Susan Vogt - Living Lightly

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365+#70: Letting Go of Pet Peeves

May 18, 2014 Susan Vogt 1 comment

12 Pet Peeves and What I’m Doing About Them
Before I get back into continuing Round 2 of pruning more household items, I’m ready to let go of some intangible stuff – Pet Peeves. Over a year ago I blogged about my pet peeves including:
1. Radio interviewees who end with “Thank you” instead of “You’re welcome.”
2. Unnecessary use of bottle water
3. Dragged music at church
4. Oversized mattresses.
I’m embarrassed to say that apparently I’m still hanging on to too many of these peeves since I also did a rant on oversized mattresses on my Wk. 4 A-Drawer-A-Day blog several weeks ago.

New pet peeves that have cropped up in my life are:
5. Long winded people who talk too much
6. Pop-up audio ads on some websites that interrupt my concentration
7. House rehabbers who paint over all the original woodwork
8. Deer and other critters that bother my vegetable garden
9. People who drop cans and bottles on the street. Ideally they’d take them home and put them in the curbside recycling but at the very least, put it in a nearby trash can.
10. Planned obsolescence (I learned my GPS life time update will last as long as I live but my Garmin GPS only has an expected life span of 2 years.
11. Too many generic birthday wishes cluttering up my Facebook feed
12. Manufacturers changing the size of their box or product to trick us into paying the same price for less product. (Example: toilet paper has now apparently been downsized so it is narrower than it used to be and now leaves a bigger gap at the sides of your standard toilet paper holder.

This has gotten me thinking about what things annoy me and how to let go of pet peeves. I’ve noticed that these pet peeves seem to fall into 2 general categories:
A. Frivolous preferences and things I have little control over (the odd numbers).
B. Annoying but worthy things that would be a societal improvement if they were changed but may take more effort than I alone am capable of or care to invest (the even numbers). So, what to do?

For Type A pet peeves:
Accept that I cannot change other people’s language (“You’re welcome.”) long-windedness, littering (unless it’s my own kids), decorating preferences (if it’s not my own home), or Facebook birthday wishes (unless I want to lose friends and annoy people). I did mention to our music director once that dragged music is not pretty and I think it’s gotten better.) For things or people that are not in my realm of control, I hereby declare that I am crossing them off my pet peeve list and letting them go. If you hear me complain, call me on it.

For Type B pet peeves:

There are some things that I can complain to a manufacturer about and perhaps make an impact. I blogged about the oversize mattress issue, commented on other blogs, and now see that Heloise has taken it up the cause. My son helped me figure out how to put Ad Blocker on my computer to stop the malware audio pop-ups. Problem solved. I researched ways to get rid of garden pests and cut down an old apple tree that was attracting the deer. Problem decreased.
There are other peeves that are not so minor but I can’t do much as an individual. Things like reducing the unnecessary use of disposable bottled water require a community of advocates to pressure the market and government to make bottled water a no-no. This takes a lot of effort and joining with environmental groups, but it’s worth it. I have to choose my causes carefully, however, because I can’t do everything.
There are some things that just are not worth my time (like contacting toilet paper manufacturers and calling them on their deceptive practices). I spent half a day talking with various Garmin representatives with the only result being that if I bought a new device they’d give me another lifetime update and a 10% discount – but of course they still couldn’t say that it’s life expectancy would be more than 2 years.

Bottom line:
There are more important things to do and worry about than waste time and energy on minor pet peeves. Now that I’ve named mine, I’ve decided to let them go. What are your pet peeves? I invite you to go public with them by naming them once here on my blog and then choose at least one you can let go of.

Beyond Stuff Humor, Intangibles, Musings, Silliness

A Drawer A Day: Wk 9-Summary

May 3, 2014 Susan Vogt 3 comments

10 THINGS I LEARNED BY CLEANING OUT A-DRAWER-A-DAY

For several years I’ve been trying to make room for what’s important by clearing my home and life of clutter. I’ve given away thousands of items big and small. I’ve delved into the realm of intangibles as I tried to discern what memories, relationships, and feelings were unnecessarily weighing me down. It’s a big and ongoing endeavor. In talking with others, however, I would often hear admiration but resistance. For many, it just felt overwhelming or their lives were too busy to take on one more self-help project – no matter how worthy.

Out of this awareness, I decided to simplify simplifying. I had long suggested to people that perhaps it would feel more manageable to just start with a drawer. Most people could spare 15 minutes to clean out a drawer. I decided to try it myself, not just for one day but for 40 days and see what I would learn.

The process and my rules:

If the drawer of the day had nothing I was willing to let go of, I would move to a second drawer.
I did not do file cabinets (that might take a year) or my husband’s office (marital harmony is something I don’t want to give away).
I used the system that many organizers recommend: empty the drawer, separate the contents into piles of Keep, Give Away, Throw Away, and Wait. I added an additional pile of Move. Replace the Keep items, Store the Give Away and Wait items until I found the right place to take them, and Move the items that were in the wrong place to their buddies somewhere else in the house.
Half way through the process I decided to define our kitchen cabinets as drawers since I knew that there were lots of things there that needed to be pruned.
I started wiping out the empty drawers with paper towels but in the interest of saving trees soon changed to rags. In this spirit of environmentalism, I also divided the Throw Away category to include Recycle.)

Ten things I learned that might be useful to you.
1. Differentiate Between Give Aways and Throw Aways
Early in the process my husband saw my Give Aways and challenged me to re-evaluate whether old stockings – even if they had no runs – were really worthy of being given away. This is a personal decision but I tend to err on the side of not wanting to throw usable stuff away. See Week #1.

2. The Virtue of WAIT
Normally procrastination is the enemy of decluttering – or so I tell one of our kids who is known for his mantra, “I have not yet begun to procrastinate.” BUT, when it is a step to moving an item to a safe storage place, at least it’s progress. This turned out to be a house saver when we got a leak in our basement and we found an old plastic toboggan in the garage which could be rolled up to make a temporary downspout repair. See Week #5.

3. Respect Other People’s Stuff – But Not Forever.
Our four children are all sprung and living in their own places. When going through their former rooms I found things that certainly they no longer wanted. I checked. I was wrong. I negotiated. I lost. They have a deadline. See Week #2.

4. Don’t Get Distracted – Unless You Want To
This is a corollary to my “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” and “Know when to stop.” advice. The point of this experiment was to break the decluttering process down into small enough time blocks that it would overcome inertia. Several times I got into drawers or cabinets that just yearned for further work – a shelf needed repair, or I was on a roll and wanted to do more. Sometimes the joy of accomplishment kept me motivated but at least once it caused me to balk at doing a drawer the next day. See Weeks #2, 6, 8.

5. Some Stuff Has a Shelf Life
This is obvious but since I hadn’t gone through our bathroom medical shelves in many years, it was embarrassing how outdated some of the medications were. See Week #4.

6. Time Is Worth More Than Being Perfect.
As a responsible human being I want to repair items before I give them away, find the perfect recipient for a treasured item rather than just give it to a thrift store, recycle responsibly. Yea! But sometimes the time it takes to do something perfectly can be the enemy of the good. It stops me from doing anything. I had to loosen up. See Week #4.

7. Don’t Be A Slave to Rules
I had my self-made rules at the beginning of my 40 days but as I went along I learned that I needed to change what I counted as a drawer. Eventually, I changed some of my “rules” such as counting the kitchen cabinet doors as drawers and extended the 40 days beyond Lent because it served the bigger purpose. See Week 7.

8. Don’t Give Advice Without Testing It.
I said I would do A-Drawer-A-Day, but actually in the beginning it was a lot easier and time efficient to often do a week of drawers at a time – usually on the weekend. Eventually I tried to do it daily. This was a bigger burden than I expected. Perhaps it was because I was in the kitchen, but it humbled me up. See Week #6.

9. Ponder How Much is Enough
As I was going through our kitchen and dining room I started thinking, “Hey, we should have more dinner parties!” We have enough plates, glasses, silverware, and cloth napkins to host at least a couple dozen people; yet on a daily basis there are only two of us. I can justify some of our extra dinnerware to feed company but I hate to cook. Fortunately, my husband doesn’t mind cooking but it was quite sobering to realize we had so much stuff we weren’t using often. See Week #7.

10. Cleaning Out Stuff Hidden in Drawers was a Metaphor for Cleaning Out My Soul
A casual visitor to our home would probably not see any difference between my before and after A-Drawer-A-Day project. Drawers hide things. I went into this process with the hope that I would also make room in my heart to be less judgmental and love more unconditionally. I started opening up conversations with people I had been avoiding. I learned a lot about the troubles they carry. I decided to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation which I hadn’t done for awhile. These internal but invisible changes were very freeing and worth it. See Week #7.

A Drawer A Day Faith, Musings

A Drawer A Day: Wk 8-I Couldn’t Resist

April 27, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Call me compulsive, but I couldn’t resist at least finishing up the drawers on our first floor. Yes, Lent is over but I knew I had a few more drawers in our hallway and living room and one kitchen cabinet that I hadn’t gotten to in the past 40 days. I thought it would bring a little closure to this project to have finished the 1^st and 2^nd floors of our home. (This doesn’t include Jim’s office which is off limits for now and my office which is in the basement. Maybe later.)

WEEK 7 RESULTS:

8 Drawers reviewed. 6 had things to give away.

Give-Aways:
13 Coasters (out of 28)
8 Jello molds (We seldom make Jello… well actually never any more)
1 Pack of cup cake baking cups (ditto for cupcakes)
3 Corning trays (small and an unusual shape)
2 Plastic bowls with lids (out of 6)
1 All purpose grater (already have another)
1 Knit neck warmer
1 Water filter (that must have been hiding when I gave the rest of them away)
1 Neighborhood Directory (duplicate)

Wait:
1 biking glove
I was ready to throw this away but hubby said, he’d like to wait awhile to see if the matching glove shows up.

Throw away:
1 container of powdered instant orange drink (now hardened)
5 Clips to keep kid’s mittens on (no kids anymore)

2 LEARNINGS:
1. Bringing closure
Although I still have drawers in my basement desk and my husband’s office that could qualify for A-Drawer-A Day, it feels good to have finished two floors of our home. There’s something to be said for a natural end point and I think I’ve reached it for now.
2. Slim pickings
Another sign that it’s time to stop this project is that there were very few things left that were worthy of giving away.

Next blog will be a summary of what difference this has made inside and out.

A Drawer A Day Kitchen

A Drawer A Day: Wk 7-Dining Rm

April 20, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge and see the tiny ceramic figures.

This is the last week of Lent and I’m moving to our dining room which has exactly 7 drawers. (I won’t finish all the drawers in our house before Easter, but this will have to do for now because we’re going out of town for Easter. It was a fun room to do because I store table supplies, wrapping supplies, and other decorative things in the china cabinet we have here. I may even have the longest drawer on record – 5½ feet. It’s great for storing table cloths. Here’s the result of my pruning.

WEEK 6 RESULTS:
7 Drawers reviewed – all had things to Give Away or Throw Away

Give-Away:

20 Place-mats (out of 58)
16 Napkins (out of 97)
3 Table cloths (out of 17)
2 Table runners
1 Banana fiber basket
6 Steak knives (out of 17)
9 Mysterious tiny ceramic do-dads. I have no idea who made these or what they are for. They may end up in my visiting children’s Grab Basket.

Throw Away / Recycle:

2 Partial rolls of deteriorating wrapping paper
11 Small candle holders
1 Unfinished paper banner that apparently was intended for one of our kid’s 17^th birthday
2 Packets of scented herbs that have lost their scent
A whole bunch of old maps and posters that were so far back in a drawer that I had completely forgotten them. Most were pretty frayed. Some might be salvageable if I can find someone to give them too. Jim, aka Mr. Map, will review them, but I think they are even beyond his interest.

3 INSIGHTS
1. We Need to Host More Dinner Parties
With all these table cloths and cloth napkins we obviously should be having more large dinner parties. I guess I should give up hope that one of our kids will marry above our station and we will need to impress the in-laws. Actually, with our kids living away from home and many of our older relatives dead, we don’t even have many large holiday dinners any more. I suppose I should give away more of this stuff, but then there’s always those potential in-laws.
2. Cleaning Out the Inside
I did a lot of thinking as I cleaned out drawers and cabinets. I realized that from the outside nothing looked that different in our home. Drawers hide things. I went in to this Lent hoping that this practice would help me look at what needed to be cleaned from my interior spiritual life. I decided to take the plunge this week and go to Confession – or the Sacrament of Reconciliation as we now call it. It’s never an easy thing to do because it takes humbling myself in front of another human being. I had to stop procrastinating and make the call to our parish priest. I had to do some honest self-evaluation of what was keeping me from loving others whole-heartedly. There’s no sense trying to hide things from God. I had to face my self-righteousness and try to let go of it…again. It was hard, but it was good. I feel freer. My penance? We agreed that I would go to a nearby park, be still, observe, and focus on being grateful for 5 minutes.
3. It’s Embarrassing
Even though I’m giving away quite a few place-mats, napkins, etc., it’s embarrassing to note that I still have more than I could ever use to feed one meal to a group. Yes, it’s nice to have variety and be able to have a couple color schemes but this strikes me as a first world value. Heck, some people still go hungry, go to soup kitchens like the one I just donated some of my stuff too. Some people eat junk food and fast food. (Sometimes it’s the same thing.) And I care about matching my napkins to my table cloths! It will take some time to turn this boat around. But some people don’t have the time to wait. Hmmm.

Lent is over but this project is not.
Give me another week and I think I can finish at least the rooms of the house that I have control over. I’ve been warned not to venture into Jim’s office. Then I’ll summarize my learnings from the whole 7 weeks.

A Drawer A Day Household, Intangibles, Musings

A Drawer A Day: Wk 6-Kitchen+

April 13, 2014 Susan Vogt 2 comments

NOTE: This week’s blog is longer than usual. Skip to the end, LESSONS LEARNED, if you just want the bottom line – though this means you may miss my humor too. 🙂

Lent is a penitential season so I have a confession to make. I haven’t been cleaning out A-Drawer-A-Day. In the interest of saving time, I’ve usually waited till the weekend and then did 7 days at once. It simplified my life. But, in the interest of authenticity I decided I should at least try A-Drawer-A-Day to see if it really was that much more inconvenient or if it really felt easier.

DAY 1: Since I hadn’t finished all the cabinets in the kitchen last week, I chose a pretty big cabinet. It may have actually equaled 3 or so drawers but I thought, “Heck, I’m only doing one today, I can handle this.” Besides, I suspected I wouldn’t have much to give away, and it would at least get cleaned. I was right that there wasn’t much to give away and the cabinet did get cleaner (I remembered to use rags today instead of paper towels like last week.) The only thing I found to remove were plastic food storage containers. But here was the problem. Some of the lids didn’t fit. Some of the bottoms didn’t have lids. And some of the lids didn’t have bottoms.
Keep: 32 containers
Give Away: 1 container with matching lid that was an odd size
Recycle: 11 mismatched lids and bottoms that had a triangle on them
Throw Away: 24 mismatched or duplicate lids and bottoms that didn’t have a triangle
Time: 2 hours. Fortunately/unfortunately in the process of sorting and reorganizing I noticed that the shelf was uneven and decided to put a new brace under it. These projects always seem to escalate.

DAY 2: After my satisfying but time consuming experience on Day 1, I decided that I would need to redefine how many cabinet sections equaled one drawer. I decided to count each cabinet door as one drawer. (According to this definition I have 16 remaining “drawers” in the kitchen although many of them probably won’t have anything to remove.
Give Away: 5 measuring cups that had been hidden behind food boxes.
Time: 10 minutes. (Now that’s a lot more reasonable.)

DAY 3: (staples like oils, vinegars, measuring cups…)
Give Away: 0, but I have 3 much cleaner shelves 🙂
Time: 15 minutes. According to my original rule of finding at least one thing a day, I should have gone on to the next door but I thought that 15 minutes was a reasonable amount of time to spend each day, so I decided to stop. (She who maketh the rule can changeth the rule.) If I make this too time consuming, it will sabotage my motivation.

DAY 4: (odds & ends)
Give Away: 1 Kitchen Slicer (with 4 blades)
Recycle: 1 very old bottle of raspberry syrup (I love all things raspberry but this bottle was almost empty and even I had to admit that the syrup looked a lot thicker than when I remember last using it about 5 years ago.
Time: 10 minutes
+ 5 minutes trying to see if I could readjust the cabinet door to close more tightly
+ 5 minutes trying to soften the raspberry syrup so I could empty the bottle to recycle it
+ 5 minutes consulting with Jim about whether we would ever use the Kitchen Slicer enough to warrant keeping it.

DAY 5:
Door #1: Blender
Give Away: 0 – I’m keeping the blender.
Time: 4 minutes to clean. Since I didn’t remove anything and it was quick, I moved on.

Door #2: (3 shelves containing spices, teas, coffees etc.)
Give Away: 0 – Still nothing worth giving away but definitely some things to recycle or throw away
Combined: chili powder, pickling spices, Old Bay seafood seasoning
Recycled or Threw Away:
– Large Fiber bottle (exp. date 2011)
– Mexican chocolate bar for cooking (out of 2)
– 5 Lipton tea bags. We prefer herbal teas.
– Very old green and red sprinkles (I don’t do Xmas cookies.)
– Unidentified powder in a plastic bag.
Wait:
– MSG
– Alum powder
Time: 40 minutes (about 13 minutes a shelf) Perhaps I should have considered a shelf to be a drawer, but a rule is a rule and I’m sticking to it, even if I did make it myself. There’s nothing like consistency. 🙂
+ 5 minutes to check the use of MSG and Alum and how harmful either might be
+ 5 minutes to consult with Jim about what he wanted to keep
+ 5 minutes preparing the stuff that was to be recycled
Hmmm. All told, this took longer than I expected.

DAY 6: (Alcohol)
Door #1: 0 (Kept some alcohol basics, an ice crusher, and a flask)
Time: 3 minutes

Door #2:
Throw Aways:
– 1 bottle of vermouth we bought about 20 years ago to make martinis when my parents visited. Since it was opened and old, I suppose I’ll just throw it away.
– 1 tiny bottle of Mirabelle de Lorraine
Time: 4 minutes
+2 minutes on the internet to find out what Mirabelle de Lorraine is (a plum brandy from France)
+12 minutes to clean the dust off the top of the refrigerator which sits below these two liquor cabinets

DAY 7
Door #1: 0 – Kept all the cereals that we regularly eat
Time: 1 minute

Door #2: 0 – Kept our daily medicines and a microwave lid
Time: 2 minutes

Door #3: glasses and mismatched mugs
Give Away: 1 mug This might seem to be a rather paltry give away but the advantage of mismatched mugs is that we can give them to company and each person has their unique mug. However, 2 mugs matched so I’m giving away one so no one will get confused and share germs.
Time: 10 minutes

PAUSE – OK, so I accomplished one give away today and should stop, BUT, there’s only one door left in this area and I know it is pretty clean and contains stuff we use every day so it should be easy.

Click to enlarge & see how decrepit these are.

Door #4: (pots, pans, and mixing bowls)
Give Away/Throw Away?
– 2 old, somewhat corroded, bread pans. We still have 6 good ones.
– 10 mini bread pans. Some would call these disposable, but I know we used them more than once.
Time: 5 minutes

LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Don’t give advice without testing it.
A-Drawer-A-Day sounded like an easy starting point for beginning simplifiers. I still think that holds, but it can be complicated by what you consider a drawer. When my kitchen drawers were finished I started on my cabinets. In hindsight, if my aim was to do this in small bites, I would have counted each kitchen door shelf as a drawer. Calculating this way (and not counting side repair projects) I averaged 7 minutes per “drawer.” That would be pretty doable for most people.

2. It’s hard to stop.
Once I got into cleaning a drawer, I found other peripheral projects like cleaning the tops of the cabinet doors or repairing shelves. This can be a pro or a con. The momentum of starting a cabinet motivated me to fix related things in my way. If time is limited, however, it can discourage continuing the next day lest it escalate into a bigger than anticipated project.

3. Don’t be a slave.
I started out with a plan to find at least one thing a day to give away (or at least throw away). As circumstances changed, I needed to not be a slave – even to my own rules. Do what works for you.

4. It’s worth it?
Even when I didn’t give anything away, it was worth it to:
– Find lost things
– Get the drawers cleaner
– Combine and get rid of duplicates”
– Be able to find things more quickly in uncluttered drawers

Question: I’m wondering what kitchen supplies other people would choose to keep or pitch?

A Drawer A Day Food, Household, Kitchen, Musings, Recycling

A Drawer A Day: Wk 5-Kitchen

April 5, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Fondue set

Now we move to the kitchen which is primarily my husband-the-cook’s domain so I carefully checked potential give-aways with him. The drawers contained the usual kitchen stuff that is found around the sink, dishwasher and stove (utensils, silverware, dishwashing supplies, baking supplies and dishes, and miscellaneous stuff.

WEEK 5 RESULTS:
10 Drawers* reviewed (2 of which were cabinet shelves, but they function as big drawers)
7 Drawers and shelves had things to Give Away or Throw Away
*Again I decided that I would define cabinet shelves as drawers.

Give-Aways:

Click to enlarge

2 large kitchen knives (out of 4)
2 small knives (out of 8)
1 large wooden spoon (out of 2)
1 baster (out of 3)
2 sippy cup lids (out of 4)
3 baby spoons/forks (out of 6)
3 mismatched forks and spoons
1 pizza cutter (out of 2)
a few twist-ties that didn’t fit (out of gobs of them)
1 corkscrew (out of 3)
2 disposal fix it wrenches (out of 3)
3 cookie cutters (out of 13)
1 Corning baking dish (out of 7)
1 pie dish (out of 4)
1 lid that didn’t fit any of our baking dishes
Fondue set (It was a 1972 wedding gift and lovely but seldom used.)
4 water filters (left from a long term house guest who was sensitive to the taste of Covington water)

There wasn’t much to throw away or put in a wait pile. Most of the items we use frequently. We did keep a couple cake pans even though we don’t make many cakes (We’re a pie family.) because there just might come a time when a cake is called for.

5 MUSINGS:
1. Does It Count?
Does cleaning a drawer count even if I don’t give anything away? I decided only to count drawers that had items to give away. (For example, I didn’t count the oven drawer.) BUT, the cleaner drawers did make my husband-the-cook happy and that counts for something.
2. Paper Towels vs. Rags
Does using paper towels (because I didn’t want to dirty my rags and then have to wash them) cancel out any cleaning virtue. Probably. In hindsight I could have easily used some of the many rags I’ve collected over the years. It’s just one load of wash. Next time…
3. One Out – One In
I found 2 old roach traps and replaced them with 2 new ones. It’s a zero sum game.
4. (Out Of x)
I started to notice a pattern in my Give-Aways. Most of them were followed by (out of x). The Fondue set and water filters were the only things that were not duplicates. Now certainly a family needs more than 1 fork, spoon, knife, plate, etc., but it’s sobering for me to notice that we had 3 corkscrews for wine when one would do. We had 4 sippy cup lids and no children at home. Even accounting for our 2 grandchildren, they can only drink from one cup at a time. We had 7 Corning baking dishes – mostly of different sizes, so we gave away one? I feel embarrassed to even admit that I am still such a saver that I wasn’t ready to part with more. That “Someday we’ll be looking for just the right size Corning dish” mentality is hard to shake. But then came another sobering experience. Read on.
5. The Virtue of Procrastination
People often ask me if I’ve ever regretted giving something away. Not yet. Last week, however, we again got a leak in our basement and traced it to a downspout that broke off near the ground. After searching around the house for something we could rig up Rube Goldberg style to temporarily guide the rain water into the correct pipe, we settled on an old red piece of plastic that we found in the garage. In its former life it was a rudimentary toboggan. It doesn’t snow much in Kentucky and it has probably been at least 15 years since anyone in our family used this toboggan but it was perfect. We rolled it up tight to fit around the drain spout and it’s working well as a temporary fix. I couldn’t help thinking, however, that if my second round of purging had gotten to the garage sooner that we wouldn’t have had this tool. Sometimes having some old “useless” stuff hanging around the house can be useful.

A Drawer A Day Kitchen, Musings

A Drawer A Day: Wk 4-Bathroom

March 30, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

I knew this was going to be a tough week because it involved our upstairs bathroom – especially the closet shelf that held medical supplies. Once a visitor opened the door and said, “Hey, you’ve got a whole pharmacy here!” Now technically this closet isn’t a drawer but it held many things that I knew needed to be cleaned out so I decided to redefine the four shelves as “drawer imposters.”

Click to enlarge

First, let’s start with the easy part. I finished up our 4^th bedroom which is for guests but still holds some family members’ stored stuff. I picked out some things to give away that I thought were no brainers. Several were vetoed by family members who shall remain anonymous since it would be embarrassing to out them as still wanting to keep Dashboard Confession t-shirts that no longer fit and various other frayed t-shirts. I reorganized some stuff and threw away miscellaneous old papers. I consigned the t-shirts to the “Wait” pile which means wait till I can persuade the hoarders to release the t-shirts.

Now the challenge – the bathroom. Several shelves were relatively easy. Does anyone polish shoes anymore – other than in airports? I found some red and blue shoe polish. Neither Jim nor I own any red or blue shoes. I reviewed all of my sheets, blankets, and towels. Even though last year I gave away quite a few, and even accounting for an extra sheet set for each bed, I still had an embarrassing amount to give away. I’m pleased to give the twin size sheets to our local Catholic Worker House.

Pause for Vogt mattress rant: Part of my reluctance to give more sheets away earlier was my annoyance at the mattress/sheet industrial complex who I am convinced changed the height of mattresses just to sell more mattresses and sheets to fit them. (That’s why I saved more fitted sheets than I need lest I no longer be able to buy ones to fit our mattresses. Mattress manufacturers used to recommend buying a new mattress every 8-10 years. Now they are saying every 5-7 years. Jim and I have had our current mattress for 42 years – since our wedding. Before you gasp in horror, I must say that I have no trouble sleeping, the mattress feels comfortable, and it was a good quality mattress to start with. I’m sure some people would benefit from replacing their mattress more frequently than this but, barring bed bugs, I take this 5-7 year advice with a big grain of salt. End of tirade.

The “Health Shelf”
Before

Then I got to the “Health Shelf.” I knew this would be a challenge since I was going to have to check prescription expiration dates on medications that were so old that I could barely read them. How much baby powder does one need if you no longer have any babies? (even after invoking the visiting grandchild clause). Yup, somebody may get lice again, but would a 20 year old dab of the remaining Nix do the trick? We had lots of old laxatives and anti-acids in many forms, some of them discolored when I opened the containers – and I’ve never had a problem with constipation or gas. Finally, I still had lots of shampoo, conditioners, lotions, etc. that I bring home from hotels. At least I know I can give them to our local Mary Magdalene House that offers showers and toiletries to the homeless.

Interesting find: I found a small acupuncture kit that a visiting Korean left with us probably a decade or so ago. She showed us how to use it and it still has most of the supplies in it. Unfortunately, the directions are all in Korean, my memory of Korean script has deteriorated, and I don’t have a current use for it – even if I could find a Korean translator. I hate to throw it away, but I suppose there’s no reason to keep it. It doesn’t seem quite right to take a partially used kit to our local Korean restaurant or Korean Christian congregation.

WEEK 4 RESULTS:
10 Drawers reviewed 3 of which were empty.
1 Drawer had t-shirts that have to be put in the WAIT pile
6 Drawers and shelves had things to Give Away or Throw Away

Give-Aways

2 blankets
1 bed pad
5 sheets
6 pillow cases
3 towels
22 individual size shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and soaps.
1 toothbrush still in original package

Throw Aways

Click to enlarge

15 prescriptions dated from 1994 – 2004. I know, I know, many would say that an Rx even 1 year past its expiration date is too old but the particular Rxs I saved aren’t likely to biodegrade much. (See Johns Hopkins Medicine Alert.)
5 laxatives
15 toothbrushes. (I planned to give away 7 of these that were in good condition and sterilized by running them through the dishwasher, but neither of my sources would take them. I probably wouldn’t either if I were them – except for the fact that I can vouch for them.
Nit for lice
Old sore throat lozenges
Old lotions from hotels that became so coagulated they were unusable

Wait

I found two mysterious contraptions that may have been in our house when we bought it 32 years ago. I’m not even sure what they are. My guess is that the red object may be a razor blade sharpener. The other one may be a pencil sharpener. Perhaps they are antiques. Perhaps they are worthless. Perhaps I could sell them on E-Bay and get some money. Perhaps I don’t have the time and should just pitch them.
I also found several very old metal razors. Ditto

Keep

10 toothbrushes. I sterilized a few good ones in case guests forget theirs plus several for cleaning in small places.
A whole bunch of other stuff

WHAT I’VE LEARNED:
1. Some stuff has a shelf life. According to a Johns Hopkins Medicine Alert, the expiration dates on medication are usually conservative and many (if stored well) can be safe and effective for years after the expiration date. Of course the operative word is “can.” Without analysis, there is no guarantee.
2. Some people aren’t as ready as I am to give away their unused stuff. I really thought a number of my family’s stored commemorative t-shirts would surely be released for give-away, but I was wrong. I invoked the “Better to Maintain the Relationship Than Have a Clean Draw” rule of thumb.
3. My time is worth more than being pure. How good or useful does stuff have to be to keep it (or give it away instead of throwing it away or recycling it)? Few people probably sharpen their double edged razor blades any more. Few people use the old fashioned razors for shaving. Even though my sterilized toothbrushes were clean, the two facilities for homeless people would not take them. I have a cool porcelain toothbrush holder for 4 toothbrushes but the newer chubby toothbrushes won’t fit in it. How far should I search for a receiver? Maybe I could sell them on E-bay to a collector but that would take my time to figure out how to do it.

A Drawer A Day Household, Other's Stuff

A Drawer A Day: Wk 3-Bedroom #2 & 3

March 23, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

I’m not sure if I made much progress this week. I finished Bedroom #1 but one of the drawers took me a couple hours to go through. I had forgotten that this was where I stashed old diaries and calendars dating back to my college graduation in 1969. Eventually I decided to keep them since many were prayer journals that were sobering to read – so I did. Note to self: Always put the year on journals. I spent part of my time reconstructing dates based on which child was referenced and who wasn’t born yet. There’s a big gap between 1984 and 1999. Either I didn’t do much praying during those years, didn’t journal, or lost it. I suppose if I found the missing 15 years it would mostly be prayers of supplication like, “Dear God, which of these 4 children should I worry about most.” (These were the years during which we always had at least one teenager.) Wading through the memories took a good amount of time.

Bedrooms #2 and #3 were quick but not very satisfying. These are now guest bedrooms so the dressers in both of them were empty. The desk drawers, however, were stuffed with our kids’ papers, diplomas, and mementos. Unfortunately, the owners now live in Singapore and Nairobi, Africa. I pruned a few obvious things but know better than to give away those African bracelets or photos. Note to self: The next time each of these world citizens comes home, INSIST that they go through these desk drawers and only keep those things they will need to get their next job.

WEEK 3 RESULTS:
30 Drawers reviewed 20 of which were empty
3 Drawers had nothing I was willing to give away
7 Drawers had things to Give Away or Throw Away

1. Give-Aways

Several calendar planners. (One was undated and thus could be used any year you care to take the time to put the dates in. One was dated 2002 which means it will be perfectly good again in 2019, 2030, and 2036.
Some patterns for children’s clothes. I don’t think I’ll be sewing for kids again.
Office supplies including a whole bunch of paper clips

2. Throw-Aways

A manual for a sewing machine I no longer own
A manual for a Macintosh Power Book, ©1997

3. Wait

Jim’s calendars from 1971 – 1981 plus 2001, 2002, 2003. He’s out of town, so I have to wait to ask.
Pretty practical white plastic box that might be good to store something in

4. Keep

Many patterns that I probably won’t use again since I have little time to sew anymore, but I’m just not sure who to give them to. Are there any takers?

WHAT I’VE LEARNED:
1. Beware of Other People’s Stuff
It’s tempting to want to throw away other people’s stuff that they haven’t touched in years. I’ve decided, however, to give them one more opportunity to prune their stuff before I make the final decision. My rule of thumb is that keeping a good relationship with family members is more important than an empty drawer.

2. Don’t Get Distracted
Since I’m going room by room, drawer by drawer, it’s tempting to also clear out peripheral stuff that I notice near the drawers. I decided I better not since this could escalate into more major cleaning and time. The result would be that something that seemed simple and doable morphs into a major home redo and I then lose motivation. A Drawer A Day feels manageable.

A Drawer A Day, Beyond Stuff Memorabilia, Musings, Other's Stuff

A Drawer A Day: Wk 2-Bedroom #1+

March 16, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

I’m still in my bedroom because we have two extra dressers that serve as storage for gifts, mementos, and children’s clothes that we still have visions of someday passing on to grandchildren. It’s a little embarrassing to admit that I have two dressers worth of extra stuff and a bedroom big enough to hold them. Alas, that is the reality of a large older home that we’ve lived in for over 30 years. It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I approached the six dresser drawers this week since I knew that they were stuffed with memories. Many items were potential gifts that I had collected, often from foreign countries.

WEEK 2 RESULTS:
1. Give-Aways

11 pieces of baby and children’s clothing (I saved the ones to which I’m most sentimentally attached in case there are future grandchildren who might use them.)
11 T-shirts. Most of them got saved because they came from foreign countries. Thus, even though no one wore them anymore, they were mementos of trips. I decided that it was better for someone to wear them now, than to have them stay in my drawer.
3 little purses. I love having a tiny, across the body, purse for travel that’s just big enough for money, ID, a comb, photos, and a phone. Unfortunately several times I’ve found such a perfect purse forgetting that I already had one. Eventually these do wear out, so I saved three others.
2 mini clocks without batteries
5 packs of sewing machine needles from a sewing machine that broke 2 years ago.
Men’s slippers that I was saving for guests who might need some. No one ever asked. Why not give it to someone who could use it now.
1 of Jim’s sweaters. I cajoled Jim into going through his dresser. He chose two drawers and found one sweater that he was willing to give away.

2. Throw-Aways (These were easy calls this time around.)

Used Boy Scout badges (I suppose I could have contacted a local Boy Scout troop and offered them the badges but they weren’t new looking and I made a ruthless decision that my time was worth more than perfection this time around.)
Miscellaneous obsolete papers.
A broken light that attaches to a book.
4 dead AA batteries (put in with our stash of batteries to be recycled of course)

3. Wait

Pair of long underwear. Maybe next winter will be just as cold as this one.
A light that attaches to a book that isn’t broken – I think. Once I get two fresh AA batteries, I’ll see if it works. If so this should be good for reading in bed or giving away.
Lots of stuff I left in the drawers that I don’t use regularly but I might some day.

4. Keep

Gifts until I find the appropriate person to give them to.
Sewing machine thread, scissors, and other supplies.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED:
1. Extreme Purging Delayed
Even though I’m giving a lot of things away, I still have at least half of the contents that I’m still attached to or keeping for awhile. A true minimalist would probably give everything away (except the sewing machine supplies) but I’m not there yet. I’ve found that sometimes I need time to be ready to let go of sentimental items.

2. Move It
I’ve created a new category called “Move It.” These are things I found that really belong in another place of the house. Most of my Move It items were trinkets that I think might be of interest to visiting children so I moved them to my “Children’s basket” which I keep handy for young people to look through and select a little treasure to take home. I have a small pang of conscience, however, as I wonder if I’m just contributing to another household’s clutter. I justify my action by figuring I’m spreading a little bit of joy to kids who enjoy a new trinket, then maybe they’ll pass it on.

3, Weighing the Perfect Vs Time
In a perfect world some of my Throw-Aways (like the Boy Scout badges) could have been cleaned up and given to a scout troop to reuse. The extra zipper could be used – eventually by someone, somewhere. But sometimes I just made a decision not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The time it would take to refresh the badges, find the scout trip, and hope that some of the scouts were working on the same badges that my son did, wasn’t worth the time and uncertainty.

A Drawer A Day, Beyond Stuff Clothes, Memorabilia

A Drawer A Day: Wk 1-Bedroom #1

March 9, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

I started my Drawer-A-Day pruning in the logical place – my dresser drawers and night stand.
Here are the stats:

5 days
8 drawers (2 of which I skipped – after emptying these drawers I chose to remove nothing.)

I used the process described on Ash Wednesday – Empty the drawer and divide the contents into 4 piles:

Keep
Give Away
Throw Away
Wait

RESULTS/LEARNINGS:

Easiest things to give away:
- Stockings in good condition. (Thanks to the enlightened female fashion trend that favors bare legs in the summer I seldom wear stockings anymore. I saved a few for when I’m invited to a wedding or the White House.)
- Fingernail and toenail clippers, tweezers. Yes these are helpful gadgets to have but do I really need 6 toenail clippers? I saved two – one for me and one for potential visitors.
- A battery powered tweezer that never worked that efficiently. After all, I did keep two human powered tweezers.
- Mini travel alarm. I love miniaturized things for travel but when I tried to replace the battery to see if it worked, I found that it didn’t run on a battery. Where it got its power is a mystery. It certainly couldn’t run on solar power while stashed in my drawer.
Hardest to give away:
- T-shirts with political or spiritual sayings. These are more like wearable bumper stickers, but is it really worth saving a campaign shirt from a 2012 or 2008 election – even for a novelty party?
- I did save one T-shirt showing the Last Supper with all women apostles. The best day to wear this is Holy Thursday and it was hard to justify a once a year wearing, but maybe I’ll just have to wear it more often.
Throwaways
- Stockings that had seen better days and peds that I would never wear even though they’re in good condition.
Things I kept:
- The two skipped drawers contained 16 winter tops and sweaters that I wear regularly.
Distinguishing Give-Aways from Throw-Aways
- Jim said that probably some of my give-aways should really be throw-aways. This applied to my “good condition” stockings and several slightly used lipsticks. As usual, he’s probably right.
Click to show whole dresser

No Outward Difference.
- My dresser and night stand don’t look any different from the outside but I have a pleasant feeling when I look inside and see space that is no longer crammed.
- Even though I cleared out a fair amount of stuff, I was surprised that I couldn’t actually consolidate items enough to gain an empty drawer. There are still too many items in the “I don’t use or wear this much, but I might want it someday” category. I still have room to grow – or maybe I mean diminish.

Since we’re talking about clothes, perhaps this would be a good time to acquaint you with Project 333. This is the invention of Courtney Carver who challenges us to wear only 33 items of clothing for 3 months (one season). You don’t have to count your wedding ring, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing. I haven’t officially tried it yet but am intrigued to see what I’d be left with after my 16 winter tops.

A question to ponder: What would be your hardest or easiest dresser items to part with?

A Drawer A Day Clothes, Organizing

A Drawer A Day: Ash Wednesday

March 5, 2014 Susan Vogt 1 comment

Some folk take to living lightly easily. They may have been downsizing and simplifying for quite a while. Maybe this is you.

Others, however, feel intimidated by the challenge of letting go of stuff – both clothing and beloved mementos. I often suggest that they start small – perhaps just clean out a drawer. Even if you don’t go any further, at least you have one cleaner drawer.

This prompted me to check out whether I could do this myself and thus was born my plan to prune A Drawer A Day for the next six weeks. As a Lenten practice it’s a way to pay attention to the interior. What’s inside me that could use some pruning – perhaps some attitudes that I’ve hung on to that are no longer serving me well, perhaps some selfishness, perhaps some pride. We’ll see.

The State of my drawers – In taking inventory of the furniture in our house I found:

120 drawers
58 shelves (not counting book shelves)
15 of these shelves partially serve the purpose of drawers because they are in closets.

Following are some rules I’ve set for myself:

Given that I have more than 40 drawers, theoretically I could do more than one drawer a day. I know, however, that some of the drawers in our grown kids’ vacated rooms are empty. I’m starting with just one drawer a day as a base. If I feel motivated some days to do more, fine. We’ll see.
All the organizing books and gurus I’ve read recommend emptying the drawer, closet, storage space first and then gradually put back only the items one intends to keep. I think this makes sense. It not only will force me to decide if each item is worth keeping, it will help me start with a clean drawer.
If I find nothing in the day’s drawer that I am willing to part with, I will go on to the next drawer until I find some thing to give away or throw away.
File cabinets don’t count. (We have eight. These alone could be a project for one full Lent.)
Drawers in Jim’s office don’t count unless they contain common family items that I use too.
Although I’m going drawer by drawer, we have nine rooms in our home and two baths. I’m aiming at approximate a room a week. That’s probably overly ambitious.

I invite you to join me and let me know how you’re doing. Hopefully, we can learn from each other.

A Drawer A Day Faith

365+#68: Rnd 2 -More winter clothes

February 17, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

There’s not much to say about this post, other than it continues to be very cold in my little area of the world (Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana). The temperatures have hovered around 0 Fahrenheit. Meanwhile I escaped to Lima, Peru for an international meeting. (I know, it really wasn’t fair to be dealing with balmy sunny summer weather while most folk in the northern hemisphere were shoveling out driveways – as my stay-at-home husband was quick to tell me. But, Hey! It was my responsibility! 😕 )

Anyway, I did do at least one positive thing before I left for Peru. I went through my closet again and found even more winter clothes (several warm shirts, some pants, a scarf, gloves, hat, etc.) and took them to a cold shelter. Now that I’ve returned, it’s still cold but I am somewhat comforted by the knowledge that I took the time during my hectic travel preparations to pass on some things that would be of more use to others than myself.

Meanwhile, at least the pipes didn’t freeze and burst again.

Uncategorized Clothes

365+#67: Rnd 2 -Electronics

January 31, 2014 Susan Vogt 1 comment

Many items not pictured because I kept finding stuff

Some items are not pictured because I kept finding more stuff.

Finally, with the kids at home over Christmas I was able to get technical advice on what electronics we were storing were worth keeping and which were so obsolete they should be taken to that recycling center in the sky. A few decisions were easy but there is always the temptation to think that some of these cords and old floppy discs might be useful some day.

The things they OK’d for recycling were:

TV (This one is ready to die.)
2 computer keyboards
2 laptop computers (left over from kid’s college days)
1 desktop computer without a monitor (also left over from college days)
9 used printer cartridges
2 cell phones without chargers
Solar powered/crank radio that is no longer fixable.
1 electric wine opener with chiller. (I have no idea how we got this but it’s been sitting unopened and for over a year. We use an old fashioned cork screw to open wine and the refrigerator to chill it. Sounds like a pretty useless invention to me. (If you gave us this, it’s a duplicate so I’ll pass it on to that fellow who sits on the street corner with a bottle of wine. I’m sure he’d like to keep it chilled. 🙂 )
External DVD writer. This may be useful to someone but not me.
Logitech computer camera (I upgraded.)
Miscellaneous cords that befuddle me and the kids think we have enough similar cords to last longer than the gadgets they go to.
1 unidentified remote.

What I kept:

Monitor
Hub to plug multiple computers into (I can’t imagine using this but one son said I couldn’t give it away.)
Power strip (You can never have too many of these.)
CD Walkman
1 Mouse
A whole bunch of cords and connectors that the kids say are probably important

What I learned:

Call in the kids for advice.
Staples will give you $2 for each used printer cartridge
If you don’t have the charger for older cell phones, they’re not worth saving. Yes, you might find a charger with the right connector on E-Bay or the like, but it’s a hassle.
Although Gazelle recycles many modern electronics and pays you for it, most of my stuff was too old for them. So far Best Buy and Staples have been the best all-purpose place for electronics that I’ve found.
Nobody wants an electric wine opener with chiller.
This stuff mystifies me. Most electronic stuff that I saved is obsolete now.

Extra Fun Electronics

365+#66: Rnd 2 -Coats

January 16, 2014 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

Giving To Those In Need
In early January most states in the upper half of the USA experienced a polar vortex, i.e., some really cold weather. I had been hanging on to some extra coats that had belonged to our children for when the ones in balmy Singapore or Kenya came home for winter visits. BUT, when the temperature dipped to -5º, I knew it was time to apply my book’s Rule of Thumb #5: If I don’t need it now (or soon), can I give it to someone who does? I thought I had already given away extra coats, but it’s a miracle how these things multiply in my coat closet. (Think multiplication of the loaves and fishes.) I discovered two winter jackets and several lighter jackets that were just hanging out with no one to wear them. (That still didn’t count the one jacket that our Singapore son keeps at home since it’s always about 80º there.) On the way to the airport to pick up said son, I dropped the coats off at our local Cold Shelter. I felt good and virtuous.

Giving To Make Another Happy
While I was going through closets, I also found a nice wool blazer that still fit. The problem was that I had already given away all the skirts that I could have worn it with, designating them as out of style. I decided to give it a final fling and then give it away. As it happened, I mentioned this to a person I was talking with during my farewell wearing and decided to give it to her since she was my size and said she would welcome it. (Talk about the shirt off one’s back.)

Click to enlarge

Giving When It’s a Stretch or Hurts
Then there was my favorite jacket… Sure, I felt gratified giving coats to the Cold Shelter and it made me happy to give a blazer to a friend who I knew liked it, BUT, I felt that I was really moving more fully into the realm of detachment from my clothing when I visited my mom over Christmas. I wore one of my favorite jackets. I liked it because it’s professional enough to wear for speaking engagements and versatile enough to wear with blue or black skirts or slacks. Perfect for travel. My mom kept saying how much she liked it and dad kept saying how she never gets herself any new clothes. I had her try it on. It fit well. In a flash of generosity I decided to give it to her. As I was about to leave for our trip back to Kentucky, I checked with dad to let him know I was leaving it intentionally and didn’t just forget it. He stopped me and said, “No, please don’t leave it. Even though she likes it on you, she won’t wear it herself.” I had been feeling very virtuous for being willing to give away a favorite piece of clothing. I’m not sure if the intention to pass it on still “counts” as generosity.

What do you think?

Uncategorized Clothes

365+#65: – Letting Go of Words

December 25, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Christmas Eve wasn’t a silent night for me but December 3 was. That was the day I chose to keep silent. It wasn’t 100% silence. That wasn’t the goal; but rather to become more conscious of the words I do speak and their impact on others. I wanted to reduce the times that my speech was simply empty time fillers, especially words that at least subconsciously were aimed at self-aggrandizement, like “Yes, I go to Rome once a year, but the meetings are really tedious.” OR “I stayed up til 1:00 am last night writing a newsletter.” (The subtext of this is “Notice how hardworking and selfless I am, sacrificing my sleep for volunteer work.”) Here’s how my mostly silent day worked:

*THE RULES:

Choose a normal day. I confess that I cheated a little on this one. I chose a day that I didn’t have any meetings, talks, or conference calls. This is not normal, but I didn’t want to have to explain my silence or be rude. Since I work at home and my husband is usually the only other person in the house, I didn’t have many temptations. Perhaps I would have learned more if I needed to be more conscious of the times I did speak.
Inform your closest relationships. I told Jim and pinned a note on my sweater saying that I was not talking today
Don’t be rude. I decided that it would be rude not to answer people when they spoke to me. Also, since dinner is a connecting time for Jim and me, it would be rude not to talk during dinner.
When you do need to speak, choose words that are “few and full.”
After you speak journey inward to notice why you chose the words you did.
Choose a friend. No one took me up on my offer (at least no one told me they did) so I went solo.

JUST THE FACTS:

Speaking Interactions: 13. Seven were phone calls. Three were with neighbors. Three were with Jim (including dinner).
Total Time: 44 minutes, 30 seconds. (Dinner conversation accounted for 20 minutes.)
Length: All but our dinner conversation were under 5 minutes.
Purpose: 8 interactions were to convey simple information like, “How do I fill out this time sheet?” “Is it too late for me to register for the dance?” “Is this the recycling truck or just the garbage truck?” One was to make an appointment. Two were to give Advent Calendars to neighbors with kids. One was to tech support. (Most of this was waiting time.)

7 THINGS I LEARNED

It’s hard to keep a focus on silence while around other people. If it were truly a normal day in which I were giving a talk or chatting with friends, I’d probably revert to old habits – such as too much information OR not enough listening, modeling, and focus on the other.
BUT, this is not just about being quiet. It’s about being conscious of when I do speak. Maybe I need to tweak my talking by practicing mindfulness of speech occasionally in short spurts like when I’m in a meeting. By pausing before and after each comment, I might be better at curbing self-serving, complaining, or long-winded speech. I need to focus on the other’s need and not just “listen with my answer running.” Don’t be stingy with compliments and words of honor.
Silence is easier if it is the expected norm. Once I went on a silent retreat at a Trappist Monastery. Silence was not difficult because everyone there has the same purpose. Silence at a play or movie is expected. Silence at a meeting, dinner, or party are not.
Writing a few thoughts out in preparation for speaking helped me get to the point most succinctly and clearly.
Silence gave me time to think before I talked. What does this occasion really ask of me? Is it information that is needed or simply affirmation, consolation, or a helpful action?
Silence gave me time to wonder and marvel at things I might have otherwise missed – the fallen leaves, a spouse who is willing to tolerate my seemingly silly experiments…
Waiting in silence can be productive (or at least be a chance to practice patience). Waiting for tech support gave me time to read emails and possibly solve the problem on my own. (The phone call took 45 minutes. Only 6 of these minutes involved me talking. A lot of it was waiting and pushing numbers on the phone.).

*Thanks to Joshua Becker’s blog for the inspiration for this post.

Beyond Stuff Intangibles, Musings

365+#64: Rnd 2 -Luggage

December 14, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

Sometimes my giveaways have to hunt for a home, so it’s a real blessing when the right home presents itself. That what happened this week when some contra dancing friends announced that they were going on a mission trip to Belize and needed old luggage in which to carry medical supplies. The luggage would be left in Belize.

It continues to amaze me that I have gone through every room and closet of our home at least once and still I find things that I now feel ready to pass on. Why did I originally think I needed

3 large soft-sided bags (I kept back one large one for guests or emergencies.)
3 smaller back packs (Each of us already have a day pack.)

Jim & I each still have one carry on roller board and Jim has a larger one for longer trips.) It’s a satisfying feeling to find a good match for things that I don’t need but will be useful to others.

Question of the week: What baggage are you saving? If you read my traveling light tips, you might not need as much.

Uncategorized Household, Travel

365+#63: – Xmas Gift Giving Criteria

November 30, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

Since we are about to start the Advent season (which means most of the USA has already begun decorating and buying for Christmas), I plead with you to wait.

Wait because Advent is about waiting, in the dark, for a wonderful person to come, and it’s not Santa Claus.
Wait because we serve too many celebrations before their time and it robs us of the joy of anticipation.
Wait because I just gathered up the Christmas knick knacks that I plan to take to those second hand places that only care about Christmas do dads the month before Christmas. At other times they seem tacky.

For the record, I found 5 more Christmas stockings than we have kids, 5 unused Advent calendars (at least they can pass for unused), 4 knick knacks, a bow, a white elephant, and one Easter pail. Hey, it was mixed in with holiday decorations.

However, getting rid of Christmas decorations that I no longer want is not the main point of this blog. It’s how did I attract so many useless decorations. How do any of us accumulate gifts that are well intended but doomed to be used several times and then banished to a corner to collect dust. As a public service to gift buyers, I’m offering some tips on gifts for people who really don’t need any more stuff, but you still want to show you care.

Think about the person you love and study what brings them joy.
Don’t buy “obligation gifts” unless it would be rude not to. For these people (co-workers, far flung relatives, etc., give them something consumable – ideally made in big batches in your own kitchen. Money works best for people who have low paying jobs like newspaper delivery people and letter carriers. If none of these work, give them the white elephant.
When possible, give experiences rather than material goods. An afternoon of coloring with a pre-schooler, teaching an elementary school student to play jacks, taking a grandchild to the zoo or a teen to a play. Plan a surprise date with your beloved.
Ask yourself Carolyn Hax’s questions. Does the thing I am about to buy

Free up time for someone busy? (Think babysitting, doing a chore, paying for a service)
Show support for someone down? (Think bringing humor, music, or companionship)
Strengthen connections for someone lonely? (Think spending time, calling, or writing)
Provide a pleasant experience to someone who wants for nothing material?

A question for you – What are the top 2 gifts you’ve ever received? What gift-giving tip would you like to pass on?

PS: Oh Yes, and you can always buy them my new book, Blessed By Less: Clearing Your Life of Clutter By Living Lightly. It comes out December 1, 2013. It’ll give them something to think about.

Extra Fun Christmas, Musings

365+#62: Rnd 2 Too much toilet paper

November 15, 2013 Susan Vogt 1 comment

It all started out as a grocery shopping mistake. First mistake was that Jim asked me to do the grocery shopping because he was inundated with work.* Bottom line, it took me quite a bit longer and more grocery mistakes for me to do this task. My biggest mistake was that in a fit of frugality I bought single ply toilet paper. (I calculated the cost per square inch and it seemed like a deal.) Once I started using the toilet paper, I realized why we didn’t usually buy it. But, I had bought 24 rolls so we’d be wiping up for my mistake for awhile. I resigned myself to it since I didn’t want to “waste” it.

Next enters a house guest who stayed with us for a couple months. Trying to be a gracious guest, he sees the kind of toilet paper we had and buys more for the household. I didn’t want to offend him and he was gone before we finished the first mega package, so I decided to give his 8 roll pack to Mary Magdalene House, a respite place for homeless men to shower and do laundry. But toilet paper seemed like such a boring offering, so I scrounged through our linen closets and found 8 towels, 4 extra tooth brushes, and some shampoo from hotel stays to add to my bundle.

A question to ponder: What buying mistakes have you made? Have you found ways to turn your mistakes into a useable gift for others? What do you do with all those hotel shampoos? When’s the last time you laughed at yourself?

*In our more than balanced marriage roles, we had decided about a decade ago that Jim would do most of the grocery shopping since he also did most of the cooking and he knew what he needed. I don’t like to cook and we swapped several jobs to make this a sweet deal for both of us.

Extra Fun Household, Humor, Silliness

365+#61: Rnd 2 -Misc. Parents

November 1, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

Click to enlarge

For those who read last week’s blog and wondered what miscellaneous “adult stuff” I would be giving away, I’m afraid it’s rather boring – but boring with a lesson. Now that I’ve gotten rid of the kids, here are some miscellaneous parent contributions:

2 homemade pew banners from our kid’s First Communions. Now really, by definition you can’t have more than one “First Communion” per child and we don’t know any parish kids that have the last name “Vogt.” Still, it’s hard to give away homemade religious mementos.
2 table cloths. Even if we put a cloth on every table on our block, we don’t need all the ones we have.
Incense stick holder. The last time I used incense for a liturgical service, it started a coughing fit for one woman. Comfort trumps atmosphere.
Weed trimmer line. The weed trimmer that this line fits died. This is an easy call.
Pinking shears. I already have one that’s better. I guess I inherited this extra one. Even someone who does a lot of sewing only needs one.
All-purpose flashlight/tool kit. This seemed like such a handy thing to keep in the car for emergencies until we remembered that flashlight batteries die when left in a corner of the trunk waiting for an emergency. Besides, we don’t know which tools to use for what. You never know when a miscellaneous bug or snake is going to need squishing but I think a foot or rock would probably do the trick.
A travel alarm was a good idea – before cell phones.
Tissue case – Yes, it’s pretty but really, how elegant does one have to be when reaching for something with which to blow your nose.
Ashtray made out of a shell. We never smoked and know few people who do. I suppose it could be a candy or whatnot dish, but I hardly have any whatnots around anymore either.
Empty clothes hangers. This is a good sign that I’m reducing my overall pool of clothes that need hanging. Maybe a Second Hand store can use them.

The point here is not all the random stuff that I found. Surely your stuff will be your unique miscellaneous collection. Ponder the relative insignificance of whatever you uncover. Yes, maybe it can be used in a craft project someday – but will you really know where to find it if that day comes?

A question for you: So what relatively useless stuff do you have around your home? It can be a hassle to decide where to take each thing as you notice it. Collect stuff for awhile in a box and then periodically purge.

Days 365+ Memorabilia, Organizing

365+#60: Rnd 2 -Misc. Kids

October 21, 2013 Susan Vogt No comments

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True, there are no miscellaneous kids hanging around our home any more and we wouldn’t give them away if they were. The kids we have launched into the world have left some things, however, that we finally feel free to give away. I’ve been collecting these odds and ends for the last several months as I would wander through what used to be called “the kids’ rooms.” Now they are guest rooms. Some of this stuff is just junk, but some of it requires finding a new home. I’m finding that one of the tricks to ongoing pruning is to put stuff in a corner box as I collect it. Then, every few months make a trip to Goodwill or wherever. Does anybody want any drumsticks?

In fairness to the kids, my next blog will contain miscellaneous adult stuff. See what Jim and I have hung on to for way too long.

A Question for you: Are there any remnants from your child’s life that are just tucked away and not worth keeping for posterity? Search around.

Days 365+ Other's Stuff, Toys

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