Where's flea? I just met a Weslie (female). Put that in your name file.

Hmm, it's no SLAYDEN...

My current plan is to head up to Michigan on Wednesday evening and come back Sunday. I will keep checking for last minute deals to Los Angeles over the next couple of days, because Amtrak actually makes it very easy to change train tickets.

Just got a new work computer, yay! Get to spend the next few hours configuring it so I can work with it, yay! Peaceful fiddling with settings, not talking to customers, yay!

-t, glad your dad is doing well.

Suzi, congrats and good luck with the pre-approval! And I hope you feel better quick.

shrift, that sucks, I'm sorry.

So, y'all... I paid off my mortgage today. PAID. OFF. Holy cow, I almost cried when the teller handed me the receipt. When I get the deed in hand, I probably will cry. This was my number-one goal: to have my house paid off before I retire. I'm ahead of schedule by some years, thanks to my family's help.

And now, a meara, starting with meara:

Eh, my home is a bit messy but not too bad (other than my closet). Otoh, I am single with no spouse or kids. It's easier (and I'm gone and don't cook)

I also live alone and don't cook. I think my house objectively is a bit messy, but it feels like a vortex of chaos because it's not well organized. When I can't find x item that I know I own, or I don't know even where to put this Thing, that's distressing.

What's disheartening is that I feel like I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff, and yet it doesn't appear to be making a dent in my current amount of stuff.

Exactly this. I've gotten rid of bags and bags of stuff, and yet there seems to be as much clutter as there was to begin with.

We just cut out our cleaning service for financial reasons, so either we will find a system or our house will slowly disintegrate before our eyes.

Hi, Gris! I cut out the cleaning service over a year ago. I'm no longer sure what color my carpet is supposed to be.

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

I get So Much Joy from having the exact random little thing to make a project work out perfectly! At least this means that he doesn't have to keep those little things anymore, right? Because their moment has come and gone! ...Right, Tim? ...no?

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 need me some helpful gremlins. I'm glad that I seem to have left the unhelpful gremlins behind at the house in Nashville. Man, shit would just disappear in that place.

I think I'll do thrift store, at least someone I like will make money.

I was so happy when I discovered the local SPCA has a thrift store. Giving away my unneeded stuff is much easier when I know the money from the sale of it goes directly to help feed and shelter a cat or a dog.

Magazines - I found that most of the magazines I read are archived online. Smithsonian, NatGeo, New Scientist, SciAm, a subscription buys you all the back issues you want, digitally. That allowed me to get rid of the paper. NatGeos and Smithsonians can usually be donated or Freecycled. Some people are really into collecting NatGeos, man.

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.

I have to make myself not do this! Because I keep saying I'm going to eBay stuff, but I don't do it.. The local Pack-n-Mail will pack your stuff for you, for about $1.50. I decided it was worth the extra change to not have to keep all the damn cardboard boxes.

I feel like I am constantly or near constantly drowning in paper.

I threw it all away. (I realize this may not work for everyone.) I PDF'ed a few things, I kept tax stuff and geneaology stuff in hard copy, and everything else I threw the fuck away. I haven't needed anything that I couldn't find online. It caused me some anxiety, but in the end, it was such a relief.

I still grieve the perfect red wool crew neck sweater that I got rid of

Oh, I had the perfect dark blue sweater and I gave it away! I learned my lesson; if I love it I keep it. Even if it doesn't fit right now.

I thought moving into a larger place would mean less clutter, but the clutter expanded to fill the container.

I really need to find time to go through a bunch of boxes of (continued...)

( continues...) magazines that I haven't looked at in a decade, though.

Throw them out! You haven't looked at them in a decade. All the information in them is either superseded by newer info, or available in an archive somewhere online. Take a deep breath, sneeze from the dust, take another deep breath, and throw them out.

Congrats on paying off the mortgage, Zenkitty!

Congratulations, Zen! That's awesome!

-t, I'm glad your dad is ok.

Congrats, Zenkitty!

Exactly this. I've gotten rid of bags and bags of stuff, and yet there seems to be as much clutter as there was to begin with.

When I decluttered with FlyLady, there was a stage where it felt like the progress just wasn't progressing. The first little baby steps do show up and that feels great, then it's like this bog where everything is going nowhere. But if you keep at it, a little at a time, one day there's this huge leap where the mess just feels so much lighter. That feels terrific. I encourage you all to keep at it until you get there. The clutter did not accumulate overnight, and it won't go away fast either. But it will go away.

Woo hoo, Zen! That's fantastic! I'm so happy for you.

So the toilet is fixed, but I feel a little foolish. It wasn't a big deal--just the supply line. I could have replaced that for $15, but I called the home warranty folks and that's a $75 fee no matter how easy or hard the job is. Next time I'll know better.

I've got this crazy idea to paint the stair rail a high-gloss black. It's stained a color that appears nowhere else in this house, and it's ugly. All of the rest of the trim is high-gloss white, but I think it would look great in black (and show much less dirt than white). Am I nuts?