Clutter

I think Floyd Little was trying to use "sentiment" in place of the correct term, which is "sympathy." Kinda funny.

I had to move twice in a 120-day span a couple of years ago. I've never really been much of pack rat, and have shed a lot of stuff. Got a few hundred dollars for some jerseys and such on ebay, and really try to watch what I buy ... it's amazing how often your stuff turns into a lot of sh_t come moving time.

I've been really good about not adding clutter. Now to stay away from those freaking sports jerseys ...

 

After we got married a couple years ago, I moved out of the apartment I'd lived in for 10 years and into my wife's house.
I spent the better part of two weeks shredding old bills. I don't think I'd ever thrown any away. I even found my very first pay stub.
The next phase was throwing away notebooks -- again, 10 years' worth. I probably filled up 10 big garbage bags with them.
At the beginning of the process I bought a 40-count box of big, 40-gallon trash bags. I used every single one of them. And that's not even counting the dozens of old Wal-Mart bags I used for the shredded bills.
I'd hate to see what would've happened if I had a house instead of a two-bedroom apartment.

 

Funny you mention bills. My wife keeps all our bills/pay stubs. She says she's keeping them for seven years each. No idea why. But we moved in together in 2002. So we can start shredding 2002 stock soon.

 

That's when late bills drop off your credit report. I'm sure that she's preparing for the contingency of a creditor getting it wrong, so she'll have proof on hand. And it does happen. When I applied for my law school student loans recently, everything got held up at the Department of Education as I was sent on a wild goose chase because Equifax had me down as not paying taxes from several years ago, which I had indeed paid.

 

Haha. I probably have. And just ignored the reason. She's the banker - no, really, she works at a bank. So, I figured she must have a good reason.

 

I've always been a pretty well-organized guy, but still had too much stuff. Mostly clothes and shoes.

I just finished getting rid of EVERYTHING I don't regularly use or wear. EVERYTHING. I have five big Hefty yard garbage bags full of stuff that I'm taking over to Goodwill this weekend.

I look around now and feel a lot better for some reason. My place was neat before, but it's even neater now. And maybe some people who really need the 1,298 t-shirts I had but never wore will enjoy them.

 

Your kids are very thoughtful that way.

 

There was a guy around years ago named Herb Elk. He was from NY/NJ, a PR guy for hire who mostly wound up working for teams in fly-by-night leagues. He also wrote sports at various times. He wound up as the Houston Astros PR guy in the late '70s.

Along the way, he accumulated everything. In addition to the usual supply of media guides and other stuff that piles up, he was well known within the business as a guy who wanted/saved everything. So if a player was ready to pitch a pair of spikes, he'd give them to Herb instead. He would graciously take everything, no matter how random it was. When he was on the road with the Astros, he'd pick up extra scorecards and yearbooks from the other teams. He would ask for and get the promotional items they had left over.

Sadly, Herb died suddenly on an Astros road trip. He wasn't married (of course) so friends took on the task of cleaning out his apartment. There was stuff everywhere. He had media guides stuffed in the oven and the kitchen cabinets.

Instead of backing up the dumpster, some good-hearted souls carefully catalogued everything and there was a big auction. There were really odd items, like a pair of someone's White Sox pants and roster booklets from semi-pro football teams. I don't how much money it all brought or where it went.

The moral of the story is every time I have an avalanche of paper and books and other stuff, I think, "Herb Elk" and it scares me into pruning the clutter.

It's hard to do if you're hard-wired to be a pack rat, but remember: with stuff online now, there's less reason than ever to save hard copies of a lot of stuff.

 

I'll be here all week! Keep your applause going for Mel Torme!

 

Are they ass-scented?

 

I am making an effort to keep my desk de-cluttered as it's in a more visible location these days. Finished up what i working on the other day, straightened up, went to write a check for horse camp for little D and couldn't find the paperwork. I think I shredded it with some other stuff on the desk. That's what I get for cleaning up.

Edit: Oh and i quit burning candles the night my cat jumped up on an end table and lit herself on fire. Burned the tips of bunch of fur. Stunk. Freaked us both out. But after I got the black, singed fur washed off, she was fine. Didn't burn her skin. Horrible experience.