One Fell Swoop

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Originally uploaded by Sofia Ajram

I've discovered a great new method for superfast de-cluttering. Yes, I am getting cluttery at school. I blame it on my high levels of busyness and low levels of actually caring about stuff other than food and sleep.

Anyway, my desk looks pretty horrible right now. My camera's dead, otherwise I'd show you. The desk looks like a colorful, toddler copy-machine android vomited on it. It got to be too much, so I took everything unnecessary off of my desk and put it on the floor. (The bed would also work.) Now the clutter was in my path, and at least for me, I can't stand a messy floor, because I feel quite obligated to clear it up. So, it got cleared up!

For those of you who don't mind paths obstructed by clothes and confused papier-mache gone wrong, the bed really would work better. Just pick somewhere that you're going to need to clear to use in the near future, and put all your clutter on it so you're motivated to clean it up. My desk was not a good place for my clutter, because I could easily work around it. Find what works for you, as always.

Now, this may end up taking you in circles, as you find more and more places to relocate your clutter, and eventually end up sleeping in a dresser drawer and bathing in the neighbors' kitchen sink. But it works short-term, and that's really all you need, to start.

Domino Mag Does Creative, Cheap Rentals

Given the title of my blog, I think it's time I get back to its original purpose a little. Sure, people are flocking here cause they think it's the holy grail of the ever-enchanting Gramercy palace, but without my "clutter" purpose for writing, I think I'm getting a little off track. Don't get me wrong, I love thinking and digressing a whole stupid lot. But I also love projects like de-cluttering and finding cheap, creative solutions to doomed or even just mediocre living spaces.

Evidence: instead of studying for my midterm on bilingualism that I have tomorrow, I'm spending my time a) doing laundry, b) eating myself out of apartment and home, and c) rediscovering cool old bookmarks filed under "For 13YoC." Apparently Domino Magazine is shutting down soon, which is such a shame! The magazine is "the guide to living with style," and this article about decorating your rental place speaks a lot to their mission.

Relevance: we're in a recession, HI. I don't know that this fact necessarily affects me, because my family has always been pretty below-average, and then I became a college student, which automatically meant I became even poorer, as my friend S likes to remind us all, while she goes and gets herself temporarily suspended for protesting the cost of NYU.


But still Domino's slideshow appeals to me, because it applies to so many people right now, and they make cheap look awesome. I especially love their idea of lengthening the look of your sad little workspace, making it into something reminiscent of the tents at my epic 6th grade Greek & Roman activity day.

As a side note: I'm going to start de-cluttering (ha!) my tags, because somehow over the course of the past 9 months, this situation has turned really fruity and whimsical, with tags like "emotional" and "introspection" taking over. I'm just afraid that soon I'll be getting into tags like "existential rainbow speculation" if I don't end this soon.

Sites I Like #8: Des meubles de cuisine à petits prix

Something I've noticed since spending lots of time in my new dream dorm is that, no matter how pretty and clean a place is when it's brand new, it takes a certain amount of effort to keep it looking nice and comfortable. Our kitchen is one place where our filthiness likes to manifest itself. Neither my roommate nor I do the dishes on a regular basis. Unless you could call "whenever we run out of dishes and decide to do them all in one fell swoop" regular. I'm kind of a hypocrite, because of my history with de-cluttering and my manic need for things to be organized in my California home but not in New York. But I feel like I'm allowed to be messy since I'm in college.

Whatever my excuse, our kitchen gets dirty. It's still pretty, but if you actually look at the floors and run a hand along the granite counter top, you might just recoil in disgust. And, instead of cleaning or doing the reading I need to do for Francophone Literature (in which I have an impossible-sounding midterm on Wednesday), I thought I would present you with this wonderful link to pictures of Low-Cost Kitchen Furniture. Enjoy! It's in French, but I mean... all you really need are the pictures. Maybe someday I will translate the blurbs as an exercise for myself, since I'm taking Translation now, but for now... I don't wanna learn. I do what I want! A lot like Mindy Kaling and Cartman.

Dorm Delightfulness on the Cheap

Katherine of BackGarage sent me this really cool article from the New York Times about the creative ingenuity of college students in their dorms. Some of the ideas these people dream up are amazing!

The only thing that makes me cluck a bit at the article is that a lot of the students showcased go to design schools! I mean, obviously they're going to be amazing and put all the rest of us to shame. I wish I had the cleverness they did. But I do think there's something to be said for discovering frugality during the college years.

Personally, I have been spending more money than I'd like to lately. But a lot of it is on necessities like food and shampoo, stuff like that. So I'm not really stretching my budget, per se. However, I can hardly dream of spending anything on design-ish things right now, because I'm all about function over fanciness haha. Make no mistake, though, I would love to have a more personalized dorm space. My current room, as you probably noticed in my post on Gramercy, features two measly posters and a lot of blank wall. I'm just cheap. Furthermore, NYU doesn't allow us (technically) to bring in outside furniture. Whatever, I'm making excuses for my lack of creativity.

For now it's nice to look at the pretty pictures in the article and be jealous of the creativity of others! Thanks so much for the link Katherine!

NYU: Gramercy Green

4/15/2009 NOTICE
Pictures fixed. ALSO - If you clicked here from Google, please be aware that this blog has now moved to 13yrsofclutter.blogspot.com and that before the housing lottery begins, I will be posting a semi-complete floorplan there with details about room types from my own knowledge. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Here they are, the long-awaited photos of my apartment-style dorm at Gramercy Green. I am in room 1101, which is a 2-person studio on the inner, south-facing side of Gramercy, which is shaped like a U. Click the photos for bigger versions.

	Here is our door. Entrez, si vous l'osez! My mom made that tulip welcome sign for A when she was bored.
	Our entryway is kind of bare still. I want to get some affordable framed paintings or photos from the street fair next time it rolls around to our street.
	Our kitchen is positively glorious for living in student housing. (The building was previously going to be luxury condos, so we lucked out. :P) At least in my opinion. The only problem is that all the smoke detectors in the building are extremely sensitive and they are located right past the archway near the stove haha. We've had about 9 fire drills now, because people have burnt eggs and such (and then "resolve" it by opening their front doors, successfully spreading the smoke to the main sensors).
	Our small dining area and the view from our large windows. I confess, I've spied many a neighbor from here. NYU students have no shame haha. Jk. Maybe.
	Backtracking a bit, toward the kitchen again and turning left, we have the bathroom. I love so many things about it; for example, the separate light in the shower area is pretty sweet.
	More of the bathroom. Weird tiling, eh? Our ceiling in here is weirdly tall. But the resulting enormous cabinets are a nice plus.
	This is my side of the room (left of the windows). It's pretty messy and currently rather sparsely decorated, because I'm stingy. But I decided this is not clutter since I know the exact location of all my belongings at school. :P
	Uhhh that's not my super messy desk area... :O
	A's side! I did ask her for permission to post this and the part of the door earlier. I'm not a horrible roommate, I swear.
	The lights I fashioned to be a pretty heart over the archway. My mom suggested this when she was here, so our neighbors could see the masterpiece haha.
	Closet. Kinda ugly.
	Our view. We face kind of southwest and it's much better than last year! So much ♥ ♥ ♥

P.S. I changed the layout of the blog, because I was getting tired of the dots. I think this looks more professional. It's still not my own design, it's Blogger's, but what do you think? Like/no like?

A New Day

SO! I'm moved in. It's great. I love it.

There are several sad things about being here, though. Primarily, I can't de-clutter. I am kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't finish the project over the summer. There were definitely times that I told myself, "I've been hanging out a lot with my friends. I love them so much, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!! Oh. Should I be de-cluttering?" As a matter of fact, there were a lot of times I told myself, "I'm sitting around doing nothing... I should probably be de-cluttering... but instead I want to watch this Schnappi video again." God I love Schnappi. Wo ist die Gabel?? (Where is the fork??) But that is all my own fault.

We did make a LOT of progress though. My friends agreed, and I hope you agree, from the few pictures you have seen! It was a great feeling to come home and not be angry at the horrible state of every room! I will definitely be continuing the project when I come home in December for winter break. I wanted to have my mother continue the project and update on the blog while I'm away, but she does not have a camera, and I don't think she would enjoy the project by herself. So our current situation will have to do until I return.

In the meantime, I am situated in my gorgeous 2-person studio in Gramercy Green at NYU. I think that I will continue writing for 13 Years of Clutter while I am in New York for the semester, but the topic will be on my adventures in New York! I looked at a couple of the student blogs for the Steinhardt School of blah blah and blah (it's seriously a super long name), which is where I will be declaring my minor in education this Fall. The blogs were very interesting, and it was totally like playing 6 degrees when I saw the links. (Ex: One of the bloggers is the roommate of my friend from high school who attends NYU.) I liked the idea of a blog related to NYU, since it is such a big dream school, and I know I love it. So I want to share. :)

Speaking of Gramercy, I have been getting a lot of referrals to 13YoC from Google searches about the dorm! Everyone is speculating and envying, so I hope my chronicles of this semester will help ease and also heighten the excitement. I really want to start doing vlogs, but my honest little angel side keeps reminding me that I got an official packet saying "NO FILMING IN HERE YOU NARCISSISTIC COLLEGE HO-BAGS," where HERE is Gramercy Green. Any ideas for creative alternatives to vlogs? Or any unabashed rule-breakers willing to convince me I'm above the law?

P.S. I do still have some content and links saved up for on-topic 13YoC posts, so look out for those too!

Bathroom Before and After

A very legit before and after post invites you to feast your eyes on it a mere few lines ahead! Unfortunately, the before pictures aren't very revealing. I thought it was interesting to realize that, when I was taking the before pictures, there were a lot of messy issues that didn't even register in my mind as important to document. We'll talk about that as we go, though. Now, here is our bathroom! Click the photos for larger versions (some are grainy, sorry).

BEFORE

AFTER



It may not look like a lot has changed, but that's because I didn't take pictures of the inside of cabinets and drawers. I decided my reason is confidentiality, when in fact that is a lame reason and the real reason is forgetfulness.



Look closely at the linoleum behind the toilet. Notice how normal in cleanliness it looks? Prior to this it was absolutely caked with dust. 13 years' worth, I daresay. The main thing that prompted me to clean back there was actually pretty gross. I'll let you guess. If you need a hint: that area IS near the toilet...



This ridiculous cart was probably the thing that bothered me most. Why oh why were there FOUR bottles of mouthwash sitting there before? Overall, this cart is just annoying and tacky. I would much much prefer something like this Ikea cabinet, but I think it's a tad too big for the space. Oh yeah, the toothbrushes on the right are mine; I have three because I sometimes forget mine when I go to stay with friends, and they graciously provide me with toothbrushing tools.



You can see in this picture that our manager did some re-caulking of the shower tiles, but he didn't finish. He's kind of a bum. But hopefully he'll finish someday, and our shower will be beautiful.

Tada! Other changes that went down in this de-cluttering adventure: overhaul cleaning of entire floor (including blue rugs that my mom insists on using to cover the whole floor); moving my hamper from the bathroom to my closet; discarding an old radiator that was just wasting space; having our manager come over to fix the drippy faucet and messed up pipes; and clearing out the sink cabinet, medicine cabinet and cart and reorganizing the contents.

It feels nice to have a clean room in the house!

Yard Sale

I am so glad that my grandmother suggested a yard sale at her home this summer! We would never have been able to do it at our apartments, and her yard/garage is a very nice, peaceful space. In fact, our customers kept commenting about it! We had our first sale last Saturday, but we only had 42 customers in 6 hours, and while my grandma and her husband (not my grandfather - long story sorta) made about $40, my mom and I only made $17!

So we tried again today, with cleverer advertising. My step-grandfather put out several signs on the street yesterday morning (last time my grandma insisted the signs not go out till the morning of). 83 customers and 6 hours later, my mom and I had $86 more for our collection, and my grandmother made $177! I did not take pictures today, because I was in a bad mood this morning (I woke up late). But here are some from last weekend! Click photos for larger versions (the ones with our faces don't get bigger cause I'm paranoid).

My mom setting up at 7:30 a.m.!


My childhood dresses. These didn't sell so well either day, I think because they're so out of date (they're from the 90s). After our sale today, we took all the leftover items to Goodwill.


Oddly enough, neither of these items sold! The doll house went from $40 to $20 and finally $15, but nobody wanted it. Just as well, since the roof was missing. I was in love with that table as a child, though! It is kinda crappy looking though, perhaps.


Some old dolls and Thomas the Tank Engine stuff in my rickety old bassinet. Hmm, funny that the pictures I have from last week represent a lot of stuff we did NOT sell! Trust me, though, we sold some good stuff. Today I sacrificed my PlayStation1 and all my games. We got $25 for it all from a young couple with a 3-month-old baby. They got a lot of stuff and there was some confusion with their transaction, but I do know for sure that they paid for the PS1!


High chair and baby dresses. These all sold, actually! Haha finally a good photo.


Some glassware and books. My grandmother had so much glassware; it didn't all sell, unfortunately.


That trapezoid just right of center is "The Music Maker," a harpsichord-like instrument that I tuned after it being out of use for 10 years! Everyone had fun giving it a try with the pick (included) that we set out next to it.


Me and some baby fashion.

This was such a satisfying endeavor, despite the frustration with my grandmother throughout and the occasional boredom. However, as my step-grandfather put it, yard sale customers sure are funny. They buy the craziest stuff, they're friendly, and they love to talk. They really made everything worthwhile! :) What a great relief to get some cash for our clutter!

Promises

I'm so sorry to not be posting very much lately. I can assure you, it's not for lack of de-cluttering. Problems with our bathroom sink and plumbing gave me an excuse to clean out our bathroom, which was already the cleanest room in our house, even though it was pretty gross. Before and after pictures to come soon!

But before that...

I'm having a yard sale with my grandma, her husband, and my mom tomorrow at my grandma's house! We did one last weekend, but we didn't advertise, so the turnout wasn't great (42 people in 6 hours - I made a couple high scores on my phone's Diner Dash game, make no mistake). So we put out some ads for tomorrow and hope to sell everything! I took pictures last time and will take more tomorrow, so those will be coming forthwith! Dang that is an old fogey word.

Sorry to be all teasy and such and not even give a picture on this entry!

Garbage Disposal

My mother's wrist puncture wounds got infected, so that means she now has a huge splint on her left forearm and has to wear a sling. This also means that I have to do most of the housework. I just spent about 75 minutes doing dishes and I noticed, the same as I did a couple days ago when doing dishes, that the black rubber of our garbage disposal opening is a nasty yellow color. I Dawn'd it up and wiped off the crap with a wet paper towel. Much to my disgust, it was filthy!! Not just old (what kind of black fades to yellow anyway?). Feeling very un-green but determined to get the nastiness away from where we clean our dishes, I used many paper towels in the same way to get under the rubber surface, too.

You guys, it looked like FECES. :(

I looked online for ways to thoroughly clean garbage disposals and came upon AskTheBuilder.com. Tim Carter's article primarily offers solutions for smelly garbage disposals, but the ideas are great for everyday switch-flippin'-water-runnin'-food-crushin' fun. He says, in a nutshell:

Grind up the garbage with the water running into the disposal. Then, when it's finished, turn off disposal and stop it up. Fill the sink 2/3 of the way up with water, then add soap generously; finally, let the soapy water run into the disposal and turn the disposal on. The blades will swirl it around, effectively cleaning up that nasty poo-maker. (Ok those two are my words, not his.) There are many more great suggestions at Thrifty Fun.

Thanks to AboutAppliance for today's image.

Housesitting

This past week, I house-sat for a family I've also been babysitting for. The family went on vacation to Disneyland for the younger daughter's 4th birthday and asked me to care for their 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 rats. It was an interesting experience... culminating, on the last day, with the dogs running away and my mother's wrists being punctured by one of them as we tried to lead them back home. She had to get stitches, and it was very traumatizing, but she'll be ok.

I learned a lot from observing their house. Keep in mind that it's a pretty busy household, but here is what I noticed:

• Box clutter: We had this problem at our apartment, too, of keeping enormous boxes for no reason. And I've talked about it a lot. :) This family had a four-foot tall empty box from a portable air conditioner just sitting in the master bedroom - they got the AC unit two weeks ago, around when I started babysitting! I know that they might want to keep it for the two little girls to play with, but big boxes should have a proper home, either in someone's play area, the garage or in the recycling.


• Clothes: I have a feeling the little girls are a tad spoiled. I love them to death! But they haven't yet learned the value of picking up after themselves. Ok, fine, they are four and eight, but still! Keep those adorable hampers accessible, not jammed in an already-bursting closet. I do like their dresser system, though, when they use it! The eight-year-old has categories for each drawer, and the "star drawer" is specially for pajamas.


• Garbage: It was difficult for me to find a trash can in most rooms of the house. The kitchen didn't even have one! So I used some Safeway bags that I assume were for that purpose. Even more sad, the recycling was hard to find as well. I admit, it may be because I'm not used to their system and they don't need/use labels. But I've found in my own living spaces that having a trash and recycling in each room (or at least most rooms) makes things a lot easier. It's funny how lazy we can be if the recycling is even one room away!

I tidied up as best I could (and as much as I dared, for fear of seeming rude), but I was depressed to see that all my work had been erased when I went back two days later to babysit. Toys and food all over the floor! Kitchen table hardly visible! I guess I shouldn't try to change them if all they're paying me for is animal care and babysitting...

Thanks to Housesitting for the photo. :)

Sites I Like #7: Children of Hoarders

I guess I never realized how ashamed I should have been (by society's standards) of the state of my house. I'm still not ashamed, because I know that it's not entirely my responsibility. But I found an interesting site for the community of children of hoarders.

Today's site: Children of Hoarders

The subtitle of the site says "for the adult children of compulsive hoarders," but I think it's useful for anyone connected to a compulsive hoarder. There are numerous videos on the site, including "Possessed," which I posted about before, showcasing the long-term emotional turmoil that clutter brings with it. The site is just full of resources, and I think it's great that this exists just like communities exist for children of Alzheimer's patients and alcoholics.

There is a well-run forum, too, so you get the full experience of empathy and support. One board in the forum mentions P.I.S.S., which stands for Post-Intervention Stress Syndrome, an unofficial disorder discussed by the COH community. "P.I.S.S." was coined by a COH member and is brought on by the significant anti-climax that comes at the end of a de-cluttering undertaking. Interesting, and what a catchy acronym...

For me, the fact that I couldn't invite people over during my childhood wasn't embarrassing; it was just something that was. It was a fact of life: all my friends could have me over, but having people over at my apartment just wasn't done after about third grade. My friends were all polite about it, but I'm sure they sensed that something bad was the reason they never saw the inside of my home.

And now, the main trouble of having clutter is the tension between my mother and me. It's hard to actually de-clutter without having a fight most times. But now I know I'm not the only one who has had this experience!

Be Even More Greener

Things you may do to be green but may not do the most efficiently:

RECYCLE
In this age of the green trend, more and more Americans are recycling. This is definitely a good thing! But old habits still die hard - you may still choose the wastebasket over the recycling bag out of laziness. I'm certainly guilty of this! But just remember that there are so many things you can recycle! Jewel cases, styrofoam (just find the right service!), many plastics, and the traditional paper/plastic/glass/aluminum. Depending on your location, you might even be able to get money for these things! Think twice about our rising landfills when you want to throw non-biodegradables in that garbage!


SPRING CLEANING
Many people have a great routine set every year for spring cleaning, which I truly admire! But you can always do better. :) Instead of viewing it as a horrible chore that you have to tackle on your own because no one else around the house helps, make it a fun family event! Make a game out of organizing and cleaning out for the kids, and devise rewards for the grown-ups. The outings to Goodwill etc. can be fun mini road trips, too.

SHOPPING GREEN
Shopping green is the best kind of shopping. You feel great about your purchases and can sometimes save money, like when you buy local at the farmer's market. But make sure you get the most out of your experience. Don't buy fancy green products unless you NEED them and will USE them! Otherwise it's just more clutter and a waste of money. For example: knickknacks made of reused plastic bags are great, but are they going to clutter up your home more/will they get any use? Also, try re-using the produce bags when you shop at the farmer's market. I have more about plastic bags if you're interested. :)

Anything I left out?

Thanks to Tales at Twilight for the image.

Safeway is King

Yesterday, my mom and I did a buttload of errands. Some de-cluttering, some not. We were all over the place! The best part of the day was finding the recycling center back behind a nearby Safeway that recycles lots of stuff and offers CRV (California Refund Value). They even take #6 styrofoam (those huge annoying blocks)!!! It was a bit ironic that we found out about the styrofoam though, because we had just tossed a huge collection of styrofoam blocks, after coming up short on recycling resources. (Waste Management told us it counts as garbage in this area so we could throw it out. My mom says they were just trying to steer business their way, which sucks because throwing out styrofoam is SO BAD for the environment!)

Moral of the story: your city probably has some amazing resources that are hidden behind random grocery stores or other weird places! Do some hunting and find these great places.

Anyway, things are looking better every day! I drew up some ideas I had for floorplans when we're ready to move stuff around. I have one for my room and one for the living room. Maybe I'll post them tomorrow! In the meantime, my friend L and I are hosting a hillbilly hootenanny birthday party for ourselves tonight, so I might not post till late tomorrow. :P

Quick Tips

I'm back! I didn't post for a few days because the traffic was really low and it bummed me out. But here's a short and sweet update with some tips:

• A lot of our clutter was huge empty boxes! I don't know how we amassed them, but I think it was the whole "this could come in handy someday" idea. I was kind of relieved that most of the boxes were empty, because it was so easy to just break them down and recycle them. Try ridding yourself of these space Napoleons (=coup d'etat, really bad joke, etc.) today and see how much more open you can make your home.


• Always be careful about letting clutter pile up again once you clear it away. Make sure everything has a place and that things go there! A lot! All the time even! If you don't do this, you might end up using every possible flat surface as storage, like we did, and it can get ugly.


• ARGH BOXES! I'm still bothered by the topic. Let's discuss. Even despite and during this whole process, our living room is still full of boxes, but it's not empty stereo boxes or empty shoe boxes. It's boxes of the things found while de-cluttering that are marked "to keep." Problem is, they're those awful white cardboard boxes with handles that people use for cleaning out their cubicles when it's time to move on. This won't do. I'm thinking of switching them out with something like this in something bright - green or red maybe.


• The whole box thing has resurfaced because I'm making big progress on our front closet. I mentioned that earlier but I'm still really happy because hopefully soon we will have somewhere to put the boxes so that visitors won't be appalled and affronted by them.

Flashback

I've become very fond of seeing the dirt and dust washing off my hands after I take a break from de-cluttering. It's some sort of weird relief, like seeing the burden of the clutter just flowing down the drain.

Today I was working on our front closet, and it made for my favorite kind of de-cluttering: old photo discoveries! It's so weird to see my own face grinning up at me from over ten (and sometimes over fifteen) years ago! I was a cute little butt head. Here are some of my favorite photos so far! Check back later and there might be "after" photos haha. Probably not.

My treasured stuffed tiger. I could never decide on its gender, but s/he is still with me today. Ragged and sad.


Don't blame me, it was the 90s.


"No wonder Clark was such a weird cat." - My mom.


Not a morning person. Even on my birthday. Or maybe I was just irritated at photo time.


That's a shark on my face. I don't know why.

I would put dates to these faces, but a) some don't have them, and b) laziness! Always laziness.

Wishlist #4: LCD TV

Hey hey it's that time again! That time that hasn't come around for a while because I kind of forgot about it or stopped being greedy. Probably the first, though, since I'm greedy 24/7/52/12/365-6. Anyway, the pictures would all look the same since I'm specifically wishing for a standard flat-screen LCD TV for my fancy apartment dorm in the fall. So I'm just listing my favorite one.

And, to sate your eternal desire for visual aids, I'm listing the top 3 craziest/most awesome TVs I found on the internet today at the bottom of this post. So scroll to your heart's content.

1. Sharp LC19SB24U 19" LCD HDTV - $270

I don't know much about researching these big purchases, but I do know this:

• I have a good, solid, bulky cube of a Sharp 13" TV that has worked pretty well for 8 of the past 9 years I've owned it. So I kind of trust Sharp as a brand.


• I want 19" because my roommate and I have had a disappointingly small TV (similar in bulky cubeness to mine) for two years that makes TV gatherings frustrating. College kids: does this happen to you?? In fact, the two of us talked seriously about getting a new TV for next year. Funny since now we'll be living in the most expensive dorm and neither of us can really afford a new TV but whateva!


• I have spoken. I want this TV. Grey's, 30 Rock and The Office will be oh so much more awesome. I might even start watching House with this glorious TV, who knows. I keep meaning to, but gosh, my TVs right now are just so subpar.

And now! These are not as crazy as I planned! Mostly they are childish! But I know you skipped down here to see what they are, so I present to you: weird TVs!

a. High School Musical TV

Oh HSM. How terrible your actors are. How catchy and stupid your music is. How slutty your stars are. Yet no one can resist you. This TV is kind of awesome, if only for the clever locker storage design and the many brain cells it will suck out of a generation of kids. We can't have them turning out smarter than us, after all. We know only too well how helpless the baby boomers seem in comparison to their kids. What do I click to get Internet? Anyway, there's also an iPod dock.

b. "The Japanese Crazy TVs"

These aren't all that crazy; in fact they're really cute. But I always wonder about the practicality of stuff like this, which you kind of outgrow past oh, twelve, and have to either throw out or declare "quirky" when it's really not. Or I don't know, maybe it is but I don't get it. I could see either of the two TVs on this link in something like Toy Story though. (Incidentally, I hope they don't do any more of those, because I've lost all faith in sequels/etc.)

c. Dynatron

I am so confused by the post stemming from this image, but the caption says that it is "the most expensive TV set manufactured in Britain. Assembled by thousands of highly trained paramecia in 1948, it was called a ‘Dynatron Ether Sovereign’." I enjoy the name and its ridiculous size, so I bestow it on you and your eyes. Maybe you can make some sense out of the link.

Clutter Personality

I've noticed a pattern or two as I've been slogging through the living room. Today, as I was starting to clear off the third of three sitting spaces (1: couch, 2: love seat, and 3: big chair that goes with the couch), I thought to myself, "There is SO MUCH PAPER here." That reminded me of this article I read on clutter personalities.

I revisited the article today and decided that, out of the five personality types listed there, my mother must embody at least four, these being: the hoarder ("This might come in hand someday!"), the deferrer ("I'll think about that tomorrow!"), the perfectionist ("Next week, I'll organize everything--perfectly!"), and the sentimentalist ("Oh, the little darling!"). The fifth is the rebel, who's still bitter about mom's nagging to clean that room.

This melee of personality types may make it sound pretty bad, and it is, but I do acknowledge that it could be a lot worse, like those people in the video I posted a couple days ago. But I think the combination of all these deadly personality types makes me understand a bit better just how much my mom needs someone else to take initiative in de-cluttering.

The paper-pileup is definitely a byproduct of her hoarding personality. She brought me up to always consider that something might be useful later and to never get rid of anything if you can help it. But this is only sensible to a point. There were receipts up the wazoo on the chair I was cleaning today, from Jack-in-the-Box nine months ago (that depressed me a lot) to endless printouts from online. I really don't think proof of your Junior Bacon with Cheese is going to come in handy soon OR later. About.com has some nice tips on how to eliminate paper clutter.

Think carefully about what kind of clutter personality you have, then take the appropriate steps to de-clutter yourself! This is a very important step that I'm feeling the weight of right now.

Thank to this site for the image.

P.S. I hope the people who have found this blog with similar projects underway are finding my tips and progress helpful/inspiring in some way! Always feel welcome to post comments about your own progress and projects. :)

Do It Yourself

Well, it's been a busy past few days! Not only with de-cluttering, but with birthdays and hanging out with my best friends for summertime fun and trying to get myself a job. I did de-clutter one of our couches in the living room. However, I sat down on it today and realized it's a depressing spot! It receives almost no light, even though it is about five feet from the window. Of course, this is because one of our bookshelves is placed illogically and uglily between the two! Hmm. I can't wait to start the re-arranging part of our project. In the spirit of DIY thinking*, here's a fun link about how to fuse plastic bags to make stuff! Just don't inhale those hot plastic fumes, kids.

Via Curbly.com

* Ok that's kind of a stretch, from my progress to "DIY" but I don't have much to write about...

"Possessed" Short Documentary

Here is a very emotionally charged video made by Martin Hampton about people and their clutter. I almost wish it were longer.


POSSESSED from Martin Hampton on Vimeo.

Via BackGarage

What are your reactions? For those of you not affected by such clutter in your own lives, what were your thoughts as you saw and then heard about these people's struggles (assuming you watched it :P)? For those of you with clutter, did it hit home at all?