Credible and Competent Reviews

It's been a long time since I reviewed any organizing and housekeeping lit so I found a couple nice things for discussion.

Unfuck Your Habitat is a Tumblr blog I subscribe to that has lists of tips, admonishments, and "before and after" photo scenarios.  I live for "before and after" pics and they're probably what most make me want to get up and move stuff around.  On a daily basis the blog charges you to make your bed and "unfuck tomorrow morning" by preparing a few simple things ahead of schedule.  I give this blog A+ for simplicity and visuals; organizing suggestions should be concise. 

My habitat is still mildly fucked and I've got an ant problem that won't quit, but blogs like this one make me keep trying.  Here's a graph prepared by Fitzrovian Industries analyzing the sharp downward trend in problemosis over the last four years:

 I credit Johnny Ryan's book Prison Pit #1 for inspiring the high-end rating.  That's about as bad as it gets.

All right, my next review is about The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, a book by Marie Kondo, who is an organizing consultant from Japan.  I got my own copy at last, because there are about 700 holds on it at the library and one of my friends who is reading it needs a little more time with it.

This is a preliminary review because I need to finish reading it.  I'm going to rate it highly already because Ms. Kondo actually had a mystical experience that brought her to her current organizing philosophy.  A god-like voice spoke to her after she had a mini-breakdown and told her how to change her approach to paring down!!  Which happens to be focusing things you love to keep, or as she puts it, things that "spark joy", rather than on the stuff you get rid of.  I know that this concept has had a profound meaning for some people I know, and applied to other aspects of their lives.

My only disagreement with her so far is that she thinks you should do all the organizing of everything all at once, whereas I've been doing it space by space.  I think I'd wanna die if I I had made an occasion of doing my whole house, my stuff and Dylan's stuff together.  I can see why her method makes sense though.  I don't know if I want to apply it to my place at this point.  Also, if I finished then this blog is finished, right?

It's finally getting nicer outdoors in Portland and that means it's time to put free stuff out on the sidewalk.  It's time to get free stuff too, or leave it where it lies.  Free sidewalk stuff makes a total hypocrite out of me.

Vaya con Dios

After faithful service for several years, I've turned this little storage unit loose to show the world what it's made of.  I found it a block from here and it was rusty then but it hasn't got much worse since I put it to use.  I placed it on the sidewalk a few days ago when I left for work, and it was gone when I got home. 

I guess it shows that I'm getting my crap under control in that I need fewer shelves, boxes and closets for things.  I'm not innocent of bringing home new things once in a while though, things I don't really need.  Now that it's summer, more and more people are placing free stuff on the sidewalk and I'm looking through it all when I see it!

Here's a few things I've hauled home this season:

• an antique doily made of linen and handmade lace, slightly stained
• a gold picture frame
• a glass bowl (like a mini fishbowl) with a ruffled top edge
• ceramic tiles

I could have brought home a shitload more but it's all about RESTRAINT with me these days.  I could have had a cast iron waffle maker, but do I make waffles at home?  No.  RESTRAINT.

Craigslist and the big stand-up game

If you try to get rid of stuff on the "Free" section of Craigslist's "For Sale" category, be prepared to meet the flakiest people in town.  I put the microfiche machine up because I couldn't find a taker out of anyone I knew.  The first guy who responded set up a meeting time, and I cut off a nice visit with a dear friend to meet this weenie.  When he didn't show I texted him to see if he was still coming and he didn't get back to me for an hour.  He offered to come get it "after the Ducks game", which means nothing to me except that ball games end when they end.  When I asked him for a more specific time he changed his mind about the whole thing.

After a few more tries with the other people who had contacted me, I emailed a man I will call Bob.  His reply asked that I not fall through on an arranged time, so I figured I had my man.  I began to doubt when he left me a message saying he'd be an hour late, but he did show and got the equipment.  Not only that, but Bob offered to take anything else I might be giving away.  I thought for a second about giving him the furniture that I didn't give to the last Salvation Army pickup, but realized I would have to empty them out.  He then told me about his vision problems, which made me worry that he was driving all the way out to Beaverton, when he said I looked like a blur to him.  I was standing three feet away from him when he said this.  All told though he was a nice man and we're both happy with how the transaction went.

Basement Diaries

I've returned my attentions more to the basement in the last couple days, as it occurred to me that I could sell some furnishings that I couldn't fit into the car to take to the garage sale.  Which, in case I didn't make clear, was 100 miles away and not in the Portland city limits. I took them to Village Merchants' new location.  I have an overabundance of end tables since I got all the furniture from my mother-in-law last year.  I don't want to hang onto them until I move, whenever that is.  I traded the tables and other small things for some cotton curtains and other needed supplies.   The curtains can go across my new closet opening on the tension rod I got the other day, after I wash them.

I think it's time I found some new favorite thrift shopping places.  But then again maybe it's good that I'm not hunting too much.  

I went to IKEA on Saturday with a couple of lady friends.  I feel a little guilty shopping there, but when I think about how I only bought one stick of new furniture in years, I don't feel too bad.  I got a metal trestle leg thing to hold up one end of the desk I built for myself nine years ago. I tried looking for a sawhorse I could salvage, but nowadays the sawhorses are all beefy, almost pony-sized.  A lot of them are made of that heavy duty plastic too.  The trestle is dainty and above all, coordinates with the rest of the desk.

It looks like the old lady could use a new coat of paint.  I used a white stain when I made it and now it's covered with other kinds of stains.  The top looks a little lopsided here, but it's nothing a couple magazines (Oprah and Martha!) won't fix.

I'm glad that Portland is so fond of leaving stuff on the sidewalk for people to find and re-use.  I'm going to put the metal-and-particle board shelf unit that was holding up the left end of the desk out tomorrow.  I don't want to give out my address here, but if you know me and if it's a nice day tomorrow then you might find something outside my driveway!