It seems like every few years, I get on a cleanup kick. It is probably more like I run out of energy every few years and then something sparks it back up. That is the case here. Now that my office is done and stuff is strewn all over the basement, it is time to get organized again. There is no sense putting everything back.
The day after I quit my job in 2019, I spent the afternoon in the basement. It was my intent to start cleaning out and consolidating. That was the last time I made any attempt. But, now it is for real since my office took over space that was formerly storage and now there is less of it.
I have another motivator, fall is coming. With the weather change comes the occasional flooding in the basement. I always spend some time in the fall moving and preserving all the things that get carelessly left out in the bustle of summer parties and knowing there is a tomorrow to take care of it.
This year is more than a tidying up, it is a major remodel. I am finally getting rid of my college textbooks and old software, the original drapes my wife’s grandfather’s desk, baby furniture parts, etc. First, I need to reclaim some space that I lost, but second I haven’t accessed most of that stuff since it made it into the basement in the first place. In fact, some of it didn’t make it out of the box it was packed in before we moved in 2005.
I typically don’t consider myself a pack rat. Using my textbooks as an example At the time that I got them, there was barely an internet. Certainly, in the mid 1990s it was not developed like it is today. The reason I kept them was that it was the only way to access that specific information at the time. I hate to throw them out because the information is still valid, but I am not an active chemist anymore. I haven’t used that information in over ten years at least.
My now Linux computer still has a 3.5″ floppy drive. I paid an extra $100 when I built the computer to have it. At one point, earlier in my career I did access some calculations that I did in school. They were highly complicated calculus equations to model tank volumes which I used as a chemist. But, I haven’t been a chemist since 2008. Both mine and my wife’s college work is on the stack of disks. I am going to save the data before I toss the disks.
To be 100 percent honest, I have no idea what is on the 5.5″ floppy. Our first 8086 IBM in 1986 had a 3.5″ drive so I don’t know why I would have the other size disk. I kind of think it came from my wife but I have no ability to access the disk.
About a year ago, we helped my in-laws move back into their house after a remodel due to water damage. What I was saying to them was this is a process. You have to know that you have it, you have to know where it is and you have to use it at least occasionally.
We do have a few things that I am not quite ready to part with despite the fact that it doesn’t meet that criteria. For instance, we have a silver plated punch bowl that we got for our wedding. I think we have used it at most three times. But for most everything else, it needs to go.
End Your Programming Routine: I am trying execute this in the most efficient way by minimizing the trips to the dump and donation centers. That being said, it is difficult to keep moving piles to new piles but I am getting through it. I think that it going to take a couple weeks as I continue to peck at it in my free time. I am looking forward to finishing this project.
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