Recycling: a PSA

At this particular house, our recycling rate is above average, and our trash rate is way below average. We barely fill a trash bag every two weeks.

Moving

Moving is again in the top of my things to think about; it seems probable that it will be later than April, giving me a little more time to cull, donate, sell and otherwise divest myself of my worldly goods.  I'm a little more hopeful today that I can actually achieve this before the moving date without giving things away willy-nilly.

I need all the hope I can get.

And, I made two sales this week on Bonanza, and one on Amazon, so it's been a good week as far as sales go.  I would dearly love to sell something every single day, and/or to schedule a pickup from someone off the recycling list every single day.

Thanks go out into the ether to those people, both known to me and unknown, who have helped me during the last year by giving my things a new home, either through free-cycling or through my online sales sites, or through just plain old cash in hand.

Bzz - Dymo Labelmaker - followup

OK.  I got this at the end of December and Bzzed about it then with a preview.

I've used this labelmaker for several weeks now and LOVE it, with one caveat:  it's not qwerty.

It holds well in my hand, being neither too heavy nor too light.  It runs on either batteries (Li-Ion replaceable battery) or AC power, and the battery recharges quickly.  It uses the same DYMO label cassettes that other DYMO products use and the cassette is clearly labeled with color and size.

I can change the font (three choices) or the size of the font.  I can print multiples of the same label.  I can save the label to use later.  The label can have multiple lines of print.  I can italicize, bold, underline, put letters in a box.  The labels are clean and crisp.

In short, it's a pretty amazing labelmaker!  For me, though, it's supertough to find letters on the "keyboard" when it's it's in alphabetical order with an arbitrary seven letters on each line.  I'm having a lot of trouble adjusting to that.  Because of that one small thing, making a label is a bit time-consuming, and it seriously detracts from my enjoyment of this labelmaker.

I'm going to keep working with it while the BzzCampaign is going on, and then I might have a little giveaway.  Would you be interested in winning this labelmaker?

2010 accomplishments

Got everything I owned out of storage and into the garage of the house in which I was living.

Threw away, gave away, recycled and donated about three large U-Haul trucks' worth of "stuff." 

Yes, I was a packrat.  My "stuff" included 30 years of living on my own, my daughter's dead best friend's leftovers from five years ago (mom needed them out of the house after she died, and I don't blame her), my own dead mother's stuff from eight years ago (personal, professional and retail), my daughter's stuff, and my own personal addiction to candles, incense, magazines, rocks, office supplies in general and pens in particular, shoes and whatever else has struck my fancy.

As far as that packrattiness is concerned, I am in recovery, not cured.  There are still things I find it very difficult to let go.  Mostly though, I find that I don't even remember why I was holding onto things, as I unpack them and evaluate the usefulness of each item.  There are still far too many items which are "worth money, I can sell that."  Problem is, if the person to whom they really belong doesn't see them, they don't get sold, and I keep looking at them, or moving them around, or moving them to new places. 

Attended my only daughter's wedding without killing the man who was planning it.  Without input from us, I might add.  That alone ought to have earned me the Pulitzer Peace prize away from Obama.

Continued to look for work, whether at a job or from home.  No, I haven't applied at McDonald's or Wendy's, and I'm planning to continue avoiding those little jewels.  I know my physical limitations.  Usually.  I continue to get emails and letters turning me down, or explaining that I am not the best person for the job.

Got my first few denials for SS Disability, and an appearance before a judge, who also denied my claim.  That is an ongoing saga - I am looking for a new disability lawyer, because that firm "fired" me for failure to communicate.  My last letter from them came with a deadline that had passed five days before I received the letter.   And I'm the one failing to communicate.

Now, I am looking forward to 2011.  It must, by necessity, be a big year for me.  I will find a way to support myself financially.  I will find a way to have access to more-than-adequate medical care.  I will continue to sell or give away or throw away or donate stuff as I sort through the seemingly endless supply of boxes and bins.  I will resolve what legal issues are before me, and perhaps in a more positive way than I am expecting.  I will sell the car I now own, and find a mode of transportation that is more in keeping with my current practically nonexistent means and minimal needs.

I will love my kid and my grandkid (and yes, -sigh-, even my son-in-law, lol), and myself.  I will strive to be aware of the good in my life as it passes through, and continue to be incredibly thankful for it, whatever forms it takes.  If you perhaps need to point that out to me sometimes, feel free.

Today is a good day to die...

Well, for stuff to go away, and that's kinda like dying for a reformed packrat like myself.

This morning, someone's been by to pick up a clock-radio, and promised to keep an eye out for my future posts to the recycling group. 

In about an hour, a couple of ladies will be by to pick through stuff and take much home.  Though I'm never thrilled to hear about people losing their homes through whatever kind of disaster, I'm always pleased to be able to "pay it forward."

Random people, anonymous and otherwise, have helped me at several critical points in my life, and I like to return the favor to the Universe.  It gives me warm fuzzies and helps combat periodic feelings of "what am I here for, anyway?"  Changes in my life make it possible for me to give these things away freely and without reservation, and I like that, too.

What madness!

I spent several weeks offline and got to the really important emails via my Blackberry, but didn't get more than half an hour here and there usually to read the rest.  When my internet restored itself on Thursday, I had nearly 8000 emails in gmail inbox.  Last night and into the wee hours of the morning, I successfully deleted or properly disposed of five or six hundred.  Maybe more.  So, today, I shall weed out more emails, look for more jobs, watch the baby some more and give stuff away. 

I have people coming around 1500 who are moving back into their formerly burned-down house and are starting over.  I can't give them furniture, but I have much else to pass along, and love that I get to know where it's going.  It's a family of six, so this will help my downsizing/decluttering effort immensely.