View Full Version : December Purge
DH has continued work on the flat file. By comparison to what it looked like before, it's downright respectable! This of course, generated yet more artwork to sell, papers to recycle, and stuff for the antique booth. I have a manual coffee grinder and egg scale to go to the booth this week and books for the thrift shop down the road.
I have a surplus of vintage wooden crates I need to sell, somewhere. Also 2 old oak rimmed antique mirrors. And 2 beveled edge modern mirrors too. They'd all be great flea market fodder, but no flea markets.
I'd really, really love to be rid of all the excess stuff by next spring. No more boxes of books. No more piles 'o stuff. No more storage units?
To that end, it's dump day tomorrow. I have no idea what's going except the trash and recycling -- but we'll find something! The little cat needs to go to the vet. Before COVID, I could donate a few books to their waiting room. But these days, you wait in your car.
iris lilies
12-2-20, 12:16am
Well, wouldnt you know, now I need a couple of the fleece blankets I pitched a year ago.
Fortunately they are dime a dozen at the thrift stores and are cheap. But mainly I hate the idea of adding that awful fleece stuff to the landfill when I didn’t have to.If they have better quality bedding, I might use it. We have a small dog who is cold all the time so she needs bedding to burrow in.
I know this is a thread about purging not being regret full about something we purge! But it just occurred to me today. Although rather than getting fleece maybe I’ll get a quilted something at the thrift store.
rosarugosa
12-2-20, 6:30am
I reached out to the guy that took laptops from me previously for scrapping, and he came by yesterday and picked up: old dehumidifier, DH's old laptop, mom's defective DVD player, and Dsis's 2 old laptops. He is the trusted friend of a trusted friend, so I'm trusting him to destroy the hard drives as promised (seemed to go OK last time). This is also a frugal because I would have had to pay $20 to the town for a sticker to dispose of the dehumidifier.
My stick/immersion blender died, so it's off to the dump, sigh. (DH tried to fix it first.) Also, the other day I had gotten behind washing napkins and placemats. The small drawers on top of a file cabinet where I kept them was empty. I decided to take advantage of that and vac them out. I was prepping dinner. When I got back in the kitchen, my hands were BLUE. The same blue as the file cabinet. It's going to the dump today too.
Not sure what else, aside from the household garbage/recycling is going.
The file drawer thing will for the moment be replaced by two wooden boxes we have. The stick blender is being researched. The company that made mine got sold. Then that company got sold, 2x. Then someone bought the right to use the name...
Well, wouldnt you know, now I need a couple of the fleece blankets I pitched a year ago.
Fortunately they are dime a dozen at the thrift stores and are cheap. But mainly I hate the idea of adding that awful fleece stuff to the landfill when I didn’t have to.If they have better quality bedding, I might use it. We have a small dog who is cold all the time so she needs bedding to burrow in.
I know this is a thread about purging not being regret full about something we purge! But it just occurred to me today. Although rather than getting fleece maybe I’ll get a quilted something at the thrift store.
I don't find quilted cotton particularly warm; I'd stick with fleece, and maybe look for a down pillow to line the dog bed.
Teacher Terry
12-2-20, 11:44am
Fleece is the best for dogs and people:))
happystuff
12-2-20, 12:37pm
IL, maybe if you have a big, thick bath towel that can be repurposed as a dog blanket? Not sure how big the dog is or how big your extra towels may be. Just a thought.
I finally have a donation pickup scheduled for next week, so prep is underway to list, bag/box all the stuff in the donation corner and anything else that can be found! (So, no official count yet. LOL)
Also, you can make a pet bed by cutting up a wool blanket, sandwiching it between sheets of space blanket, putting it into a pillowcase, and basting it shut. The wool and space blanket will provide warmth.
iris lilies
12-2-20, 4:55pm
I do use big thick towels as well. They are absorbent.
I don’t have conventional dog “beds “ because my dogs pee in them. My very clean dog came with his own very nice bed. He was fine in it. Then we added Minnie Mouse to our household and she leaks urine. Then, They had peeing contests in the bed. I pitched it.
My dog bedding is made up of loose towels or small fleece blankets or fleece blankets cut in half. I also have a stack of comforters that I cut up and sewed edges shut many years ago. You need to be easy to wash without me tearing apart a dog bed and stuffing it back together. Bedding is washed every couple of days.
Fleece is warm, I’ll give you that, but it is not at all absorbent.
Trying to sell a car and get us down to a one-vehicle family. I've listed it on FB Marketplace, some local FB buy-sell-trade sites, Craigslist and my work intranet bulletin board. Will use the proceeds to pay off the other car loan and save for taxes we'll owe in 2021. We'll save monthly cash flow with not paying car insurance, which will be good.
Teacher Terry
12-3-20, 4:37pm
Car max buys cars if you have one nearby.
DH has continued work on the flat file. By comparison to what it looked like before, it's downright respectable! This of course, generated yet more artwork to sell, papers to recycle, and stuff for the antique booth. I have a manual coffee grinder and egg scale to go to the booth this week and books for the thrift shop down the road.
I have a surplus of vintage wooden crates I need to sell, somewhere. Also 2 old oak rimmed antique mirrors. And 2 beveled edge modern mirrors too. They'd all be great flea market fodder, but no flea markets.
I'd really, really love to be rid of all the excess stuff by next spring. No more boxes of books. No more piles 'o stuff. No more storage units?
To that end, it's dump day tomorrow. I have no idea what's going except the trash and recycling -- but we'll find something! The little cat needs to go to the vet. Before COVID, I could donate a few books to their waiting room. But these days, you wait in your car.
Facebook Marketplace moves things fast around here! Anything I have listed is gone within an hour. :cool:
Car max buys cars if you have one nearby.
They do - but it's about 66% of what I should be able to get from a private sale. Edit - I just checked Carvana. The nearest Carmax is 75 miles away, but perhaps they do offer more, I don't know.
Last weekend I took 6 items (2 large) to Goodwill. That's it for this month so far.
iris lilies
12-10-20, 12:30pm
Over the weekend our neighborhood had a tree lighting event. It was outdoors on the plaza and everyone was masked up so I guess it was safe who knows. I certainly had not been in a crowd of that size since Covid hit us last March. Anyway, I set up a table and gave away children’s books. I got rid of about 60 of them.
I’m listing a few on eBay. My minimum is goal is to make $10 each on the first listing. If I don’t think I can make $10 I set them aside for the used book store. I also scrounged up two pieces of costume jewelry that are selling. I have a couple pieces of clothing from the 70s that seem to have a little bit of value on eBay. I know I can get $10 each.
If we weren’t sitting around in Covid time ps I would not be wasting my time on all these tiny little eBay sales but I have time. I’m motivated because I am tracking every bit of profit and will donate it to the park Conservancy.
I want to purge some plants I have growing indoors to make room for seed starts since the sunroom has only one very sunny space. Our Trader Joe's gives away their tired plants during senior hours so I have some I don't really want to keep. I don't really get into houseplants but can't resist when they are free. That would include some spider plants, a 2 ft tall tomato plant and some pothos ivy. The tomato is a fighter but I can't see keeping it alive all winter. Maybe someone else can. I listed some free cuttings of a succulent on FB and the response was huge.
Sold 4 scuba tanks I no longer need for $700 total.
Teacher Terry
12-10-20, 1:47pm
By the time we sell our cars they are only worth about 1k so sell on CL and Facebook marketplace. I have 4 bags for the thrift store that will get dropped off tomorrow and 4 bags of food for a small shelter that’s always taking food.
We have been pretty steadily getting rid of things over past two weeks because of impending move. Today I put out a treadle sewing machine table that is beautiful and make someone a nice Christmas present. I also put out two metal motel chairs--I had three and kept the best one. There is still a mid century modern oak desk and a file cabinet; if they are not gone by tonight, I will probably bring them, just not sure where I will put them. New house is pretty small. So maybe take to Habitat.
I have been very happy with the stuff that people have taken, and my husband even put out two old giant speakers that he didn't want to fiddle with anymore.
He's trying to sell a few more things on Craigslist, but I just want stuff gone.
I replaced two glasses cases, one broken and one irreparably fuzzed up.
The desk and the file cabinet both went, as did two large bookcases that I did not want to move, either.
Tomorrow will add a chair or two and a cabinet.
rosarugosa
12-11-20, 6:42am
The desk and the file cabinet both went, as did two large bookcases that I did not want to move, either.
Tomorrow will add a chair or two and a cabinet.
Tybee: When are you planning to move?
Top Care brand mouthwash which tasted horrible is down the drain.
Tybee: When are you planning to move?
Well, the pod is here now, but we are having a snow storm, but husband has started loading the pod. I think it is supposed to get picked up Wednesday, but we can get more time if we need it.
I am painting rooms as they are getting emptied, and I keep thinking I have packed everything, but it's layers.
Too a slew of stuff to Goodwill yesterday, really nice stuff that someone can use and I don't want to move.
So maybe next week?
Yesterday had a banner day getting rid of stuff, and thank goodness I insisted we do it yesterday, before the snow made it too late. A cabinet, very large and heavy, that my husband had made, two more chairs, two beautiful Kohler sinks (VERY heavy), and another another big dresser because I have been dragging it around for 20 years and I am sure I can find a nicer one where we are going.
Letting go is definitely the theme this week.
Teacher Terry
12-12-20, 12:29pm
Nothing like moving across the country to motivate getting rid of stuff. I have done that. I usually try to sell furniture versus giving it away.
That would have a good thing to do!
catherine
12-12-20, 12:41pm
Well, the pod is here now, but we are having a snow storm, but husband has started loading the pod. I think it is supposed to get picked up Wednesday, but we can get more time if we need it.
I am painting rooms as they are getting emptied, and I keep thinking I have packed everything, but it's layers.
Too a slew of stuff to Goodwill yesterday, really nice stuff that someone can use and I don't want to move.
So maybe next week?
Yesterday had a banner day getting rid of stuff, and thank goodness I insisted we do it yesterday, before the snow made it too late. A cabinet, very large and heavy, that my husband had made, two more chairs, two beautiful Kohler sinks (VERY heavy), and another another big dresser because I have been dragging it around for 20 years and I am sure I can find a nicer one where we are going.
Letting go is definitely the theme this week.
God bless you! You are taking me back to my own downsize. I know it's not easy, but at the end, it feels good.
God bless you! You are taking me back to my own downsize. I know it's not easy, but at the end, it feels good.
I am clinging to that thought--right now it feels awful and surreal.
(The snow is what added the surreal element!)
Went through 3 large bins of old paper stuff last week, old shop paperwork, writing, snapshots, etc. all jumbled together. Filled the paper recycling bins to the tippy top. That got taken to the dump today. There's a large bin of shredding to go to Staples, probably in chunks, and a smaller pile to be filed. Unfortunately, there's still one large cardboard carton o' papers to go through.
I've always hated filing. This is what I get...
Found, again, a German silver table scarf that had been my grandmother's. Probably looked wonderful in her Victorian dining room. I don't have such a thing; we live in a log home. I've owned this thing for over 30 years and never had a place to put it. It's beautiful, but it's in the antique store. I don't care that it was Grandma's I never knew her. I'm tired of storing it!
After months of trial, pulled 6 teaspoons to take to the antique store, next time. They came from an auction lot earlier this year and neither of us like the stuff we got at auction as much as the collectible stuff we'd had originally, so I put it back...
I finally got a plate rack. Hurrah! It's on top of the china cabinet. They both need to be painted, as they're both pine and arrived well used. But using the plate rack and china cabinet solves my problem of having to lift heavy plates in stacks into the kitchen cabinet. I already donated the diner dishes. They work fine, but were just too heavy. If I find some enamel plates I love I may indulge, but in the meantime, this is much better!
I have 3 small rugs I've been stitching together to make one big one in a color combo I love. I've been pecking away at this for some time. I had stretched it out and discovered that this type of rug will solve an ongoing problem -- the laundry needed one and the door wouldn't clear what I'd tried. I have extras of these, so I used one. Yay!
We bought a new, smaller dining room table and a kitchen cart. This also solves some of the aging issues. The cart replaces the file drawer which came off blue in my hands 2 weeks ago. Both of these pieces came from Habitat. The new table has a little storage with it as well, which is great.
rosarugosa
12-13-20, 8:17am
Good for you, NewGig. It's so satisfying to find solutions to some of those ongoing household annoyances!
Teacher Terry
12-17-20, 9:57pm
That’s great Becky!
rosarugosa
12-18-20, 6:45am
Congratulations on the car, Beckyliz!
I decluttered a pile of magazines that I was saving due to various articles of interest. Some of them were as much as 15 years old! It turned out I just needed to keep a few pages and the magazines all went into the recycling bin.
happystuff
12-18-20, 11:58am
My donation pickup earlier in the month never happened. We've used this place before, but when I called and checked about the pickup, the individual told me the driver went by and nothing was out. :0! The stuff is supposed to be out by 7 am and we had this stuff out at 6 am. Sigh... either the driver went to the wrong place or just didn't....
So, with no rescheduled date, I have two bins and two bags of stuff sitting in the family room.
More books in dump bin of course The big snow storm blew a lot into the porch and got some boxes there. That will generate various flea market items going to the dump, probably tomorrow.
The egg scale and coffee grinder sold really quick! I also took a German silver runner on net that was my Victorian grandmothers. She had a mansion. I don't have a need for a 6' table runner. It's gorgeous, but has been in a drawer since I was a kid. What do I need it for? Hopefully, someone will fall in love with it and offer me something... for it.
We have other pieces we've set aside to sell on ebay or whatever. Decided how to sell one of those today and where.
DH is working on the baking cabinet. Seems like it will also hold the pots and pans or the colander collection. Because of all the farm food I buy, we have a lot of colanders, strainers, etc.
Slowly, but surely, this place is being transformed into a location where we can live in our dotage, safely and as with as much ease as possible. There's less stuff every week and more room.
I took apart the planned dining room rug, it had been planned when I thought we were keeping the bigger table and putting it in the middle of the room. I had stitched 3 Crate & Barrel rugs together, had it all done but the border. The middle rug is in the kitchen and the 2 remaining yellow rugs will be stitched together for the now smaller dining room. Sometimes to make progress, you just have to tear things apart!
Teacher Terry
12-19-20, 2:24pm
Great progress Newgig!
iris lilies
12-19-20, 2:53pm
I totaled all 2020 year household sales which are all donations to Lafayette Park Conservancy: $1,085.
Ebay sales were $460 where I sold dolls, books, and jewelry. The rest of it was stemware I sold to a friend and had him send the check to the LPC.
After the new year begins, I’ll start up ebay sales again but if I can eke out another $500 in sales, I will be surprised. More likely $150. I’m concentrating only on the things that are easy to ship so they have to be books or something small.
iris lilies
12-19-20, 3:00pm
Great progress, newgig!
I sold a first edition adult book for a song, and should have done more research. I now see they are bringing $299 -$399 on eBay. My copy sold within the first 10 minutes for $25. I think mine was in Good+++ condition but it had obviously been read. I liked it because verso of title page did say “1st edition.” Otherwise I would not have known necessarily that it was a first although this book probably was not produced in subsequent editions.
Anyway I’m now rambling but I could’ve got more money for it oh well.I want fast sale, will not keep these books around for months. I like to think that a bookseller got it and will make some bucks on my copy. Booksellers don’t make much money these days.
What I wanted for Christmas:
DH to help me go through a corner of our huge kitchen which has become a storage area! This will generate a lot of things for the antique booth, dump, etc.
IL, Try this next time: look on ebay for prices realized ONLY. Then look up the book on bookfinder.com . That should tell you if what you have is the same as what sold on ebay. An edition is a set of plates. A first edition can be printed/reprinted for 20 years -- unlike what most people think. What you really want is the first PRINTING or first STATE of a book. Simply, a printing is a chunk of books which were printed at the same time, without corrections or changes to the text.
And, to help you not feel so bad? Books are ground up trees and rocks mostly. They almost never have intrinsic value, not having gold, jewels, etc. used in them anymore. A book is worth what someone will pay for it because of that. It's all supply and demand. Yes, you probably could have gotten more, maybe a lot more, but you also could have held onto the book trying to sell it for that for years. ( I have a storage unit full of such volumes.)
iris lilies
12-25-20, 3:31pm
I did use only “sold “ ebay prices. But I was unsure about which printing
i had and do not know how to decipher this publisher’s printing marks.
But it is entirely possible I had a first printing because I’ve had this book forever. I worked in libraries and would have read it when it first came out, then ordered it for myself.
You’re right that I wanted to move it fast and I still think I could’ve gotten $100 for it but I wouldn’t try to get more because of condition.
Can you see the numbering on this, and can you tell which printing it is?
3540
Found this on bookfinder: Hardcover, ISBN 9780394528014 (https://www.bookfinder.com/book/9780394528014/)
Publisher: Random House Inc,USA, 1983
Used - Near Fine. US1ST.EDITION.1ST.PRINTING. RANDOM HOUSE NUMBERLINE FOR FIRST PRINTINGS START WITH 2468109753 AND STATES FIRST EDITION BELOW. AN UNREAD COPY.NOT PRICECLIPPED ($13.95).NEAR FINE HARDBACK IN NEAR FINE DUSTWRAPPER.A REALLY NICE COPY. Includes dust jacket.
That copy is a lot more than your $25.
The problem with number lines is unless you need to know the publisher's practice, sometimes it's the lowest number that isn't there and sometimes it's the lowest number that is.
I had a signed photograph by a nobel prize winner to my Dad. It was framed. I gave it to a friend, a high end book dealer to sell. He sold it to another dealer for around $300. Six months later, it showed up at a local auction house items sold, for $1000+ . There is only ONE of these, anywhere, so I know it was the same photo. My friend, the bookseller was afraid I'd be mad.
How could I be? He sold it for the most he could get at the time. I was happy with it then. I have to be content with that.
Everyone in the book or antique business buys and sells stock based on the idea that we know something the person selling us doesn't. We know we have a customer who'll pay more for it. We know it's worth more than they're asking for it. We know that we have three want lists with that item on it. We think a museum might buy it. We think the photographer is undervalued. We think we can clean it up, put a dj protector on it, etc. and get a lot more for it.
It's on one of the most searched for book lists, etc. Whatever it is, we think we know more than the seller.
That's how the business works. If you were happy with the deal at the time, well, that's enough. Sometimes you make the money, sometimes someone else does.
My best deal? I found it at a flea market. In some dude's space who spent the entire time telling me how much his sf digest size magazines were worth (way over valued). Since I had 1,000s of them and used to sell sf fulltime, for 10+ years, I had a clue. But he also had this table of "kids" books. He spent the entire time I was there looking at his sf telling me how he knew what he was doing. Annoying to someone who'd been in the business for 20+ years. I call myself an educated amatuer...
Anyway, there was this book. it was a reprint. A large format paperback of a book I'd had as a kid, H.A. Rey's only nonfiction piece, about stars. I had been looking for one for myself. I opened it up and nearly dropped it because it was autographed to a "new neighbor" from "The Rey's". No price.
The know-it-all had left the booth to his wife to go look at books nearby. I asked her how much it was? She went away and asked him. Came back, it was $3. I sold for $200+ to a dealer. If it had been signed by Rey, it would have been a lot more. If it had been a hardcover, it would have been a lot more. But I was happy, because I took this book the fellow and his wife dismissed and made money.
It's every book since Gutenberg. You can't know them all.
mschrisgo2
12-27-20, 11:31pm
Just ran across an announcement on Face Book for prepaid labels to mail donations in. Wonderful, since all the donation centers are still closed because of Covid19 here in California. I have Amazon boxes and winter clothes that I hate and am not wearing- they will all be going this week!
My daughter had four old half-used beading sets that I was afraid were going to end up in the landfill, but I posted a picture of them in my Facebook moms group and found someone to take them for her daughter. I also gave away a book I got for Christmas that I already have a copy of. Total for month: 5.
iris lilies
12-30-20, 12:23pm
...
... I call myself an educated amatuer...
Anyway, there was this book. it was a reprint. A large format paperback of a book I'd had as a kid, H.A. Rey's only nonfiction piece, about stars. I had been looking for one for myself. I opened it up and nearly dropped it because it was autographed to a "new neighbor" from "The Rey's". No price.
The know-it-all had left the booth to his wife to go look at books nearby. I asked her how much it was? She went away and asked him. Came back, it was $3. I sold for $200+ to a dealer. If it had been signed by Rey, it would have been a lot more. If it had been a hardcover, it would have been a lot more. But I was happy, because I took this book the fellow and his wife dismissed and made money.
It's every book since Gutenberg. You can't know them all.
Good deal about the Rey book!
Very early when I was collecting, back before there was the Internet and you bought from dealers’ printed lists mailed to you, I nabbed a book by Jessie King for $7. It was from a dealer whose specialty was juvenile series books like Hardy boys etc. He didn’t know what he had. It was later listed in the Baumgarten guide for $350-$500. Some years ago I worked with a bookseller to sell it and I don’t think we got anywhere near that Money, I think we got $150 that we had to split between the two of us. I only sold it because I never liked the bookBecause it wasn’t in her usual style.
that was the only “deal “I ever got, everything else was something I purchased at normal retail. My stupidest purchase even though I got a really pretty book from it, was an emotional buy. It was a pretty book illustrated by Anne Anderson. I was in Chelsea, London and there happened to be an Antiquarian book sale at the Chelsea exhibition Hall, so I was thrilled to have stumbled into that wonderful event in that fabulous space. I wondered around in a daze at that sale vowing to buy something from that experience. I finally settled on the beautiful Anderson book for $250.
When I got home I realized it was an American edition.
So here’s what I had done:bought a UK illustrator in the Mecca of children’s literature, – the UK - And thru lack of care, I got my hands on an edition that was produced in my home country and had crossed the pond to get to London. This was not a good souvenir of my English book buying trip! But as I said, a nice edition and a pretty book.
IL, think of the wisdom you gained for that $250 as well. I try to remember that increase in wisdom every time, I need to. I have gained a lot of wisdom that way, 'nuff said.
rosarugosa
12-30-20, 1:21pm
IL, think of the wisdom you gained for that $250 as well. I try to remember that increase in wisdom every time, I need to. I have gained a lot of wisdom that way, 'nuff said.
You have an amazing attitude, Razz!
iris lilies
12-30-20, 2:06pm
IL, think of the wisdom you gained for that $250 as well. I try to remember that increase in wisdom every time, I need to. I have gained a lot of wisdom that way, 'nuff said.
Yes, true! I have learned to slow down in buying those special things, to wait for that feeling in the pit of my stomach that signals “ this is it!”
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