Well, you win some and you lose some. As you know, my desk-painting project worked out great. But my new CD tower was a bust (I just put it out in the hallway with a PLEASE TAKE sign in the hope that I can avoid carrying it all the way down to the street tomorrow). While it seems like a big waste of time and money, it did have some residual benefits. First of all, thanks to everyone who weighed in on my storage dilemma. I wound up having a heart-to-heart with myself and came up with a compromise plan that includes various suggestions from you guys and my own good judgment. While many of strongly recommended the "lose the jewel cases and put the discs in binders" approach -- clearly the most space-efficient method there is -- deep in my heart I knew this wasn't for me. I just felt like if I was going to give up "my CDs" (which ripping them apart is a form of giving them up, the whole physicality of them, at least), then I might as well give 'em up entirely and put everything in iTunes (and back 'em up on my external hard drive). Instead, I made a deal with myself -- almost a way to talk myself into accepting change -- that I will ALWAYS keep my CDs by all my favorite groups (Blondie, Pretenders, Style Council, Motels, Bananarama, Jam, Beach Boys, Go-Go's etc.) and only "go digital" on less important ones. Something about telling myself that I never had to give up my babies was like a huge weight off my shoulder, and what came next surprised even me. From there, I ripped a bunch of soundtracks and CDRs that were of no sentimental value and threw the discs in a pile. Next thing I knew, I was gathering up all of my VHS cassettes tapes, all of my free promotional CDs and DVDs that I "might check out someday," and for good measure, EIGHT bags of clothing (that I never wear) and THREE boxes of household stuff that it was time to say goodbye to. (I know -- how was I holding all this stuff in here anyway?????) It was about 4 in the morning at this point, so I knew if I just stacked it up for the Salvation Army the following day I'd probably get cold feet and start "putting things back." So instead, I carried it all down to the sidewalk -- bag by bag by bag -- and set up a nice little display. "FREE CLOTHES!" with the best pair of new Gap jeans on top. "FREE DVDs!" with the unopened seasons of "Desperate Housewives" and "Project Runway" on top (and so on). Within a few hours my apartment was cleaner, more organized and more livable than it has been in 10 years. In addition, I did so much paring down that there is now room in my proper CD racks for me to even buy new ones. By the way, by the following afternoon every single item I'd put out front was long gone with the exception of a few video tapes. Someone was so offended that I was giving them away, in fact, that one was smashed all over the sidewalk in a million pieces that looked like a crime scene. Truth be told, giving away my Bananarama and Blondie video tapes felt awfully criminal to me, but at least I'm trying ...Monday, January 19, 2009
Batting .500
Well, you win some and you lose some. As you know, my desk-painting project worked out great. But my new CD tower was a bust (I just put it out in the hallway with a PLEASE TAKE sign in the hope that I can avoid carrying it all the way down to the street tomorrow). While it seems like a big waste of time and money, it did have some residual benefits. First of all, thanks to everyone who weighed in on my storage dilemma. I wound up having a heart-to-heart with myself and came up with a compromise plan that includes various suggestions from you guys and my own good judgment. While many of strongly recommended the "lose the jewel cases and put the discs in binders" approach -- clearly the most space-efficient method there is -- deep in my heart I knew this wasn't for me. I just felt like if I was going to give up "my CDs" (which ripping them apart is a form of giving them up, the whole physicality of them, at least), then I might as well give 'em up entirely and put everything in iTunes (and back 'em up on my external hard drive). Instead, I made a deal with myself -- almost a way to talk myself into accepting change -- that I will ALWAYS keep my CDs by all my favorite groups (Blondie, Pretenders, Style Council, Motels, Bananarama, Jam, Beach Boys, Go-Go's etc.) and only "go digital" on less important ones. Something about telling myself that I never had to give up my babies was like a huge weight off my shoulder, and what came next surprised even me. From there, I ripped a bunch of soundtracks and CDRs that were of no sentimental value and threw the discs in a pile. Next thing I knew, I was gathering up all of my VHS cassettes tapes, all of my free promotional CDs and DVDs that I "might check out someday," and for good measure, EIGHT bags of clothing (that I never wear) and THREE boxes of household stuff that it was time to say goodbye to. (I know -- how was I holding all this stuff in here anyway?????) It was about 4 in the morning at this point, so I knew if I just stacked it up for the Salvation Army the following day I'd probably get cold feet and start "putting things back." So instead, I carried it all down to the sidewalk -- bag by bag by bag -- and set up a nice little display. "FREE CLOTHES!" with the best pair of new Gap jeans on top. "FREE DVDs!" with the unopened seasons of "Desperate Housewives" and "Project Runway" on top (and so on). Within a few hours my apartment was cleaner, more organized and more livable than it has been in 10 years. In addition, I did so much paring down that there is now room in my proper CD racks for me to even buy new ones. By the way, by the following afternoon every single item I'd put out front was long gone with the exception of a few video tapes. Someone was so offended that I was giving them away, in fact, that one was smashed all over the sidewalk in a million pieces that looked like a crime scene. Truth be told, giving away my Bananarama and Blondie video tapes felt awfully criminal to me, but at least I'm trying ...
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6 comments:
OMG, just reading that gave me anxiety.
Good on you for being able to part with so much at once!
You are a stronger man than I. Me? I.
I have taken the same approach with my 3000+ CD collection. I still end up buying the physical CD though and go rooting through my collection too weed out the promos, one hit wonder albums, and duplicates which later were released as special editions to make room for the new ones.
Good for you. I do the same thing every six months...when in doubt, throw it out! You made some people really happy this weekend.
Congrats on the mergin' and purgin'... doesn't it feel good!? I went through a similar cycle a few weeks ago... 4 bags of clothes to Goodwill and you saw what happened to my CDs....
I know exactly how you feel now- I routinely get rid of stuff, and I feel better everytime. You were wise to remove the piles- I can't tell you how many shirts or jeans wind up "rescued" from the giveaways, only to wind up back in the same pile again later!
I'm blown away. As much as I know I should do the same, I just can't part with some...ok, most of my "things". I've got cases of vinyl that I know I'll never listen to stored in my basement. I have books I'll never read again stuffed into my bookcases, and clothes I'll never fit into again bending my closet rods. I recently felt so proud of myself for wanting to purge a book I recently read. The only reason I wanted to do that is because the book sucked SO badly, I wanted it out of my house. Although it was such a terrible read, I forced myself to read the whole thing, thinking that it just might get better. It didn't.
BTW...I haven't gotten rid of it yet, but I intend to. I promise.
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