Bad Habits

[NoHall]

Here is my recommendation to you. Have your house renovated! You would not believe the crap I had in my a couple of years ago. Stuff everywhere. I WAS a terrible pack rat. But when we decided to put wood floors down, paint the entire house, and put in new windows, and have siding put on, I had to purge. I had most of my mother's stuff that I thought I could never part with. But I knew finally in my heart she would understand if I gave it someone who really needed it.

I brought a ton of boxes home got my sister (the organizer) down here and we purged and purged for weeks. As I went through everything I kept a couple of sentimental things and the rest was given away or put in Hannah Home boxes. It was hard to do, but I will tell you it was the BEST thing I had ever done. I was feeling totally suffocated by all the stuff. When it was gone I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders. It has been such a wonderful feeling having room in my house. It will make you feel better about every aspect of your life.

Now, I know of course that some people can't renovate, but renovate your stuff. It felt like an overwhelming task, but just take one drawer at a time, one closet at a time, one room at a time. Be brutal, believe me you will not miss the stuff that is weighing you down.

Good luck girls!

That's a GRAYT idea! I wish I had the money right now--I have to pay for graduate school first, but then I want to add about 10 feet to the end of the house for a master bath and closet and then a garage attached to the house (I have a detached garage right now.) I've thought about adding a second floor, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

Meanwhile I'll settle for just having time to paint my ceilings.

Try what I am doing and move stuff from one house to another.
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Last time I moved I decided I wasn't moving again. Been here 11 years!

 

[Lynnie]

OK - well, bad habits? I speed, everywhere. I putter around the house in the mornings, not really doing anything, but I seem to be busy??? Hmm, maybe the puttering causes me to speed since I start behind everyday.

Despite the clutter, which is unspeakable on my desk, I know within 5 mins. or so exactly where everything is!

I squeeze the toothpaste from the very top so within a couple of days am already having fits with the tube. My kitchen is spotless - got that bloodhound and she helps with spills, etc.....or, anything left out. Electronics, while I understand them somewhat, I don’t like cluttering my brain with them and am convinced that this is why they don't always play nicely with me. Really began to enjoy my PDA after I took the in store tutorial floor:not kidding - I signed up for this). Learned how to work it and operate all of its features. Then, promptly proceeded to drop it in the toilet. Got another one and quickly spilled champagne on it. They talked me into getting the insurance on the 3rd phone….all this within about 75 days……

My closet is pretty organized and my paint stuff is fairly well organized…..although, I do manage to find a pair of shoes or piece of clothes I forgot I had and it really is as exciting as the first day I bought them. My tool box – forget it – takes me forever to find a philips head screwdriver! And, since it’s not organized and I don’t want to lose or misplace a tool, I might pick up the same screwdriver a few times before I find the right one. And, found some paint brushes in there the other day!

I try to replace/repair things on my own, like the new digital programmable thermostat. Easy enough, I read the directions, too! All of them. But, when I removed the old round Honeywell, my new one had an extra wire! Now, why the hell did they have to go and do THAT? Took me a while, but I got it fixed up. First cold snap – no heat! On the weekend, to boot – service charge is higher. And, am a firm believer that duct tape can fix anything!

Am absolutely amazed with my friends who are organized. I truly admire them, but digg my life, too – cause, you’re right, it’s waaaaay more funn and groovy this way.

And, I have other ones, too!

 

[NoHall]

The toothpaste thing is a non-issue. Put the tube on the edge of the tub. Use your toothbrush handle to squish the toothpaste from the bottom to the top. Problem solved. Squeeze it wherever you want to squeeze it.

 

[tistheseason]

BR - you CAN hire people to help you with that! People that don't know you and are so happy to have the job that they won't judge you! I agree that it gets overwhelming -- almost paralyzing, so you really can't do it alone!

My house is pretty well organized -- but my office is where I pile everything I don't know what to do with! Piles and piles and I still don't know what to do with the stuff!

 

[Beach Runner]

BR - you CAN hire people to help you with that! People that don't know you and are so happy to have the job that they won't judge you! I agree that it gets overwhelming -- almost paralyzing, so you really can't do it alone!

My house is pretty well organized -- but my office is where I pile everything I don't know what to do with! Piles and piles and I still don't know what to do with the stuff!

How would I find someone to help me with this? I also need someone with taste to go through my clothes closets and tell me what to keep and what to get rid of.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Matt J]

Everything in our house has a place. Every place in our house has a thing.

We are somewhat pack rats. We both inherited this from our parents and I'm becoming more and more convinced that it is a German thing.

We keep upgrading the size of our home since we have more crap to store. You just never know when you'll need some of this stuff.

About every other month I force DS to go through his mountain of mail and throw away his beloved bank statements, bills, and junk mail. We seem to forever save the goofiest crap like playbills, movie tickets stubs, and receipts. I have several little piles of receipts around the house. They accumulate in my wallet and then I deposit them in one of the piles. I don't know why I do this, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the waitress in Tallahassee that changed my tip amount years ago. I just wait until it posts to my bank account (correctly) and then I should throw the receipt away, but no they just continue to pile up until I can't take it anymore. On the bright side I can tell you how much I spent at brunch 4 months ago even if the internet is down.

 

[NoHall]

Everything in our house has a place. Every place in our house has a thing.

We are somewhat pack rats. We both inherited this from our parents and I'm becoming more and more convinced that it is a German thing.

We keep upgrading the size of our home since we have more crap to store. You just never know when you'll need some of this stuff.

About every other month I force DS to go through his mountain of mail and throw away his beloved bank statements, bills, and junk mail. We seem to forever save the goofiest crap like playbills, movie tickets stubs, and receipts. I have several little piles of receipts around the house. They accumulate in my wallet and then I deposit them in one of the piles. I don't know why I do this, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the waitress in Tallahassee that changed my tip amount years ago. I just wait until it posts to my bank account (correctly) and then I should throw the receipt away, but no they just continue to pile up until I can't take it anymore. On the bright side I can tell you how much I spent at brunch 4 months ago even if the internet is down.

You just described my biggest problem...I have little mounds of these things all over the house and always have. Fortunately, in the last year I've been quicker to go through them and decide I don't need them; they rarely sit more than 6 weeks now.