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Goodbye makes the journey harder . .

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.   The first post I wrote this year was about getting rid of “stuff”.   I have been doing a great job getting rid of stuff and I am finding that I have a lot more than I thought I had.  For the most part I have been able to toss out, recycle or donate the items that I have been storing in various drawers, cupboards and closets for years.   I have been doing a little each day.  If I continue to take more out of the house each week than I bring into it I may eventually reach my goal of living in a clutter free environment.  

We start accumulating stuff at a young age.  Our parents and in-laws give us stuff  and then when our children move out they leave stuff and we buy stuff because that is who we are.  

It was hard to do but this week I actually tossed out my  collection of badges from various conferences that I have attended or spoken at during the past five years.  It was hard to say good bye to them all but it was time to let go.   

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Conference Badges

Sniff . . . 

What are you hanging onto?  

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A blast from the past

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

These are some treasures I found last weekend when I spent some time going through old files.  I found a treasure trove of marketing materials for projects that did not go as planned.   I have kept some of the marketing materials from the downtown St. Paul condo projects because they can come in handy for marketing ideas when I list a condo for resale.  

I did not have the heart to toss out the marketing pieces I found from the projects that were never built.  The builders would host these big open houses for Realtors with food and wine and they would answer our questions and send us on our way with marketing materials, business cards and price lists.  It seems like just yesterday . . .and it has been some time since I have been wined and dined by a builder. 

 
The past
The past

We do have plenty of housing downtown, 65 condo type units on the market, starting at a mere $35,000 and on up to 2.8 million dollars.  I have a wonderful unit at the Rossmor that we are running a special on this week.

 
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More De-cluttering

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 Making resolutions for the new year is easy but sticking with them isn’t so easy.  Again this year one of my resolutions was to get rid of stuff that I don’t need.  I have been making at least one trip a week to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store on West 7th street and have been dropping off a few items each time.

This week in addition to some coffee mugs and kitchen utensils I dropped off a bunch of ethernet cables, a hundred miles of phone cable and a grip of USB cables.   They will be sold for twenty five cents each.  

I took the picture before I found several more cables but you get the idea.  Some were in the original  wrapper because every time I buy a new USB device a cable is included.  I am not sure where all the phone cable came from.  I saved one ethernet cable and a phone cable just in case and I still have more USB cables than USB ports even though I have a seven port hub. 

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cords and cables

One of the disadvantages of having a home office is that it is super easy to accumulate stuff.  

Also see Out with the old and in with the new

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The week of broken things

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  It really wasn’t a bad week but it wasn’t a good one either.  One of the downsides to being self employed is keeping all of the electronic equipment and computers working.  Right now I am having trouble with two pieces of technology that I can not even look at without wanting to scream or cry.  It has been one of those weeks when I feel like I am the only thing in my office that works.

In between fixing things I managed to get some work done sell some real estate and do more of that de-cluttering that I mentioned on New Years day.  My paper shredder broke but I had 8 pounds of paper shredded by a professional, for a mere $.79 a pound and I managed to get rid of some holiday “stuff” by taking it to the local thrift shop.  They actually like stuff and re-sell it. The store kind of looks like a more organized and cleaner version of my basement.

I have a before and after picture of my top desk drawer and yes the crayons are mine and no I do not use them to write real estate contracts.  We use electronic contracts.

desk drawer
desk drawer

Everything in the drawer works, it is all low tech.  I was thrilled to discover that I have a life time supply of paper clips, staples and glue sticks.  I have no idea what I will use the pile of thumb tacks for but at least I know where to find them and I think they all work. 

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