The problem with cleaning

The title of the thread is "The problem with cleaning" .... And the problem with that title is that you aren't cleaning anything, you are just shuffling things from one spot to another.

There are services that can help you understand your problem if you really want the help.
 

Bonnie said:
The title of the thread is "The problem with cleaning" .... And the problem with that title is that you aren't cleaning anything, you are just shuffling things from one spot to another.
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I did make some room. I have a pile of things beyond repair that will be going out on the next trash day. Cleaning will lileky be put on hold for a while. We are due for a heat wave and I can't exert myself in hot, muggy weather. I've had a headache since I did the porch yesterday and it wasn't even that warm.
 

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debodun said:
I did make some room. I have a pile of things beyond repair that will be going out on the next trash day. Cleaning will lileky be put on hold for a while. We are due for a heat wave and I can't exert myself in hot, muggy weather. I've had a headache since I did the porch yesterday and it wasn't even that warm.
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“Beyond repair the items that need repair, will you repair them or will they just sit and take up space? If they are broken, you should probably trash them, IMO.
 
debodun said:
Didn't I say in the post that they are going out to the trash next week?
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Yes to take stuff beyond repair. My question/comment was about the stuff not beyond repair but which needed to be repaired. Are you going to repair that stuff?-or does it just sit around? In any event, take it easy.

its terribly hot here as well. Can’t work in the garden in the afternoon at all.
 
I don't have the patience, know-how or ambition anymore to attempt to repair things that may or may not work when I get done with them. For instance, there was a wall screw in light socket similar to the one below,. Who can say whether it works or not and I don't want to short out the power trying to test it or sell it at my yard sale because of that - out it went.

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One time I was having a sale and a guy stopped. When he left he said my yard looked like a dumster had exploded. Probably because I wouldn't negotiate enough on my prices to suit him. I don't know why some people feel they have to be insulting if they don't get things for next to nothing. Even Goodwill and the SA charge for their merchandise.
 
I have yet to tackle the garage and cellar. The garage will probably be an autumn project. Much too hot for me to do it right now. The cellar is much cooler but dank. A few years ago I did tackle the cellar where my mom kept her "overflow" of vintage glassware and pottery. I brought it all upstairs, washed it and stowed the pieces here an there. What I liked went in the bottom of the cabinet where she had her favorite Depression glass. The rest put with yard sale items.

cellar 1.jpgcabinet dining room2.jpg
 
A few years ago I looked at a smaller house that was for sale on the parallel back street. It was a split-level, the back of the house was down 4 steps (which I didn't like right off the bat) and it had what the realtor termed "a galley kitchen" I felt claustrophobic. It was so narrow, I'd have been banging my hips on the countertops all the time. I like a kitchen I can move around in.

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LOVE this THREAD !!!!!!!!!!
I've been minimizing for about 8 years.
First inventory reduction.....while still on the farm. Basically stuff that haven't been used for sometime.
Recipient for that stuff was my daughter-in-law. Van was loaded full, along with the 1/2 ton which also included my china cabinet. Contents of the china cabinet got packed away, and stored, at the time, entertaining pretty much had gone with the wind. Any get togethers were very casual, didn't need fancy stuff. As much as i loved those things, didn't want to clean that stuff anymore.......But my memories remain of that was given to me over the years.
2016.....divorced.....moved to town. Minimizing started again. Donated to places and gave away to friends, and to my foster daughter.
I don't buy anything for the house anymore, unless it's something i use and has failed working, no more dust collectors.
There is one thing i do collect.....and that is solar lights.....had them at the farm.....and continued with them in town.....love sitting out at dark, watching the magic they create, they're in my front and back yard.
Have had a soft heart for fabric.....don't really called it hoarding.....did stockpile with great sales coupon etc, always bought end of season or off season.....almost free.....sometimes lost out waiting, that's okay.
Last 2 1/2 years have down a great deal of sewing, and some i've given away.

I've watched those Hoarding Shows.......SCARY......Yes, i know, a lot of disorders play it's part with these people.....very SAD....😟😟😟

There is an addition to my collecting........FRIENDS and CARING PEOPLE here on SENIOR FORUMS.....😊😊😊😊😊
 
debodun said:
I have yet to tackle the garage and cellar. The garage will probably be an autumn project. Much too hot for me to do it right now. The cellar is much cooler but dank. A few years ago I did tackle the cellar where my mom kept her "overflow" of vintage glassware and pottery. I brought it all upstairs, washed it and stowed the pieces here an there. What I liked went in the bottom of the cabinet where she had her favorite Depression glass. The rest put with yard sale items.

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Pics of glass left over from yard sales? If so then maybe donating to a historical society or museum that displays this kind of glass would help you rid yourself of items you don't use & nobody else cares to buy. Holding on for sentimental value if donated would still be possible because you could still see the items & know others can appreciate the beauty of what was popular years ago.
 
Deb, half your garage is used for storage of what? And for whom? You don't have children and have mentioned that there's very little family left. What's going to happen to all your stuff when you die?

Here's an idea: instead of ever having another yard sale, put everything out on your front lawn with signs "Free"...whatever is left at the end of the day obviously has no value whatsoever to anybody. Put it all out for "the next trash day."

Rinse and repeat one room at a time in the house. Collect everything in the room that you'd put out for a yard sale if only you didn't have to haul it all back in when it didn't sell.

From where I sit, along with probably many others on the forum, all that stuff has been a vast collection of albatrosses for you for years. Sentimental value to you, but most of it probably with no ACV. Something you're particularly fond of? Take a picture.

The Depression glass is pretty, but people who collect things are like us, older. Younger people? Shoot I couldn't give away Limoges china, Cambridge crystal or Towle sterling to my daughter or granddaughters. The sterling finally got sold to a precious metals dealer. The Limoges and Cambridge? Yard sale. Got a whopping $25 for 8 place settings + serving pieces for the Limoges, $20 for 24 pieces of the crystal. This kind of stuff just has no value in today's world.

Have I missed all the lovely "things" I had? Not really. I have a very few really, really sentimental things left and displayed either on a shelf or hanging on a wall. A Tuesday's child figurine given to me by my grandmother the year I turned 8, a plate brought here from Germany by my great-great-grandmother, a vase my mother made in an art class in college.

You'll feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from you when it's done. And when you take a notion to clean house, it'll be a whole lot easier because you won't have to move as much stuff.
 
After my mom passed, I called an auctioneer. He wouldn't take any glassware. He said it was too fragile to handle without getting broken. But he took the best furniture, then sold it, literally, for pennies.
 
debodun said:
After my mom passed, I called an auctioneer. He wouldn't take any glassware. He said it was too fragile to handle without getting broken. But he took the best furniture, then sold it, literally, for pennies.
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Exactly. It has no value except to the owner; therefore, it sells for pennies. That's why I say put it out with a sign proclaiming it's free. It'll probably all go to good homes, and then it'll become their problem to unload it. The flocks of albatrosses will at least be gone from yours.
 
I tried the giveaway tactic a few years ago. I put boxes of items on a pallet down by the front sidewalk with a FREE sign. When I went to look a few hours later, there was more ther than what I put out. I think when people saw the sign, they brought things and left them. The only thing taken was the pallet, which I paid $5 for. 😡
 
debodun said:
I tried the giveaway tactic a few years ago. I put boxes of items on a pallet down by the front sidewalk with a FREE sign. When I went to look a few hours later, there was more ther than what I put out. I think when people saw the sign, they brought things and left them. The only thing taken was the pallet, which I paid $5 for. 😡
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Do yourself a kindness and pick up on that message if no one will take it even if it's free. How soon is your next trash day?
 
My trash service picks up here in Wednesday. I have a small receptacle, though. Only a few things at a time. I had to hire a junk removal guy 3 years ago when the back door overhang blew over in a wind storm. I think he charged me a little over $100 to cut it up and haul it away, but it wasn't something I could tackle myself and it impeded my egress from the back door.

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Five years ago a branch of a maple tree fell in my backyard and a tree service charged me $800 to remove it. Again, something I couldn't handle.

tree damage July 2015b.jpgtree damage July 2015c.jpg
 
debodun said:
I know there's a lot of old paint cans in the cellar. Many clean-out guys won't take them. They won't even accept paint cans at the town clean-up day (electronics and appliances either).
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You'll have to go online and find out where your closest Hazardous Waste drop off is.
 

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