrubber in the bathroom to that bottle of body wash we were given for Christmas to old papers stuffed into the file box to paper manuals for appliances. Stuff happens, and it keeps happening.

Now, it's not like we haven't gotten rid of stuff. We've taken many, many loads of stuff away for donation, recycling, yard sales, friends, and the dump. But everything leaves a mark. Everything builds up, and even when it's gone, bits remain. Active things build up, too. Hobbies result in odds and ends that you know will be useful someday, but not for anything specific. But they're sure to be useful for something, someday! That plastic case would make great windows on miniature terrain (if I ever make terrain with windows.) Some of those kitchen utensils are really useful - or would be, if we every used the one ingredient they're designed for. Old appliances still work, even if we've got a newer, better version. Slowly, all of those little things build up. Michelle moving back in a few years ago accelerated the process by adding the flotsam of one life to the jetsam of another.

An author I read years ago put it this way: Containers exist to keep your stuff from getting out of control. If a container is full, you can't put more into it. You have to take something out first. And your home is a container, and your stuff includes your family. If your non-family stuff takes up so much room that the stuff that's your family doesn't have room to live, you've overfilled your container.

Well, our container is full. It's been that way for a while, and we've been managing for getting rid of stuff as we bring new stuff in, but that maintains the container in a state of perpetual 'full', as in 'no room to live.' But we've hit the breaking point. A few things made us realize this. Simply turning around has twice caused something expensive to fall and break. Now that I'm working out regularly, the fact that I barely have room to spread out my arms is kind of noticeable. And a couple of completely new interests (fitness, VR) has resulted in no longer being able to put things away. There are no more places. And yet people all over the world have houses way smaller than ours and manage just fine. The problem is us, and the problem is our stuff.

So we started a purge a week or two ago, and the process continues.

This isn't another case of rounding up the obvious old stuff for donation. To put it in computer terms, the usual spring de-junking is like running a system cleaner and defragging afterward. What we're doing is reformatting the drive and reinstalling.

In the closet, for instance. I didn't just get rid of clothes that didn't fit. I got rid of clothes that didn't fit, I got rid of clothes that I didn't like, I got rid of clothes that I liked but - being totally honest with myself - I knew I'd never wear. I got rid of clothes that I go for specific purposes that are unlikely to ever occur. I got rid of special purpose clothes that I had multiples of (like gloves.) I gave more than half of what I had away.

The renovation of my painting area (described in both the Home Improvement and painting sections) was a part of this process. It's amazing how many bits and pieces of things I kept for "if I ever make...", how many duplicate or redundant tools and paints I've ended up with. Sculpting tools, picks, brushes. I have so many duplicates and extras that I'll never need them all. Two dozen bottles of specialty streaking paint I found on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents apiece. Many duplicate craft paints because if I have an idea I'm more likely to just pick up another 79 cent bottle while I'm at the store than wait to get home, check, and maybe have to go back. Model building supplies when I have finished exactly two models in the last 25 years, none in the last 20. Model railroad bits that someone gave me when I don't do model railroads... but you never know when several dozen decal sheets will come in handy! (Yes, I do. Never.) If I was a pro and had a studio... maybe. But I've got so much 'just in case' stuff that I can't find the things I need.

I've been in the process of doing this throughout the entire house. I expect that a third to half of everything we have will vanish soon.
Spoken like a true non-hoarder, wow!

Seriously impressed. I’ve never heard of anyone in what sounded like near-hoarding living conditions (?) just do a successful purge like you are, with what sounds like a 180 in perspective about ‘stuff’ to go with it.

Huzzah, sir, huzzah.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Daehawk »

If I lived next door Id probably have gone out, got it all, and put it in my house.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

YellowKing wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 10:37 pm She's very sentimental for one, and she grew up dirt poor (like stealing food poor), so it's VERY difficult for her to throw something away that has value.
This is a big part of me, too. All of it. It doesn't help that I live in the boonies, so going out and getting even a cheap (whatever) when I actually need it may involve waiting a week or two until we are making the round trip to town for something else. It tends to result in holding onto the stuff you think you might need someday, just because it is that much harder to actually get it on short notice.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 10:43 pm

Seriously impressed. I’ve never heard of anyone in what sounded like near-hoarding living conditions (?) just do a successful purge like you are, with what sounds like a 180 in perspective about ‘stuff’ to go with it.

Huzzah, sir, huzzah.
Thank you! But I'm not a hoarder. I have some of the same tendencies (most people do), but I don't take it to that extreme. I don't keep completely useless, valueless stuff, and I get rid of stuff all the time. If you saw my house, it would look generally neat. A little visually busy, perhaps, but neat. I am an obsessive organizer, after all. But what space I do have is crowded. While we generally keep things to their areas, those areas are absolutely packed full, which seriously limits their practical use. It makes it hard to find things when you need them because there is so much other stuff in there, too, and the other stuff is likely on top of or in front of the stuff you actually need. It's inconvenient, not distressing. And it's never unsafe (as long as you don't swing it at the kids.)

Like going to get the meat thermometer out of the kitchen drawer and having to half-empty it because it is full of things like basters (we don't do any cooking that involves basting), an lemon squeezer (we don't squeeze lemons), a melon baller (guess what we don't do?) and two dozen other things. Everything I have is legitimately useful.

But as that same author said, you have to distinguish between the useful and the used.
Last edited by Blackhawk on Thu May 06, 2021 11:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Zarathud »

I bought a bigger house 2 years ago but it has a lot less storage space. I have a garage full of crap that has to go, and boxes in my office of old computer parts to purge.

It’s time to maximize room for my board games and miniatures.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by malchior »

I actually have been purging slowly for the last year or so. I had a closet full of old computer stuff. Gone. This morning I purged an old packing crate with cat 3 ethernet cables, coax cable, scsi cables, etc. I put stuff on freecycle but unsurprisingly I got few hits for them.

My wife's boss is talking about paying to add a sink to our basement so I'm purging all the crap down there too. We moved into this place in 2012 and there are boxes from that move. I popped open a box and found a collection of RPG books going back to my teens. I'm not drowning in stuff but if I didn't even remember I still had it well then I don't need it. Though it's three long boxes of RPG books. That's hard to part with.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Kraken »

In the 32 years we've lived here, our house is stuffed to capacity with stuff. There are boxes stacked in the cellar that haven't been opened since we moved in. At least 95% of it is Wife's, so I can't do much about it. But there's hope.

In order to get rid of the Lansing MI house that we inherited, we hired someone to trash the place out. This is Wife's childhood home, and the brother who died there was a hoarder. It was even more overstuffed than our house. They filled three dumpsters, and sent us 7 boxes of stuff (mostly worthless) for Wife to add to her stuff. This is not going in an encouraging direction so far.

When we finally sell the Lansing house, we mean to use the proceeds to renovate our house, top to bottom. We're going to have to move out to do that, and we're going to have to move all or most of our stuff out, too. At that point she's finally going to have to confront her possessions, and I'm going to lean on her to fill up at least one dumpster.

Our retirement plans are still gauzy enough to include the possibility of buying a larger house after we rehab this one. If we go that route, it will be harder to convince her to shed her junk because hey, bigger box! We can't afford a larger house in our neighborhood, so it hinges on whether we decide to stay here or relocate -- a discussion that's gone unresolved for at least 10 years, but that becomes a little more urgent every month.

I hope that when the logjam finally breaks, it will wash away a lifetime of accumulated junk. But ain't nothing happening until then.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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I wrote a big long reply before deleting it. Basically I've stopped collecting and am letting my heirs handle all my stuff after I die. (or maybe before)
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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My computer stuff was one of the first things I hit. It's a great example of the problem, too. If I were to upgrade my video card today, I'd stick the old one in my parts box. Unless I needed it for something, though, I wouldn't think about it much. In a few years, when I upgraded again, I'd stick the one I took out in the box, too. A decade from now I'd have three or four old cards in there when, at most, I might ever need one. It isn't that I'm not willing to get rid of them, just that, once they're in the box, I stop thinking about them. They're just another silver bag in with a bunch of silver bags of cards.

Six or seven years ago I had two long computer boxes full of parts plus a huge cardboard box just full of cables. Four or five years ago I culled it down to one medium sized tote plus a single bag of cords. That's my limit. If it doesn't fit into those, something goes away. Last week I got rid of probably 1/3 of what was in the tote. I still need to go through the cords.

Out of curiosity, do people outside of Indiana call the large plastic storage boxes with lids 'totes'?
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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no
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by LawBeefaroni »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 7:22 am

Out of curiosity, do people outside of Indiana call the large plastic storage boxes with lids 'totes'?
I don't but it's common here. Of course we're just barely outside of Indiana.

And if Menard's calls them "totes", they're totes.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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We just call them storage boxes. Also never seen a Menards.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Scuzz »

I have the wife take her car out of the garage every few months and I go thru and throw away (or donate) anything we really don't need. With my father and her father dying in the last 10 years we have a lot of stuff we kept that we have learned we really don't need or want. Currently we are trying to de-clutter the kitchen/family room area so that we can look at a possible remodel. Why remodel, well we need storage of course. And to modernize but a lot of it is to get kitchen items in the kitchen.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

Of all the things I didn't expect to have trouble finding.. simple shoeboxes are a pain!

Shoe organizer drawers, sure. Elaborate shoe storage boxes, sure. Shoe collector boxes, sure. Plastic shoe box sized boxes with angled sides and wide lips that waste a ton of space when set side by side? Oh yeah. But simple boxes with a lid you can just lift off? Nope. Not trendy enough. I'm sure I could get my hands on a box or two, but I really need several of the same size to put in a cabinet.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Isgrimnur »

What's a 'Menard'?
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Isgrimnur »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:52 pm Of all the things I didn't expect to have trouble finding.. simple shoeboxes are a pain!

Shoe organizer drawers, sure. Elaborate shoe storage boxes, sure. Shoe collector boxes, sure. Plastic shoe box sized boxes with angled sides and wide lips that waste a ton of space when set side by side? Oh yeah. But simple boxes with a lid you can just lift off? Nope. Not trendy enough. I'm sure I could get my hands on a box or two, but I really need several of the same size to put in a cabinet.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by hitbyambulance »

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:03 pm What's a 'Menard'?
it's a midwest thing - an amped-up general store, i guess. Home Depot (but not as big) + Harbor Freight (but not as big) + Bed Bath & Beyond? there was a time in the '00s when my dad would buy (or if it was free, acquire) whatever the weekly promo item was and send it to me. speaking of decluttering, i have a ton of cheap driver and utility knife sets from there. i also have FOUR Menards t-shirts... (didn't know what to do with them, so now they're my unofficial 'house chore' apparel, which seemed appropriate. speaking to that store's general quality of goods, the screen printing on one of them is off-center and crooked)
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Isgrimnur »

Thanks.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

I'd just have described it as a typical big-box hardware store with a few extras (a food section the size of a minimart and some pet food.) The one we shop at is about the same size as our Lowe's. I haven't seen a Home Depot in more than 20 years, so I don't really remember it well enough to compare.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:04 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:52 pm Of all the things I didn't expect to have trouble finding.. simple shoeboxes are a pain!

Shoe organizer drawers, sure. Elaborate shoe storage boxes, sure. Shoe collector boxes, sure. Plastic shoe box sized boxes with angled sides and wide lips that waste a ton of space when set side by side? Oh yeah. But simple boxes with a lid you can just lift off? Nope. Not trendy enough. I'm sure I could get my hands on a box or two, but I really need several of the same size to put in a cabinet.
https://www.containerstore.com/s/closet ... d=10001753
That is... a step up. I just wish I could get rid of the lip. This is better, but not at 4x the price.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by MHS »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 7:22 am Out of curiosity, do people outside of Indiana call the large plastic storage boxes with lids 'totes'?
Our daughter has temporarily moved in with us as of two days ago, until June 1 when she can move into a townhouse in Fort Collins with her boyfriend. She has been using those plastic bins with lids and calling them totes, which I don't know where she picked up because I call them bins. And every time she says it, my brain fills in with "totes mcgoats." So...there's your useless thing you didn't need to know for today.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Isgrimnur »

Image
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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And now I will be thinking it every time I look at the totes.

magoats.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Kraken »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:51 pm I haven't seen a Home Depot in more than 20 years, so I don't really remember it well enough to compare.
It's Lowe's, except orange.

For a few years we had a Lowe's and a HD in very close proximity, but Lowe's lost. There wasn't much difference. If one store didn't have what I needed, I'd just bop down the street to the other one, and I only preferred HD because their parking lot was easier to get in and out of.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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Our Lowes and Home Depot are about 5 blocks apart.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Unagi »

Kraken wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 6:51 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:51 pm I haven't seen a Home Depot in more than 20 years, so I don't really remember it well enough to compare.
It's Lowe's, except orange.
My wife tells me: it’s Lowe’s, except not a total Trump supporter.

Or as you may say, orange
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Kraken »

Unagi wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 7:33 pm
Kraken wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 6:51 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:51 pm I haven't seen a Home Depot in more than 20 years, so I don't really remember it well enough to compare.
It's Lowe's, except orange.
My wife tells me: it’s Lowe’s, except not a total Trump supporter.

Or as you may say, orange
I wasn't going to go there, but yup, I don't like HD's politics and they have a bad reputation for how they treat their employees. I usually pay slightly more to patronize my local Tru-Value instead, but every now and then a big-box store is unavoidable.

I do go to HD once every spring because their selection of vegetable seeds and plants and garden supplies is the best around.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

So far I'm really happy with the project I undertook to add mounting rails to my plaster walls in order to hang my paints and tools. It looks like it's going to turn out really well (I'll post pictures after I get everything in place in a few days.)

What I've managed to do is get the majority of my miniature painting stuff off of my desk. The original idea for the rails and racks was to give myself more elbow room to actually work, but between doing that and the decluttering, I've realized that I created an opportunity. I have an empty desk. It's an awful desk, a leftover pressed-wood teenager's desk from the 80s, and I really wish I could replace it, but it is empty.

In addition to the painting stuff, I have the tools for terrain crafting (hot wire cutters, cutting mats, etc.) I have my airbrush that I need to learn to make better use of. I've wanted to learn to use my soldering iron to add simple electronics (mostly lighting) to some miniatures and terrain. I've wanted to better train myself in the use of light and color for mini painting, and that includes space to practice the fundamentals of traditional art (light is a function of volumes, volumes are learned via drawing, etc.) I have wanted to learn basic sculpting for modifying miniatures or adding elements to terrain. None of this is stuff I'd need to add to my house during a declutter, nor is it stuff I would have to buy. It's stuff I already have. And it isn't adding hobbies. It is improving my breadth and skills within the same hobby.

Most of it, though, I don't use. I don't use it because it always involved dragging out a table and finding space to set it up, digging out the bits and pieces of stuff that go with the tools, and then having to put it all back before somebody needed the room (it's our bedroom.) There was so much set up and take down that it was a huge hassle.

Part of the decluttering process has been to put like things together. That means that all the terrain tools are in one box, all the airbrush tools are in one box, etc. If I want to airbrush, I grab the cleaning pot, grab the box, and go. If I want to solder, I grab the electronics box and go. But I was still thinking about getting out a folding table. Today I realized: I have an empty desk. If I can set it up so that so that my miniature painting stuff is also easy to move - limiting what's actually on the desk by taking better advantage of the wall - I can just swap the painting stuff out the same way as everything else. Make my desk neutral and just swap out different sets of tools.

Now I just have to figure out how to pull that off.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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As I work on reorganizing my painting/spraying/soldering/cutting/gluing/drawing area, I have been searching for ideas on getting it organized and functional. Why is it that when you search for artists' studio organization, all the results seem to suggest that all artists work in pristine studios built for the cover of Better Homes and Gardens, always with everything done in pure, pristine, white? I've never seen a working artist whose studio actually looked anything like that! And the tips on the sites are always about cutesy ways of putting your tools on display, as if the studio was a display piece intended to impress your friends. They're never about about organizing the workspace, never about work flow, never about first order retrievability (the idea that you should never have to move one tool to get to another, originating with how medical bags are organized.)
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by stessier »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:53 pm
Isgrimnur wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:04 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:52 pm Of all the things I didn't expect to have trouble finding.. simple shoeboxes are a pain!

Shoe organizer drawers, sure. Elaborate shoe storage boxes, sure. Shoe collector boxes, sure. Plastic shoe box sized boxes with angled sides and wide lips that waste a ton of space when set side by side? Oh yeah. But simple boxes with a lid you can just lift off? Nope. Not trendy enough. I'm sure I could get my hands on a box or two, but I really need several of the same size to put in a cabinet.
https://www.containerstore.com/s/closet ... d=10001753
That is... a step up. I just wish I could get rid of the lip. This is better, but not at 4x the price.
I don't know if you are still looking for these, but you can get them as cheap as $2/box. You're just going to have to buy 25 of them. Maybe you have a friend who needs some?
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Blackhawk »

Those would have been great (although that's a lot of shoe boxes), but I did end up going with the ones Isgrimnur linked. They should be here in a few days.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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:horse:
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

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Man, this project has been interesting and eye-opening. The thing about clearing out your house the way we are - getting rid of not just the trash, but also those things that you convinced yourself you needed/wanted when you never really did, leftover bits of old ideas, sentimental things that you don't really have any sentimental attachment to... Well, it requires more than just a plan, it requires a change in mindset. And that has an impact beyond the initial goals.

There are mindsets that lead to clutter. All of them can be good, and all of them can be taken too far. (Optional discussion of mindsets it the spoilers to avoid tl;dr.)
Spoiler:
One is the collector's mindset. Part of it is the thrill of the hunt. The moment you find that one missing piece to fill a hole in your collection. It's thrilling! Part of it is perfectionism, which manifests as completionism, the desire to have every part of a thing, to be finished, to take parts and create a perfect whole. It's immensely satisfying. If taken too far, it can become obsessive, with people buying hugely expensive items they genuinely cannot afford just because it fills that one hole in a collection (comic collecting makes this one a constant temptation that I've managed to avoid!)

Another is the preparedness mindset. This is my biggest downfall. It is the drive to have something in place for eventualities. I'm poor now, but I grew up really poor. When you do get money and you're that poor, you stockpile. You grab the things you need for whatever happens next and you hang on to them. And it is smart if done consciously, such as putting back an emergency supply of food. But if done without that constant awareness, it leads to putting stuff back for eventualities that are unlikely to ever occur. "Hey, this would be handy if I ever decide to build a piece of terrain based on a modern office building!" or "Hey, this is the kind of thing I liked when I was involved in (old hobby), so I'll love it when I get back into that (old hobby you are unlikely to ever pursue again.)

Then there is the nostalgia mindset. The desire to hang on to the past. Remembering who we are and where we come from is important. Remembering trips and times spent together with family is important. Remembering people and places long gone is important, too. It's our history, after all! When taken too far people become unable to let go. Instead of keeping a special souvenir from a trip, they keep a shelf full. Instead of keeping a few special things from someone who died, they keep everything, sometimes whole rooms full of stuff (long past mourning - until then it's different.) When that happens, it prevents those people from looking to the future, and it stops them from building new memories in the present because they can't let go of the past.

And then there is hoarding, which is when any of the above become compulsive and out of control, when the legitimate reasons become excuses simply to gather and store. At this level, it is a mental illness. I've avoided this one, thankfully.


Almost everyone experiences these mindsets in differing degrees. I have a few collections (comics is probably the best example), but lack the resources to really devote to collecting. And when I do collect, it's all about the hunt, not the completion itself. I am a nostalgic person by nature, but have learned to keep the past in balance with the present. Besides, not much 'stuff' survived my childhood. My father didn't really take care of things. But the preparedness - that's where I lost control. I kept bits for terrain that I would never build, I bought board games that were really cool that I'd like to play if I ever get the time and space to set up huge board games for three days at a time. I bought more miniatures than I could ever paint on the basis that, "If I ever get to war game again, these orcs will be great!" and, "If I ever run that one campaign in that one RPG, I'll have these hobgoblins ready to go!", and "I don't have any sort of small flying creatures, so I should grab those if anything like that ever pops up in a game." And painting tools. And paints. And RPG rules and source books. And board game/RPG accessories. And other books (I have books for reference when I get around to writing my novel. I haven't had a desire to write a novel since I was 22. But if I ever do, I'm ready to go!) We won't even touch on Steam libraries, but at least that doesn't take up space in the house.

I'm stunned at the amount of money I have spent when I didn't have money, and the amount of space I have devoted to these things when I don't have space. I'm don't always make the smartest decisions. Luckily, once I realize I'm being an idiot, I have the sense to try and fix it.

Anyway, mindset. Part of the process behind clearing out the mess is willfully adopting a new mindset on 'stuff.' At the core, it is about being honest with yourself, even if it is painful, and drawing a line between 'useful' and 'used.' There is a huge difference, and you have to learn to recognize it.

It's about looking at things and deciding, not will it be good for Activity A, but honestly asking whether I am likely to ever engage in Activity A. Ever. Am I genuinely like to write a novel? No. Then reference books for novels are useful, but not used. They're clutter. Am I going to bake foods that require this particular specialty cooking tool that's been in the drawer for 15 years? No? Clutter.

It's also about asking, "When a situation does arise, will I actually use this to solve it?" I have a back-up coffee pot (a Senseo) if our regular one ever dies. If our regular one dies, am I going to use the Senseo, which would require ordering pods online and waiting for delivery, or am I just going to get a new pot? Senseo is clutter. I have a huge, comprehensive set of cook books that belonged to my mother. If I cook, will I use the cookbooks? No, I will look for recipes/instructions on the internet (this goes for 90% of my reference books.) Cook books are clutter. If I have need a binder to put some papers in, will I remember that I have two cheap ones sitting in the back of the closet, or will I forget and grab a new cheap one from the store? Clutter.

And simply, "Will I ever actually use it?" I like a certain jacket, but I have another I like more. Clutter. I like the logo on a shirt, but I hate the color. Clutter. I like these drink coasters, but I replaced them because they stuck to cups. Clutter. Air popper when popcorn hurts my teeth? Clutter.

As I apply these questions to everything, I am discovering that it isn't the messy 10% on top that's clutter, it's about 2/3 of everything. And trust me, my house still has plenty. I'm not a Spartan, and I don't go for minimalism. And what has happened is that the things that do matter are now front and center. I can find what I need instead of digging. The things that I want to do stand out and are remembered instead of being invisible among the things I didn't really care about. I have room to do things with the stuff that's left. And since everything that's going is stuff I didn't want, need, or use, nothing is missed.

But what makes it surprising and eye-opening is that when you change that mindset, it doesn't just apply to stuff sitting around your house. I'm finding that I'm decluttering my habits as well. And my hobbies. And my plans. And my ideas. And how I otherwise spend my time. And just like the house, the things that are gone aren't missed, while the things that are left stand out and are noticed. It's funny how much free time I've had that I squandered on things I didn't actually care all that much about, while at the same time stressing about not having the time to pursue the things that actually get me excited.

And the house still has a long way to go.
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Re: Man, what a mess. Time to declutter.

Post by Jaymann »

We're talking some major soul searching over a cluttered garage.
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