Oh, how I struggle with the Automatic Put Back.
Do you?
Oh. You have no idea what I’m talking about? Well, it’s the thing that happens when I pull something out of a cabinet/drawer/closet and think “Oh, we can’t use this because it’s broken/ugly/I-just-don’t-like-it.”
Those thoughts go through my head.
My response? Put it right back where I got it.
Which is interesting (a nice way of saying SO DUMB) since I almost never automatically put something back after I actually DO use it.
Hmmmph.
But I’m working to adjust my settings. To turn off the Automatic Put Back feature in my brain.
Like when I pulled that water bottle out while searching for one to send with a kid to camp over the summer. I was pretty sure it leaked. I asked the kid if it leaked. The kid confirmed that it did leak. And that there was no way he was taking it to camp.
Y’know, because it LEAKED!
But as I leaned over to place it BACK in the cabinet, I stopped.
Maybe it has something to do with all the decluttering I’ve done over the past five years. Maybe my brain registered that a useless water bottle has no right to take up cabinet space in my house. Maybe it’s because I saw it as a topic for a future blog post.
Whatever it was, I’m so glad I was able to override that blankety-blank feature at least this once.
I threw it in the trash. Right then.
Go me.
I’d be more proud if I’d thought to stick it in the recycling bin instead, but whatever. It’s gone.
Does your brain have an Automatic Put Back Feature? Is it the good kind or the bad kind?
--Nony
I love you!!
Great job!
I probably do but am not aware of it. Does keeping a broken toaster for two years so that I can have a spontaneous science moment with the kids by taking it apart count?
Haha!! That has to count!!
I don’t have the bad kind of automatic put back, but I’m sure not perfect at the good kind. I know this because I look around the house and see DVD cases out, shoes in the middle of the floor, and toilet paper in my living room.
Carrie, Toilet paper in the living room. Oh, I so get that! I walk in from the store with all these groceries, and the packages of toilet paper end up in the entry way, where they have sometimes sat for days, waiting for someone to walk a few feet and put them in the bathroom closet. Why is it so hard to put stuff away? 🙂
I’m pretty good about tossing broken/leaky stuff. But lids that have nothing to cover? That’s another story. :/
orphaned lids are great as spoon rests……
Last week I put a cracked cup back in the cabinet. Because the cabinet is so full, it barely fit but I forced the door closed. When my husband opened the door, the cup fell out and broke a plate that was on the counter. I threw away the plate, but kept the cup. What is wrong with me.?!
This made me laugh, Dawn! (With you, not at you, since I totally understand!!)
Yup. I’ve got it!
LOL!! The good kind or the bad kind? LOL! I have both bad kinds. I never put stuff back, and I keep all sorts of stuff we don’t need. HOWEVER, I recently bought 12 plastic tumblers from Target, and got rid of all of my assorted chuck E Cheese, character cups that never fit nicely because we never had more than 3 of the same kind. proud of that!
YES! I do this too! I did another round of decluttering this weekend trying to get rid of (waaaay too many) things I’d been doing that with… I may or may not have missed a couple travel bottles of hair products that I don’t use because I can no longer remember which is conditioner and which is gel-cream.. In my mind, I will magically figure it out, or clean them out and reuse them… If I don’t use them on my fall vacation, they’re going in the trash, because I will never get to them. lol (Now if I could just turn on the ‘put the cup in the sink when you’re done with it’ feature that has to be somewhere in my brain…. I mean c’mon, that has to come standard, right?)
I thought of this post today when I threw out the yogurt-I pulled it out, decided I didn’t quite like the way it smelled, and then almost put in back. But then I didn’t!
yup. i definitely have the bad automatic put back. the worst is with pens! (which i know you wrote about in another post)… i’ll pull out four pens before finding one that works, and yet, somehow, the non-working ones end up back in the kitchen drawer. (y’know, where pens belong) god only knows where the working one went though, because i probably stuck it in my pocket, or in my purse, or through my ponytail, or behind my ear, or left it on the desk in the livingroom, or on top of the dishwasher, or on my bedside table, or between the sofa cushions, or in my daughter’s backpack, or in the glove box in the car (btw, not a terrible place for pens as long as you remember they’re there)……
I do occasionally do this in my closet. I try something on, I’m not happy with the fit or the color or whatever and I put it back. I’ve decided recently that if I do this more than a couple of times without actually wearing the item, it needs to go because OBVIOUSLY I’m not going to wear it!
How TRUE !
And how ODD!
We put away broken/torn/unneeded things
and
leave out things we use after we’re done
Glad to know that I am not the only one !
THANKS for all your great posts and hints –
they ARE HELPING me unclutter
Slowly but Surely
Peace, Love and Blessings !
So glad I’m not the only one. About 12 years ago was the first time I threw away a pen after realizing it didn’t work. I sat there in astonishment at myself, remembering all the times I’d tried and tried to scribble with various pens that were doggedly determined to show me their non-usefulness — and then I’d always put them back. When I had my liberating epiphany, I was too ashamed to tell anyone because that would be admitting how long I had been doing things the non-sensible way.
I love and live to throw things away. I love an empty garbage can just for the sound when overthrow something in there. My husband on the other hand never throws anything away. Swears it’s fine or it can be fixed. He has such a hoard in his hobby room . I will admit I’ve taught him a bit of reality . He has gotten better about the little things like cups and plates and mugs. Chairs and couches ugh . We had a couch from Ikea that I would put out back , he’d bring it in . For months we did this finally I wonand it went to the dumps.
So much like my story, Theresa. My husband loves to hoard everything, so as you said I love and live to throw things away 🙂
We have more than 1 water bottle that leaks and yet I don’t throw them away. It usually ends up with me going “does this one leak” and if yes it goes to outdoor soccer practice and it if doesn’t it’s for an indoor sport. Yes, I like to make my life difficult.
I finally have us narrowed down to three fully functioning, non-leaking water bottles – we previously had 15 mostly leaky ones. There are only three of us that live here. I feel like a miracle worker!
I finally got rid of the old scale in my bathroom. It stopped working last year and I got a new one two weeks ago. I had to think about getting rid of it. Sad…Lol, I did feel good getting rid of it. Progress not perfection!
my hand is up with yours again. I have a glass with a chip in the lip. I have a cupboard overflowing with everyday glasses there is two of us I. The house. I do not need this glass. Why do I still have it?
It’s now gone. A glass I ha e used for 34 1/2 years. I have one if that style left. Life will go on if I do not have that cracked glass any longer (ps. I do hate waste but this is dangerous to keep using, isn’t it! Pps don’t give it to guests. -> .: do I need it!! Oh, this is hard! Throwing now. The bin is hungry for it.
The APB (auto put back) function never seemed to apply to pens, working or otherwise, until I stuck a whiteboard magnet strip on one. It made it bulky enough to not put in a pocket. Now it always goes back where it belongs – on the fridge.
Great idea!
LOL. Before I read this I though you were talking about the automatic put back feature at the store…..Ooooh that looks neat….looks at price tag and say…not that neat and what would I do with it anyway….or, I already have 4 of these at home and while this one is neater I can’t justify another one.
However, I’m also guilty of not throwing stuff away or donating it when its outlived its usefulness.
I mostly have the good kind. Until I get tired.
And I DO get tired probably more than some with loads of energy.