hello strangers
i am trying to move everything from my spare room into my room because my new flatmate moves in on 30 dec. the flat looks like a bombsite and i am getting crosser and crosser. how can i have enough clothes to fill: 14 drawers and 3 wardrobes in my room plus the 3 overhead cupboards that i would need to be 10' tall to reach so god knows what's in there, 8 drawers and a double wardrobe in the spare room, a closet in the hallway and 4 divan drawers when i never have anything to wear ????????

i am off to the gym at about 4, then dinner with a colleague at 8. hoorah for him keeping me sane because the flat is pushing me over the edge!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 13:59, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

Because you are female
(And before you dismiss this as sexist, males of the species have a similar affliction when it comes to having boxes and boxes of tools scattered around a room but never being able to find a Phillips screwdriver.)
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:03, Reply)

you may be right
i was really surprised once when my boss asked me how many pairs of shoes i have. i would not have the first clue, in fact just moving boxes of them out of the spare room wardrobe has turned up 4 pairs i bought in the august sale and promptly forgot all about.......
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:06, Reply)

See, I could mock you for this - and you certainly wouldn't be the first woman I've known who's lost track of her shoe collection
But similarly you could, quite justifiably, ask me whether I really need to own four different types of pliers. To which I would have to screw my face up in panicked thought, fish for an answer and reply that they all have their uses...
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:09, Reply)

shoes are all different
different colours, different materials, different heights, go with different outfits, make you feel different when you put them on (eg: sparkly high heels - beautiful. gym trainers - depressed). can you say the same for pliers, eh? eh??
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:19, Reply)

Oh, hell yes!
Standard, heavy-duty pliers for gripping and twisting nails and lumps of metal, etc.
Needlenose pliers for smaller, more delicate jobs.
Side cutters for cutting and stripping wires.
Bolt cutters for cutting thicker cables, bolts, brake cables and suchlike.
And don't get me started on adjustable spanners and mole grips...
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:21, Reply)

it's like a foreign language

( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:29, Reply)

Then I think we understand one another.
Your inability to understand why my boltcutters are entirely inappropriate for a task that clearly requires needlenose pliers is just the same as my inability to understand why you have five pairs of heels that ostensibly serve the same purpose, even though you haven't yet worn out the first pair you bought!
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:37, Reply)

shoes can make or break an outfit though
if you wear the wrong shoes, you just don't feel right. it's like going out with second-day hair - even if you paid 350quid to have it all cut and coloured and styled the day before, and even if it still looks the same, and even if it will look a damn sight worse once you've washed it and done it yourself... you just don't feel clean and sexy if it's not freshly washed!

whereas pliers, how often do you wash pliers?!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:41, Reply)

Well, likewise
Whereas a different pair of shoes "will have to do," I could similarly use a less suitable tool for the job - and frequently I have to, if I don't own the ideal tool - but I'll spend the whole time grumbling about how "this would so much easier if / I could have done this much better if I just had a larger head on this ratchet screwdriver."

And for the record, I don't wash my pliers.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:48, Reply)

oh no
oh no no no, now i am truly shocked.

there is no such thing as shoes that "will have to do" - the correct solution is to tell the date/girls that you'll be an hour late, unavoidable deadline/phonecall/period pains... and hit westfield!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:55, Reply)

Haha! So perhaps the analogy falls down at this point
Certainly, it's often possible to bodge a job with a different tool (or just patch it with duck tape) - I've never thrown down a pair of sidecutters in frustration and complained that I wouldn't be able to fit that new plug today due to my massively swollen testicles, before sneaking off to a DIY shop to buy a set of wire-strippers.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:59, Reply)

this has made me laugh a lot
i have never actually played the period pain card, it's just far too girly and i am crap at lying to my boss.

but you should totally use the testicles are swollen up like a hamster line. and then tell us about it. brilliant.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:06, Reply)

Or a huge collection of audio, computer and power cables
that serve very little purpose whatsoever but are kept "just in case" you ever need to power a stylophone and connect it via a washing machine to an 8-in 2-out mixer connected through your DVD player to your 1962 monitor speakers.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:09, Reply)

Ah, so that's what that one's for
I knew it was for something important. *puts back in junk drawer*
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:13, Reply)

^this is true
under the stairs we have about three black bags full of cables none of which are ever used except when I go scrabbling around for a cat5 or something
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:13, Reply)

i had a massive sort-out of the lounge/kitchen a few months ago
threw away any cable where i didn't know what it did.

turns out that would be my ps2 power cable.... my DS Lite charger..... my camera charger........ stupid electronic items, why can't they have a one-size-fits-all system??
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:17, Reply)

Ah yes, guilty as charged.
Sitting at the foot of my computer table are three power supplies, two optical drives and a floppy drive, which were all harvested from several obsolete PCs last time I moved house, on the grounds that I'd "probably find a use for them at some point..."
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:19, Reply)

I have a big box of these things, too

( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:43, Reply)

can I be an exception?
I hate buying clothes and my house is full of tools/stuff to make things with. This morning, though, I could not find my favourite screwdriver
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:42, Reply)

You should have a good clean out of clothes
just go through all the stuff that's too big for you, and all of the stuff that realistically you won't wear again because it was a size 4 and bought in a sale
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:12, Reply)

the sad thing is
i have just done exactly this when M said she would like to move in for a bit. i threw away about 57 binliners of "thank fuck, too big" and "come on you're not 16 anymore" and "what the fuck were you thinking". what is left has already been well-filtered!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:16, Reply)

That's more tricky
Have you got no more storage?
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:19, Reply)

i did have. my spare room!
i'm really looking forward to M moving in, and it's made me have a massive clear-out rather than just shoving it in the spare room and locking the door, but i will be cramped for space until she moves out again.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:29, Reply)

You see I don't have that problem
a) because I don't have nearly as many clothes and b) because I'm really untidy and therefore think nothing of just chucking shoes into a massive box
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:31, Reply)

i am anal about stuff being clean
but not too fussed about it being tidy, so long as it is sparkling clean underneath. i had a friend who didn't wash her uni duvet for the entire 3 years, this story still makes me feel a bit queasy!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:43, Reply)

Eugh that's pretty bad
Same here- clean = important, tidy= really not
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 14:59, Reply)

when you come round here you'll see
the flat looks immaculate. just don't open any cupboard doors........
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:08, Reply)

Haha I'll be careful
not to cause any avalanches
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:18, Reply)

the kitchen is the worst
the woman who owned the flat before me had these cupboard doors fitted which don't QUITE close sometimes and i have to bang them shut. it's a very shallow cupboard space, but very tall. at any given time, opening it could result in some or all of the following landing on you: pots of spare paint, iron, clothes horses, ironing board, carrier bags, wine carriers, hammer, nails, rolls of wrapping paper.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:23, Reply)

haha treading like ice
that'll have to be the key
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:40, Reply)

or just stay on the sofa demanding MOAR wine and MOAR food
this is my own personal preferred position when in the flat!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:46, Reply)

How was Jamaica?

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:50, Reply)

fucking awesome
being home SUCKS
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:56, Reply)

I'm bloody well taking this as a command :)

( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 16:15, Reply)

that's more then a bit gross.

(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:04, Reply)

i flatly refused to sleep in the same room as it when i went round there
on the other hand, i used to wash my bedding every time i had sex with my bf at uni. even i think washing your duvet cover 7 times a week is going a bit far!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:07, Reply)

hmmm....
maybe once every couple of days... any more and it's a bit weird, but less would make it a bit smelly wouldn't it?
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:11, Reply)

i was trying to make some sort of passive-aggressive point to him i think
[was a LONG time ago!] as we weren't openly a couple to start with, but clearly everyone else in the house knew exactly what was going on.

these days, he can just sleep in the wet patch and the bedding gets changed once a week. done!

i am a bit obsessed with bedding though, i have about 15 sets. and 2 bedrooms :(
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:16, Reply)

nowt wrong with having lots of clean things.
edit:
also, I'm like that with books. I have really struggled on my trip not to buy a book at every place I go to. I have well over 700 at home, most of which are in storage, yet still I buy more and more.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:20, Reply)

omg you are me
wait til you're my age. i have 5 bookshelves and 2 wardrobes full of books at my dad's, and my flat also has 8 full bookshelves. i must buy at least 15 new books a month, it's like some kind of sickness. a house with a real library is my one serious goal in life!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:24, Reply)

ahahaha when my family moved into the house we live in now, the first thing my dad did was build floor to cieling shelves along two walls.
I bought a book today at the Van Gogh Museum. I looooooooooooved it. It's so beautiful.
by beautiful, I mean the prints by van gogh it contains.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:29, Reply)

tell your dad if he and his hammer/nails ever want a place to stay in kensington...
that sounds awesome, you are doing some brilliant things this trip. i guess you can package the books up and send them home rather than carry them everywhere?
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:34, Reply)

ahaha I already sent a box of stuff home! I've only got this one new book to carry.
And I'm coming back to my cousin's after new years so I think I'll leave it here then pick it up. :)
Ahaha, my dad would crack the shits, ten minutes in, grumping about this and that and whatever else he could find. He does that at home too.
I'm having a fucking BALL on this trip. Also - re your sig? I did that in Belgium when Crow and I went out for tea - I spilled a few drops of the balsamic vinegar/oil dressing on the table, and I had to pick it up with my fingertip to eat it. It was FANTASTICALLY yum.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:39, Reply)

i am seriously jealous
i never did the travelling thing because when my friends were all doing it, i stupidly decided to go back to uni to get a law degree (because an english degree = unemployment). also you massively get the buzz, you're bound to do loads more trips when this one is finished.

ha, my sig is from "family guy", i think it was labs who said he made you watch that with him??
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:45, Reply)

ahaha yeah, Labs made me watch it and I didn't really get it.
didn't find it that funny at all, just bizarre.

RIGHT. TIME FOR DENMARK!
If there is internet on the train, I'll be back!
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:47, Reply)

Bon voyage!
(Or whatever they say in Dutch...)
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:48, Reply)

you need to watch about 4 episodes back to back
then you will love it. i think it's the best thing on tv (not that i watch much).

have fun in denmark... i never met a danish guy who wasn't obscenely fit!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 28 Dec 2010, 15:55, Reply)