What did you declutter today? Part II

[minnie1928]

Today I Freecycled an old desk chair that we no longer need. I'm still new to Freecycle, so I only do one item/day.

[disneysteve]

I just wanted to share that I just finished printing a set of participant nametags for a religious retreat I am in charge of this weekend. Why am I sharing that here? I printed them on ivory cardstock that I didn't even know I had until I cleared the area next to our computer that I posted about on the first version of this thread. I had a full ream of the stuff buried among the clutter.

This just goes to emphasize that we are not decluttering just for the sake of decluttering. Getting rid of all the extraneous stuff actually helps you better use the stuff you do want and need.

[gambler2075]

Finally got paypal payment for my old laptop... they sent a box to me with UPS receipt, so all I had to do was pack it in the box and mail it back to them...

Hello **** ********
Thank you for sending in your device to us. We have received it and we want to process your hassle-free payment immediately!
Our expert technical report regarding your Gateway (W730-K8X) Order ID: (XXXXX) is complete.
Pending your approval we are prepared to offer $82
Simply click the link below to accept the offer and your payment will be processed with in 24 hours! If you are unable to click the link simply copy and paste the link into the address bar of your web browser.

Initially they said I would get 170$ for it, so I was a little disappointed with 82$. Oh well. At least it is out of my house. I bought it for ~900$ about 6 years ago, and used it daily for a good 5 years, until it started crashing every day, so I guess I am happy with getting anything for it.

g

[snafu]

If you have a hard copy of the $ 170. offer...or can print it...I suggest you send a fax [copy] to the writer and the person offering $82. $88. is a significant sum, worth following up. I feel these firms get away with this too often because people are reluctant to complain. There are interesting figures about how many people buy a particular electronic device because there is a 'manufacturer's rebate' BUT choose not to fill in and mail the coupon back to obtain the rebate that started the initial purchase decision.

[disneysteve]

I read some newspapers and got them into the recycling bin.

I spent most of the evening preparing for an annual religious retreat I'm in charge of this weekend. At the start of the night, I had papers and folders spread all over the sitting room floor. By the time I was done, though, I had the stuff we need to take with us packed and ready to go and everything we didn't need to take piled up neatly. I need to go through it all as there is quite a bit of stuff that I can recycle but I'll wait until after the program. Then I'll go through everything before packing it all away for next year's program.

[gambler2075]

If you have a hard copy of the $ 170. offer...or can print it...I suggest you send a fax [copy] to the writer and the person offering $82. $88. is a significant sum, worth following up. I feel these firms get away with this too often because people are reluctant to complain. There are interesting figures about how many people buy a particular electronic device because there is a 'manufacturer's rebate' BUT choose not to fill in and mail the coupon back to obtain the rebate that started the initial purchase decision.

Actually it is a company... cashforlaptops... I'd watch out for those guys, since I thought I would get the 170$. They have difference prices for the same laptop, (if working or not), (cables missing) (broken lcd) etc etc...

I honestly wanted it more out of my house, but I may follow up on it. Unfortunately, realistically I am probably too lazy to do it, esp with an uncertain outcome, so I felt I would just warn people to watch out for them.

But thanks for the post.

g

[gambler2075]

Not all clutter is physical. I realized that staying online obsessively can also clutter up one's mind.

In my case being a biotech stock trader I have to work hard to keep from spending all of my time doing DD on biotech stocks/checking messageboards/FDA meetings/conference calls/earnings/seekingalpha/sec filings/etc/etc/etc... since I find my swing trading works the best I know that I should stay away for days to weeks at a time, yet it is an addiction I have to work hard to overcome.

I guess I am being somewhat of a hypocrite if I post this after obsessively checking the savingadvice forums all day ...but it is a good post on taking a 'digital sabbatical'

Minimizing Digital Commitments « miss minimalist

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[My English Castle]

DS says:Getting rid of all the extraneous stuff actually helps you better use the stuff you do want and need. It's so true! I'm finding stuff I'd completely forgotten about--all sorts of things like an extra winter jacket I picked up for DD last year at the end of the season, still in its bag waiting for cold weather here. I'd almost started shopping for one, and am so glad this one appeared.

[Aleta]

I was away since Friday, Oct 1, 2010. We left at 5:20 AM and arrived at 7:50 PM Tuesday Oct 5th. I came back with a bug in my system so I have rested until today. My neighbor picked up my mail and newspaper so, when I went through all of the mail and newspapers today - it totaled 8" high. I remembered what DISNEY STEVE said about trying to declutter 1 item a day. It does make a difference.

We stayed at my DIL's family's vacation home and I was so impressed with whatever you needed was there and the house which was massive was not overly done. It had exactly what you needed. I wish now that I would have written down what impressed me to want to change what I do.

I once read that each time that you enter a room that you should pick something up and take it with you or you should straighten something out. It's a little like Disney Steve was saying about seeing something and changing it at the time.

[marvholly]

I cannot stop!!! I cannot stop!!! I had planned to do NOTHING except my mani/pedi today.

Not major but……………….
My town sends water/sewer bills on a post card. This is the ONLY regular bill I still write a real check for since they are not set up for electronic payments and I pass the drop box several times per week. I pulled a return envelope from a cc bill and used that for the stub and check.

Also, put away 2 pkg of light bulbs that have been on my dresser for……………? Under the bulbs were about 15 packets of sugar substitute that I had accumulated from my former job. Put them away.

No New Clutter
I did not do all the mail yesterday so I finished this am.
I washed a towel/rag load and folded it in the laundry room so no fuzz gets on carpet.

[Aleta]

Not all clutter is physical. I realized that staying online obsessively can also clutter up one's mind.

In my case being a biotech stock trader I have to work hard to keep from spending all of my time doing DD on biotech stocks/checking messageboards/FDA meetings/conference calls/earnings/seekingalpha/sec filings/etc/etc/etc... since I find my swing trading works the best I know that I should stay away for days to weeks at a time, yet it is an addiction I have to work hard to overcome.

I guess I am being somewhat of a hypocrite if I post this after obsessively checking the savingadvice forums all day ...but it is a good post on taking a 'digital sabbatical'

Minimizing Digital Commitments « miss minimalist

g

Minimizing Digital Commitments « miss minimalist

What a good blog. Thanks for sharing.

[Aleta]

Well, so far today I have deleted 50 emails. Yes, I have clutter there as well. If I can go through so many everyday, I'll get rid of the most of them. Will be more difficult this weekend because I'm having family stay over tomorrow until Wednesday but I will declutter something each day.

[disneysteve]

I was away all day at a religious retreat but when we got home, I sat down and sorted through a lot of the excess papers from the program (I run the program). I got a whole stack of paper only printed on 1 side that went on our scrap paper pile. We use that for writing notes and for printing draft copies of stuff on the computer. A whole other stack went into the recycling bin. In previous years (this is an annual event), I've just boxed it all up and packed it away even though I knew a lot of it wasn't needed. This year, I'm just saving one copy of everything for future reference and getting rid of all of the rest.

[My English Castle]

More paper today--bills and catalogs and just plain junk.
I want my kitchen counters to stay as clean as they are right now!

We also mailed our ebay sales--so a pair of shoes and two books went out the door!

[marvholly]

English
I was thinking the same thing about my 2 cleared Kitchen counters this am. I am moving my cell charger to one of them but that is MY choice.

A few weeks ago I had to go into the city. I took public transportation. You put your money in a vending machine & get a card to ‘feed’ the entry turnstile. Cards are size & weight of those fake cc we sometimes get w/cc offers. Mine is now serving as my bookmark.

The only thing I am doing today (beside watching the Bears & seeing my Dad) falls under No New Clutter. Since I went to a wedding yesterday I have a bunch of clothing & shoes out that I VERY seldom use. Its all got to get put away. Also, I need to empty the dishwasher I ran but did not unload as I had a fresh manicure.

I have started a list of stuff I want to declutter next week starting with taking some good clothing into a resale shop and moving on to packing up things that are still here (DD1 moved out permanently in 1997, DD2 in 1999). I will take DD1 her things on my next visit but will hold off on DD2’s things as her house is currently on the market and she would KILL me if I brought in a bunch of stuff but that should still clear a cabinet in Bed 3, several boxes and organize some more. Also, I now have spce in Bed 2 to move at least 1 file cabinet up from the lower level.