CS #552 - Clutter

[Gordo]

Welcome Ladies and Gents to CS# 552! Theme for this week is "clutter". An issue many of us deal with due to various reasons either at home or at work, or other people's clutter we run across as we go about our lives. Clutter can be neat and organized, or simply a mess.

For myself, I'm in the process of clearing out the family home. Mom and Dad's life-long collection of things, most of my household goods, and some remaining household items from siblings - a huge amount of stuff in a small-ish 3br house. Additionally, as I'm attempting to move once the house sells, I'm in the process of minimizing as much of my belongings as possible. From this point forward in my life, I'll be needing to live in a smaller, more frugal space, with much less "stuff" - not quite a minimalist lifestyle, but close. I have too much right now, and it owns me. Limits my ability to be mobile, costs a lot of money to have it moved, requires space to store, collects dust and has to be constantly cleaned, makes it difficult to find a lesser-used item when I need it... time for most of my "stuff" to go.

Neat and organized camera clutter...
View attachment 1579442

Not quite as neat general clutter...
View attachment 1579443

And some "used to be clutter" (room was filled to the door on the other wall )...
View attachment 1579446

This CS is open from the 8th through midnight on the 14th, your local time. Standard CS rules apply:

Show images shot during the CS.
Post as often as you like, but try to keep it to three images or less per post.
Keep the image sizes down to 1024 or so on the long side.
Keep it family friendly.
Have fun.

 

[NEF Said]

Easy theme for me Gordon! Nice examples too!

 

[Gordo]

Thanks Paul. I hesitated a bit about using this for a theme, but it has the potential for some interesting imagery IMHO.

 

[Bob Coutant]

HAH! I don't know where to start! Clutter everywhere, including outdoors.

 

[Gordo]

HAH! I don't know where to start! Clutter everywhere, including outdoors.

 

[Gordo]

Thursday's clutter - stacks of bricks and pavers and landscape stones and cinder blocks left over from various projects over the last few decades.

View attachment 1579485

 

[NEF Said]

Thursday's clutter - stacks of bricks and pavers and landscape stones and cinder blocks left over from various projects over the last few decades.

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Looks like a well organized stack of landscaping materials to me! Nice shot!

 

[Harry Lavo]

#552, meet my back two porches!

Paul, like you I made a decision to downsized. I have been divorced for thirty years, and owned my own small home for half that time, then moved into a townhouse apartment with lots of closets, two bedrooms, and a basement. Not to much trouble moving.

At the end of February I moved to a one-bedroom first-floor apartment that better meets my elder needs. But after getting rid of/selling mucho stuff, I still have too much for the new place. Half of what you see here on the porches will be sold, better stored, or otherwise "disappeared".

Here are the "before" shots:

REMAINING DOWNSIZED CLUTTER. VIVA THE BACK PORCHES!

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I dare anyone to say I'm not in the running for the "Most Clutter" award!

 

[Gordo]

#552, meet my back two porches!

Paul, like you I made a decision to downsized. I have been divorced for thirty years, and owned my own small home for half that time, then moved into a townhouse apartment with lots of closets, two bedrooms, and a basement. Not to much trouble moving.

At the end of February I moved to a one-bedroom first-floor apartment that better meets my elder needs. But after getting rid of/selling mucho stuff, I still have too much for the new place. Half of what you see here on the porches will be sold, better stored, or otherwise "disappeared".

Here are the "before" shots:

REMAINING DOWNSIZED CLUTTER. VIVA THE BACK PORCHES! View attachment 3712 View attachment 3713

I dare anyone to say I'm not in the running for the "Most Clutter" award!

Hi Harry! Nice captures!

It's amazing how much "stuff" people collect over the years. My parents were depression-era, so things did not get tossed - if it was possible something could be reused, even years in the future, it was kept. I've lost track of the number of trips to donate bags of clothing and household goods to charity. The recycle bin and trash bin get a good workout each week as well. Some items will need to be sold (or at least a good attempt made). Paperwork and books are the most difficult for me, and make up significant weight when moving.

 

[NEF Said]

#552, meet my back two porches!

Paul, like you I made a decision to downsized. I have been divorced for thirty years, and owned my own small home for half that time, then moved into a townhouse apartment with lots of closets, two bedrooms, and a basement. Not to much trouble moving.

At the end of February I moved to a one-bedroom first-floor apartment that better meets my elder needs. But after getting rid of/selling mucho stuff, I still have too much for the new place. Half of what you see here on the porches will be sold, better stored, or otherwise "disappeared".

Here are the "before" shots:

REMAINING DOWNSIZED CLUTTER. VIVA THE BACK PORCHES! View attachment 3712 View attachment 3713

I dare anyone to say I'm not in the running for the "Most Clutter" award!

That was Gordo downsizing... I'm still in a moderately sized home. I know when we moved to our present house, 17 years ago, it was rough cramming things into a storage unit, while waiting for construction, and then trying to figure out where things would fit in the new house.

We moved my mom a few years ago, and she was amazed at the amount of "stuff" accumulated over the years. We had to throw out and give away a lot of things to get her from a two bedroom home into a single room in our house (with some stuff spread around in other rooms and the basement).

I don't want to think of the work needed to downsize, which we'll need to do at some point, in the next 10 years, as I get closer to retirement.

I hear where you're coming from though...

 

[NEF Said]

For the most part, I'm a pretty organized person, but like I suspect everyone, there are a few places in my home that are cluttered. One is my work area in the study, which I'll tidy up every few days, but in the middle of working, it can get a little cluttered...

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I know what's in every pile, and have my own method of keeping track of what is where and the ordering of things in a pile. It drives me nuts though, if someone "cleans up" the area and moves/rearranges/aggregates the items. My wife "cleaned" the whole desk top, when I was away for a few days at a conference. It took me a while to figure out where things were, and to rebuild my "organized" piles.

 

[NEF Said]

Pandora's Box

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In the basement, I've got some copier paper boxes filled with audio, video, and ethernet cables and connectors. Usually there is a lid on the box, and it is on a shelf, but sometimes they get so full, I can't keep the lid on them and cables hang out all over the place, once the box is opened.

Box-o-Clutter

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I've got a couple of these boxes, where I put parts that are unused, extras, or that have been swapped out but are still useable. This one is mostly door hardware and some appliance parts.

 

[Gordo]

For the most part, I'm a pretty organized person, but like I suspect everyone, there are a few places in my home that are cluttered. One is my work area in the study, which I'll tidy up every few days, but in the middle of working, it can get a little cluttered...

View attachment 1579514
I know what's in every pile, and have my own method of keeping track of what is where and the ordering of things in a pile. It drives me nuts though, if someone "cleans up" the area and moves/rearranges/aggregates the items. My wife "cleaned" the whole desk top, when I was away for a few days at a conference. It took me a while to figure out where things were, and to rebuild my "organized" piles.

Paul - good shot of organized clutter (best kind IMHO). I completely understand about others moving your stuff and losing track of where things are.

My last two moves were short notice, and I never got the chance to properly sort before packing and then things have floated in and out of storage over the last 8 years. So, I have no idea where much is right now. Up side is that if I haven't used something for 8 years, I most likely don't need it, except for important paperwork or sentimental items. Makes it easier to decide what goes into the sell/ donate/ trash piles as I go through boxes.

 

[Gordo]

Pandora's Box
View attachment 1579516
In the basement, I've got some copier paper boxes filled with audio, video, and ethernet cables and connectors. Usually there is a lid on the box, and it is on a shelf, but sometimes they get so full, I can't keep the lid on them and cables hang out all over the place, once the box is opened.

Box-o-Clutter
View attachment 1579517
I've got a couple of these boxes, where I put parts that are unused, extras, or that have been swapped out but are still useable. This one is mostly door hardware and some appliance parts.

Nice. Looks a bit familiar. Except a bit neater than mine.

 

[Harry Lavo]

Hi Harry! Nice captures!

It's amazing how much "stuff" people collect over the years. My parents were depression-era, so things did not get tossed - if it was possible something could be reused, even years in the future, it was kept. I've lost track of the number of trips to donate bags of clothing and household goods to charity. The recycle bin and trash bin get a good workout each week as well. Some items will need to be sold (or at least a good attempt made). Paperwork and books are the most difficult for me, and make up significant weight when moving.

That all sounds too familiar, Gordon. Too familiar!

 

[Harry Lavo]

For the most part, I'm a pretty organized person, but like I suspect everyone, there are a few places in my home that are cluttered. One is my work area in the study, which I'll tidy up every few days, but in the middle of working, it can get a little cluttered...

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I know what's in every pile, and have my own method of keeping track of what is where and the ordering of things in a pile. It drives me nuts though, if someone "cleans up" the area and moves/rearranges/aggregates the items. My wife "cleaned" the whole desk top, when I was away for a few days at a conference. It took me a while to figure out where things were, and to rebuild my "organized" piles.

Absolutely! All those "piles" are really the filing system .... wives just don't understand. When my son died, my ex-wife arrived ostensibly to help console my daughter. But within 24 hours my kitchen and my den were rearranged without my knowledge. I couldn't be furious ... she was trying to help .... but boy did she overstep her bounds.

 

[Harry Lavo]

That box of cables looks very familiar, Paul. But I sure would do well to organize my "miscellaneous" stuff as well as you have.

 

[Gordo]

One of the bedrooms, being used as a catch-all room for family's stuff and a place for my stuff as it comes out of local storage. This room was stacked with boxes between 5 and 6 feet high and filled most of the space between the furniture - had just enough room to open the door. Still working on going through everything in there. Made some progress, but have much more to do.
View attachment 1579560

 

[NEF Said]

Paul - good shot of organized clutter (best kind IMHO). I completely understand about others moving your stuff and losing track of where things are.

My last two moves were short notice, and I never got the chance to properly sort before packing and then things have floated in and out of storage over the last 8 years. So, I have no idea where much is right now. Up side is that if I haven't used something for 8 years, I most likely don't need it, except for important paperwork or sentimental items. Makes it easier to decide what goes into the sell/ donate/ trash piles as I go through boxes.

Thanks! I've been doing that with Winter/Summer clothes. If I'm storing Winter clothes and I realized I haven't wore items the whole Winter, I put them in the pile for Good Will donations.

 

[NEF Said]

Nice. Looks a bit familiar. Except a bit neater than mine.

Yikes! I thought mine was messy.