T.G.I.F.

5/7/10 Books, body cream, and a jump rope, given away

Had to go back to the well, today.

After a long week and a lot of late nights, I needed an easy downsize to recharge. Taking stuff to school is always an easy downsize.

Here's the rundown:

A Walk in the Woods, to Jane Morse

First four books in the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, to Tammy Ashbury

Jump rope, to Bob Austen

Sudoku book, to Li Gowell (visiting for the day to coach me)

Variety of Mary Kay products, given to a certain male faculty member who will make his wife believe it was all a spontaneous Mother's Day gift.

Another productive Friday at work.

Desk job

5/6/10 Bag of desk items, trashed; Bag of desk items, recycled

Big project tonight, but it turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I tackled my desk, vowing to remove EVERYTHING from it.

I set out two boxes, a trash can, and a paper bag and determined that every item from the desk could go in one of the four containers.

The first box was for things I wanted to keep. The goal here was not to get them organized, but just to get all the things I wanted to hold on to in one place.

The second box was for items that I no longer wanted, but could be sold or given away. Again, anything I thought would have value to somebody went into the box. I figured I'd worry about sorting through it later.

The trash can was for... well, you've figured that out.

And the recycle bag was for those things that I, nor anyone else, had any need to keep, but could be recycled because they were paper or plastic.

In less than an hour I had the desk cleared and everything in one of the containers.

Fifteen minutes after that, I posted an ad on craigslist trying to sell the desk, itself. (If you're reading this within a few days of posting, you can probably check out the craigslist posting here.)

Yep, things are happening fast around here.

Happiest Assassin on the Block

5/5/10 The Happiest Baby on the Block book and DVD, given away

I've been told that downsizing is nearly impossible with children, but so far Joanna and I seem to be doing a pretty good job of getting rid of Chase's stuff almost as fast as it comes in. Fortunately, he hasn't started complaining.

One of the truly useful resources we discovered in the Cajun Critter's first two months was Dr. Karp's aptly-named "Happiest Baby on the Block" book and DVD. Dr. Karp's theory is that the first three months of a child's life are the child's "fourth trimester" and so the key to calming a crying baby is to simulate the womb.

First, I totally buy the Fourth Trimester argument since it dovetails with the Darwinian argument that human babies, thanks to our two evolutionary leaps of upright walking and larger brains, need to be born premature in order to exit their mother. Getting popped out into the real world a few months too early would be rough on anyone, so it makes sense that some babies take some time to adjust.

This also brings to mind my favorite Ray Bradbury story, "The Small Assassin," in which a newborn is so ticked at having to leave the womb that he sets out to kill his family. Yeah, I supposed that's a little twisted, but it made for a great story.

Anyway, Chase is clearly beyond fourth trimester stage, so we are ready to pass the learning on to others. Today, Joanna and the Brilliant Boy made a house call to one of Joanna's friends, Michelle, whose baby is due any minute. In addition to bringing cheer and encouragement, Joanna also handed off this book and DVD.

We hope Michelle will find them as helpful as we did.

After all, Chase made no assassination attempts during his early months, so that pretty much proves Dr. Karp knows what he's talking about.

Swimmingly

5/4/10 Three pool waterbags, trashed

Today likely marked another major milestone. I've worked on our swimming pool for the last time. Yes!

When we bought our house, I was completely psyched to have my own swimming pool. What kid hasn't dreamed about having a house with a pool someday? I did, and there was definitely some of that kid peeping out when we first walked onto our property.

In many ways, the pool has been great. It's a dream to float around on a hot summer day, a book in one hand and a beer in the other. Yes, six summers at the Casco Cabin gave me many afternoons like that.

But, a pool is also a lot of work, especially at the beginning and end of the season. As a dedicated do-it-yourselfer, I quickly learned how to close and open the pool (as well as how to do all the maintenance in between). Opening is always the worst, because my mind loves to imagine the million things that can go wrong over the winter: the liner ripped, the pump got plugged up, the filter developed a leak, the skimmer line cracked, and (my personal favorite) a skunk crawled under the cover, drowned, and has decomposed in the bottom of the pool.

As the final stage of our house inspection, the buyers of our house wanted to make sure the pool was in working condition. May 4th is WAY too early to open a pool in Maine, but I agreed to pull the cover back part-way and hook up the pump and filter to show that everything worked. In doing so, I discovered that three of the water bags that help hold the cover on over the winter had sprung leaks and were now worthless in their original capacity.

When other water bags ripped in the past, I, of course, held onto them. This time, I contemplated putting them back on the cover when I pulled it back over the pool, using them as a pad under the cinder blocks. My mind naturally defaulted to "keep 'em" mode, figuring that surely the new owner would have use for eighteen feet of blue plastic. Who wouldn't.

Fine. I'll haul them to the dump.

Inspection over, the pool is temporarily closed again, hopefully until ownership has shifted to others, who will assume all that responsibility of maintaining the watery monstrosity.

Of course, they also get to do the bit with the book and the beer, so no need to feel sorry for them.

Diaper dandy, part II

5/3/10 Around thirty cloth diapers and covers, sold for $213

There are many great reasons to use cloth diapers: better for the planet, reduce waste, healthier for your child, save money.

Here's one of the best reasons: when you're done you can downsize them to someone else, helping to usher others into this growing community of cloth diaper disciples.

Joanna's friend and colleague Lori visited today. In addition to giving Joanna some much-needed company and Chase some always-appreciated attention, she also bought all of the diapers that the Brilliant Boy has outgrown. She got them at a great price, we made some money, and the REUSE part of the famous Mobius triangle wins again.

I must acknowledge that almost all of our first round of cloth diapers were given to us as gifts by friends and family. While cloth diapering can save parents thousands of dollars (click here for a cool analysis), it does require an initial investment, since a dozen cloth diapers sure cost a lot more than a box of Pampers. (Trust me, you want to click on that Pampers link.)

As the beneficiaries of so many gift diapers, not only did we save a ton of money, but we also had the opportunity to try out many different styles and designs. Now, as Chase grows and we need to buy our own new cloth diapers, we can make better decisions about the "systems" that work best for him and us.

I like to think that Lori will have the same advantage now that she's got our diapers as a starter set and Joanna's knowledge and advice to get her going.

Plus, when we're ready to downsize his next set of diapers, we've got her squarely in our sights.

Saw

5/2/10 Craftsman 10" table saw, sold on craigslist for $65

When Joanna and I got married, moved to Maine, and bought our house, a reoccurring theme quickly developed.

We needed a barbecue. My folks gave us their barbecue.

We needed a lawn mower. My folks gave us their lawn mower.

We needed a power saw. My folks gave us their table saw.

The saw was a direct result of one of our early home-making projects, which was to build a set of raised beds for our garden. Joanna found a design and I agreed to make them. Naturally, rather than going out an buying a circular saw, I had my Dad truck his 300-pound table saw over here.

I used it to make the raised beds and then promptly stored it in our shed for the remaining years. Of course, eventually I did go purchase a circular saw (all on my own -- guess I'm a big boy, now), since it's far more practical than a table saw when you don't have a workshop to store the table saw in.

While my shed is no good as a workshop, it's also not so great for storage, and for six years the table saw has occupied about a quarter of the total space in there. Earlier this week, Dad gave the go-ahead for me to try to unload it on craigslist.

As I have mentioned before, my father is a world-class barterer, so I think of him every time someone DOESN'T try to negotiate the price of something I'm selling. It's actually a bit baffling. I set some random price and people contact me (if they contact me at all), and just say, "I'll take it." The truth is, most of the time if they offered me half of what I'm asking, I'd agree in a heartbeat.

With the saw, I tried to prime the bartering pump by explicitly saying in my craigslist post that the price was negotiable. C'mon, people, work with me here. I'm trying to give you a break.

Subsequently, I enthusiastically entered into my first semi-bidding war. The price went from an initial offer of $50 up to $60. Hey, it's something.

In the end, I actually ended up receiving $65, since the guy showed up in his Pontiac Vibe. Ah, no, the saw wasn't going to fit in that. Great guy that I am (and fearful of losing the sale), I offered to load the saw into my trailer and drive it down to his house. He threw in an extra $5 for the effort.

Best of all, this $65 already has a mission in life. Next Saturday, Dad and I are heading to a Red Sox/Yankees game, so we'll use the cash to bankroll our afternoon. Hey, after all he's done for me, don't you think I should share the wealth?

It should at least get us a couple of hot dogs.

Brick house

5/1/10 Dollhouse furniture & Disney figurines, given away; Bricks, sold on craigslist for $5

Only three months left to go in the Downsizing Challenge, and I kicked of the final quarter-year in pretty big fashion.

First, we mailed a box of children's goodies to Joanna's Aunt Jane. Jane visited us last week, meeting both Chase and me for the first time. She had flown up to Boston from her home in Florida, and Joanna's sister Amanda brought her to our place for the weekend.

We were still sorting through items from Joanna's childhood when Jane arrived, so she dove into the fray. In addition to helping us understand how Joanna's old Christening dress worked, she seemed to have great fun looking through the remaining dollhouse furniture and childhood knick-knacks that escaped this earlier downsize. I had fun just listening to Jane, Joanna, and Amanda laugh the evening away.

Today, we mailed off the entire box of children's stuff to Jane, who will distribute it to her granddaughters. Joanna and Amanda hesitated to give it all away, but can rest easy with the fact that these treasures are staying in the family.

I had no such misgiving with getting rid of a bunch of bricks. These were left over from our porch/patio renovation, which I think, as of Friday, is finally complete. That only took five months.

Getting rid of the bricks turned into a little mini-ordeal, itself, as the guy who first contacted me on craigslist kept canceling his appointments to come and get them. This seems to be an ongoing craigslist problem for me.

In the end, I told him to just come whenever he wanted and take them. When we returned home today, the bricks were gone and an envelope with $5 was stuck in the door.

The final three months are off to a fine start.

Editor's Note, 5/2/10: This is the danger of letting everyone else do the work -- I get my facts wrong. Turns out it wasn't a bunch of dollhouse furniture we sent to Jane. It was a collection of dolls. Even better! Like I always say, "You can have a lot of fun with dolls even if you don't have furniture. But, you can't have much fun if you've got furniture but no dolls." Actually, I think Ben Franklin originally said that.