The Joy of De-cluttering

In 1957 I took part in a Parade of Vintage Motorcycles in the Isle of Man.  Along with my husband we both had an old motor-cycle, mine was a 1922 Velocette (Ladies Model) 2 speed, 220cc, capable of going 50mph downhill while my husband had his rebuilt 1914 New Imperial, no gears, belt driven and one had to jump on it to get it started.

We were members of the Vintage Motorcycle Club in England, and we often took part in rallies and road trials from about the mid-fifties on.   We were invited as a club to parade before the start of the 50th Anniversary of the Senior Motorcycle race. We were all given expenses of four pounds, and what makes it interesting is that they were Isle of Man pound notes. As I had some experience of helping stuff wage pages every Friday in the offices where I worked, I was drafted to help. I remember that in total there were eight hundred pounds involved, which meant that there were two hundred packets to stuff. I was not in charge and I was not listened to when I suggested that we wait to seal the envelopes until we had finished inserting the notes. At the end, we were two pounds short so had to unseal each envelop until we found the two missing bank notes.

The de-cluttering part?  I am going through my usual endeavor to get my paperwork up to date with everything disposed of before I leave this mortal coil.  My ambition is to have every bit of useless paper disposed of; everything filed away in logical order; anything  valuable or interesting to be sent to an appropriate recipient to do with as they wish etc. etc.  I usually make some headway then give up.

Anyway, to come to the point;  I had spent three of my pound notes while in the Isle of Man, but kept one back as a memento and I knew I had it around somewhere in my home and I had not seen it in years.

Finally, I came across it in a box.  So today I decided to Google it and the first page I came to had dozens of I.O.M. pound notes then finally I found the one I had.  It had the serial number F3 1207  while mine had the serial number F4 9542.  They both had the original handwritten signature of the Assistant Manager of the I.O.M Bank.  The poor man had to personally hand-write his signature on every banknote issued.  I guess he  never did get the position of Manager whose signature was printed as part of the note.

The note I googled was valued at $370 British Pounds.  If only I had known then what I know now?

Hypothesis: If all those 800 banknotes had not been used, and were still in perfect condition and all sold @ 370 pounds each, then I was helping to handle well over a quarter of a million pounds (or nearly a million dollars Canadian) in today's money.

KJ ... you never cease to amaze with your wonderful anecdotes.

What a great story Kelejan.  

I, too, am working on getting rid of excess and organizing.  It is a tough go and I find it difficult to stick with it.  I have had a friend come over and help me stay focused for an hour at a time but she now has health problems so that may be at an end.  I do not relish friends and family having to go through all my stuff when I depart.  

Been reading the Joy of Less.  She suggests dividing stuff into Treasure, Trash and Transfer.  

It occurs to me that this should go under Senseless Banter so I will post a copy there.

Rosina: I did think of putting it under Senseless Banter but I put it under "Everything Else" as this de-cluttering is rather business serious to me.  I also do not want to leave my stuff to others to sort out, it is not fair to them.

I also try to de-clutter my computer as I hoard things there as well. I visualise my computer like a four-drawer filing cabinet that gets overstuffed and misfiled, then I  give up and buy another filing cabinet.

With reference to keeping one's home lean and mean, I belong to a site named "Fly Baby", a lady who helps people with problems like mine.  In my piles of paper that I am trying to dispose of, I found  a one-page diary that I started on joining, and that I began with my first day of following her advice. I wrote down everything I did for the first eight days.

Would you believe that this "diary" was dated 27 November, 2005? It has now been resurrected  and continued this morning with my posting on this thread.

I also have lists in my computer with the title "Things To  Do Today", that also works wonderfully well, for a few days.

I take comfort that I am not alone.

Oh, no, you are in good company, KJ!  

This morning the snow has been falling once again, so I decided to do another hour of my de-cluttering.

I started a few minutes ago going through a pile of assorted envelopes that I wanted to recycle by using again, or cutting off the postage stamps  as I cannot resist saving them to perhaps give to one of the younger generation and by the time they grow up they may be worth something. I collected stamps while at school and I think that maybe triggered my squirrel gene.

Anyway, within five minutes I came across a payment envelope that I never got around to depositing (from my little home business).  Luckily it contained cash $105.00 and not a cheque.   It contained a note to myself telling me it was owed to my personal account and the note was dated 20 May 2014.

What a pleasant surprise that money must have been, Kelejan! I like to save envelopes, too, and sometimes cut them up to make little envelopes to save or trade seeds in.

I've been meaning to de-clutter before my hip is replaced, just in case. But so far I haven't done anything about it. Not sure what the blockage is.

CC

Thanks for the reminder.   I have been finding little treasures as I go and lots of junk to dispose of.  I just hope I get is all before I depart so others don't have to do it.

What an interesting story KJ, and what a good plan. What shall you do with the note?

My husbands parents died a few years ago, and we were left with the task of going through their house in Grand Forks that they  had lived in for 45 years. (near you)
They had saved EVERYTHING... every readers digest, national geographic...
They also had saved the newspapers from every major event, the moon landing, the royal marriage,  JFK assassination, MLK assassination.   etc. I thought I should save those, brought them home, then wondered when MY time comes what my kids would do with them, ........and then took them all and laid them out in yard and buried with wood chips. To keep the weeds down  
I was going through our safe recently looking for something and found a canadian "money" collection I was given by an american friend who did not really know its value. 
There was a 25cent bill that was from 1920 for the "dominion of Canada".

GWN: I Googled your note but could not find anything for 1920 although there were dozens of 25c for 1923 Dominion of Canada.

The asking prices were 1870 $22.00:  1900 $39: and for 1923 $18 VFG.

You will not be able to retire yet.

You will not be able to retire yet.

AW.. GEE KJ..... here I had my hopes up Thanks for looking it up

GWN wrote:

You will not be able to retire yet.

AW.. GEE KJ..... here I had my hopes up  Thanks for looking it up

Sorry to dash your hopes, GWN.

About my own note: It is a treasured memento so I will never sell it unless I was stony broke.  I may leave it to my favourite niece complete with instructions to find the current value of it again on the Internet in case she wants to dispose of it.
Or I may give it to my cousin who is the family historian along with the info of how I earned it.  At least I will not have to pay an enormous sum to mail it to England.

About my own note: It is a treasured memento so I will never sell it unless I was stony broke.  I may leave it to my favourite niece complete with instructions to find the current value of it again on the Internet in case she wants to dispose of it.
Or I may give it to my cousin who is the family historian along with the info of how I earned it.  At least I will not have to pay an enormous sum to mail it to England. 

Well I certainly hope that they will appreciate the whole story.

With regards to the Dominion of Canada, I found a book going through my mothers things, that was essentially "transcript" of parliament, from 1919.  My great grandfather was a horticulturalist, and spoke in parliament against the importing of fruit and Jams from other countries.
This was all about a year and a half after formaldehyde was invented, and apparently some were using it in Jams.  His comments were to the effect that we have been making jams and preserves for years with out formaldehyde, no reason to begin now.
SO THAT BOOk will definitely always be a keepsake of mine.

What a wonderful piece of personal history, GWN.  Make sure your family keeps it safe.

When I came to Canada in 1979 I learned a bit about our local history with the Doukhobors and their orchards and jam factories.  I bet they never used any invented preservatives and I sure their jams lasted quite a long time.  Even today one can see the occasional fruit tree in the area and I feel sad that the land where their fruit trees thrived is now taken over by the local airport, Chances Casino and other buildings.  Once that land is gone, it is gone forever.

Info for our non-Canadian friends:  This was a pacifist Russian sect that were turfed out of Russia over a hundred years ago because they burned their fire-arms as they believed in peace.  They were not cowards. 

There are many family names that end in -off or -ov. Many also have the same first names, and when reading the local obituaries I never know which -off or ov I am reading about and have to read through the descendants' names to see if I know them as the younger generations often have less Russian names.  e.g. Michael , David and Peter are very common names so I never know if I know them or not.

KJ
Interesting about the Doukabours. I used to be a nurse and my first job was in Trail, near you. I once had a patient whose name ended in off, and she was in her 80s then (which would have been 1977)  She had lost her nose as a child by someone throwing matches. A very early attempt at plastic surgery had taken her thumb and used  it as a nose.  Amazing how normal it appeared.
But that was back in the days of Crinolines, which were very flammable.
My husband grew up in Grand forks and was one of the very few non russians there.. he has many stories to tell about how different his school was.
As I recall the doukabhors were also very good farmers.

When I started my business I rented a small store from the Doukhabour owners and we agreed on a price and just shook hands. I rented from them for about 23 years until I sold the business when my DH was dying. 

The next tenant had a seven page agreement.  Three years later she was going bankrupt so I bought the remains of the business and revived it.  Once again, a handshake.

My next involvement was taking a Dkb as partner.  That was fine until he suddenly died of a heart attack without making a will or insuring the building.  His wife inherited his half; I will not go into the how and whys  but I lost my own half to her.  She was of English heritage.  Let's say I was too trusting. :-(

I'm finding the stories on this thread mighty interesting.   We are a diverse sort of folks.  Thanks for all the sharing.

Let's say I was too trusting. :-(

I sure understand.  I guess the reason for all of these 13 page agreements are for people like that.  So sorry that you lost out.
What type of business did you have KJ (if it is OK to ask)  It sounds as though you moved to the Kootenays at the same time I was there.

GWN it started in 1980 as a one-person stationery/photocopying store with a bit of printing and used books.

Eventually getting rid of the used books as the other parts increased. When my DH was taken ill and then died, I bought it back.  With hindsight I should have gone on to something different.