Fall Cleaning

No, not spring cleaning -- fall cleaning. Just as with making resolutions, I don't go in for the usual timetable (Feb-Mar for me, not Jan), though I've been told many people find fall a more refreshing time of year than spring.

This year's summer was not really too hot (hooray!) so there hasn't been a real change in temperatures to signal fall, but the cool weather (highs in the 60s) makes me happy (weatherwise, anyway) nonetheless. In other areas, I am kind of miserable, but those things (like climate change) are long term issues that I'm not really going to get into here at the moment.

All of that emotional turmoil and frustration, however, results in 2 things: insomnia (I've been awake for about an hour already -- and waking up when it's pitch dark, is depressing) and cleaning. Okay, maybe three things: insomnia, cleaning, and depression (insomnia --> fatigue --> depression; possibly also a combination of radiation --> fatigue --> depression).

Helpfully, The Container Store is having a fall shelving sale and their flat fee shipping rate in NYC is $25, which is practically the cost of taking a cab from the Chelsea store to my apartment. So I ordered a folding bookcase for the living room and shelves for my closet.

While I know that the first step in tidying things up is THROWING CRAP OUT (see carton above -- I did not photograph the 3 garbage bags of stuff destined for the trash and/or Housing Works) eventually, the remaining things should get tidied away instead of piled up in stacks.

Yes, as my VCR has not been hooked up since TiVo came home to live with me a few years ago, I decided it was time for my non-pre-recorded videotapes to leave home and find somewhere else to reside. My friend Sam also has the same problem (for a different reason -- BlueRay) and wondered aloud if there wasn't some way of recycling them. Well, asking a question like that in front of a librarian...

Voila! I discovered that there is a place which will dispose of small amounts of technotrash for you (businesses with large volumes of technotrash use different services). GreenDisk will take Zip drives (I have some at my mom's which store a whopping 250MB each -- buh-bye!), magnetic media, rechargeable batteries, etc. For $6.95 plus shipping (you can ship USPS media rate if it's all storage media such as VHS tapes) they will take care of it. Relief!

Evidently reading Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? is having an effect. Either that, or you could argue that I started reading it because I was finally ready to start purging more crap. Chicken and egg.

The bookcase is already pretty darn full of cooking-related materials. No wonder the top of that cabinet was overflowing before! The bottom flap (shelf) being up was my fault: I ordered the 3-shelf bookcase model instead of the hutch because I wanted to store some serving plates underneath the bottom shelf. However, the shelves are a bit short in height, so I couldn't fit the 3-ring binder or magazine files in, except if they were on the top. (which I may eventually do, if I reorganize my kitchen cabinets). Visually, I prefer the taller stuff on the bottom, with my bowls on top. (Finally, a place to store my star projects from my ceramics classes!) Plus, I can use the bowls to store potatoes, onions, etc.

The folding iron media center is actually being used in my closet to store linens, backpacks, and luggage. (Yes, I have been doing a lot of measuring lately, prior to ogling things in person and/or online.) I figure I can always move it out into the living room when I am finally ready to upgrade my makeshift media center into a more wall-unit-esque arrangement by buying (inexpensive) additional iron shelving.

Oh hey, my Fresh Direct delivery is here. My insomnia came in handy, since I ordered the early (6:30-8:00) slot, as I am out of coffee. Ah, Manhattan -- the land of almost instant gratification: I ordered the shelving at 1am and it arrived before noon!