I've become really ruthless about getting rid of stuff. Some of it's because we lost things, like when the storage unit didn't get paid, which is not a fun way to do it. Books are still my biggest hurdle.

I WISH MY HUSBAND WOULD AGREE TO THROWING OUT SOME OF HIS ENDLESS CAR-RELATED CRAP.

If you delete "car-related," this is me. Last weekend when we built a snowman, we wanted to make eyes out of glow bracelets, and Tim produced 2 of those plastic things that look like tiny tables that pizza places put on top of the pizza to keep the box lid from sticking to the cheese. The idea being he would wrap the glow bracelets around the pizza things and then stick the legs of them into the snowman's head.

He was so proud that he had kept those things. SO PROUD. Because they were meant for this moment, for this snowman.

I may have injured myself because I was facepalming so hard.

Books are still my biggest hurdle.

Books have been much easier for me since my good friend started teaching high school English here. Being able to donate to her classroom library, and hearing about which books the kids enjoy, gives me so much pleasure!

My hurdle is that I can determine what I want to do with something, but I lack the helpful gremlins who will then take said stuff to the thrift store or the recycling place.

I'm waffling between taking readable books to the thrift store or to the used book store. I'll get credit, but I'm not sure there are books I want in dead tree vs. ebook. I think I'll do thrift store, at least someone I like will make money.

The books are the major component by weight, volume or any other measure. One problem is that in order to see any difference, I'd have to get rid of a bookshelf full of books, which is a lot of books. Also, most of the time I feel like crap.

I may have injured myself because I was facepalming so hard.

The bane of the near-hoarder husband--he eventually finds a use for something useless and is vindicated.

The bane of the near-hoarder husband--he eventually finds a use for something useless and is vindicated.

I can think of 2 things in the past 5-6 years: the pizza things for a snowman (so, not a huge important need there), and wheels from rollerblades to make a chicken ladder for the roof (which he really did need).

But still, that makes ONE hoarded item useful in the last 5-6 years. It would have been worth buying rollerblades at the thrift store.

And don't EVEN get me started about all the fucking empty boxes he's saved from all of his eBay purchases. Because he's going to eBay stuff, you see, and then he'll have boxes to mail things out in. Mother of god, his office really is like something you would see on Hoarders, and I am not exaggerating. The rest of the house is cluttered because we don't have enough storage space, but we're not close to scary Hoarders-level...except the office. It is appalling.

A chicken ladder?

I feel like I am constantly or near constantly drowning in paper. Between work and home. It's overwhelming.

You know, after I typed it, I googled it to see if it was a term Tim made up. [link] It's also called a roof ladder; it's a specialty ladder with wheels that's angled to lay across a roof and hook over the peak so that a roofer can use the ladder on a steep roof. (The wheels just make it easy to push the ladder up the roof; without wheels, the ladder could rip shingles off.)

t edit But the one he made doesn't look like this one; it's wooden, and uses the aforementioned rollerblade wheels, but it worked great. (I disremember why he needed to get up on the roof, but the pitch is steep and a chicken ladder makes it safer to keep your footing.)