Season’s Greetings and have a happy and prosperous New Year.

This is the last posting for the year 2010. I do hope you enjoyed the variety and will continue to visit the site.

Reducing the Clutter

When Ravi protested at all the work involved in ‘reducing the clutter’ as he called it Monica had an unanswerable point; they were at an age when ‘getting rid of the junk’ as she called it assumes the top priority. They did not know when they would be forced by the circumstances of poor health, or worse, to move in a hurry to a smaller home. “In the worst case scenario, it will not be fair for the girls to be cleaning up the mess when we are not leaving much of an inheritance,” she said to clinch the argument. She added, “It behooves us to get rid of the stuff we have stored through the ages thinking that we or the children might need it some day. Children had taken what they could use; grandchildren are too young to need any thing for several years.” Ravi thought about it but eventually agreed. They decided that the appliances, nice clothes, tools, jewellery, ornaments, electronic equipment, paintings and photographs, excess furniture, whatever it is, if it is of no use to them it has to go. How to do it though? They did not even think of the garage sale, it was too much work in one go for a couple of their age. To get the ball rolling, they put smaller of these things on the lawn when the weather was good with a sign “TAKE IT IF YOU CAN USE IT” and they often disappeared in a day or two. However, the good weather is rare in their part of the world and disposing large items is a problem any time of the year.

They had a twenty year old full-size refrigerator which worked well and did not show its age. There was a large desk, a credenza and a couple of book shelves all in excellent shape. Numerous phone calls to charities were either not returned or received a negative response. Ads on trading websites were also negative. In the end Ravi piled up in the garage these and several other articles Monica thought no one will need and some that were beyond repair. He called a big burly guy with a dump truck to haul them all to the city refuse station for a modest fee of a few hundred dollars. This did make a dent in their possessions albeit only a small one, much smaller than the dent in the wall refrigerator made while being moved. The cupboards were not even remotely bare, cars could still not be parked in the garage and it was as difficult to locate an item in the two storage rooms as it had always been. They realized that one big job was out of the way, but one out of hundreds! It was time for stage 2.

Monica stacked on the living room floor numerous items they were fond of and thought it would be nice if some one could use them – grandchildren’s bikes, some nice furniture for example. Ravi put detailed ads with good photographs on two trading websites with mixed results. In the process, he learnt a lot about selling on these sites. Lesson 1, you must have a good picture, no pic no reply. Even when there is a good picture and a detailed description in the ad, the deal typically progresses as follows: You receive an email response, “It is great. I want it. Call me at xxxxxxxxxxx and I will collect it.” You call, no response, leave a message. Later in the day the phone rings. Long conversation about the item, detailed questions with appropriate replies and with, “Oh my table is six feet, will it work?” You reply, “No sir, it will not. Table has to be five feet long as it says in the ad” and go back to what you were doing before the interruption.

Lesson 2, agreement on price followed by the detailed instructions on how to get to your place does not mean that the item is sold. You wait for nothing most of the time. Even when you have priced the items as giveaways, do not expect normal courtesies like punctuality or a message to inform you of change in plans. Lesson 3, do not expect to sell at a reasonable price on these sites. Buyers are looking for a steal and there are many owners who are happy to give away the items simply to get rid of them. However, do not advertise them for free, it raises suspicion and no one will take them. There is some probability of disposing the item at a low price, none at all at a reasonable price or for free. Finally, only justification for the trouble of placing the ad, watching for replies, negotiating the final price and helping with loading is in consolation that your beloved objects will get used. You also save the trouble and cost of sending them to the dump.

The process of lightening up on possessions is not all frustration. There are occasional compensations. For instance, Monica identified the pieces of equipment that needed minor repairs and got them fixed. Among these items were four baby violins they had acquired thirty or so years ago when the girls were little and the doting parents had the visions of the girls being present day versions of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. It was not to be and the girls found other fields to distinguish in. The violins sat in the cupboard along with other musical paraphernalia like old scores and music stands till discovered last spring. Monica looked at them fondly, vacuumed off the layers of dust and suggested donating them to some worthy institution. A phone call to the Conservatory was enough to get Ravi moving. He found out that repairs and tuning had to be done before they would be accepted as donation but the donation in kind receipt would probably save enough in taxes to cover this cost. It took six months for Mr. Hill, the luthier, to get round to finishing his job but he did it last week and they will be able to claim the tax deduction this year.

There does not seem to be a satisfactory way to dispose off the usable goods no longer needed in our prosperous society. Recycling at Electronic Recycling Depot is probably better than the dump but does not appear right for a fully operational microwave oven or a tuner. Is the Used Items Bank an idea whose time has come?