I can has...?

[ewt]

1) Anyone have any magazine files? I need one or two for my locker at Trinty. Why yes, I could make these myself out of random reclaimed cardboard bits, but actually, I need another project like I need a hole in my head.

2) I have a PLN for the Tidying Up. It involves putting All Things That Currently Have No Place in boxes, which are small enough to move around/mess with/sort in one sitting, so that my environment is far less cluttered and far more conducive to actually putting things away. It would also further facilitate Important Cleaning Tasks, which are getting to the point now where they bother me. It would enable me to do the Big Sort, one box at a time so that it doesn't overwhelm me so much. To do this, though, I'm going to need a lot of boxes. Now, I know I can get some cardboard boxes from some supermarkets sometimes, and I know some places let you buy moving boxes for not too much money, and I know there are always boxes of one sort or another around. Ideally I'd like fairly uniform-sized boxes that are strong enough to be stacked. Suggestions, and donations of boxes, gratefully appreciated. mstevens has said he'll let me borrow some of his, but I fear there may not be enough. I have a lot of crap.

3) I'm going to need a filing cabinet if I want to get the paperwork situation under control. Criteria: 2 or 3 drawers (or possibly 2x 2-drawer), can take foolscap-sized things, NOT stupid stupid suspension files. I HATE suspension files and refuse to have any truck with them. Again, suggestions/donations gratefully received.

4) Further to 2, at some point in the near future I may have a "Please come and help ewt put her crap in boxes" event. I need to get caught up so I can concentrate on learning good life-maintenance skills. Right now I'm trying to learn the life-maintenance skills AND catch-up from a badly-managed life at the same time, and it isn't working very well.

5) Also further to 2) I'm thinking about getting a one of these. I don't really have the money though (oh, I can buy the bag, it's the collection that stings). Perhaps this should go on the birthday wishlist. The council will come and collect crap for free but only twice a year and mstevens used up one of these already in getting rid of one (1) suitcase, and the vast majority of the crap I want to get rid of is small enough that it's not quite going to work to just leave it in a pile but large enough that it won't fit in our bin and the bin men just ignore it.

6) Tower Hamlets won't provide us with a wheely bin. Our existing bin is falling apart. This is rubbish. We had a galvanised metal bin for a while but it got nicked. This is also rubbish. I would like a big blue wheely bin. I am unsure whether this should be provided by the landlady. I think that it may just make 5) unnecessary, though, especially if I manage to do the one-box-at-a-time thing.

Comments

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

Big cardboard boxes will be available when I'm moved and unpacked.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

It was a big suitcase! and it was sitting there for ages!

[sci.livejournal.com]

I don't know what magazine files are, but I have some box files.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

These are magazine files (http://www.ryman.co.uk/Osco-Mesh-Magazine-File-0925061301.asp).

I have lots of box files, but they aren't really interchangeable in terms of function.

[orielwen.livejournal.com]

I haven't plugged Freecycle (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/towerhamletsfreecycle/) recently, have I? Assuming you haven't already tried there.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I very likely will for smaller items like the magazine files, but I tend to find Freecycle extremely overwhelming so have not been using it recently. I also find that often it involves vast amounts of travel carrying Heavy Things, which I can't always physically do.

Of course, some of the things I want/need are going to be heavy no matter what happens, which is problematic. If I buy new or on eBay things will in theory be delivered but often that actually means "scratch at the door lightly and then take things back to the delivery depot" which doesn't help me, and besides my schedule usually means I am at Trinity much of each day.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I think you should resist the temptation to buy more stuff to deal with your problem of having too much stuff. Buying more and more rarely solves anything. You need less shiny, not more.

Leaving it all over the floor such that I can't actually see which things I need to get rid of and where to put the things I want to keep is no solution, though. Neither is having no sensible filing for paperwork, of which I have rather a lot. Yes, I have tried keeping things in "neat piles". It does not work for me. Ordering a skip hardly counts as acquiring more shiny.

The council may only collect rubbish from provided wheely bins - if you bought ten bins (for example) they may just ignore them. You can't get more waste collection by having more bin.

Tower Hamlets DO NOT PROVIDE wheely bins; I did actually look this up. They do not provide bins of any sort to individual households, we have to buy our own.

Nearly everyone on the street has a 240L wheely bin and they get their rubbish collected. We have a plastic bin that holds about 80L, which is fine for a two-person household for incidental weekly use, but if I'm doing a Major Chucking Out it gets full rather fast.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

it seems to be a real pattern that you just need to buy an X to fix your stuff.

It's a fair point, but buying absolutely nothing is not going to solve the clutter problem if I am genuinely lacking adequate tools. I'd rather get a wheely bin now than wait for our existing bin to completely fall apart and end up not having one at all for a few weeks while delivery gets sorted out. There is a balance somewhere; I'm not always sure where it is. I do tend to err on the side of "buy more stuff" but that doesn't automatically mean getting any stuff ever is bad. Similarly, someone who has trouble with eating too much isn't really in a position to just stop eating entirely to avoid the risk of overeating.

If you have an idea for dealing with the clutter that doesn't involve putting it all in boxes and that you think will work for my ADD-addled brain I'd be very glad to hear it, although of course I reserve the right to decide it isn't the right approach for me. I think "putting it all in boxes and then sorting the boxes out one by one" is likely to work better than other things I have tried so far.

The things you need to do are not being done as they are not as pleasurable as consumption.

I think it's a little more complex than that.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Also: it is late and I am tired, sorry if I'm being all defensive and awful. I will go sleep now and then be less horrid in the morning...