July 2, 2008
I was in the accursed storage unit yesterday to work on reducing the volume of junk. Got rid of two pieces of furniture - sold one and gave the other one away. Spent hours sorting through boxes of old musty papers and throwing out most of it.
In my previous post on the storage unit I said that I was storing boxes for a friend who now lives in another state and changes the subject whenever I ask about taking this stuff back. Well, yesterday was the first time I started going through his boxes and throwing things out. I felt a little guilty about tossing things which might have sentimental value. Later I wrote an email to him saying this:
2008 is the year of letting go. It is the year of releasing pent up energy from the past out into the universe and embracing the future. Please remember this kind thought and try not to hate me.
The insanity of long-term self storage really struck home with me when I started finding things like unused blank paper, candles half-melted from the summer heat, hundreds of dried-up ballpoint pens, moldy envelopes that can’t be used, etc. In short stuff which can very easily be replaced. I have been paying a significant amount of money every month to store this garbage! Even if you take into account the useful tools and furniture, I could have repurchased everything in there many times with the money spent storing it over the years.
Realizations like this make me so glad that I am finally doing something about this.
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paper, storage | 
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Posted by bakelite doorbell
June 28, 2008
There is a small house for sale near where I am (temporarily) living. Small houses (less then 900 square feet) are interesting to a minimalist because they are easier to maintain, as well as less expensive to buy and provide utilities for. Also having less storage space available is good because the owner may not be inclined to buy things to fill up the space. They are appealing for many reasons. You can find a few “tiny house society” groups and websites online if you’re interested.
Anyway, as appealing as that little bungalow is to me, I’m not sure that I want to own a house at all. It seems that renting an apartment is more closely aligned with my minimalist philosophy. If my goal is to own fewer things, then why would I buy a large thing like a house? Plus I am debt free now, and that status would change with a mortgage. Some say a home loan is “good debt”, whatever that is.
One scary thought I had last week was about an old ironing board in my storage unit. I offered it to a charity because I am trying to clear everything out of storage. The iron board is an old metal one that belonged to my grandmother, so it has some sentimental value to me (like everything does). But I’d be happy to donate it to clear the space. Once this idea of maybe buying a house entered my head, I thought - “of course I’ll keep the ironing board, for the house”! As if owning my living space instead of renting it means I’d naturally return to a packrat mode. That is scary, like a part of my brain is working against me.
No Comments » | minimalism, psychology, storage, tools | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
June 8, 2008
I really don’t know what to call this “stuff reduction” process that I am going through. Maybe if I knew the name for it I could search the internet for others with similar problems and goals. The process is similar in some ways to getting out of debt or losing weight.
Years ago I had financial debts that were out of control. The interest and fees (late/over balance) alone were more then I could pay each month, not to mention paying the principal. Eventually I found a path to getting it under control, then changed my habits and worked hard for a long time. Now I am debt-free except for one convenience credit card that is paid in full every month.
This blog has previously mentioned that I lost a lot of weight. I lost about 90 pounds over the course of 20 months and have kept it off for more than two years. How I did this may be the subject of another post. Here I’ll just say that it was a long process with daily effort, involving change of habits.
The reduction project is similar to these other projects in that it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes continual effort to change the way I do things on order to improve my life by getting rid of something (ie. debt, excess body weight, unnecessary possessions).
Debt followed me around like a dark storm cloud, and it was so very liberating to be free of it. Being overweight drained my physical energy and insulated me from the physical sensations of life. I see possessions in the same light - as a burden which limits my freedom. A burden that can be lifted by working to slowly reduce that which holds me back from enjoying the limited amount of time that has been given to any of us in this life.
So what do I call this? The word “decluttering” somehow doesn’t seem to fit. Except for the last couple of years I have been a packrat forever. For me this cannot be about just shedding excess stuff or organizing collections. It is about rethinking what it means to own a thing.
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Posted by bakelite doorbell
June 1, 2008
When I was a child my parents had a set of plates, bowls and cups made by Stangl Pottery. Made of dark red clay, glazed and fired. They all had a distinct handpainted pattern on them. When I see this pattern I am reminded of home and childhood. Some time during my teenage years they replaced the set with another set of dishes which was more durable. When I moved out in early adulthood I took with me a few plates and a bowl from the Stangl set, but didn’t know what had happened to the rest of them. I figured the folks probably donated them to a church fundraiser.
This was until last year when some repair work was being done on their house’s foundation. I was helping move stuff out of the basement so the workmen could get to the walls. On the floor in the corner of an old room that had been closed off for decades was a large cardboard box which was almost totally rotted away. In the box was the whole set of Stangl dishes!! I felt like I found buried treasure, and the folks said I could have it all. Like any good packrat I meticuluously cleaned them, then ran them through a dishwasher to sterilize them. I bought some special “dishsaver” moving boxes with styrofoam plastic envelopes and packed them all away in boxes.
Because of this big reduction project I’m doing, it’s time to look at these boxes again. Instead of hanging onto everything, I want to only keep what I will likely use. After all I am a single person and don’t need 12 teacups and saucers. My first idea was to keep five of everything and sell the rest. They are all scratched and chipped to some degree, but I tried to pick out the five best cups, saucers, large plates, small plates, bowls, etc. When that was done I had only 2 large plates and 2 medium plates that were in good condition, and only 3 bowls. Lots of small plates and cups. I kept them stacked up on a table for a couple of days. When looking over the row of cups, five of them just seemed to be too many. Kind of a gut reaction. So I removed one. The four cups did seem to be the right amount to me. Not really based on anything but a feeling. So then the rule became “no more than four of any one thing”. The result is a nice small collection of usable dishware that I can probably repack into one banker’s box.
Now I have to find a buyer for the excess. Maybe at an antique store? Craigslist?
No Comments » | tools | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
May 4, 2008
I’m not going to write about how many shoes I have. This is about the two pairs that I wear every week. The circumstances of my life push me towards minimizing possessions as much as possible, and it is irritating to have two pairs of shoes where I could have one. The two pairs serve slightly different purposes.
The black leather shoes with laces are the ones I wear to work. They are about five years old now, and the tread on the bottom is well worn. The uppers are in good shape and could look like new with some shoe polish. All the stitching is intact. The laces were replaced last year.
The casual shoes are the ones I wear on casual dress days at work and on the weekends. They are slip-on moc style with a boot-tread sole. Made of rough texture suede material. Waterproof, so they’re good in the winter. They are still usable, but are showing serious signs of wear. The tread is worn smooth in spots, seams are starting to split, and some of the interior padding is showing through holes.
I’ve been looking for one new pair of shoes which could replace both of these. Something that looks good enough for work but is comfortable to wear on weekends and also has some deep tread so they’ll be safe in snow/ice. Preferably slip-ons because I like things plain and laces are a little too fancy/cluttered.
Please let a comment if you have a suggestion. Maybe I’ll throw away the worn casual shoes and just use the black shoes all the time. I did see some expensive Clark brand leather slip-ons in a catalog that might be nice as a replacement for both, but then I’d have to find a way to get rid of my black shoes (too good for the trash, not good enough to donate).
1 Comment | clothes | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
April 23, 2008
Last Sunday I did the same thing I did the previous Sunday - took my book inventory to a diner and examined it over eggs and browns. A busy diner is not a distraction-free environment, but at least it’s better than the place where I have to work on sorting my stuff. Quieter, no internet surfing temptation, not physically surrounded by the stuff I’m trying to make decisions about.
The main problem I have with letting go of books is a desire to finish reading a book before discarding it. I don’t read much, only a couple of books a year. Most of the books in my collection were bought intending to read them but never found the time. Quite a few were started but not finished. To overcome this I should re-examine the (decades old) desire to read something in light of present circumstances. Or just numb myself to block the feeling and toss it anyway. Don’t let past interests get in the way of future endeavors. I am not a librarian.
Did I want to read a particular book because it was related to a topic of interest? For example an adventure story about sailing. If so, am I still interested in that topic? If the interest remains, will this copy of this book likely assist me in the future when I pursue the topic?
Books easy to let go of: duplicate copies, ones I don’t want anymore, ones that can easily be replaced. There are some about topics I wanted to research, which are interesting to me but not required in the future as reference material.
When I got back from the diner, made a conscious decision not to turn on the computer and check my latest auction results until I had done something with the books.
Piled them all up on the bed. Pulled out the definite keepers. Pulled out the ones that can be easily replaced and also the ones I can sell. Took what was left and sorted them by category. Got overwhelmed at this point and went outside to clean up the yard and look around, as this was one of the first warm days the year. When I went back in I did a rapid-fire sort like they do on Clean Sweep. Pulled out the books I am keeping just because I haven’t read them yet. Pulled out another box full of ones I can get rid of. Separated the reference books. Then I only had two books left in the pile that weren’t in any other category. Now I might be able to put my keepers, reference material, and these two leftovers in my box for books. The ones I haven’t read yet - gotta look through those and maybe skim them to decide further.
No Comments » | books | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
April 19, 2008
The idea that manufactured objects are permanent is wrong. Things that we possess are not unending artifacts, that once created must be protected and preserved against loss. We are not stewards of our possessions. They are tools to be used temporarily along the way on our life’s journey.
During a news video I saw about a particular military-style rifle, they mentioned that 100,000 of this model of rifle was sold each year in the USA. It got me thinking, “That’s a lot of guns! I wonder where they all go?” How many will be stored away in cabinets, how many lost in a lake on a hunting trip, broken and thrown away, or taken apart and recycled into other metal things? Most of the time we only see a product as it’s being advertised when it’s all new and shiny. They are remembered as advertised, not as they really are when rust and wear begin to consume them.
When I buy something and use it, the thing seems to become woven into the fabric of my life. If it’s damaged, then I repair it and the effort spent to repair it is an investment in that thing. An investment of time, attention and emotion. A scrape on a car bumper that is painted over adds character to the car. A favorite jacket that is torn during an accident can be stitched up, and there will be a story to tell, of me and my jacket and how we have both made it to this point. But at some point the car will wear out and the jacket will become threadbare. While the object itself fades, my emotional bond to it does not. How can the memory of an object’s service to my life be honored? Or does that even matter.
Gotta think of all things as disposable, replaceable, temporary. Fight the instinct to preserve all that is owned in the face of continual entropy. Nothing lasts forever.
2 Comments | minimalism | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
March 29, 2008
After doing the trash last week I walked to the bedroom with the intention to pick one T-shirt to toss. I had been thinking I have too many T-shirts, many of which I do not wear. I pulled them all out and could not pick one right away. Perfectly good shirts, some with memories attached. One really old one I was keeping only for the design printed on it, never to wear. I cut the design out of this one and tossed the shirt.
Also I got rid of a souvenir shirt that my mother gave to me decades ago as a joke (the design was a slightly humiliating comment on my behavior). I disliked the mockery of the shirt, but always kept it because it fit me and was a durable shirt that lasted all this time. I pulled hard at the collar to see if it would rip, but it didn’t. Really a well-made shirt! But it was my oldest one and it went out. Tossing it felt odd, like saying goodbye to a familiar friend. Maybe I felt that because I had it for so long? I really can feel resistance to discarding things and irrational attachment to them, but after they’re gone I don’t really miss them.
That reminds me of an old pair of boots that was one of the first things to go when I started to get rid of things. I wore these boots all the time every day and these were getting in bad shape. Replacement shoes were bought, but putting these super-comfortable boots in the trash was one of the hardest things ever. More than once during the night and the next morning I thought about taking them back out of the trash. But I stuck to my decision and forced myself to drive past the trashcan on my way to work. Now, years later I remember how comfortable they were, but don’t miss the worn-out shoes with splitting soles.
No Comments » | clothes | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
March 22, 2008
My storage unit is hard to get to in the winter because of the snow and ice on the ground. It’s not heated, and I don’t want to risk carrying heavy things on icy walkways. I haven’t been there yet this year. Therefore I’ve been trying to focus on organizing/purging what is with me here in my rented living space.
Most of my possessions here are inside cardboard bankers boxes. Not including the stuff stored inside (and on top of) furniture, the floor, and in the closet. My efforts last year on this reduction project led to throwing out the randomly sized cardboard boxes I had picked up along the way during my years of “collecting”. Enough volume was purged so that the remainder could fit only in the bankers boxes I had. About 20 boxes now, which is a huge improvement. They could be put into one truckload if I had to move, so I do feel a bit of freedom. Plus it helps my sanity that the boxes are a uniform size and shape. Having randomly sizes boxes and baskets of things piled up around me was much harder to deal with. When four boxes are stacked up on the floor I perceive it as one tower of stuff instead of hundreds of little cluttery things to look at. Less overwhelming to live with day-to-day.
But I don’t want to live with all this junk of course, so the plan is to reduce the number of boxes. Everything is now sorted into five general categories. My ultimate goal (perhaps unreachable) for this Spring season is to reduce all of this down to only five bankers boxes, one for each category.
- Paper - for my files, projects, archives
- Books - this will be really tough, but only one box of all my books and magazines
- Tools - all physical utility items, including kitchen utensils
- Media - DVDs, music CDs, photographs, cards, letters
- Random - a “clutter at hand” box
The random box is for miscellaneous stuff that I don’t know where it goes, so it usually winds up on various flat surfaces. I’ll use a bankers box just for the random clutter. When I’m not clear on where something goes, it goes in the box. Then I can clean it out and put things away once in a while. The agreement with myself must be that my limit on this stuff is that one box. This way it’ll be limited and kinda organized.
No Comments » | books, media, paper, storage, tools | Permalink
Posted by bakelite doorbell
