Thursday, August 27, 2009

Today I bought some Banker's Boxes (at OfficeMax). I have alot of them already. The ones I HAD are in use. The ones I bought are for a specific purpose. I am using them to place items of like categories into one place. The items I am putting into the new boxes are items that were either laying around in a pile somewhere or they were in an odd container of some sort.

I emptied a laundry basket that was full of (probably outdated) computer software. I threw out some that I KNEW were too old. The rest I put into a new Banker's Box and labled it "computer software."

This is not a permanent home for the computer software. It's a temporary/ holding cell (ha ha) for the software. As I purge through the house (and especially in the office) I expect to find more pieces of the software [CD's and user manuals, etc]. I will have one of my kids (who are much more computer savvy than I am) go through this box and determine what is usable and what is antiquated.

I also transferred cassette tapes to a new Banker's Box. Cassettes seem to multiply as they lay scattered around our house. When we are looking for a certain one its usually not in its case.
The box marked "Cassettes" has some cassettes without cases and many cassette cases without cassettes. I would imagine when we get to this box, we will discover that some of the cases hold the wrong tapes, too.

I had ribbon and bows on a narrow rolling cart (the kind made to fit between your washer and dryer). I found this cart at a thrift store or a yard sale and didn't even stop to contemplate whether or not it would fit between MY washer and dryer. It didn't! So I employed it for various other uses. None of them worked well. This cart tips over very easily when it is wheeled about. I think it was designed to go in a straight line (forward and backward) in and out of the crack between the washer and dryer. It wasn't intended to move in any other direction ... carts on wheels in our house get moved in every imaginable direction. This narrow cart fell over countless times. It frustrated us, it angered us ... but I kept it. I would come up with another plan for it's use. And that's how it came to be the cart that held ribbons and bows and assorted gift wrapping tools. It still fell over, but I was the only one who used it now so I was the only one who was frustrated (and I didn't use it on a daily basis) ... but I digress ... The ribbons, bows and gift tags are now in a Banker's Box. I see that this evening, this cart has some of my husband's toolish things on it. I'll just wheel it over to "his" area and that will be that. Once it falls over with HIS things on it, I think it will be gone. He won't put up with it.

I had a large black trash bag that I was using to put things in that I was going to donate. It was not quite full, but I was tired of it being in the way. I went around the house and looked for things that I could live without. I put in a Coca-Cola cap I had (that I never liked to wear, it didn't fit my head right) but I kept because I used to really enjoy drinking Coke. And a Christmas gift that I never sent (it was still wrapped and every time I saw it, it made me feel bad). I unwrapped it and put it in the bag. A play telephone (for infants) that was too young for any of my grandkids now. There might have been one or two more things, but I don't remember what they were. Hmmm, I must not have cared (yea!)

One more box that I started to fill today is the "Correspondence" box. It has card making supplies, stationary, card envelopes, Christmas design address labels and cheery stickers in it so far. I may put my Christmas card supplies in it also. And I have a box that has dividers in it to store greeting cards by category (birthdays, get well soon, etc ...) I don't know if I'll put them in this Banker's Box or not. The little box that the greeting cards are in is already too full. That's because I buy cards, then lose them and buy more cards. Then I I find cards and I seem to acquire cards from other places (that I don't remember buying ... odd type cards) ...
I buy cards for a certain person (and if I buy several at once) I tend to forget who I bought which card for. I must remember to put a sticky note on the envelope right away! (I'm not talking about Birthday cards) cards like "Thinking of You" or "Encourgement" or "Praying for You" type cards. I also buy sympathy cards but don't send them right away and then wonder if it's too late to send them, still don't send them, have another occasion to send a sympathy card, but don't send the sympathy card to the second person because I remember that I bought it for the first person and never sent it to them!

I have some graduation cards that are addressed and have a stamp on the envelope. I didn't send them right away and now they're YEARS late. Need to throw these away ... I think ... or should I still send them? I can't reuse them, and I did mean everything I wrote inside them. I have the same sentiments one or three years later ... what do you think? If there was a check inside, I bet the recipient wouldn't care how late they were!