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Post by AnnieOkie on Aug 18, 2011 21:41:45 GMT -5
I received two new phone books today. I put them on a bookshelf. I did my usual Thursday night things....some maintenance, etc. I kept looking over and seeing the old phone books sitting next to the new ones. I finally got up and took them out with the trash. I don't recycle and I don't feel guilty about that. But they're gone. Wondering if I even need the new ones. Internet can be used to look phone numbers up. I can't remember the last time I used a phone book. But I'm keeping the new ones for now.
I've noticed things like that creeping in....I have a couple of piles that I need to deal with. For example, I want to hang some pictures on the wall above my new computer desk. I got some out and cleaned the dust off. But I can't decide how to arrange them or what exactly I want to hang. So they are stacked neatly on a shelf, waiting. That is how I have gotten in trouble in the past. Not being able to make a decision on what to do with something or how to use it and I just let it sit. I don't want to go down that path again.
I bought a couple of vintage-ey breadbox type boxes this weekend to organize my recipes and put them in the boxes. I cleaned the boxes up, but haven't bothered to sort and organize the recipes. I am commiting myself to dealing with those this weekend. I am going out to my fiance's house and I'll take the boxes and recipes with me and get it done there. It should free up some space in my cabinets.
Just some things I have been dealing with as I continue maintenance and the fight against clutter. It will be a lifelong battle, but I can do it.
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Post by ponygirl on Aug 18, 2011 22:09:17 GMT -5
Annie, you're right...it will be a lifelong battle for me. I make a few steps of progress and then slide back in other areas. Not sure if I'll ever get it all in sync. I doubt it (and I'm not a pessimist...just a realist...). Your descriptions of types of indecision also struck a cord. I'm that way, too. I'm the queen of good intentions. I do a lot of "thinking" and "planning". I need to do more "doing". Sending good vibes for the recipe boxes. They're gonna be so darn cute! And woohoo for throwing out the old phone books!
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Post by addy on Aug 19, 2011 7:36:44 GMT -5
Great! What do you need phone books for? How often have you used them? I used to save them up, and now I put them immediately to the curb and . . . lightning doesn't strike (it seems like heresy).
Yes you can do it. Do you regularly use those recipes? I ask, because I'm realizing that I keep thinking about organizing things that will take more time to organize and fret about than the benefit I'll get from them. Sigh. Yes, lifetime challenge.
Yes, we can!
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Post by cando on Aug 19, 2011 11:12:36 GMT -5
Oh, AnnieO. I was just wondering the same thing & set mine somewhere like you did. I haven't used a phone book in a very long time... but that one time that I needed it... it was there for me. Also, I do the same exact thing as you. That is why the cleaning up and decluttering is always ongoing for me. CD  |
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Post by ponygirl on Aug 19, 2011 11:19:43 GMT -5
I must be really different from most folks...I use my phone book all the time...at home and at work! It's faster than an internet search, imo. Matter of fact, I used it last week to find a dentist who would take me as an emergency patient. I found that dentist in just a few minutes using the yellow pages and reading their ad that said, "Walk-ins and emergencies welcomed! We cater to cowards!" (Not that I needed the coward reassurance or anything...)  |
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Post by betsymarie on Aug 19, 2011 14:13:06 GMT -5
I also often use a phone book, but I really only need one for each of our 2 main phones. We have wonderful no-sort recycling, so I just toss the extras into the bin. Getting them out of the house is getting them out of the house. |
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Post by messymimi on Aug 19, 2011 15:07:40 GMT -5
This first-cousin-to-a-Luddite still uses the phone book, too.
Annie, have you tried laying the pics on the floor or bed in different patterns to see how you like them? That can help.
We may never get everything in sync, but we are in the process of becoming all our lives, so that is really to be expected. Progress is what counts! Sometimes progress in one area means slight regress or standing still for a while in another. It doesn't matter, when the new solidifies, what we had comes back.
messymimi
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Post by MissABCD on Aug 19, 2011 18:44:39 GMT -5
We even try to keep a phone book in each car. We gave an old one away a few years ago. It proved helpful that the recipient had that one, too. One time I wasn't answering my phone--I don't even remember why, now, but our next door neighbor was called to come check on me. MissABCD
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Post by AnnieOkie on Aug 19, 2011 23:37:50 GMT -5
I have to agree with those of you that said sometimes using a phone book is simpler than doing an online search. I can get sidetracked and reading the ad in the Yellow Pages is helpful sometimes.
On the recipes....if I collect anything nowadays, it's recipes. I love to cook and do use alot of the ones I have. Hoping putting them in the new boxes and maybe on top of the fridge (?) will keep them looking nice and more accessible than the cabinet they are in now. I brought the whole mess with me to fiance's and hope to work on them tomorrow. Of course I plan to purge as I go through them. Sometimes I save a recipe and when I see it later, I'll think, "Why in the world did I save this?" LOL!
I may try the laying out on the bed/floor in deciding on an arrangement for the pictures/mirrors. I just don't want to hang too much "stuff" on the walls. I'm starting to like things a little more bare.
Thanks for the ideas!
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Post by Chris on Aug 20, 2011 9:12:23 GMT -5
We even try to keep a phone book in each car. we do this also -- there have been times that it has saved us much time and aggravation to have a phone book in the car! It stows under the seat easily! |
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Post by rickie on Aug 20, 2011 14:15:00 GMT -5
Good job on the phone books Annie. Know what you mean about indecisiveness leading to clutter, I have to be vigilant and not start new projects til I've decided what to do re the current ones.
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Post by ponygirl on Aug 20, 2011 14:59:12 GMT -5
We even try to keep a phone book in each car. we do this also -- there have been times that it has saved us much time and aggravation to have a phone book in the car! It stows under the seat easily! This is a great idea. |
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Post by AnnieOkie on Aug 21, 2011 14:09:56 GMT -5
I got the recipe project done! I split the recipes into sweet and savory and they all fit into one of the bread boxes. I put in cardboard dividers. There is even room for more recipes!! I did purge some. I can use the second bread box for decorative storage of some sort. I may put it on the bottom shelf of my computer desk to keep small gadgets/cords in. Here's the dumb thing.....the empty shoe boxes are still sitting there....one of them is a little boys shoe box from when one of the boys was little. I don't want to throw it out! The other is a hinged Converse box that just seems too good to toss.   I am going to carry them home and put them with the other empty boxes I have and if I don't find a use for them, I'll toss them. Cardboard boxes. Wow. |
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Post by hangers on Aug 21, 2011 15:06:40 GMT -5
I have a hard time parting with shoe boxes too. I remember how much I treasured them when I was a kid. We didn't have all those plastic boxes in every size to keep stuff in. And kids all had to have boxes for their crayons, treasures, rock collections... I was much more organized when I was a kid. I guess my collections just got too big for shoe boxes now.
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Post by MissABCD on Aug 21, 2011 17:56:54 GMT -5
When I was little (I am ancient now), our mother saved us empty kitchen match boxes (the kind that the lid slides on and off) for our crayons. Maybe they don't evenmake them any more--I have no idea. The crayon box didn't seem to make it very long. It was easy to replace the match boxes as the year went along. Oh, please know that our parents did NOT smoke. The matches were used to light the fires--heating stove, etc. MissABCD
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