Comments | traceroo: Year of Better may become Year of Consumption

traceroo

Year of Better may become Year of Consumption

Apr 24, 2006 16:48

Officially, 2005 was the Year of the New Age for me. In practice, it largely turned out to be the Year of Embracing My Inner Geek. New Age/Old Age - In many ways it always feels "new" to be comfortable in your own skin. In this case, it just happened to be my own geeky skin.

I have early predictions that 2006, the so-called Year of Better may turn ( Read more... )

goals, name of the year

Comments 12

gingererer April 24 2006, 20:52:47 UTC

Maybe this should be The Year of Waging War Against Stuff.

Oh, to have this kind of control!! jenny_says April 24 2006, 23:54:40 UTC

We still can't use the 3rd bedroom because of all the bins and boxes. Kermit has more toys than most 10 year olds - a good 6 or 7 bins plus various boxes which fill most of the closet in that room. I have lots of junk too, and it's really got to be thinned out. Like you, I refuse to move this crap again!!

That said, I have a little package that I put together for you - more junk to add to the pile!

There's one rule! traceroo April 25 2006, 14:37:52 UTC

This rule will be particularly easy to follow if we move to Texas rather than locally. But even if it's a local move, I'll stand by this. One thing's for sure, next move - come hell or high water - I am not moving anything that belongs to someone who doesn't live in my house.

I think I'm going to have to approach the crap by the rule of, "How many of this item do I think it's appropriate to own," and cut down to that limit.

T.

swashbucklr April 25 2006, 01:08:19 UTC

I'm running into the same issue. I'm finding books that I haven't even looked at in five years or more, games I haven't touched, movies I could care less about. Considering that I can only take eighty pounds of what I own with me, there's a lot of things that I need to make go away.

Some of it, I'm having a hard time parting with, but there's an amazing amount of Stuff that I own that is going away. I don't care where it goes, but it's going away and I never want to see it again.

If you do come up with that system, let me know!

Clothes traceroo April 25 2006, 14:40:12 UTC

If I were you, I would certainly donate pretty much all my clothes to charity. By the time you come back in 2 years, your size and physique will have changed. Your tastes and style will have changed. Fashion will change. The climate in which you choose to live may change as well. Plus, how well will they survive storage? Ditch em, I say!

Those as to that, for what you do keep, I recommend "Space Bags." They're sold at the Container Store and Bed, Bath & Beyond. They're vacuum sealed bags good for protecting your clothes, costumes, linens, etc. during long-term storage.

T.

Re: Clothes swashbucklr April 26 2006, 03:35:09 UTC

I plan on having three groups of clothing. There will be the clothes that come with me, the backup clothes in storage, and the rest goes to Goodwill.

The backup clothes are going to be put away into a bin or two in order to be brought out when my underwear gives out. That, and for when I visit home again, so I don't have to bring a lot of clothes back with me.

The Space Bags sound like a great idea. I'll check those out.

jatrina April 25 2006, 01:43:17 UTC

I know exactly what you mean! I find that I have a bajillion pretty smelling bath things, and get determined to USE them! And never buy more! OK, so the latter never happens, but I do go through a lathering frenzy of trying to get rid of a million lovely scented soapy goodness.

But books... I just can't get rid of books. Sacred wonderful books. I just get more bookshelves. I do plan to have a huge library someday. I just love the feel of curling up with a book. ;)

Books & Bath traceroo April 25 2006, 14:45:22 UTC

You're not alone in your bookiness. Many people have the same dream of having the big library. Of course if you wanted to cut down, there are still ways to sort: Do you want your library to include paperbacks? Do you want it to include dog-earned POS books in bad condition? Can you look at a book and donate it somewhere if you genuinely don't plan to read it again ( ... )

ItsDeductible2005 incite_insight April 25 2006, 03:31:59 UTC

I'd check out this handy little program.

It helps you organize your charity donations among other things and lists how much the IRS allows per item type. I've become more aggressive with my donations and their cataloging; it's also gotten me off the fence on several items.

Just a thought!

Re: ItsDeductible2005 traceroo April 25 2006, 14:47:36 UTC

Yup, I used it in conjunction with Turbo Tax last year. Good stuff!

I've made only one charity donation this year - and it was a biggun! I made sure to make a big list of what we gave.

Thanks!

Traceroo