I my quest to go through all my stored clutter “One box at a time” I have a new approach to try. I want to get away from the stacks of cardboard boxes. I would like to start using plastic bins and crates.

This idea is many-fold. One, cardboard deteriorates and gives off paper dust into the air which does not help for a healthy environment. This deterioration also means that the boxes collapse and do a poorer and poorer job at protecting their contents. The cardboard boxes also add to a more cluttered appearance. The plastic bins will also with luck protect what I value, but need still to store.

The very action of switching over a box at a time from cardboard to plastic gives me a chance to go through all of my possessions and hard as it is, perhaps get rid of some — whether by donation, selling, recycling, reusing… using or trashing. With luck I can reduce the space taken and number of containers. Optimistically perhaps by 2:1 cutting 2 cardboard boxes down to 1 plastic bin of comparable size — and perhaps the plastic bins will take less room. Pessimistically perhaps it will only be 1:1 meaning 1 cardboard box goes into 1 plastic bin. But I will have checked on what I own and things will be in better order.

I do believe it will be closer to 2:1 —  maybe 4:3? I hope that at least I’ll be able to control where things are and know where they are.

But it will have to be one box at a time… or two, hoping to cut them down to one.

Ahhh, but where can I get very inexpensive bins? They need to be sturdy, protective, and I need to be able to count on getting more of them as I progress because I want to be able to stack them. I rather like the sort with the interlocking lids which are hinged so that you open them without removing the lids. But I suspect they cost a lot. I am using a lot of bankers’ boxes… you know the folding file boxes that offices use as well as a certain number of moving boxes.

I want to make a start by collecting all of my tools into one bin. I want to put hobby supplies into another one or two. Then I want to keep those bins in an easily accessed location. Another bin or two will be used for storing out of season clothing, linens, and fabric.

So, do you have any ideas?

I guess it is only a month since my last entry. Not much has happened. It is so interesting that with such a cluttered environment, my life is so uncluttered. Meaning I don’t really get much accomplished. Well, that is not entirely true. I have started getting out of my cave and into the world, if only to my parents’ place. I did take care of some important tasks in the last two weeks — well, important to me — which is very good.

I am trying to psych myself up to do some possession reduction. Perhaps if only to get rid of the obvious recyclables and trash to start, I might then move on to some other things. Of course many folks don’t understand emotional attachments to mundane objects. I don’t quite, but they are there and can be very strong and I can sympathize with others who have them. Perhaps my calling is to council those who must cope with downsizing?

Later!

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

A friend came by a few weeks ago and helped me by sweeping outside and straightening up things a bit. She also did me a great favour by cleaning my washroom… it sure takes a great friend to offer to clean your washroom. I mean it wasn’t a death trap by any means and I even do things like clean the toilet. But my friend has a little semi-professional experience at it and did it quickly and efficiently. Though I realize just how strong my OCD is when I felt very uncomfortable when some things weren’t quite in the right place. I am not so OCD that everything is always in the same place all the time. I do move things from time to time myself. Perhaps it is okay because I moved it… or because I chose where to move  it?

I was very surprised at how much that little bit of sweeping made outside.

Still much to do. Of course.

I am also trying to make inroads on my Internet Presence. I have a large “clutter” of websites out in the ether and some are basically orphaned. I want to resurrect some and perhaps drop some… though hoarding is something as hard with soft stuff as with hard stuff. You should see my hard drives. I am sure I have email hoarded from the 90′s! It is that attempt to “resurrect” some of my sites that got me back here.

I’ll let you know how things are going!

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

Hi! It seems my last entry was about an extended absense…

Gee… and that was over just short of two years ago! Depression can be like that. To start off with you don’t have energy to keep up with things and so you begin to live by triage. You start doing only what is necessary. After a while you forget some of the things you only did infrequently that were not “necessary” to life.

That is what happened to “No A’s B’s or C’s”

The depression still lays heavy upon me. I’m not sad… I wonder what percentage of people with major depression actually are sad? In any case the depression mostly takes away my energies. I say “energies” because as well as emotional energy, there are physical energy issues and spiritual energy issues. Anxiety, one of the main issues in Chronic Hoarding, also plagues me more strongly — I think. I find it difficult to get out. That restricts what I can do in my quest to put order in my life — even the small amount of order that “I” desire… and in truth I do desire an ordered environment.

People who know me and the rare few who have seen my living space comment that it is very well ordered. I think that is true of certain types of hoarders. I’m not one to obsess on pictures that are hung slightly crooked. But, if someone were to put a glass on the wrong shelf or rearrange stuff in my bathroom… I will feel uneasy.

I must say that many things are more organized. I must say that my shed, while a success in giving me the storage space I needed, has become a black hole. I have not even looked into it for over a month except when some sneak thief opened to doors to check it out for valuables. I checked that nothing was missing… strangely I could tell what had been shifted even will all that is in there. But that is a sign of the order involved. I do still have a half dozen or so moving boxes in my living area in addition to the file boxes I have stored in my bedroom semi-permanently. It is difficult… I do need help to cope with the clutter and I am just barely coping.

Perhaps starting back in with my writing is a good sign? We shall see. You will probably be able to judge by the duration between this and whatever post will follow it.

For now, that is the ending of this entry.

~ Dusty

D Cluttermouse

Well,  a severe bout of depression along with a severe run of migraines and anxiety attacks. That led to time passing incredibly quickly and not much in the way of creative work being done nor much along the way of decluttering – sadly enough. Though with the purchase of a 6×8 storage shed things are looking up!

No promises on great gouts of progress reports, but you can never tell if I will be inspired to get back on the ol’ Smith Corona and get typin’.

I do pray that I can get a bit more control over my life.

~ Dusty

D Cluttermouse

I think that Earth Day is important the same way Hugs are important.

We love our loved ones all the time and do things for them – or should – through out our lives and days, but it is important to every once in a while to give a hug or something like that to let them know in a special way, like a punctuation mark. Earth Day is like that punctuation mark that ends the sentence saying “I care about the world I live in.” Rather nice that a period is nice and round at that.

I try to do what I can for the environment. Though some things are selfish. I love my reusable grocery bags made from recycled material. They give a greater sense of security to me for getting my groceries home. They also advertise that I am doing something – even if they advertise the store too…

I also pool with my parents to travel to the grocery store. Dad drives… still a convenience for me… I stopped driving my own car five years ago because it didn’t make sense for the few trips a month I made. I take public transit or walk normally. Groceries are a pain though. I do love my disability-annual-bus pass, so it is not so painful.

I do use “green” paper products for toilet paper, recycled paper products made with not quites so harmful processes, and It takes me two or three months to go through a roll of paper towels. I use reusable cellulose and use cloth dish towels…

I think my refuse is at about 1/3 trash 2/3 recycle and I put out a small-medium can once a month whether I need to or not. Of course I am single – that already reduces how much I would put out in any case.

There are still things that I do that could be improved: I still use more water than I should. I like to let the water run while I brush my teeth for instance. I also wash my one or two dishes under running water.

Some day I would like to own a “packed earth” home heated and cooled by a ground look heat pump. I would also like to have the hot water heat supplemented by solar water heating panels on the roof, unless solar electric ones are a better option. If I can afford a place in the country I wouldn’t mind dabbling with wind and water power as well.

I do think as well as many things… we do also have to be careful of cluttering the Earth. Something else that people do not consider with “Power” and “Energy” is that even “pollution free” energy solutions often do create “energy pollution”. The big one is heat being added to the environment where it doesn’t belong. Even a hydrogen fuel cell which creates steam or water vapour as its exhaust, also is creating heat. After all it is steam coming out. Electric motors get hot. Cities generate their own micro-climate which is measurably warmer than the surrounding countryside – and it isn’t just a matter of CO₂ contributions. The main consideration, for even if we went agrarian, would be population limits.

I think though it is a time to think, give the planet a hug and try to do something to improve and try to avoid something that harms.

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

I have been good and in keeping with trying to at least look in a box a day, I actually dealt with one box yesterday and then I opened a second! EEP! I realized that I hadn’t opened that box in 9 years! It had gotten packed at the place before the place I last lived at and wasn’t opened! Now it wasn’t that the stuff in the box wasn’t missed. I just made do without. But it is like you can make do eating French fries without ketchup or make do with eating fish without lemon or… well you get my drift.

Seeing some of the stuff was like getting reacquainted with old friends. Granted most of the box was filled with old paperwork and books, but they were manuscripts I had written and will now be able to make use of without having to write from scratch. Others will give me an indication of how my writing skill has progressed over the past decade – some of the articles and papers were from 3-5 years before that move.

Anyhow, who knows what other buried treasures there are out there.

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

Have you ever heard of the bouquet of flowers that cleaned a house?
A woman – let’s call her Irene – who had a problem with clutter and who was overwhelmed with the state of her home was given a bouquet of flowers by someone who cared about her in hopes that the spring blooms would cheer her up. I am not sure if the gift giver included a vase, but I think in such a situation that I would considering just how much anxiety it might cause someone who might not be able to put their hands on one right away.

In any case Irene looked for where she could put the flowers and could see that one place she might put them was a messy coffee table in the corner of her living room. She had to do a bit of work to clear a space for the flowers so they could sit on the table even at that.

Irene looked at the beautiful bouquet sitting on the cluttered table and decided she might clean the end of the table the flowers were sitting on so they might look a bit better.

The flowers looked just beautiful sitting on the end of the coffee table, but thought how much better they would look in the centre of the table if she would just clean the other side of the table. So Irene spent a half hour and cleared off the other half of the table. The flowers looked even better sitting in the middle of the table and Irene was pleased. But she saw how dusty and grimy the table was… or at least the spots of the table that weren’t covered by clutter. So she got out an old towel and a bottle of furniture polish/cleaner she had and she dusted the table.

Irene was very happy at how the table now shone and reflected the beauty of the flowers in the fine grain of the wood. But it also reflected the stack of boxes by the curtains and the Chesterfield covered with coats, books, and file boxes. So Irene went on and sorted through the books and file boxes on the couch returning the coats to the cloak closest and the books and file boxes to the office and bookshelves. That took the afternoon, but nearly half the living room looked so very nice and inviting! She sat on the now cleared Chesterfield and looked at her flowers… and saw how dingy the rest of the room looked. It wouldn’t take very long to straighten the rest of the room…

The next day dawned and Irene was welcomed by a beautiful clean living room. It really did not take her long into the evening. It was a bit of work but she did a bit at a time and she even considered showing it off… at least to the friend who brought the flowers. They would marvel at the change.

Irene sat for a while and considered how cluttered the entrance hall looked…

Well, one room at a time she got that house straightened up. One bit inspired her to do the next. Being able to reopen an area to use as it was intended was a great incentive to her.

Of course, many of us have more clutter than just “straightening up” and returning things to their proper places will cure. Part of our problem is that we have more pegs than holes regardless of whether they are square or round. Still the idea of a bit at a time and having that bit inspire us is important.

Another crucial element is having that initial impetus. And I think that a positive impetus is better than a negative one. Rather than a deadline before guests arrive or a landlord’s visit or a move – something like receiving something that isn’t overwhelming, but nice would be good. Or a good friend offering to help with some difficult task that you are ready to do.

It is very important that the task be one you are ready for as well, I figure.

For me… at the moment my incentive an impetus can come from rediscovery of something I need or miss in amongst my moving boxes… after a season I still have boxes I haven’t opened.

I still wish for some sort of magic genie to come down to help… I guess I have to go a box or shelf at a time until then. I still hope to at least “look” into a box a day.

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

__________
I am broadly paraphrasing a story that I have heard from a number of sources. The idea though is captured with perhaps a bit of my own slant on it… oh, and “Chesterfield” is another name for a “Sofa” or “Couch” that I thought I might throw in for colour.

I do not wish to create bad feelings with the landlord who lives upstairs and I do not wish my stuff ruined and for mice or other vermin to move in making me their landlord inadvertently. Since I do not have enough room in my 1-bedroom basement suite without turning it into a closet or one of those places which you have heard of — with stacks of boxes and stuff with canyon-like trails from bathroom to fridge to bed… etc — I need to find some alternative.

The best two solutions I can figure on, aside from creative stacking… oh! that is how those canyon-like trails get formed… is to purchase an outside storage shed or find some off premises storage.

If I had the money for renting storage, I could have rented a two bedroom place — at least temporarily, for 6 months to a year — while I decluttered and downsized. Then I wouldn’t have to travel to and fro. Alternatively is begging space from friends and relatives. Well… my Sister and her Husband really have their own space issues with many hobbies, their own clutter, and even storing stuff for his Brother; my parents are trying to downsize as well and their garage is already full to brimming with still leaving plenty of room for the car; other relatives live out-of-province; friends, I just don’t feel comfortable with intruding on.

So that leaves the idea of a storage shed… combining that with “some” creative storage. I plan on purchasing a neat and tidy storage shed which would still keep the landlord content and be usefully large for storing stuff in. We have asked and it is okay with the landlord providing it is neat and I imagine not too gargantuan.

My friend says that “Rubbermaid®” makes some nice ones that are vinyl and have floors built in. She figures that 4′x6′ might be a bit on the small size. They are a bit pricey though. Another company “Jardin” makes them as well. There are also ones made with vinyl siding or perhaps vinyl coated siding — although those most times don’t have floors. They can be a fair amount less expensive.

I don’t need an expensive foundation as it will be on the patio concrete under the weatherproof deck. I do want a floor inside though so I can seal it against mice and the like.

It will be a major purchase for me and I likely will have to sell it when I move next, but it will be less expensive fairly shortly than renting storage might be.

My plan would be to have this outside storage closet and then to buy a wardrobe closet to put in my kitchen that I would use ⅔ of for storage and ⅓ of for coat closet — I still find it odd that none of the basement suites I looked at had a coat closet and relied 100% on the bedroom closet for everything… including mops, vacuums, coats, linens… everything in addition to regular bedroom closet stuff.

I would really appreciate if anyone could shed some light on this storage situation.

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse

Well, actually I was cleaning a jar to recycle today and noticed how it has changed from one I had stored some candy canes in for the holidays… two years ago. It got me thinking and wanting to keep the new jar as it would hold more things in the same amount of space with a large mouthed lid. But then I thought… do I really need to keep any more jars. It isn’t like it is even a “collector” jar or anything. I do have a couple pickle jars that are very decorative with a pattern that completely covers the outside. I use one to keep my Sugar Twin packets in and the other to keep my single serving iced tea packets in. They actually don’t look bad at all and much better than the boxes. I can also keep them on counter or table and they look decent for company. The jar also protects the Sugar Twin packets from moisture.

It got me to thinking — a dangerous thing — if I really want a special jar, rather than keeping mediocre jars from going into the recycling bin, I could shop for products specifically for the container, or purchase containers that are neat.

BTW I’m recycling the jar… I am considering the lid…

~ Dusty
D Cluttermouse