Follow
Share
Read More
Find Care & Housing
I am sick of organizing and preparing to place our home on the market! I am totally exhausted. I stayed up way too late and had coffee. Can’t unwind but exhausted!

Our real estate agent has given us homework! She has said that we have to clear out the closets because people like to envision placing their belongings in the space.

I am finding stuff from so long ago that I forgot I even had. Plus, I must be a sentimental fool. LOL 😆, because I have so much stuff packed in boxes from my kids! I can’t believe that I saved all of this! I have from preschool to graduation! I have every certificate, honor roll certificates, awards for this and that, trophies galore, volleyball trophies, swimming awards, dance stuff, gymnastics, art and theater! What do I do with it all? Should I offer it to my girls or pitch it? It’s crazy to keep everything! Oh my gosh, I was crying going down memory lane, thinking about how cute they were! Is anyone else as nutty as I am and saved everything pertaining to their kids?

I am a huge music lover! Okay, my new car doesn’t have a CD player. So, all of my CDs were in my closet, all of the kids Disney movies. I don’t even own a recorder anymore to play the movies on, so why on earth did I keep them?

I like a neat house so it all ended up in my closets! Don’t even get me started in photos!

Once all of the crap goes, I swear I am never going to stash anything in my closet again. I didn’t know where to put it all. It’s now in one of my spare bedrooms! I thought my agent was nuts telling me to get a dumpster and a storage unit. She knows what she was talking about!

Some things I don’t know what to do with. I have my grandmother’s crochet and knitting books. She gave me her sewing machine that she bought from a door to door salesman. I have my great aunt’s tea set that we shared many cups of tea with. Memories! But I can’t keep it all!

Did any of you keep the top of your wedding cake? I chose ‘wedding bells’ because I hated the dorky looking bride and groom toppers! Hahaha

My mind is on overload. It was so much easier to move when I was single, young and broke! LOL I hardly had anything to move. It’s a good thing too, because I could only afford tiny apartments!
(7)
Report

My sis has boxes and boxes of school stuff from her boys, my advice is to keep one or two things from each grade/year and pitch the rest - that should cut it down to a file folder or a small box.
The family heirlooms are hard because they are irreplaceable, my advice there is to USE them someway, I've pulled all the quilts from my cedar chest and have them displayed in my rec room. (Nobody sees them but me but at least they aren't hidden away!)
I've got the top of my parent's wedding cake, the traditional bride and groom (I may still have sis's too). It was always on display in their china cupboard and I just couldn't toss it when I was clearing out the house.
(5)
Report

cwille,

I like your suggestions. It’s so time consuming to do this. Grrrrrr.

I love your file idea. I was afraid that someone would say to scrapbook. I never jumped on the scrapbooking train! A file doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. plus it doesn’t require a ton of effort and is space saying as well.

Thanks! So, I will have to learn to condense what I have but I know that I will be glad that I did.
(0)
Report

No offense to anyone who likes to scrapbook but that sounds like the most boring thing in the world. (to me) But to each his/her own.
(3)
Report

Need I have a box with some of DDs baby things,, I pared it down to one box. There are also my deceased Brothers baby shoes and some baby clothes. It is hard to give it all up. It is mostly blankets that people knitted for her, And as I will likely not have grands,,
(1)
Report

Pam,

One box, wow! I am impressed! I envy you.

I don’t have grandchildren either. I know what you mean by the beautiful knitted and crochet items. I have those too.
(1)
Report

My husband's Mother pared down his baby things she had kept.
Then mailed it to him, Lol.
Kinda smelly.
(3)
Report

OK I did it,, after procrastinating alot. wed I go to the lawyer and get the wills updated and the POA done. Luckily they don;t need DH until paper signing time, and it will be straightforward. mine is his, his is mine and ours is DDs. And I have an apt the same day with the money man to make sure all my accounts have updated beneficiaryies and such, and he is going to clean up the last stock account I can't get anyone to talk to me about... Heck I don;t even know what it is worth but I now have 2 checks I can;t cash.. LOL Didn;t know she had this one,, or my name would have been on it. Wish us /me luck!
(4)
Report

There is no room whatsoever to save anything.
The past year I was stockpiling emergency food supplies, and it has upset my household organization.
I may have to donate the food to get a place to sit in the livingroom.

I regret listening to the "preppers" because now we will need to eat the food in cans when it is not an emergency, but can give some to the neighbors. I was even conservative compared to others. We did keep enough water on hand at all times. Except, only 30 gallons instead of 60 gallons as recomended.

We may starve if ever there is an emergency because we won't be able to find the food. One prepper pointed this out, and had to go back to buy what his family eats and likes. And, it is expensive to build suitable storage for these tubs of food. The food banks are going to be happy to receive unexpired foods.

My bad, my mistake. There is just no room.
(3)
Report

Yes, get it to the food bank before it expires or they won't take it!

Prepping by buying tonnes of crap I wouldn't eat otherwise never made any sense to me but I've always bought in larger quantities than I need when there is a good sale on, that's just part of my thrifty heritage. And of course the thrifty shopper needs to organize and follow the principles of F.I.F.O. or you end up with a lot of expired food in the back of the cupboard - I'm not too picky about expiration dates on some items though, some stuff can last almost forever.
(2)
Report

Thanks CWillie!
My dH is right on top of FIFO.
Except when he isn't.
We even made a list with expiration dates. Yay!

We have 395 sq. ft. of living space, and food must be stored in-house so it is cool enough. Doubt if we have more than the avg. household, but we are just not average. Tiny house here.

Wishing I was as frugal and thrifty as others, but I have always strived for that.
Eating well, what I enjoy does take priority for me. I hate wasting food. In an emergency, I will eat canned salmon (lasts years!), corned beef (ok growing up as corned beef hash, father was on a farm with 12 siblings). And then, there are beans, no comment.
(3)
Report

Send,

I used to buy extra food to have on hand. Then I would totally forget about it and it would expire! I hate wasting food. So now I only buy what I need.

Of course, prepping is different. Mormons prep too. My neighbors as a kid always kept a year’s supply of food. It was part of their faith.

They sell specific foods for prepping. It lasts forever!
(1)
Report

For no reason that I can see I had a Loverboy song running through my head so I headed off to YouTube and queued up some of their songs. Those classic 80's videos were almost too embarrassing to watch, WHAT were we thinking 🤦
(3)
Report

cwillie, I always thought Loverboy was the worst. Mike Reno with his stupid headband. LOL

Yes, what were we thinking indeed.
(3)
Report

We were thinking: "Girls just want to have fun".
(2)
Report

Cwille and Gershun.

In regards to music, our Jazz fest line up is fantastic as usual! We really do have a top notch, world class festival here in New Orleans. It seems strange that it will be held this fall. It’s always been held in the Spring. Of course, it was canceled in the spring due to Covid but has been scheduled to occur in the fall. Lots of our usual local musicians will play along with national acts. I am excited!

I was at the very first Jazz fest at the Fairgrounds. It was a high school field trip. Tickets were only $5.00! Some people feel tickets are high now but I feel it’s a good value for a full day of extraordinary music, food and art vendors.

I am thrilled that our city is slowly opening back up again. We rely on tourism. It’s beginning to feel like home again here in New Orleans.

One of my favorite festivals here is Greek fest. I adore Greek food. The festival has authentic Greek food and music! It’s fun being Greek for a weekend!
(2)
Report

I go on a deep dive into music videos from the 80s on YouTube sometimes. I think they're great, in general -- over-earnest in spots, comically ridiculous in other spots. I was watching some Kansas videos recently. I like the tunes, but why are they dressed in gowns and have these serious-actor looks on their faces..? And there is no evidence of hair cream or beard oil anywhere, just fluffy & free hair everywhere. lol 80s music videos are a fun guilty pleasure for me.
(1)
Report

Ali, Daughter 2 and I watched Wham!'s "wake me up before you go (go)" - great fun, most enjoyable, we were both bopping along - then she said thoughtfully: "how did you people not know George Michael was gay?"

I think we did, actually. Just weren't particularly bothered one way or the other, and he hadn't come out at the time.
(3)
Report

I was seriously naive when it came to gay entertainers, it just never even occurred to me.
(2)
Report

I'm popping back in to add a thought -
In the the 70's there were some wildly costumed bands (Kiss lol) and in the 80's the androgynous look for men was in, all that permed hair and impeccable grooming - you can't blame us for missing the nuances. What I've never understood is all those women fawning over Liberace!
(2)
Report

I am on vacay for 10 days... and I have gotten some stuff done. The local Tip / Spay/ neuter clinic got 9 of our 21 ferals!! Back home now and slowly coming out to eat ( they said its normal for ALL the cats to hide for awhile after trapping) They are coming back at the end of the month and try to get some more.. fingers crossed! On Fri we pick up our updated wills and health and regular POAs.. ( thank you all for keeping me on my toes about this) I also got the paperwork for opening a estate account for the one dang thing my name wasn;t on,, makes me angry I have to spend money to get what's mine ( only child) but lawyer said this is the easiest way,, and I just want this all over and done. So dropping that off Fri as well, but at least then I can deposit some checks that have come in Moms name, and get the account transfered. Had a nice 4 day trip to the river house, and today got a pedi and waxed,, ( no need for stash and beard on my 63rd birthday) as DD got me a gift cert! Now a few more days to relax for the most part!!
(6)
Report

Happy Birthday Pammzi 🎂
You really did get things done!
Congrats about the cats, way to go!
(2)
Report

🎂 Happy Birthday, Pam

I just saw something cute about a woman and her cats. Her cat stole items from the neighbors. LOL She decided of hang all of the things that her cat stole from clips, strung on a clothesline, so her neighbors could claim them. She put a sign next to it saying that her cat was a thief!

My brother once had a dog that stole from his neighbors. He would bring home mops and brooms. One time he brought home a baby blanket. My brother said that the young mother was not happy with his dog!
(3)
Report

Happy Birthday Pam!💗
(2)
Report

I finally got my haircut✂️ , it looked like a small animal had died under my chair 🤣
(7)
Report

cwille, Yay!
(1)
Report

Cwillie,, it must be the day for hair! Hubs got his cut, and I had an appointment to get mine dealt with. The past few monthsit is so dry and getting thinner.. I was ready to get a really short cut and just start over. I use good shampoo and conditioner, and its still a mess,, I hate to comb it! I have been taking protien powder and it helps with new growth, but still awful!( although my nails are now rock hard!) She trimmed it good, so now its about at my shoulders, and my curls have come back.. but it is so full of "product" it will need washed tomorrow! She told me to start using some oil on it daily,, and if it dosent help come back in few weeks and she will give me a messy youngish pixie( I am not ready for "old lady cuts" yet) I hope this works,, I have always had longish soft hair since my toddler days ( when I had a pixie and I am still traumatized..) so this is new for me!
(1)
Report

Hair......speaking of. I have really fine hair so I'm limited in what I can do. I hate that overstyled, over sprayed look so I'm stuck with it.

I have an angled Bob that looks great right after I blow dry it. Then I move and it goes everywhere. 👱‍♀️
(3)
Report

Pam,

Does it count that I need to schedule an appointment with my stylist? LOL

My husband is a perfectionist when it comes to his hair! He NEVER looks like he needs a haircut. Me, on the other hand, oh gosh, I usually wait until I can’t stand it anymore! Not always, but sometimes my hairstylist says, “Boy, you REALLY need a haircut! I think that they should send out reminders!

Don’t you hate that men can get their haircut so much cheaper? I wear a short pixie. My husband has short hair. What’s the difference? LOL

Plus, I throw in a big tip! Always have and always will tip fairly. I can’t stand when people don’t tip. I stopped eating out with certain people because they are CHEAP! I end up tipping their share because first of all, it’s embarrassing. Secondly, it’s not fair to the server. Their tips are their livelihood.
(1)
Report

NHWM,, it counts!! I am also a last minute caller.. it looks good for days and then it dosent! And I call and want seen fast!! Yes,,hubs paid $20 for his,, mine was $40 and that was cheap for me! I am also a big tipper,, DD was a waitress for her high school years and I know that was her real paycheck. Plus the big tip means I normally get in faster next time!
(3)
Report

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter