I have to say that part of my issues have been that, as a theatre person who does costumes and occasionally props, I often need or want things that I throw out later. Last year I needed some old dance costumes from high school, and I was just kicking myself for getting rid of them!

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Can you donate those things to the theater for use later? Do they have space for storage of materials like that?

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Weird question tommy, but what did the professional thrower outer do? Because I think I may need one myself, but I has issues with throwing stuff out.

They specialize in both extreme cases of "clutter" and in nasty cleanups (like, when you find a dead body in an apartment that's been sitting there for a week). Because I had bugs, I had to pay them more than for a "basic" cleaning, but less than a "dead body lying around for a while" cleaning.

I gave them a list of stuff to save and of stuff to throw out. We agreed that they'd get rid of about half my stuff. Then they came in for three days while I was at work and threw stuff out and cleaned everything. Stuff that wasn't on either list they used their judgment on.

I was pretty happy with their work, and pissed at my landlord for saying, "It's too late - you should have done this before."

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One of my shames though, is a stack of VHS tapes that I still have. I have no VCR, I have no intention of getting a VCR. There is stuff on there I recorded and never watched and for some reason feel compelled to keep. This weekend I shall purge them once and for all.

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One of my shames though, is a stack of VHS tapes that I still have. I have no VCR, I have no intention of getting a VCR. There is stuff on there I recorded and never watched and for some reason feel compelled to keep. This weekend I shall purge them once and for all.

I had them get rid of all my non-pre-recorded VHS tapes. I have no VCR, and still had bootleg tapes of Buffy seasons one and two that I got on eBay before they came out with the DVDs. (I have fond memories of sitting around with my broken ankle watching those tapes... but no need to keep them.)

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I totally trashed all my vhs tapes. I took the vcr to goodwill because, really, I didn't use it anymore, I barely've used the dvd player maybe 5 times ever and...yeah. Buh-bye.

Had I not been moving they would have sat there, because they were put away.

Cleaning up the mess I made. Not the end of the world, but damn, that was stupid.

tommy, it occurs to me that unless your landlord can document that they had some sort of deadline that they explicitly gave you, they don't have a leg. You've got documentation in the form of a receipt.

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Can you donate those things to the theater for use later? Do they have space for storage of materials like that?

I have been doing that more lately-- of course it leads to fear that when I quit, I won't have access anymore to do other shows, but ah well!

They specialize in both extreme cases of "clutter" and in nasty cleanups (like, when you find a dead body in an apartment that's been sitting there for a week). Because I had bugs, I had to pay them more than for a "basic" cleaning, but less than a "dead body lying around for a while" cleaning.

This is actually what I probably need, but I sort of also feel that if I don't do it myself, then it would just go back to the way it is now because I didn't actually deal with why everything is so cluttered/messy.

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pissed at my landlord for saying, "It's too late - you should have done this before."

tommy, it occurs to me that unless your landlord can document that they had some sort of deadline that they explicitly gave you, they don't have a leg. You've got documentation in the form of a receipt.

Yes, this. Also, "before" *what,* exactly? Before the bedbugs? Well, how could you know you'd get bedbugs -- you asssumed that your landlord would maintain a bug-free building.

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if I don't do it myself, then it would just go back to the way it is now because I didn't actually deal with why everything is so cluttered/messy.

Quoting the cleanup people's manager: "And then you call us again!"

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Sophia - do you have anytime this weekend? If the task is too daunting and overwhelming you will probably never start, so do not look at your whole apartment as the task, look at a few drawers in your kitchen, or one piece of furniture that stores things, or the cluttered top of one thing. Take a couple of boxes or a shopping bags - one for trash, one for donate. do the area you have selected in stages - 1 drawer at a time, one cabinet door, one shelf. If there are things that you are keeping because they stir memories, consider taking a digital picture of them and getting a digital frame, rather than keeping all of the items or papers (I had a bag full of things from magazines back to highschoola nd college like this and just finally tossed them out this past year).

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