Clearing the decks at home

[lagatta]

Ha! At least you weren't doing it on a bicycle! I have more to take today.

[bazfaz]

When you live in the hills (as we do, at least for the next 3 weeks) a bcycle is a daunting prospect. And the car not only had bags of books to take to market but a load of other stuff to take to the recycling centre. There was barely room to put the market shopping in.

[lagatta]

Is where you are moving a bit less hilly?

[Deleted]

I have spent a good part of the last 8 days going through "stuff" at my mother's house. Jeez,can't believe the stuff she saved. My f'n report cards from elementary school on up. Letters full of deceit from yours truly during my college years. Did she really need to know what her little casimira was really doing? The best white lies I did come up with.
Anyway,other less fun things,dredging up a plethora of highly mixed emotions.
Then,the fun part of disposing of it,thank god it's cool enough for the fireplace to be going.

[Deleted]

How is everybody doing with this venture? I ended up mailing 4 boxes back here to NOLA from NY as opposed to my usual 7 or more. Still,the question remains, why the need to have all this paper (magazines,newpapers,books) around me? I am beginning to think it's hereditary,as my mother had stacks of magazines about and when I suggested we cull through them she nearly freaked. Much in the same way I do when Mr. C. makes a similar suggestion.

[Deleted]

I got up at 4:30 this morning and found myself sorting papers (80% into a large garbage bag), CDs, photos, DVDs. Actually, all of the photos were thrown at random into two big cartons, now completely full, and it will be a major project to actually organize them some day. I saw dozens if not hundreds that I would like to upload, but that will have to wait until I finally get the old computer repaired.

The living room was still a mess when I left, but at least various documents are in specific piles now, and I should be able to motivate myself to finish most of the sorting and filing away.

Then I will have to move on to the closet (the clothes clearly rioted while I was away), but I don't think that will happen tonight.

[Deleted]

I absolutely must get the pictures organized, but I'm afraid it is going to take weeks.

I need to find some methodology for --

1. paper family archives
2. paper travel photos
3. paper bad photos which MUST BE THROWN AWAY
4. paper photos that have already been scanned
5. paper photos that I want to scan
6. digital travel photos
7. digital random photos
8. digital photos that need to be DELETED ONCE AND FOR ALL

etc. etc. etc.

This is going to prove impossible.

[spindrift]

Kerouac, I sympathise. I have similar problems with photos, digital and otherwise. I even have an ancient book that was for filing negatives. No-one will ever look at them so why do I keep them?
It would be helpful if one had a large cupboard allocated for filing pictures and then one could put dates and locations on the shelves.
People sometimes ask me why I like to take pictures and the only answer I have is that they are sure to entertain me when I'm eventually bedridden or in a wheelchair.

My bedroom cupboards are cluttered with expensive clothes as well as junk. I have piles of little-worn designer clothes that I would never wear now that I have a casual lifestyle. Perhaps I can sell them on Ebay. I hate to throw them out...surely someone would like pale pink pleated silk skirts and extravagent old evening gowns and shoes? I would never have worn Ugg in those days

What a mess.

[bixaorellana]

On the digital photos, especially since the non-dealt-with ones straight off the camera are space hogs. I go in every once in a while and start deleting, but that one at a time process, with the pop-up asking if I'm really and truly sure I want to delete the item, gets too tedious very quickly.

Yeek, Spindrift ~~ that's a grim thought!

Is there an upscale consignment shop in your area? You have exquisite taste in clothes and that could be a good way to make some money on your nice things without much effort on your part.

[onlymark]

Fortunately I move every few years so I have little weeding out to do. I also am not a hoarder, except tools, so I keep on top of things.
Maybe you should 'pretend' you are moving apartments and really see what you would take and what you wouldn't. Then you could get down your list within a time limit.

[spindrift]

Good idea Bixa...I only hang onto things because I think I might need them again; in truth they are out of date.

[bixaorellana]

You'd be surprised at what is considered "vintage" nowadays. A decade-old skirt might be pounced upon by a chic twenty-three year old woman as a treasured find.

I was startled by this article the other day, as it shows some "cutting edge" fashions that I was not aware had ever gone away.
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/fashion/27MAXI.html

[palesa]

Sorry to be a bit of a damper, but just remember that what you hoard, someone else has to sort through and dispose of when you are gone. Not fun!

[spindrift]

Bixa - I see what you mean. I wear that length of skirt occasionally although my ex-hubby never liked that style.

[Deleted]

Jun 2, 2010 14:56:33 GMT spindrift said:

Good idea Bixa...I only hang onto things because I think I might need them again; in truth they are out of date.

Well,because we never did get to see the latest trends in Paris this Spring for some odd reason ...we'll never know until perhaps Fall rolls around....

[kerouac2]

I just prepared a big bag of clothes for the charity bin. About a dozen more of those and my closet might start making sense.

[kerouac2]

Today I am trying to empty some crates of mystery objects, because I am going to have to pack away my dishes, silverware and other things before the kitchen work is done. I have noticed in the first two crates that just about everything can be divided into 5 categories: mementos, useful items, official archives and straight-to-the-trash. Unfortunately, this last category should ideally represent 25% or more of the total, but so far it only seems to be about 10-15%. I'll have to do better.

[kerouac2]

I emptied one of my kitchen cupboards completely and found the most amazing things in it. What could I possibly do with all of these chopsticks? When did I ever think that I would make cupcakes? Are the mice destroying my memory, because I certainly never knew that I had 3 different boxes of mouse poison? I was happy to find 4 new mousetraps that I didn't know that I had. I keep thinking that the mouse problem has ended, but a new victim proved me wrong the day before yesterday. There are currently 5 traps upstairs, but now I can add 4 more if they defy me. Once again, only about 15% of the stuff went in the bin. Only about 8 more cupboards to go.

[Kimby]

K2, I noticed the seven YEAR gap between your post saying "on to the closet" and the one saying you were clearing out the closet. At this speed, you'll NEVER finish!
;-)

[Kimby]

Oct 2, 2017 10:12:31 GMT kerouac2 said:

I have noticed in the first two crates that just about everything can be divided into 5 categories: mementos, useful items, official archives and straight-to-the-trash. Unfortunately, this last category should ideally represent 25% or more of the total, but so far it only seems to be about 10-15%. I'll have to do better.

I've counted your categories multiple times and can only find four. This wouldn't be worth commenting on if I hadn't just read an article in which the author talked about a book of short stories "divided into five broadly regionalized sections:" and then listed only four. What a strange coincidence.

[kerouac2]

You are absolutely correct. That's because the 5th category went into the trash while I was writing.

[kerouac2]

I attacked my closet again today, which is too big and that has always been the problem. It just keeps filling and filling and filling because there is room for a lot more stuff than clothes. I actually made it all the way down to the two foot lockers today. These were my two pieces of baggage when I moved to France. Over the years, the contents have varied. I discovered that one of them is full of my mother's old schoolbooks. When my grandparents' house in Lorraine was sold, all of them were in the attic, and my mother was going to throw them all away, but I said I wanted them, and I still do. Her exercise books and everything are still there, including disparaging remarks about the Kommandantur written in the margins. They are precious to me, even though I have never fully examined them.

The other trunk is full of all sorts of souvenirs and historical newspapers (death of Mao Tse Tung, resignation of Nixon…) I also saw that my university diploma is in there along with some old stamp albums. But I found some stuff to throw out -- for example some old 'Playbill' programmes from Broadway theatres. Bent starring Richard Gere, Fifth of July starring Christopher Reeve, Talley's Folly starring Judd Hirsch, Lunch Hour starring Gilda Radner and Sam Waterston. I must confess that I remember absolutely nothing about those last two plays. The ads in them are fascinating -- Crazy Eddie's, Pan Am, TWA. Just about all of the other ads are for cigarettes and whisky.

I have never wanted to go to a Broadway musical and always looked for serious plays. I will admit that I was dragged to see Evita in London once. Hated it.

[bixaorellana]

I cry for you, Kerouac2!

[kerouac2]

Actually, my day was even more dramatic, because my goal was to move a filing cabinet from the closet to the upstairs room. The filing cabinet is from one of my old offices, currently the world flagship store of Louis Vuitton. When we left that address, absolutely all of the old furniture and other equipment was to be sold<. There was an auction of the basic stuff to the employees, and i snagged a few items for 10 euros. In fact, nobody wanted at least half of the items so they became free for the taking. Besides the filing cabinet, I have a few other things in my cellar, which they will probably stuff in my coffin. There was also a huge mirror in one of the restrooms which a friend took for his kitchen. (The apartment didn't have a bathroom, so the kitchen was used for morning washing up.)

There wasn't much in that filing cabinet in the closet, but it was far too heavy to move. I emptied the three drawers and it was still almost impossible to move, especially since I had to move out the footlockers and about 20 travel bags from the past. At least 10 of them must be discarded… later. But I finally got it out of the closet, through the hallway and into the main downstairs room. By then I had discarded most of my sweat drenched clothing.

Looking at the stairs, I knew there was no way that I could get it up by myself. Everything was so easy in the old days when I could get a friend to grunt and swear as we moved such things around. Except for the fact that I am currently alone in my building, there are at least two able-bodied neighbours from whom I could have requested assistance. But hey, guess what? Every single one of my neighbours fled Paris just before lockdown. I am now completely alone in the building. (There was still one other person last week according to the trash bins, but no longer…)

Okay, what if I removed the drawers? But I tested them and examined them and there seemed to be no way to remove them. Thank god for Google, because I found 5 different methods, including YouTube videos, for removing drawers from filing cabinets. Fuck you, Google, because not a single one of the 5 methods shows things that corresponded to my drawers. ("Pull tab, lower lever….") There weren't even any screws to unscrew. I took numerous breaks, because I know that you have to calm down from time to time.

I examined the possibility of carrying it upstairs during a huge adrenaline rush (like people who lift automobiles off their children), but every scenario that played out in my mind seemed to end in my tragic death as the cabinet slipped, hurtled down the steps and crushed me against the wall.

After a few more breaks, I re-examined the drawers, looked at all of the various videos again and decided that there had to be a way to get the damned things out. And then I got out my tools (Oh, I have so many tools, more than a lot of people who even know how to use them.). Believe it or not, I finally managed to remove a drawer. You would think that it would have made removing the other two drawers easy, but it did not. Also, I had the illusion that taking out just one drawer would make the whole object much lighter and that I would be able to carry it. No way!

Finally, when I had removed all three drawers, the cabinet seemed as heavy as ever, especially when I discovered that each drawer was individually as light as a feather.
But I decided that this was an illusion and that the cabinet itself was within my capabilities.

So, one step at a time, grunting and groaning and dripping sweat, I got the damned thing upstairs. At each step and including the last one, I still imagined the possibility of slipping or stumbling and being killed, but it didn't happen.

Naturally, the drawers are resisting slipping back into place, but that is tomorrow's project.

[htmb]

And now, after reading about your challenges and success, I am completely exhausted!

[Kimby]

Perhaps your filing cabinet is so heavy because it is a firesafe?

[kerouac2]

I don't know why it is heavy, but it is fucking heavy! Office equipment is often designed to be expensive as possible, and that often means weight.

Anyway, I struggled with it for most of the day, but I will admit that there were pauses for internet games (and also maybe a forum or two), DVDs and naps, oh yes and lunch with a beer, because I have learned that there is no reason to go into a frenzy when I am not succeeding. About an hour ago, I finally was able to install drawers 2 and 3 perfectly, but drawer 1 defied me all day. I finally got it in and "usable" but there is something wrong with the rails or something or other.

Tomorrow, I will vanquish the monster.

In any case, I expect it to be a major aid in decluttering various crap which cannot be binned.

[htmb]

In any case, I expect it to be a major aid in decluttering various crap which cannot be binned.

Probably much of it is crap left there by various friends for safe keeping.

I have two legal-sized file cabinets here and had two regular-sized at work. I found the heaviest parts of each were the bottoms. Plus, the work cabinets were made to be bolted to the floor for additional security. When moving the two home cabinets, like you, I also found that removing the drawers made little difference. It was the damn bottoms that were the problem.

I have cleaned out another section of my garage (when making room for the heavy bag), but my issue now is having a place to take the items that can be reused. We don’t have curbside pickup here, but must drive to a recycling center for furniture and small appliances. Unfortunately, it’s closed, so the items I know people could use, must sit in my garage until sometime in the unknown future.

[Kimby]

Can you not put it out at the curb with a sign that says “Free”?

[Kimby]

I am working on the home pantry now, having organized the lake cottage pantry on our last visit there.

I am finding some long-forgotten items at the back of the shelves, including 45 packages of Biscoff cookies we’ve been given on Delta flights going back to at least 2014! Only TWO packs bear expiration dates in 2020...