I have too much time on my hands! (items 33 and 34...two watches)

I procrastinated at work today by reading a few of those "you're old because nobody born after 2000 will grow up knowing what these items are" lists (floppy disks, anyone?)

Anybody surprised that watches are on some of these lists? We carry our cell phones everywhere with us. When we get to work we turn them off and turn on our computers...which also have the time at the bottom of the screen, just like TVs tuned to the news stations. Every office I'm in has a clock on the wall.

Better yet, now that I'm decluttering my life I'm discovering I have more free time. I don't need to know what time it is because I'm not rushing everywhere nearly as much as before.

I suppose they're an accessory (how many watches do most women own?) I do like to wear one because I like to think it gives the impression that I pay attention to time.

But do I really need THREE?

(It's actually worse than that. I'd gotten rid of the fourth a few months ago.) What's even sadder is that I bought one of them because I misplaced the first one for a while, then naturally, found it again.

If only I'd been more of a minimalist to start with, maybe I wouldn't have misplaced the one watch. Could've saved myself $55!



If you decide to get rid of your watches, don't just trash them. Try to find a watch repair shop. Family-owned ones like Ecker's in Bethesda are often happy to take the donations to resell or recycle the parts. Yay for supporting local businesses!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="330" caption="Mr. Ecker's parrot is pretty cute too."][/caption]

~The Reckoning~

Original Cost: Purple one I got from the 'free box' at college. Goldtone one was $55!

What convinced me to get rid of them:  My “no duplicates allowed” rule. And both of them gave me rashes, so I guess they were bad for me!

Fate: Donated them to the watch repairman.

Total $ wasted on junk so far this year: $203.

If I owned any more microwave ovens my apartment I could start my own nuclear plant (Item 27: One microwave)

What did we do in the days before microwave ovens?

At one time I knew. When I was 11 we had a small kitchen fire. For the nine months it took my parents to design and build the new kitchen we subsisted on an electric wok, a tabletop convection oven, and an outdoor weber kettle grill.

But we got by. It was strange at first. For exaple, the only way to cook pancakes was in the wok. After I while I forgot that flapjacks were supposed to be flat, not bowl-shaped. They still tasted good.

I've unfortunately come a long way away from this spartan kitchen experience. I managed to have two microwaves for a little while, one was a hand-me-down from friends when they moved away since they knew theirs would fit better on our small countertop. Both worked. Instead of immediately taking the huge old one to the thrift shop, I held on to it. Hoping I could sell it for some money. I think the only thing I sold was my patience.

How many things do you hold on to thinkking that you'll sell them? (This microwave isn't the only item that was awaiting a supposedly lucrative fate.) Why do we kid ourselves? I'm realizing that unless one is in dire straights financially, the frustration of having stuff around in hopes of selling it ultimately isnt' worth the money we'd make.

Is it? How long should we hold onto objects we're trying to sell before we get rid of them?

~The Reckoning~

Original Cost: $50. However, I was gifted a replacement. So this amount won't go into the Tally Of Wasted Money.

What convinced me to get rid of them:  I wanted my kitchen table back.

Fate: Gave it to the IT backup staff at work for their staff lounge. Someone told me their microwave died. These are the folks at our organization who staff the server rooms 24/7/365 (including snowstorms!) and I'm pretty sure they don't get paychecks that nearly reflect their devotion to our organization.  These folks deserve to be able to get a hot meal when their "dinner" break comes at 3 am.

Total $ wasted on junk so far this year: $158.

 

Phew. That's two square feet of space back! Quite a big deal when I only have 950 ft.