Box #18–Living Room Closet--2012

Banker’s Box

1. Baseball hats

__________________

House--Living Room

_________________

Okay, I have to comment here.

Why do we have a box full of baseball bats? This is definitely a box we must cull through: save what we want and get rid of the rest (sell or donate).

But, for now, hello living room closet.

Box #17–Living Room Closet--2012

Clear Container with Clear Lid

1. Scarves
2. Mittens and Gloves
3. Hats

_____________________

House--Living Room

Box #16–General Stuff/McDonald Happy Meal Toys--2012

Some From From Old Boxes 2003-57
Clear Container with Clear Lid

1. Railroad Stock Certificate: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Nov. 10, 1896, 1

2. Donald Duck Figurine (Mint in Mickey Box, 1

3. Flutes, 2 (1 reddish brown wood with silver spots, I yellowish wood)

4. Coin Counter in box: “Armored Card,” 1

5. Sandeman Snifters, set of 6, in yellow box (Yugoslavia, 1988-89), 1

6. Small Rakija Glasses, blue, set of 6, in red box (Yugoslavia, 1988-89), 1

7. Bird, New Zealand Carving (Marked: “Carved in Rotorua”), 1

8. Green Avon Pitcher with stopper and bowl, 1

9. Folk Art Airplane (Wood)–I think it’s homemade, 1

10. Metal Toy Plane (“Made in China”), 1

11. Small Wood Vase, 1

12. Magic Brain Calculator, Silver and Red, Made in Japan, unopened in plastic, 1

13. Small silver-plated bowl, footed, 1

14. Furby Key chain, yellow and black, 1

15. Florida Coaster (Metal), 1

16. “Flicker Top” Spin Toy–Made in USA, Pat. April 27, 1920, 1

17. Radiometer, the Scientific Toy (Near MIB), 1

18. Space Gyro, “The Modern Toy” (in box, which is slightly worn), 1

19. Small Pewter Footed Bowl, 1

20. “Cranky,” Windup Creature, MoMA (New in plastic box), 1

21. Silver Dish (Small), 1

22. Silver Cup, marked “Baby,” 1

23. Sponge Duck (in shoe box), 1

24. 8-ball, 1

25. Orioles Desk Figurine, 1

26. Mark McGwire MVP cards in blister packs, 10

27. Filled in with McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys and other small stuff

______________________

(Shed, 2012)

Box #15–Disney and General Stuff--2012

Some From From Old Box 2003-7
Clear Container with Clear Lid

1. BOX A: Donald Duck Gum Ball Machine in Box, 1

2. BOX A: Scrooge McDuck Gum Ball Machine in Box, 1

3. BOX B: Donald Duck Projector, 1

4. BOX C: Donald Duck Choo Choo, 1

5. Knitted Scarf (Pink)

6. Handkerchief, with lace edges

7. Large Silk Scarf, white, blue, and pink

_____________________________

(Shed, 2012)

Ugh...Tossing 20-Plus Years of Old Receipts and Tax Records

I have been spending the past three days going through six or seven boxes of old tax records and old receipts for shredding.

Why, o why haven't we kept up with this task? It would have been so easy to do this as a yearly task, for example, tossing tax year 1998 in 2005.

Did we really need old receipts and tax records from 1998?

Of course not. However, the attic had been so full that nearly everything behind the first rows were not accessible.

And old receipts and tax stuff had been buried deep.

Finally, I was able to find these old records and papers.

So there's good news from Hoarderville: while the attic is still messy and full, everything is now located according to type and easily accessible for future culling and inventorying.

I have been at this job since October 2011, so I wonder how these hoarding TV shows can clear out an entire house in three days. Perhaps it's because I'm a lone person without a team of enthusiastic tossers.

In any case, I'm not sure I would want a "team" helping me--there is a psychological component to weeding and inventorying that needs to be recognized and honored.

For example, you would not think that tossing bills would bring back memories, but it does: we were so young and poor back in those early days of marriage, and I cannot tell you how many overdraft and dunning notices I found, particularly in the first two years of our marriage, when my better half was taking care of the bills (or not taking care of them). That was a painful time for us, a helplessness caused by a lack of sufficient funds and being seriously in hock to Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, our mean surrogate fiduciary parents.

Once I took over the bill paying, our financial situation changed for the better, but, unfortunately, I tend to be paranoid about what to save and tend to save everything.

I need to rethink that model.

Slowly, our financial situation improved (tremendously--we owe no one and have money in the bank), but it took setting aside money for various purposes (paying off existing debt, saving for the future, setting up a car fund, vacation fund, etc.) and sticking to that plan. I also paid ahead on our mortgage, at first, only a few dollars a month but eventually up to few hundred.

We paid off our 30-year mortgage in 17 years. It helps that better half has a good job with good raises. So I recognize that this exact plan might not work for everyone, but, with discipline, living within one's means is attainable.

Enough, already, with the financial planning lecture.

Our next task:

Old suitcases, which, in our house, seem to reproduce like cockroaches, some of which I will use for storage of my old dolls.

Box #14g–Posters and Prints–2012

Large Cardboard Tube

1. Grateful Dead Metal Poster, Metal Lithograph Art (Still in Package)

2. Envelope (Small Posters Not Rolled Up):

–Side 1: Ravens Michael McCrary (2000); Side 2: Ravens, Jermaine Lewis (2000)

–Brian Roberts, year unknown

–Side 1: Orioles Jimmy Key; Side 2: Orioles All-Stars (Baltimore Sun), year unknown

–Side 1: Rafael Palmeiro; Side 2: Roberto Alomar, year unknown

–Old print (House on Lake)

–Foil Print (Flowers around Lake)

–Posters:

*The Twelve Dancing Princesses

*Season’s Readings

*Uncle Vova’s True

*Scribner Literature Series: Author’s Map

*Scribner Literature Series: Literature Throughout the Ages, 1880-Present

* Post Card: 1990 is International Literacy Year

3. Small Picture Mat (Mauve)

4. Painting on Bark, Colorful Bird, unsigned

5. Plastic Orioles Fans Sign (Oriole Bird–not cartoon– on Diamond: Parking Only

6. Mom’s (Anita S.) Farmer/Wife Painting (in Frame)

7. Jen’s Melanie Painting in Frame

8. Mom’s (Anita S.) Artwork:

–Canvas Board: Lake Scene (Abstract)

–Water on Paper: Fruit Bowl

–Water on Paper: Colorful Parrot

9. Skopje Jazz Festival Calendar (Skenpoint)

10. Repro of an Old Print: View of Shockoe Creek Valley, Richmond, VA

11. Place Mat: Treasure Island at the Mirage

12. The Myth of the American Historical Ignoramus Poster (Guy with His Head Up His A$$–No Kidding–Where did we get this, anyway?)

13. Seite Aus Der 42 zeiligen Bibel Gutenbergs –Mainz 1452-55 (Repro page from the Gutenberg Bible???), rolled in square gray box

14. MASN Poster (Orioles) #15

15. 1996 Calendar (Cal Ripken)

16. The American Spirit (2001), Cal Ripken, Jr. With American Flag, October 6, 2001 (Outside Pitch), 2 copies

17. Las Vegas Poster (The Street with Lights)

18. Silver Picture Frame (Hallmark)

19. Star Trek Comic Book: Operation Assimilation, April ‘97, #1 (4 copies)

20. Comic Books: Peter Parker Spiderman, Oct ‘97, #84 (2 copies); The Spectacular Spiderman, Jan ‘98, #253 (2 copies); The Amazing Spiderman, Oct ‘97, #427 (2 copies)

21. Comic Books: The Avengers, May ‘97, #7; Iron Man, June ‘97, #8 (1 copy each)

22. Oil Painting: Winter Scene. Bare trees, ice-covered road (By Anita S.)

23. Mini-Posters: Toni Morrison, 5

24. Mini-Posters: Fiction of the Indian Subcontinent, 5

25. Passages North Cover: Vol. 14, No. 1, Summer 1993

26. Passages North Cover: Vol. 14, No. 2, Winter 1993

27. Passages North Cover: Vol. 15, No. 1, Summer 1994

28. Passages North Cover: Vol. 16, No. 2, Winter 1994

_______________________________________

(To be placed in Shed, Currently in House, under coffee Table: 2012)

Sunny Day in Hoarderville

I did nothing with The Project today, except to post one list on this site.

Perhaps it has something to do with the lovely weather, a picture-perfect day. Last week, when it was so warm in Hoarderville, I jumped the gun and dragged out my summer stuff, and then it got cold again. I had to go into the off-season closet and rescue a long-sleeved top.

I have actually packed up a lot of boxes, but most of them have not yet been posted here yet. I started organizing in October 2011; much has been inventoried and packed, over 100 containers, inventory lists saved on my hard drive--no wonder why this job seems wearing.

But I fear fire, theft, or some other catastrophe that could possibly wipe out everything we own, including the lists. I do have a fire-proof safe, where I store one of my hard drives, but, still, nothing is ever 100% safe. By posting the lists on this site, we have yet another layer of safety, unless Blogger's cloud goes down AND our house and shed burn down AND our safe doesn't stand up to the heat.

What would be the odds?

Most possessions, if lost, are replaceable, but important papers and family photos are not.

Which reminds me: what are some characteristics of a hoarder or near hoarder?

--Obsessive/compulsive behaviors (varying degrees, some slight, some full-blown--if you have ever seen Monk, you'll understand how paralyzing this behavior can be).

--Perfectionists--this may seem counter intuitive, but sometimes our standards are so high that we decide not to bother, which is why our spaces lapse into chaos. Non-hoarders are willing to settle for "good enough"--pick up quickly and put away-- while we envision House Beautiful. Of course, only the rich, like Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey, can afford perfection to that extent. The other 99% of us live in modest digs with those flickering dining room lights and ugly and shop-worn family room rug.

--Over-involvement with possessions and personifying inanimate objects:

I can't throw away this piece of ripped tin foil because I might hurt its feelings or disrespect it.

Silly, I know, but that's something that goes through one's head when holding trash over the garbage. Often, for those of us who just teeter on the edge of hoarderdom, the thought is usually momentary and the foil gets tossed.

--Fear of poverty, past, present, and future. We keep things because we might "need" them later. However, no one needs 35 purses and 50 pairs of socks and underwear. Ironically, hoarding itself can lead to poverty as homes deteriorate into heaps of garbage. My depression-era grandmother used to save rubber bands by slipping them on doorknobs, a habit I have picked up, and I wasn't even around during the depression.

Another story.

--Artistic, creative, and dreamy, which is why we tend to save strange items

Logical: buy new and toss or donate the old.

If only it worked that way...