The world of communications is changing so rapidly there is almost no time to reflect on what we have lost. Every day the items and processes that people relied upon for centuries have achieved artifact status in a mere decade or two.  Take letter writing, for example.  Historians and biographers have depended on letters as primary source material for their works. Songs like “Please Mr. Postman’, Joe Cocker’s “The Letter” or “Sealed with a Kiss” showed us how letters served the cause of romance for generations.  Years ago, children were encouraged to have pen pals all over the world, not only to improve their writing skills but to promote cross-cultural understanding. On the flip side, society was perennially plagued by insidious chain letters, threatening doom and bankruptcy to those daring enough to break the chain.

Honestly, when was the last time you sat down to write a letter by hand? Or, for that matter, can you remember the last time you received one from a friend or relative? Yes, we realize that you are still getting lots of mail at home, even if it is not welcome. There are still bills, charitable solicitations, holiday cards, ad mail and the occasional post card from a friend on a trip that typically arrives weeks after the sender has returned.  By today’s standards letter writing is often a complex and arduous task involving multiple steps. You have to find a pen, compose, look up the address and postal code, locate a stamp, put it in an envelope, remember to take it with you when you leave the house and finally, get it to a mailbox. Compare all this to breaking your personal news to cast of hundreds on Facebook with the touch of a finger.

This brings us to today’s CRUD (completely ridiculous useless debris) topic: stationery. Stationery is one of those homonyms often confused with its counterpart- the word stationary.

Stationary is an adjective that means not moving or intended to be moved.  The stationery we refer to includes boxes of writing paper and envelopes, note cards and the like. This stationery is designed for consumption, to be used up over time over the course of written exchanges. Yet, like other household CRUD rife with good intentions, its purpose goes unrealized.  Boxes of personalized stationery and cards remain imprisoned in their decorative boxes wedged into the backs of desk drawers or closet shelves, until you are moving or just had a flood.

CRUD Challenge

If you are holding on to reams of unused stationery either because you are hoping to catch up on your correspondence when you retire or expecting a major power failure that will render your computer  useless for several months, you need to re-jig your thinking.  If you are planning on keep some cards and paper around, make them in visible. That way you are more likely to use some of the backlog when the occasion arises. A certain proportion of those blank sheets are going to have to go.  How will you decide? Think about discarding (no pun intended) personalized stationery embossed with your former monogram (if you are divorced), or former addresses (how many times have you moved). Do you have any pads of that ultra-thin airmail stationery with the red and blue bordered envelopes designed to save on postage?  Then sort your collection of blank cards by occasion. Donate extras.  Church and religious groups are good candidates for the giveaways as they still make extensive use of cards as thank-you notes and such. There is one more category worthy of purging.  While you are sorting, you will come across cards without envelopes and vice-versa.  Like food containers minus matching lids, we recommend recycling.

When you have cleaned out as many junk drawers as we have, you get a pretty good sense of what to expect.  Among the crumbs, pennies, drink umbrellas and snapshots, we will spot the occasional matchbook.  Hardly surprising. Fewer people smoke, especially in their homes. Yet it may be worth noting that there are a fair number of  people who collect matchbooks, in significant volume.

There was a time when matches were free. They came gratis with packs of cigarettes. In the 1940s and 1950s matchbooks became a major advertising vehicle for restaurants, hotels, watering holes and other businesses. Matchbooks covers were emblazoned with the images of the tony establishments.  One would think they served a similar purpose to the cocktail napkin in their day; that of hastily capturing a phone number or an address from someone you have just met. Matchbooks provided invaluable clues to movie detectives as to the whereabouts of witnesses and criminals under investigation. All of this background is to let you know they were very easy to get. After all, everyone was giving them away.

We understand the appeal that matchbooks project as collectables.  Matchbooks are miniature mementos of a bygone era – an era, in comparison to our current one,   that exudes way more sophistication and glamor.  As children, were taught to fear matches and stay away from them, fire starters that they are.  They harken back to a time before the Surgeon General’s report.  Seeing those matchbooks with their iconic imagery, does sometimes make one nostalgic for naivety. Now all we have are those tacky, plastic, disposable lighters.

Let’s fast forward to the present.  If you have a matchbook collection, when was the last time you remember seeing it? Our guess is that the collections are housed in giant glass brandy snifters, like the size required for a nightcap for Mighty Joe young. We guarantee they these vessels will be covered in a blanket of dust and cobwebs.

CRUD Challenge

Perhaps the only thing holding you back from parting with your matchbooks is lack of knowledge. Maybe you are concerned with safe disposal. The whole point of this CRUD purge is not to burn down the house. If you are so inclined, you might want to check on eBay where serious collectors are trolling to see if you can make some money by selling. Put a couple of books in your daypack.  You might need them for hiking or camping. If you simply want them to disappear, we recommend that you thoroughly soak your matchbooks in water before stashing them in the garbage. Run the glass snifter through the dishwasher. You could re-purpose the container for the hard candies you crave since you quit smoking.

It is Christmas Eve. As usual, you have waited until the last minute to do your shopping.  The store is closing and you are down to the last couple of distant relatives on your list.  You have just about exhausted your imagination and your budget.  In a moment of sheer desperation you succumb to grabbing a pair of Dearfoams to take to the cash register, feeling a momentary twinge of remorse for selecting the lowest common denominator of holiday gifts.  The feeling vanishes the moment you are out in the parking lot, thankful that this ordeal will not come to pass for another year.  Undoubtedly, the identical scenario is repeated across the nation by thousands of weary shoppers every holiday season, thus accounting for the abundance of bedroom slippers over-populating the closet floors of North America.

There are millions of women who can simply not resist a pair or 6 inch pumps or a well formed pair of leather riding boots.  Their footwear receive the kind of care and attention some men reserve for sports cars or expensive motorcycles; meaning that they are stored in hermetically sealed environments and are never taken out in bad weather. Slippers, however, are often subjected to abuse and neglect. They often end up separated from their mates and remain under the bed for decades.  Slippers double as chew toys for dogs.  When they age, they get worn outside for chores like putting out the garbage. What started out a delicate pink soon takes on the hues of army fatigues.

Perhaps it is because we work predominately with older people, but in some homes we find upwards of 10 or 15 pairs of slippers.  Some have matching robes.  The majority encompass random styles from the hardly worn to the threadbare.  In these cases, a measure of editing would be most welcome.

CRUD Challenge

If you are among the recipients of countless pairs of slipper gifts, then this challenge will come as some relief. Slippers can be donated provided they meet hygiene requirements.  You can begin to separate the CRUD (Completely Ridiculous Useless Debris) slippers from those you admire. Toss any that sport teeth marks, holes in the uppers or soles or even if they started out as pastels have transformed into any one of fifty shades of grey. Next eliminate any pairs designed to resemble small furry animals (bunnies, puppies, et al). Remember that you are a grown-up. If you have other pairs still lurking around that you seldom wear, why not re-purpose them as slippers for your guests that you keep by your front door. Your white carpets will be extremely grateful.

Pablo Picasso is credited with saying “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” With this, there is no dispute.  Art enriches our lives and homes. But what about the dust that collects on our art, especially the pieces that are unhung or unloved?  Art in general occupies an exalted place, practically exempt from consideration when it comes time to de-clutter.  As professional downsizers we work with lots of clients coming to grips with too much art. If they are moving to a smaller residence with less wall space, they know that some paintings and photos will go with them and others will not.  These are hard decisions fraught with pangs of guilt, steeped in personal history and often a mistaken sense of inflated value. That accounts for one half of the dilemma.  The other relates to distribution.  If you don’t want a painting or sculpture, are you going to be able to find someone to take it off your hands?

People collect art for different reasons. Some people collect art as an investment. Art is often introduced into the home by interior designers to match specific themes or colors in the décor. A great deal of art is passed down in families from one generation to another.  Art is also self-generated encompassing everything from a preschooler’s squiggles to framed photography or needlepoint.  Art gets purchased as souvenirs from vacations. We also get works of art as gifts.  When you add it all up, including the framed maps, quotations, religious symbols, certificates and posters that date back to your dorm room, we are talking volume.

As our lives progress, our taste and aesthetic sensibilities change..  Many people regularly edit their wardrobes or upgrade appliances and electronics over time. Art just endures.

CRUD Challenge

Calm down.  There is no reason to take umbrage.  We are merely suggesting that like other forms of domestic overload, art must be viewed with a critical eye.  Art falls victim to CRUD (Completely Ridiculous Useless Debris) status when it we no longer appreciate it.  If you are looking to slim down, start with the pictures and sculptures that have not seen daylight for at least a decade.   Here are some examples: posters and paintings you never framed; inexpensive prints you inherited that are still in the boxes you cleared from your parents’ home; string art; any painting done on black velvet; pictures you are saving only to re-purpose the frames and those Keane paintings with the kids with the big eyes from the 1960s.

Once you have identified your candidates for removal you will have to do some research. Contact a certified appraiser for anything you want to have evaluated. The remainder could go to friends and family members (particularly the family heirlooms), charitable organizations consignment and thrift stores and some can be recycled.  Consider re-framing some of the artwork you decide to keep, giving the pieces a fresh new look.  We often counsel clients to rotate their art, so as not to overcrowd their limited wall space. Use this exercise as an opportunity to collect some new images as replacements for the old stuff, just as long as they don’t depict clowns.