New Year's Resolutions: Limited Accountability

These resolutions, reproduced from four years ago, are more like good habits to be developed than concrete goals (it's the contrast between "lose weight" and "lose 10 pounds"):

More	Less
Reading books	Web-surfing
Water	Sugar
Getting rid of stuff	Buying stuff
Taking courses	Electronic games
Writing letters	Saying "yes"
Sleep	Texting, esp. thank-you's
Fruits and vegetables	Fried foods
Exercise	TV
Organization	Procrastination

I'm going to apply numerical criteria; the first, "reading books," will become "read one book each month." As for the rest, I'm going to keep them to myself. Public accountability is over-rated.

A Last Gift to the Kids

(WSJ drawing)

We are lucky that our mothers--both over 90--are still with us.

That fortunate circumstance also means that we haven't gone through the stress and emotion of having to sort through our parents' material things. It's still possible for us to go over their possessions with them; we've had halting, piecemeal conversations but it's unlikely we will make much progress.

While that day looms, we have our own houses to de-clutter. We need to do it not only for ourselves but to relieve that burden from our children. Some from the next generation are pleading for us to get rid of our stuff. [bold added]

By now, it is common knowledge that millennials like me don’t want the old furniture, china or trinkets that we could inherit when our relatives die, or are offered to us as our parents downsize. In general, we want to experience the world, but not have physical items signifying it. As I’ve watched my parents navigate their own parents’ deaths, and have observed the sheer number of physical items to sort through, I wondered: “How do we millennials know what to throw away and what to save?”

Home organizers, financial planners and consignment shops tell me it’s a conversation they have with clients every day. They say, though awkward, it is better to have open and honest conversations about estate planning when you can, rather than trying to navigate doing so in the anguish or time crunch after a family member dies.

Here's where technology can help in cutting the cord. We can and probably should take pictures of objects that are precious to us, attach notes or even audio-video files that explain why they are meaningful, and send them off to Goodwill or even the landfill.

We'd be cleaning house as a last gift to the kids, and, really, it's just a fraction of the effort we spent in raising them.

The House is Just a Metaphor

In Chapter 6 of “12 Rules for Life" Jordan Peterson is not really talking about organizing your stuff.

Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World

If you are suffering—well, that’s the norm. People are limited and life is tragic. If your suffering is unbearable, however, and you are starting to become corrupted [by thoughts of revenge], here’s something to think about.

Consider your circumstances. Start small. Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you? Are you working hard on your career, or even your job, or are you letting bitterness and resentment hold you back and drag you down?

Have you made peace with your brother? Are you treating your spouse and your children with dignity and respect? Do you have habits that are destroying your health and well-being? Are you truly shouldering your responsibilities? Have you said what you need to say to your friends and family members? Are there things that you could do, that you know you could do, that would make things around you better?

Have you cleaned up your life?

If the answer is no, here’s something to try: Start to stop doing what you know to be wrong.

It's easy to place blame on other people, the environment, or bad luck, and in truth a reasonable person must acknowledge that miserable circumstances are often caused partially or even mostly by outside factors over which we have no control.

But we can't get to a better place until we clean up the clutter in our emotional house.

Making Lists and Getting Serious

I can point to a few recipes I've learned, some books I've read, and clutter I've cleared, but basically it's been an unproductive 15 months. During the pandemic it's easy to make excuses for not tackling projects that matter. Now's the time to make lists and get serious.

Yes, it's time to get the ducks in a row.

Dispensing with Money-Management Cuteness

After the third iteration the tax returns came back from the processor and for the first time in memory they were done by April 11th.

Now that we've simplified our financial accounts and gotten out of pass-through businesses that never made much money but always mailed us the K-1 forms late, the tax stress is gratifyingly confined to the first four months of the year.

Because this year's due date is May 17th, I toyed briefly with the idea of sending in the California 540 now, because we're getting a refund, and delaying Federal 1040 until May, because there's a four-figure balance due.

Dispensing with money-management cuteness, I went to the Post Office and sent in both returns. Not wanting to stand in line twice was one reason, and not having to worry about a must-do item on the calendar was the other. As one gets older, reducing stress during the time we have left has become more important than money.

De-Cluttering Priority: Hazardous Waste

Fluorescent lights, medicines, solvents:
among the many things that can hurt us.

Over the years I’ve replaced our spent fluorescent tube lights in the kitchen, bathrooms, and garage, but I've never got round to disposing of them properly. They've been accumulating by the side of the house.

Our unused Epipens, inhalers, and expired medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, had filled two boxes in the garage. These are other items that by law should not be thrown into the trash.

I made an appointment yesterday to drop off all the above, as well as old paint, pesticides, and other chemicals at the San Mateo County hazardous waste facility. They took everything except the prescription pills which they said I could deposit in receptacles at CVS or Walgreens.

It was a good feeling to clear these materials from the house. De-cluttering is a perennial New Year’s resolution, and taking a small action every month, rather than making it a huge project, may be the best strategy for this procrastinator.

The Files Won't Scan and Shred Themselves

The paper stack has been scanned and awaits shredding.

We're extremely fortunate that none of us have gotten sick--in fact all the mask-wearing and hand-washing has kept us free from flu, colds, and infections.

Our finances have been affected negatively to some extent, but we're doing better than a lot of people.

Logically we should be taking advantage of this quiet period in our lives to attack projects that have been languishing for years.

One of them is office clutter. 40 years of tax returns, business records, and vendor files need to be scanned and shredded.

Over the past month I cleared one major stack with a dozen more to go. It's like exercise; the hardest part is getting started.

Backsliding, But for Good Reason

Old winter favorite

Last year I made some progress on clearing the clutter. I went through closets and drawers and bagged up clothes that were in good condition. The bags and boxes were waiting for me to muster the initiative to take them to the local charity.

As in many other areas sheltering-in-place has caused me to re-evaluate priorities.

Marie Kondo's advice to tidy up is still important, but

No one's coming to visit;

I don't have to wear clothes to make an impression;

Some of my most comfortable garments were in the charity pile.

And so it was that I retrieved an old winter favorite to replace a damaged jacket.

It's been unseasonably cold.

2020 Resolutions: More and Less

More	Less
Reading books	Web-surfing
Water	Sugar
Getting rid of stuff	Buying stuff
Taking courses	Electronic games
Writing letters	Saying "yes"
Sleep	Texting, esp. thank-you's
Fruits and vegetables	Fried foods
Exercise	TV
Organization	Procrastination

Our Tax Freedom Day, 2019

This was the pile from 2016. The 2018 heap is lower by 10%.

Despite earlier resolve, I couldn't scrounge up any meaningful reductions to the draft worked up in April. Today was the final date extensions were due for filing one's 2018 Federal and State income tax returns. We actually mailed them last week.

The paperwork has gone down over the years. We've been simplifying our financial lives by getting rid of small accounts, which reduces fees and saves time opening the mail and filing documents away.

Tax Freedom Day is popularly known as the date average Americans start working for themselves, assuming government gets first claim when the New Year starts. For us Tax Freedom Day is when we file our returns.

We'll enjoy the next few weeks, then start looking at the 2019 picture for ourselves and a few others.

A Cheery Weekend

5-10 year-old non-functioning electronics

Bye-bye old tax returns

Foster City holds free e-waste and paper-shredding events at City Hall on a semi-annual basis. And so it was that we piled broken-down electronic equipment and old tax returns and medical files into the car this morning.

First was the disposal of documents, which we watched enter the shredding truck. Next was the equipment, from which we had removed any memory devices that could have contained sensitive information.

I had also been concerned that the recyclers wouldn't accept the mercury-containing fluorescent and compact-fluorescent bulbs, which many hardware stores now refuse to accept. No worries, they took everything.

It only took a few hours on a rainy Saturday, but the stress-relieving effects of clearing the clutter made for a cheery weekend.

Clearing the Clothes Clutter

(Clothing flowchart from WSJ)

This year marks the 10th anniversary of my resolution to clear the clutter. We conduct periodic purges, but like weeds the mess grows back in the absence of constant vigilance.

In 2019 I'm going to focus on just one area: the closet. There are too many ties and suits, some of which have never been worn this century.

Other items can't be worn again unless I lose 25 pounds. Even if that unlikely event occurred, they're datedness will leave them hanging.

Paring down one's clothes has become a trend:

We’re collectively buying more, yet are continually confronted with the dilemma of what to wear, because these teeming closets often lack organization. The solution: Winnow down our existing wardrobes and then buy less, and with more clarity.

Though challenging, the winnowing part of this strategy is hardly a radical move these days. As clothing consumption has ramped up, so has an equal and opposite movement toward austerity,

On January 1st Netflix began a series hosted by de-cluttering guru Marie Kondo. (Her book is still, miraculously, visible on our crowded nightstand.)

Ms. Kondo says the first place one should attack, before the books, papers, and kitchen, is the closet. These days saying banzai! will offend some ears, so we'll just say "onward."

Out With the Old, In With the Older

An acquaintance's house sold much more quickly than expected, and she had two days to vacate. And so it was that she was happy to sell us for a few hundred dollars furniture that had cost her well over $1,000. (I was still basking in the afterglow of last week's clutter reduction and would have declined the deal, but I don't make these decisions.)

The bottom section had begun to separate from the main body of our new but old rosewood cabinet, so I spent a couple of days gluing and clamping (one day per side). Houses and calendars fill up quickly without constant vigilance.

Continuing the Decluttering

Continuing the decluttering begun earlier this week, we took a dozen pair of old shoes to the donation bin outside Marina Foods in San Mateo. The member of our household who thinks of these things tied the shoelaces so that the pairs would stay together. She's thoughtful that way.

Comments:
1) None of these shoes was mine.
2) The donated shoes were all in better shape than the ones I currently wear.
3) The younger generation is pickier (you may choose a different word, dear reader).
4) On the other hand, I could be a cheapskate.
5) Both (3) and (4) could be true.

Garbage Out

After months of procrastination, I called Recology for a bulky-item pickup. The original strategy of sorting the trash and clutter then calling the garbage company wasn't working. I needed a deadline--which was today--to focus.

Once started, the process was easier than expected. The guideline for the household was: don't agonize over an item, when in doubt, keep it. Even so we had enough for two pickups.

Out to the curb went an unrepairable exercise bike, used carpet, a beat-up particle-board cabinet, a Samsonite suitcase that had served us for 30 years but wasn't immortal, cracked plastic containers, and a tattered office chair, not to mention six trash bags. There was momentary suspense when the truck came: did we set out too much? was there an item that didn't fit the criteria? No, they took everything.

We spend most of our lives acquiring stuff, and happiness is achieved by getting rid of it.

At the Neighborhood Supermarket

On the far left side, next to the restrooms, of the neighborhood Lucky Store is the resting place for items that are destined for the scavenger companies. The sole reason to buy something from the markdown shelves is price--maybe the kids would still like some Valentine candy, or 50 cents for a 2018 calendar, still good for 10 months, ain't bad.

Bottles from the Francis Ford Coppola winery were parked next to the power-steering fluid and engine oil. The movie-themed labels would be good conversation starters.

I passed. Bargains like these are the reason that clearing the clutter is a perpetual New Year's resolution.

Always a Borrower Be

Our books have been on the shelves for years but were
newer and in better shape than others that were donated.

Only a small sliver of the population engages in extreme hoarding, but there's a much larger group who are hoarders of a category---for example, clothes or computer equipment---that alone can clutter the living space.

My own weakness is books; parting with one is psychologically like forever closing the door to the book's discoveries. I began sorting through a tall bookcase last week and found that there were many books that I didn't care about, i.e., old non-fiction texts, children's stories, and suspense novels that no longer had mystery. We boxed them and took them to the San Mateo Public Library, which is having a book sale in September.

I renewed my library card and borrowed On the Road, which I had always meant to read. I now intend to borrow most books instead of buying them: 1) The groaning bookshelves can barely handle more weight; 2) The existence of a due-date forces me to buckle down and read books that enter the home. We'll see.

Safe Spaces? How About Just Spaces

I can't stand show-offs. (interior design LV)

Sometimes you read something and you realize, "Hey! That's me."

“We’re starting to realize that our very expensive cars are sitting in the driveway while we’re housing our inexpensive stuff—and even junk—in the garage.”

But I'm not as bad as the bottom 25%:

One in four people said they can’t fit even one car into their garage.

Besides, my cars are not that expensive. They are machines that can be replaced, unlike those out-of-print magazines from 40 years ago...

Equivalent Caution

Contents of old hard drives were copied to the current
computer using a Sabrent docking station.

On Saturday we took three boxes of electronics equipment to the local YMCA for its e-waste fundraiser.

The most time-consuming part was separating the wheat from the chaff. We spent several hours going through boxes of retired/broken computers, disk drives, printers, keyboards, and cables. A few still-useful items were rescued.

Also, we finally downloaded and wiped data from a couple of hard disks that were to go to the recycler.

"Let the buyer beware" is a hoary principle of commerce. In contemporary America disposing of the stuff so carefully acquired requires an equivalent caution.

Clearing One's Debts....or Not

Like many others, I like to do a bit of tidying up before the New Year....no, not the major clutter-clearing project that I've been putting off, but the low-hanging fruit of year-end charitable contributions (both money and used articles), paying off medical bills that required extensive analysis, and dumping magazines that I never got around to reading.

Concerning the second item, paying off one's debts--even small ones--is liberating. They nag at your humble observer's conscience, and reminder notices are a cause of ongoing stress.

(Image from Fox News)

That's why I never understand rich people who don't pay debts that they can easily handle (unless they're questionable or there's some moral principle involved). Carly Fiorina, ex-HP CEO and failed California Republican candidate for the Senate, is gearing up for a Presidential run [bold added]:

In 2010, Fiorina and husband Frank claimed a combined net worth of $30 million to $120 million....her 2010 campaign still owes $486,418 to creditors. Who wants a deadbeat for president?

Like the evil George Wickham in “Pride and Prejudice,” Fiorina skipped California owing buckets of cash to her one-time pals. She owes $60,000 to former campaign manager Marty Wilson, who now works for the California Chamber of Commerce, and another $20,000 to his former communications firm. She shorted her lawyer Ben Ginsberg, formerly of Patton Boggs, to the tune of $44,000. She owes $3,750 to a former press secretary, $5,000 to another communications aide and $7,500 to her erstwhile political director. She stiffed political consultant Joe Shumate, who died in 2010, to the tune of $30,000. (Yes, she stiffed a stiff — even though she lauded Shumate as a “trusted adviser and friend” upon his death.)

Based on this track record, why would any political consultants or lawyers do any paid work for her?

it takes a certain kind of brass to not pay off your political operatives, and then set up shop to run for the highest office in the land. [Former campaign manager Marty] Wilson isn’t sure who will want to work for Fiorina, but he does offer a suggestion for Fiorina 2.0: Ask for the money up front.

"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend." In Carly Fiorina's case she'll lose a lot of votes, too.