A tidy little mess
I hate tidying.
I have this unconscious ability to put things down and they immediately become almost invisible. It’s a sort of blinkered thing where I can only see what I am looking for. This comes in very handy when shopping as I will target my intended purchase like an Exocet missile and will not be aware of anything else in the shop. This pisses Herself off as I can come home without [say] milk simply because I went out to buy bread. However the ability to not see anything unless I’m looking for it can lead to problems.
Usually I become aware of this problem when I go to put something down and then realise there is nowhere to put it. I then consciously switch to “see all” mode and it usually comes as a bit of a shock to realise that the house is in a bit of a mess. To put it mildly.
This happened last week when I went to put something on the kitchen table only to realise the table was full. I did a big clearout and the table is now viable again. For the time being, anyway.
I bought some new furniture recently for the front room. It’s due to be delivered in the nect few weeks. It crossed my mind to check the room for junk [even though I pass through it every day, but that’s with my blinkers switched on]. Sure enough, there was a pile of stuff in there including a lot of plastic bags. I vaguely remembered putting some stuff there but not the bags, I decided to investigate.
It transpired that Very Good Friend had, over the months, been tidying stuff and quietly depositing it in a pile of plastic bags It was mostly paper stuff and included for example many years of Mastercard statements, dating back to the ’80s I didn’t like to put them in the recycling as they contained such minor things as account details, and I didn’t know who would see them. They have all gone into the recycling now as anyone who wishes to try accessing my Mastercard account is welcome – it doesn’t exist any more.
I’m still surrounded by papers though. Some are actually important enough to keep. Some I have to shred as they contain other personal details. The rest can go in the Green Bin. As for the important stuff?
I suppose I’ll just bung it in a plastic bag and leave it somewhere.
Sure I won’t see it again for months.
We used to have quite a bit of junk mail to deal with, (actually we still do). I bought a shredder a few years back and discovered that I then had mounds of shredded paper to deal with. Most of the junk mail we get comes with a self-addressed postage paid return envelope, HAH!
I now shred the pages with personal information on them and mail the remainder of the junk back to the sender.
Let them deal with the junk mail.
Junk mail goes unopened into the green bin as I pass it on the way back from collecting the post. I could do the reply trick but I honestly couldn’t be bothered.
Shredded paper composts down nicely in a regularly fed compost bin. Or even just dug into soil.
I suppose if you keep large animals like cows the midden would serve the same purpose.
Gerbils are also grateful for it. They chew it up and fill their living space with it.
This is what trendy folk call a “hack” aparently.
That’s not a bad idea. The compost heap could do with a bit of variety, though I do have mental images of strips of paper blowing around the garden like a snowstorm of giant confetti….
Just wet it after you put it in the heap. Piss is good for compost. Adds the necessary nitrogen, and other useful stuff. That’s why straw in the byre is better after the cattle have added their contrbution.
I have found that same goes for shredded paper and gerbils. Their output, not the beasts themselves.
I have read that the most welcome visitor to a Highland farm was one who paid for a meal and then left a deposit in the dunny.
Round our way you can put paper out for recycling, however if you shred it first you can’t!
Typical council joined up thinking.
That makes no sense whatsoever. But then that’s the modern world for you.
You need another room building on.
I did actually think of that. But then there’s the old laws – junk accumulates to fill any space available, and Nature abhors a vacuum.