fighting clutterLast week I mentioned picking up odd jobs for money, so it’s not really surprising that I’m currently working on one right now. It’s a cleaning job, but more of a purging than a housekeeping type of cleaning. Though far from my best cleaning job, while cleaning out an old school that was being renovated into a shelter we threw bricks at t.v.s and smashed school desks with sledge hammers under the thinly veiled excuse that tiny pieces fit into a dumpster better than whole pieces of accumulated garbage, it still fits my criteria of music-full and stress-free.

Instead, this cleaning job involves bruised knees and a lot of dust from moving through a crawl-space, going through boxes that haven’t been opened in years, which isn’t nearly as fun. But just like the school, which had undergone multiple renovations during which they were told to save everything, much of the stuff that wound up in this basement was stuff that no one wanted to throw out. And after years of going unused though, much of it was just taking up space.

The first thing I went through was a collection of books. There were bags stashed everywhere filled with stacked books all in next-to-new condition, many of them obviously having only been read once and it’s very likely that had they continued to sit in the basement they would never be read again. Discovering these books made me think of a post from Get Rich Slowly, which quoted a forum post on answers.yahoo.com. Selekta writes:

 

“book rental service?
was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like’¦video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person had read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc “

The book collection of neglected books had probably cost several hundred dollars to purchase, an expense that could have been avoided by stopping by the local library. Local taxes already go towards libraries and if you’re already paying for a resource, it’s definitely a good idea to take advantage of it. Somehow though, local libraries seem to get neglected. I biked past mine every day without even thinking about checking out books until I read J.D’s post.

Now I head over on my lunch break to see what I can find. It was a fantastic place to rediscover because, as a book lover, libraries have the sacrosanct atmosphere of a bookstore without the subsequent guilt that results from purchasing a book that I’ll only read once. Now I’m only buying books I know I’ll read multiple times, or books that I reference frequently. Hopefully this will also cut down on the piles of books I manage to accumulate. Not only that, but even the smallest of libraries (mine’s about the size of a large office) frequently have DVD’s, making it cheaper (read FREE) than Netflix or similar services. It’s also worth checking to see if they have any sort of loan program or partnership with other, bigger libraries in the area.

After tackling the book section, there was a lot of miscellaneous junk to go through. Everything from old yogurt makers to ancient metal toy trucks. Fivecentnickel points out that an item’s true cost is the amount you paid for it divided by the number of uses it gets, which I think is a great way for determining the validity of a purchase. Much of the stuff had been infrequently used, and then relegated to the basement to gather dust. Some things, like furniture and carpets, were worth saving, but the rest just lurked oppressively in the dark, the way clutter so often does. Like the old school, there was no filter for what was saved and what wasn’t. (Unlike the school, the collection didn’t include things like a room full of broken toilets, making it not quite as bad.) Unless there is something that will be of definite future use or as strong sentimental value (baby clothes, in this case) much of the stuff can be gotten rid of.

Of course you don’t always know right away what to keep and what to trash, but often anything that goes untouched for significant periods of time, excepting the previously mentioned categories, can probably go. There are the obvious places, like ebay or a garage sale because the clutter becomes “found money,” or if you just want it go, freecycle, reuseit or craigslist, which Dawn C posted on here. Organizations that take donations are also a good place to consider. Some of the stuff that’s not worth the hassle of selling online will go to Purple Heart.

For me this section of the basement also served as a big reminder to think beyond initial desire for purchases. When I first started working at thirteen, I was so enamored with my new income that I frequently fell victim to impulse purchases based on pure want. These purchases sat around neglected or were used for a brief period of time until they broke. Now, rather than relishing the momentary pleasure that small purchases afford anticipating the buyer’s remorse or the potential increase in clutter allows me to try and determine the true cost of an item and whether it’s actually worth it. Using borrowing services, like libraries, and buying things that can be used multiple times, or repurposed, you can save money and cut down on clutter. Though that would probably put me out of a job.