My life is the makeover...

[susandennis]

It's all consuming. I woke up at 3 a.m. and remembered that my closets have carpet in them. This is significant because, at least one of them has a Berumuda Triangle area. It's an area that is kind of deep back inside that you cannot get to and cannot see. I have no idea what is there.

But, in order to recarpet the place, every single thing is going to have to come out of every single closet. ARUGH.

Ok. It's good. I can do it.

I need to get rid of this shit. fj says that the rule is "not touched in a year... better have a damn good reason to keep it." Some of me thinks that I could nearly get rid of every single thing and be ok about it. But, I do have a lot of memorabilia...

• The hand tinted 5x7 portrait of me when I was 1 year old - in it's original 1950's porcelain frame?
• The collection of antique tea cups that my grandma had with my Mom's tea set she played with as a little girl?
• The books that I've saved from my teenaged years (Gone with the Wind, etc. in their old smelly bindings - there is probably a box full.
• The hand mixer and the Cuisineart and the blender - wait, I used the blender once last summer.

For each of these things there is a box or 4 of stuff just like them. Oh and my huge collection of purses and wallets (that I did just winnow down from a ridiculously gargantuan collection only last month). And the freakin coffee mugs.

The clothes are easy. Most don't fit any more anyway and I'd never wear them if they did. Some of the books are easy. The ones that didn't sell on Half.Com get gone. I really don't need 5 spare pillows.

You'd think that having moved around the country as much as I have, I would not have accumulated as much crap but the reality is that IBM moved me and those boys come in and pack up every single thing - the ashtray and the ashes and move it to the new place and unpack it putting the ashes back into the ashtray. So I have 25 years of shit to toss.

But, there is good news. My neighbor down the hall, Kathy, - the one in San Diego - sent a note this morning that I can use her place to store stuff if I need to. That would the very little bit of stuff that I can cram into one of the bathrooms or the kitchen and have to leave somewhere while they lay carpet and paint. It will be so handy to have that.

I'm thinking I'll buy a cart. The condo has some for lending out but I'd like to have one available for the whole process - for moving stuff back and forth to Kathy's, down to the dumpsters, down the the car, etc. I sent a note to the condo manager this morning asking his advice. He might well just say 'use one of these for as long as you like' which would be fine.

Tonight I'm having dinner with my local Queer Eyes for the Straight Girl. Kieran and Alan are busting at the seems to hear the details and I have not gotten the full entire-with-photos skippy on their Paris trip. So Kieran is cooking dinner and I'm dumping all my old wine on them - it's crap wine but maybe they can cook with it. I will never ever use it for anything and it will be a nice way to start the purge.

Comments

[susandennis]

Ohhhh interesting!

I used to be so like you on the books. And then I wasn't. They just took over and I got mad so I got rid of milEs and miles of them. I sold a bunch and then another bunch and then some more and then I gave away a carload. And now I'm down to probably 50 boxes full. I think out of those, I can let go of maybe 5 boxes full. And then we have plans for new bookshelves that are out of the way and that will take care of the rest, I think. I also quit buying them when they opened up the new library and I could borrow again.

I got hope from your leaving the carpet in the closet idea... Until I realized that with my closets, I'd still have to move all the crap out. I have those stucky closets that are little more than a hangar wide - they originally had sliding doors that I yanked off and trashed so I could at least see some of the stuff.

Here's the picture from that adventure:


See over there on the left? That goes way deep in there ... No clue what's in there... But, I also cannot believe how much stuff was NOT in the closet then that sure is now - it is jammed with stuff now. I need a pack-rat-ectomy.

[fj.livejournal.com]

Books are lousy friends. Most of your friends dust themselves and don't take up space doing nothing. Consequetly, we are lousy friends to books: someone who hasn't talked to me in five years and then suddenly comes up to me does not get to call me friend (that much).

Look at your 50 boxes of books and ask yourself: am I ever going to read them?

The mementos you keep, of course -- as long as they are important ones. If you have kept them in boxes for years, will you really miss them when they are gone? What are they bringing to your life now?

I am a bit of a minimalist, but I am not adovcating that for anyone. I just think that what you have in a small space should be there with intention, not inertia.

Because you have a beautiful space. It deserves to be be dressed up gorgeously and make you happy and show off how smart you were to invest in it years ago.

[susandennis]

yeahbutt here's the argument that the gremlin on the other shoulder is arguing:

Your stuff says who you are. If you get rid of it all, will you feel you are someone different? And is that good or bad?

I have a patchwork wallhanging of about 10 years of T-shirts from places I worked, places I visited, etc. I look at that and remember all those places. If I didn't have it, would I remember them? Would it matter?

Yesterday, Sheri was struck by a portrait I have on the wall - it's a pencil drawing of a really strange looking dude. It is done of the back of a temporary license plate and given to me by the artist who was in the journalism class I taught at the maxiumum security prison in West Virginia when I was in college. If that goes, does it's history as well?

And I can repeat this about a gazillion times around the house. That's the sticky wicket.

(Oh, and momentos currently in boxes? An easy out - they all go.)

And you know what? I think you are right about the books. I really do. There are a number that I haven't read yet and they need to stay until I get them read. But I think, of the rest, I think I just need to set a limit of like 5 boxes or less and then triage. I think I can do it.

I need a minimalist so keep the pressure on, please.

[susandennis]

I have all the Tales of the City, too!! And they stay. For sure.

But, I'm just the opposite on the saving cream. I get enormous comfort out of redundant systems. If I'm half way done with a tube of toothpaste, I have to have to have to get the next one to have it on standby for when the first one finishes. If I could get rid of just-in-case-itis, I could live in the backseat of my car.