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The worst thing I’m finding about decluttering right now is that it seems like the easiest things to decide to get rid of are the smallest things. Like I’m still working on the “clear off spare desk/clear out floor space” objective and what I just found to donate…? A pile of bookmarks and the mug I was keeping them in. I mean, it helps, but kind of a drop in the bucket there.

That being said, sometimes I really only have the small things ready to go. And I don’t always want to wait to fill a big cardboard box to donate those (and sometimes, depending on the box, things can literally slip through the cracks, like how the banana boxes my parents occasionally get when they visit the food truck would never contain something the size of a bookmark). So I began looking for cheap plastic totes–clearance items, or marked down for damage, such like that–with the expectation that, just like the big cardboard boxes I receive every month via my Amazon drink subscription, I’d donate the tote along with its contents once it’s full. A bit more expensive than waiting to fill a cardboard box but less stuff piled on the floor if I don’t already have a box handy. I don’t plan to have a lot of them at any given time, just to something to put my donatables in at any given time.

In any case, I finally upgraded to a gaming laptop for the primary benefit of fewer cords to contend with (and the ability to carry it to another room to continue to work on assorted projects while watching TV) with the somewhat lesser benefit of taking up less desk space. With that, I was able to shuffle my VR stand to sit nearby (until such time as I’m forced to replace it due to whatever changes in design exist between the Quest 1 and the 3, case in point the rings on the controllers), with an Anker brand USB charging hub taking up one of the spots on my surge protector and set up a laptop storage stand for my considerably older 10 inch writing tablet and my Steam Deck over on my filing cabinet.

I still have to find somewhere to keep my old mini PC–among other things, dig through my closet and see if I still have the carry case that I bought for it and never used–until I’ve had the laptop long enough to be reasonably confident it works right, after which point I’ll try to sell the mini to recoup some of the costs of the laptop. This, too, means taking up unwanted space for a temporary period, but I think the main change I need right now is to increase the height of my external monitor for ergonomic reasons (I’d increased the height of my chair to make my thighs slope downwards to help fight against sciatica, but this means sitting higher in relation to the screen) and figure out where I want to set up my external speakers.

With the change in computers I’ve also made another attempt at the digital decluttering, particularly by transferring the contents of the mini over to the laptop, and then, in the process of installing programs/reorganizing due to the difference in folder structure (no built-in D drive, for instance), identifying functionally duplicate files or things that I no longer have a use for and deleting them. Case in point, I’ve watched and deleted nearly all of the various for-entertainment videos I’ve downloaded at some point and never got around to watching, with only a few weeks’ worth of Unus Annus to go and a handful of random clips that require me to download some other codec due to file type, and I still need to tackle my Zombies Run playlist so I can add daily walks back to my list of habits to maintain.

I also, in spite of continuing to tell myself to stop spending money, got my hands on a small desk that was marked down due to being a former display model. I’m currently using it for Vine packages formerly piled up on my floor with a few boxes stacked underneath (given its position under my window and directly over my register “underneath” is a limited amount of usable space) but the reason I wanted it was to start grabbing whatever knickknacks I’m fine with appearing on-camera–or even wanted on-camera all along like my Soul Gem USB light–and setting up there so they’re not all crammed together on my desk or dresser where I can’t even use them. Perhaps once my room is reorganized to my liking I’ll even move my smaller Aerogarden to that spot.

Speaking of the Aerogarden, I’m once again reminded that the benefit of this thing is that it reminds me to water my plants. Seems like the easiest way for me to kill a plant is to transplant it to a pot and continue growing it indoors.

This WAS a healthy spinach plant.

Granted, outdoors is no guarantee–bought a few lavender seedlings to plant outdoors in the hopes that they’d fare better than the seeds the squirrels kept feasting on

Can you even see it? Look close….

And the strawberries in hanging baskets (which I never took pictures of) seem like they just slowly died once I brought them home from the nursery.

But the transplanted cherry tomatoes seem to be doing well–better than the ones my dad planted outdoors from the get-go–and even taste better than the ones still in the Aerogarden (hard to say yet whether that’s breed or soil versus pure hydroponics), and some of my mint plants are filling out their outdoor planters. I might want to just invest in a raised garden bed next year and transplant whichever food items grow big enough so I can keep planting new things instead of trying for the “I can grow things even in the winter” approach I was hoping for.

Oh, and I finally finished watching American Gods and added that to the donate pile. Having already read the book I have a general idea of where the story’s going, but as they’ve made significant changes to some of the character’s arcs I’m a little disappointed they never finished it. For starters, I’d like to know how the literal god of technology can so easily be controlled… by technology. Like, shouldn’t that be the one way they can’t get power over him?

Suggested products in use:

• VR Stand (holds Oculus Quest/2 and controllers, plus two traditional controllers–I have my Steam controller and a pair of JoyCons plus charging grip set up to charge–and Nintendo Switch)
• Anker USB charging hub
• adjustable laptop stand (stores two laptops in upright position)
• raised garden bed with trellis/hanging roof (This one’s not actually “in use,” but rather is on my wishlist because I like the looks of it and think I may be buying it next year if I don’t find something I like better. Feel free to suggest alternatives!)