The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on July 29, 2010, 08:49:18 AM
-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x8562
Oh my.
Mist (1000+ posts) Wed May-19-10 03:56 PM
Original message
Decluttering question:
I’m busy trying to declutter my house and streamline my life a bit. Some things are just hard to get rid of. My father died in 2003, and I’ve got some of his papers. When Dad retired, he wrote a sci-fi novel. He wrote it mostly to entertain himself, and never thought of trying to get it published. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. I feel guilty getting rid of it, but see no reason to keep it. Anyone have any advice for how to respectfully get rid of something like this, and feel okay about it? Anything I keep will someday be someone else’s problem to deal with, so in a way it feels more respectful to dispose of things like Dad’s novel myself, rather than a friend or executor dealing with it in an impersonal way.
cbayer (1000+ posts) Wed May-19-10 05:23 PM
THE BAYER ASPIRIN PRIMITIVE
Response to Original message
1. I would scan it and put it on a small, removable memory device, then you can dispose of the paper.
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Wed May-19-10 10:39 PM
THE SPARKLING HUSBAND PRIMITIVE, #05 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
3. Send it to us. We have a 10 x 20 storage locker full of stuff like that from our parents
Sparkly and I have this one basic incompatibility: A complete inability to throw out sentimental but otherwise worthless CRAP. Your Dad's manuscript would be right at home in our storage locker.
I'm joking about sending the manuscript here, but am completely the wrong person to give advice in that department.
Would you like a box of used 1970s dress patterns?
Maybe two quilt racks my Dad made to display some of the quilts my Mom made? How about Sparkly's Dad's leather suitcase with stickers from his concert tour of Europe in the 1950s; it only has a few missing trim strips.
Jamastiene (1000+ posts) Thu May-20-10 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. I'm glad I'm not the only sentimental one around these parts.
My step dad is constantly picking on me for having so much "stuff" as he calls it. He calls me a pack rat. I have stuff when I need it though. I just don't have room to neaten all this "stuff" up like I want.
Warpy (1000+ posts) Mon May-24-10 01:50 AM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
7. Tell me about it.
When my dad died and I cleaned that house up, I ended up with three large cartons of photographs and memorabilia. I've gotten it down to one carton over the last 4 years, weeding out stuff that meant something to them versus the things that meant something to me.
If it sits unopened for more than 5 years, I'll force myself to open it up again and get it down to a shoe box.
I can live with a shoe box.
If you have siblings or cousins, find out if any of them would like it. If not, you're not being disloyal to toss it. You read it, you enjoyed it, and I think that's more than he ever expected since he'd written it for his own enjoyment.
I'm decluttering, too. What I have the most problem getting rid of is craft stuff I have no earthly use for now. I keep fantasizing about a front end loader and a dumpster.
ccinamon (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-25-10 11:52 PM
Response to Original message
10. I would keep it....someone in the family might want it in the future....scanning would still be a good idea, but keeping the hard copy - that is like a special treausre!
Yeah, it's not like paper takes up a whole lot of space.
tavalon (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-29-10 07:01 AM
THE TAGALONG PRIMITIVE
Response to Original message
11. Did he have fellow coposectic writers?
Perhaps they could edit.
Hmmm. That's a new word, "coposectic."
By the way, P-J Comix and franksolich were the first people in history to use "copacetic" on the internet.
I dunno how that happened, and both happened at exactly the same time.
Since then, "copacetic" has become ubiquitous on the internet, although the primitives can never spell it correctly.