Do I do anything but complain these days?

[cyrano]

I'm utter crap at this whole 'purging' thing. There's my initial resistance to getting rid of things. I mean, I got them for a reason, right? Even if I'm no longer certain what that reason was, I started out with one and I'll probably remember it right after I've tossed the terribly useful item out. And the memory aspect. If I have a memory associated with the object, there's a strong chance that memory goes away with it.
So I've gotten to the point where I'm actually getting rid of things. And I can't just throw stuff away. I need to try and find somewhere useful for it to go. Which is hard for things like VHS tapes or electronic equipment that I can't remember what it does. And then, since I am a child of the internet, I find people far away who can use stuff. Which means I have to get boxes of appropriate sizes, and packing material, and then hie me down to the post office. And given that I still have CDs for Satanya from the last time I purged, that should indicate how well that goes.
So, while I'm here, does anybody have a use for a metric assload of Legend of the Five Rings and On The Edge CCTG cards? Or a pair of pocketwatches that may need new batteries or may need repairing, or this.... whatever the hell this thing is?

Comments

[princessmei.livejournal.com]

I would love the pocketwatches if you don't want them anymore.

And no shipping needed at all. I can just swing by and pick them up.

-Megs

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yay! That's the kind of purging I like! (:
One of them has the Tasmanian Devil on it!

[schquee.livejournal.com]

OMG just throw it away!

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

If it helps at all, winnowing's a skill like anything else - we all have that internal urge to hoard things, it's human. But in our acquisition-driven culture, if we hoard everything we end up like those poor folk whose houses are stuffed to the gills with old newspapers and containers of food and God knows what. Everyone, at some point, has to develop that judgment as to what can stay and what can go; some of us were just lucky enough to have parents who drilled it into us at an early age. (Confidence in one's own judgment also has a lot to do with it, as you're learning.)

*hugs* I'm proud of you. If I weren't moving myself pretty shortly I would totally buy you a new mp3 player. Fortunately it looks like you won't be without one for long. :)

[schquee.livejournal.com]

You're right, and I'm probably so adamant about it because I did NOT have it drilled into me, my mom is a borderline hoarder. I'm like a born again Christian about it... "JUST GET RID OF IT" has been my mantra for probably a year now.. I'm loving it now and STILL not finished purging! I don't think it's the kind of thing that you ever really stop doing, it just has to become part of your lifestyle to occasionally go through and throw stuff out. And cyrano is learning to do it in his on way, which I would grow impatient with, but works for him. I think I did start out trying to sell things, and now I just pile everything in boxes and take it to Goodwill.. let the people there sort it out.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I make a lot of people impatient, as Rose can vouch for. (:
And I think I'm reaching that point where I depart from "I want my friends to have this cool stuff" to "fuck it I just want it dealt with".
Stages! Progress! Evolution!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yay. (:
Progress is being made. And I'm very glad to have your good regard.
I think books will be the hardest. No, maybe CDs will.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Bah. Just nab an external hard drive from Costco, rip it all in high-quality mp3 (or lossless if you're really that anal), and dump 'em all at the nearest used dealer. Easy cash, and you still have your music!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

The thing that worries me about that is file corruption. I've had it happen a couple of times, and re-ripped from the CDs.
Although I've been considering it, and I suspect I'll end up going with it because in the end, I have two bookshelves full of CDs and I need the space.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

If it helps at all, newer hard drives have far fewer problems with that than older ones. Although it helps if you keep the kids next door from playing street-hockey with them, too. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Damn kids!

[reluctantgenius.livejournal.com]

or, if you're really concerned, set up a RAID 5 array. You'll need three (or more) cheap hard drives and a controller, plus the box and wires to hold them. However, you'll have data redundancy and be able to recover anything that gets lost if one of the hard drives fails.

RAID is not the answer

[7leaguebootdisk.livejournal.com]

I'd get two external drives, and keep them in sync. ZFS would be nice, but probably a bit much. Ideally, don't keep both at home.

RAID does not help if the OS writes junk to the FS, only from a drive dieing.

Re: RAID is not the answer

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You guys are saying lots of words!

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Erm, sorry - the above was supposed to be a general reply, as I'm sure you've figured out. :)

[schquee.livejournal.com]

I want a hug and an mp3 player toooo! Or just a hug. :D

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Oh, fine, I think I can manage a hug. They're free, after all. :)

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

I'm fresh out of spare mp3 players, so I'll throw in an extra hug to make up for it.

*hug*

*hug*

[schquee.livejournal.com]

YAY LOTSA HUGS!

[geloe-1977.livejournal.com]

I could use a whatever the hell that thing is. Those are my favorite things to have.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Sure thing! Come on over and pick it up. Are you free this afternoon?

[moonlightnrain.livejournal.com]

With the stuff that evokes memories, why not take a picture of the object and put it in an album of memory-evoking items. Then you just have one book instead of 2 dozen items.

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

Indeed, that was going to be my suggestion as well.

I also find that for some items, I like to share the picture and the memory associated with the item in a Livejournal post. Having the memory publicly acknowledged makes it much easier to get rid of the item itself, because I know that I'm honoring the important part of it.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.
This will have to be considered as well.

[moonlightnrain.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that's smart!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You're awfully smart.

[moonlightnrain.livejournal.com]

I'm marrying a clutter-lover. Books have been read on the subject.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

She and I should play tennis sometime. (:

[schquee.livejournal.com]

I bet between the two of you, there are tennis rackets and balls lying around somewhere!

(she says and laughs nervously at the tennis balls sitting on a shelf behind her ... but.. but.. I really am going to play one day!)

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

I have tennis balls! I bought them to run through the dryer with a comforter that I saved from a roommate's purge... And they didn't work worth a damn to keep it from turning into one big lump! But this has a happy ending, because after two years and one move, I threw the single lump that was once a comforter away two weeks ago!

I still have tennis balls, though. Hum.

[schquee.livejournal.com]

Oh, that reminds me of another un-cluttering idea for sentimental things you don't really want to throw out - it is to frame them and put them on the wall, or take pics and put them on the wall. The idea being that if it's worth keeping, it's worth displaying.

IKEA has these fabric frames for $5 each, kind of like the loom you put your canvas in to cross-stitch, but rectangular. Its the perfect answer to my dilemma with old clothes that I can't bear to part with even though they don't fit anymore (or ancient clothes I got from my grandmother that I want to keep but not wear). Now I can frame them and hang them on my wall!

[schquee.livejournal.com]

I read this LJ feed called unclutterer, it's a blog about uncluttering. And there's also a nice blog I occasionally check when I need inspiration called Zen Habits. Also I've found ideas for storage and decluttering on Martha Stewart's website. She had a feature about cleaning up cluttery areas with magnets -- magnetic clips, hooks, caddies, paperclip holders -- and I went a little magnet crazy, since I have a metal vanity in the bathroom... but it's not cluttered anymore! Or rather the clutter is all suspended by magnets and not on the counter..

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

That sounds useful!

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I've done the taking-photos thing, for stuff that has memories attached but isn't nice on its own. My ultimate secret weapon for the stuff that still has use but I need to get rid of is the street corner. I put it in boxes, set it out at the curb, and 90 percent of it will get scavenged.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Tangentially-related but funny anecdote - our neighbors recently tried to get rid of their old oil tank using the street-corner method. They set it on a couple of sawhorses outside their driveway with a big sign that said "FREE".

Two weeks later, it's still there - but the sign's been changed to read "PLEASE RETURN OUR PUMP."

[satanya.livejournal.com]

aww I don't want the stuff to make you stressed. I honestly forgot about it.

But if you still have them and still wanna get it out to me that rocks.

Otherwise don't let it bother you.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

I can relate to this...I've been in a purge mode for about a year or so now. I got to a point where I don't even want to foist it off on my friends...I just want stuff GONE!

The books are going to be hard though. The plan is to finally read the books that I own but have never read and then decide if I'm likely to read them again/reference them. If not...it goes. I need to do the same with my CD's...that's going to be hard though...husband is a worse packrat than I am.

[schquee.livejournal.com]

You might be able to make some money selling books and CDs on Amazon, shipping them media mail.

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

way ahead of you on that one.

[wilson-lizard.livejournal.com]

I so relate, especially when I look at the 10' square pile of stuff to sort and get rid of in my garage...