The messy archives of my life

Hamster, your house is beautiful, and I have a new-found appreciation for small spaces. It's amazing what you've managed to do. This is my favorite thread on PC, because it makes me happy, comforted, and inspired to see how you hold your life together so beautifully. Amidst all the suffering and sadness on PC, your posts here are a bright spot.

This is what I know I need to work on. I like how you have organized everything and since I am making extra getting someone to help clean and organize may be what I need. Messes are overwhelming! So is clutter ;.;

Hamster, usually I am pretty good at kicking my own butt, but sometimes it takes other people to do the kicking for me.

Last night I filled up three huge garbage bags of stuff for the homeless shelter

Thank you so much for being here and giving me little kick!!

Great work!

Im in the process of planning a little garden for my outdoor area too. I have plenty of ideas, just not much in the way of money.

Your kitchen pics made me think of what I could do in my kitchen, and a new spice rack came to mind! That would save a heap of space in my limited cupboards. Thanks for the inspiration.

Dropped the bags off at the homeless shelter today

They were so happy to get the donation

Hammie, thanks to you I feel pretty good today

Thanks for reminding me -- I should do that soon. I'm trying to cut back on how many things I own, especially clothing. I want to donate some of my books too. Electronic books are more portable and cheap, and I can easily stock up on soft copies of many of the books I own. I'd rather give the hard copies to someone who needs them more.

Hi Hamster,
How do you keep your clothes organized, e.g. in the closet or wardrobe? How do you prevent things from wrinkling?

I get really exasperated and tend to crumple up an article of clothing and stash it into the first drawer I open. Hence my clothes get wrinkled. Also each drawer is basically a medley of miscellaneous articles of clothing.

Folding clothes is a pain. I really dislike stacking clothes on top of each other. It's impossible to see what's below the top. Sometimes I'll frantically take the entire pile out to find something near the bottom. The folds come out. Exasperated, I stash the clothes I don't want into the nearest drawer. Bad practice for the long run :P

Keeping clothes organized is a hassle, and tips would be appreciated.

- Alie

I cannot who mentioned books

You inspired me.

I had so many books that I will never read again.

Now donated to the library's annual book sale

Opps , bad typer

I cannot remember whom mentioned books

or who?

My English teacher would be ticked off right now

Hammie, I am still on a roll because of you

Today I dropped off a bunch of jackets at the homeless shelter.

They were the "I'll fit into it someday" jackets

If you don't like folding clothes, you can get hangers and hang them!

You can use a dryer sheet with the clothes in the dryer and immediately put them on the clothes hanger while they're still warm. When the clothes are cold, you're more likely to get wrinkles. Another thing you can do is throw the clothes your going to wear in the dryer for 10-20 minutes before you leave.

I am still clearing out years of stuff that has accumulated

I am throwing out some old memories, and it feels good to do that

I had to do that in December. I called it purging. It was amazing, I could actually see the cycles. I ended up getting rid of 3/4 of the stuff and kept what was important

I'm laughing that this thread is so long. Maybe we need an entire forum

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I will tell you a good story.

The sTory is about witchcraft. So I have a balcony with a closet. I have put all my cleaning supplies and tools, as well as laundry detergent (I poured Tide and Oxiclean powder into large clear plastic containers with tight fitting lids, so that the powder would not cake from the moisture of the air outdoors), into that closet. I thought it would be smart - I am not breathing in tide powder because of how I store it.

Then I started organizing the balcony itself and discovered that two wooden boards were rotten. I reported it.

Two months later the landlord asked me to remove everything from the balcony because repairmen would come fix it. They did come on Tuesday, and I had by then removed everything into the living room. Plants and all.

Well, they discovered that the whole deck was rotten. They removed the deck, and the manager says that the extent of the damage is so major that they do not know when they would even start building a new deck. Maybe there is even structural damage. So it is all on a grand scale, and not just two wooden boards.

In the meantime, I have a visitor coming from Moscow tonight, and he has special needs (diabetes type I childhood onset, partly blind due to it, walking with a cane, needs a special diet - a long list). And I could not do the laundry or clean because I was essentially locked out of tools and supplies - since there is no deck between the balcony door and the balcony closet, I would have to fly to get to the closet, but I can only fly on a broom, but the broom is in the closet, so I was without means of transportation and without cleaning tools.

I did buy a liquid laundry detergent - it won't spoil. I did not buy replacements for cleaning stuff because it would be ridiculous later to have extra brushes, brooms, etc. so I called a cleaning service. They did a good job, but when they left, I heard the meowing sound that was all too familiar. I figured that Tommy, my black cat and a tenured escape artist, must have gotten outside when the cleaners were leaving.

So not only was the witch without her means of transportation, but her black cat has abandoned her. Poor witch!

Several neighbors had already gathered outside when I walked downstairs planning to chase the cat.

Our complex' grounds are covered with low dense prickly thorny brush (low bushes). The cat can squeeze under the thorns and crawl. We the people do not have this ability. So the cat was winning the race, even though he was alone and we the people outnumbered him.

So I went home, poured canned chicken into a bowl, and set the bowl just above the stairs.

The cat went up half the length of the stairs. There, he literally froze, and I could read his mind by the look of his green eyes. He was comparing the freedom and fun of running away from people and having them chase him with the pleasure of eating chicken. While he was pondering his dilemma, one neighbor approached him from below, captured, and handed to me.

On the picture is the cat back at home. Now I just need access to the broom to be back in business.

The cat - After being captured

Sorry to hear about your deck situation; but your story about your cat gave me a good laugh!

I had a good laugh too!
Hope your deck gets sorted soon hammy

hahahahhaah Hopefully the deck will be repaired soon ! You plants need to go back out there

Hope your deck is back soon. I'm glad you got your cat.

Yeah -- I am just finishing up unpacking from buying a house and I am finding crap I kept for one reason or other and I often have no idea why...very interesting.

The deck got finished. the plants went back. The new deck is not wooden - it is made from some sort of man-made material which is surprisingly smooth. Very pleasant to my bare soles (well, was - it is now cold enough so I am no longer spending much time on the balcony).

And... here is my pantry. Very proud of it. I know the glass jars are expensive, but - they are so well made that hopefully they will last for as long as I live, unless I break them. And then many years down the road, I will have happy memories of turning chaos into order. So I am happy.

Cleaning is still a big challenge, though. But at least I know where stuff is and I got into a cooking routine. Also, yup I spent money on organizing the pantry and having nice jars for dry goods, but I will save money by not buying convenience items. When I burn through the canned beans, I will go back to soaking dry beans overnight, as I used to do years ago. I have already stopped buying quick oats packets from Trader Joe's - I buy steel cut oatmeal instead. So eventually I will be spending less money on food and cooking from scratch more - a win-win.

Hamster!!!! I love this thread. It has affected me by way of osmosis. I found the spice rack for $8. About half of my spices expired 5 years ago.

hope your proud of what you're accomplishing by going through your stuff. Not sure I have the motivation or the fortitude to do the same.