Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:58:49 +0000

I'm going to start this thread up again this year. My feng shui and decluttering project is simply ongoing. I work on it, but I never seem to get it done. Doesn't help that a lot of things in my house are broken down. I've also been reading up on clearing stagnant energy.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

oceansong99 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:08:48 +0000

I am not feng shuing my house... though maybe I should. Or maybe it will wait till my next house. Cuz I want to clear stagnant energy by moving far away from this state. It's one big stagnant energy.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

DarkAutumn — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:04:45 +0000

I want to feng shui my dorm room, but... it's a dorm room. There's not much I can do. I told my roommate that it needs more feng shui and she laughed.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:25:59 +0000

Zoo, I'm curious what you're finding out about clearing stagnant energy. I'm thinking I need to do some feng shui mapping and such on my bedroom so I'll have success in all the important areas - especially career. There isn't much clutter in my bedroom so once I get it clean, focusing on chi and such shouldn't be too hard.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Bill Moonroe — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:47:39 +0000

I'll get on board with this... my apartment needs decluttering pretty badly. Feng shui would seem to work well with this, in that your living space is divided into a neat grid. Don't focus on getting the entire thing decluttered... focus on getting one area decluttered and keeping it decluttered, then move on to the next. That's my theory, at any rate.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

DemiReb — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:51:29 +0000

I'm also in the proces of decluttering. I'll be moving to a smaller house in about 1-2 years, and I want to get rid of all the junk and stuff I don't use before that. I might also get into Feng Shui to make my present house more attractive for potential buyers. I've noticed that house stylists employed by real estate agents use it a lot to get the house sold faster. Now let's hope there won't be a euro disaster in the next few years, or I'll lose a lot of money as well as having to wait a long time for a buyer. I also prefer doing one room at a time. Right now I'm about half way through clearing my bedroom closets. I've got an inbuilt closet that runs under the stairs of my neighbours (old Dutch houses have very strange layouts) that's stacked with old computers and other dead electronics. That'll be my next project.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:58:06 +0000

Dutchbando, I'm reading a book now that deals with breaking up and getting rid of old stagnant energy. I plan to do this before I'm done with the decluttering and feng shui, and then afterwards as well. If I get rid of the stuck energy, then maybe my life won't feel so stuck. I kind of have an ADD thing going, so I plan to do the decluttering the same way I did my Nano novel. I'd focus on working for 15-30 minutes, then break off and do something else. I'm going to concentrate on three things for right now: winterizing the house (which is COLD!), cleaning the cat pans and the bathrooms, and breaking up and recycling all the cardboard boxes I have in my home office. I tell myself that they're useful and I should keep them, but they just build up. Time for them to go. Then maybe I can find stuff again.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 01:44:54 +0000

I just spent the afternoon reading up on feng shui. Mine is a little complicated since I rent a room in a house, but as far as I'm concerned if I can use feng shui on my room, it'll go a long way towards getting everything else in check.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

reine_margaux — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:14:40 +0000

I am not feng shui-ing my room, but I am cleaning it from top to bottom, getting rid of the furniture and getting a new bed and dresser. Gone, is my little girl room, now this is going to be the real thing. And I swear to keep it more organised!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Abzdragon — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:33:20 +0000

I am a lover of feng shui and minimalism. This is something I definitely plan to do. I am basically selling most everything I own, moving to South Korea, and then will spend February - March getting my new apartment in feng shui order. I can't wait to start over.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:01:15 +0000

Metaphysical "energy," I buy not. Crystals, plants, coins etc. only affect the psychology of the user, not the actual house. Decluttering, though, I can agree with. That's on my to-do list for late December and January. I need to rid myself of the stuff I don't actually like, want or need any more (which probably accounts for at least 50% of it, possibly as much as 90%). And stop trying to persuade myself that eventually I'll sell it on eBay, use it for a craft project, or give it to my hypothetical future kids. Letting go of books is particularly tough. I adore books, always have, always will. Occasionally I give away a few, but more keep coming in. Maybe those I can just box up and store, except books have this curious ability to take up MORE space in boxes than they do on the shelf... srsly, it's like they multiply when my back is turned. I am planning to leave the country for a year or two when I can rustle up the cash, which gives me a good reason to jettison most of my belongings. Except for a *small* handful of heirlooms, artwork and housewares, most of the things I won't be using for a couple of years = things I will never use again. Point to remember when you're getting rid of things: absolute values only exist in mathematics. In real life, there is only what a thing is worth to YOU. If you don't want it, it doesn't matter how rare it is or what it sells for -- it's a waste of your space and should be discarded or passed on to someone else.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:18:32 +0000

You'd have no interest in feng shui then. The idea of metaphysical energy is part and parcel of my spiritual beliefs, so I don't plan to neglect that aspect. I don't plan to jettison belongings, least of all books. I love books. But the clutter is kind of like energetic noise. It's distracting. And according to feng shui, it messes up the flow of chi.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

shinysparkly — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 08:24:27 +0000

I'm starting my own personal organizing business this year & I need practice clients so if anyone wants - free - help decluttering just NaNo mail me. :)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragonchilde — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:59:13 +0000

I have an idea. This is something I got from a decluttering website that helped me a great deal in the past (though I've fallen off the wagon.) It's call Working in Threes. The idea is that you do three things... and take a break. You work in threes... make a list of the three things you will accomplish today (and for some people these things may be very small... like putting on your shoes in the morning.) For example, right now, I'm going to post three things: 1) Clean off the coffee table 2) Take the trash out to the curb for pickup tomorrow 3) Make my daughter's lunch for school tomorrow. I reward myself with something small, maybe some gaming time, or a bit of chocolate. Then I do it again. :0

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Kaleidoscope27 — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:34:46 +0000

I don't know about feng shui, especially with my 7' by 7' bedroom. But I definitely could do with decluttering. Especially as I'm trying to get a job in London and whatever place I rent in London will NOT have space for all my crap. I have a box under my bed with things which I haven't looked at in two years but were presents from friends two years (or more) ago and my brain keeps going "but what if they ask what you did with them?" Please. They won't even remember I own them. Hmm... I like this plan. I could do with a good de-stress and clear-out before Christmas.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:26:10 +0000

I did some decluttering today. I broke down some boxes and put some things in the recycling bins. One bin is completely full. The other is working on it. It's funny, and a little embarrassing, what you find when you declutter. I was folding up some paper grocery bags for recycling, and I found a cannister of organic oatmeal I'd bought a month ago. Unopened. Still usable. I put it in the cupboard with the other oatmeal.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:28:47 +0000

I think I'll try the working in threes idea. That sounds like it could work on a lot of levels. My roommate just helped me rearrange my room. It took all of five minutes to switch two pieces of furniture. I'm still working on putting everything away but it completely changed the feel of my room; mostly in a good way. One aspect I'm not too keen on yet, my bed seems to stick out way too far in the middle of the room, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I won't finish all the decluttering tonight but it at least makes my room feel larger and completely different. I'm excited to see what it'll feel like when its all done.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:24:40 +0000

I did an energy clearing tonight with some incense. I think it had an effect. The energy feels lighter, brighter. I don't exactly work with threes, but I do something similar. I'll do a task or two, then I'll stop and do something else (like roam around here on the forums). Then I go do another task or two.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hype — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:15:35 +0000

I love this idea! Trying it tonight!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:34:53 +0000

I got my tingsha yesterday. Tingsha are small brass cymbols used for feng shui and energy clearing. They make a nice sound when tapped together.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

TribalCat — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:24:27 +0000

This year I'm in the process of de-cluttering my room and my life, but it goes in spurts. I guess I can say that I took November off because I was writing, but now I have no excuses, although there's still a lot to be done on the novel :) I'm feeing the need for more space and less mess around me, and once the physical clutter is gone, I'll be better able to concentrate on writing and bringing my spiritual practice back to the forefront where it belongs. A feng shui makeover will probably help a lot, and at the very least, I'll be cleansing with sage.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Bill Moonroe — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:19:50 +0000

Is anyone else tempted to declutter with a flamethrower?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:37:33 +0000

No! I've been in housefires before, and I'm afraid of fire. Although sometimes I think the idea of rerouting the river Styx (as Hercules did to clean out the Augean stables) might be a good idea.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:13:40 +0000

You don't need a flamethrower, just some boxes or bags. Decluttering sessions gather momentum. I was looking for something last week (still haven't found it, and I think I actually gave it to someone a couple of years ago). I started going through drawers. We have a lot of drawers here, and I found things in each one that I could dispose of. Pretty soon I wanted to go through drawers I knew my missing item wouldn't be in, just to find more things to toss out. I managed to fill a big box for charity and get it there, too. My action sparked my husband to go through some items of his and earmark a few for charity. That in turn makes me eager to visit my clothes closet and see if I can part with any of my little-used clothing, so I have a batch big enough to justify the next trip to Goodwill or wherever. Around here, decluttering snowballs. I have friends with attention difficulties for whom this effect does not happen as easily, but it does happen. For them it tends to be more random. They're doing something, and espy an item, and on the spur of the moment decide they don't need it anymore. In my experience the most important element of a declutter is to have containers to put the items into immediately, so decisions don't get unmade or remade and the items don't keep getting handled as you try to remember what decision you made twenty minutes ago, or an hour ago, or yesterday. Then get the containers out of the house as quickly as possible. If you have a car, put them in the trunk even if they don't fill a bag or box yet, and add more items until they do.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:55:54 +0000

In my fit of caulking, I found a box full of skirts and things that I was going to freecycle, that I'd forgotten about. I can do that any time now, I guess. I also designated a specific bag to put books into that I plan to donate to the library. I do tend to go in fits. If I have utility knife in hand and I've broken down a couple of cardboard boxes, then I tend to go looking for other cardboard boxes that I can break down. Part of my problem is that I don't even have enough containers for the items I intend to keep. So they go out, or down, or, as you say, get put somewhere, and then some time later I find them and can't remember what it was I was going to do with them. I need bookcases, drawers, dressers, desks, all the things that most people have and take for granted.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:42:02 +0000

Caulking and weather stripping is done, but I don't see that it's done much in terms of keeping the house warm. I'm still decluttering. I'm working on the home office, and I've cleared some things off the floor.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:25:38 +0000

Yes. Tempted to use a flamethrower all right. (ooh pretty fire...) But the house isn't mine, so burning it down would be a really bad idea. :/ Maybe I'll take the unwanted papers down to the park and burn those. That would be more fun than feeding them to the shredder. But I still have to gather them all up and sort them first.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 05:41:47 +0000

If a paper's blank on the back, I use it once more before I recycle it. I admit I do sometimes start fires with paper, but I restrict it to my fireplace. ;-) I recycled two full bins this time around. I had some other things to go in, but they'll have to wait until next time.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:29:46 +0000

I did my yearly wardrobe-decluttering. Ended up with one shopping bag with stuff to throw away, and two bags to donate. No point in hanging onto those old gardening shorts when I might not have a garden for years, and now prefer skirts anyway (hey, I can climb trees in them, I can certainly garden in them!) And I finally made myself get rid of my collection of scarves. Many of them were embarrassingly ragged and faded, but I kept them because I'm hopelessly nostalgic, and my dad bought them for us to play dress-up with... I allowed myself to keep two, but in return, I had to toss my Hogwarts banner (painted on a silk scarf). It's OK, though, I got to keep the house banners, and they look better anyway.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:40:11 +0000

I found the creche my mom bought us as children, little thin cardboard pieces that stand up to create a diorama. The pieces brought back some memories, but the Christ child was extremely battered, and taped with yellowed cellophane tape, which meant we couldn't pass the creche on to anyone. What's a creche without the baby? Before I put it in the paper recycling, next time I'm over at that house I will take some photos. I've done the same with clothing I've earmarked for donation, and greeting cards that are pretty but don't contain any significant message, and more. The digital archive is fairly random, but it does mediate between the pain of tossing out an old family or personal piece, and the truth that it's time for that item to move along. I did this for a family friend, too, who was having a hard time parting with her dead mother's scarf collection. The scarves were then given to children to play with. That made everybody happy.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Screnwriter — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:54:43 +0000

Tempted, yes, but I think I'd lose my apartment deposit if I did. :-)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:39:17 +0000

Lily, I do the taking-photos thing, too - helps me a lot. Bits and pieces... the daycare where my mother works has a little "library" for the parents, so I donated a bag full of books. Doesn't make much difference, shelf-space-wise, but it's a start. They don't have a big bookshelf, though, so I don't think I'll be able to give them more. I threw away a book, too. Never done that before. It was an extremely stupid one, though. Nothing I'd ever give to someone else. I'll have to pick out one of the good books to give my best friend for Christmas - I'm just not willing to go into another store until the holidays are over! Today, I bought a new antenna for my old radio, so I can give it to my mother (hopefully the last bit of holiday shopping! Although that store wasn't too crowded) - she mentioned she wanted to buy a new radio, just when I was thinking of giving away one of the two I own!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:49:24 +0000

Oh, and I've taken away both bags of clothes-to-be-donated - my bike basket was very full when I left today. Those donation bins made me a little grumpy, though, because they're so high that I can hardly reach.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:05:55 +0000

I just had a thought. (Bing!) I've been wanting an apron for when I start baking, and I have a wrap around denim skirt that I was going to give away. A bit of repurposing, cutting, and sewing, and I could have a "free" apron. I've been wandering around in this disorganized brain fog, and I really haven't sat down and actually gotten things done. That's got to stop.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Generalist — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:15:17 +0000

That would damage the books and specialty magazines! Having some sort of portable door to the world's largest book case might be nice though. Open the door, find the best place for the book or magazine and file it.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Generalist — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:52:27 +0000

I tend to be somewhat skeptical when it comes to metaphysics and things like Feng Shui. At the same time, I like reading about them and finding things that appeal to me. If they resonate, I'll look further into them. Things like stagnant energy resonate. I can definitely see where such an entity can exist, psychologically, especially when it applies to clutter. If there are too many reminders of negative things, it can be a downer which can keep you from progressing on more current projects.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:31:08 +0000

Perhaps having a TARDIS-like bookshelf would help us. It can look like a normal bookcase, but you open it and its massively bigger on the inside ;)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:09:15 +0000

I did some New Years feng shui'ing. I took the three boxes that had been cluttering up my room (but I hadn't looked at) down to the basement. Yes, I know I should have gone through them before putting them in storage, but it feels so much better to get them out of my bedroom. My room looks so much cleaner and spacious with those boxes out of it. So now I'm working on cleaning my room so its nice and clean for the new year. New year, new energy, new me? I hope so!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:48:18 +0000

A clean sweep to usher out the old year sounds like a good idea.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:00:14 +0000

As you so aptly named it Zoo, I did a true clean sweep: Cleaned my entire room, cleaned most of the house, did all my laundry and put it all away, did the dishes and then took a nice long shower to scrub away 2011. I'm going to usher in the New Year in nice freshly laundered sheets and pajamas. Ah, bliss... Its the little things in life ;)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:14:37 +0000

I must say, its only been about two days, but so far I love having a decluttered bedroom. When everything has been put away and is spic and span its much more motivating to put things away immediately after I use them lest it get messy again. I hope I can keep it up. So far so good. I've been following the 'Becoming Minimalist' blog for awhile now. While I can't implement a lot of their ideas, their most recent post should give a lot of us food for thought: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/ The post is labelled 'Don't just declutter, de-own.'

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:29:54 +0000

I cleaned my oven and stovetop yesterday, and now I don't want to get crumbs on it, so I know what you mean. According to what I've read about feng shui, cleaning your oven is supposed to help attract abundance. Today I checked my e-mail and found out that I sold a book on Amazon and I got a $10 gift certificate e-mail to one of my fave restaurants. That's not much, but it's something.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

vmorr — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:24:57 +0000

After reading "The Happiness Project", i decided to make January my month to completely clean, unclutter and decorate my room. I have decluttered half of my room and got rid of/given to charity/sold a load of stuff! I have much more space and my room is sooo much less stressful already! I'm tackling the wardrobes tomorrow...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:19:43 +0000

I spent the day cleaning and decluttering, but it doesn't seem like I got a lot done. I can see where the piles of clutter are shorter and there's more floor and counter space, but it still just seems like bailing back the tide. At least my oven is nice and clean now. And I have a bag of books started to donate to the library at some point.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:33:26 +0000

Is it just that I'm more aware of feng shui and decluttering, or are there articles about it popping up everywhere? I've filled another recycle bin and a charity bag. And I have some clear spots in my bedroom that weren't there before. Still don't have the kitchen cleaned and rearranged yet. I dedicated the last five days to decluttering and cleaning, and I really thought that I'd get more done than I did. How is everyone else doing?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:18:33 +0000

I'm focusing on maintaining the cleanliness of my room. Its been more than a week and I've been diligent about keeping it tidy. There is no clutter anywhere! =)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:42:55 +0000

Moved forward a little bit today. I filled another charity bag, and I might have enough to fill a third. I also emptied out a box in the garage. One pair of totally ragged cotton shorts got tossed into the compost bin. I have some old clothes to try on. If they don't fit or I decide I don't want them even if they do, then I guess they go into a charity bag as well. One is a pretty gypsy like skirt with bells -- but I just don't wear skirts anymore.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:16:34 +0000

While I wasn't sleeping last night because I was thinking about bankruptcy law, I did more cleaning of the papers on my desk. One can actually see the wood in some spots now. I'll be done once I figure out what to do with romance writing notes from various conference seminars. It seems so useful to take these notes, but they tend to languish once I am home. The conferences insist that presenters have handouts, but then the handouts become clutter in my home. It also dawned on me that I do not need to keep my old Blockbuster card, or various other ancient artifacts. I won't be renting videotapes anytime in the foreseeable future. Heave ho. Yesterday I was inundated with retail catalogs. Suddenly, offers for the most god-awful junk and a vast array of plus-size clothing are arriving en masse. Heave ho again.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:20:11 +0000

Exported half a trunkload of stuff (maybe 4 bags) to the thrift shop, including my outgrown karate uniform and most of my belts. I should've given those away the week before Halloween, but oh well, at least now it's gone and some child may get use out of them. Went out of town, but plan to do some more cleaning when I get back. But first, unfortunately, I have to complete a major assignment that's been haunting me for a month. The big clean is gonna have to wait until that's done, and the assignment is really tough to face. What really needs to be done clutter-wise is massive pare-down of my belongings (especially clothes) and buying new clothes that fit and that I can stand to wear. Trouble is, I hate buying clothes, and either I get them wrong, or they go out of style (or rip and get damaged) so damn fast, it hardly even seems worth it. Or else I get another job and need different clothes. Bah. :/

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:34:05 +0000

Last summer I bought a bunch of business casual work clothes for the short-term assignment I was working. It ended early, and I haven't gotten another one, so I have these nice clothes sitting in my closet doing nothing. At least they're not trendy. They're pretty basic, so it's not like they'll go out of style soon. I've made improvements in several rooms, but no one single room is cleared out and tidied. Don't know if that style of decluttering is a good thing or not. Today has been so cold that I really didn't want to do anything more than hunker in front of the heater and read. Btw, Lily, I bought a book on opera. You may have made a convert here. :-)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:10:09 +0000

Even I haven't read a book on opera. I've been given a couple of reference works, but mostly what I have learned about opera has come from attending, listening or watching via various media, and from reading opera fan blogs. I love opera because it is exactly as cheesy and passionate as romances, plus there's music, which I find thrilling, plus there are period costumes, fancy sets, and more. So far I've written one of a series of four projected novels about opera singers. Maybe my next NaNo will be Book #2. You raise an interesting question. Does an entire room have to be "finished" for a declutterer to feel a sense of mission accomplished? Or even a sense of relief? Or must it be the entire home? Because, really, who has an entirely decluttered home? No one.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:48:46 +0000

I've wondered that myself, whether obvious improvement in a still cluttered room counts, or whether whole swathes need to be done before anything starts to happen. I can't see myself having a totally clutter free room, and I think everyone has clutter or junk in a drawer, a closet, or a garage. I'm a clutterbug by nature, and if I get my house functional where I can get around and find what I need, that will please me. There'll always be some flotsam and jetsam around, I think. The charity bags are scheduled to be picked up next Tuesday.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

aliaswriter — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:20:27 +0000

I personally don't believe in the mystical powers of feng shui, but I do think that all that clutter can affect how you approach life (anxious vs calm, etc). I'm trying to get my home straightened up too. I moved here almost 3 years ago, and I still haven't fully unpacked yet. Yikes. I've been much better about it this year, actually doing a big each day. Yesterday I cleaned my kitchen. Today I'm going to tackle the refrigerator. I'm generally pretty good about cleaning it out on a weekly basis, but I just recently came back from being out of town, and...it's scary in there. Btw, whenever I need some REAL motivation, I watch some Hoarders shows. OMG, makes you want to get rid of everything!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

aliaswriter — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:22:27 +0000

real, as in heavy-duty

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:20:32 +0000

Hoarding shows are a dire warning, and I watch them often. I keep trying to understand how hoarders think, since I have a hoarder in my family and a good friend who is one and whose mother apparently was, too. Also, an in-law died in a hoarder's nest. The police could not find his bed in all the mess, and could not determine where he slept.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:23:31 +0000

Hoarding shows make me want to sanitize everything.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:25:47 +0000

When I moved into my apartment, I found a mouldy sausage in the back of the fridge. *gag* Since then, my subconscious puts "cleaning the fridge" at the same disgustingness-rating as "cleaning the toilet".

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:51:11 +0000

I haven't watched Hoarders in a while, not since I watched a show about a cat hoarder where they found 90 cats in her house, 40 of them were dead, including a couple batches of kittens, and a couple where only skeletons were left. I have half a dozen cats in a cluttered house, but my cats are all healthy and happy, with fresh litter (usually), fresh water, and free-feed kibble bowls. It really disturbs me when animals are suffering. In the philosophy of feng shui, clutter impedes the flow of chi, of energy, and it gets stagnant and stuck, and new opportunities can't find their way in. Well, that does describe my life right now! But so far my decluttering hasn't made any noticeable difference in my life, except that I've found some things that I thought were lost.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:37:48 +0000

Don't give up Zoo! Keep plugging away with the decluttering and it will make a difference. I know that in my case just removing the couple of boxes, rearranging my furniture according to feng shui and making a conscious effort to keep it tidy has made a tremendous difference in my peace of mind. I've been a lot calmer since I did those things even though outwardly nothing much in my life has changed.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

aliaswriter — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:42:56 +0000

I think I know the episode you're talking about. It was so sad. I personally have a soft spot for cats, even though I don't have any living with me at the moment. One thing I can't stand about those shows is that it paints hoarders as unsanitary. Hoarders are people that can't part with stuff, either for sentimental value, or they think they can reuse something. Those shows make hoarders synonymous with being filthy. Being a hoarder doesn't automatically mean you live in filth. It's being severely depressed that are making them not bother with basic cleanliness. Being a hoarder doesn't mean you're going to go to the bathroom on the floor, not clean up after your pets, or knowingly let dead bodies decompose in your living room, and those shows make people think that.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:08:39 +0000

True, Aliaswriter. Some hoarders are obsessive neat freaks. Everything is clean and orderly. It's just that they keep everything. Newspapers going back forty years. Every nik-nak they've ever been given. In Hoarders, these people are portrayed as disgusting, sick individuals. Some of them are, certainly, but that's not the whole picture of cluttering or hoarding. That's why, like I've said before, I prefer shows like Clean Sweep. There, the people are portrayed as decent, reasonable people who have just let things get out of control, and the cast and crew are there to help them get a handle on things. And they build things for them. Like if a woman has way too many shoes, they'll convince her to get rid of 10-15 pairs and then build something where she can store the rest and be able to get to them easily. I tackled my office again today. I'm nowhere near done, but I've probably got half the clutter off the floor and into waste bins or recycle bins. There are some things I'm keeping, but that's only a small fraction of what I've gotten rid of. The cats are no help. I'll start a keep pile that's fairly tidy, and the next morning the cats have "rearranged" it all over the floor.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:59:21 +0000

The earliest programs on TV about hoarding showed people who led normal lives but had a secret, like a neat apartment yet a storage room in the building basement filled with twenty years of newspapers all nicely stacked and tied with string. Those were the first hint that some extreme conditions could be found. Then Clean Sweep and Clean House tackled people who let their possessions accumulate too much, but with the positive concept that everything could be brought under control. The Hoarders show does seem to concentrate on people who are living in filth, who have lost the ability to act, and who are so out there mentally that they have no will to change their situations. Not always, but often enough that one ends up thinking these people are crazy and hopeless and disgusting. The problem is, where is the line between the ones who still can recover and the ones who can't? If we don't fight even the beginnings of the syndrome, doesn't everyone, given enough time and the unchecked will to accumulate, and lacking the will to let go and declutter, end up like the people on Hoarders? This question nags at me and is the reason I keep watching. When does my close relative or my close friend who has neat stacks of papers cross over to the situation of my in-law who died in a gerbil cage of papers severely eaten by mice? Can the crossover be prevented? How? This particular TV show does not provide a lot of answers, but it sometimes does hold clues.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragonchilde — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:43:14 +0000

[quote=Hopeful lily] The problem is, where is the line between the ones who still can recover and the ones who can't? If we don't fight even the beginnings of the syndrome, doesn't everyone, given enough time and the unchecked will to accumulate, and lacking the will to let go and declutter, end up like the people on Hoarders? This question nags at me and is the reason I keep watching. When does my close relative or my close friend who has neat stacks of papers cross over to the situation of my in-law who died in a gerbil cage of papers severely eaten by mice? Can the crossover be prevented? How? This particular TV show does not provide a lot of answers, but it sometimes does hold clues. [/quote] There's no cut and dry answer. Hoarding is a mental illness; it's like depression (and often goes hand in hand with depression.) When do you cross the line from "sad" into "clinically depressed"? I don't think there's a point of no return... not for anyone. It's also not something that just anyone can get involved in. I'm a squaloree (I live in squalor) but I am NOT a hoarder, although at first glance it might seem so. I have no attachment to these things... in fact, when I get to digging, I'm downright BRUTAL with what to keep and what not to keep. When I cleaned my kitchen on new year's eve, I threw away two perfectly serviceable but worn frying pans because I had four, and no room for them. There was no reason not to keep them, other than that... they were safe, usable. But I didn't NEED them, and I knew if I stuck them in a box to "donate" they'd sit for another year. So into the trash they went, and I don't regret it for a second. My problem is motivation, and being overwhelmed. It resulted originally from my post partum depression, and got so bad that I just couldn't do it on my own. Having a husband who doesn't help exacerbates things... because it's not my mess, solely, but I'm the only one who will clean it. You can't prevent this sort of thing; it's a mental illness, and triggers usually come from other things. It's a symptom... not a disease. People who hoard on the level you see on that show usually suffer from a whole host of mental and medical problems. That's one reason I hate it so much. You wouldn't make a show about people who are depressed that mocks their lives and profits from their misery. You wouldn't mock make a show mocking people with mental handicaps. It's not okay for hoarders, either. As for recovery? The ones who recover are the ones who are willing to get help. No more, no less. Until they are willing to try, to accept help, and get the treatment they need... they won't recover.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Tedds — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:53:36 +0000

I think I might be following you in decluttering. About a month ago I moved out for college, I now live in a small apartment and the amount of room I have to put stuff in is considerably smaller than I had at my parent's place. I already put my wardrobe in the hallway and started occupy living-room closet. My roommate doesn't have much stuff and is fine with it, but I'm not. Yesterday I re-did the kitchen counters and organized them into four shelves: open (bread, nutella, packets of cookies, tea bags, raisins, anything that's opened), closed (the things that get into open, but are still closed), canned and pasta (soup, pineapple, spaghetti, noodles, etc), big stuff (cereal, lemonade syrup, sunflower oil, etc). Much more logical than having all shelves consist of crap. Before I left the house, I already threw away some clothing, but I'm sure I can do better. My wardrobe is literally piling out! My goal for this week is to get a bucket, fill it with old clothes and bring it to a secondhand store.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Tedds — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:26:42 +0000

I'm not sure if a double post is allowed here, but I'd like to show my results of the clothing declutter. The bucket of clothes to give away is filled with: 3 tops 3 T-shirts a pair of trousers a skirt a morning gown a pair of winter shoes (I now have two pair of winter shoes, should be enough) a pair of underwear (will throw this away) Not that much, but please remember I did left a lot of the clothes I never wear at my parents.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:45:25 +0000

Double post all you want. It's a free Internet--so far. Seriously, any progress is to be congratulated. I've just found a place where I can recycle old jeans and sneakers, which makes me happy because I hate throwing them out if someone else can get some use out of them. I also have to consider the amount of gasoline I'd have to spend to get them to a recycle center, so mailing things across country is out; too expensive.. To reply to comments about mental illness, I know people who don't believe mental illness actually exists. I do, but I've had enough personal experience with the mental health world to know there is a wide spectrum of behavior that can be labeled mental illness. The label is not a free ticket to ignore problems, and even sincere, experienced professionals can be wrong about the cause of a person's mental state and the proper treatment of it. Anyway, it does no good to label a person with an illness who will not seek medical help. Something else is needed. I don't intend to sit around and watch my friends and loved ones decline into utter misery.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:43:04 +0000

I just spotted another place to recycle shoes and clothing. It's a drop box in the Walgreen's parking lot about three blocks away. Of course, I get postcards from a couple of places that will pick up at my door, but it's something to keep in mind. The home office is looking much better. Most of the floor is clear, and most of what I'm keeping fits into a plastic Target bag. It's still cluttered. There's still a lot to do. And I have to also tackle my desk and the filing cabinets. But at some point it might get to the point of looking like a grownup lives here. And I sold another used book on Amazon, so that's another thing out the door.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:32:10 +0000

My room was looking kinda shabby since I had fallen behind on picking up after myself this week. No more. I'm doing a marathon of laundry today. I need to dust but other than that my room is still clean. I can't remember the last time my room has stayed this clean and uncluttered for this long.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragonchilde — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:52:24 +0000

[quote=Hopeful lily] To reply to comments about mental illness, I know people who don't believe mental illness actually exists. I do, but I've had enough personal experience with the mental health world to know there is a wide spectrum of behavior that can be labeled mental illness. The label is not a free ticket to ignore problems, and even sincere, experienced professionals can be wrong about the cause of a person's mental state and the proper treatment of it. Anyway, it does no good to label a person with an illness who will not seek medical help. Something else is needed. I don't intend to sit around and watch my friends and loved ones decline into utter misery. [/quote] The problem is... with hoarding, especially, trying to help forcefully can hurt. Granted, you can't in good conscience leave someone in a dangerously unhealthy situation, but "surprise cleaning" and such can actually make matters worse. There is a real attachment to these things, and removing them against their will can traumatize them further into holding on to the next things even tighter. They need help, but you can't force it on them. Labels do nothing but explain what's going on; until the person is willing to help themselves, there's not much you can do, though.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:30:09 +0000

Labeling can be a form of infantilization: "You are sick, so you have no power over this." That's what I'm getting at. In my opinion, it may not help a person to be told "You are sick," because what people usually need is encouragement that they are powerful enough to solve their own problems. This does not mean they have to just suck up their emotions or go without medicine or therapy or whatever assistance is available. What it means is they need to be held responsible for their actions so that they can get better. If I am not responsible, I am not in control. If I am responsible, I am in control and I can do whatever I need to do to improve my situation. Either with help, or by myself. Ideally, the hoarder should face the problem and take action out of free will, not be forced into it. Yet some behavior is so dangerous that intervention is necessary. We can't let people abuse their children, for instance, or create fire hazards that can kill them and their neighbors. Call them sick or call them vicious criminals, these hoarders still must be stopped. Most of the people we see on these shows have not sought effective help and not faced their issues until some outside authority forces them to, and even then, they act as if laws somehow are for other people, not them. But people don't start out with a house fill of junk. They build up the trove. If they can be made more aware of their actions while on the road to hoarding, perhaps they won't reach the acute "overwhelmed" stage. That's the kind of intervention that I still seek clues to, because it is so obvious that many kinds of intervention fail, and many words fall on deaf ears. Or perhaps it is hopeless and I have to accept that one day there won't be a way to open my friend's apartment door because of all the hoard she has behind it. But is hoarding an invariably terminal disease? Or is there a moment before it all gets completely overwhelming when the would-be hoarder can be helped? I want to believe there is.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:32:01 +0000

The cats did it again. They rearranged things while I slept, and I woke up to a mess on the bedroom floor and three cats curled up on it. Two steps forward, one step back. My office is looking positively weird, though. There's still some clutter, some work to be done, but the floor is almost completely cleaned off. Usually it doesn't look this good unless I'm packing up to move. As for hoarding, the hoarder won't change until something triggers a desire to change. Some of them ARE sick. They may have clinical depression, for example, and not have the mental energy to care. If they're treated, that might change their outlook and give them more energy to do something about their surroundings. I haven't really gotten many of my January goals done. I'm still hoping to find some notes I had for Nanos 2005 and 2008. I assumed they were in one of these piles, but I haven't found them yet.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:04:01 +0000

I spent half a day in a bookstore yesterday (long story short: bad weather knocked out our electricity at home three days ago) and randomly eyeballed a book about Feng Shui out of boredom. Renewed my resolution to clean, and noticed a blurb in the book that says (paraphrasing here): "often when you clean clutter, other people you are close to will get the vibe even if you say nothing." That amused me. I wondered if I could magically get my grandfather to move (which he needs to do, but he won't) by cleaning my place. Been filling a trash bag with bits from my room, but it's pretty slow going. Today was mostly spent hiding in bed because I was sick, but also helped clean the spoiled food from fridge and freezer (thanks to the days of no electricity). Tomorrow, back to work. Which is good because I need money really really badly, but personal projects must wait some more...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:16:03 +0000

It's odd the things you find when you declutter. I went through a pile in my bedroom. I found an envelope of postage that I thought I'd lost, and I found an unopened bag of chocolate chips. They hadn't been in there forever, only maybe a month, so they were still good. I can see the improvement, but apparently the prosperity chi still hasn't noticed. :-) I have to clean my fridge and chuck some old produce onto the compost pile. I had wondered if the dusty, depressing vibes of a cluttered house kind of cling to the inhabitants and if it affects other people in some way, in the way they view you, even if it's subtle. It kind of makes sense, I guess.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:18:32 +0000

I doubt the state of one's home clings. I've known quite a few people who lived in chaos but presented themselves clean, tidy, and suitably garbed. You'd never have known their apartments or houses looked like a bomb went off inside. People can be amazingly tolerant. If they like you, you can live in a filthy house and it won't bother them when they visit. They'll even use your dirty bathroom without protest. (I mean dirty, not just a little messy or not super sparkling.) I personally draw the line at visiting a home with animal filth, because it's impossible to sit and have a quiet conversation with a friend and at the same time fight off roaches. Did that once, and it was unnerving. And who wants to step in poop? There is no good feng shui to animal filth. Well, that's why you meet certain friends at restaurants. Being depressed does show, often in posture, in lassitude, and in negative comments. But you would have never known my in-law hoarder was either depressed or a hoarder from his way of talking or from how he dressed or acted. Lots of people are good actors, and others are just so happy to be out and having fun that they shake off their negativity during socializing. I do think that happiness and enthusiasm can rub off in a general way, but not specifically. I doubt your decluttering positive vibes can infect someone not in your household unless you are burbling so happily and incessantly that whoever you tell thinks this is for them. More likely, they'd have to see the progress, see the items going out, to stand a serious chance of catching the enthusiasm. Possibly, if you were having a yard sale and solicited a relative for items to put in it, the urge to declutter might spread. Elderly people are notorious for not wanting change of any kind, so getting a grandfather to move would take some serious strategy. Backup efforts, too. What I value and what you value of my possessions are two different things, of course. I might be keeping a broken old flashlight (I did) because my parents gave it to me and it was a memento of a special time.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:24:23 +0000

PS I did finally get rid of the flashlight after trying to get it working to no avail several times over several years. It took a year from the moment I decided to get rid of it till I actually did. That's how much that stupid broken flashlight meant. So I get that possessions can be very dear to us, even when they are of no practical use, not even as a paperweight.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:28:02 +0000

I'm not at all sure that if people like you, they'll tolerate your messy house. My parents have never wanted to visit any place I lived; they're happy to take me out to dinner, but they never want to hang out at my residence. Ever. Of course, that might just be because even when my places are neat, they're still dumps. That's what happens when you have no money and you rent someplace crappy and cheap. There's only so much you can do to make a dive rental look nice.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:44:34 +0000

Parents don't count. They have complicated reasons for not visiting your residence. It's a lot easier not to be interfering if they don't have to see the way you live. I used to live in dumps. They were in decent neighborhoods, but still dumps. I never lived in a place that had a kitchen actually built originally to be a kitchen until I moved out of New York. First time I ever had clean counters was when I finally had counters. It's very difficult to be neat when you're basically camping out. Its impossible to make walls painted twenty times look good. In college towns the hand-me-down student apartment furniture is all painted vivid colors, but it's still junk. Same principle.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:53:46 +0000

Been doing a lot of reading on minimalist and decluttering blogs. Okay, so it's procrastination of a sort, but at least it gets me in the right frame of mind. Looking around, I now see that an awful lot of the stuff in my parents' house is unused clutter. I'm wondering how much I can encourage them to get rid of, but I do need to deal with my own stuff as well. They certainly aren't ever going to become minimalists, nor should I expect them to, but they would be quite happy to lose some of the junk, especially if it's me doing the cleaning. Went through two cabinets that contain the bakeware, and boxed up a bunch of rusty old pieces we never use for donation (pending Mom's approval when she returns). Also wiped out a great amount of dust and sticky burned bits. It is SO much easier to get out the cookie sheets without risking an avalanche now. Also collected some mugs to give away and put a lot of empty glass jars in the recycle bin. (She may insist on rescuing a few, but I'm sure she will not want to keep all 20 of them...) Accidentally chipped a Chinese porcelain cup which was living on a top shelf, but I doubt anyone will even notice the damage since that cup probably hasn't seen the light of day in 10 years. I don't even recognize it, which means it probably came into the household a LONG time ago. I'm keeping an eye out for cookware I might want to take for myself when I move out, but everything in the donate box is stuff I don't need/want. I will probably buy my own cookware or mooch some of Mom's better-quality items when the time comes; she has a lot of duplicates. Also trying to revamp my diet, but a terrible terrible craving for junk food has been nagging at me for weeks. It just won't leave me alone, no matter what I eat. I think it's stress and unhappiness seeking an outlet, because when I feel good, I actually prefer healthy food.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:09:50 +0000

Lots of bakeware and cookware is purchased for just one recipe. We've had crumpet rings for forever, and only made crumpets a handful of times. It turns out crumpets are English muffins. Superior ones, it is true, but if you have something better to do with your time, you buy them from Thomases. I think any place can feel better if it isn't stuffed with too many possessions. Anyplace but a dump, that is. Then the art of disguise is important. Who wants to see a bare wall when it's cracking and uneven? Strong design elements and strong colors really help in that situation. Also, bad vision.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:01:13 +0000

Two more bins have been recycled. I've spent the last couple of days clearing and decluttering. I took one broken lamp down into the garage and shoved another one into a corner. And I cleaned off my desk some more. The office is looking decidedly better. I figured out from a feng shui book I'm currently reading how to place the bagua on the upper and lower levels of the house. Unfortunately, that means that the fireplace downstairs and its chimney upstairs are smack in the middle of the wealth/prosperity section. Well, that could explain a lot! There are still come things that are inexplicably lost. I was hoping that I'd find them, but no so far. One lost item are the notes that I have for two of my series Nanos. I really can't finish them until I find and incorporate these notes. I also can't find my mallet and wedge that I bought to split firewood with. I'm sure I didn't throw the notes away. I don't toss things wholesale. I actually look at each piece of paper to decide whether I should keep it or not. Manuscript pages with handwriting on them would definitely get my attention. I'm at a loss as to how a huge mallet would disappear into the house. And I don't care if my books are considered clutter or not. I like them, and I'm simply not getting rid of them.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:15:12 +0000

Zoo, isn't there a way in feng shui to compensate for just such a situation? I think one of the books I read said as much. I can't remember the rules off the top of my head, but the book I read suggested there are ways to enhance those sectors in other ways. So you might target the wealth and prosperity corners in other sections of the house to make up for the fireplace placement. Also, kudos on the continued decluttering! Sounds like you are making excellent progress! Keep it up! =)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:54:52 +0000

I'm just going through my childhood collection of Donald Duck/Mickey Mouse comic magazines to decide which ones to keep and which ones to give away when the opportunity arises (basically, everything from 2000 onwards, unless it contains a Carl Barks or Don Rosa story), and I keep coming across stories that have to do with hoarding and/or decluttering. Is that some sort of hint? I've finally started to empty one of my last moving boxes, the one with old handwritten stories and notes. That's a lot of paper-sorting! I'm keeping the handwritten stories, and I found a print-out of two stories that I don't have on the computer any more - I wrote it on my first, old and crappy computer. My only way of transferring anything from that computer to another one was via floppy disks, and then a silly toddler shoved coins into the disk drive and broke it, so I had to print out everything, but I never got around to typing it up again. So glad I checked, I thought I had it on the laptop, but that was just a part - apparently, I'd backed up the first paragraphs before that damn kid mistook my computer for a parking meter. I've been throwing out other print-outs, though, which makes me feel uneasy even if I know I have them on the computer, and I have at least one, more likely two, back-up copies. But I seriously don't need outdated versions of imaginary-language dictionaries, or stories that are too stupid to even bother to rewrite. I'm dreading the binder of notes. There's plenty in there that I'll probably have to keep, and much that I'll have a hard time throwing away out of pure nostalgia, even if it's complete rubbish that only seemed like a good idea when I was fourteen. But the binder is too big for the new story-stuff shelf, so I'll have to sort through it. I'm sometimes playing a sort of mind game with myself lately - if I had to pack up and go away right this moment, bringing only what I could carry, what would I take? (And I'd have to be able to live with just that, not arrive somewhere and purchase more stuff, except for food.) Packing for my cycling adventure last summer was a good exercise for that - it's amazing how little you really need. (I'd have a hard time leaving behind my plants, though, and my books of course, and a few pieces of hand-carved (not by me) furniture.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:53:57 +0000

I never could see the appeal of Carl Barks, but then I've never liked Donald Duck, either. I'm not planning on getting rid of my Lois Lane comics. Same with my core collection of genre paperback novels. I don't have many Ace Gothics left after some stringent winnowing a long time ago, but the few I kept are going to the next house and the next until I am insensible. Anyway, I love owning virtually worthless books. There's no pressure to turn them into money and they don't require extraordinary protection measures. And they can be replaced. I just looked on eBay to check out the price of the 1904 Charles Dana Gibson book I bought for $25 years ago, when it would have cost $50-$75 in better condition. Guess what? It's selling for around $30 to $50 now, and probably in much better condition than the one I own. In other words, it has lost value. If the house burned down, finding another copy wouldn't be an issue. Such are the vagaries of collectibles. In fact, if I were in an acquisitive mood, there are many excellent bargains to be had among items around 100 years old, all of them quality pieces. Nope. I've got enough. I don't know what possessions I would want to carry on my back if I had to abandon everything---or just run out of the house because it was burning. I realize people face this every day, but I haven't got a clue. Family photos? Aren't those what people miss the most when they lose everything?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:55:02 +0000

I actually faced something like that when I was living in Boulder. We had a forest fire burn so close to where I was living that we could see it on the hillside. They were evacuating areas west of us. Computer discs would be easy to take with, but my most precious possessions are my cats. I had four then, and I didn't know how the hell I was going to evacuate the area with four cats in tow. Luckily the fire didn't get much farther east. I still wish my mother hadn't thrown away all of my comics when I was a kid. She'd do these purges of my possessions when I was at school, and I'd come home to find books and comics thrown away, clothes gone, and my security bankie turned into an ironing board pad. I'm sure comics from the fifties would be worth something now. I could probably have been able to retire on the proceeds. Every day I do a little bit more decluttering. There's another small clean patch in my bedroom today. Sometimes the cats reverse the process, though. I left out a couple of plastic grocery bags in my office to gather stuff up in. Today they were all over the floor, and one had been peed on. I was totally p*ssed! There's something called Feliway that I'm going to see if I can afford. It calms down jumpy or aggressive cats. I think I might have problems because I have five male cats, which range from super rambunctious (I'm going to twitch my tail and stare at you until you jump out of your skin) to super twitchy (he's looking at me again! STOP LOOKING AT ME!). Maybe with the Feliway I can get them to stop trying to write their names in the carpet.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:06:25 +0000

To be honest, I'm mostly keeping the Barks stories because they're often the background for the Don Rosa stories, and those are the ones that can still make me laugh out loud. I was kinda hoping some of my comics would be worth money, but even my oldest ones are too "new" to be worth anything, and not in great condition, either. Not that it matters, I want to keep the older ones anyway. I can't say if the stories are better, but I just can not stand the drawing styles in the newer magazines, or the paper they're made of. And it's just so weird to read magazines that are older than me and see what was considered "cool" then.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:39:55 +0000

If it makes you feel any better, Zoo, 1950s comics are "Silver Age" and I saw many at San Diego Comic-Con a couple years ago, selling for about $10 to $15 per issue. So you wouldn't be able to retire on those anyway. At most, if you still owned a large set in good condition, you might pocket a month's income from their sale. Which isn't nothing, but it's not a retirement fund by any means. Now, if your father had left you some Golden Age stuff (from the 1920s or thereabouts), then you might have a retirement nest egg, if there were some Superman ones or the like... ah, if we all had such foresighted ancestors! Sadly, used books don't seem to be worth squat (and used magazines are worth even less). This is good because replacing them is fairly cheap even with a dealer markup, but it's bad because you can't get anything for yours. I suppose when my future children are grown, used books might indeed be hard to find, since print publishing may just be on its way out. But I'll worry about that in 30 or 40 years.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:50:38 +0000

I think I'll always prefer print books to electronic books. One good EMP pulse and every electronic book in the world is gone, but it would take a bit of work to get rid of every single one of 10,000 print copies. Some of my books have resold on Amazon for several dollars each, but a lot of them only sell for a penny. After Amazon takes their cut, I'm actually losing money, so those get kept or donated if I truly don't want them. I have some books that are 100 years old or older. I don't know if they're worth anything, but I treasure them. I know there are feng shui cures for the fireplace and chimney. I just have to look up what they are. But a lot of the advice I've read says to declutter then put in feng shui cures, and I'm nowhere close to done decluttering yet.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:56:36 +0000

Everybody's Mom threw out their comics. I'm rather thankful my mother quietly disposed of the comics I'd decided to cut up (so I could have the Atomic Knights back-up feature stories together). Eventually, I would have sighed over my ignorant butchery. Very few comics are worth serious money, and condition and scarcity are the determining factors in their value. The latest episodes of Hoarding have been absolutely disgusting. Those houses should have been bulldozed, and the owners jailed.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:33:26 +0000

You could stick a mirror on the chimney, or dangle a crystal in front of it. Aren't those the usual "cures"? Whaddaya know, miracle of miracles, Grandpa moved into assisted living after all! (This was last week, so my cleaning this week had nothing to do with it...) I'm happy because he's gonna be so much better off now. We saw for ourselves how this place was; the thought of him staying there, hanging out with his friends and getting safe rides and eating real food (for a change), makes me smile. Mom came back and retrieved several items from the "donate" box, but all in all we are definitely exporting a pile. She also went through the heap of old manuals and papers I retrieved from the cabinet and threw away most of them. So, a small victory. I have seen clips from a few shows like "Hoarding," but I don't watch those shows generally, because there is not a lot of TV going on at my house. My folks don't believe in cable and the antenna reception is poor, so viewing options are pretty limited. They mostly use the screen for movies. Just as well, since we don't really have the time to waste watching TV. We waste enough of it on Internet as it is ^^ back to work tomorrow ... I had to clean the kitchen TWICE today, because Certain People asked me to bake them cookies, and then asked me to clean up afterwards. tsk.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:25:40 +0000

I was doing some more decluttering this morning, and I found something important -- the fight scene notes I've been looking for, for In Back of the North Wind. Yay! Now I have no excuse for not working on it.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:15:19 +0000

I also found my crystal mobile, and I cleaned it and hung it up in front of the chimney in the office as a cure for the missing Wealth section. The only thing hanging from there before was a cobweb, and I don't think cobwebs are good feng shui.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:47:18 +0000

I came across this post and thought I'd give it a read through, since I Really need to do some Major decluttering/organizing. The posts have revamped my motivation. I made a list at the beginning of the month of things I wanted to accomplish in the organizing department. I thought monthly goals sounded more reasonable and nicer than daily goals. So far, I have been good, I went through and reorganized and inventoried all of my boxes of beads and beading tools. Yay that corner is cleared. Now-the bedroom. *Wide-eyed and gaping mouth as I really look at it and see all of the stuff and disorganization* Oh boy.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:31:49 +0000

Another beader! Cool. That is one of the things I've accomplished. I bought one of those rubbermaid type containers to put all of my jewelry and beading supplies in. I still have some things I have to inventory, but they're all in one place, too, now. I have been gaining speed as I've progressed. It seems to get easier as I go on.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:36:33 +0000

I went and helped declutter my relative's house yesterday. Some very handsome metal beads are now in the to-be-sold pile. No point in keeping them after decades of doing nothing with them. We also are sending a good number of Christmas ornaments to charity. (Yes, they will take them at this time of year, and yes, people will buy them, too.) Aniline dyes going. Old glues and self-stick items that have long lost their punch. Old rolls of masking tape that have dried out. Stuff. Lots of stuff. Oh, and we took down the Christmas tree, too.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:31:42 +0000

It's nice to find another beader :) I went to the local family owned hardware store in town to see if they had bins with small compartments to hold the different beads. The owner, an older gentleman who opened the store waaaayyyy back when, spent over half an hour finding something for me. He was up and down ladders checking boxes on the top shelves, behind counters....I told him it was okay if he did not have anything, but he was bound and determined to find me something then. He finally found, completely dust covered, in the attic, a tool box that I love. the top opens and has 3 small compartments(great for string and wire) and a large one that holds my tools. Then the front door flips down and there are 3 boxes tucked away. All in all-72 compartments. He is now my bead organizing hero. I agree with you, that it does get easier as I get further into organizing and see how nice it looks.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:20:29 +0000

Decluttered some of the breakfast nook today. Where before I had a little path through it to the back door, now there's open space, and it's beginning to look like a room. No one room in the house looks pristine, but several of them look way better. Looks like I may be stuck in the house for most of the week, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to do more decluttering and cleaning, provided that I'm not shivering too hard to move. My walk is shoveled, but it's going to be really cold for the next week, so I don't know if I'd want to go out into some place even colder than my house. I found my little crystal mobile and hung that up in front of the missing Wealth section in my home office that was taken up by my fire place chimney. Maybe it's my imagination, but as soon as I hung it up, it seemed like the atmosphere felt better. If anyone is not disgusted enough by Hoarders episodes, I recently found an Animal Planet show on Netflix called Infested. It lives up to its name. Just don't watch it while you're eating.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:53:50 +0000

A friend of mine told me that one of her friends just had a house fire. The family got out safely, but they lost everything. They are getting donations together for them. It has been a great motivator for me to go through my things, knowing the girls could use the clothes more than me now.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:39:21 +0000

Woohoo - go Zookeeper! Sounds like you're making excellent progress. I was sick over the weekend and spent a lot of time looking at minimalism and simplicity websites. I came across some good advice which I thought I'd share. One of the most helpful was http://simplifyyourlife.tumblr.com/ One post was about questions to ask yourself when decluttering. When I get down to decluttering my boxes in the basement I'll be following them: 1. Is this item something I use regularly? 2. If no, is it something I love? 3. Am I keeping this out of obligation or expectation? 4. Am I hold on to this because I think I should love it? 5. Am I saving this just in case? 6. Do I have multiples of the same thing? 7. Could something else I own do the same job? 8. Am I holding on to a broken item to fix one day? 9. Is this item worth the time I spend cleaning/storing it? 10. Could I use this space for something else? Another post was called 'Decluttering isn't Wasteful' "You bought these items with hard earned money and you don't want that money to go to waste so you've been holding onto them. This is a burden paying penance for your initial wasted expenditure of cash. But the waste was when you bought it, now when you get rid of it. You bought something you didn't really need - and the real waste would be to ignore this and not learn from it."

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:05:19 +0000

I kind of have quibbles with 1 and 5. I have hobby stuff that I use only semiregularly. I'll do it for several months, finish a couple projects, then go on to something else for a while. But I'm perfectly okay with it sitting somewhere between times. And I'm also okay with having multiples of things. I have three spatulas and two can openers, several knit caps, and several pairs of scissors. Since they're all good, I don't plan on getting rid of any of them. And right now, having several pairs of scissors is the least of my decluttering worries. I've begun another charity bag.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:06:31 +0000

There are exceptions to every rule, of course. They're meant to be guidelines... ;)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:48:48 +0000

Kind of like the Pirate's Code. :-)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:26:08 +0000

Precisely ;)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:06:20 +0000

Two full recycle bins and three garbage bags set out at the curb today. Definitely making progress.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

J.Kievsky — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:42:05 +0000

Wow! I'm tempted to go back through the thread and total up all the charity bags and recycling bins. You are ON that decluttering resolution.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:56:27 +0000

Go Zoo! Gold stars for you! =)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:07:38 +0000

I got the spare winter coat to the local rescue mission last week. I feel good about that. According to someone familiar with the mission, the coat was likely to be on someone's back within a couple of hours. Other kinds of donations are okay to go to national agencies with their large thrift stores, but this coat I didn't want to think of being thrown in a truck and sorted out of state (that's what they do), possibly never to return. I wanted this coat to warm someone who lives right here. Mission accomplished.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:20:07 +0000

Well, that's odd. I was positive that I replied to your post, Lily, but it's not showing up. I gave a couple old coats to the Denver Rescue Mission here locally. One was a bright mustard yellow. When I was riding on the bus through LoDo, I saw a vagrant with a mustard yellow coat on. There couldn't be two like that, so obviously my old coat went to good use. I did accomplish a task in the kitchen. I cleared off one section of counter and transferred the microwave over there. I still have lots more counter space that I have to clear off and clean, but it's a noticeable change.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:41:49 +0000

That's funny. As I was driving by the mission in town on Monday, I looked to see if anybody was wearing the coat I donated. It's a rather striking coat, although not a bright color. My chief problem with giving clothes away is that I'd prefer they be offered at no cost to people who are in dire need of clothing, but the most convenient place to donate them trucks them to a central location for sorting, and then sells them to people who cannot afford to buy new clothes. The second group is nevertheless much higher on the economic scale. The coat was meant as a gift, not a bargain.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:10:29 +0000

I sorted through my clothes and happily passed them on to others. Now Im not sure what to do next. Hmm....

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:44:06 +0000

Years ago, a family from California had their truck break down in Denver on their way to Texas. It was December, and they were very poor, so they tried to get what jobs they could. The wife got a job with the Salvation Army ringing a bell outside a grocery store. But because she was from California, she didn't have a coat, hat, gloves, or any winter gear. The Salvation Army would not give her a coat. They said that she could go into their thrift store and buy a coat like everyone else. But they couldn't afford it. Every penny went either to feeding their family or saving up to get their truck fixed so they could continue to Texas. The story made the news. She got offers of dozens of coats, and I think several people offered to fix their truck for free. But that made me so mad at the Salvation Army that I've never made a donation -- money or clothes -- to them since. They get the coats for free. It wouldn't have cost them anything to give a coat to this poor woman. I also had a bad experience with the Salvation Army when I lived in Chicago. I was burned out of my apartment, and I contacted them to see if I could get emergency food and clothing. They had all of these hoops I had to jump through. I had to wait for an intake worker to call me and set up a meeting. Then I had to wait until their next monthly meeting where they would decide if I deserved to have a social worker assigned to me. Then I'd have to wait until the social worker had time to meet with me. Then if she thought me worthy, she'd take my case to some meeting or conference to see if I should have emergency food and clothing. And then.... I asked how long it would take to get emergency food, clothing, and blankets and was told it would take 8-10 months IF they decided I deserved it. I told them that I'd be dead of starvation long before then. I needed food now. Then the woman on the phone snarkily informed me that since I was going to be dead I wouldn't need their help after all, would I? I am very jaded as far as charities go. If I give to a charity I expect it to go to someone in need.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:04:54 +0000

Wow, what wretched stories. I never knew they were so mean to people in need. However, it's not surprising. Nearly every agency seems to have complex rules because they are so afraid of being scammed by professional chiselers. The mission is to foster independence rather than reliance on handouts. It makes sense in the long run, but for someone with an urgent immediate need, not so.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 08:18:02 +0000

Wow... those stories about charities are horrible! I hope the charities here (Australia) don't do that sort of thing... but I'm sure they do. *sigh* Reading through this thread, I'm inspired to do the whole decluttering thing too! Feng Shui... maybe. I'll have to look in to exactly what it is before I decide if I can do that. Currently, I've got about five books that I can give to a family friend. Now much, but hey, it's something. And go Zoo! You're doing so well! And so is everyone else! Hooray for decluttering, and for keeping things clean!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:17:19 +0000

Well, I will be moving into my own house this year. Oh my word. Wow. Its kinda like a studio apartment. Small, compact, but oh so cute :) There will be some work to do, a few things to add on(kitchen, bathroom, since currently the building is a store), but it will be move in condition immediately. Which means....major decluttering for the move. What do I really need to keep, and how am I storing it. A closet is being added on also, plus, because its a store now, there are many bookcases which will stay. YAY bookcases! :)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:42:09 +0000

Sadly, not every charity is equal. A lot of them think they know what's "best" for their customers, and they don't focus on what is most effective or most compassionate. And yes, some of them have a lot of red tape for various reasons. The Salvation Army is not my preferred donation group, because it is founded upon a specific (church-based) ideology which I do not support. I don't give to religious organizations unless their ideals match my own, and I don't give to groups that spend a lot on advertising or "operations" (look on Charity Navigator for details). Also, a certain portion of my gifts are reserved for local causes: like they say, "charity begins at home." At least in Third World villages, people know how to share what little they have; around these parts, the community is much more divided and in need of building up. If you are merely unloading clutter, you may want to do it wherever's easiest. Otherwise it becomes another excuse to keep the stuff around! However, when giving to nonprofits, it is best to be a responsible giver and aim your money, goods, and time where they will get the most "bang for the buck." And that, of course, depends upon your personal values. I just unload my unwanteds at Goodwill or Value Village, and remind myself to write my favorite charities a check later. My time is better spent on earning money (and giving that away) than on processing junk, and most of my favorite causes prefer money anyway, so they can buy their own supplies. Update around here: the baking cabinet clutter has been successfully evacuated, although Mom grumbled a bit about the loss of those useless glass jars. Next up: my own closets. I have an awful lot of stuff that I no longer wear, and the stuff I do wear is draped all over the furniture instead of neatly hung up like it ought to be. (sigh) Oooor maybe I'll just tackle something easier first, like the bathroom cabinets. My folks went out of town yet again, which leaves me free to blast some music and wreck the house (mwahahaha).

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:19:37 +0000

Another good way to get rid of stuff is with Freecycle. That way it goes to individuals or families who have a specific need for it, or at least a better use for it. My attempts at fixing stuff yesterday went all for naught, so today I'm just going back to cleaning and decluttering. I dug into a box in the den, and found the drill that I bought several years ago. I'd forgotten about it, so I bought another drill a couple of years ago. Sigh. So now I have two. This is why I don't agree with the philosophy that if you haven't used it in a year, just throw it away because you won't miss it. I've found a lot of good stuff that I'd forgotten about, or that I thought had been lost in one of my moves. And there's still the garage to go through. Who knows what lost gems are in those boxes?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:30:07 +0000

p.s. the other problem with charities, which Zoo encountered: a lot of them think that since they are doing people favors, that means they don't need to be nice. Boy, are they wrong. I've worked and volunteered at nonprofits. Nothing is more important than kindness when you're working with people in need. They need it much as they need shelter or food. The last thing they need is another asshole to deal with. According to Maimonides, giving in bad spirit is even worse than giving too little -- it is the lowest form of giving. Maintaining dignity on all sides is crucial. (The highest form is "teaching a man to fish," so they can support themselves in the future, or better yet, helping to keep them out of poverty in the first place.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:58:41 +0000

I've done nothing in the way of decluttering or feng shui'ing lately. However, I am very proud of the continuous state of tidiness of my room. It got rather messy over the last week, but I went on a short cleaning spree last night (10 minutes or so) and everything is spic and span again. I am very proud of this since I've always struggled with keeping my room tidy and this is the longest that I've managed to keep it this way.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:08:28 +0000

We try to be kind when we do the taxes but we have to hold people accountable to the laws. It would be no kindness to them if we bent the rules and left them liable for fines and penalties. Sometimes, though, they don't see the bigger picture. Or they have no way of paying so they think ignoring taxes will be a better idea. Nope. I suppose some of this applies to the charities that accept government money; they also have rules that if broken become a matter of potential criminal prosecution. Still, they definitely could be nicer on an individual basis. I'm working harder to use everything I own. Years of having to be careful about money taught me to hesitate before buying anything. The habit serves me well.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:16:33 +0000

Two more things done. The microwave and my wooden cutting board are now completely clean. It's amazing how I can fill up and clutter a three-bedroom house, plus garage. But it's changing, little by little. I have a long list of things to get when I finally get a decent, steady paycheck. Most of them aren't frills, though; they're needful things, like repairs on the house, and on me, for that matter. I need dental work and cataract surgery, plus bunches of preventive protocols. And when I get a working furnace, getting the temperature up to 65 degrees will feel like a sauna compared to the 45-60 degree temperatures I've had to suffer with the last couple of winters.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:47:24 +0000

Good going. As long as the cats don't microwave anything, it'll stay clean for a while. One method of helping along decluttering is to return unused items to stores. Although store policies do vary, if you are willing to accept store credit, they often will take back just about anything even if there's a long gap since you bought it and you have no receipt. My sister has had a lot of success doing this with Staples and Bed Bath and Beyond. You've got to have nerves of steel to do that, granted. My father-in-law once witnessed someone return a pair of used and ruined work gloves because "they wore out" to either Walmart or Kmart. The return was accepted. I certainly would not advocate going that far, but if the item is unused and in salable condition, why not? Maybe you can return the second drill.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:41:01 +0000

Funny, I'd just put out some yarn and the receipt to go to the store tomorrow and ask if I can return it, and now my mother offered to buy it off me. I might give her some other yarn as well. And I got a new pan for my birthday (one without non-stick coating, which are really hard to find!), so I can throw out the stupid cheap one.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:25:33 +0000

That's what I plan to do. I'll go back to Home Depot, explain the problem, and ask if I can turn these handles in for credit on new handles. The handles are still in their original packages, so they might be willing to do that. I finally got the final detritus out from under my desk. Now I can vacuum, which will probably scare the cats out of their minds, and do a space clearing for this room. The one toilet is fixed. All I had to do was tighten the screw on the arm of the float ball. And I'm going to have two full recycle bins to put out next recycle day. I called the trash company to ask about getting rid of things like CFL bulbs and bulky items. Unfortunately, that costs extra, so it'll have to wait.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:05:53 +0000

Magpie, if you want a pan with no nonstick coating, here is what you do: buy a cast iron skillet. I cannot praise them enough: they're cheap, indestructible, all natural, multipurpose, low tech, and they will form their own nonstick coating if used properly. I use mine for everything possible, including baking. It roasts a lovely chicken, too. I baked a cake and washed some dishes, and cleaned some spoiled junk from the fridge yet again. I get so tired of doing that, but since my relatives insist on buying food they don't always eat.... well anyway. My room is a horrible mess, so I suppose I should go do some laundry and at least get the clothes off the floor.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:19:03 +0000

I've read about cast iron skillets, but I don't think I've ever seen one. I have no idea if they're simply more common in the US, or it's just part of the "everything must have nonstick coating" thing that seems to be going on.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:55:29 +0000

Decluttering, it seems to me, is very much like archaeology or paleontology. You go through layer after layer. A lot of what you find is worthless rubble and just needs to be carted away, but you never know if you'll find a gem or a fossil, so you can't cart things to the rubbish heap en masse indiscriminately. I've been doing more decluttering, going through maybe another layer. What I hate is finding food that's past its expiration date. I have no choice but to toss it, but I hate having wasted the money. I have four cartons, a couple of them unopened, of baking soda, all past their expiration date. I don't think it would be a good idea to use them for baking so they are being repurposed as cat litter box deoderizers. I'm not going to clean the inside of the fridge until it gets warmer, though. There's enough cold air in the house as it is without pouring in more. I remember cast iron pans. I don't have any currently, though.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:18:22 +0000

I have a few pieces of cast iron - including a skillet - but I've never used them because I don't know how to clean or cure them properly after use.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:28:30 +0000

The proper way to clean a cast iron skillet is to boil water in it. Then, depending on how long you're going to store it, you may simply dry it completely, or rub a tiny bit of olive oil (or the like) on the cooking surface to prevent rust, or, I have heard, a hundred years ago, you'd put sand on it (a desiccant). If you're just cleaning it between uses, you don't usually boil it; you wipe it out, which preserves the seasoning. We cooked with these growing up and I still have a couple. My brother refuses to cook with anything else. I don't use them much now because they're tricky on an electric stove. Living out in the boondocks, electric is all I can get unless I want to retrofit my house for propane. Cast iron holds heat excellently but by the same token can burn food easily if you've got it at too high a heat. Most coated pans don't hold heat well, and the surface can be ruined by too high heat. The bizarre thing we're experiencing lately is burnt on onions simply not coming off a nonstick pan. I threw out the last one long before the surface had been marred, because of that. The new pan is doing the same thing, which leads me to wonder what's up. Why are burnt onions sticking? We usually get a year or so out of a nonstick pan and then we chuck it. The cast iron lasts forever.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:32:23 +0000

I agree that decluttering is a form of archaeology. Instead of wondering what the ancient owner used the items for, we wonder at our folly in thinking that we actually would get around to using them. Or we sadly greet an old friend we don't use anymore. Or we occasionally find cash and jump up, shouting that we're rich.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Earthsick — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Well hello there. While I'm not into feng shui I do want to re-organize all my stuff. When I moved into my flat in 2009 I didn't have any real idea where to put what. Now everything's all over the place. And now I don't know where to generally put things so everything's like ... everywhere. Even one of my sofas is now perfectly cluttered with all kind of stuff. If I didn't need my table in the living room/kitchen (it's a combinated room) for studying Maths I would probably clutter this thing as well. I started working on my kitchen on the weekend. I got most stuff reorganized there already. Just leaves me with spare halogen lamps that I don't know where to put. /: Probably somewhere in the living room part of the room. Still have to reaorganize that one. The good thing is: I always find stuff I didn't know I still had. :D Btw, I'm in desperate need for coat hangers but I'm too lazy to get myself to a furniture store (the next one isn't so far away though... meh). I only have one so far. xD

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:05:07 +0000

I don't boil water in my cast iron; I think that makes it rust. There are plenty of sites that tell you how to season and use cast iron, so I'm not gonna bother repeating it here. I do scrub my pans with a touch of soap, but I rinse and dry right away (without bothering to reheat), and periodically rub it inside with a bit of butter or oil. Some people never use soap at all in them. The only time I would ever use nonstick pans is for making crepes or blintzes. Since Teflon will not sear, brown, or caramelize food, most dishes just don't taste as good when you cook with it! Magpie, Amazon lists plenty of Lodge cookware (they make a lot of cast iron stuff) and they ship overseas. Go and look. I recommend a 10-inch skillet for beginners, or 8-inch if you live alone. (A 12-inch skillet is too big and too heavy for most people.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:15:18 +0000

Funny, the one thing I found I can absolutely not make in pans with nonstick coating are Palatschinken (Austrian pancakes/crepes) - they either come out disgustingly oil-soaked or, if I put in less oil, too dry. I never had that problem with my mother's old pan (which doesn't even have a handle any more, not for several years, but it's still my favourite pan.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

J.Kievsky — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:25:49 +0000

Years ago I lost my birds to nonstick coating when a roommate came back from a shopping expedition and decided to bake cookies on her new pans without my realizing she wasn't using our shared cookware. Since then I switched to cast iron and uncoated everything--while birds are much much more susceptible to volatiles than humans are, I'm still disconcerted by the idea of using something to cook my food that killed the little guys after only a minute of exposure. Anyway, the Lodge iron cookware is good stuff, definitely the way to go.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:18:47 +0000

awww, sorry about your birds, Kiev. Yeah, nonstick cookware fumes can poison birds -- another reason I don't use it. I have no birds, but I am a bit suspicious of the chemicals all the same. Whereas if a little iron leaches into my food, that's actually good for me! Yesterday's lemon cake was not a rousing success (it collapsed into a neat dense brick after leaving the oven), but today I made homemade mac and cheese, and some of it's going into the freezer for later. That took care of a few leftover cheese rinds, at least. And some more fridge clearing... it never ends, sigh. Just watch, as soon as I get all the rotten produce thrown away, my mother will come back home and buy some more. Also purged the bathroom cabinets of a load of old bottles of soaps, shampoos, and lotions -- much of it older than I care to think about. I hate to throw all that stuff in a landfill, but I doubt any shelter is going to want it, and I'm not using it cause it's nasty. Also pitching the ugly, wimpy advertisement magnets covering the fridge (half the businesses that sent them to us probably don't even exist any more). I'll buy some nicer looking magnets that actually stick to the fridge properly. I'm tired of never being able to find coupons because they're buried under magnets or whatnot. Won't my folks be in for a surprise when they come back. They'll never miss those old shampoo bottles, but just wait till they see that nice clean fridge...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:18:36 +0000

I'm sorry about the birds, too. I didn't realize that nonstick cookware offgassed toxins that seriously. Now I'm even more worried about mine. If it were going to kill me or the cats, we'd all be lying paws up by now, but breathing any amount of toxins isn't good. Especially since I'm trying to be so careful about not ingesting GMOs, pesticides, or additives. But that, like everything else, is going to have to wait until I get money. What about enamel cookware? Is that safer? I am calling my home office done, at least for now. There are still a couple of places that I need to sort through. I have some old printers, an old scanner, and an old fax machine that I'm wondering what to do with. If I could use them, that would be great, but I wouldn't even know how to find software drivers for them. But I vacuumed, which scared the cats out of a couple of their lives, and I did an energy clearing of the home office. I'm such a clutterbug that it's rare to have a floor that's completely cleared off. Now to keep it this way while I attack the rest of the house.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:07:49 +0000

Good for you, Zoo. I think enamel is not an issue of out-gassing, but it has been a long time since I used an enamel pan. I don't own one, for starters.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:04:27 +0000

This may help if you are decluttering your kitchen: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.html?pagewanted=all Truth is, most people only need a couple pots, a couple pans, a couple cutting boards, two or three knives, and a handful of utensils. Extras can be fun or convenient, but not necessary. (My kitchen doesn't stick exactly to this list, but it's good for beginners. I'd skip the spice grinder, add a rice cooker, etc., but of course the rule is Know Thy Habits.) Ceramic pans are okay, I think (I'm no scientist but I have used 'em and the food cooks fine), but they tend to be pricey. I saw some affordable ones in a magazine a couple months ago, to my surprise, so perhaps they have come down in price -- do a little searching. Enameled cast iron is REALLY pricey, so I wouldn't recommend that unless you: a) are a serious cook, b) have the money, AND c) know exactly why you want it (and the answer better not be "because it looks cool.") If I were setting up a new kitchen for one person, I'd probably buy one 10-inch cast iron pan, and one 8-inch or 6-inch ceramic pan. The pots would be stainless steel or heavy aluminum, preferably from a brand I recognize (I have this fear of toxic metals from Chinese knockoffs...) Just out of curiosity, Zoo, how do you do your "energy clearing"? Sage? Bells? Incense?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:58:49 +0000

There are a couple of different ways to do energy clearing. I can't use the sage smudge sticks because they aggravate my asthma, but I've used incense before. The other day I just used clapping, which I read about in a book on space clearing, and I just did my home office. Last year I bought these neat little cymbals called "ting-sha," which make a really nice sound, and I'll use them at some point in the future. I still don't feel any flow to my life. It's still too much like trying to push a brick wall out of my way. The decluttering seems to be getting easier, but then sometimes I'll lift my head and look around and get depressed and aggravated at everything that I still have yet to do.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:30:56 +0000

Zoo, you should be proud of the progress you are making. Keep up the good work. I've found that projects worth undertaking tend to look messier the more progress you make. Its sort of like construction projects - they coat everything in dust and grime in the process of creating a fabulous end result. I suppose the same could be said of anything worth doing in life.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:11:45 +0000

Not doing homework = fun. I cleaned out the carport today, or at least most of it. Did not find any rats, somewhat to my surprise, but found more spiders, dirt, and dead leaves than anyone could ever want. Got really filthy and am now going to take a nice bubble bath. Also tried to retrieve a tarp from the driveway, with the intent to use it to cover a pile of scrap wood so I could put it on Craigslist whilst keeping it from getting rained on. But turns out the tarp is covered in compost, which is rapidly turning into slow-growth forest. (Mom and her compost heaps...) Also took a bike to the nonprofit bike-recycling shop, and a broken old chair to the dumpster. The carport still has a bunch of junk in it, but at least most of the trash has been disposed of, so in theory what remains is actual useful crap, and should be easier to use now that it's not mixed in with quite so much trash and dead leaves. The folks are coming home tomorrow. I wonder if they'll notice anything different. Have not yet got around to getting new fridge magnets. Also, I made deliiicious chocolate peanut butter rice krispy treats (tm). Did not get around to using that chicken in the fridge for chicken soup, and it's probably gone bad by now :/ oh well.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

J.Kievsky — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:27:53 +0000

Don't spend too much money on those new magnets. Often it's the fridge that's the weaker magnet, rather than the ones on the door.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:21:06 +0000

No worries, I just picked up a 10-pack of new little round magnets at Fred Meyer for like $2. They stick to the fridge just fine as it turns out. I just wanted those ugly freebie magnets (the kind that come in a flexible sheet) off of there, because those are wussy and they don't stick. I was gonna superglue the new magnets to some pretty bits of glass and thereby have decorative magnets, but I didn't get around to it yet. There's always tomorrow, or next week... but in the meantime, the new sticky magnets are on the fridge, holding up the coupons.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:50:48 +0000

p.s. How the heck does my stuff magically expand to take up more space when I removed a bunch and threw/donated it away? I don't get that, but it sure is frustrating. Where's this gorgeous flowy white-lit elegant space I see in all the magazines? (I know, I know ... the pretty houses aren't any more realistic than the pretty models. But damn, I sure wish my house looked that good.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:27:44 +0000

Has anyone else noticed that life keeps getting in the way? I currently have a teeny pile of books I'm donating to Lifeline when the book fair rolls around (which, knowing me, will be doubled in the amount of books I'll uy) and am slowly filling a box with clothes I don't wear, which pending Mum's approval (don't you love being a minor?) I'll donate/throw away/get rid of somehow. But school/homework/life keeps getting in the way, and I never get anything done! Oh well... Good job everyone! Looks like we're all making progress. And Zoo, good job on finishing your office!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:36:10 +0000

Dang, where's that edit button when I need it? buy, not uy, and I meant to say that I never SEEM to get anything done, because the progress is so slow. Still. Onwards and upwards!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:18:43 +0000

Raksab, I know the answer to the elegant white house. Under-furnish it. When we moved into this place we had already gotten rid of many items, and so we started fresh in one room after another. We've been extremely slow to add furnishings; thus every public room and bedroom looks light and airy because there is plenty of empty wall space and floor space. It does help that this is a light and airy house with clean lines, but the lack of stuff is the key. Our offices, which are full of souvenirs and toys on surfaces, file cabinets, paintings, clocks, bookshelves, chairs, and papers, look far more full. Because they are. Yesterday I tried to winnow some of the papers stored in my office closet. Except for a few random things, I couldn't get rid of much. Records of an eventful life.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:23:58 +0000

hmm, thanks for the tip, Lily; perhaps when I move into new digs, I can get that airy look. Except I'm betting that whatever place I can afford will have awkward proportions, hideous carpet, rotten linoleum, and/or teeny dark windows. Oh well. There's always hope for hardwood floors... Most papers can be discarded after a couple of years, or digitized. You might want to look up some tips about that. Only tax records and business records, and possibly the records of valuable property (eg cars) should be kept longer. I have a policy of canceling every catalogue and extraneous paper that arrives in the house, and getting all my bank statements digitally, so at least the incoming avalanche is relatively slow. I throw away user's manuals as soon as I've installed and tested a new appliance. Any time an advertisement shows up, I put it in a pile, then later when I'm doing something mindless (like dishes or TV) I call the offender and ask to be removed from the mail list. (A hands-free set or speakerphone is your friend here, in case you have to be on hold for a few minutes. If it takes longer than that, hang up and try again later.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:03:56 +0000

Our prior house never looked so appealing as when we were about to leave, when we'd hired someone to help strip the hideous wallpaper, repainted the entire place, and removed most of the furniture and rugs so the small rooms looked large. The austerity of the final decor (one vase only on a table, only one table in a room, etc.) made a huge difference. I do like the spare look. But I also have a yearning for rococo, and recently have been considering if I can turn my office into an elegant, gold-trimmed retreat. A strange yearning, I admit, but not a new one. As for papers, unfortunately, I have documents relating to my former field, and they're of some significance. I have to keep them. I'm also a firm believer in keeping tax records forever. Regardless of all the audit time limits we hear about, the IRS does not have a limit on the number of years it can audit if it suspects fraud. All it has to do is make the accusation. I'd rather keep my records. We find the random junk mail we receive rather entertaining. Around here, it's usually invitations to strange churches, or horrible accusations against politicians we've never even heard of, or something else equally off the wall. But I am getting too many charity requests lately, so it's probably time to re-up my opt-out status.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:31:12 +0000

Just before I bought and moved into my house, I attended a home and garden show downtown. I saw one thing that I really wanted to put in my new house: painting the ceiling of one room with glow-in-the-dark stars, invisible in daylight, but that would show up after dark when the real stars do. And this wasn't just random speckles, this was the actual night sky as viewed from earth, with all of the stars, nebulas, galaxies, and even planets. I so wanted it for my bedroom ceiling. But, aside from the expense, if I ever tried to sell the house, that probably wouldn't be a good selling point. And worse, I have popcorn ceilings, and they'd have to be removed first. And, since my house was built in 1971, it's a good chance that the ceilings were done with asbestos. It would take several tens of thousands of dollars to safely and properly remove all of the asbestos, and I'd have to move out and live somewhere else in the meantime. Yet my incredibly out-of-fashion popcorn ceilings (so very 70s!) are totally harmless as long as they're left in place. Sigh. Still want it, though. I do admire the spareness of Japanese decor, but I know that's not me. My decor is somewhere between Bag End and artistic chaos.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:49:34 +0000

When we talked of buying a big hundred-year-old home, and making each room a library dedicated to a different kind of book, the science fiction room was going to have a starry ceiling. I don't know how we would have decorated the room to be dedicated to all the action-adventure novels. The mystery room was going to be an old style library with leather chairs and a library ladder on a rail. The romance room was going to be red or pink, for sure.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:48:14 +0000

Zoo, if you want a starry ceiling, why not do it yourself? Just get some glow-in-the-dark paint or gel pens, download a few star charts, and go to town on your hideous popcorn ceiling. The dots will be practically invisible in daylight, but if and when you decide to sell the house, you can always spray some white paint over them. If paint or markers are too serious, put up some stickers. (Go on, you know you want to. I put stars on my bedroom ceiling when I was a kid, and it made me very happy for many nights thereafter.) I love the idea of having a book-themed house! Too much house for one poor college grad, though :/ Oh well, that's what NaNoWriMo is for; in my novels I can have as many fantastic rooms as I want... The carport cleanout was a moderate success. The folks were pleased, although not as stunned as I was hoping for. Still got to evict that old ladder and the scrap wood pile; one of these years I really want to learn carpentry, but at the moment there's not much point in keeping the wood since I haven't the tools or the skills to use it. I will just have to trust that later in life, when I have said tools and skills, more wood will appear for my use. (Fortunately, this is a pretty safe bet, given where I live.)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:54:16 +0000

I know I don't have the skill, or patience, to paint the night sky on my ceiling. Not the way it should be done. And being on a ladder for weeks at a time staring up at the ceiling would be hell on my joints. And stickers just wouldn't do it justice. I've sloughed off on decluttering lately because of various crises and because I've been expending efforts on job hunting. Today is errand day. Maybe tomorrow I can get back to cleaning.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:30:06 +0000

Of course the issue is, do we get exactly what we once thought we wanted, do we modify our dream, or do we get nothing? I've recently become conscious of how much time has elapsed since I first admired a rococo room and thought I'd like one. No fairy godmother has delivered it so far. If I still want one, I have to come up with a plan to get it. Or, I could just wait a decade or so, until we move again, and find a house that already has a rococo room, and incidentally, that gazebo I've been talking about for years.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:43:41 +0000

Lily, what is a rococo room? Don't think I've ever heard the term. And with my attempt to declutter, it's one step forward, two steps back. I'd made some progress, then had to basically trash the room hunting for something I'd lost. Now there's stuff everywhere again!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:00:30 +0000

Rococo refers to a lavish, gilded decorating style. I first saw a room entirely in that style at the Vanderbilt estate down in NC, Biltmore. It was a small ladies parlor, and I can't find an image of it online. This link is to the Astor room at the Ringling estate in Sarasota, FL. http://tinyurl.com/7yotsx9 From all the things I've found recently on Craigslist, it might not be impossibly expensive to create that look, especially since I have an artist in the family. If there's no chance we'll sell this house in the next decade, why not jazz it up now and enjoy it? I've been trashing old bills and photocopying the ones that can fade. Now I see why people I know trash the regular charge tickets and just keep the credit card bills. They're printed on paper to last.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:53:42 +0000

Decided to turn a photo of the Astor rococo room into my desktop theme for a while. It's amazingly bright. Looking at it, I might not need the whole room for real..

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:00:44 +0000

pfft. You know, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is that if a creative project is worth doing, it's worth doing yourself, fast and badly. (Provided, of course, that all appropriate safety precautions are followed. Creatively defying the rules of sculpture = good. Creatively defying the rules of welding torch usage = not good.) My relatives have this habit of never wanting to do anything they don't already know how to do. That's why I never learned those carpentry skills I mentioned: around my house, people call a pro when they want something done, or they leave it undone altogether. This is ... counterproductive, to say the least. If you want stars on your ceiling or frilly gold wallpaper, then get yourself up and make it happen. What's stopping you? Life's too short to live in a boring house, if you ask me. So it won't be a perfect job. So what? Embrace the flaws. Enjoy the wabi-sabi. Perfection is this imaginary ideal created by merchants to taunt and lure you. It's not real and they can't sell it to you. If it looks perfect, you did something wrong (or you need to keep watching; in about 5 minutes it won't look perfect anymore). You might get tired of it in a year or three, or it might fall apart, and then you can undo it and try something else. That's what decorating is all about.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 01:45:46 +0000

The same thing that's stopping me from putting stars on my ceiling is the same thing that's stopping me from putting together a motorcycle from scrap metal or doing neurosurgery in my spare time. To do it professionally would take many years of training and more years of experience. I do not have the time or money for that. I know myself well enough to know that there are some things I can do and some things I can't. I do not have the training or skill to put a realistic, invisible night sky on my ceiling. I also don't have the training or equipment to remove my asbestos-laden popcorn ceiling, which I'd have to do first. "Embracing the flaws" of amateur asbestos removal might cost me my life. I'm not willing to take that chance. And I don't care to embrace a slap-dash amateur job of anything.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 02:08:51 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement. My sister and I have already discussed buying wood strips and painting them gold to create a panel outline effect. I don't think that's going to be tremendously difficult, though it will require careful measuring and planning, something I am not usually patient enough to do right. I'll leave out wainscoting and crown molding. The other decorations, leaves, fruit, or whatever, probably can be achieved through wood substitutes, perhaps even painted papier mache. And gilded sconces. And a gilded chandelier from Craigslist. What I'm hesitating over is whether to go wild and crazy and paint the Queen Anne oak table that holds my desktop computer. Its finish is in sad shape because it was once used as a plant table. But I've never deliberately painted a varnished piece of furniture before; that's usually what people do with a hopeless piece of junk, and this is a fine item, an antique. If I do, it would be first a pale body color and then lavish gold detailing. Could be a lot more fun than measuring for panels. Much to think about.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:04:46 +0000

I wasn't suggesting you remove your asbestos-filled ceiling, Zoo. (Nor would I ever suggest that surgery should be practiced by amateurs. Surgery is NOT a creative activity, unless you're Frankenstein...) That would come under the heading I mentioned, of violating appropriate safety precautions. I'm just saying ... you want stars on it? So dot some stars on it. If you do it yourself it won't be perfect, but if you're prepared to live with an imperfect job, you can still have half a loaf. If you don't want a starry ceiling unless it is a smooth ceiling and astronomically accurate to a specific time and date... then don't paint it. Entirely up to you, either way. We all have our areas where we will accept no substitutes. (Mine are food and love; but when it comes to home decorating, I'm willing to cut a few corners. Your priorities may differ, and that's okay.) In the meantime, at least the real stars are free. Lily, what about getting some doilies or fleur-de-lys stencils, and using them to paint gold patterns on the walls? Just an idea. Or you could get some of those sticky decals, and put those up for a while to see if you really like the style enough to invest in it. Is your heart set on the gold, or on the patterns, or both? You could vary the color scheme (crisp white with black frills, for instance) and get a lighter effect, if you wanted. not much cleaning getting done today, but tomorrow or Sunday, we'll be back at it... got to get a few other projects done first of all. Tried to pay bills today and was brought up short by an unexpected charge on the ol' credit card. Good thing I checked that bill a week before payment is due, because I'll have to make a couple calls on Monday to sort that one out before the bill gets paid. Stupid "renewal" of a membership I didn't want...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:09:46 +0000

I'm an astronomy buff and always have been, so now that I know there are people out there who can do an accurate night sky, that's what I want. There are other places where I'll cut corners and not care. The sealing job I did under my windowsills isn't completely professional looking, but it looks okay and gets the job done. And I expect the bread I'm going to be baking isn't going to look exactly like bakery bread, but that doesn't matter as long as it tastes good. But in some things, yeah, I want it to look good, better than any amateur job I could do. And as I said, it's moot, anyway, until I can get that asbestos removed.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:33:36 +0000

It was the gold that attracted me, and the gracefulness and daintiness of the furniture. The Astor room is considerably more ornate than the Vanderbilt room I first saw, though. I'll have to mediate between the two, plus allow for the various furnishings in my office that under no circumstances can be painted. I do think a base paint coat of yellow will help brighten this room, which though painted white is way too dark until late afternoon. I painted the hall bathroom a blinding yellow a few years ago and every time I see it, it makes me smile. That is what I am aiming for, the automatic smile. One relatively inexpensive method of dealing with a popcorn ceiling that likely contains asbestos is to install a new layer of wallboard for a new ceiling. This won't work well if the ceilings are already very low, but it only takes away an inch or so. Popcorn ceilings tend to be shadowy, so the effect will probably be brighter even though lower. The big cost is labor, because either two men do it or one man with a special lift. Because they would not be opening up the possible asbestos at all, you wouldn't have to get into any of the $$$$ cost of asbestos removal. The wallboard itself is cheap, you'd have maybe one bit of electric to reposition lower if you have a ceiling light fixture or fan, and then a coat or two of primer and paint. I know this isn't in your immediate future, Zoo, but if your ship comes in, it's an easy fix. Who knows? Stars might be in your future.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:26:32 +0000

Went through my summer clothes. Just have to hang my skirts up. Construction in the house is slowing down, almost done, so I am putting everything back that was boxed up. It is so nice to see books back on the shelves. Bookcases look so naked when the shelves are empty. Such a depressing sight. But now they are full, and happy :) Although, somehow, I am missing at least 2 books. Of all things to disappear, why books??

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:47:06 +0000

I might be adding to clutter, or I might be improving the feng shui of my office. I bought a much-needed desk lamp, dirt cheap, that happens to be rococo style. Killing two birds with one stone, now I have good light in that corner plus a chance to consider adding more rococo to this room. If I lived nearer to an active Craigslist area, maybe I'd already have some sconces or a totally over-the-top mirror to improve the room's pitiful lighting even further. In due time...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:35:38 +0000

I did some yard decluttering today. But it'll take quite a while to get everything raked and sorted out. The part of my back porch that's not covered with tree debris looks better. I want to get a lot of the clutter and dead leaves out so the spiders have fewer places to set up house. Not that much discourages them.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:18:33 +0000

Working on the shoes today. I keep them in the shoe racks, except they are under my bed instead of hanging on a door. Since I have them pulled out(probably dont wear all of them), I might as well vacuum under the bed.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:41:01 +0000

Shoes are done, and I cleaned out a small dresser(more like a night table with drawers) and am getting rid of that. Yay I have an empty corner.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:58:20 +0000

Wish you lived close to me. I could use that nightstand. Before I could buy needed furniture for the house, the Recession hit and I lost my job. I've been continuing to declutter and clean the back yard. It looks better --- if you overlook the fact that there's almost no grass under the dead leaves.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 23:43:13 +0000

Yeah, you are a little ways away, sorry. Hope the backyard keeps getting better.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:03:22 +0000

Tacckling the purses next. And I have boxed up some more things to put in storage for my house(which I should be getting by winter :) )

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:28:31 +0000

I put a couple more skirts into the charity bag.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:35:22 +0000

Finished the purses and a bookcase. More things went into the boxes for the house. Not really house, more like cottage/studio. But it has a stone patio with small flower gardens. I'm gunna wait til autumn to see what patio sets are on sale. It'll be a great place to read and write.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:30:32 +0000

Put out my old spring coat to donate - I'll have to remember to take it along the next time I go somewhere I can drop it off. And now that I finally have one new pair of work trousers, and it's warm enough I don't need to wear leggings underneath, I'm chucking the shabby leggings and the two ragged old pairs of trousers - I was beginning to feel like a hobo. Those will be gone the next time I take out the garbage. I got a couple of new sweatshirts, too, so some of the oldest and most shabby shirts will go as soon as I find them (as soon as they come to the top of the shirt-pile). There's a particular blue one that I think I might have had since... uh... 2006 or so.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:24:45 +0000

Funny moment just now - I went outside to put the old work clothes in the bin, and passed one of my neighbours who was tinkering with a car - and needed rags to wipe his hands on! So even those ragged old trousers found another use, and if I find those shabby shirts, I'll give them to him as well.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:40:09 +0000

What timing! They have been given new life, lol

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:41:38 +0000

Tackled the dreaded paperwork. All the insurance papers and such that one wonders, how long do you keep them.... The papers went from 2 boxes to 1. Eventually I'll get a filing cabinet to keep them in.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:56:06 +0000

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, clothes to the thrift shop ... spring cleaning's a must! ... er yeah. I need to work on my doggerel, huh? In the meantime, blasting music and grimly pitching as much as my little packrat heart can stand. College graduation is getting nearer! Not looking forward to Passover. Next weekend we're gonna have to turn the kitchen inside out: stove, oven, pantry, cabinets, and especially the fridge. Oh well, that's what I get for being competent; my family always wants me to do it again... at least the freezer's in pretty good shape, thanks to the power outage back in January.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

dutchbando — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:02:55 +0100

Just curious - why do you need to clean the kitchen for Passover?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 05:38:59 +0100

All religious Jews clean their kitchens before Passover. It is forbidden to own or use chametz (things that contain grain or grain products) for the duration of Pesach, so before the holiday starts, all chametz foods have to be removed from the premises, and all traces of them must be obliterated, including crumbs. In general, any surface that is ever exposed to food needs to be cleaned. You have to get a little OCD about it. At my house, this usually involves: running the oven self-clean cycle, purging the fridge, freezer and cabinets, disassembling the fridge, stove, and microwave, scrubbing all the parts (and drying and replacing them), vacuuming inside the cabinets, wiping down the shelves, dusting a few other places, and cleaning the floor. Some people boil their dishes, deep clean the entire house, and cover all kitchen surfaces with foil or paper, but around my place we don't really have time for that. The basic version already takes me about 4 hours. After the chametz is removed, including a ceremonial "search and destroy" the night before the holiday, you recite a legal declaration that says you've done your best to remove all your chametz, and you renounce any claim of ownership on any chametz you might have left behind by accident. (It is then no longer yours, so if you find any, you must throw it out or give it away.) It's not a bad idea to clean your large appliances annually anyway (you'd be appalled to see what collects in the corners of my parents' fridge), but it sure is a pain in the ass. Also, I usually get stuck doing the whole thing by myself, which is disheartening. One of these years I'm gonna move across the country and leave my folks to deal with it all by themselves.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:09:40 +0100

I found a box of papers. GRR(that's my really bad description of growling in annoyance). I shoulda known that the paperwork was too easy to take care of.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:54:54 +0100

Everything I've ever read or heard about feng shui says that the major and first way to get rid of stuck energy is to declutter. Well, I've been decluttering till the cows come home, and I'm still stuck, stuck, stuck! Every way I turn, I run right into a brick wall. I managed to find jobs back when I was way messier and more cluttered than I am now. I've improved things considerably, but my life is still stuck in neutral. It's aggravating. I spent another three hours today working on decluttering my back yard, but it doesn't seem to look much different. And I got a short story rejected today. Another brick wall. :-( No wonder I have migraines.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

roruna — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:41:18 +0100

not quite decluttering but 3 weeks ago I started to properly track my housework. With the help of a handy-dandy spreadsheet, I've actually kept the living room, kitchen and bathroom looking presentable. Pretty soon, I might have enough of a handle on housework to actually declutter the bedroom.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Magpie Ilya — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:09:55 +0100

Took my old spring coat away to the donation box on Wednesday, and the first of the old and ugly shirts appeared at the top of the pile, so I put it aside to give to the neighbour who needs rags.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:08:23 +0100

I hope things start looking up soon, Zoo!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:09:06 +0100

Haven't really done much decluttering in a while. Still, it's holidays now, so perhaps I'll get something done. Raksab, I like that little rhyme!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:37:34 +0100

My nice neat home office looks like a cardboard and styrofoam explosion happened, I've got so many boxes and so much packing material scattered around. I've started cleaning the fridge. All the odd bits of bread got thrown out onto the back porch for the squirrels.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:26:52 +0100

The squirrels are rejoicing :)

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:29:08 +0100

LOL! And maybe if they're stuffed with organic whole wheat bread they'll stop digging up my peas.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:45:27 +0100

Maybe. But most likely not. They could be doing it as an initiation thing, like college. To get into the cool squirrel club one must brave the humans vegetable garden and mess up the peas.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:33:42 +0100

The bread is gone already. Totally gone. But it's way too windy to do much decluttering outside.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Saspirilla — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:15:20 +0100

After my last exam in May, my plan is to declutter my bedroom. There's boxes up and down everywhere! I'll need to move my textbooks, go through my bookcase (getting Kindle as graduation-from-university prresent!), go through DVDs and CDs, go through all the various ornaments and collectibles... this could be fun! Lots to go to the charity shop! I'll also need to go through various papers that have accumulated this year from applying for post-graduate stuff. Plus all the money thingies, paychecks... Joy. The place needs a deep clean too. The dust is incredible. My bears (I collect limited edition Teddies of various types) all need cleaned too. I may try a little Feng Shui but I can't move the furniture. It only fits one way as the room is so small. Candles, crystals and magnets, right? I'll be fine as long as mum doesn't try to help. She'd bin everything.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:39:01 +0100

My mother did that regularly when I was young. When I was at school or work, she'd go through my room and throw away everything she didn't want. It could be sitting neatly in a drawer, or on a shelf in the back of my closet, but when I came home, it would be gone. I accomplished a little today. I cleared off most of the foyer. It needs vacuuming and mopping, but it looks much better. It looks bigger. Unfortunately the windstorm of the past few days made a mess of the yard and the back porch, so it needs even more work than it did before.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:33:47 +0100

My only major project, which I know is doomed anyway, is putting sod over the area that was dug up when we had the septic tank pumped last week. The sod will die, as all sod I have put down here has done. It seems as if the existing lawn and anything new I attempt as seed or sod react like the RH factor. Instant death. My office contains several unfinished projects that call to me, plus a rather large number of neatly stacked items on surfaces. Those items don't seem to have homes. All the furniture needs to be rearranged so I get more sunlight when I'm using the computer. And there's always the rococo redo I've been thinking of. But first, every surface needs decluttering.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:19:32 +0100

Gathered up the ol' financial papers, filed the taxes, now awaiting the money which should be arriving in a few weeks. Hooray. note to self: this year, remember to stash the financial papers in the same place consistently over the course of the year, as opposed to tossing them down and then having to hunt for them six months later. (File cabinet? What's that?) Scanning them probably wouldn't hurt either. Next up on the declutter front: find a suitable credit union and open an account, then transfer all the moneys into it. Yet another bank just sent me notice (a small sneaky little message, they thought I wouldn't see) that checking fees are coming. I've had it. Time to put an end to this big-bank leeching once and for all. speaking of which, Zoo ... are you doing any charity or volunteer work? I dunno about "stuck energy" but sources agree that being generous attracts happiness and abundance. On a practical level, volunteering is a good way to acquire skills and make contacts, which certainly can lead to more money in the end.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:53:13 +0100

As I've said before, volunteer work requires an outlay of bus fare, which I can't afford, unless I give up eating. In my decluttering, though, I'm donating and freecycling what I can and recycling most of the rest, so instead of sitting in a dump, a lot of my stuff is rejoining the flow of the universe. I freecycled a couple of work skirts last week. No way am I ever going to get back to a size 10! Today I have to work on decluttering the back porch where the windstorm made a mess of it. My kindling was all in a nice, neat pile. Now it's scattered all over the back porch.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:25:44 +0100

I started going through my jewelry beading magazines, I have a plethera of them piled on the floor. I found some binders under my desk collecting dust, so I cleaned them off and am organizing the projects-ripping out the ones I like and putting them in binders, by project-earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc.... It's actually taking longer than I thought it would, but it will make searching for a beading project easier to find.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:23:07 +0100

Beading and jeweling! Cool! I actually got supplies sorted into separate bags according to type of material (stone, wood, silver, copper, etc.) and put into a huge rubber bin. Now I have to work on getting it out regularly and adding to my inventory. I didn't get the back porch done today, although I did get lots of yardwork accomplished.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

J.Kievsky — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:10:38 +0100

Have you looked at virtual volunteering? Volunteermatch.org > Advanced Search > Search for virtual opportunities usually has a decent selection, to give you an idea of what's out there. It's not as much street credit as in-person volunteerism, but it does help, and it's something to talk about when people ask what you've been up to. I've worked as a volunteer public-domain e-text producer for years now, and have built up a nice "portfolio" of HTML design and project work to show that way. A friend tutors urban youth in English via Skype and tells interviewers "living in rural South Carolina doesn't stop me from helping inner-city kids." Maybe there is something out there for you?

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:57:56 +0100

I've got to look at that. Living in rural West Virginia shouldn't stop me from helping people beyond tax season.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:16:33 +0100

Ho hum, cleaning house... Passover is safely over with, so now the food in storage can come back out. I see a bunch of things my brother left behind when he moved, so maybe I will call him to ask him to come get his things. He has a nice big house of his very own now, so it's not like he can't take the stuff. Although it beats me what he could want with uniforms from businesses where he no longer works. That's the trouble with uniforms: they're hard to recycle. The garden's a weedy wonderland, but it's raining and the plants are all watered, and I mowed the lawn last weekend so it's still looking decent, if not manicured. That's all I'm going to worry about right now. If I have time this weekend, I might plant some of those extra veggie seeds that haven't gone in the ground yet. I have such preeeetty flower seeds that must be planted... I mean the flowers they will become are pretty, the seeds themselves are not so attractive ;) Zoo, you know a lot of nonprofits will reimburse you for transportation or hook you up with rides, right? Or if you work at a food bank, they will often let you have some free food -- in fact, a lot of their volunteers receive aid, or received it in the past. (I speak from experience here; I have received all these perks and more at various organizations.) I mean, you're offering them free labor; of course they will try to accomodate you within reason. Call up the volunteer coordinator, tell them what's getting in your way, and see if they can help you. If you choose not to volunteer, that's your business, but I'm just saying, don't let lack of money stop you. Poor people actually volunteer more than the rich, on average.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:26:07 +0100

Raksab, I agree. I always saw working class people giving money on the subway and the street in NYC. They were close enough to hard times to give others the benefit of the doubt, I suspect. When I was at the low ebb of my finances I gave money to strangers, too. It made me feel richer to know I could spare a few dollars. I've looked at that online volunteer org and after I return from Machu Picchu, I'm going to be brave and contact some opportunities. I could see myself doing grant writing, if they'll have me. I struggle with the hands-on charity work around here because I am so obviously an outlander. People don't mind foreignness and being an educated know-it-all in a tax maven, but I am not convinced they would appreciate it in other direct contact charity roles. I believe giving helps strengthen our feelings of abundance, but we each have to find the role that feels comfortable.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:28:42 +0100

I've tried offering my services to nonprofit groups pro bono, but they got pretty snotty with me, so I stopped offering. I was told I had to go around in the evenings and knock on doors and try to get people to donate, all at my own expense, of course. When I tried to explain that I didn't have a car and I wasn't able to walk 10-15 miles every day, but that I was a professional writer and editor and I'd be glad to offer my services pro bono in those areas, I got yelled at. It just put me off the whole thing. I've never heard of any charities offering to reimburse for expenses such as bus fare. It's pretty much assumed that whatever you have to spend doing charity work is part of your donation, too. Also, they usually insist on a specific amount of time a week and a commitment of at least six months. I don't know what my life is going to be like in two weeks, much less several months. I have all of my dead computer equipment out on my front porch. Someone from Freecycle is supposed to pick it up for recycling tomorrow. I hope they come. Those CRT monitors are damn heavy, and I don't want to haul them back inside again.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:01:52 +0100

What do you mean, "yelled at"? Did they attempt to shame you? That's lame. Unimaginative on their part, too. Not everybody is just a pair of hands, or a fund raiser. I do understand not wanting to commit yourself to regular hours with a charity when you are hoping every day to land a full-time job. It sounds as if the online volunteer gigs would be more flexible. We just have to find the right fit.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:58:18 +0100

Finished organizing the jewelry binders. All those ripped up beading magazines went to the garbage. Now everyting is in binders, which coincidentally are all blue. Not planned, but look nice. Hmm, what to do next??

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:07:32 +0100

You know what? Forget it. You obviously know much more about the subject than me, even though I've done a wide variety of jobs at a dozen nonprofits in three cities (and not one employee has EVER yelled at me, or expected me to beg for donations door-to-door. At best that's tacky, at worst it's fraudulent). I must have been lying about the reimbursement and carpools thing, because you've never heard of it. Don't bother asking. Volunteering isn't really about teamwork and problem solving anyway. Getting rebuffed a couple times was so totally unfair that you might as well quit trying -- you already investigated the entire market, and it's not like rude rejections ever happen to other people. There's definitely no point in stooping to any job besides "professional writing," either. You're there to be helped, not to help others. Sorting food donations in exchange for a sack of food, for instance, would be an utter waste of time. (Apparently Colorado doesn't have food stamps either...) Forget about building job skills or making new friends. Who ever heard of a business that needs help with filing, answering phones, managing email, running errands, setting up chairs, directing traffic, stuffing envelopes, driving, cooking, supervising, or handing things out? Besides, everyone hates a flexible person with a positive attitude. Better to just stay home and blame all your troubles on your messy house.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Zookeeper — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:30:53 +0100

[Removed]

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:17:26 +0100

Zoo, your last post was totally out of line. The language was inappropriate, the name-calling was inappropriate, and you didn't address the main complaint Raksab made (albeit sarcastically, also pretty much out of line), which was that you have taken your limited (though nasty) prior experiences with charities and with volunteer work as the sum of all possible volunteer work in the universe, deliberately ignoring the specifics of Raksab's own experiences. Additionally, while doing your best to alienate everyone on this thread by insulting us all, you claimed that you were trying to get along with the rest of the human race. Contradictory, much? Get out of the house and interact with people. That's really all anyone has been suggesting to you, and you simply won't listen. My first reaction to Raksab's post was to wonder if it was addressed to me, as I am notoriously stubborn about taking advice, although I am certainly free about giving it. In my defense, I do think about my excuses for not doing my life differently, and I do consider the well-meant advice I am given. I also try not to ask for sympathy all the time for my situation. I've been pretty miserable the past two years, very freaked out, but it's my problem, not anybody else's. Lack of a job is a serious problem but it isn't the only problem in the world. Raksab, I hope you also realize that, frustrated as you were, you overreacted. Zoo wasn't calling you a liar; she simply was rejecting the truth of anyone else's life experience---an emotional reaction, not a logical one.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Jazz.Coffee.Love — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:57:35 +0100

^ Hands up, who saw that coming...

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:12:22 +0100

Way off topic, but Lily, you're going to Machu Picchu!? Jealous! I had to do an assignment on it in History. Looked so beautiful, and it's made me want to go. One day... Have fun!!

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Dragon Gal — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:20:05 +0100

Jazz: Nope.... I'd try and get the thread back into decluttering, but unfortunately, I've done nothing lately. I must push myself to actually 'do' something. When it's not 10 o'clock at night, and I have school the next morning. Sometime's it's not productive, being a night-owl.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:47:56 +0100

Think of visiting Machu Picchu as decluttering our lifelong list of places we want to see. One by one, we've been knocking them off. Feels good. Before we leave on a trip we make a big effort to clean up our home so when we return there's an "Ahhh" feeling. So a bit of physical decluttering happens, too.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Raksab — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:51:44 +0100

[quote=Hopeful lily] Before we leave on a trip we make a big effort to clean up our home so when we return there's an "Ahhh" feeling. So a bit of physical decluttering happens, too. [/quote] I sometimes think that if people didn't go out of town once in a while, nothing would ever get done. It shakes people out of their routine, jolts them into action, and sometimes (not always) forces them to prioritize. My mom always insists on cleaning the house right before she leaves on a trip. I think it's a way of coping with excitement. At my office, a surprising amount of the day-to-day work actually gets accomplished when my boss is about to leave (or has left) on a trip, which he fortunately does at least twice a month. We like him, but he's a bit ADD and keeps interrupting us with random tasks as he thinks of them throughout the day. When he's about to leave town is the time we actually sit down together and discuss major deadlines. (Also, when he's not around, the influx of "oh look a butterfly catch that and type it up for me" ceases. Until he calls on the phone, anyway...)

Moderator Note

Dragonchilde — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:58:40 +0100

Hey folks; I will ask that in the future, should a discussion become heated, that you please take a break from the forums, rather than responding. Let's keep it respectful, and remember that we're all here together. Assume the best, rather than the worst.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

42n8 Me — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:38:52 +0100

There's nothing like house guests to get those nooks and crannies cleared out! I enjoy having the company from time to time; but when they're gone, the *clean* they leave behind (from their arrival motivating me like nothing else can) is THE BEST!! :-D

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:38:59 +0100

My husband is so sensitive to smells that he doesn't want me to use any cleaning products that generate even the mildest odor. I'm not big on lethal cleaners, but it's difficult to even use dishwasher detergent around him. I finally had to suggest we shampoo the hall carpet with no shampoo in the machine, because soap or not, that rug was filthy. After a party I always enjoy the moved furniture, the sense that the house was brought up to a clean level, and, of course, the leftovers.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

42n8 Me — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:06:14 +0100

!!! Yay LEFTOVERS !!! :-D

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

Hopeful lily — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:15:08 +0100

Think good thoughts. Tomorrow I go over to my hoarder relative's house, possibly to paint, definitely to try to neaten up the yard that never gets any attention. Bringing power tools and painting clothes and plenty of bug spray. Today as I was driving into the nearest town to pick up a library book I was struck by how lovely the fields and the yards all looked. The first mow of hay has occurred and there were rolled bales dotting a nearby field and lines of drying hay in others. Most people (me included) mowed their lawn in the last day or so, so everything was very neat and crisp. And the sky was blue and beautiful. You can't ask for much more, really. The world is a beautiful place.

Re: Feng shui and decluttering

maggiep — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:44:07 +0100

I just got back from Ireland and have been on a major cleaning, decluterring, organizing, frenzy. The house we bought next door, for my Mom's store, is finally, totally, completely ours. The lady finally moved out yesterday(even thought she should have been out in the beginning of the month. anywho..). My parents new bedroom is finished and they have moved into that, their old room is now an office/beading/storage room. Hopefully the gutting will begin soon on the new house and if all goes well, she will move her store in there come fall, and I will move into the old store. In the meantime, a lot of boxing up and rearranging.