Ridding off surplus things 去掉多余的东西

I am sure you know what it is like - the love of collecting things, beautiful things, impulse-buying things, “feel like I must have those” things, modern fashion things, “those famous books” things, etc. … … etc.

Now that we are getting older and about to move into a much smaller apartment unit, (from 260m2 downsizing to 87m2), with no more garden to worry about, we note that so many of our once-labelled precious ‘possessions’ are actually worthless. Books are the worse, with no one really interested in our expensive collection of history, famous stories, encyclopedia, and the like, we have to buy a plastic rubbish bin to be uplifted away with so many of our beautiful and often near-new and useable items, even the washing machine and clothe dryer. The days of sad memories must demand our recordings of at least some of the items that have recently gone from our lives.

我相信你知道它是什么样的——喜欢收集东西、美丽的东西、冲动购买的东西、“感觉我必须拥有那些”的东西、现代时尚的东西、“那些名著”的东西等等...... ...   现在我们变老了，即将搬进一个小得多的公寓单元（从 260 平方米缩小到 87 平方米），再也不用担心花园了，我们注意到，我们许多曾经被贴上珍贵“财产”的标签实际上一文不值.书籍更糟糕，没有人真正对我们昂贵的历史、著名故事、百科全书之类的收藏感兴趣，我们必须买一个塑料垃圾箱才能把我们这么多美丽的、通常是近乎新的和可用的物品，甚至洗衣机和干衣机。悲伤回忆的日子必须要求我们记录至少一些最近从我们生活中消失的物品。

Sold for $45.00 - Not successful on TradeMe, but done at Facebook Marketplace - ten separate Marketplace websites in the neighbourhood working together. Here is how I describe this lovely piece of art - “Flower display, framed, but with artificial red and white peonies made of silk on a jutting outwards from a straw made basket, framed. Overall size: 370mm long x 320mm wide x 70mm jut-out.”

去售了 只15.00 元 - 在 TradeMe 上没有成功，但在 Facebook Marketplace 完成 - 附近有十个独立的 Marketplace 网站一起工作。买来的价格大约八十多元。 我是这样描述这件可爱的艺术品的——“花卉展示，有框，但用丝绸制成的人造红白牡丹从稻草篮子向外突出，有框。整体尺寸：370 毫米长 x 320 毫米宽 x 70 毫米突出-出去。”

Advertised as “Embroidery Artwork - Circular two-sided embroidery of two playful China pandas, on carved timber stand. Can be displayed on table or inside glazed display cupboard. Diameter: 190mm. Height: 300mm. Delightfully delicate.” This precious item bought from China some thirty years ago, costing us heaps, is still available on Marketplace. There were no bidder at TradeMe.

广告为“刺绣艺术品 - 两个俏皮的中国熊猫的圆形双面刺绣，在木雕架上。可展示在桌子上或玻璃展示柜内。直径：190 毫米。高度：300 毫米。令人愉悦的精致。”大约三十年前从中国购买的这种珍贵物品，花费了我们很多，现在仍然可以在市场上买到。 TradeMe 没有投标人。

Then, we thought of disposing our surplus domestic goods through the old-fashioned way of ‘GARAGE SALE’, like putting a free advertisement in the community papers to display our ‘precious items’ on tables in our garage, say on one weekend. But our friends advised us not to. “Why?” we asked. “You are attracting (no, in fact inviting) those would be thieves to come around to do a survey before their planned burglaries.” That made sense, and so we stopped that idea.

然后，我们想通过老式的“车库销售”方式处理剩余的国内商品，比如在社区报纸上免费刊登广告，在我们车库的桌子上展示我们的“贵重物品”，比如说在一个周末。但我们的朋友建议我们不要这样做。 “为什么？”我们问。 “你正在吸引（不，实际上是在邀请）那些可能是小偷的人在他们计划的入室盗窃之前来做调查。” 这是有道理的，所以我们停止了这个想法。

This Camphor Jewellery Box, measuring 305mm long x 190mm wide x 180mm high, has been with us for forty years, never used. There is no bidder for this item at all, even after we have reduced our price. Ah, I note that one of you are saying that we should donate to Salvation Army, or to one of those charitable outlets like Op Shops or Hospice Shops. Yes, we have tried them too and you know what, they too, are not wanting these items even if we want to give them for free. We do not want to have their selling shelves full of stuffs that they think no one wants. Where to then? Yes, by the time our move to the smaller unit is up, we shall be throwing them away. The total cost of all our thrown items is estimated at NZ$35,000 at least, at the times of their purchases.

这个樟脑首饰盒，长 305 毫米 x 宽 190 毫米 x 高 180 毫米，已经在我家有四十多年，从未使用过。这件商品根本没有投标人，即使我们已经降低了价格。啊，我注意到你们中的一个人说我们应该捐赠给救世军，或者像 Op Shops 或 Hospice Shops 这样的慈善机构之一。是的，我们也尝试过它们，您知道，即使我们想免费提供这些物品，他们也不想要这些物品。“我们不想让他们的货架上摆满卖家们不要的东西。那去哪里？” 说得很有道理。当我们搬到较小的单位时，我们将把它们扔掉。在购买时，我们所有投掷物品的总成本估计至少为 35,000 新西兰元。

Table Lamp, priced at only NZ$10.00 but not a single bidder. After two weeks we gave this item away to a friend.

台灯，售价仅为 10.00 新西兰元，但没有一个投标人。两周后，我们把这个项目送给了一位朋友。

Items dumped with 2 m3 rubbish bag: Books; CD’s; DVD’s; Picture Frames, various sizes; Clothings; Stationery Items like empty files, fountain pens, bottles of ink, coloured markers, Office desks, Office table decorative items.

Items sold through TradeMe: (1) Upright Piano - A Beauty Sold for $855.00  (2) ONIX 9″ Portable DVD Player Sold for $76.00 (3) Collection of Beautiful & Colourful Rugs Sold for $98.00 (4) Collection of Electric Heaters Sold for $150.00 (5) Korean Mask Play of Hohoe Byeoisin Exorcism, framed Sold for $22.00 (6) Various brands of Inkjet Colour refills Sold for $180.00

Items sold through Second-Hand Traders: (7) Single Beds 3 Nos. $280.00 (8) Writing Desks - 2 Nos. $130.00 (9) Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Sculptures and Artifacts $320.00 (10) Book Cases - 4 Nos. $380.00. (11) Camphor Crafted Big Box $110.00 (12) Single beds with mattresses 3 Nos. Cannot remember the price for the three beds. (13) Ceramic artworks. (14) Jackets and Woolies. (15) Kitchen wares and Crockery items, including rice cooker, juice mixers, cake moulds, recipe books with book stand.

用 2 立方米垃圾袋倾倒的物品：书籍；光盘； DVD；相框，各种尺寸；服装；文具用品，如空文件、钢笔、墨水瓶、彩色记号笔、办公桌、办公桌装饰用品。  
通过 TradeMe 出售的商品： (1) 立式钢琴 - 美女 售价 855.00 元 (2) ONIX 9" 便携式 DVD 播放器 售价 76.00 元 (3) 美丽多彩地毯系列 售价 98.00 元 (4) 电加热器系列 售价 150.00 元(5) Hohoe Byeoisin Exorcism 韩国面具戏，带框 售价 22.00 元 (6) 各种品牌的喷墨彩色笔芯 售价 180.00 元   
通过二手交易商出售的物品： (7) 单人床 3 件 280.00 元 (8) 写字台 - 2 件 130.00 元 (9) 中国陶瓷、雕塑和手工艺品收藏品 320.00 元 (10) 书柜 - 4 件 380.00 元。 (11) Camphor Crafted Big Box $110.00 (12) 带床垫的单人床 3 张。三张床的价格不记得了。 (13) 陶瓷艺术品。 (14) 夹克和羊毛衫。 (15) 厨房用具和陶器，包括电饭煲、果汁机、蛋糕模、带书架的食谱书。

The lesson for us here is surely that we have to learn to buy only the essentials in life from our mid-forties onwards. Two rice cookers - one big for family gatherings and the other small just for two - for instance, are just one cooker too many.

在这里给我们的教训肯定是，我们必须学会从四十多岁开始只购买生活中的必需品。例如，两个电饭煲——一个大用于家庭聚会，另一个小只供两个人使用——例如，一个电饭煲太多了。