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Buy a label maker, it just makes you remember where you keep things... oh and by the way, girls have 'things' boys have stuff. I have lots of stuff most of it where it belongs. However I do have a storage shed and a 30'x40' shop.
I have LOTs of stuff that I might need for any number of projects.
My house is never perfectly ready for company because we LIVE here.
Really wish I had a 4 car garage that was mine and mine alone for all the things I make (no cars allowed).
Every roommate I've had has been a slob. Thank God I haven't had one other than wife/daughter in decades. Simple concepts like cleaning a dish they just used were beyond their comprehension. It led to constant friction. Then I realized... wait a minute... most of these dishes are mine. No dishes=no dirty dishes. So I boxed up most of it, just leaving like 2 plates, 2 bowls, etc, pretty much forcing them to clean up as they go. And walking in on my roommate eating cereal out of a saucepan using measuring spoons dangling from the ring was too amusing to cause friction.
Just to note a few things. The air bubble mailers, bubble plastic, were just recycling that had not gone out yet. As it is now, though, two of them are tied around faucets. When this alert is over, I will probably order more of the proper stuff.
What do I need more of? Paracord! What does a girlfriend need more of? Duct tape (in her video on the Net)! Neither one is clutter but the stuff to tie life, whatever that component may be, together and as such, it is the stuff we tend to stock up on.
But, once we have identified a need, do we then have a place for the stuff we picked out of the heap? Maybe. I am remembering another girlfriend, a horsewoman out on the coastal plane, who was desperate because at 0200, found her well had busted a pipe....and those of us she could reach were trying to remember our damage control training to jury rig the problem. Would layers of bubble plastic mailers and paracord do it?
Maybe if it happens, especially since I don't know where I put those pipe repair vises I bought in reaction to her incident, a decade ago.
Lots of "probablys", "maybes", and "don't knows" here. I'd suggest learning how to make these choices or at least concoct filters or criteria that will help you face up to more of them. Less dithering, more doing. For example: you have two pieces of paracord. Both are functional. Which is worth keeping and which isn't? A piece shorter than such-and-such a length isn't worth saving. A piece longer than that length is. If you've hung on to some bit of plastic for 10 years and never needed it, chances are you never will.
If you can't bring yourself to make decisions like that or you keep putting them off for another day, you become less and less able to. Then you end up with a mess and you still can't find anything! If you happen to make the wrong decision regarding some bit of clutter, will the world end? Probably not! So many minor choices we make in life can easily be revisited. In other words, if you tempted fate and threw out that scrap of bubble wrap will you go down in flames never to recover? NO! Most of this sort of stuff isn't earthshatteringly important. Don't delude yourself into thinking it is.
Constantly prepping for imaginary emergencies can go too far. Reminds me of a squirrel or blue jay that can never stop gathering nuts for a winter food cache. It gathers and crams them everywhere but ends up never remembering where. So, most of them go to waste and rot. Then there's gear-itis...people who research some activity or skill they hope to engage in someday. They shop for, buy, and accumulate gear: the latest, best of everything plus all the variations in between. Only problem is, they never actually get around to USING any of it. They just own it. The closest they get is looking at it and daydreaming.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-14-2024 at 02:17 PM..
Lots of "probablys", "maybes", and "don't knows" here. I'd suggest learning how to make these choices or at least concoct filters or criteria that will help you face up to more of them. Less dithering, more doing. For example: you have two pieces of paracord. Both are functional. Which is worth keeping and which isn't? A piece shorter than such-and-such a length isn't worth saving. A piece longer than that length is. If you've hung on to some bit of plastic for 10 years and never needed it, chances are you never will.
If you can't bring yourself to make decisions like that or you keep putting them off for another day, you become less and less able to. Then you end up with a mess and you still can't find anything! If you happen to make the wrong decision regarding some bit of clutter, will the world end? Probably not! So many minor choices we make in life can easily be revisited. In other words, if you tempted fate and threw out that scrap of bubble wrap will you go down in flames never to recover? NO! Most of this sort of stuff isn't earthshatteringly important. Don't delude yourself into thinking it is.
Who said I wasn't going to take those two pieces of paracord and tie them together when their job is done? That is exactly what I intend to do with them.
Paracord is one of those interesting items for a use can always be found for it, even if tying it to a key to give it a "bigger disturbance in the visual background" so it is easier to find. Or identifying a pair of jeans to its special purpose, whatever that may be, when it comes out of the wash.
As it goes, rope in general and knives go hand in hand for one never has too much of it. Especially if one is in the outdoor type life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parnassia
......Constantly prepping for imaginary emergencies can go too far. Reminds me of a squirrel or blue jay that can never stop gathering nuts for a winter food cache. It gathers and crams them everywhere but ends up never remembering where. So, most of them go to waste and rot. Then there's gear-itis...people who research some activity or skill they hope to engage in someday. They shop for, buy, and accumulate gear: the latest, best of everything plus all the variations in between. Only problem is, they never actually get around to USING any of it. They just own it. The closest they get is looking at it and daydreaming.
A, B, and C.
A: INSURANCE! ......once you have it, you don't need it.
B: Hence, GOD FORBID, that you ever have to use it for the fear you bought it for.
C: There is so much life that is like that. One of the common examples is having so many fire extinguishers.
Sometimes, this way of life surprises you in a good way. I was out at a dive site with my truck, loaded to do anything, and one of assistants asked, "Got any trash bags?". Wow, did I not think about getting those? Did the wonderful Felix the Cat come up short? But then, I recalled......my recycling place doesn't have trash cans for the plastic that brings in cans, so what I have done is stuffed those light used bags in a small box at the front of the truck bed.....and that box was still there since I had not gotten around to tossing it. So they got one more use of life before their demise......and that arrangement is now permanent.
Now, for those that say, "EWWWWW! How disgusting!", remember, it is a working truck and it is suppose to be like that.
To the point of, why can't I find anything (say)? It may be that there is so much of it but it also probably is because life is about so much being jumbled, tossed into boxes to move it, and so little time to sort it, find a place for it. One thing that is rather true of this kind of life is that it would really suck to toss it out but then find it was needed and have to buy it again.....especially in this over inflated world.
Finally, most of this sort of stuff isn't earthshatteringly important.......until you have a job that fits that bill.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 01-14-2024 at 02:56 PM..
We realized our pool pump would need to be drained and then covered for this cold snap. Looked through our stuff, then wrapped bubble wrap and moving blankets over it, then secured it all with a tie-down strap.
If the wind doesn't yank the tie-down around, should be fine. And when it's over, the bubble wrap goes back to that storage space, the blankets get washed and put away, and the tie-down goes back into the tie-downs storage bag.
Just to note a few things. The air bubble mailers, bubble plastic, were just recycling that had not gone out yet. As it is now, though, two of them are tied around faucets. When this alert is over, I will probably order more of the proper stuff.
What do I need more of? Paracord! What does a girlfriend need more of? Duct tape (in her video on the Net)! Neither one is clutter but the stuff to tie life, whatever that component may be, together and as such, it is the stuff we tend to stock up on.
But, once we have identified a need, do we then have a place for the stuff we picked out of the heap? Maybe. I am remembering another girlfriend, a horsewoman out on the coastal plane, who was desperate because at 0200, found her well had busted a pipe....and those of us she could reach were trying to remember our damage control training to jury rig the problem. Would layers of bubble plastic mailers and paracord do it?
Maybe if it happens, especially since I don't know where I put those pipe repair vises I bought in reaction to her incident, a decade ago.
The last sentence is one of key importance.
No matter how many items one may store / save for emergency use
1) you need to be disciplined enough to review / inspect / check / rotate inventory of said items (depending on its purpose / functionality) and
2) maintain a "Memory Palace" to find said items when you need them and
3) have the necessary space (carrying capacity) to store and carry without hindering your ability to live stress free.
This gets to the clutter issue. Whether a 'prepper' or not, individuals need a schematic to to enable easier survival. Clutter implies to me the person accumulates and saves all manner of items with no organization or purpose. I would say most people do not thrive in clutter as many cannot find the item (if at all) in the requisite time to address the problem.
Self sufficiency and survival is directly proportional to quality of life one wants to maintain. The more complex it may be, the more a community of like minded people with complementary skills is needed.
Buy a label maker, it just makes you remember where you keep things... oh and by the way, girls have 'things' boys have stuff. I have lots of stuff most of it where it belongs. However I do have a storage shed and a 30'x40' shop.
By a label maker, do you mean those things of decades past with raised letter that you took the tape off the back to stick on the surface?
Or the paper tape things we use in the computer industry to mark servers and cables?
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 01-18-2024 at 10:52 AM..
By a label maker, do you mean those things of decades past with raised letter that you took the tape off the back to stick on the surface?
Or the paper tape things we use in the computer industry to mark servers and cables?
Paper tape thingys.
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