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Laundry Quandry UFO's
In the spirit of a new year and our first foray into Zone 4 for
2005, I am asking all of you to go to your bedrooms, throw open
those closet doors, dresser drawers and under the bed boxes (that I
know you all have no matter what we try to tell you LOL) and find
ONE only one Ugly, Funny or Old item to toss, but send us and email
and tell us what it was!! ~ Kelly
Well, here is the first edition of the 2005 UFO's!!
Dear Fly Folks,
I suppose it could rate as ugly, funny and old. Think of a dried grape. No, it wasn't "real"...but I had a zipper bag full of California Raisins...You remember the ones. They came in meals from a fast food restaurant about a few decades ago. They held various instruments, had multiple wrinkles and somehow, somewhere were suppose to resemble "cute". UGH! Then there was the set of them on a plastic sandwich with a push button to play "I Heard it Through the Grapevine".... Oh, my! Why in this world did I hold onto them? Sure, ebay would have been a choice of disposal....then after the trouble and time of taking pics and writing it all up, buying bubble wrap and heading to the post office to mail them, I'm sure I'd have had a whopping profit of 38 cents. Whoopee! Well, they're gone and I'm happy and my life is so much freer since I began to Fly just 10 days ago. For years I have relocated those silly prizes throughout the house, changing their home from room to room. For what? So they'd be here for me to dump them this week!
Purging and flying in Chester, VA
Yesterday I found a tee shirt of my daughter's.
It says "CTY 1987" on it, something she got when she went to an academic summer camp...1987.
She's 30, now, and she couldn't get into that tee shirt on a dare!
OK, you asked for one. But here's the other. ;)
A $25 off coupon for a flight on United Air Lines. Date...1995.
:)
Santa Ynez, California
While working in the master bedroom zone I found 16
inches of hair...real hair, my hair. I'd forgotten
all about it.
I came across the pony tail I had cut off and saved to
be donated to make wigs for children with medical
needs...all 16 inches of it.
It's now bagged and ready to be dropped in the mail to
the charity, just about a year after I cut it off.
I'm so glad I found it...some child may benefit and
sometime in the distant future, my heirs won't be
wondering why on earth did grandma save her hair.
FlyBaby in Wisconsin
My Dh gave me a Taco Bell chihuahua dog that said I think I am in love when we were dating. He has given me a lot of really cute things but this one never sounded right. In fact one of his grandchildren said it sounded scary. I'll keep the sweet hubby and lots of other things but this one can go to the EMS for their stockpile.
Ok, this was actually leftover from the Super Fling Boogie, but it has sat in my bedroom for about three years and is definitely funny. IT is (or WAS) this plastic bag containing my hair -- a pony tail that I lopped off three years ago intending to send it to Locks of Love (an organization that accepts donated hair to make wigs for kids with cancer). Well, I finally did it and at this point my hair is long enough to do it again! LOL!
~Flybaby P in Chicago :)
I just did this on Saturday. I found a pair of old dark blue pajama sweat pants that once had a huge hole in the knee. A dear friend of mine was tired of seeing the hole and sewed it up and attached *gigantic* buttons of all colors across the seam. They were really funny looking and made noise whenever I would walk. That was 20 years ago. I finally tossed them while working on uncluttering my closet this past weekend. Thanks FlyLady. UR da best!!
Flybaby in Henderson, NV
I finally got rid of a green corduroy jumper dress. When my daughter was entering ninth grade and going away to prep school, I thought it was just the ticket for her. She hated it and gave it back to me. I wore it every now and then to school in our Florida winters, that's about three times. Well, I retired from teaching, Libby is now 30 years old and I really didn't need that jumper, it made me look dumpy, too. No more dumpy jumpers!
Fla Flybaby
My darling husband is absolutely precious, but he's also a huge packrat (no matter WHAT he tells you!) While on a fling Tuesday, I found a suit that I have never seen him wear in the four years we've been married. So I asked him about it. As it turns out, this was his very FIRST suit that he ever bought! The suit was probably 25 years old! This was funny to me, because we have what some refer to as a "December/May" romance in that he's 14 years older than me... I was 5 years old when he bought this suit!!! Could you imagine if I had kept clothing from 25 years ago? Needless to say, this nostalgic suit--which is black with YELLOW pinstripes!--will soon find its new owner through FreeCycle, and I'll be a little less cluttered!
FLYbaby in Rock Hill, South Carolina
Funny you should ask. I just pitced the ugliest pair of pajama's yesterday! They were this huge pair of maternity pj's( my baby turns 3 today). They were so comfortable, I couldn't give them up! They were also so pitiful...the legs began to tear... I had rips up to my knees! As I was cleaning yesterday, I realized that this was not what I wanted my DH to come to bed to. He deserves a wife who looks decent! I also realized that I deserved to wear those pretty gowns instead of saving them for good! Thanks to the fly crew for helping me to see this! Flybaby S
Dear FlyLady and Crew:
I laughed out loud at this one! I was going through some plastic bags that
had ended up in the corner of my bedroom after a crash cleaning episode, and
guess what I found? Four rolls of FLYpaper!!!! They must have been from two
houses ago (that's 12 years ago!) when we had a fly infestation in our
basement. How they ended up in our bedroom I'll never know!
A fairly new flybaby
These were under my bed... I thought they even LOOKED a bit like UFO's :D LOL They are disposable breast pads that I used while nursing my DD. I haven't been nursing for about 2 months now, and haven't used a breast pad for AT LEAST 4 months!
FlyBaby K., MN
My husband finally allowed me to rid the house of his most hideous fashion item: a pair of green jeans. He's had them since 1989.. He still wore them until recently and everytime he did I called him Mr. Greenjeans. Alas, now what shall I do for fashion entertainment?
Flybaby and lovin' it!
How about an old pair of COTTON training pants. I know they were my daughters (Now 14) because by the time her brothers were at that stage they had invented the disposable kind. Old, Ugly and Funny
Flybaby in Lunenburg MA
I just had to write to say Thank You. I am so new that I have just been fluttering for a few weeks now but the changes have been coming faster than I could have imagined:
We walked into the house last night, turned on the kitchen light and my 4 year old DS says "Wow, the kitchen got bigger”!
And:
I was doing the Master Bedroom Mission this week and combined gathering items that don’t belong & a 27 fling boogie and among other things flung over 27 magazines that had been stacked on the back of my headboard…all dated 1999!
I am soooo very glad I found you!
Fluttering In Massachusetts
Ugliest AND Funniest:
I should have taken a picture, but it was so hideous the camera might have broken. When my eldest DD was in art class in 4th grade, she made me a sculpture/face mask/dayglo art thing that scared the crap out of me every morning when it was hung on my bedroom wall (used as a place of honor for my children's art when they were little). I had packed it in a shoebox in the furthest back corner of my closet. When I was flinging the box (super fling boogie), I showed it to my DD & SHE told me to get rid of it, burn it, and never allow anyone to ever know she had ever created such an ugly thing. That DD is now an art major in high school, hoping to work in the film industry. She said that if anyone ever saw that project, she would never get a job.
Oldest:
I finally tossed the suit I wore to my first job interview. It was a beautiful, size 1, custom tailored, navy w/ faint gray pinstripe, skirt/jacket suit, with red faux handkerchief. My favorite aunt had taken me to get it & have it tailored when I was 16. I'm 36 now, and no where near a size 1. I've held onto it all these years because I moved across the country when I was 18 and I've only been back (and seen my aunt) three times since I moved. In the middle of a flinging frenzy, I had to stop and convince myself that I didn't need the suit, it really was a negative thing, making me depressed when I saw it because I really miss her. So, I tossed the suit, wrote her a letter, mailed it, and now we're catching up instead of missing our old friendship.
I am a 23 year old FLYbaby, and although I'm still struggling my way through FLYing I felt I had to send this in.
My UFO is a pizza delivery box with one completely petrified fossilized pizza crust in it. I found this yesterday in my bedroom closet hidden in a huge trunk.
Here come the purple puddles... The box has been there since I was about 14, I hid it after a bulemic binge. I paid for it with babysitting money (cash) so no one would be able to trace a check and my dad wouldn't know there was money missing. My mom died when I was 4 and so my dad worked 2 or sometimes 3 jobs to support us. He never had time to notice my eating disorder but I hid it really well nonetheless. I hid the evidence of my binge in this trunk and it has been forgotten and undiscovered for 9 years. My bulimia was only a percent of my teenage difficulties, including anorexia and bipolar depression. Not to mention the clutter problem that I am only now digging out of.
I was born again at age 19 and since then have had not one of my former issues resurface. Here's the coolest part: I gained a hundred pounds upon hitting puberty, no one knew why (the extra weight was the catalyst for the eating disorders). Finally the doctor discovered a thyroid hormone deficiency when I was 15. This was a good thing actually, because I no longer felt guilty for gaining so much weight so quickly, it was biological. The eating disorders subsided. And when I was born again at 19 I got very sick with mono. After the mono my thyroid was normal! And it has been for the last 4 years. I am on absolutely no medication! This is not a disease you "grow out of"!
Finding this pizza box in my hidden trunk shows me how far I've come in 9 years and how to thank God for picking me up out of the deepest pit of despair. I'm sorry if the "God-talk" makes people uncomfortable but if you had been touched by God like this you wouldn't be able to hold back giving Him the credit either!!! And I credit FLYlady and the crew for giving me the tools to finally get my life back. You've heard this before, and it's still true: God is using you to bless people and help them.
Thank you from the bottom of my (now) healthy heart!
FLYbaby NSG from Milwaukee
I pitched a 385 Dos version Dell computer from roughly 1990. Don't ask why I was keeping this thing. I have No Idea.
Today I cleaned out the top shelf in my bedroom closet and found a bag of 14 bras that a friend had given me several years ago. They were too large for me, but I kept them because I had hope for my then pre-teen daughter who is now 14. She obviously takes after me since they are way too large for her as well.
Fluttering in the South
Oh how appropriate this one was! Today I flung the college sorority sweatpants & sweatshirt that I have had since I pledged...in 1987! Would you believe I still wore them around? Ack!
- Flying high in Europe
A empty champagne bottle from 1991 with the top chopped off and covered with masking tape (and a lot of dust).
orange knee socks from when I was in Brownies...mind you I'm 37!
As we went digging and flinging in our closet, DH decided it was time to fling the dress suit he got for high school graduation in 1966. Then there was the new suit he had for our wedding in 1969. It had moth holes eaten in it so--out it went!
Fresno, CA
I don't even have to be home to be able to think of this one...I have a pair of Parachute pants, you know the ones that were popular back in the 80's. Only they are a size 2T! My mother found them 6 or 7 years ago (they were my brothers when he was a baby) and thought I needed them for my son (who is now 6 and has never worn them.) I even know exactly where they are--in my sock drawer!! I put them there because I really didn't have a place for them. I knew I wouldn't ever put them on my son, but I feel so guilty getting rid of them because my brother wore them (22 years ago). I now know the first thing I am going to fling when I get home from work tonight!!!
Thanks for all you do!!
Flybaby in Rich Fountain, Missouri
I've had an old boyfriend's hood ornament for 20 years! Yes,I am the one who removed it, LOL! I'm not quite sure why I kept it, but there it was, in a small box on the top shelf of my closet. I can't believe I've held onto it that long (Perhaps I thought I should return it?!?), but out it went, FINALLY! So much for unnecessary UFOs in my home!
Thanks ever so much for being a blessing in our lives!
A cranberry colored matron of honor dress from 1982! My best friend & I got married a few months apart in 1982 and this was the dress from her wedding. I'm a "busty" gal and the dress only served to accentuate that point. It had a drape neckline, pleated all the way to floor and a funky neckline. My niece wore it as a Halloween costume a few years ago & gave it back. It was pitched this week-definetly old, a little ugle and funny to remember how I looked in it!
Flying in Greensburg IN
I have been a flybaby for only about 4 weeks, and I must say I am loving it. Well, while I was doing the mission to get anything out of my room that didn't belong, I discovered a large x-ray envelope sticking out from behind my head board. I figured it had to be something I could get rid of, as it had been there for so long. When I pulled it out, I saw that someone had taped lined paper over the sender and receiver spaces. I was totally confused, wondering what the heck was this. In the sender space was written, From Queen somebody's castle, and in the receiver space was written, To Marylin Monroe........Now I'm really going ?WHAT?
I opened up the envelope, and in it was a letter. It read something to the effect of...You have been sworn to secrecy. You must not tell anyone where you work, who you work for, or what you do. You have been chosen to be the queens body guard. You must sign this deed and return to the queens castle asap. If you do not want to accept this high paying postion, then simply return this letter to the castle unsigned. There was a space at the bottom for a signiture, and it was signed Marilyn Monroe. On the next page was written, Here are some x-rays showing what happens to those who have blabbed.
I was really discomboogled here. I pulled out the x-rays expecting who knows what, and they were really old x-rays of my oldest daughters knee, from when she got hurt. I called to my middle daughter who is now almost 16. When she came to my room, I asked her with this very confused look on my face, if she knew anything about it. Her chin dropped and she started laughing, and said. "Oh my gosh, Mom, I did that like 3 years ago, and your just now seeing it.
OMG, how funny is that? I told her boyfriend about it, and she could have died, and now he calls her queeny....lol
Hi FLY Crew!!
When I read the request for UFO's, I knew exactly what item I was going to fling!!A scrapbook. Mostly full of cards from my bridal shower, but containing some items from before I met my husband. Among it's contents were the following:
A bus ticket from when I attempted to enlist in the armed forces. This brings back an UGLY memory of being nearly sent into shock by an army nurse who had no clue how to draw blood from another human being.
The reciept from the first box of checks I ever purchased...14 years ago. I do believe this qualifies as OLD. Older still was the Robert Palmer concert ticket from 1988.
The FUNNY comes to me from a card that came from a quarter machine at a theme park. It proclaimed that my future husband would be a gas station operator and would be ...basically...a putz. It had a picture of a very obese man and five goofy looking kids on it. What was I thinking????
Finally, One more UGLY item....11 individual packets of sugar from a 24 hour coffe shop. The sealed edges had been carefully colored with markers. Why is this an UGLY item? Because they remind of the person who I used to frequent that coffee shop with. A person who was dishonest, manipulative, and in the end very very cruel to me. There's no logical reason why on earth anyone in their right mind would want these things. Thank you so much for motivating me to get rid of this trash!!
Flapping in Ohio
I had to write in to admit this one. I finally got to my lingerie drawer and started going through it and found the funniest pair of panties that I had gotten as a shower gift. they had ribbons that you untie really quickly and all lacy and totally impractical. After 25 years I think I can get rid of those panties. :) Thanks Flybaby in georgia
I put away all my DH's nightshirts in one place (hooray), including a folded one (blue,plaid) from the top of “my” dresser. Two days later (yesterday)he said (happily putting on a clean nightshirt), 'what's *this* doing in my drawer?'. The blue, plaid nightshirt wasn't his. I didn't think it was (or want it to be) mine. I think my mother heard me say that I liked loose nightgowns - I meant a little loose, not tent-loose!
Hopefully someone else will love it, it's gone to the thrift store now. But it's way too big, too plaid and too drab for this flybaby!
Baby stepping in CT
Dear Kelly,
I have only been a flybaby for 4 weeks, but I'm thrilled to death with the change it has made in my life. I had a friend laugh when I told her about it, and say,"we'll see how long it lasts." Well, I am about 4 days away from making it 28, so maybe the habit will stick!
My item from the bedroom is both funny and old. I found in my husband's bedside table a prophylactic that expired in March 1998. I have a dd born November 1998 and another May 2001. And, we have moved once since then!
Flybaby in Fargo
Hi there Flylady!,
I think you are the best! - like everyone else, you have helped bring me some peace - no, I'm not totally in order - YET - but I do see the light, and just knowing that brings me peace. I love and thank you for everything.
Ugliest:
Remember in the early 90's when the grunge look was in? I was in college and bought a brand new pair of jeans. The trick was supposed to be that you would make a tiny cut at the knees and then tear away for a cool, holes-in-jeans look. Well, I tried it, but my holes didn't look so hot. The were way too big, almost hanging apart. I used 3 safety pins on both legs on the inside where no one could see, to make them smaller, but was so displeased with my results that I never wore them. Imagine tearing up a brand new item on purpose and never wearing it. Duh! What's an even bigger "duh" is that I still had them after 12 years!
I flung notes that I had saved from my high school days. I am talking 20 years ago notes passed in the halls. I looked at a couple and have no idea what we were talking about. Fling fling flung!!
I have had one UFO since I joined FLYlady---I was clearing my closet, when I found, way in the back a plastic dispenser bottle. I didn't even remember putting it there. What was it doing in a clothes closet? There had to be a good reason, right?
Thanks to your program, that won't happen again! :)
flyladyfan2
Dear FLYLADY,
My find was not an ugly, funny, or old item, but a huge blessing. As I was finding my closet floor under empty shoe boxes, old papers and clothes that had fallen and gotten lost in the pile, I found an envelope that said "Baby's Money". Inside it were five 20$ bills!! It must have been gift money from the birth of our fourth child, two years ago. :) I am currently busy dreaming up ways I can spend the money on her. :) Thanks for all your encouragement and the ways you have changed my life. I thank God for you and your ministry to all of us SHE's!,p>
Flybaby in Texas
My DMIL is a "saver" and she has passed on some things to us, notably her 10th grade Biology spiral notebook (circa 1954) that had crumbling pages but she had an A in there. My husband agreed to fling it over the weekend after we looked at it and admired it. We have not told her we did it. If she ever asks.........
Flybaby in Clearwater FL
you said one but i did 3. every super fling boogie i see the stories about
all the people who saved their pregnancy tests for so many years. and every
time i would think 'but i need to save mine.' why, i don't know. all three
were under the master bathroom sink, neatly labelled with each child's name.
was i thinking i'd give them to them some day? who knows but today's
challenge convicted me and they are now in the garbage. not sure if they
fall under ugliest (gross, definitely, but not necessarily ugly!), funniest
(maybe here, although i'm sure there's much funnier stuff to be flung!), or
oldest (they are from 1/99, 2/01, and 3/03) but i'm proud they are gone!
--still finding new ways to FLY in florida!
How about my high school cap and gown? I finally tossed that this week. I have
no idea why I was holding onto it. I didn't like high school, all of my dearest
friends I made in College. My College graduation meant much more to me and I
don't have that cap and gown anymore... why was I keeping this? I now have a
cleaned out cedar chest to keep extra blankets in for guests (which means an
emptier linen closet) Woo hoo!
Under a dresser in the bedroom was the cord that attaches to the baby monitor I gave away at least 2 years ago. I wonder if the monitor is missing that? Whew, and the scariest dust bunnies that would pass for a mouse any day.
:-)
Dear Flylady,
Ok I have an old suitcase in my closet for "storage" purposes. I decided it was time to open it . There was the usual junk and a broken black potato masher. Where did that come from????
my new name The Pathfinder
Dear FlyLady,
I have been flying for a short time now
- slowly but surely decluttering. Today I got rid of
the short wig I wore in the early 1970's when my hair
was almost waist length. I can't believe it looked so
real that people would think I cut my hair! FlyBaby in
Ct.
I threw out the rock from the playground (rescued before it was all paved) from Grade 2, that was 35 years ago. It was in my memory box, I do not need the rock and the memory was not that special anyway!!!
FlyBaby in Ontario
I have just flung 3 empty Canadian beer boxes, yes the
boxes that the bottles are packaged in. They have been
in our bedroom for about 3 months, since my dh keeps
is beer and wine in a wine chest in our room. He loves
to try beers from all over the world,and while I know
the beer will always disappear he doesn't always
remember to get rid of the boxes, into the recycling
they went.
Thank you.
On January 24, we flung a queen size bed set that had been double-ditched on both sides and crippling us both really bad with back and neck pain. Due to my new and improved organization with papers around the house, I took the time to look in the classifieds and found us a super, ultra deluxe KING size bed set for literally one-third of the retail price, brand new still in the plastic, from a warehouse. It cost $400 *less* than the low-quality, too-small queen set that my husband bought us in 2001. Funny thing is, I used to just throw that paper with the classifieds in it away every week because I could not deal with the mail. Flylady, you helped save us $2300 off the retail price of this bed. :o)
Hi Kelly!
I am very new at this FlyLady stuff but am catching on quickly. I don't consider myself to be much of a packrat but apparently I am and didn't know it. On my 15 minute bedroom zone I cleaned out my sock drawer. In the very back of the drawer I found four of my son's teeth from at least two years ago! Apparently when the Tooth Fairy came she couldn't bring herself to throw out the teeth.
When I found them I remembered an article I read once about the weirdest things that had happened to women meeting their significant others' parents. One girl said the mother brought out a bracelet made of the boyfriend's baby teeth. How gross is that?
So even though I wish I could keep my son little, I realized hanging onto his teeth won't make that happen. And I certainly don't want to gross out any potential daughter-in-laws!
Signed,
A Flybaby Mom of a Growing Boy
How about this? A rabbit fur skirt my mother made me when I was in second grade! I'm now 46!!
10-YEAR-OLD PRETZELS! YES!!!
Flung from my stash-and-dash room, it was filled from floor to ceiling and my long-term project is to turn it back into a sewing/workout/project room. Slow and steady, still much to go but I will get there.
The pretzels were in a ziploc bag, still sealed up tight. How did I know they were 10 YO? Because they were packed in a tote bag I used to take to a long-ago extra part-time job (that's when I really started to get into clutter trouble, working too much) - and there were 10 YO MAGAZINES in the SAME BAG! A NICE BAG, with my initials on it. Magazines - flung, bag - still good, reclaimed.
Thanks for all you do. I know I am making progress because the other day I found myself with an extra wall calendar. Instead of letting it languish around the house in the way and unused for a whole year or more, I gave it to a friend who absolutely loves it!
Your #1 Flybaby fan in Orlando
My husband has two gallon zip loc bags of.............get this..........
BEARD HAIR
I don't know if he wa planning to glue it on his head when he looses his hair or what!
I found (again) and threw away (finally) the knee brace that I had during high school that resembles something out of terminator and weighs about 20 lbs. It is neon yellow and blue, my school colors of course. And of course I have a new brace that is black and weighs next to nothing and is the only one I wear.
HI Flycrew
Well, when I was in the Master bedroom today doing a 27 fling boogie, I found my old garter belt from my wedding 16 years ago. It has been in the drawer of my husband’s nightstand. It has no elastic left, never been worn other than the one special night and has had lip protector spilled on it. I would have taken a picture of it for this email but fortunately (lol) it ended up in the garbage.
Flybaby in BC
Dear Kelly and FlyLady,
I'm still a new flybaby and trying to familiarize myself with your system. When I got the e-mail asking me to go find a UFO, well, I thought, there's something you don't see everyday!! So I went upstairs to look for the Ugliest, the Funniest, or the Oldest thing I could pitch, ahem I mean fling! I told you I was new at this.
I stood in my bedroom thinking there was no way I was going to be able to find something. Nothing like that in my closets, LOL. Then I saw a cardboard box on the floor of the closet, and I wondered what could be in there. I found a brown paper bag full of birth control packets and condoms! The birth control pills were dated 1994! OK, I guess that qualifies me in the Oldest category. But for me, it is a candidate for the Funniest because DH had a vasectomy in 1995, and I had a hysterectomy 2 months ago. I don't think we'll be needing contraceptives anymore, LOL! So I went from a state of denial that I would be able to participate in this game to finding my UFO in less than 2 minutes flat.
Lesson learned--do not underestimate the power of the FlyLady.
Thanks for sharing your techniques.
Flybaby in Delaware
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