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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 24, 2016 17:58:10 GMT -6
Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.
It's hard to know what to do with a lot of it. She has beds that were her mothers, and who knows if it is worth anything. It is what it is.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 25, 2016 22:25:29 GMT -6
I have those too, in the basement - but no slide projector or screen to view them. I don't even know what is on the slides, though I remember sitting around with the family when we were kids, watching slide shows of family vacations. I also have reels of film, and I think it's called a reel-to-reel movie projector; I remember us watching home movies too. I never opened the film canisters, and have no idea if the film is in good condition. I just couldn't pitch it all though at the time, though I'm entertaining the idea now...entertaining; I'm not quite sure yet.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 26, 2016 1:26:12 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Nov 27, 2016 9:41:09 GMT -6
Thanks for the links, Joxie - the scanners don't seem too expensive, though I wonder if they'd be worth it considering once the slides and film I have is scanned, there'd be no other use for it.
One of the other vendors at the bazaar and I got to talking about this yesterday - having recently moved into a new house, she's doing "the purge" too as she unpacks boxes. We were talking about all the weird, useless, no longer needed or wanted things, and just stuff you don't know what to do with that we've both collected over the years. I mentioned the slides and film - she said she'd had the same, and took them to a place not too far from here that puts everything onto disc, charging not too expensive of a fee. I should probably look into it - copies of the discs would make a great Christmas gift for my brother.
Only thing is - first I have to find out what's on the slides and film! For all I know a lot of it could be stuff of people we don't even know, taken before we were born.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 27, 2016 16:52:58 GMT -6
You are most welcome. Yeah. I had the same thought. Maybe use it for a side business? Yeah. Could just pass it on to someone else who could use it, and ask that they do the same? A "pay it forward" type thing. Sell it on eBay?
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Post by Phalon on Dec 8, 2016 8:10:42 GMT -6
And The Purge continues...
I got about ten more boxes unpacked yesterday. Repacked two boxes with like things; one box full of family photos and memorabilia, and another of magazines with my published articles in them - these things were scattered in different places in the house, so at least now they're all together for storage. Ended up with two boxes of clothing for Goodwill - and actually dropped it off, so it's outta the house. One box of paper products went into the recycling bin, and what amounts to a box of unrecyclables went into the trash - I was ruthless with what went into the trash, getting rid of stuff we've hung onto for years. I donated my old computer, which BP was using for Sims but didn't want anymore, to Computer Guy Next Door for parts.
And, and, and I got the linen closet all set up! Big time excitement there because the house didn't have a linen closet before the renovation!
Though Hubs was finally able to find time to put up the shelving in the new linen closet and the big new bathroom closet this past weekend, my closets are still empty, and without rods and shelves. One of many of the reasons we decided to hire the contractors for the renovations - there never seems to be enough time for us to do many of these projects ourselves!
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 8, 2016 20:48:42 GMT -6
I have driven a total of four times now. Doesn't get any easier yet.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 9, 2016 16:26:08 GMT -6
It will, the more times you do it. A dozen or so more trips, and it'll seem like old hat.
Didn't get around to doing anymore unpacking/putting away today. I made Christmas ornaments instead. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the kitchen must be decorated also. Seriously? I've never been really into the whole-house decorating thing, but BP loves Christmas decorations (Christmas music too, which she's constantly playing). I surprised her when she got home from school with a decorated kitchen....as decorated as it's going to get anyway. I dug out Mom's Christmas cookie cutters (still laughing over last year's girls cookie making extravaganza when BP called the cookie cutters "shapers" because we never bake cookies, and she didn't know what they were called). Made a bunch of them into ornaments by stringing them with thin red and white checked ribbon, and hanging them from the window valances. Another two-tiered serving plate thingie (Mom's also; and there is probably a name for it too!) is in the butler's window and is stacked with more Christmas cookie cutters of hers - they're all the old metal or copper ones with wood handles. The greenery arrangement I put in my red tea pot is on the kitchen table. My kitchen red, green, and golden-yellow anyway, so I'm calling it decorated enough.
Also put up the little tree in the living room with Mom's ornaments from the Old Country, and some from our childhood. And crap! I broke one; not one of the ones from Hungary, thank goodness - they're approaching 100 years old!
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 9, 2016 22:44:52 GMT -6
I'm thinking I'll drive a little less until after the holidays. I don't want to get caught up in a holiday traffic jam. When the tank gets around half full, I'll practice filling it up.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 23, 2016 21:55:18 GMT -6
Drove for the 5th time today. Pulled out in front of someone. They had their blinker on, and I thought they were going to pull into the road I was pulling out of ... but just as I pull out in front of them I notice the blinker isn't blinking anymore, so I floored the gas and waved at them mouthing, "Sorry, sorry!"
Note to self: Don't pull out until the other car starts turning into the lane next to you. Made a few other mistakes, but nothing that caused any harm/problems. There was more traffic than usual, most likely due to the holidays and weather forecast, and it made me a wee bit more nervous ... if that is even possible. But I also pulled into parking spots I tend to avoid, and all went well. I wasn't alone either, so that also had me more stressed out.
Had a bunch of stops to make, which had me weaving in and out of traffic ... and it started to sprinkle so I opted not to fill up my gas tank. It's a bit over 1/4 full, and I'll have to fill it up the next trip. Will be getting out for the 6th time later on at the end of next week. This coming week? Next weekend?
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Post by Phalon on Dec 24, 2016 8:56:12 GMT -6
Don't let those little mistakes faze you too much. Do exactly what you did - make a mental note about how to avoid them in the future. Oh, and never assume other drivers are going to do what you'd think they will do (like using their turn signals to signal they're actually going to turn!).
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 24, 2016 15:24:04 GMT -6
Thanks.
Yeah. I've been beating myself up for every mistake. I should be focusing more on the matter of getting home safe and sound, and not having any contact with other cars and people. I should save beating myself up on mistakes that cost time and money ... and hospital stays.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 6, 2017 22:23:00 GMT -6
Well, I finally did it. New Year's Eve I filled up with gas ... all by my lonesome. (I watched a bunch of YouTube videos for several days beforehand.) Next time I should get a little closer, it was a taunt fit. And I thought I was close enough. I remember seeing some stretch all the way over to the other side of the car. I guess they don't do that anymore.
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Post by Spock on Jan 7, 2017 14:48:56 GMT -6
Well, I finally did it. New Year's Eve I filled up with gas ... all by my lonesome. (I watched a bunch of YouTube videos for several days beforehand.) Next time I should get a little closer, it was a taunt fit. And I thought I was close enough. I remember seeing some stretch all the way over to the other side of the car. I guess they don't do that anymore.
Congratulations! It's a big deal any time you manage to finally accomplish something for the first time.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 7, 2017 19:57:02 GMT -6
Thank you! Hopefully I'll get better at it, and driving too.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 8, 2017 8:32:10 GMT -6
Pfft! to that big scary pump! Whoo-hoo to you for taking it on all by yourself! It's not so bad@ss at all, is it?
You will - the more times you do it, the easier it will be.
Latest DIY projects on the homefront - made a couple of nightstands for Hubs and I out of a vintage metal step-stool, and an old broken cabinet thing; I like the way they turned out.
No more boxes in the house; everything is unpacked and unwanted stuff has been purged....except in LX's room, and that is still a mess. My closets still aren't done - Hubs can't saw the boards for shelving because he does it on sawhorses outside. In the meantime, all my stuff is still jammed into LX's room. She went through her closet, desk and dresser over Christmas break, and got rid of a lot, took a lot back to her apartment, and boxed up what she still wants to keep, but doesn't have room for right now. (Crap! I forgot to check into mailing her oil paints - she texted me last week, wondering if they could be mailed, or were they considered hazardous materials. Heck, I don't know, but told her I'd look into it at the post office; their on-line site doesn't specifically mention oil paint tubes - unless it's considered a combustible item?)
I eventually want to get her furniture out of there, and get on with plans to turn the room into the guest bedroom.
The basement - argh! Tackling that next, which means selling on Ebay. Ebay is a pain in my @ss, but there's just so much vintage stuff down there, I figure I can at least make a little bit of extra money instead of either donating it or pitching it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 8, 2017 21:30:05 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jan 15, 2017 8:59:53 GMT -6
(Grrr...I keep losing my Internet connection this morning; second time I've typed this post.)
Pretty cool sites, Joxie. I don't follow DIY sites, but if I have something in mind that I want to do, there's never a lack of on-line information that provides tips or instructions. I watch a couple of T.V. shows to get ideas though - Flea Market Flip, and Fixer-Upper.
There are a couple of power tools I enjoy using; I don't know why I particularly enjoy them, but my favorite "toys" are the drill and palm sander. Not too comfortable with power saws; I either have Hubs help, or do the sawing himself.
Space is an issue for me too - we've got the whole basement where I can work, but I don't like to do anything chemically (painting, stripping, refinishing, etc.) inside the house because of the smell, and sanding inside just makes too much of a mess.
I've got a simple project in mind though, that requires none of that....or at least, I thought it was simple. Went to the hardware store yesterday looking for metal hairpin table legs, which I thought would be easy to find. Not so - they didn't even know what I was talking about. Lots available online, but they're more expensive than I thought they'd be.
Might end up going to the thrift store just to see if they've got a cheap end table with the kind of legs I'm looking for, and dismantle it.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 22, 2017 6:55:27 GMT -6
People buy the weirdest stuff. I haven't put as much on Ebay these last couple of months as I wanted; it's not hard to do, but I just find it tedious to take pictures, take measurements, and write up a description. I've managed to keep five to ten listings active per week though, and am running about 40/60 to what has sold and what hasn't. In the past if something hasn't sold in a few weeks, I'll pack it back up to try again at a later date...and most times, it'll eventually sell. This time around though, my goal is to get rid of stuff - I'll relist once or twice depending on what it is (listings last a week), and if the item doesn't sell, it's outta here - either pitched or donated. I'm usually surprised at what sells, and what doesn't. It seems the weirder the things are, the more likely they are to be sold. Oh, and old books! I've finally found a way to list them and actually have people buy them! Thank goodness for all those home shows in which books are used as props. List them as reading material - not a bite. Books as home decor - Sold! Who knew? I've got fourteen going out in the mail today! There's the little table I made with the hairpin legs I took off a table I bought from the thrift store for $5; the wooden card catalog was given to me when the old school where I was library mom closed. The rockers too were free; one a pick-up from the side of the road, and the other was stored in a barn for god-knows-how-many-years (the date on the bottom is 1917), and dug out when my friend was selling his house.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 22, 2017 17:49:16 GMT -6
I joined eBay years ago, but never dipped my toe in the water to buy or sell. Maybe one day I'll dip my toe in. I have two storage boxes under my bed filled with old books given to me years ago by an elderly woman cleaning out a shed on her property. Of course, I'll read them at some point, only sell the ones I don't want to keep.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 25, 2017 8:14:12 GMT -6
I joined years ago too, because I was looking for a warm winter jacket I wouldn't mind getting filthy and trashed at work; a good jacket is expensive, and I'd be p!ssed at myself if I spent boatloads of money on something that'd be trashed after a couple of weeks. I found a Columbia jacket on eBay for $12 - it lasted two seasons. It was years and years though after purchasing it, that my eBay account sat dormant. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started selling stuff on Xena's Sis's encouragement. I just had sooo much stuff of Mom's and my brothers' after they died, and because I work weekends, it's hard to have a yard sale - and nobody's going to want to come to a yard sale November through March when I'm off work! I books I want to get rid of are all from Mom's house. One of the walls in the living room was a built-in wall-to-wall bookshelf, and there were boxes of books in the basement. Going through them was kind of interesting; Mom and my aunt (when my aunt died a lot of stuff of hers ended up at my parents' house), were apparently members of a mail-order book-of-the-month club during the 40s and 50s - it's the stuff I found in the books (letters, postcards, photos) that was interesting. I gave away and donated a lot of the books, and sold just a few over the last couple of years, both on eBay and at the used bookstore. There are some I want to keep too. It's these old Book-of-the-Month Club books though, that no one wants, because they're not first editions - and there's literally hundreds of them; I have a wall-to-wall bookshelf also, and it's overflowing with books from Mom's house. A lot of them appear to have never been read. It's kind of funny, actually. When a book collector buys books, they want them to be in perfect condition with the dust jacket intact. Once I saw that books were selling as decor though, none of that matters - heck, the titles don't even matter! I took off all the book jackets and discovered that the books underneath are actually quite pretty; I might even keep a few to use as decoration myself. I sell them in lots of coordinating colors. The blue ones sold quite quickly; I had two lots of blues, and both lots ended up having multiple bids on them.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 25, 2017 18:33:21 GMT -6
Oooh, nice looking. I think these old books might have come from a book club, not sure. I went through them and wrote down the titles and author names, but I misplaced it. I should find it and post it sometime.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 25, 2017 18:43:51 GMT -6
Oh. I filled up my gas tank a second time. (March 15th) Mother Hen drove the car when we took it to have it's oil changed. With the little mileage I had, they said I could have waited, but since I had it there they went ahead and did it. Been to local grocery stores, done banking, etc. a few times. Still don't much care for driving, but it's okay.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 26, 2017 9:23:19 GMT -6
It'll usually say on the dust jacket "Book Club Edition" or something of the sort; also a good way to tell, (per the owner of the used book store here), is that a book club book will not have a price printed on the inside or back cover of the dust jacket; a first (or subsequent) edition will.
Oh, you should. It'd be interesting to compare. I've read a couple of handfuls of the ones from Mom's house - though it'd take me years to get through them all, and many I'd never have an interest in even starting to read.
I'd say that's a big change from how fearful you were at the beginning! Yay for you!
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 27, 2017 0:49:38 GMT -6
If I do it at the spur of the moment, it isn't so bad. But if I make a plan for a day and time to go somewhere, I fret about it and my nerves get shot. So, I try to just not think about it beforehand, and "just do it." I'm waiting on this stupidity (fretting) to finally be over and done with. I'm such a pantywaist.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 29, 2017 6:25:58 GMT -6
I think it's pretty much the same with anything that makes someone nervous - the more you think about it beforehand, the more nervous you get.
I haven't put anything on eBay yet this week, and if I do, it'll have to get done today. Since work starts next week, the only day I'll have to do mailings is Thursdays. Sold stuff has to be mailed out within two days, so I'll have to time the listings to end either Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
I got rid of a ton of stuff yesterday though....although it wasn't stuff I had planned on getting rid of; Hubs cleaned out the rafters in the garage this past weekend, and filled up the bed of the truck with things to take to Goodwill. The rain made it kind of a pain in the butt though - I transferred it from the truck to my car so it wouldn't get wet driving to Goodwill, and it was all big stuff so it took me more than one trip. I had just a few things left - a screened tent, a portable gas grill, a drafting table, and a pressure cooker - and then perfect timing. The teenager next door came home from school, and offered to help....I offered him the tent and the grill because I know he likes to camp. Perfect timing for him too - he and his buddies are camping in the Smokey Mountains during spring break!
About a half dozen or so more books are outta here too, though not in a way anyone will enjoy them. When I took the dust jackets off, I found some of covers had what appeared to be water damage, probably from when Mom's basement flooded. I don't think the books themselves got wet because the dust jackets and pages looked fine, but maybe they got damp from the humidity in her basement. I ripped the covers off and threw them in the trash, and threw the pages in recycling. I just hate to throw away books!
Doing this all btw, to save the girls from having to do it later. It was such a pain going through Mom's house; what do you save, what to donate or throw away? If we don't use it, it's hogging space, and is out of here. Only thing is, it's the same thing - what do you save, and what to get rid of?
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 29, 2017 17:02:31 GMT -6
Yeah. I should just get over it. I'm bad about holding myself back.
I think we're going to start going through Mom's house soon. It's almost a year since she died. My niece plans on moving in. She'll be closer to us, and feel safer as a result. Her two have wanted to live there since Mom died and we started discussing future plans for the place.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 3, 2017 5:18:12 GMT -6
So, remember last fall when I redid some vintage furniture pieces and took them to a store downtown on consignment? Pfft! What a bust that turned out to be.
I haven't been down there all season; in early spring when I had Thursdays off, I stopped in a few times - or tried to, but the shop was closed. As spring progressed, I got busy with the yard on my days off, so I put projects I thought about doing to bring into the shop on hold.
I helped the shop owner pick out plants at the nursery a couple of months ago. "You never came to pick up your stuff; they've been sitting in the back room since January", she said.
"Uhm....I never received any kind of notice that they were sitting there." Apparently, when she closes after Christmas, all consignment pieces are removed, and she "flips" the store, bringing in new merchandise for when she reopens in spring. If I was told this, I would have picked the items up, and done a few new projects over the winter for the spring reopening.
"So nothing sold?" I then asked.
"Oh, no. Most of it sold."
"Uhm...I never received notice of that either...or payment."
I told her I'd pick up the things that didn't sell on my next day off; she said she'd have a check ready for me at that time. I picked up the stuff, but she didn't have a check ready. "I'll drop it off at the nursery next week"; it's on her way to work.
About a month went by, and nothing showed up. I sent her a text, and not wanting to sound rude, wrote "Wondering if you dropped off a check at the nursery while I wasn't around, and perhaps it got misplaced. Just checking." I knew damned well that any check wouldn't get "misplaced". She's been busy, she responded, and maybe it'd be easier to just mail it to me.
Another few weeks went by; the check finally arrived in the mail yesterday.
She's a very nice lady, but I'm not going to go any further with the arrangement. Too much hassle, for too little of a payback.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 3, 2017 13:35:25 GMT -6
Yeah. You'd do better selling it on your own. Have you tried Facebook's Marketplace? I haven't tried it, but I've seen a few friends/family members who have. Of those, a couple are repeat sellers, so it must work out well for them. Mom has quite a number of clothes patterns, and I'm wondering where best to market them. Though, we haven't done much with Mom's house, and now it's just too hot to deal with, so who knows when we'll get around to doing anything.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 4, 2017 5:28:04 GMT -6
I'd certainly come out ahead on the financial end if I did it myself; I can't remember what the consignment split was - she got 70%? Something like that. It just seemed like a sweet deal at the time; I'd get to do all the fun stuff (making the things), she had the space, and would do the selling. If her communication was better, I'd probably continue working with her...not paying someone for over six months though, doesn't seem to me to be a responsible way to conduct business. In the end, after supplies I purchased, I still came out ahead - but not by a large margin at all!
You mentioned you had an eBay account. No harm in checking what they're worth on that venue. Not the price similar items are listed for, but at what price they actually sold (there's often a huge difference). You don't have to sign in, or even have an account to check, and it might give you a starting point at what you might want to do with them.
Cleaning out Mom's house was a daunting task - they'd lived there for more than 50 years, it was a big house with a ton of storage, Mom saved everything it seemed even from before she and Dad were married, and she was not organized at all. Not to mention I live more than 200 miles away, so it was a few days here, and few days there kind of thing whenever I could find time to drive across state.
I never was a list maker, but became one from that point. I'd make a basic list of what I wanted to work on before I even left my house, then break that list down to smaller tasks once I got to Mom's, always making sure I had plenty of "gimmes" on the list - simple things that only took a few minutes but could be crossed off the list, and were visible accomplishments when completed - 'remove pictures from walls' for example. Everything I went through - drawers, closets, cupboards - I separated the items found in them into categories: "keep", "donate", "sell", and "trash". Trash was immediately taken out, and the rest I put into marked boxes. The lists helped me focus my efforts, and even if I didn't complete everything on them during that trip, I had a list of things I'd crossed off, and the "gimmes" were visual changes - something you don't see by emptying a closet, for example. That was a big deal for me - seeing what I'd accomplished in a short period of time.
Maybe something like that could work for you too. Breaking things down into small tasks wouldn't seem so daunting.
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