Yet More Smaller Projects

I’m reusing too many of the same images for these.

This post is going to be written a bit differently, but in truth I’ll only know it from my end. With the last two I wrote down what I did after the fact. This week I’m writing down what I did after I did it before moving to the next project.

These articles are not as glamorous as the big projects, but I need to do some of these smaller projects to make the big ones easier to manage. I’m making room for these things and that’s what I focused on this week. For example:

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More Small Projects

Last time we discussed a project it was a series of smaller projects rather than one big project, something to try to start me off again after taking so much time off for Christmas and illness, the latter being unplanned. Getting sick numerous times in February and March was a huge problem and basically threw off a lot of my intended plans. It’s tough to take a mental break from projects for both my sites when I’ve lost so much time not being able to do much of anything. I hate getting sick.

This week I had a few more short projects I decided to focus on because they needed to be done so why not use the de-clutter day of my week to do them, what with the distractions this week?

Returning To The Clutter

Older picture. I’m reading a different book now.

Well, the Christmas decorations are all packed away until next Christmas and I already see my next batch of projects. Some will be digital but there’s also some physical clutter I need to organize because this year I really want to bring things together and make this a viable comic art and video making studio. This includes making a decent workspace and if there’s any “clutter” it’s the creative kind that sparks imagination instead of a mess that sparks apathy.

So the time has come to get back into clutter clearing. I hope to start selling some stuff off finally since the sale page here (not really surprising when you think about it) hasn’t been the solution. I might try eBay again or look into other options. I want to get back to listing comics for sale. I want to reorganize this space I’ve been working on into a better setup. I want to stop saying “I want to” and actually do it. Hopefully 2021 will a boost of a year to my organizing, just like when I started this site. When I began using my blogging to get myself to clean I was doing really well and got a lot done. I can’t say I’ve slacked off over the years but the amount of work that has to go into it definitely started to weigh on me. I knew this would be a long-term project but I don’t think I realized just how big a mess I made for myself in over 40 years. 2016’s medical issues didn’t help and I’m still trying to shake some of that off (like the hernia) but honestly I can’t simply blame the forced time off as the only reason I’ve fallen behind. It just gave me an excuse and it’s time I stopped using it as one now. It’s been five years since the diverticulitis kicked off the hell year (personal hell year, followed in the ranking by 2015 when I lost my mom and last grandparent, and 2020 for the obvious reasons). I think I’ve rested enough and even with being tired lately I need to force myself back on track.

I hope you join me on this journey, if not out of curiosity and cheer me on then to get you thinking about your own clutter-clearing journey. Let’s try to…

Okay, then let’s make 2021 the best year we can and finally get this party back in gear!

Quick Report: Learning My Smartphone

With my back still a bit tender my ability to do any heavy cleaning is suspect. There’s this one small spot in the small of my back, which is the spot it usually starts, still being restrictive. So this week I decided what I really need to do is go through my new smart phone and learn all the apps. This is something I’ve not really done in the past but long since should have done on my old phone. I even added an app or two to improve function but I don’t want to bother putting too much on. However it is still clutter clearing as any app I couldn’t use or wasn’t interested in was taken off…if it could. I also cleaned out a bit of my library and wishlist for apps I’ll never want to use.

Having apps that can’t be removed is sort of a pet peeve of mine when it comes to smartphones. I didn’t have this problem on the tablet, which has the same storage issue as my old phone, where I can’t even update the darn thing without a fight anymore. (My computer-savvy friend says that Android likes to take up a lot of space, and I’ve noticed that when I install a new update it doesn’t delete anything from the old one, which takes up even more space.) The big issue though is that smartphones have these apps you can’t get rid of even if it doesn’t affect the working of the phone. I don’t need the Facebook app on there because I’m rarely online when I’m out. (I don’t have a data plan and only use public WiFi when necessary. I don’t even have the phone on when I’m home most of the time.) I certainly don’t need Uber because I have a car and it’s already rare when I use it these days. And yet I can’t pull them off of the old phone. Heck, Google just canceled Google Play Music in favor of their YouTube Music app (I would have done it the other way around but what do I know?) I can’t use the app anymore except when downgraded to listen to the old radio shows and music I have on the SD card but for some reason it’s an app you can’t pull off, and yet Google Play Games is, despite being still active and one I probably use more. It just eats up space and it’s used for the function of the phone or basic operations. Why, Google? What makes you think this is a good idea? I just disable them so they won’t update again but it’s still clutter.

So get to know your apps and see which ones you’ll actually use. It takes up space and if you can remove it, do so. If you can’t, uninstall all the updates and disable it so it won’t waste even more space. It’s an odd sort of clutter project and I don’t know if iPhone and Windows Phone users have to suffer through this nonsense but it’s a good idea. Also, get a micro SD card and transfer all your pictures, videos, audio files, and contacts to that. If you use a media app or navigational map program that lets you download, make sure it’s set to that micro SD card. You’d be surprised how quickly space on your phone or tablet gets eaten up.

Video On Using “The Realtor Game” To Fight Clutter (+ email update)

Well, this week I succeeded in getting my “work” email up to 2018, so I started with my personal email. I got that up to February of 2020. Once that’s up to my goal of finishing all the way to the end of 2018 (which is reading everything through 2020 and 2019) I’ll start a different project. In the meantime I saw a video on a different website (it’s been a week or two of going through emails so I’m not sure which one) that I thought would be interesting. Ellen Lancaster plays realtor to show her what needs to be cleaned. Check this out.

Cleaning Out The Folder Box

I have a couple of these boxes. You’re supposed to put folders in them and keep files in them. This one is filled with random stuff, and after looking for an instruction manual last week I decided this needed to be cleaned out a bit.

I’m not wrong, am I? I hadn’t intended this to be a third junk drawer. Two is more than enough after all. I wasn’t using it at the time so I stuffed a bunch of things in there I’m not sure I need anymore. So this week’s project was to put this in better shape. I ended up finding things in here that I was looking for some time ago, and learned something I didn’t even know, which kind of changes remarks made in the previous Transformer review. Which means I also found some memories, but more “I forgot that” than “I remember this happy moment”. Still, I’ll take it.

Quick Report: Paper Project Complete

I wanted to be more alliterative but I ran out of “P” words.

Just a quick update on this project. I finally finished off the stack of loose papers and records. While there are a few things I need to go over or put with other things I’ve cleared out what I need to for now, put into recycle what should go there, and shredded the rest. That’s one less project to deal with. Next week should be another book review and then I have my next cleaning project already planned. That will hopefully be a longer report as I feel like I’m doing a disservice to email and WordPress subscribers as well as returning readers doing three short reports like this in a row. Hopefully you got something out of this anyway.

Quick Report: Business Card Cutdown

Tony Stark’s business card

Actually it isn’t but I forgot to take pictures. I usually do my clutter work on Saturdays but this Saturday was way too hot here in Connecticut, and the week wasn’t much better. If it gets hot in Connecticut it gets really hot in my attic living space. I did do something even if it wasn’t much. I had a stack of business cards from various conventions I went to, and I just went through them all. This required me to go to websites on the cards to see what I’d like to visit again, which I bookmarked or added to my RSS feed list, and what ones I didn’t (if they had a website, and some of the ones listed were long since down). Either way the business cards went into the recycle bin.

Now if this heat would go away I could get something done. Since I’m tired of sweating onto the keyboard, I’ll keep you updated next time.

Light Maintenance Project

Not every clutter maintenance project is some big thing. With things I had to do for my other site this weekend I did some light cleaning, like finally cleaning out and packing away my humidifier for the season and going through some papers. I hope to have something more exciting to talk about next week.

Quick Report: Cleaning A Different Corner

The corner near my Atari, VCR, and cable box was a bit cluttered but not as bad as other areas I needed to fix so I didn’t do much with it. However, I needed access to that corner to change the cable box (long story) and had to move the junk out of the way. You see where that ended up, and that did need to get cleaned up. So I took the opportunity to clean that up a bit rather than put all the junk back there and along the heater. That old computer will be dealt with when a friend of mine has time to look at it.

The tripod is there because I needed to judge the distance between the white drawers (where I have comics from that long-running project) and the cabinet where some of my games are. I didn’t want to lose access but I was hoping I could move it over and away from the heater. I don’t think there’s a fire hazard, I just thought it would be better not under the air conditioner. The tripod held up the door and…there isn’t enough clearance. So it has to stay where it is. I did manage to find a difference place for a ceiling fan we haven’t had the chance to use, move the Mini-Cons that were sitting on the floor where the clutter in the picture is, and at least got my photo studio case away from the heat. I also moved a box I don’t need anymore because I know I’m not sending what was in it back, but I might want to use it to send something in the future. I haven’t decided just yet but those go elsewhere anyway. The end result:

I can get to my windows again and it’s a lot cleaner. (This is before I moved the Mini-Cons.) I also have a better place to put the heater when Winter is over. (We seriously need new windows.) This opened up the floor space a bit more but I still need a new place to put those Transformers comics, which I can’t put in the closet currently. But I left it in better shape than it was when I had to move the stuff to reach the cable box, so I achieved that this week.