Because I plan to move out of the house for renovations I’ve been cleaning up and offering friends my stuff.
It seemed far easier to just give away my crap rather than move it into storage only to move it back into the house. I offered my things to Jimbo who said he’s still trying to get rid of his stuff and so he didn’t want any of my stuff. I got a similar message from a lot of friends. So far I’ve only been able to give away my electronics and a big maybe on the furniture. One big piece of furniture I can’t give away because it is such a large piece of pressboard crap. The drawers on it are, how shall I say, wookey. They don’t slide right because the cheap plastic broke and I quickly fixed them with scrap bamboo. But it has a nice big mirror and the side cabinets are good. So if you can get it out of my house (takes 2 big guys and a pickup truck or old style station wagon) email me and you can have it for free.
Today, I decided cleaning out my file cabinet would be a good idea. One of the many files I’ve tossed was information I’ve picked up over the years about the neighborhood. I did keep the Shaw East Survey, only because I know I’ve printed the thing out a couple of times before, and every time I do, a tree dies. There were a ton of Wash Post articles about the neighborhood and all sorts of projects and plans that did/ did not/ has yet to come, tossed. Thankfully, I have access to ProQuest, so I don’t have to keep these acidic* papers around. The fliers for programs passed out at BACA and other community meetings also found themselves in the recycle bin. They did take me down memory lane. Some problems just don’t seem to go away, some programs lose steam, and occasionally progress is made.
*Newspaper paper is crap conservation-wise. It requires too much effort & $$ to preserve in its original form so it is better to reformat it as an electronic file, microform image or a decent photocopy.