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Tag: decluttering

Are We Close Enough To That Holiday Limbo Period Where You’re Never Certain If People Are Still Working, Or Are Off On Vacation Time…

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But sometimes they answer emails or request work, but you’d swear you’ve had an OOO message explaining an absence for the end of the year. Do I need to finish this asap or… will you approve this now or… should I wait for a reply and any possible changes before I go round my pal’s for a drink or… do I give you until 9:00pm and then shut down for the day or… that type of thing. Get it?

Tuesday of the week before Christmas,  and other such Holidays are upon us as well. Seasons greetings, Happy Holidays, Happy/Merry (?) Kwanza, Happy Chanukah, and any such others that I’ve missed.

We have a very light dusting of powdery snow this morning, masking a brittle & crunchy layer of ice beneath thanks to all of yesterday’s rain. Is it treacherous out there? I dunno. All I did was uncover both vehicles, but parts of the driveway were slick, so I’d have to imagine so. Go a hair slower towards all those four way stops, and give yourself a breather heading towards lights at intersections. That sort of thinking should help you out on a day like today. Get some of that good old glare from the sun off the road and you have yourself a recipe for smashed glass and dented bumpers. But we all hope not.

Here’s a quick health tip reminder. Drink a glass of water. If you feel bound up inside, head-achey, or a bit dry of lip, go drink a glass now. It might rush right through you in the next 10-15 minutes, but a cool glass of water will be appreciated by your body. I regularly forget to do so, and I should take better care not to forget. One small step of personal kindness. Just don’t do it if you have to go drive somewhere, or wait in a place with no bathroom access. That will not be of any immediate help to you! Ha.

In alternate news I did a good amount of clearing up down in the basement. I finally tossed several years of old fair entries, kept all of the ribbons though. Kept some of the more special entries too. Stuff that really displayed effort and/or creativity. I also condensed down our books to open up some more space for the kids things, and to provide additional playable surfaces for them both. It doesn’t look like I got rid of much because of how much is still left, but I know I sent off 70lbs worth of books, novels, and hard covers. Tried to get some old manuals out the door too, but those five were rejected. I knew they would be, but worth a try. Can’t score if you don’t shoot! Ha. In all honesty though, as happy as I am with the progress, there are an awful lot of things that still need to be sorted out, organized and gotten disposed of. The old water softener which weighs a gods be damned tonne has to go. But I haven’t been able to empty out all of the congealed salt yet. Also my wheelie cart went to the in-laws never to return. So I need one of those, my ratchet straps and a final destination planned out before I fuss with it. We have a change table & crib combo that needs to go too. If our newly pregnant cousin on my wife’s side doesn’t want it, I’ll take it to the Care & Share donation drop off site. I just want it gone, but not to a landfill. I could just as easily break it down and burn it at the cottage, but it deserves to keep doing its thing unhindered.

I also need to designate an appropriate storage spot for all of our newly acquired wheeled luggage. I don’t want to bury it someplace it’s a pain to get to, but they are big & light weight. I guess the closets I emptied recently of baby clothes is as good a spot as any. I was hoping to retain that space for later, but those new bags need a clean, dry, and out of the way place to be stored so that the kids don’t try to climb inside them, and break the wheels or zippers etc… I tell you I dream of storage space. A magical extra door in the basement that leads to a cavernous, yet dry and luke warm room with rack upon rack of easily accessible storage. An Indiana Jones style warehouse to put all of our extra stuff. These are the desires I have. Not extra wives, or girlfriends on the side. No. I dream of adequate storage space, and an upgraded shop. But I digress. I could daydream about that sort of thing all day if I let myself. That and winning the lottery. Again – I digress. Shame, that. I’d be pretty good at spending money on all sorts of fun things. Probably why most lottery winners go bankrupt or end up back where they were inside of ten years. Eyes too big for their account balances. Plus getting fleeced by banks, bad money managers, shady business partners and the like. I’m drifting here, I can feel it! Dream a little dream of meeeeeeeee!

Less than a week to go now until Christmas. And then we’ll be looking down the barrel of a looming 2024! Crazy. Anyway, take care. Ciao Bella!

Looking forward to a good Spring Cleaning.

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Reclaiming space by decluttering and purging junk is a favored pass time of mine. Cardboard, broken stuff, wood chunks, old crappy particle board furniture, you name it, I love to break it down and throw it away once it has finished being useful. Although in regards to particle board, if the pieces are big enough, and still smooth, I may save a panel or two for making jigs for wood working, but the item itself will no longer be around. Waste not – want not. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and all that jazz.

I am really wrestling with what I’d like to do with my garage shop space. It is very tight in there. I need to sell off a tool or two that I don’t really use (namely the radial arm saw) as that could be replaced by upgrading my mitre saw to a 12″ saw blade version, with a sliding feature. I regain a few feet of open space on the floor around my table saw, and can remove one mostly unused item from the shop. Now I do use the radial arm saw because it has a 16 inch reach to it, but a larger chop saw would just about do the same, so rather than hauling items from one station to another, I could do them all in one spot, forever more. Sounds great. One – slight hitch. New  sliding compound mitre saws are expensive. Like nearly $1,000.00 expensive. So not going to happen any time soon.

I also toy with getting rid of my mastercraft work bench in favour of a two tiered rolling tool box. But, this may be a vanity thing, rather than a necessity. I would like to have more room in the drawers to not have to pile wrenches, and sockets on top of each other, but do I need a full tool chest to do so? I can easily justify it to myself, but… you know. Probably shouldn’t. My garage isn’t just a wood shop. It’s also where I maintain my lawn mower and weed eater. Where we store exterior lights and decorations for several holidays, it’s where I work on minor (very minor) car stuff, like light bulbs, coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and the wheels. It’s also where I have my arc welding machine, and angle grinder and such. So I like having this stored together by activity, but separated by task. I want to reclaim space, but on the other hand I want to maintain separate zones too. It’s a mess – my head. I want, I want, wah-wah-wah.

I realize how particular I am, don’t you worry about that. I see it every day in my kids. Stubbornness comes from the wife, particularity from my side of the family. Pragmatic, pedantic & particular. I’m fun at parties. So yeah. Spring cleaning is great. I have big plans, no budget, and the tastes of a trillionaire Saudi King. Ha. The real question is, would a single or double cabinet actually save me space in the end? I like the idea of my unused rags, and finishes, and paint not being covered in dust and debris. And then being able to tear down the now motionless tool carts I build. They haven’t moved an inch since I parked them in their current locations about 6 years ago. I can reclaim the castor wheels off of at least 2 carts for future projects.

Something I need to consider is: do I really intend to optimize the work space, or am I bored and looking to introduce something new to the mix just because? Ooh. That’s a tough one. I do get angry when building some items because of how little space there is, but I am also a notorious room rearranger to make things feel new again. There’s more here than I care to get into. So happy Easter Long Weekend, Good Friday, etc etc… Ciao Bella!