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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 4, 2017 12:06:05 GMT -6
At the moment, it's more of a 'we can't agree' type deal. I'm more of the pack rat, and have a harder time throwing stuff out. For example: My grandmother always bought used bras. She did so because she was big chested, and the used bras didn't hold her up ... they let her sag and hide how big she was. So, I didn't want to throw out Mom's bras if there was a chance 'someone' might want them. Could sell them for less, or toss them in a free box.
So, my sister claims she wants someone there to help make a decision. My great-niece said she would ... she'll be 12 in September ... but my sister told her she couldn't because she'd side with me. Anyhoo, I don't know what the deal is. I went through storage boxes in the closets, and under the beds, and I've stacked all the clothes I've found in them on cardboard in the front room floor. There are clothes she'd probably want to throw away, but I think of people who might want them for when doing chores where you don't want to get your good stuff dirty. (Haven't mentioned that to her though.)
I found an unopened box that contained a new storage closet. She has used ones in several rooms full of clothes, and I noticed she had to wire them because the weight was cracking/breaking the plastic bars. So when I put the new one together, I wrung string across/around the bars/joints to prevent this one from breaking. And I emptied the other storage closets and put everything on the new, larger one. I bought two storage hangers on wheels, and I'm hoping to get my b-i-l to take the broken ones out into the garage and see if we can keep them usable until after all the clothes have been sold at a yard sale, then trash them. I've left the clothes in the regular closets until I get the clothes in the living room moved out to the garage. (Mom had tons of clothes from going up and down in weight. If I had that many clothes I'd have never heard the end of it about cleaning out my closet. I don't know how four people lived in that house.)
So, right now, I'm just waiting ... don't know where to start next. I think cleaning out Mom's house is more emotional for my sister, than me. For me, it's the jewelry, which my great-niece has already looked through before I have. I keep putting it off because I just can't deal with it yet. The clothes, and most of the other stuff doesn't effect me at all. And, I'm not the one going to move into the house, so how fast/slow it gets done doesn't matter to me. (Too many memories for me to live there. And too much to do to fix it up before moving in. I don't want the hassle.)
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Post by Phalon on Aug 5, 2017 5:18:13 GMT -6
That makes me smile because it reminds me so much of Mom - if she thought someone, somewhere, sometime might need something she had, she saved it. When I'd visit when the girls were little, I'd always ask if she had any crafting supplies that the daycare/preschool/grade school - however old the girls were at the time - could use. I'd go home with bags of yarn, fabric, greeting cards, and whatever. The girls' teachers were always appreciative to receive craft supplies, but the main reason I'd ask Mom was just to get stuff out of the house, because although she saved stuff because "someone could use it", she rarely found out the "someone" herself! Regarding the bras...is there a women's shelter in your area or your state? Maybe donating your Mom's bras would make you happy you found someone who could use them, and your sister happy that they're out of the house. I remember posting something maybe within the past year, about a non-profit organization a woman started that collects used bras for I think it was a homeless shelter. Bras are expensive - many women in shelters can't afford them. If there's nowhere local to donate them, there are national organizations that take gently used bras... "Bras for a Cause" takes used bras and other items for breast cancer survivors; it's a tax deductible donation. donateyourbra.com/"The Bra Recyclers" ships gently used bras all over the world to women and girls in need. They even pay for shipping. www.brarecycling.com/Maybe just organizing?
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 5, 2017 16:19:42 GMT -6
I've saved the links. Thanks.
The front room floor is full of folded up clothes waiting for the storage racks to be put in the garage so I can hang them. And then I'll go through the closets and empty them of the rest of the clothes ... then go through drawers. The living room has the 60" storage rack in there full of clothes, plus the wheel chair, and storage boxes that were full of clothes, and bags of shoes. Plus Mom had stack of crap on the beds in my and my sister's old room, and stacks of crap under the beds and placed all around the room on the floor. There's really not much open space to organize anything. So I was waiting for space to open up once what I have gone over is removed from the house. (I guess I could just go through and throw out what even 'I' wouldn't want to keep ... though that may be very little.
Oh, well, it will get done some day. Or, as my great-nephew said, "We'll be in college when we get to move in!"
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Post by Phalon on Aug 6, 2017 7:30:36 GMT -6
Only personally speaking, because I'm impatient when it comes to seeing results, it would bug the heck out of me having all that stuff that's been gone through still sitting there; I'd want it gone as quick as possible so I could get to work on another area. Throughout the span of cleaning out Mom's house, (and my brother's house), I had three yard sales before we had the final estate sale. I also put the more expensive stuff on eBay periodically; people going to yard sales are looking for stuff cheap, and aren't going to shell out the same kind of money as they would online. Most of what didn't sell at the yard sales, mainly clothes, I immediately boxed up and took to Goodwill. Other things that didn't sell, I kept for the next sale once I went through more of the house.
Some things I donated right off the bat - no one is going to buy old worn towels and washcloths, or stained dishtowels for example, but our Humane Society is in desperate need of these items (as well as cleaning and office supplies), so rather than even wasting time deciding if things like that would sell, I got rid of them as soon as possible.
For me, it was easier to get rid of things as I went, rather than go through it all, and then try to get it out of there all at once.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 6, 2017 19:46:03 GMT -6
Well, the way my sister had it planned, we'd go through Mom's garage, and anything we wanted to keep went into the other storage building. Then we'd move clothes and small items for a yard sale into the garage and sell it on the weekends. We'd work our way up to the big stuff. And that we'd have an antique group look at to get a price and where we might be able to sell it.
I'm going to let it go or have a stroke. If I was the one moving in, I'd probably be having a cow right now.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 7, 2017 20:46:34 GMT -6
HA! I know how it goes working with siblings. It took a long, long time to clean out Mom's house. If my brother, Mike, hadn't died, it would have been done a lot sooner. If it was up to my brother, Bobby, we'd still be working on it - and he was the one living there for a couple of years!
Flashback! I haven't heard that expression since my teenage years!
All this talk of garage sales, donations, and such spurred a trip to Goodwill today; BP cleaned out her closet recently and had a box of clothing she didn't want anymore. They gave me a 10% off merchandise coupon when I dropped the box off, so I thought what the heck, I'll go in to look. One of the Humane Society ladies asked me a couple of weeks ago if I'd do the holiday greenery baskets again this year for them to sell at their Christmas open house, so I wanted to see if I could pick up any baskets and other containers for the arrangements. I found few baskets I liked, and some of those metal copper-colored mold things, and one silver one - I don't know what they're used for; I've only seen them hung on some people's kitchen walls for decoration. Jello molds, maybe? Whatever they are, they'll make great containers for holiday arrangements.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 8, 2017 0:07:05 GMT -6
Yeah. Jello/Gelatin molds, I think.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 8, 2017 4:38:22 GMT -6
That's what I thought. Weird, to me, to think Jello was that popular of a thing that people shaped it into mounds with elaborate designs.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 8, 2017 20:53:10 GMT -6
IIRC, the jello was mixed with cool whip, and other things to create a multi-layered dessert. And a jello salad. I'm sure it was a regional thing. I'm going to say Southern, since I recall the fad.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 8, 2017 7:34:27 GMT -6
I thought these would make quick, easy, little hostess gifts, and made a bunch of them yesterday, using the first and third "recipe" (the second one didn't seem very Christmasy to me). Inexpensive too. www.deliacreates.com/stove-top-potpourri-neighbor-gifts-free-printable/I had the jars already (from the hundreds of different sized canning jars that I brought home from Mom's house). I also substituted coffee beans for the cinnamon sticks in the first recipe (because cinnamon and peppermint doesn't seem together, in my opinion), and used packets of mulling spice instead of getting the individual spices in the third recipe. I tested out each recipe on the stove, adjusting here and there to get enough of the pleasant smell wafting through the kitchen. The finished jars look cute, and the kitchen yesterday smelled wonderful! Seeing Crazy Cheryl tonight, and I'll give her a couple; writers group Christmas party is tomorrow, and a couple more goes to the hostess of that. The other ones I made up in advance, except for the fresh ingredients, which I'll add closer to the time I give them to people.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 21, 2020 0:53:58 GMT -6
Going down memory lane. Mom's garages are still full of stuff. My sister had an auction business come in and get what they thought they could sell ... but there's still a lot of stuff left in both of Mom's garages. One of the garages has a lot of stuff we're keeping, but the main garage has a lot of stuff we want to be rid of. So glad my niece is moved into Mom's house finally, but sadly she has to leave her car out in the driveway still. Maybe in a couple more years she'll be able to use one or both of the garages.
As for me driving, once I'm in the car and on the road, I'm good. But, the longer I go between driving trips, the harder it is to get me motivated to drive. I just have to not think about it, and just do it. Right now, it's the cold that's keeping me in. Other times, it's been the rain keeping me in. I still don't like to get out in the rain. Strong winds keep me in as well. Whatever excuses I can think of.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 21, 2020 0:56:40 GMT -6
It's hard to believe that it's been a little over three years that I've been driving.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 21, 2020 5:51:43 GMT -6
This past week, I've started the Winter Purge - kind of a pre-spring cleaning endeavor involving getting rid of stuff I wonder why we've kept in the first place, and why someone actually took the time to box it up and store it. Seriously? - an entire box of LX's Dairy Queen shirts from high-school and a dozen or more old fleece pajama bottoms; the DQ shirts were so stained they weren't even fit to be made into rags; the fleece pajama bottoms I cut the legs off, slit them open so that they were large rectangles, and gave them to the Humane Society to use as kitty blankets. Another huge box of kitchenware went to their resale shop; all proceeds from what they sell goes back to the Humane Society. I've just really started and have already emptied about a half dozen boxes so far, whittling down what to keep to only two boxes and some lose odds-and-ends.
Driving is like riding a bike....but faster.
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