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Post by Dee on Oct 4, 2010 12:36:10 GMT -5
As proof that I've been at this rodeo for far too long, I offer for your consideration an article I found on Usenet way back in 1998 and still reference for a head-shaking chuckle today. (The descriptions are just so true!) I welcome your thoughts and comments. Link |
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Post by blossoming on Oct 4, 2010 13:44:21 GMT -5
this was very funny. and true
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Post by eagle on Oct 4, 2010 19:53:40 GMT -5
Dear madeamessofme, Please read the Terms of Service, both here and at the Google Groups from which you copied that information. I had to remove the content so that we do not jeapardize our forums. You can provide a link to the content, but you cannot copy and paste the entire thing like this. So, if you have a link, you can edit the above post and include the link to the content you want to share. Google Groups TOS clearly state that you cannot reproduce the materials without permission. It does tell you how to obtain permission, so you can do that if you desire. SOS copyright policy link. Proboards Terms of Service. We are bound by Proboards TOS and when you registered you agreed to adhere to them. |
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Post by Dee on Oct 5, 2010 23:23:42 GMT -5
You can provide a link to the content, but you cannot copy and paste the entire thing like this. So, if you have a link, you can edit the above post and include the link to the content you want to share. Ack! Yup, I stepped in it. Apologies, Eagle. Thank you for your post and the fix. I've posted a link instead. Mum can have a throw-down fit but thats her problem, not mine. This is my home, not hers by proxy. An excellent sentiment! I used to think I had to keep everything "just in case." I had a "hoarding affirmation" today that I didn't particularly enjoy: I found a little plastic part that broke off one of my cat carriers many moons ago. I still have the carrier (it's been without a door since this piece broke off, which just about renders the carrier useless) and I've doubted since it broke that I could fix it, but I've matched the two and it's all now in the (regularly addressed) "to-fix" pile. It's an uncomfortable feeling for me, knowing rationally that my hoarding behavior wasn't working for me overall, but getting random "proof" that the behavior does (rarely) work to my benefit. I don't understand that part just yet, but I figured I'd share it anyway.  |
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Post by Script on Oct 6, 2010 8:17:08 GMT -5
the hockey stick you won the Stanley Cup withI am still snorting about this fantastic example of sentimental clutter. Go Leafs Go! ps: I live in the home town of the hapless Maple Leafs [or Loafers].  no hockey smilies, so we will have a vacuum one instead.
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Post by eagle on Oct 6, 2010 16:49:29 GMT -5
I don't know that holding onto something that you hope to fix is necessarily a bad thing. Maybe, if you replace it and end up with a dozen extras and at least half of them are broken. But normal people also hold onto fixable things and attempt to fix them before tossing them out or replacing them. They might get to it sooner than we do, but the behavior itself is not a bad thing.
Today I ran across the screw top to a hot water/ice water bottle that I long since threw away. I looked at it and thought, 'I should have kept that.' Then I thought, 'No, I replaced it long ago and would not have found this part to it any sooner anyway.' And if I had held onto it, I wouldn't know today where it was. I still would have been left with 2 unmatched parts and not know where both of them were at the same time.
You, however, knew where the cat carrier was and you ARE dealing with the fix it pile on a regular basis. So in this situation, I'd say, let go of the discomfort. However, if you have extra cat carriers, maybe you can donate one to a vet. Everyone's a winner.
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Oct 6, 2010 18:12:25 GMT -5
an article I found on Usenet way back in 1998
(The descriptions are just so true!)
Link Wow this is a great article. Yes the descriptions really are very "spot-on". I like their suggestion ... that you can try to make things right by donating ... or ... I think this goes hand in hand with the "amnesty" threads. List of several of our Amnesty threads: takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=11341Another thing I like about the "guilt/sentimental clutter" link is this idea: You can ask people to give you nonclutter gifts, such as: tickets, plants, food, etc. ... OR ... you can ask people to give the gift of paying to REPAIR something you need repaired. That's BRILLIANT  - |
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Post by fluffernut - now Jannie on Oct 6, 2010 19:49:53 GMT -5
If someone gives me a gift, it is MINE. Period. I can do what I want with it. use it, re-gift it. store it. Throw it out.
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Post by Meme on Oct 6, 2010 20:52:16 GMT -5
I solved this problem a few years ago by asking for non gifts but rather some ones time to go out for a meal and we could go dutch- etc-- people really listened and I did get a few gift cards for doughnuts and coffee etc-
often folks see that you collect a certain something and think they are helping by adding it to the collection but although I collect tea pots I only collect ones that catch my eye- i may only add one a year -
often the best thing to do is say nothing and do what is best for you-- I am also careful giving gifts now as I too can be un-considerate rather than considerate-
hugs from Meme
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Post by fluffernut - now Jannie on Oct 7, 2010 15:23:59 GMT -5
I have a set of dishes that was a wedding gift. Everything matches and I can buy replacements if needed. My MIL was giving away a set of dishes she had that had a yellow background. Mine are tan and brown. She "insisted" I take her dishes because they "Match" mine. Only if you are blind! I took them and immediately dobated them to Charity.
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Post by marigold on Oct 7, 2010 16:23:53 GMT -5
Very interesting. I was just going to ask folks what to do with sentimental clutter, and then I noticed this post. I have no problem with guilt clutter, for example I descretely get rid of any thing that reminds me of a person I dislike or was given to me by that person. I am in the middle of decluttering my stuff that were left in my room chez my parents after I moved out in 2002. I have been living for the past 5 years with my wonderful hubby and we have a bunch of great kids. I feel I have to clear up all my stuff from my mom's space, as I don't live there anymore, but I don't know how much to throw away. We don't have space in the new apartment for all of my memorabilia from different trips and stuff (which is a roomfull). Also, this year I have lost my dear daddy. Since then, my mom has been in a wave of throwing things away, because she realized that all the stuff is just stuff, and it all becomes unimportant dust. In her words, what matters is what you LIVED, all the huggs you exchanged with someone, all the laughs, trips, your children are important, their health and merryment and well-being, your good relationship with your husband is important, the love in your family is important, all the rest is not important. Things are just things, what is left are all the nice memories you share with someone you loved. She gives me a really good perspective, and each time I visit her, I throw a bag or two of easy-to-declare junk, stuff that means nothing to me anymore. But I still find it very hard to part with lots of other stuff, like my diaries from when I was 13-30 years old, old letters from dear friends around the world, some 20-ish shoeboxes full of printed photos and negatives, travel magazines from countries I liked, even textbooks and notes from my norvegian course - alas, when on earth would I speak norvegian again!? All Norvegians speak english like their second mother tongue and I have no plans for moving and working there either. Not that I have met any Norvegians either in the past 10 years. Still there's that little gnome in the back of my mind that assures me I might want to revise all the norvegian grammar one day  What to do? I don't feel like bringing all this stuff to my place, those are things from my past life, before my husband. And yet, I don't have the strength to part with these things either. |
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Post by lizzie on Oct 7, 2010 23:30:48 GMT -5
I STILL have my school Latin books from more than forty years ago, JUST IN CASE I should want to re-learn a subject I always disliked and never put much effort into. As if.
Forty years ago. Before computers, mobile phones, photocopiers, BEFORE THE MOON LANDING - just what goes on in our minds??
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Post by eagle on Oct 8, 2010 9:18:22 GMT -5
The moon landing. Yes, my firstborn son had just been born. I have saved the newspaper from that day to give hime one day. Sentimental. But I don't called it clutter, as it sits in a file with a few photos of him during the years, not a thick file by any means. Will I ever give it to him? It doesn't appear that he will ever be ready to receive it, so I may not, but I may give it to his son one day, because he may be interested in memorabilia related to his birth father.
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