Comments on: Disaster uncluttering: Looking back

By: Antonia

Antonia — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:56:29 +0000

Thank you for this spot on series. Having gone through a similar situation (we spent 8 months in a hotel with two hunting dogs and a cat) and seeing all of our possessions in a dumpster I can tell you that there is a silver lining. My need to have lots of stuff has diminished greatly, I am thankful for the fact that no one was injured and I am daily reminded of the pets who also managed to escape our home fire. There was even a sense of comic when the fire fighters got so excited about the ferocity and energy (electrical fire started by a storm that blew a small tree over onto a high power electrical line and our home line and then melted and exploded a gas line) flowing through our house. So glad someone was happy at the time. As an added note, when everything settled (a year later) I stopped in to see the fire chief and thanked him in person. And if you can, do give your local fire department a donation for their favorite cause.

Best of luck in your simpler life.

By: cdelphine

cdelphine — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:37:45 +0000

Wow. I think that this is the perfect example of the impact that a different mindset or perspective can make. It would be easy to stay angry after such an event. Kudos to you for rising above that and focusing on the positive and thanks for sharing your story with us.

By: Carole

Carole — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:13:46 +0000

Good point about keeping receipts in a fireproof place. Time to get a bigger safe.

By: Pammyfay

Pammyfay — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:04:25 +0000

As weird as it might sound, Gary, we are all the better for your horrible situation, too. Excellent advice, and we are thankful that both of you are OK and can actually see a positive side to it and want to help educate others.

And I agree w/Jesse, re: the “reboot” button.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:48:49 +0000

I love the analogy of a Reboot button for life. That’s exactly what I feel like I need sometimes, an easy way to do a soft reboot, or what we used to call a Do-Over.

I second the above question about what you did choose to repurchase. I’m in the process of purging in preparation for an international move and an finding it difficult to get rid of some things that I KNOW I’m not going to need once I move, yet just can’t seem to part with…

Thanks for this series, hope it helped the healing process…

By: Suzyn

Suzyn — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:52:23 +0000

Thanks for writing this series – it’s been fascinating (and eye-opening!)

I’m curious as to what you DID buy. Despite diligent efforts to de-clutter my life, I know that there is a lot of stuff in my house I would NOT replace. If only there was a less traumatic way to press the restart button…