On disposing of pieces of paper

[nineveh_uk]

While it is true that it is possible to completely sort through, tidy, and remove junk from a house if you simply manage to remove more from it than you bring in, this only works if you do it more than 1 day out of 365.

Also if you actually read the books you've had for 10 years unread and that you have identified as "read the damn thing and move it on".

Also if you accept that you do not need to keep copies of random HPFGU theories for posterity. However amusing the Snape theories were.

Comments

[perennialanna]

I am on my second year of "permanently remove one item a day". It's sort of working. We do have less stuff per person than last time we moved (but we have an entire extra person in the family since then too).

[antisoppist]

One of the things I need to remove is the box of children's clothes I am supposed to be sending you that is still sitting in the hall. This will not help your decluttering problem but it will help mine. Do you still want them, and if so, could you e-mail me your address again? antisoppist@gmail.com

[antisoppist]

I think you need to keep *everything* for posterity but I suffer from having enjoyed the glories of unearthing 1920s dance programmes, the Air Raid Warden helmet, my grandmother's love letters, and 1950s dresses as a child in the house in which nothing has ever been thrown away. And when my mother did throw something away it was the 1950s dresses that we used to do dressing up in and we are all now really cross about her having got rid of them. This is not helping.

But it is good that you are applying yourself to the task at hand. Slowly is better than "empty all boxes out over the floor in fit of zeal and enthusiasm, then hide, daunted, from the ensuing insurmountable chaos"

[nineveh_uk]

Extra people and their paraphenalia do take up an awful lot of space. Even I have a travel cot and packet of nappies in the cupboard.

[nineveh_uk]

Outsourcing your clutter is an excellent way to deal with it. I am currently trying to decide whether to accept and store my parents' dishwasher, or whether this is just daft and I should simply buy one when I get somewhere to put one.

[nineveh_uk]

I do not need to keep a job description printout for a job at Manchester Met that I didn’t apply for in 2008… My argument is that if I can identify that sort of thing and get rid of it, then I free space to keep the stuff I actually want. Likewise if I tidy and file the bank statements, then they take up less room. They can be in files on top of the cupboard or on the kitchen shelves, not using space in drawers. The green tweed skirt should go because it is a nice skirt, but I never wear it, and keeping it against [dressing up as Harriet Vane] is daft because I could use the space for a red one that I would actually wear, and the mad green velvet skirt that I have never worn but is just fun to have. Also, I discovered when clearing stuff in Leeds that I don’t need to make final decisions on everything all at once. Only getting rid of the stuff you absolutely don’t want, and keeping some stuff you probably don’t need to, clears more space than if you insist on making final decisions on everything you look at, but only do a small amount because it takes so long.

I do the boxes in fit of zeal thing, too, but that is not for this week!

[perennialanna]

I do a three pile/box system for major clearing out - keep, chuck, and "I want to think about this for a bit longer". The thinking pile is usually smaller than I expect, because knowing that I don't have to make a final decision makes it easier to actually do so.

[perennialanna]

Have done.

[perennialanna]

We've reached the stage of finally getting rid of baby things, but that means we've acquired an awful lot of toddler things, and now we're moving into childhood things as well, not instead of.

It's about to get worse again because Daughter is getting Lego for her 5th birthday, but Son (2 and a half) is nowhere near ready to part with Duplo yet. It seemed unfair to make her wait until he was ready for Lego, especially as she now goes to bed an hour later than him which is an ideal time to get out the Lego without his 'help'.

[nineveh_uk]

Thanks to being shattered last night I now have an indeterminate amount of time before a van arrives (reckon it can't possibly be before 10am, if 6am is the earliest they woudl sanely have set off) in order to clear the spare room. While I am technically working from home. There will be no sorting whatsoever!

[nineveh_uk]

No-one 'helps' like a toddler...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

This is all very familiar to me... except the HPFGU theories, including Snape or otherwise. On the other hand I do have a thirty-year-old unsuccessful competition entry which I promised the winner (now a successful television writer) I'd scan and put up...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Scan it and then you can get rid of it!

I think that what I need is a broken leg so I can have a few weeks on the sofa going through bits of paper. Or just more self-discipline in the evenings. And at weekends.

Pub one evening next week?

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

The idea that my scanning something will lead to me destroying the original is an optimistic one...

A broken leg wouldn't help me as I need mobility to sort out the paperwork...

As for the pub, yes. I'll be around in the middle of the week certainly.