THE GOOD AND THE BAD

No, I'm not comparing my posts to those other bloggers.

I've started the decluttering and clearing in advance of putting the house on the market.

It's a big job and while daunting it seems that it won't be as great a job as I thought. Last year I decluttered the basement and the shed quite a bit with trailer loads taken to the tip. On checking today it seems that two or three trailer loads should do the job getting rid of junk and those things that I saved 'just in case'.

I was going to hire a skip which would be dropped at the bottom of the drive and picked up 7 days later at a cost of $580. It looks like I won't need that and will make do with using the trailer at about $60 a pop at the tip for each load. This also is a bit more flexible and takes away the risk of 'fly-tippers' putting stuff in the skip overnight.

Yesterday, when browsing Neighbourly (Facebook) I spied on the local site a woman's request for a queen size bed in good condition. I replied that we had one in excellent condition and put The Old Girl on the case. The woman and her husband came around the next hour, took away the bed and left uswith $350. All parties were pleased. To be honest, the bed from the spare room was going to be surplus to requirements (if we get a 3 bedroom apartment in Wellington the third bedroom will be used as a study with the couch that folds out to a bed in it). I was going to give it away on FreeStuff.

I listed the snooker table on Friday and it is generating a lot of interest already so, even given the moving logistics is likely to sell soon and at a price greater than I expected.

I've been sorting through the cupboards and placed two more Trade Me listings, both for new and unused items - the Muckboots I bought in February and  an hp Sprocket Studio photograph printer that for som reason I never used. There will be quite a few other items to go as well.

The Old Girl and I identified most of what we have and designated as Take, Sell, Give Away or Dump. Today Under Give Away or Dump I sorted through electronic and computer gear and filled six large boxes with keyboards, mice, computer cables, two printers, an old laptop, speakers, phone systems, WiFi routers, obsolete gadgets and devices, earphones and earbuds - Uncle Tom Cobley and all - this time not going to Widecombe Fair but to recycling depots.

I'd checked on the internet as to where computer and electronic gear could be disposed of and was advised that Noel Leeming and The Warehouse (Stationery), out of the goodness of their hearts (or heart seeing that they are owned by the same company) were accepting obsolete gear for recycling. I loaded up the car and. after a long wait at Noel Leeming was told that their bin was full so they couldn't take anything. They suggested the rubbish tip!

I drove across to the other side of the very large shopping centre to The Warehouse and, after another very long wait was told that they don't accept recycled material. After reminding the assistant that their very own website indeed said that they did she told me, after checking, that their recycle bin was collected by Noel Leeming so maybe I should go there. This seemed like the old circular runaround I get on Robert's blog so I told her that I'd cut out the middleman and take the stuff to the tip. My cynical side suggested to me that this is just a marketing and PR bullshit exercise that these companies put on their website to make themselves feel good and to hoodwink their buying public.

As I was heading out to go to the tip I spied the RSPCA Op Shop across the road and so went there. The helpful young woman told  me that they don't accept printers (including the near new and operative one I was giving away), phones or phone systems, videos and internet gear. She did say that they take computer cables and, as luck would have it the biggest box of items I had contained dozens and dozens or computer cables and connections. I left that with her and went to the tip - or, as it is called nowadays, the resource centre.

It cost me $22 to leave my valuable stuff at the E-Waste section of the tip, piling the printers, phone systems and other computer and electronic gadgetry on top of other very valuable looking items. Job done.

I was pleased to have emptied several cupboards and storage boxes in the attic with this stuff but was also distressed at the waste of resources that our modern age has forced on us. There is too much planned obsolescence all in the name of increasing sales and demand. No wonder the earth is fucked.

Tomorrow, as the weather forecast is great (typical that - as we've decided to move Northland is turning on stunning weather). I'll go under the house and level out my 'diggings' and then stain the deck. I'll go to tennis first though.

Small bites - that's the plan.