Downsizing

Finally fell asleep. I'm wide awake and I've had a productive morning. I've loaded a lot of things into the KIA to take to a Thrift Shop. I've been hanging on to the things--for sale at local Flea Markets--but things are not selling. It just doesn't make sense (any more) to load the KIA, and trailer; get up early (after a sleepless night?!); drive to..., set up, endure the heat, tear down, drive home.... The last two times I didn't even sell enough to pay for the space!! ~~ Much more to load--to "downsize"--but that's for another day and another trip. I believe it was Confucius that said "The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."

More declutterizing !!

1:11 PM: Another day, weather-wise, designed for my downsizing project. The hottest day of the year so far (90+ degrees). The heat, and humidity, is extreme!! Nobody wants to be out in this weather!! I'm using the air conditioning for the first time this season. More boxes, or suit-cases, opened and examined. Items washed (if necessary), priced and put into boxes destined for another Flea Market. Yes, I have decided (at least for today) that I will continue to do the "Junk in the Trunk" event when it doesn't interfere with a planned trip. (The space is already paid for through October.) After all, at a moment's notice I CAN haul the things to a Thrift Shop!! To my frustration, one bedroom is a disaster because it is now the "staging area."

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Comment 3:33 PM: I'm such a "idiot"!!!!!! While I've been focusing on this project I inadvertently failed to pay a $10. charge. So I received a $29. late fee!! It just does not make sense to spend days downsizing and hours at Flea Markets. On 6/12 I only received $5. from sales. I've never had a $29. day!!! This is insane!!!!!! Again I ask a question that I've asked previously: "What's a gal to do??" ~~~~ At moments like this, being an old lady, I'm frightened!!

Postscript 4:44 PM: In the mail, a "Thank You" note from the Director of the Senior Center. In this age of e-mail messages, and e-cards, it is such a joy to receive a handwritten note with kind words!! The note could not have come at a better hour (I was so depressed).

Declutterizing !!

The word "declutterizing" does not exist in the dictionary. I made it up to describe my process of getting rid of clutter. This week I have transported a sizeable quantity of new items to the Senior Center. The first trip (Monday) with things "in general" for door prizes.

Yesterday I learned of an upcoming Senior Center event for the local Red Hat Society--and more door prizes needed. So I spent hours digging into everything I own that is remotely "Red Hat Society." In California, my RHS wardrobe was extensive!! This last year I sold, or gave away, most... but I still have more than I will ever wear. Out came RHS pins and jewelry still in their original packaging. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, watch, belts, purple purses--and a beautiful red crochet hat. Into the donation bag went the most adorable purple teddy bear wearing a tiara and a boa. Also a picture frame with simulated diamonds. I kept searching in boxes and closet. A gift package of three bottles organic milk bath (I take showers). Avon gift box of personal-size perfumed soap with decorative soap dish. New key chains in their original wrapping. Adorable angel from an arts and crafts store. Six decorative magnetic photo frames in their original packaging. Crystal jar full of fragrant potpourri. The list goes on and on, sixty-four items in all.

After delivering the RHS donation, I drove to the local Recycling Center and unloaded glass and plastic. My apartment complex does not facilitate recycling but I believe in it and keep a receptacle on my porch. My contribution is small because I don't use many glass or plastic containers but, hopefully, every little bit helps (litter hurts).

Then thirty miles to Gastonia, to Sam's Club, for gas and groceries. Fruit and veggies for me and canned goods, and Mac 'n Cheese, to donate to the Senior Center Food Pantry. To my credit, I did not stop at my favorite store, Tuesday Morning, nor my favorite Thrift Shop, Value Village. Straight home!!

For the first time in months, the back of my KIA is free of things to sell at Flea Markets. So I loaded window screens... and drove to a self-service car wash. (Not a single outdoor water faucet available to tenants at this complex.) In a day or two I'll hitch the trailer and return to the self-service and wash KIA and Little Guy.

I'm feeling so energized by my "declutterizing" project. I have a long journey but according to a very old saying from Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu (c.570 BC-??):
A journey of a thousand miles starts in front of your feet.
A tower nine stories high is built from a small heap of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles starts in front of your feet.

Nostalgia Popcorn Popper

Despite a 37 cents per gallon increase in gasoline price this last month, I took a long drive Sunday afternoon. Most of the 128 mile trip was over rural routes in areas that I have not traveled. Beautiful scenery!!

In Spartanburg, South Carolina, I saw one of my favorite stores: Tuesday Morning. Actually, I passed it and had to turn around.... In earlier "blogs" I have talked about reducing my over-abundance of "stuff." Items are supposed to be going out my door!! You guessed it: I carried a purchase home. It is a hot air popcorn maker--and the perfect compliment for camping events with a group of people owning Teardrop trailers.

Actually, air popped corn has been my usual contribution (over the years, at RV events) because I like to provide a snack I can eat (no chips or candy from me). My faithful old West Bend lacks the appeal of this cute model.



This classic Pop-O-Matic Juke Box Popcorn Maker com-bines the nostalgic look of a 1950's diner jukebox with the functionality of a high-tech popcorn maker. Makes movie theater style popcorn using healthy hot air. Looks incredibly cool on the kitchen counter top or in the entertainment room. Either way the eye catching retro design suggests, "Let's make popcorn." Remember popcorn can be a great low fat snack alternative. No oil, no mess and easy to clean. Takes up very little counter space. Measures approx. 12" x 13" x 6''


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Postscript 2:22 PM: It started raining a few minutes ago. Earlier... I documented the items that I am donating to the Senior Center. I emptied the Flea Market "stuff" out of the KIA and loaded the two boxes and several grocery bags destined for door prizes. Next: Documentation (in Turbo Tax It's Deductible) of the many things I plan to donate to a local Thrift Shop. I'm so thrilled that I'm making progress "down sizing." Maybe I will divest myself of merchandise and cease to be a vendor at local Flea Markets?!?!
Postscript 5:55 PM: This afternoon, I delivered the donation to the Senior Center.

Going camping with my Teardrop Trailer

11:11 AM: It feels like 100 degrees!! Perspiration was dripping off my fore-head. I have been busy unloading the Flea Market merchandise from my Little Guy Teardrop travel trailer. Perhaps I will load some items back into the trailer for a brief trip to a Thrift Shop--as a donation. I am so "ready" to visit some of the spectacular beauty of North Carolina!! (I regularly watch UNC-TV [public broadcasting] and see programs detailing sites from the coast to the mountains.) I particularly want to spend time along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

For your information: Most Teardrop Trailers have a "kitchen" when the hatch is lifted. I intentionally purchased a utility model because I preferred the space to haul things. I don't need a kitchen; my diet is primarily fruit and veggies. I have a one-burner Coleman propane stove to heat water for green tea, or an occasional can of soup. I have small ice chests to keep a few things cold. (I'm not planning long trips.) The mattress is very comfortable, and originally designed for a hospital bed (where comfort is King?).

Honestly, when I'm traveling, I rarely open the hatch. See the doors on each side of the trailer? I crawl in from one side or the other depending on where I am parked. And, to the horror of most people I tell, I park for the night in Walmart parking lots!! Of course, when I travel the Blue Ridge Parkway--or visit the Great Smokey Mountains--I'll stay in Forest Service campgrounds (because, Praise the Lord, no Walmarts).

See my little yellow dog in the foreground?? I have signs that I put in the window of each door saying "Beware of the dog." I trust that is adequate security. When someone asks, I can honestly show them one (of two) dogs that are in the trailer.

To see Teardrop trailers from the company I bought from, visit the Little Guy web site. To see a variety of new, and vintage, Teardrops visit Teardrop Trailers Hall of Fame.


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Postscript, 3:33 PM: I broke a promise!! I was not going to bring anything back into the apartment. I transferred things from the trailer to the porch. That wouldn't do, however, because another severe thunder storm is on the horizon. So, reluctantly, I brought things indoors. The KIA is still full of "for sale" items so no room for things from the trailer. With the shuffle, I found some more items that I can donate to the Senior Center for door prizes. Other stuff to a Thrift Shop for a donation. I'm making progress (cross my heart!!).

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Postscript 4:44PM: Reservations made for a Teardrop campout at Shenandoah Valley Campground near Verona, Virginia. Suddenly I feel as though a great load has been lifted from my shoulders. Taking a break from my labors, and the heat, I searched for a Teardrop Trailers camping event within reasonable driving distance. Gratefully, I found one scheduled and quickly phoned to make a three-day reservation!! No more procrastination about summer travel!! To my further credit: That Friday, July 10th, is one of the days that I have paid to be a vendor at "Junk in the Trunk" Flea Market at the Senior Center. Frankly, when I started unloading the trailer early this morning, I never dreamed I'd make such progress. (Obviously, some of the suggestions about disengaging from clutter had an impact on me!!)

Postscript 2:22 PM, 7/12/09: Read about my recent travels by visiting these links: Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah Valley Campground, and In the minority?!

Maxine

Clutter & Chaos

It's a conspiracy [big grin]!! I had saved an old Reader's Digest for two articles: Michael J. Fox' struggle with Parkinson's (my mother died from Parkinson's), and information about allergies (I suffered from an allergy last Fall). Much more prominent on the cover "Clutter Free, Stress Free, 21 Ways You Can Take Control." It's lengthy (and you had more than your share of "lengthy," on 6/08/09, with the AARP article, "Conquering Clutter") so I'll only list a few points.

Excerpts from: How I got out from under this mess.
by Shea Dean, Reader's Digest, May 2002, pp. 90-97.

The Clutter-Stress Syndrome

Mountains of junk mail and overstuffed closets aren't just eyesores; they can also increase anxiety. "Clutter makes it impossible to get anything done on time," says Barry Izsak, founder of Arranging It All in Austin, Texas. "As a result, we miss deadlines, forget appointments, and annoy our friends and work associates--all of which cause stress that makes it even harder to get organized. It's a vicious cycle."

Messes, however, often serve a subconscious purpose: "They hide problems in our lives we don't want to confront," says Sheila McCurdy, owner of Clutter Stop in Upland, California. Recognizing this root cause is the first step to staying organized.

1. You're avoiding something.
Bills and statements, for example, may be piling up because you don't want to confront money woes, says Ramona Creel, founder of Onlineorganizing.com. "People think, 'If I get organized, I'm going to find out my finances are in horrible shape.' Then they're going to have to change their spending habits." Similarly, a client of Creel's who was selling her house kept it so unsightly Realtors refused to show it. "My client didn't really want to move, and the mess was her way of staying put."

2. You fear failure.
"I've had clients say, 'If only I were organized, I'd go back to college or finish a book proposal'" says Stephanie Denton, owner of Denton & Company, and organizer firm in Cincinnati. But the mess lets them put off taking a shot at their dream. "If they failed, they'd have no one to blame but themselves. Blaming a mess is easier."

3. You've changed--and aren't prepared for it.
"Possessions let us hold on to a part of ourselves we aren't ready to give up," says McCurdy of Clutter Stop. Clothing is often the culprit: Keeping "skinny" clothes you hope you'll squeeze into again shows you're unhappy with the extra pounds you've put on. And holding on to "fat" clothes is a sign you're sick of your workout regimen or diet. But old apparel can subtly undermine your identity. "The sight of your 'skinny clothes' will quietly convince you you're fat," McCurdy explains. "The sight of 'fat clothes' after you've lost weight may beckon you to relapse into your old eating habits."

4. You want to retreat.
Can't throw a dinner party because your house is a pigsty? Deep down, you may want to withdraw from friends and family--even from people in your own home. "Women will deliberately not do housework if they're having problems with their husbands," says Sandra Felton, founder of Messies Anonymous, which hosts an online chat group, Mates-of-Messies, with 127 members mired in clutter-related marital strife. "The home is often where women have power, so this is a way to express their hostility," says Felton. But such passive-aggressive tactics rarely solve problems. Instead, they fuel the fire--Felton has seen disorganization lead to divorce.

5. You're holding on to someone.
While it's natural to save mementos of a loved one who's recently died or moved out, keeping too much can keep you from moving forward, whether that's finding new friends or a new career path. "When you have too many 'memory joggers,' you become distracted and overwhelmed," says Denton. "One client whose kids had gone to college kept every outfit they'd ever put on," says Creel. "What these people don't realize is, their memories aren't in these objects, it's in them."

Energizer Bunny

Prayer of the Day (below) was at 3:33 AM. It's now 3:33 PM and I have spent very little time on the computer. I've been the proverbial "Energizer Bunny." I've cleaned three kitchen cupboards; most of the contents were NOT replaced!! There are several products, brand-new, in their boxes, that are now set aside for the local Senior Center. I'm confident they will be welcomed for "door prizes." ~~ My diet has changed radically over the last several years!! I rarely have company; it's unlikely that I will prepare a dinner. I drink green tea; I'll never use the Hamilton Beach 4-cup coffee maker!! ~~ I'm feeling encouraged that I am conquering clutter!!

Four Month Anniversary

"God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform." God could have called me Home during the winter. Apparently my "work" on earth is not done (at least until I conquer the clutter??)!! I was so sick; I am now healthy!!

Thanks to a Google search on February 9th, I found the clue to my recovery from acute ozone poisoning. I now extol the value of Google searches!! My inquiring mind wants to know.... Most recent case in point: Organizations that assist individuals struggling with Chronic Disorganization.

If you have been following my "blog," you know that I have been very busy. If you are new... take time to review my messages since May 9th. This message is brief because I prefer to direct you to yesterday's topic about Conquering Clutter.

Doxology

I am physically and emotionally exhausted!! I've spent the entire day preparing and editing the next messages regarding "clutter." Without benefit of the professional suggestions offered, I have successfully accomplished some of the "steps." I want to give the praise to The Great Physician, the Counselor, Alpha and Omega, the One Who Loves me!! If it were not for Him,
I might be mired in boxes and memorabilia. "Rain or shine" I knew I was making some progress. Painfully slow, perhaps, but none-the-less I have made great strides this last month. I have a greater appreciation for what other Seniors are experiencing. Now I am adding those who struggle with this problem to my prayer list.

Conquering Clutter

Remember the comment in my 6/04/09 "blog" about the mountain of publications that I was sorting through?? I just "had to" look through each issue before I threw it away!! In AARP The Magazine, January and February 2007, pp 49-52, 77, I read the following article. Scared the wits out of me!! I was reading alarming details about myself!! If you have been following my recent blogs, you know I am attempting to "downsize." This is a long article; indulge me by reading and taking the subject seriously. Maybe you have an aging parent and you will be more understanding of their emotions. I'm going to highlight some of the author's words in red where those words reflect my emotions and/or my experience.

Conquering Clutter

We love stuff. We hate stuff. How did we get so much? And how can we ever dig out?

by David Dudley, AARP The Magazine, January & February 2007

The thing that brought us nearly to blows was a brass chafing dish. It was tarnished and dusty, unearthed from a distant corner of the basement. I had never seen it before.

“What’s this?”

It was the wrong question. I didn’t really care what it was; I just wanted to know whether I could get rid of it, toss it in the back of the station wagon with all the rest of the broken, forgotten, unusable, or just useless objects that populated the home my mother had lovingly assembled over 30-odd years. In preparation for a long-overdue move to a smaller home, she and Dad—with my help—were “decluttering,” a mild and businesslike verb that doesn’t properly evoke the forces at work here. We were at war, engaged in a desperate guerrilla campaign against a faceless enemy that had insinuated itself into every crevice and nook. This was a clash, a struggle, a pitched battle with our stuff, and each other. The chafing dish would be our Waterloo.

Like everything, the dish came attached to a story: it was a wedding present from someone, now deceased, and was once used “all the time” at dinner parties of yore. I wasn’t really listening, because I had heard many such tales in the course of the decluttering, and the fate of the chafing dish had already been decided. It was pretty but pointless and had clearly warmed no meatballs in my lifetime, so I would toss it in the wagon for the next run down to the Salvation Army. But as she had so many times before, Mom dug in. She extolled the dish’s beauty and utility, and the kindness of the friend who bestowed it on her 45 years ago. And she insisted I would want it—even need it—someday.

This defied all logic, just as it had for the giant punch bowl, the set of crockery shaped like waterfowl, the candelabra with the broken arm, and the peculiar vacuum cleaner that was designed to vacuum hot fireplace ash. I would never need them, because I did not have a life that involved punch parties or large amounts of wood burning and did not anticipate acquiring one. And I knew from bitter experience that there was probably another chafing dish lurking nearby, poised to emerge and replace its fallen comrade. (There were, in fact, two more.)

We fought, and things got ugly. I was trying to wipe out her life; she was losing her mind. The chafing dish went out the door, only to be rescued, a bit later, by my father. “Your mother,” he said gravely, “really wants this.” Defeated, I pulled the accursed thing out of the car and pondered what would become of it, and all it represented. I would have to take it to my house and consign it to my own basement in the hope of someday conjuring up a situation that required a chafing dish, before my own children discovered it and asked me what it was so they could throw it out.

We stood there in the driveway, the dish and I, and I looked back at the house, so dense with belongings it all but vibrated with anxiety. And I wondered how life had deposited my family at this point, hostages to the bric-a-brac that once served us.

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In Dante’s Inferno there is a circle of Hell reserved for two warring armies, the Hoarders and the Wasters, who spend eternity rolling enormous boulders at each other on a desolate sun-baked plain. The boulders are actually diamonds and represent the possessions they had such unhealthy relationships with during their lives. “Why do you hoard?” the Wasters shout. “Why do you waste?” the Hoarders scream back. This repeats, endlessly, joint punishment for their respective sins.

The contemporary earthly equivalent of this infernal battlefield is the self-storage facility, the charmless metal sheds that sprout alongside interstates and in industrial parks across the country. All but unknown before 1970, such facilities now number 45,000 nationwide, representing slightly less than 2 billion square feet of rentable space filled with the excess material burden of Americans whose caches have outgrown their houses and garages. (This despite the fact that a quarter of homeowners with two-car garages use them exclusively for storage and park in the driveway.) The rise of the self-storage industry in the past decades has been accompanied, counterintuitively, by the supersizing of the American home, which has swelled about 60 percent since 1970, from an average of 1,500 square feet to about 2,400 square feet today. So voracious is our appetite for acquiring stuff—and so great our attachment to it once acquired—that we are willing to rent space to hold it, miles away from these homes, even though the investment in monthly upkeep is typically greater than the worth of the contents themselves.

No, no, not Lorraine!! I am much too thrifty to rent a storage unit!! My "treasures" are in boxes lining the walls of the two bedrooms!! My twin bed is in the living room.

Why do we hoard?

Why do we waste?

The answer is somewhere deep in our genes, perhaps, or in the social programming of millennia that is colliding with an era of unprecedented access to consumer goods. Survival of the fittest once favored the far-thinking fellow with the biggest collection of rocks and sticks, and even the advent of eBay and the $29 DVD player has not dimmed this evolutionary urge to collect everything we can lay our hands on. Once acquired, such objects tend to become permanent additions to the collection, despite age, disrepair, or manifest uselessness. After all, maybe the children will need them someday.

In many cases the tools and materials for creative projects stack up, while the projects remain uncompleted. The price of this psychic grudge match between Darwin and Calvin is being paid to another recent addition to modern life, the professional organizer. The National Association of Professional Organizers currently boasts 3,900 members, who, for an hourly fee, help their pack rat clients stack their CD collections, shred old bank statements, toss broken flashlights, and clean all the dead batteries, twist ties, and soy sauce packets out of their junk drawers. Failing that, the clutter-prone can join 12-step support groups such as Clutterers Anonymous or Messies Anonymous, or self-medicate with any number of how-to books and instructional DVDs that promise to put the untidy life in order. And then they can curl up in front of home-makeover reality shows such as Clean Sweep or Clean House, those curious entertainments devoted to chronicling how a team of happy young people descends on someone else’s disaster-zone household and swiftly renders it stylish and habitable again.

For older people the challenges of keeping clutter at bay take on a specific dimension. Depression-era mindsets about the value of manufactured goods have not adapted to the short shelf lives of today’s technology. That same technology is making it even easier, via the Web, to participate in the consumerist frenzy that is American culture. Meanwhile, household demands have grown in complexity as an array of vendors now deliver cable TV, Internet access, and cell phone service—and their accompanying monthly bills—to a home already lashed with a steady stream of junk mail. Add the inevitable health concerns, complicated medication schedules, and related memory issues that advancing age can bring on, and a once functional household can descend into chaos practically overnight. The dangers are both physical—a cluttered house is an obstacle course for people with limited mobility—and psychological. Particularly when the day comes that all that stuff has to go. (Physically, I believe I am experiencing a problem with my left shoulder due to lifting heavy boxes. Psychologically: agonizing over what to donate and what I might be able to sell at a Flea Market.)

In the early 1990s Smith College psychologist Randy Frost, Ph.D., placed a classified newspaper advertisement for “pack rats and chronic savers” to participate in a research study and was surprised by the scores of responses he and his team received. “We suspected that we were on to something,” he says. Frost, an expert on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), became a pioneer in the then-little-known field of compulsive hoarding, a clinical term for the most severe form of cluttering behavior. Hoarding cases emerge via newspaper headlines periodically whenever authorities uncover homes filled to the rafters with newspapers, garbage, or simply piles of possessions that cover every available surface and often render the homes uninhabitable because of animal infestations or structural damage. Frost estimates there are as many as 4 million hoarders nationwide, but there are far greater numbers of individuals who fall elsewhere in a spectrum of problematic cluttering behavior. (More on that subject in the following blog titled Conquering Clutter 1979.)

Understanding the mind of a clutterer is a difficult process. Frost breaks down the behavior into its three major manifestations—compulsive acquisition of useless possessions, living spaces so cluttered they can’t be used, and distress or an inability to function because of the hoarding. The syndrome can appear in patients as young as 13 and tends to worsen with age. While the phenomenon is often associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, “it happens outside of OCD as well,” he says. There’s also a link with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Frost’s studies have found hoarders across the income spectrum and around the world. “We know it’s related to materialism, but it’s not just a Western phenomenon,” he says. “There may be a cultural component. We also know that it runs in families, so there may be some genetic influence.” (I do not see my situation as "related to materialism." It started out of necessity!! Through circumstances beyond my control, with limited finances, I raised three little boys alone. I "saved" because I might "need.")

Nor is it a peculiarly modern malady: history, Frost notes, is full of case studies, including Mary Todd Lincoln, whose compulsive shopping proved a political liability for the 16th president. Frost once speculated that adults who exhibited such behavior were responding to childhood poverty, but the studies did not bear this out. He did discover, however, a different background issue—a link to emotional deprivation and the level of warmth expressed in the family during adolescence. (Childhood poverty, perhaps, but I didn't know it then. Emotional deprivation, yes, yes, yes!!)

The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD), a nonprofit group of 440 professional organizers and psychiatric professionals that Frost consults with, has compiled a five-point Clutter-Hoarding Scale to assess potential clients. Levels III and up are clinical cases that require psychological intervention. At Level I and Level II the sins of the chronically disorganized are detailed: “slight narrowing of household pathways; unclear functions of living room, bedroom; one exit blocked.” It is these minor offenders—the “common clutterers”—that Terry Prince, a Sacramento professional organizer, tries to help. Prince teaches clutter-control classes and workshops for the chronically disorganized, and she’s made her own observations of the species during her career in the field.

“Clutterers are interesting,” she says. “They’re creative. They’re people with a lot of interests.” About one in three of her students, she points out, are teachers—notorious compilers of paper clutter—and many others have craft hobbies, along with an unrealistic number of projects in process and a large backlog of supplies and materials for which they claim, “I’ll get to that someday,” a familiar clutterer’s refrain. “If that’s what you’re hearing,” Prince says, “you’re in trouble.” (I've lost track of the number of boxes of poems!! I love poetry!! I have poems I like, cut from magazines and newspapers, collected since I was a teenager. I've planned to publish a book of my favorite poems.)

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Both my parents, unluckily, fit this description: one was a university professor; the other, a piano teacher with a lengthy résumé of homemaking sidelines, from furniture refinishing and cooking to sewing her own clothes and knitting several closets’ worth of sweaters. Their home was a monument to their shared pursuits, completed and otherwise. Books climbed to the ceiling, hid in stacks underneath tables, and clogged narrow upstairs hallways. The paperwork of decades in academia filled my father’s office until the door could barely be opened, so he simply moved his desk into a vacated bedroom and started a second office. In basement boxes sat every paper and journal he ever read and every note he ever jotted, dating back to his undergraduate days, and perhaps beyond. Amid all this, in heaps and bags and unregulated piles, was a dense residue of family history: trunks packed with imported fabric for dresses that were never sewn, hand-hooked rugs too worn to walk on, heirloom furniture built for another age—all of it so freighted with memory that it might as well have been bolted to the floor. (I have a large collection of health and nutrition books--some dating back over thirty years. I have stacks of more-recent newsletters, and magazines, regarding health and nutrition. Until a few months ago, I had twenty years of Income Tax records "in case I was audited." And, as already stated in earlier blogs, I have a lot of family history.)

In other words, it was a house probably much like many others, well lived in and a bit overstuffed by the passing of years but certainly not a job for the local health department; and I expected that the chore of emptying it would be just that: a chore, slow and grimy and unpleasant. But there were unexpected difficulties. Discarding even the most innocuous bits of junk from the garage—a half-emptied propane tank, a stack of catalogs, full jars of paint and weed killer—seemed strangely painful to my parents. Progress was agonizingly slow, and each station wagon load of detritus I managed to wrest from the house seemed only to deepen their attachment to what was left. My father’s books were declared untouchable; my mother’s majestic trove of kitchen gadgetry—enough to stock an exhibition of postwar American cooking—was culled only after objections so fevered and persistent that I sometimes caught myself wondering if one really did need two kinds of cherry pitters. (I, too, have far too many kitchen utensils and gadgets!! I don't need two potato peelers!! As a "vegan" I'm most likely to add scrubbed small red potatoes to a hearty vegetable soup; I don't peel potatoes. Furthermore, I have an extremely old suitcase full of antique kitchen gadgets [old-fashioned potato masher, etc.].)

What I didn’t understand until it was much too late was that the objects going out the door were not objects at all. Often the items that had been used the least were the hardest to throw out, symbolizing as they did not fond memory but never-tapped potential. They were, as my father said while I hauled off a nearly new portable gas grill, “artifacts of unused life.” ("Items that had been used the least...." In my case [one example]: Silver serving pieces that I "purchased" with S & H Green Stamps about 1965.)

According to professional organizer Jeanne Smith, her older clients often have a connection with their possessions that other family members can’t fathom. “They’re going through a life-review process and a grieving process,” she says. “They’re reliving 20 years of their lives through that coffee cup.” (... 70 years.)

Smith specializes in what she calls estate organization: helping downsize households prior to moves to assisted living or after the death of one spouse. Such events, stressful at the best of times, are often handled by adult children who are woefully ill-equipped for the task. Today’s more mobile families mean that offspring are often geographically distant, and typically there are fewer siblings to share the load. Smith, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, serves as a sort of field general for this traumatic process, coordinating the intricate logistical ballet of charity donations, estate auctions, paper shredding, and lost- heirloom-finding that accompanies the upending of a well-rooted household. She can help sell cars and homes, work with trustees and executors with the clients’ assets, and ease the psychological transition to new and unfamiliar lives. (The National Association of Senior Move Managers offers a referral service to similar businesses on its website.) More than once, Smith has taken photos of a client’s living room, then duplicated the arrangement of books and knickknacks in the new apartment to create a miniature facsimile of the old home.

It’s a delicate role. “We are invited into the most intimate parts of their lives, especially if there’s a clutter issue,” Smith says. Sometimes she’s hired by adult children to take over or jump-start a stalled decluttering initiative, and her arrival signals something of a gentle ultimatum: “If you don’t go through your stuff, I will.” For individuals who are horrified to leave such a mess behind for their children but are unable to tackle the problem alone, the situation may be laced with denial and shame. As an outsider, Smith can wade into this fraught family dynamic without exacerbating what is likely to be an already tense situation. “I don’t have that history with the client,” Smith says.

“If it’s your child [helping with the process], it’s twice as irritating,” agrees Prince. “It’s a lot easier when it’s a third party.” Much of her work involves simply listening to her clients talk about their stuff, a ritual that the kids may no longer have the patience for. You also have to avoid the drastic measures that many exasperated family members might take when faced with an overloaded home, a stubborn parent, and a moving deadline—just throwing everything out on the curb. At a time of life when loss of control is a painful reality, forced decluttering can be devastating. “Clients need to make the decisions themselves,” Prince says. If you throw things out for them, “they’re not going to feel happy. They’ll feel violated.”

To help break the grip, organizers rely on a number of strategies. Smith will act as a family archivist, assembling photographs and recorded reminiscences into a “memory box” of beloved belongings that just don’t belong anymore. “You’re validating the objects without actually having to hold on to the objects themselves.” Prince coaxes reluctant clients with positive language. “Find charities your family honors and loves,” she says. “Say, ‘Who would be the perfect person to give this to?’—not ‘Can I throw this away?'” When all else fails, she’s also willing to put things in self-storage, briefly, to get an intractable homeowner out of the house. “Some battles don’t need to be fought then and there,” she says. “It’s costly, but it’s less costly than ruining the relationship.”

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In the end, the decision to go was made for us, as it often is. A series of health problems made staying in the home difficult, and then impossible, for my parents. It was their stuff or their lives, and, thankfully, their stuff lost.

Let us skim past the actual mechanics of that move, a journey best forgotten by all parties. When the dust settled, my parents were safely installed into a bright one-bedroom apartment, several states west of me but just blocks from my brother and his family. A great deal of their stuff also made the journey, though only a fraction of it could be unpacked. Much of the rest was warehoused in a storage facility at the windswept edge of town. Once, my brother drove my mother by this place and rolled up the metal door of their unit, so she could survey the towers of boxes and blue plastic storage bins stacked to the ceiling.

Left behind in their vacated home was yet another subset of that stuff, the stubborn dead-enders. For several weekends I labored at this archaeological dig until the last holdouts were donated, auctioned off, or stuffed into my garage and basement to await some uncertain fate. And there they rest: the steamer trunks full of tweed, the old rugs, the boxes of papers and toys and camping equipment. Sometimes I poke into a box and pull out some bit of family ephemera—the 50-year-old receipt to my grandfather’s watch, photographs from a trip to Europe in the early 1970s, the original architect’s drawing of the home I would grow up in. They have the familiar, earthy scent of that house’s basement, transplanted into my own.

I am plotting a garage sale [Flea Market], of course, just as you probably are. I will not inflict this curse on the next generation. Everything will go, and I will live as I did in my 20s, when everything I owned fit in the back of my car. And as I contemplate the unburdening of this great payload of memory, I am confronted, again, by a brass chafing dish. Several months after their move, my parents visited me at my house, and I surprised my mother by dusting off this dish and showing it to her. At the sight of the thing she immediately burst into grateful tears.

The dish sat on the dining room table, useless as ever, for the duration of their visit. When they left, I carefully replaced it in its box and put it back in the basement, with everything else.

David Dudley is a writer and editor in Ithaca, New York.

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Breaking the Spell -- Five key tips for the clutter besieged

Try an experiment
Can't bring yourself to part with your beloved collection of vintage bank statements? "Think about it as if you were a scientist," advises psychologist Randy Frost. Make a hypothesis about how sad you'd feel if you got rid of these artifacts. Then throw them away and compare your resulting distress with that hypothesis. Frost says that typically your reaction will be far less severe than you'd feared. Once you know that, it might be a little easier to let the next treasured object go.

Create a record
Photograph or videotape belongings before you give them away. "It's the memories that are important, not the objects," says professional organizer Jeanne Smith. A single digital CD can hold a warehouseful of family knickknacks, along with the client's recorded reminiscences about each one of them, and copies can be made and distributed to the children and grandchildren.

Give and take
Giving your belongings to charities whose work you support is more satisfying than selling them to strangers—and, thanks to the tax deductions, usually more profitable.

Start small
Tackle one room—or one part of one room—at a time. Don't leave the area until it's finished, because you'll get distracted trying to find a home for all the stuff you've just picked up and will end up "churning"—shuffling the same clutter from one part of the house to another.

Find a friend
Clutter support groups, many using the familiar 12-step techniques, can be effective for chronic offenders. One very helpful online support club is led by Marla Cilley, better known as the FlyLady. Via e-mail and a website, FlyLady.net, Cilley goads, coaxes, and exhorts her followers to maintain a system of easy, regular routines that gradually clear households of clutter. Follow the FlyLady program for a month, she says, and her decluttering habits become all but reflexive. "It's behavior modification in a very simple way," Cilley says. "I call it FlyWashing."

Messies Anonymous

After publishing the previous "blog" I did some research based on suggestions in the article. The following is one of several....


The logo for Messies Anonymous is a bird we call the nestbuilder — spotlighting our final goal for our lives and home.

How to Begin — Flight Plan for Beginning Fledglings
Sure, you feel overwhelmed. That’s the way we all start. Let’s simplify this into a few powerful steps — also known as our Messies Anonymous Flight Plan. You can start out easy, but you do need to start by doing something every day. If you follow these steps consistently, you will notice that little by little your life and your house will change. (If you wish, print off this plan and refer to it in a prominent place.)

Step One
Make a strong take-off every day. A good take-off sets the tone of the day. When you:

WAKE UP — set a time
JUMP UP — don’t lie in bed, there’s a wonderful world waiting
MAKE UP — the bed immediately, automatically
EAT UP — something nutritious
WASH UP — bathe body or wash face
BRUSH UP — take care of your teeth
DRESS UP — completely from head to toe including hair, shoes, and makeup of some kind on your face
LOOK UP — somewhere during the day you need to turn your heart upward to God (a great way to start the day)

Add any other steps you may need to your flight plan, like TAKE A WALK. They don’t have to end with UP.

This list comes from The Organizer Lady® and is sent weekly along with the daily news reminder to those who subscribe.

Step Two
Change habits one at a time. Let’s start with The 30-Second Rule. “If it takes thirty seconds or less to do a job, do it immediately.” This applies to putting up packages when you come in, putting the scissors (or whatever) back where you got them, hanging up the clothes you take off and other things like that.

The second powerful habit is this: when you get something out, put it back — and here’s the kicker — right away.
Remember STOW AS YOU GO!

Commitment to these two habits will change the condition of your house immediately.

Join The Organizer Lady® Daily Coaching Email Group

Step Three
Attack the mess — bless the house! We don’t attack the house. We attack the mess that is hiding the wonderful possibilities of our house. Use one of the two methods below to get rid of the junk and organize the house.

Mt. Vernon Method

This is the backbone of the Messies Anonymous program. Get three BankerBoxes™, about 12 X 18 inches. Label each box, GIVE AWAY, THROW AWAY, STORE SOMEPLACE ELSE. Starting at the front door, go around the inside periphery of the room from drawer, to cupboard, to nook or cranny emptying the contents of things that don’t belong in that area into one of these boxes. Organize neatly what does belong in that area and move on to the next area.

Mt. Vesuvius Method

Use if your house is a shambles, your marriage is in trouble because of it, you fear the health department or your landlord, your adult children are distraught about your place, or you face some similar emergency. Like Mt. Vesuvius, this is a quick and powerful method. It avoids the hang-up of decision making and clears the clutter quickly. What do I do with all of this stuff?

Step Four
Get adequate support. “You alone can do it, but you can’t do it alone.” Choose from the following helps.

A daily reminder from The Organizer Lady® to keep you flying forward. Strongly recommended. Sign up now.

On the support group page, look for a local group in your area or join one of the many on-line support groups you see listed.

Where appropriate, get on-site help from friends, family, or a professional organizer in your area.

Step Five
Make a smooth landing. Again we need a check-off list. After you EAT UP (you did have your meal planned ahead?), it’s time to CLEAN UP — this is a family thing, everybody sticks until the kitchen is completely done. You may need to work into this. Start slowly. Now STRAIGHTEN UP — have the family do what one children’s show calls the ten minute tidy. Set the timer and all rush around tidying for ten minutes. This will work miracles.

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Confession: I have consistently violated "step one." If I'm depressed, I may stay in bed until eight. Sometimes I don't get out of my pajamas all day. I may not bath, or comb my hair, and I definitely don't put on makeup. Frequently I don't make the bed until noon. I do "look up" each morning by saying "This is the day the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer."

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Footnote: Ignore the time stamp on each 6/08/09 "blog." For topic continuity, I start several (but do not publish them at that hour). Yes, they are in reverse order but the subject matter reads like a book. I explain this because some of us look at dates, and time, on blogs and articles. More obsessive-compulsive???? I know it's weird but it makes sense to me!! Furthermore, I labor over each blog until it is flawless: spell check, grammar, punctuation, size and position of the image--plus double-check the links to be certain that they reach the desired web site. (Here's a question: Can obsessive-compulsive be a good thing??)

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Conquering Clutter in 1979

Three decades ago my sons, my mother, and I were living a nightmare!! I had recently married a man with a widowed mother and two maiden aunts. Unexpectedly, Aunt Irene died in the family home, in Hollywood, California. It's a very -L--O--N--G- sad story!!

The work to restore the once-beautiful home, in a desirable neighborhood, fell to me and my hard-working sons and my never-complaining mother. My husband was too ill to assist. I often referred to the place as "fourteen rooms, attic, basement, detached two car garage with studio above the garage." Every inch, of every room, was stuffed with things!! The two maiden aunts had been school teachers and they continued to "save" items long after they retired. Remember when frozen orange juice came in small cardboard cans? There must have been a thousand cardboard cans!! Newspapers piled high because they were a treasure trove of pictures for young students!! Let your imagine run wild: Craft items were endless!!

In a trunk, in the basement, we found the wedding garments of my husband's grandparents--married in 1896 (if my memory serves me correctly). The attic contained toys that the grandchildren had outgrown but were stashed away for safe keeping. Without exaggeration, over eighty years accumulation of Anderson family possessions!!

The plumbing had failed years before and the water turned off at a valve under the house. Imagine eighty year old Aunt Irene crawling in that dark dirty space. For years she carried water into the house from a hose in the yard. (She did her bathroom duties in a pail, in the vastly overgrown backyard.) Likewise, electricity was limited to one section of the house; extension cords went in several directions. She would retire to her bedroom as soon as the sun went down. ~~ Money was no object, she could afford to hire a plumber and an electrician. (I'm "thrifty" but Irene was a miser.) ~~ The relatives did not know the living conditions; she never allowed anyone in the house. Visits were limited to the front porch.

Aunt Grace lived in an upscale nursing home in Glendale; mother-in-law Marion lived comfortably in an apartment with meals-on-wheels, homemaker chore services and visiting nurses. The sisters talked to one another on the phone several times a day. When Aunt Irene didn't answer... Aunt Grace became alarmed and called us. The paramedics met us at the house, broke in the door, and found the elderly lady had died in her sleep.

Again I say, it's a long story; I'll confine my narrative to details of the labor required to eventually list the property for sale. We moved into that "gross" house to begin the repairs and eliminate the possessions. My mother (in her seventies) stood for hours washing glassware, and kitchenware, so we could put things out for a continuing "Estate Sale." We spent hours at the Laundromat washing bedding, curtains, tablecloths, etc.

First: I arranged for the plumber and electrician. (Temporarily, we lived in a motor home in the driveway.) Then, with utilities, hour after hour, day after day, month after month my family scrubbed, cleaned, repaired and painted. Also trimmed shrubbery and trees. A mountain of trash was piled at the curb week after week, for the refuse service.

In my humble opinion, from NSGCD, regarding obsessive-compulsive hoarders list, Aunt Irene would be predominately Level Three, and Level Five re: Sanitation & Cleanliness. I was new to the family so didn't know when she became reclusive. When did the situation become so overwhelming that she could not make decisions?? Obviously, she could not throw away a few things every day and slowly regain some living space. She had her little path through the house from kitchen to bedroom.

Lo, those many years ago, I vowed that I would never leave such a horrific mess for my children and grandchildren. I was sincere in my vow and my intentions!! Yet thirty years later I look around and see the disturbing evidence that I, too, am a "hoarder." I don't need all the twisty ties, recycled Ziploc bags, plastic storage containers--and every imaginable size of empty cardboard box (in case I need to mail a package). I don't need a dozen blankets and sheets (no one ever stays over night). I don't "need" all the recreation vehicle (RV) accessories; I don't need a Blue Ox bicycle rack. (If you have been following my "blog," I don't need to keep all the VHS and audio cassettes that I will never watch nor listen to.)

Via Google searches, I've found several resources including National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. I may be deceiving myself, I believe I am Level One on the NSGCD scale (and that is a good thing!!). My apartment is reasonably clean. Aside from my twin bed in the front room, the living areas are open and accessible. Finding these several sites: FlyLady.net, Messies Anonymous, Disposophobia, Discover Organization, and NSGCR has been a wake up call for me. Now I will admit the problem, take responsibility, and dispose of excess possessions!!

The Organized Mother

I've found a lot of resources on the Internet. Do a search on Google using words like "clutter" and "organize."


Conquering Clutter
Organized Mom on March 2nd, 2009

I’m still dealing with the clutter demon. When you live in a small place, you have to be brutal in culling your possessions. That’s something I haven’t been doing.

Sentimentality has not been my friend. I like to keep mementos reminding me of good times, happy things, and people I love. But when you’re so busy storing these items that you don’t actively display and enjoy them, you’re not getting any benefit, are you? I know I’m not.

So we’re learning to be a bit more ruthless. Donating books we’ll never read again (and being more discerning when we buy new ones), throwing out receipts and bits of paper that we no longer need.

There are two big lessons we need to learn and stick to:

1) Once you’ve started decluttering, don’t allow new clutter to take its place. Once you get that desktop or kitchen counter or dining room table nice and clear, keep it that way. Look for ways to embrace the clutter-free lifestyle and try to keep up - don’t let it gradually clutter back up. Be vigilant!

2) Fighting clutter is a continual process. Just one cleaning session will not be enough. Once you get an area clear, you must work to keep it that way. It will be much easier to maintain if you try hard not to let it get cluttered again. It’s not as hard as it sounds, as long as you don’t allow yourself to be lazy.

We’re working on our living room right now. Because our place is so small, we have my desk in the living room. It’ll be moving to the dining room as soon as we can get things cleared out in there. We have to do a section at a time.

I’m hoping that posting about these things will help us keep going, and keep us more accountable on doing what we planned. Does writing about it help keep you accountable? Or do you feel embarrassed by your projects and would rather just talk about them when they’re finished?

At their web site, a place for comments.

"Going through life without sharing your feelings and emotions eventually robs you of living a complete life. You're put on this Earth to share and touch the lives of as many people as you can. Opening up and letting people see the real you isn't just therapy; it's necessity." ~~~ Stuart Wilde

Quick Clutter Control

Quick Clutter Control

1. Whenever you have a few minutes to spare put away five or ten items that are not in their correct place. These could be toys that the kids have left somewhere, letters that need filing away or odd socks that need putting in a drawer.

2. Dump junk mail the moment you receive it. Deal with other mail at least once a week filing away what you need to keep in an indexed concertina file, card or plastic file wallets or even large brown envelopes.

3. The five boxes method. This will clear clutter from any room or area of the house, but can look awful while in progress. Set aside a time when you won't be disturbed, put on a tape of upbeat music and have a treat in the fridge for lunch. First job is to label the boxes - Rubbish, Give Away/Sell, Keep, Sentimental and Not Sure. You then go through everything in the area consigning each item to one of the boxes. Theoretically, by the time you have got rid of the Rubbish and Give Away/Sell boxes, you should have enough space to store the Sentimental and put the Keep items back in an orderly way. The Not Sure box should be sealed up, stored in basement or attic and if not needed after six months or one year, given away unopened, so that you're not tempted to keep the contents all over again.

4. Be ruthless. If you haven't used an item in the last two years you are not likely to need it again. Do you really want a clutter free, streamlined home or not?

5. If you can't face an entire room, break the job down into manageable tasks - the kitchen junk drawer, the letter pile, the hats, coats and shoes area. That way you won't be put off decluttering as just too big a task.

6. Treat yourself to items that make staying tidy easier. Cardboard storage boxes are great for sewing and craft items, Christmas decorations, treasures that your children have made. Plastic or fabric hanging shoe bags are perfect for storing small toys and dolls or for hair brushes, clips, cosmetics and toiletries. Invest in some of those drawer dividers that separate drawers into a dozen little compartments - but don't fill them with junk!

7. Clean and put away fifty per cent of your ornaments. Not only will this give your home a more modern minimalist look, you will get your dusting done in half the time.

8. Consider enlisting the help of a family member or friend to be your organizing buddy. She helps you with your house - you help with her clutter disposal. Hearing yourself try to explain why you need a whole kitchen cupboard full of plastic containers can help you get them into that Rubbish box.

9. Don't keep buying things. Stop and think, do I really need this and have I got somewhere to keep this? Some people work on a one in, one out system, i.e. if you buy a new sweater, toy for the children etc. then one goes to the charity shop or is given to a friend.

10. Don't give up. It will take time. All the clutter didn't come into your home in one day and you won't get rid of it all in one day. Keep on sorting, dumping, tidying and labelling, cut back on bringing new clutter home and it is a battle that can be won. You will have more time, a neat home and less stress as a reward for your efforts.


Author: © COPYRIGHT 1999 COLLEEN MOUDLING
Colleen Moulding is a freelance writer based in the South of England. She is also owner/editor of All That Women Want.com a magazine, web guide and resource for women everywhere. Channels for home, parenting, computing, travel, food, fashion, entertainment, seasonal sites, what kids want, shopping, books and writing, working from home, women's business, antiques, something different and lots more.

ARTICLE POSTED NOVEMBER 23, 2003

A Place for Everything

A place for everything, and everything in its place. That's my goal!! It's a slow process but I'm gaining ground.

An absolutely gorgeous day: sunshine, no humidity. I plan to take a walk at 4 PM. I'm listening to (and glancing at) "The Doctors" on TV. They had advertised that a segment would be about "the raw food diet." Well, it was about "the raw meat diet" and that is a horse of a different color (in my humble opinion). They were critical--and I am too--of eating raw meat.

Earlier I did a Google search re: Coumadin. During a recent conversation about a diet rich in dark green leafy veggies, I was told she could not eat them. Today I was familiarizing myself with Coumadin and searching for a holistic health alternative. I found none!! How sad!! Domed to eat processed food the rest of her life!! So I'm counting my blessings, again, that my physical body embraces a raw food diet. (I didn't pry into her health history but poor eating habits might have led to the surgery and valve replacement that, in turn, dictates no salad now.)

One Track Mind

It was a rainy day (yesterday) that prevented the running of 50th Anniversary Coca Cola 600. Likewise torrential rain today so the postponed NASCAR race was a big disappointment for fans. Personally, I have no interest in that sport but it's a BIG event for Charlotte.

I spent the day removing boxes from neat stacks, exploring the contents, extracting items. I rearranged... and can see that down sizing is conspicuous!! If nothing else is accomplished, I am quickly getting all similar items in the same box or the same location. I ended up with duplicates because, on two occasions, the bulk of my belongings were in storage. So I bought another ream of paper, another box of envelopes, additional felt markers, more pens, etc.

There's no way to measure the amount of exercise (today) but I "know" it was significant!! I have "a one tracked mind," and the weatherman says tropical storms all week, so my task is ordained!! Boring, huh??

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12 noon Tues., May 26, 2009: Ditto yesterday!!

I've lifted, and rearranged more than a dozen heavy boxes. So far, only one empty box for the trash receptacle. I'm not finished for the day; I'm just taking a break!! (Checked my e-mail.) I'm destined to keep about one hundred boxes until I die--and then my sons can decide what to do with them.

For many years I was very involved with genealogy. I collected a massive amount of information about my ancestors. I published two books. If I understood correctly the rules regarding copyright, I need to keep all the documentation. Imagine, if you will, several large sturdy apple boxes full of original pages for Frantz Families--Kith & Kin (FF-KK), and LaVerne Evergreen Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions. Extremely heavy boxes!!!!

The bulk of my genealogy library was donated to Brethren Heritage Center in Brookville, Ohio (in 2004). I tried to give them the copyright to FF-KK. So I have boxes of data regarding my non-Brethren ancestors: Alderfer, Coffin, Frye, Hume, Smith, Traxler, Showalter, and others. I'd love to pick up the hobby again; I loved it!!

Furthermore, I still have a lot of items related to traveling with a recreation vehicle (RV). I plan to put some of those items out at a Flea Market (at a later date) but am attempting to sell larger items (EcoQuest air purifiers) first. As it is, my KIA and Teardrop trailer are packed with items for sale. I can't squeeze anything else into my vehicles!!

As I explore boxes, arrange and rearrange... I'm creating an area with items for sale--or to donate to a Thrift Shop. I think I'm making progress with my project!!

We had extremely hard rain off-and-on all morning. It looks like we might have sunshine soon!? I want to unhook the trailer... and I want to deliver my donation to the Senior Center. Oh, the wonderful feeling that accompanies my down sizing!! (Fatigue too!!)

Down sizing!!

Subconsciously, I must have answered my question from yesterday. This afternoon, without any hesitation, I started packing new items into several boxes--destined for our local Senior Center. They recently made an appeal for "door prizes" and office supplies. I think they will be delighted with my donation!!

By nature, I am a "gift giver" and I often buy attractive items (usually on sale) for birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas. Scented candles, in decorator tins or lovely holders, can't go wrong (in my humble opinion)!! I won't elaborate--but the items fill two boxes and a large plastic bag!! Some of the things date back to my life in Southern California. I bought a lot of things for door prizes for an RV rally (a rally that was aborted): Patriotic pewter magnets (RVers like things that don't take a lot of space); beautiful souvenir key chains; journals....

I've documented the donation in Turbo Tax "It's Deductible" so the info will be available for next year's Income Taxes. (Not that my donations make much difference--if any--in the refund.)

I've had a "home office" for decades for my several businesses. Perhaps some of the envelopes, markers, pens, etc., etc., can be used at the local Senior Center?!?! I know that--in my lifetime--I'll never use all of these things!! (Perhaps the Senior Center in Lancaster California could have used them but I, foolishly, hauled everything I owned from West coast to East coast.)

Two well-traveled, somewhat shabby, empty cardboard boxes are destined for the trash receptacle. I accomplished a little "down sizing"!!

I have two computers, two printers, scanner, and Palm Pilot set aside to donate to an organization I found on-line. Have you heard of Computers with Causes??