Jolt Country

I just finished reading Clutter Free by Kathi Lipp. In the book, Lipp makes a "2,000 Things" challenge to her readers. There aren't a lot of rules, actually. Lipp says every day she finds 5 or 6 things to throw away, donate or sell. 5.5 things a day comes out to 2,000 a year. Her rules are pretty simple: things that go together (like a jigsaw puzzle or a pair of shoes) count as one thing.

It's the middle of August so I doubt I'll be able to hit 2,000 things by the end of the year, but I'm upping the ante a bit by not stopping at 5.5 things a day. I think today I got 9 or 10 things in the ol' "donate" box.

Lipp's advice for getting rid of clutter revolves around picking up items and asking yourself the following three questions:

– Do you love it?
– Do you use it?
– Would you buy it again?

Based on those questions, my hard copy of "Muppet Babies Head to Toe" and several other things didn't make the cut.

For the record I'm taking pictures of everything I'm dumping along with tracking them via Google Docs. Expect a riveting followup on 12/31!

Today I threw away everybody who didn't reply to this, so enjoy your trip to the garbage dump you pukes.

You're still under 5 or 6 things.

Yesterday I discovered I had 3 USB iOmega Zip Drives. 3! Who needs 3 of those things! (Who needs ONE of those things?) I tossed them in the trash and the decided to check eBay juuuuust in case.

USB Zip Drives are selling like hot cakes for $30-$50. I put one of them up for $30 BIN and it sold in 4 hours. I'm putting the other two up tonight for $40! Hoo hah!

Flack wrote:$40! Hoo hah!

Giiiirl, you need ta charge more that that, honey. Get some respeck fo' yo'self!

My zip drive brings all the boys with milkshakes to the milkshake place where we uh... something?

Flack wrote:It's the middle of August so I doubt I'll be able to hit 2,000 things by the end of the year, but I'm upping the ante a bit by not stopping at 5.5 things a day. I think today I got 9 or 10 things in the ol' "donate" box.

Just use "least dump averaging." If you average 5 a day, that's hundreds. It's like "least cost averaging" where you buy a stock on a regular basis, you can buy more when its cheap and less when it's dear, and average it. So dump more when its easy and less when its hard.

#1. Do you love it / #2. Do you use it? / #3 Would you buy it again?

Let's forget #1. I hate all the prescriptions I have to take to keep me from going out and committing more sociopathic antisocial acts, but I prefer to stay out of prison so I do use them. Does not mean I love having them or even like them.

You may not love you hammer, mop or vacuum cleaner, but you use them and would probably replace them if they broke.

You can also ask the question whether it might be worth it to just buy it again vs. the effort and trouble of keeping it around when you don't use it very often. If you have a $7 item you only need twice a year and it is difficult or dangerous to have around, and when you don't have it you can wait to go get it, in some cases it might be worth it to buy it, throw it away, then buy it again when you need it as opposed to acquiring more clutter.

Items only have to pass one of the three questions (#1. Do you love it / #2. Do you use it? / #3 Would you buy it again?), not all three, to pass the "keep" test. Obviously very few of us love medication or hammers but it makes sense to keep them.

Flack wrote:Items only have to pass one of the three questions (#1. Do you love it / #2. Do you use it? / #3 Would you buy it again?), not all three, to pass the "keep" test. Obviously very few of us love medication or hammers but it makes sense to keep them.

I kinda think you're a bit confusing, 'cause you said,

Lipp's advice for getting rid of clutter revolves around picking up items and asking yourself the following three questions... Based on those questions

Which seems to imply you would use all three as the qualification for stuff to keep. Had you said "based on any one of these questions" it would have been clearer.

Further, since you are trying to dispose of items it would seem more natural to want to be as exclusive as possible by only keeping items that meet all three conditions in order to get rid of as many (unnecessary or easily/cheaply replaced) things as possible.

You also missed "4. required for legal or regulatory compliance," or why I don't dig up the dead bodies I bury because I don't want the authorities to notice. In the same way you need to keep checks, contracts and receipts for tax deductible items when you own a house with a mortgage in case you are questioned by the IRS or State tax people, sometimes for the entire 15 or 30 year life of the loan ore until you sell your house, whichever comes first. Or until the stature of limitations for an audit or examination of a tax return for other items, 3 years.

Man, there was a tiny, fleeting moment there where I wasn't 100% sure you were Paul.

But then...

Donald Ebinsen wrote:You also missed "4. required for legal or regulatory compliance," or why I don't dig up the dead bodies I bury because I don't want the authorities to notice. In the same way you need to keep checks, contracts and receipts for tax deductible items when you own a house with a mortgage in case you are questioned by the IRS or State tax people, sometimes for the entire 15 or 30 year life of the loan ore until you sell your house, whichever comes first. Or until the stature of limitations for an audit or examination of a tax return for other items, 3 years.

I don't think it's Paul Tdarcos.

Donald Ebinsen wrote:

Flack wrote:Items only have to pass one of the three questions (#1. Do you love it / #2. Do you use it? / #3 Would you buy it again?), not all three, to pass the "keep" test. Obviously very few of us love medication or hammers but it makes sense to keep them.

I kinda think you're a bit confusing, 'cause you said,

Lipp's advice for getting rid of clutter revolves around picking up items and asking yourself the following three questions... Based on those questions

Which seems to imply you would use all three as the qualification for stuff to keep. Had you said "based on any one of these questions" it would have been clearer.

Further, since you are trying to dispose of items it would seem more natural to want to be as exclusive as possible by only keeping items that meet all three conditions in order to get rid of as many (unnecessary or easily/cheaply replaced) things as possible.

You also missed "4. required for legal or regulatory compliance," or why I don't dig up the dead bodies I bury because I don't want the authorities to notice. In the same way you need to keep checks, contracts and receipts for tax deductible items when you own a house with a mortgage in case you are questioned by the IRS or State tax people, sometimes for the entire 15 or 30 year life of the loan ore until you sell your house, whichever comes first. Or until the stature of limitations for an audit or examination of a tax return for other items, 3 years.

If you want it more clear read the book you retard.