Question All Advice

At this moment I'd like to mention a few bits of advice that I've heard from so-called organizing gurus that I don't think are especially helpful to me.  Not that you should ignore them completely, but I think it's best for you to come up with your own system of doing things after considering the angles.

Here's one thing I hear a lot: "If you haven't used/worn it in a year, get rid of it.  You'll never use it."

My amendment to that is, put the thing in question in a place where you'll see it a lot.  That is, if you really kind of like it and hate the thought of parting with it straight off.  Give yourself a little time to decide.  It's not like it's going to get any bigger and take up MORE space.

A similar maxim to the above is, if you catch yourself saying, "I might use this someday, I can't get rid of it," well, maybe you will really use it again someday!  But again, you need to have it where you can think about it more than you have been.  It's true that we tend to pack things away and forget about them, then dig them out and get excited all over again about having them.  The trick is to put it in your own way for a while so you will actually use it.

I'm no minimalist, as my friends will tell you, but I hate random piles of detritus collecting everywhere.  That's why I have a couple cupboards where I just keep tchotchkes that I intend to rotate in and out of the bric-a-brac I keep out on display fulltime.  I try not to keep buying new things is all.  When you have some pretty objets that you can switch out with the vases and such, your home feels like a new place all of  a sudden.

Not long ago, I did empty out a number of boxes of china artifacts I'd been storing and I did decide that they no longer suited my tastes.  I put a few on eBay, and some I ended up taking to a vintage store I love, Village Merchants.  They are in Portland, on SE Division.  They will give cash for things they take, but I always get trade which ends up being worth more.  Then I can get something that I really want or need.  This store has furniture and other home decor stuff, but they also have clothing and jewelry.  I can't say how much I love this place!  One of my favorite stores in Portland, hands down.