The Replacements

What we have here are 3 sets of items that were replaced immediately upon moving into the new house.  The first was in fact already replaced by the previous property owner.

These I assume to be the fixtures that were in place when the flipper bought the house.  The bathroom at present has some nondescript Home Depot builder-grade lights, and these others were in the sink cabinet.  I suppose I could try to hunt down someone staging a 1970s revival project, but really I'm just going to throw them away.
(When I packed up my parents' apartment after my mother died, I did the same thing - we took down our fancy glass fixture, replaced it with something from Home Depot, and then I discovered the original circa 1968 fixture in the back of a kitchen cabinet.  I did leave it for the landlord, I don't know why - I'm sure he just threw it away, like I'm doing now)

Next up is the chain lock.  I'd bought one for the condo, being too stupid to realize I couldn't install it with my steel door.  But I kept it in case I needed it Someday, which turned out to be last week, because there was one one the house, but, crucially, it was missing the chain.  Out with the old, in with the new.

Last but not least are the plastic shower curtain rings, also probably vintage 1970 along with the lights.  I grew up with ones just like these, never minding that they were dull and uninspired, but minding very much that they were a PITA to get on and off when it was time to clean or change the curtain.  They are so outta here.

All toss.

Book Toss

25 books in this pile, and they are going in the trash.  It goes against every grain of my existence to throw away books, but these are too tattered and torn to be of any appeal to anyone.  Now, there are damaged books in my "keep" pile of sufficient sentimental value to warrant their retention, but the ones in this lot don't qualify. 

These are some of my childhood books, dating to the days when perhaps I was a little rough on my things.  To be fair, many of these came to me with the covers already gone, brought home by my father from his job at a paper recycling facility. 

Of note in this stack:
-Some textbooks stamped "obsolete" - I remember not knowing what that word meant, and having to ask my mother. 
-What were probably my first books about Columbus and Abraham Lincoln, the kind that depict them as men who can do no wrong.
-My Richard Scarry's Best Rainy Day Book Ever, which proved my lack of artistic talent rather conclusively
-A book on human anatomy that illustrates no nonwhite people whatsoever.

I'd actually scanned the Columbus book, then discovered there was a problem with the scanner and it hadn't worked.  Upon second thought, I realized I wanted to save only this one image:

Trash Day

OK, it's not really trash day for another couple of days - but this stuff actually went in the bin today, so I'm counting it.

Exhibit "A" - packing foam from a new bookcase.  It's been sitting there for about a month, mostly because I had a vague idea it might be useful for a display project (of shopping bags from foreign countries).  But that project is a long way off, I don't have tools to cut a straight edge in foam, there are other bases I could use, and I may in fact have gotten rid of the bags, I'm not actually sure!  So I filled up the rest of my bin with styrofoam chunks, after nearly sabotaging myself by checking to see if any local recyclers take the stuff. which they don't, thank god.

Exhibit "B" - mini-greenhouse parts.  The thing served well for a few years, then the cover disintegrated and I bought a couple more.  I was thinking to save the old as spare parts, then realized the vertical rods and shelves aren't the parts that would need replacing, so there is no use in keeping them.  What I am keeping are the horizontal supports, since those are the part that is likely to break.  The rest can go.

Exhibit "C" - coffee cans from Trader Joe's.  These are another example of something I do use, but got carried away with.  I have several in my kitchen I have decorated with wallpaper that are very nice canisters for flour, sugar, beans, etc.  These others, undecorated, get deployed as user-friendly containers for cat food.  For over a decade, I have been buying huge 15-20lb bags of dry cat food from the vet, and it made sense to have these smaller containers.  That special food was for a cat that died last October, and I buy smaller bags of food now.  If circumstances change and I start buying bigger bags again, well, I still buy the coffee, so I needn't worry about being short on the canisters.  I thought about removing the top and bottom in order to recycle the paperboard, but it is lined with something foil-like, so I don't know that it qualifies, so they just got tossed.

Cardboard Queen

This is a pile of cardboard that went to the recycling center today.  Most of it is normal stuff - plus a couple of poster tubes that until recently held posters I've decided not to keep (and one that was empty!)-but there are some problem children here, too.  I don't know why I held onto 1) the cardboard box from my extension ladder - it adds nothing to storing or moving the item.  2) the box my emergency radio came in -  the radio lives in my car, in a bag, which is in turn in a plastic bin 3) and 4) the boxes my clock radio and shredder came in - again, no advantage in storing or moving -  and best of all, 5) the box for a fan I DON'T CURRENTLY OWN AND DON'T REMEMBER BUYING - I think my brother or foster daughter must have bought it and taken it with when they moved out.

Empty boxes, in my opinion, are where I cross over into hoarding territory.  They carry a poorly thought out just-in-case component to them.  One of the weird thought processes I have is: If I decide to Get Rid Of It, it will be easier to do so if I have the box.  This kind of makes sense for things I might sell, but it applies (in my mind) to things I donate, as well.  I think I mentioned in another post that I won't donate junk.  Well, if it is in its original box, it probably isn't junk, right?

The killer is, the strategy does pay off, occasionally.  A couple of weeks ago I sold my Breville juicer on Craigslist for $80 (about half of what I'd paid for it new six months prior).  I think I would have gotten less without the box and manual. 

So I am keeping some other boxes I maybe shouldn't, like the one for my flatbed scanner, which I bought for a specific project and can foresee not needing at some point in the future.  I doubt I'll be able to sell it; the technology is already a little old now that I've had it a couple of years.  I also keep the box for my blender, because I will go months at a time without using it, but sometimes want it out of the way otherwise.  Keeping the box for my DVD player made sense six years ago when I was taking it back and forth between my house and my parents' place every few weeks.  It doesn't make sense anymore, but I still have it because it *did* make sense.  I'll have to work on that one.  It is a cheap, basic player, not worth coddling.

Noah's Ark

OK, this is another thing that occurs primarily in the kitchen - I'll deliberately get just two of something.  I don't buy more because I don't entertain much and also have some kind of commitment problem, so two seems right, at least when I am sanding in the store.

The thought behind the lemonade glasses was, one for me, one for a guest, and it does in fact work out that way, because no one ever says no to a glass of lemonade. 

The whiskey and cordial glasses were purchased because, well, I thought I should be drinking out of the "right" glass - except that I don't drink much of either, and it doesn't really matter what I drink out of.  (By definition, if I am drinking whiskey, I am probably not in a caring mood) 

The champagne glasses were a gift from my realtor, along with a nice bottle of champagne.  I guess I'll open the bottle and have some, but sure as heck won't be finishing it off, and won't be buying any champagne for myself anytime soon. 

All going in the donation box.

What I will actually drink out of in the future are two small Santa Fe glasses I inherited from my father.  They'll be perfect for lemonade, and I bet anything else I drink out of them will taste fine, too.

Getting Rid of It - 2/20/2012

•  4 vegetable peelers - I hit the trifecta (quadfecta?) here with one "modern" one I bought myself, a second one I bought myself   (probably the white-handled one) when the modern one didn't work well, one that was my mother's, and one that was my grandmother's.  I might possibly need two around, but I need to verify which two don't work and toss them.

•  4 tea strainers.  Can't blame family here, these are here due to my vague idea of becoming some kind of tea aficionado, abetted by my lusterware collection of teapots and teacups and creamers and sugarbowls.  Let's see, I bought the silverplated fancy one from an antique store (when I was still a starving student living in the studio - this may be the only item I ever bought on layaway).  The ones like tongs and the ball strainer were acquired because they are what other people seem to have.  The one with the green plastic seemed like a good choice a couple of years ago when I decided I was going to drink green tea.  Now, at least 80% of the tea I drink comes in teabags.  When I do drink loose tea, I don't use the tongs or the tea ball because I find them messy/inconvenient.  The silverplated one is nice, but I don't use it much.  The newest one is probably the most useful, perfect for straining a single cup, useable on the extremely rare occasion on which I might make a whole pot of tea, and dishwasher safe.  I can also use the small "regular" strainer for this.  They stay.  The ball strainer stays only because I have repurposed it for gardening for making a sort of anti-mosquito "tea."  Other 2 get donated.   

•  2 "large" mugs.  I've had the Sbux one for a while - it came in a gift basket from someone who didn't know me well, so this is the kind of thing one gets on such occasions. Turns out I don like having a larger sup.  But I recently bought the other one, which I like better because I can also grip it from beneath, and without burning myself no matter how hot the contents.  So, new stays, old goes.

• 6 steak knives.  I bought the four on the right  (three years ago) because the ones on the left don't cut worth a damn.  'Nuff said.

• 2 locksets.  The packaged one I bought when I was having misgivings about who else had copies of my housekeys. (I keep it in a kitchen drawer, so it counts here) .  The other turned up in - wait for it - a kitchen drawer of my new home.  Guess which one I'll pull if I need new security.

Getting Rid of It - 2/15/2012, continued

I think I see my posting problem now (wrong format for images).  So, without further ado:

In the last couple of weeks my kitchen has yielded:

• 4 trivets.  Mom had two, I bought two for myself (and definitely used them), and then I inherited hers.  I will use two at once on occasion, but not four, so two of them (the two I bought myself) are going in the donation box.

• 4 lids to Revere 1-qt saucepans.  I have one of these saucepans (used to have another, but ruined it melting wax).  The lids are virtually identical, and I don't use them much anyway.  Not sure where they all came from.  I eliminated the one with the wobbly handle, picked one to keep, and put the rest in the donate box.

 

• Too many candles.  I am not "into" candles, and really can't be anyway, thanks to the cats.  I think I should have candles because my childhood was punctuated by numerous power outages, but the system I live in now is much more stable.  I don't recall having used a candle for a blackout since I was in the studio apartment, circa 1997.  I also have oil and crank lanterns for these situations.  So I kept three of the squatter (and hopefully safer) candles, but will donate the two unused/wrapped tapers, and am tossing the rest.

•  3 cans Hershey's cocoa.  One of these containers is from when these were still made of metal, and thus "cool."  I've never  "displayed" it, as I suppose I intended, but  here in the new house I'm going to need to substitute some open shelving for the pantry space I sued to have, so I think I'll keep the old one and condense the contents of the others into it, since cocoa keeps nearly forever.  There is a nostalgia component here - my kitchen-hating mother did seem to enjoy making cocoa for me (with marshmallows!).  I would sit and watch here pop off the metal lid and mix the cocoa with sugar and a little hot water before adding milk and heating it on the stove.  I make it the same way she did and have tried other brands of cocoa, but always  go back to the way Mom did it.

• 13 little glass spice jars.  As with the cocoa cans, some of these are here because They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore.  And they don't, not the ones on the left that are bigger on the bottom than on the top. And they have a neat recessed star pattern on them that is repeated on their lids. I like to think I might use them Someday, and I do frequently re-purpose other spice bottles (for herbs I've grown, or for small stuff like thumbtacks or safety pins) but not these, because  their narrow-mouthed shape makes it hard to get a spoon or other objects in and out, which of course is very likely exactly why they are no longer made this way.  Anyhoo, they are going in the donate box, in case someone else thinks they are cool, and then some of the others will be pitched/recycled too.  I use up spices often enough in baking that there are going to be more  little spice jars in my future.

• 2 juice pitchers - One ceramic and one plastic.  The ceramic one, on the left,  has done heavy duty over the years,  perfect  for mixing  untold gallons of orange juice from concentrate.  But a few years ago I decided that wasn't healthy and stopped drinking it.  Having said that, a treat now and then won't kill me, and I like the plastic one for lemonade which I make from scratch about a dozen times a year.  That one can also hold the little lemon juicer, so I can keep them together.  So, plastic stays & ceramic goes (donate pile).

Getting Rid of It - 2/15/2012

Thanks to the move - which is still ongoing, because I have too much stuff - I've been a wee bit busy.  AND, I won't have DSL at home for another week, at least.  I'm suffering here, people.

Seeing even more of what I really have to deal with is making me think I'm going to refocus this blog from an attempt to fill my 1000 Things list (which is not going away) to touch on everything I get rid of for the rest of the year.  The effort will still exclude ordinary trash that I get rid of on a regular basis, but it will include things I should have recognized as trash or recycling but didn't  (Typically, The Box the Item Came In, even better when I still have the box, but not the item).

I seem to be having some trouble posting from my current location (nearest coffee shop with wifi) so I'm going to keep this post short  with just one photo.  This is a pile of stuff I got rid of a couple of years ago, chairs included.  I refinished the chairs prior to donation because even though I didn't want them, I wanted them to be in a condition in which someone else would want them.  This is a hoarding tendency I have, that everything has to go to a good home.  I won't donate things I think will be thrown away, so I do what I can to make sure stuff is in good condition.  It is one of the reasons I keep boxes, because I acquire things with the knowledge that one day I will wish to dispose of those things, and that the items will be more desirable to others if they can get the box and/or manual.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that I have been getting rid of things along the way - I just need to step it up!

Close Enough for Government Work - 2/3/2012

So I have a lot these little bowls - mostly what are called "berry" bowls, some are bouillon bowls.  I don't use them for their intended purpose, but I do use them for feeding canned food to my cats.  Two of these, the ones with floral motifs, have been broken and mended and are perfectly suitable for the cats.  But the blue and whites are the right size, too, and have never been broken.  The cats mostly eat dry food, out of different bowls, and don't need this many of the small bowls.  I'm tossing the mended ones. 

These type of items are where I can sympathize with hoarders - I should keep them, they aren't very big, they're cute, they might be useful, they are useful -  but that doesn't mean I need so many.

The Clone Wars 2/3/2012

Here we have 2 dedicated staple removers (probably from my parents' home), plus my mini-stapler (purchased by me) which also has a remover on it.  So one of the removers will be released into the wild at my office. I'm counting it as a toss since it won't be in my home or even my cubicle anymore.  Considering that I do scan a lot to minimize paper, my needs to staple things and then remove the staples is pretty small. 

The Clone Wars

I probably bought the one with the black plastic handle, then inherited Mom's.  Mom's has finer, more intricate (kind of woven/chain-mail texture) mesh and a wooden handle, which I think is neat, but that means I can't put it in the dishwasher, and the finer mesh makes it harder to clean.

I don't have any specific memories of Mom using hers, so I can't claim any real sentimental attachment.  I use mine to strain seeds and pulp when I make lemonade, and it is fine for that.  The older one gets tossed.

There is no spoon.

This oddly-shaped spoon came with my yogurt maker.  I actually use my yogurt maker on a regular basis, and it gets to stay.  But the spoon serves no function in the yogurt production or consumption process.  I use a wooden spoon while I heat the milk to make it, and a regular spoon to get it out of the container when it is ready to eat.  This spoon has been sitting in the utensil drawer for two years, helping to obscure other items I might actually want.

Tossed.