Dirty little secrets of the MA

Here's a link
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2689/
I have 'articles of the day' on my home page, it's an option . Or take a link on the right of some pages, to Articles.
But on second thought you may not want to read this, it defends packratism. On third thought, do read it and think about how your lovely goodies will go to fuel someone else's creativity -or packratism

There must be some money in junk cuz I get almost weekly calls from the ones who send trucks.

Yes maam, there is money in junk. If you were to come to my town and watch to see two of the most ragged looking mountain men that only the movies could portray better, you would see two brothers who lack in educational and socialization skills other than making money. They are my age and I hear that they have been able over the years to deal in junk and they now are in to buying up real estate in this very prime and pricey county. They don't deal much with banks either, I hear but think nothing of coming up with hundreds of thousands of dollars if they see something they want.

Thanks for the tip on the articles. I learn something new every day it seems.

Ruby

Interesting!
We have two pretty ragged looking brothers still farming in this pricey area--but if they ever wanted to sell the land they could be well off. And then do what?? Many of us will agree they are really rich being able to stay on family land and still farm.

Stormyla,
Thanks for your well wishes - much appreciated.

Sallyg Reassuring to know some aren't selling out
for the Almighty dollar.Far too much farm land in
southern NJ is being sold for developments.

What does that have to do w/clutter?
Lots of half built homes sitting on unmowed lots.
An eyesore for all to see.

Oh, every day I drive past the former woods behind my house, which all had to be completely mowed and leveled several yeas ago to prepare for the homes which are being only very slowly built.

Cris, I will always remember my son's description of one of the new developments in our town. He said that it looked like a trailor park on steroids. I thought that was funny as could be.

I am very proud of the progress made on organizing two bedrooms and storage shed the past couple of months. There is still lots more to be done, because some of the things I kind of just slid to the side and said, I will do that later. So, let's hope that later will come before I once again have the same sort of issue to deal with, clutter galore.

The yard sale people made a trip on Tuesday to get some of the items that I donated but couldn't fit it all in their truck. They had planned to come back, but got rained out the next three days. Their sale is today, so I now need to decide where to take what is set aside to donate.

Sally, I read the recycling article and saw myself in it. Only difference is that even though I am quite creative in my ideas, the actual getting it done is where I suffer. I too have collected things over the years for really cool projects I think of, but that is usually about as far as I get. I am slowly getting rid of some of my recyclables. Doing other sorts of crafts falls under this same category. I have loads of craft supplies that I will eventually need to begin ridding myself of.

Thanks to all who shared their dirty little secrets here.

Ruby

A-ha! Just what I thought!! More posts than pictures. I was afraid to open this thread. Everyone wants to know those dirty little secrets,, so... when you get around to telling them, you clean them up more than you will let on.

I'm a mag dragon. My side of the bed is lined with stacks of magazines. Every now and then, I throw some out.

The paperbacks and books can get out of hand too. I'm not reading as much as I used to, but friends still give me some, and I occasionally buy one or two.

This message was edited Nov 15, 2009 11:08 AM

Foxy and Stormy, I can certainly identify with both of your clutter issues. I spent some time on Friday going through the stack of magazines and catalogues that have been sitting beside my end of the sofa. I decided before going through them that I would go ahead and get rid of the catalogues, because I won't be ordering anything for a while at least. I filled two plastic grocery bags with them. That was over half of the mess. It sure made a difference in how that little area looks.

I hate to admit that I still have an over abundance of both paperbacks and magazines. Stormy, I am much like you in that since becoming so involved in several of the websites I visit, I don't usually feel like reading anything else afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who has stepped up and admitted to having less than perfect homes. I am in good company here.

Ruby



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Welcome to the club, Ruby!! I guess the Internet is responsible for stacks of books and magazines.

One way to get reading again would be to join a reading website. Right? Sure.

Ruby, You set me on a holy tear. Gone are the paper piles. Half the garge is cleaned and I'm Pooped!!!!!

Transporting kids for school helps with the magazine problem. --a little. They either get read, waiting, or so messed up floating around the vehicle that they have to go. Or at least they aren't in the house LOL. My van is not spotless, ahem. I have no subscriptions. Sis gives me New Yorker.
I must avert my eyes every day at the grocery--from the recipes mags by the checkout. I have ten books and a number of mags at home already. I don't need new recipes, just the motivation to use what I have!! Hm, take out the word recipe and apply that to many items.

You are so right Sally. We compulsive personality types have to fight hard to avoid clutter. I have to work really hard at using up what I have. There are some things I haven't bought in several years!!

Whenever I mention that I am going shopping, John asks where are you going to put it? I haven't shared with him the fact that while doing my major decluttering work the past couple of months, I have become aware of a theme. I have found so many items that I have purchased on a whim. Most are items that have been marked down to bare bones. I have trouble passing up a deal even though I have no thought of what I will be using the purchased item for. I do know that I don't need to go to many stores to Christmas shop this year because I already have a closet full of gifts to give. That works for me.

I am loving hearing about everyones dirty little secrets.

Ruby

Ruby--

I am, and have always been, much the same. Part of this hoarding in me is due to having grown up with almost nothing. All those hard years of scrimping and saving. My Mom was my "role model" in this....She reused even bread wrappers....

My "catch all" is a floor to ceiling bookshelf in my bedroom stuffed full, and overflowing, with "gifts" to give just in case...
The problem is that when i DO need a gift--nothing on this big bookcase seems to fill the bill....

The two bottom drawers in the upright dresser (used to be my "EX's") are also full--mostly all kinds of candles and votives and other stuff to go with them.

This is one of MY dirty little secrets.....There are other floor-to-ceiling shelves in other rooms as well....mostly filled with craft supplies and projects that have never been finished--or even started. However--all this is fairly organized....
Stormy will understand me saying this....:o)
Gita

LOL, Yes, Gita, I do. I, too, can just reach into a cabinet and find a perfectly nice gift for most anyone. But, I have been on a "no shopping for inside the home" kick all year.

I had to ban myself from entering Dollar Tree stores the past year or so. Too many great deals. I did allow myself to shop the local DT when on vacation. We also bought several lottery tickets while on vacation and that too is out of character. Didn't I tell you I was a cheap date? Doesn't take a lot to thrill me. hahaha

Ruby

LOL, Ruby, you are reminding me that I have to go to the dollar store for mouse traps!! Funny story, some years back I took a land tour of Scandinavia. We had a wonderful Dutch woman as a tour guide. She told me that she took a group of Hungarians and Bulgarians on a tour of NYC. She could not stick to the tour schedule, because the group kept wandering into dollar stores and buying everything in sight. She then had to find a luggage store for them to buy bags to take all of the booty back home. Dollar stores goods made in China, purchased in NYC and carried home to Europe!!

I love it Stormy, some Europeans of my heart. My husband tries to make rules that there won't be any major shopping going on when we are on trips. The past couple of falls, we have traveled north and I found a store called The Christmas Tree Shoppes, and have loaded our car down with purchases.

He also tried to make a rule that we won't bring any thing home from the plant swaps too. Poor guy, he is just talking to hear himself talk evidently. hahaha

As far as Christmas shopping goes this year, I am going to try and stay out of stores as much as possible. I buy items all throughout the year and have a closet full of things that only need packaging and labeling. I have noticed myself becoming hum buggish over the last five or so Christmas.' I felt like I was the only one within the family who was responsible for anything, chore wise and all the others had to do was to rest and enjoy the bounty. Yep, things will definitely be done differently this year.

As we head in to the weekend, I would like to wish each of a very good one. Take care all.

Ruby

If it were not for bad (Read Non Gardening) weather we would have to sleep in the potting shed.LOL Having to clear enough space to spend the day indoors somehow has a cascade effect and all this stuff just goes away. After we declutter for the Holidays, and declutter for space for the spring plants and seeds, we may just have enough space to start another summer. Ric

Couldn't be happier the Christmas Tree Shop followed me to NJ !

My clutter issue is getting better. I can see the floor in the basement & my
daughter is taking some stuff back with her when she visits next week
Yippee !!

See Cris, there is hope!!

LOL, Boy O Boy do I see myself in this thread. Paper clutter is one of our biggest. I have stacks of old magazines just waiting to be read and I too have stopped renewing them. The living areas don't look too bad as I have empty bedrooms but they are filling up fast.
As far as kids stuff, my rule was it goes when you have a house to put it in. Some went when they got their first apartments but much of it stayed. My daughter has a few things still packed away in the closet in her old bedroom, if I ever get around to cleaning them out she will get what I find. Josh still has quite a bit of things here even though he bought his house last year. It's a big house and he did take a lot of things. He had a ton of tools and equipment most is gone but as we clean and clear the rest will go. Jamie has a small mobile home and a few outside sheds. We told him until they build the house he can store things in the barn and attic. He helped do a major clean up on the barn a couple of months ago and went thru a lot of his things, organizing and packing them away. We have plenty of storage space but things just seem to get dumped and let sit. Well as Ric said. Winter is comming so I will be working my way thru those rooms hopefully I will have them done before spring comes again and the whole process starts anew.

Yep, you said it Holly... ...it gets done and then is it time to start anew. I have had the two bedrooms almost as I wanted them in the past couple of months, but then something happens, such as getting holiday decor from the attic and then they are cluttered again it seems.

Flowerjen, glad I could give you a good laugh. Lots of laughs here at our house too. Good medicine.

Cris, Stormy and Holly... ... ...I know about the adult children's things being here too. While cleaning out shed recently we found two sets of golf clubs and a snow board which isn't small. The boots for snow boarding are enormous too. The don't belong to John or I.

I guess that one step at a time is how it all gets done.

Ruby

My nieces both live in NYC and would have to lug the stuff home on trains and subways. I always drive them home on Easter & Christmas and try to pack a few things to go with each trip. It's usually not very much as it's usually getting late by the time we leave and then it has to be carted up numerous flights of steps when we get there and I can't be too tired out for the drive back home. There are normally food care packages, suitcases and presents in the car too.

LOL Jen, She would and has gone thru those closets taking most of her stuff a few boxes here and there. But Ric and I started packing them full with other things craft supplies, old magizines and toys for the grandchildren. Her few things are now burried behind our clutter. What I would like to do is empty the entire closet and start fresh.
One of my other big issues is I can't seem to throw away old craft supplies. I dug a box out of the attic months ago looking for macreme supplies. That box has been there a good 20 years and after I went thru it I put most of it back and the box is sitting in the upstairs bedroom waiting for me to deciede what to keep and what to pitch. I could probably put the entire box out for the trash but there are all kinds of beads and rings that "could" be useful. LOL

i think we've got a lot of candidates for "Packrats Annonymous" here!

Knitting, quilting and sewing supplies are the worst.

Yep, me too on the craft supplies. I sometimes shake my head that some of the purchases I have made over the years and the big plans I had while shopping. Most everything is in the same condition it was when I took it from the the store or received it in the mail, unopened.

You are in good company Holly.

Ruby

May I join the Craft Supplies Party?????

I am sure I have you all beat! Besides just hoarding "stuff"----I seem to have an excess of Craft Supplies to make about 25 different crafts. And--I mean good, meaningful, original crafts. One of a kind!

All my Craft Supplies are in plastic boxes and I DO know where everything is.
For almost 3 years--I held this monthly Craft get-together and we made something or other--NOT always simple.

I started this in an attempt to get rid of some of the supplies I had---but, as I came up with Craft Projects---I needed this and that......and I ended up buying more supplies. My "Craft Corral and Chit Chat" monthly thing worked well for about 2 years. Then, people were moving, or doing other things---and I decided to stop it.
I would plan my Craft gathering--and 4-5 people would sign up. Oh--Goody!
I would then get together whatever supplies I needed--plan on refreshments and we also, usually, had wine.....
I would set up "stations" for ach person--with glue guns and whatever else was needed.

THEN---on the day before--people would call and say they cannot make it! HOW DARE THEY!!!!
Often, I was left with ONLY one person willing to attend--and then i would cancel it.

Just had enough of all this--so I decided to cancel the WHOLE "Program".....THERE!

Of course--I now had more craft supplies than I had ever had before.

MY DREAM IS TO--------some day (????) finish all my original craft prijects just to use up al the supplies I have----
all over everywhere. No one else will know what they are for or how to use them. Most of these I created out of my own ingenuity....and they are wonderful!
IF I had an outlet to sell my little, cute craft items--it would give me incentive to work on them--but I do not, because I have not really searched--signed up--decided to actually DO THEM--or all those other kind of excuses.

The years are now crowding my conscience. I am feeling some signs of mortality--and I also DO NOT wish to leave this cluttered up house for my daughtere to have to deal with once I have died. That is a HUGE burden to leave to your children!!!!! And--I am SOOOOOO aware of it!!!!

Ahem----I have to say that, IF I did not spend hours--every day--on DG, I might get some of these projects done.
SEE! It is ALL DG's fault!!!!

I will now leave you all--and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving Day tomorrow with your Families and Loved ones.

I am invited to a girl-friend's house (OH! What a house that is--and what an amazing hostess she is!!!!).
I am bringing the Stuffing and my Cranberry Sauce and a bottle of Wine.

She is a crafter like many of us and she asked me if I would like to spend the night and then--on Friday--we will be making candles out of remnants of old ones--or make new ones. She, obviously, has this ALL figured out!
I am SO looking forward to al this--or I would be sitting home alone with nowhere to go!

Goobble--Goobble to you all!
Remember when I made this (in 2007) at my Craft get-Together?????
If not--it was a very complicated craft project--as I had to come up with all the "How-to" all myself. How to do the head. How to do the body. How to do the wings and the legs (UGH!).....But it all came together--and everyone attending went home with their own version of this Turkey.

Gita

Ha I was just rooting in my quilting and sewing box today, Sigh, such treasures. Still can't locate a box of embroidery floss which is here Somewhere..blaming my DD altho she pretends she doesn't know...
But I find it ironic that my mom has gotten rid of her kids stuff, but we kids will be stuck with cleaning out HER crap!

Ahhh-Sally!
You have hit on one of the dilemmas of what happens to us, mentally, when our Moms (and Dads) die.

Things that never meant much to us before--but belonged to our Moms and Dads--all of a sudden gain a whole new meaning. All of a sudden--those things become cherished items......"Treasures"---as in: "I CAN'T get rid of that! it belonged to my Mom!!!".....I have to save this for?????
And--so we save every shred of everything that used to be theirs.....It just assumes a whole new identity.

I have been through it--with a double whammy. Not only do things mean a lot more because they were my Mom's after she died (1989)--but especially--if they were things she saved and brought out of Latvia as we fled. Now--those things are REAL "treasures"--no matter what they are...no matter how small or insignificant they are. They came from an Era that we will never have a chance to recover anything from.
Everything we left behind as she locked the front door to our house was lost--or, more accurately, stolen and repossessed by the Soviets. So--we cherish every little thing that came from "THERE"....

It is a shame that so often we, the elders, have to die before our "kids" think differently of everything they owned--and also differently of everything they tried to talk to us about...and we ignored--or did not want to hear.....

And, YES! That is WHY it is a good reason for us to get rid of all the hoarded stuff that may mean nothing to those that survive us. Free them of this "obligation" by getting rid of useless things while we still can--being of sound mind and body. We can grieve about "losing" all these things----but it will be a blessing to those that come after us....

These thoughts drive me day and night---and I, simply, do not act on them--as if I will live forever and still have time to act on all this.......WHEN I have time....... YES! I will do it next month.....The next time i have a lot of free time.....

...Ahemmm--Lecturing myself here.......but it is important!

Gita

Gita, A lot of those craft supplies that you don't want to chuck, could be donated to a church or nursing home or mental hospital.

Nice to hear from you Gita. It has been a good while since I have been on any of the threads that you frequent. You are one talented woman, that is for sure. I remember all of the paintings you showed some time back on Best, Worst and Learned thread. The other crafts that you have shown here are fantastic too.

Have you spoken with your daughters about your concern of leaving them with a house full of things to dispose of? You may want to see what they have to say about it. There may be things that want now which would lighten your load some for now.

Interesting point you make there Sally regarding your mom making sure that the kids have taken their belongings home, but hasn't given any thought to the job you kids will have with her stuff when she is gone.

Stormy, a year or so ago I donated a supply of small soft leather purses that I bought for one dollar a piece, to a troop of Girl Scouts. My idea was to decorate with buttons, bows and other appliques that I gathered on some of my shopping trips. I wish that I would have found the time to have done a few of them because I am always needing a little something for young girls in my family or in my friends family's.

Gita, you make one good point that I identify with. If I didn't spend so much of my time sitting in front of this box, I might have the time to do more artistic types of activities. But... ...I love Dave's and all you great people.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Ruby

Gita--I am really moved when you tell us about your family's Exodus. I've been able to hear more on our drives to Swaps.. It is a rare piece of family history for your daughters.

I agree there are certain things, mostly little weird things, that I will have to keep. Mom's funny dinged up cup that she uses to shake flour and water for gravy. How about the potato masher, whose handle Dad fixed by building a new one from auto body compound, circa 1965? its so ugly! but a real testimony to his creativity and engineering viewpoint. ("Whatever it is, I can fix it or make it better than it was") Maybe the huge carving knife which I recently caught her using to open a little foil packet of pills. Heart attack for ME!

Yikes!!!

Stormy--

BUT--you see---I CANNOT part with any of these craft supplies! Every piece--in every box and drawer--I knew exactly what i wanted to use it for and what i was going to make out of it. No one else would know how to make what i make out of them.
i have NO written directions--just in my head--and one needs to have a certain level of creativity and resourcefulness to come up with the finished product. I have samples of most of these projects--boxes full of some of them--just need to:
--Seriously find somewhere that will want to sell all these cute things I make. Most of them would be under $5.
A consignment shop would be easier to fimd--but why give 50% away to someone else?
--Stop working so I can have Saturdays free--as most X-Mas bazaars and Craft Shows are on Saturdays.
Not my plans yet....I only work 2-3 days a week and my job is too easy to give up. Sit and answer the phone.....
BORING quite often--but easy.
--Force myself to buckle down and actually work on some of these crafts. It is a matter of motivation.
Put a couple projects out on my DR table--and then sit down and work on it as the "spirit" moves me.
--Stop spending hours and hours here on DG--but I NEED that! You all are my family!
--Set aside small periods of time when I WILL start going through some of my stuff--even if it is an hour a day.
Need to start in the Shop first.....

Ruby--
YES! My daughter, that lives here, is aware that all this will fall on her shoulders some day. She/They can have a Huge yard sale..
The sad thing is that she has NO interest in living in this beautiful house that could easily be hers when i am gone. She says--I want a place of my own....:o(. I guess having grown up here it will never really seem as "her own".
I plan to be around for another 15 years at least.....

I need to take pictures of all my little crafts and show you all......After the Holidays.....

Hope most of you already have gravy running down your chins and all that's left of the Turkey is just a pile of bones.
I am going to a wonderful friend's house for dinner. She is the most gracious lady. There will be 8 people for dinner.

I am bringing stuffing (she says she never makes it) and my awesome Cranberry sauce.
She asked me to stay over----and on Friday we will be making candles...
She is a very talented person as well. Multi-talented!
Her specialty is making her own greeting cards. She has money---does not work--and has time to spend on all kinds of classes and get-togethers. She speaks with a British accent--is a widow of 2 deceased husbands (both Dentists), and shares her rambling house with her son and his family (in separate quarters). A truly beautiful woman!

Gita


...

It's been awhile since I've visited this thread but find it interesting how much we all have in common! Fortunately I don't have anything stored here from my family but last month I did tackle cleaning out all the junk we "inherited" from Rick's parents when they moved 10 years ago. Got sidetracked and I still have probably one more load to go but it's such a great feeling to see all that free space! Don't get me started on magazines :( I try real hard to at least flip through them when they arrive but the stacks continue to pile up regardless. You'll probably laugh at me but I've got issues from Fine Gardening and Horticulture dating all the way back to 1990! At one point about 5 years ago I took the time to organize and stack them all in chronological order after shelves were built in the office JUST to store them all! How often do I use them? Not often but every once in a while I remember seeing something in one of them and with a quick search on the magazines' websites I can locate the article and pull out the issue I'm looking for :) My original plan was to pull all the useful articles and catalog them in notebooks with an index but now that it's approaching 20 years of back issues and it's not on my list of priorities, NOT going to happen! LOL

Gita, your Turkey is so cute! I wish I was half as talented as you are :) In addition to my magazine fettish, I've got storage containers full of fabrics for all those clothing projects I had such great plans for as well as yarn for knitting projects, some never started and some just never finished :( On top of that I've got two drawers full of colorful T-shirts and boxes of iron-on transfers when I went through a phase a few years ago. I had great plans to design and make T-shirts to sell but of course after the first few were given as gifts I never continued with the "plan". I guess we're all in the same boat and I consider myself in good company here :)

A lot of the things being written about in this thread really hit home with me. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years for the house and for crafts or other projects that I never seem to get around to. I don't necessarily mind that I have this stuff, but until it is organized and not overflowing the rooms, it just feels like clutter. I guess we all feel that we'll eventually do this or that project, so we don't want to throw or give it away. I've been reading a few books on decluttering, and the advice is always the same - you don't need to keep everything, be realistic with what you need or what you might really work on in your free time - they say the hardest part is making the decision to toss something out, but once it is gone you barely miss it. Easier said than done. I have been through some of my clutter piles at least ten times. During each round, I manage to get rid of a few things, but never enough to truly reduce the volume to something that is organized and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the room! The other advice is to just keep plugging away at it a little bit each day - even getting through just one box or one drawer can give you a sense of accomplishment.

Gita's point about dealing with the stuff left behind when someone dies is another reality check. I come from generations of pack rats. It was so hard on my mother and her sisters when my grandmother died to take care of all of her stuff - trying to sort thru the clutter and the things that truly did have sentimental value. My mother's house is the same way, and my sisters and I will have to go through the same thing.

I spent the last several weeks organizing photos. I'm still a long way from being done with it, but already I'm feeling kinda burned out and have the urge to move onto something else for a while. This week, I'm turning my efforts onto a huge bin of cards and letters - can you believe I have saved every card and letter that I've ever received in my whole life? My plan is to only keep the cards from my grandparents and parents, and the wedding announcements & birth announcements of my siblings and cousins and their children. I should be able to reduce the volume from a 4'x3'x2' bin to the size of a shoebox. I eventually want to use the things that I'm keeping in a Family Tree project that I can share with my relatives. It would be great if I could get through this bin in just a few evenings to feel a sense of "completion" on something to keep me motivated! Terri

This message was edited Nov 27, 2009 7:23 AM