A thousand details
28/10/20 23:34
The process of getting our home ready for sale has involved a lot of interruptions. I’ll be working on a project and then I have to switch gears and work on another one. After having moved the furniture out of the house, I am able to see a project or two all the way to completion each day, but others remain unfinished. Yesterday just before lunch, the interruption was that the vacuum cleaner wasn’t working. I took a quick look at it and the beater wasn’t turning. The most likely reason was that the belt needed to be replaced. I took the machine apart and that was the case. As I prepared to head to town to purchase a new belt, there was a brief discussion.
“The vacuum cleaner is more than 10 years old. Maybe it is time to get rid of it. It would be one less thing to move and we could get a new one when we get there. Because we are having the carpets professionally cleaned, we don’t really need it here.” “On the other hand, it is just a belt. It seems wasteful to throw away a vacuum for the want of a $5 part. I think this is the first belt that has gone on this vacuum, which means that they last 10 years. That’s only 50 cents per year if the belt costs what I think it does. Even if it is double the cost, it seems like a small investment.” “But you have to consider the time it takes to go to town and get a belt and the issue of moving one more thing.” “I’ve already taken it apart. It doesn’t make sense to put it back together without a new belt.”
That isn’t really an accurate report of the conversation and there were three of us involved in the discussion, but I ended up making a trip to town to get the belt and we thought of a couple of other things to do on that trip. When I got to the hardware store, the $5 price was accurate, but the package contained two belts, not one. Two belts for a total of $5.29 with tax. I had a $5 coupon for the store, so it was 29 cents out of pocket. I pulled out a quarter and took four pennies from the penny cup on the counter.
The new belt was quickly replaced and the vacuum put together. It is working very well - just like it did when it was new. Now I had the problem of what to do with the extra belt. I know form the process of packing up our household and having much of it still in boxes that it would be easy to get the belt someplace where I would never find it when I need it. I know it is only worth $2.50 and I was willing to pay $10 earlier in the day. Still, I hate to waste such an item. The solution was to leave the belt in its plastic bag and tape the bag to the back of the vacuum for the rest of our time in this house and for the move to our house in Washington.
On to the next adventure! The only things left at the storage unit are books which will be delivered today to a friend’s garden shed where they will be stored until the AAUW book sale next spring. That gets us out of the rental storage before the end of the month. A quick sweep out and we can inform the rental agent that the space is available for the next renter. As long as we are delivering the books, we can load up a few other items that are being donated. We’ll have a pickup load by the time we get everything ready to deliver. Then, when we’ve delivered those items it should be time to load up for another trip to the dump. We’ve got a utility bill from the city, so we can dump a pickup load for free. I just need to make sure that the utility bill is in the pickup. What else am I forgetting.
We’ve got a couple of boxes of items that need to be shredded - old receipts that we had saved and no longer need to keep, cancelled checks (remember when you used to get your checks back from the bank with the statement, when the statement came in the mail as pieces of paper?). There are a few other things that need attention. There are a couple of papers that I need to have copied. Our printer is now in Washington, so that means a stop at the office supply store to make a couple of copies.
It is beginning to feel like the chores on the “to do” list will expand to fill any amount of time that we allow. The truck needs an oil change. The carpet cleaners haven’t been scheduled yet. The chimney sweep hasn’t returned my call. We need to put a forwarding order on the mail. The USPS doesn’t forward magazines, so we need to make sure that we’ve changed the appropriate addresses. I can get a free tire rotation for the car before we leave. I’ll have to pay to have that job done in Washington. Utility companies need to be called to inform them of the change in ownership. Hmm . . . what am I forgetting?
I still have a 21 year-old-car with 293,000 miles on it. At the most it is worth $500, but probably less. We plan to donate it - it is the least amount of hassle. But that means that I need to get it cleaned out and remove any things I’ve stashed in it. And I need to get out the title and have it ready. And I need to fill out the online donation form and arrange for it to be picked up.
I’m pretty sure that there are a lot of other things that I’m forgetting.
It is a good thing I’m retired. I don’t seem to have time to go to work.
“The vacuum cleaner is more than 10 years old. Maybe it is time to get rid of it. It would be one less thing to move and we could get a new one when we get there. Because we are having the carpets professionally cleaned, we don’t really need it here.” “On the other hand, it is just a belt. It seems wasteful to throw away a vacuum for the want of a $5 part. I think this is the first belt that has gone on this vacuum, which means that they last 10 years. That’s only 50 cents per year if the belt costs what I think it does. Even if it is double the cost, it seems like a small investment.” “But you have to consider the time it takes to go to town and get a belt and the issue of moving one more thing.” “I’ve already taken it apart. It doesn’t make sense to put it back together without a new belt.”
That isn’t really an accurate report of the conversation and there were three of us involved in the discussion, but I ended up making a trip to town to get the belt and we thought of a couple of other things to do on that trip. When I got to the hardware store, the $5 price was accurate, but the package contained two belts, not one. Two belts for a total of $5.29 with tax. I had a $5 coupon for the store, so it was 29 cents out of pocket. I pulled out a quarter and took four pennies from the penny cup on the counter.
The new belt was quickly replaced and the vacuum put together. It is working very well - just like it did when it was new. Now I had the problem of what to do with the extra belt. I know form the process of packing up our household and having much of it still in boxes that it would be easy to get the belt someplace where I would never find it when I need it. I know it is only worth $2.50 and I was willing to pay $10 earlier in the day. Still, I hate to waste such an item. The solution was to leave the belt in its plastic bag and tape the bag to the back of the vacuum for the rest of our time in this house and for the move to our house in Washington.
On to the next adventure! The only things left at the storage unit are books which will be delivered today to a friend’s garden shed where they will be stored until the AAUW book sale next spring. That gets us out of the rental storage before the end of the month. A quick sweep out and we can inform the rental agent that the space is available for the next renter. As long as we are delivering the books, we can load up a few other items that are being donated. We’ll have a pickup load by the time we get everything ready to deliver. Then, when we’ve delivered those items it should be time to load up for another trip to the dump. We’ve got a utility bill from the city, so we can dump a pickup load for free. I just need to make sure that the utility bill is in the pickup. What else am I forgetting.
We’ve got a couple of boxes of items that need to be shredded - old receipts that we had saved and no longer need to keep, cancelled checks (remember when you used to get your checks back from the bank with the statement, when the statement came in the mail as pieces of paper?). There are a few other things that need attention. There are a couple of papers that I need to have copied. Our printer is now in Washington, so that means a stop at the office supply store to make a couple of copies.
It is beginning to feel like the chores on the “to do” list will expand to fill any amount of time that we allow. The truck needs an oil change. The carpet cleaners haven’t been scheduled yet. The chimney sweep hasn’t returned my call. We need to put a forwarding order on the mail. The USPS doesn’t forward magazines, so we need to make sure that we’ve changed the appropriate addresses. I can get a free tire rotation for the car before we leave. I’ll have to pay to have that job done in Washington. Utility companies need to be called to inform them of the change in ownership. Hmm . . . what am I forgetting?
I still have a 21 year-old-car with 293,000 miles on it. At the most it is worth $500, but probably less. We plan to donate it - it is the least amount of hassle. But that means that I need to get it cleaned out and remove any things I’ve stashed in it. And I need to get out the title and have it ready. And I need to fill out the online donation form and arrange for it to be picked up.
I’m pretty sure that there are a lot of other things that I’m forgetting.
It is a good thing I’m retired. I don’t seem to have time to go to work.
