Stationary? Who uses stationary anymore?

I was looking around for something to weed today when my eye feel on a pile of stationary. Huh? Why do I even have stationary anymore? Almost everyone I know I can call or send email to, and that includes even the older relatives.

I think I've had some of this stationary since I was a kid! Which is funny if you consider that I was always a infrequent correspondent and have atrocious penmanship. Back before PCs I used to type all my letters so that friends could read them. One of my oldest friends was once offended that I printed her letter, but she quickly changed her tune when my next letter was hand written. While I use to print my letters on fancy stationary, since the 'computer age' I haven't needed to bother doing even that.

Yet somehow I've still accumulated quite a pile of stationary. A few I can blame on gifts, but the rest were impulse buys. So here's the truth, I don't need stationary and I'm not buying anymore.

So I pulled it all out to look at it. Some of the small note cards can be used for thank you notes, so I did keep a few of those. Handwritten thank you cards are still considered proper etiquette. Darn! Some of the sheets of paper would actually make good note and scratch paper, so I did keep some of that. I like to have paper I can tuck into the non-fiction books when I read at lunch and having a pile at work means I have a supply of paper for personal use.
At home I like to have paper and sticky notes handy when I'm watching TV, on the computer, reading, or just planning my day. So a lot of paper will get used up in a reasonable amount of time. All the the rest and the orphaned envelops I'm throwing out.

Here's a picture of what is going. As you can see from the ruler it's a fair pile and I'm earning back a bit of space in my office area.


So I'm happy. I've made some room in my office and I won't be buying anymore stationary.

Trash can designed for grocery bags

My first thought when I saw this trash can was, "why didn't I think of that!"
Urbano trash bin makes it easier to reuse plastic bags.

My other thought is it won't fit well with more traditional decors. On the plus side it's easy to store extra bags underneath. Waste basket itself is made of recycled polypropylene. Looks like they cost around $20, with black costing $25.00.

Downside is yet more of those grocery bags in the landfill.

Cats - sneaky space stealers

When we moved into our current home we had two cats. In the last two years they have both died. Since I'm technically allergic to cats I'm not planning to replace them. So we've been busy removing all the cat stuff in our house and thereby help reduce my temptation to get another cat. What amazes me after the fact is just how much cat related material was in our home!

There were two kitty litter boxes, supplies of fresh kitty litter, litter scoops, a large cat perch, two sets of food and water dishes, 4 or 5 scratching pads (if you want to save your furniture having lots of these is good insurance), multiple books, bags of catnip, bags of cat food, cans of cat food, kitty treats, grass seed, a pot of grass for the cats to chew on (instead of my house plants), multiple packages of special wipes (to remove cat allergens), tons of toys, 'purr pad' beds, medicines, two cat carriers, two cages from our cross country move, and much, much more. And even though I think we've found everything I won't be surprised anymore if something else doesn't surface! While you can have cats with less paraphernalia, if you love them and spoil them it's easy to accumulate.

And once we haul out or give away the last of it we will have more room in our house and garage. Woo Hoo! Miss the cats though.

I've been trying to share the wealth with the local pet rescue organizations while weeding. They can use any fresh kitty litter, cat carriers, cages, cat food, etc. that is clean and in good condition. If you ever do the same, call before you descend on them to verify what they will accept.

Decisions, decisions

Taking control of our homes really comes down to making decisions about each of our possessions. Which ought to be easy, we make decisions all day, every day, for work, family, and play. But we get home and we're tired, we've worked all day, made decisions all day, and don't want to make any more. But wait, isn't making decisions about our needs more important than all the other decisions? Can't we spare 15 minutes or even less a day to find one thing in the house that isn't useful anymore?

My decision today was to go through the college text books that I still happen to have (I've pitched quite a few over the years). Here's the thing, these books are old and no teacher would assign them to a current class. Some of the information is inaccurate or outdated. Which doesn't make them very useful does it? Besides, I did that, been there, not going back! So all old textbooks are leaving the house. I've stacked them by the front door so it's clear that I'm ready to get rid of them.

Live in the house you have

In 1970 the average single family home was approximately 1,400 sq. ft., now it's about 2,300 sq ft.¹ That means most of us expect to live in a house almost double the size of our parents' homes. Given that the number of children per household has dropped, we should have fewer people inhabiting the average home. Per the U.S. Census bureau the household average in 2008 was .85 children per household, while in 1970 it was 1.20.². What really gets interesting is that the number of people living alone (not counting pets) has also risen significantly. Per the Census bureau in 1970, 17.6% of households consisted on one person. By 2000, it had risen to 25.8%.³ So unless a lot of adults have had to move back in with their parents or we've suddenly had a baby boom we should need less space per household.

So why can't we fit in our homes?

Well in my case we use to live in a 2,250 sq.ft. townhouse, with four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, family room and laundry room. Admittedly we moved and are now living in approximately 1750 sq. ft. home. This should still be plenty of space for two grown adults, especially since we did a massive amount of weeding before the move across country. Yet we have often felt cramped. I have a spacious study (one of the bedrooms) and it is crammed with stuff. But the size difference actually isn't significant, because we may actually have more storage than the old house! In addition to the 1750 sq. ft. of the house itself, we also have a 2 car garage, a 12' by 12' cottage in the back yard that just houses craft supplies, tools, and projects, a new shed to store garden tools, and an old greenhouse. See why I can't understand why our house doesn't seem spacious?

We've lived in this house since August 2004, so we've been here about five years. I love the area, the house, the yard, and the climate. In addition, given the housing market and the economy, selling and moving just doesn't make sense.

So how can I make my home feel more spacious?

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¹ Statistics from the web site by Professional Organizer, Jamie Novak

² Average Number of Own Children Under 18 Per Family, By Type of Family: 1955 To Present (Excel document)

³ Historical Census of Housing Tables Living Alone

Why do we keep so much stuff?!

We are being buried by our possessions. Why else would the home storage products industry make 4.36 billion per year?¹ That's not counting what we pay for self-storage units, other organizing products, books, magazines, and even consultants called "professional organizers" to help us weed our possessions and organize the leftovers.

Why do we put up with inconvenient and uncomfortable homes? How many of us have possessions simply because we haven't looked at them with a critical eye and asked ourselves why we still have them? Not only are we 'material' and buy into the idea that 'things' will make us happy, but we never get rid of anything whether it succeeded in doing what we bought it for or not. In fact, "80% of what we keep we never use."² Given the size of the 'organizer' market we must be on the verge of being buried alive by our possessions. We are obviously not doing ourselves any favors. If you analyze your space and its contents unemotionally, "it costs an average of $10/square foot to store items in your home."³ So if you are thinking of moving just because you think your house is too crammed and cluttered, you're making a big mistake.

"The Self Storage Association (SSA) represents the $22.6 billion (annual revenues) self storage industry in the United States that comprises 51,223 primary facilities with more than 2.2 billion rentable square feet."⁴ So some people are paying for storage rather than move, but they are still probably losing money because of possessions they may not even want anymore!

It's obvious to me that we all want more space! What I call, 'room for oxygen.'

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¹ (statistics from the web site by Professional Organizer Jamie Novak

² The National Association of Professional Organizers - (Barbara Hemphill, Agency Sales Magazine, 4/1/03

³ The National Association of Professional Organizers

⁴ From Jeri's Organizing & Decluttering News: Self Storage - A Growing Business