One shirt in the garbage. The other might be a sleep shirt.
I had been hoping to find some runners while here so I could dump the ones I brought, but it was never the right timing or particular shoes. I suppose I could have prioritized my shoe shopping over the shadowy one, because I would have actually purchased something, but I am trying to make sure I don’t take change all the time.
Basically everyone in Amsterdam was wearing sneakers except this fabulous woman with her silver heels
I send my culled beads to a woman who works with Rainbow Girls, or some such organization. They make necklaces to raise funds.
I have 5 or 6 beading books I culled. One of them I decided to keep for a few reasons: it had a discussion about antiquing beads and it uses canvas, an idea I’d thought of over 40 years ago and never followed through because the plastic canvas just disintegrated…
The others wouldn’t sell. I could send them to my friend in TX, but like me, she’s downsizing, so wouldn’t appreciate my giving her 5 books, most of which are too “simple” for her skill level.
I set aside the books for the woman with the Rainbow girls group. Although she never said she’d take beading books, she never said she wouldn’t either. For the teenagers she works with they will have techniques, pictures, ideas… yes out of date, but still. Beadwork is an ancient craft…
So my “Yeah me!!!” is that I thought of this, instead of sending them to the dump.
Yesterday SO and I completed an unplanned deep freezer defrost and clean out. Mom had a few things from 2016. We have half a large black garbage bag to say bye bye to.
Tonight we went through her refrigerator and disposed of a bunch of stuff- found a couple 2016 things too.
I told SO when he gets home I know I have 4 things that can be tossed out of our fridge for sure that I keep thinking about but haven’t done. He will take care of it.
I threw out some acne spot treatment that expired in 2012. This means it has moved with me 4 times. FOUR! What is wrong with me??
Posted a whole host of things on Buy Nothing and got takers for about half. A free smoothie blender is gone, so is the discounted window shade I had intended to put up for 3 years, 4 totes bags worth of clothes (about half mine, half other buy nothing folks), 2 little planter with seed things we got as a promo at a conference, 2 CDs, and a stovetop tea kettle. No takers on 2 light fixtures or 3 other CDs, 1 book, and a navy blue soap dish.
I’m avoiding getting something in the first place - Kiddo wants to take his lunch to school but has zero interest in doing any of the planning of what would go into said lunch. He just wants me to make it magically appear. I got the idea in my head that one of those bento lunch containers but with one big lid instead of a lot of little containers/lids would be the One True Container … but I won’t get that if he’s not going to put the work into making lunch. (He gets free lunch at school.) His lunch bag can continue to sit in the cabinet, it’s perfectly good for the rare times he does take a lunch.
This isn’t quite the right thread since it’s organization not decluttering but I needed to share my victory. Realized this shelf that had come with the house could easily be moved up and a second shelf added below it on the same brackets. Boom, tons of extra storage room.
…I can probably throw these out now.
(Let the record show I have moved NINE TIMES since 2010. wtf??)
I found out that there is not going to be a fall consignment sale so I have to declutter piecemeal instead of taking it all at once.
I sold the cuckoo’s crib on FB Marketplace for $40. Unfortunately, the Boy did not put all the pieces out and I have to drop off the rest tomorrow. Oops.
Yesterday I helped LB (12) declutter his dresser. He was actually ASKING me to help so he would have room for his clothes! And expressed a willingness to limit his “sentimental value” clothes to 5 items. I made a large trash bag for his younger stepbrother if he wants it and the rest went into the thrift store hamper or the textile recycling hamper.
Yes, we have 2 laundry hampers devoted almost solely to discarding used clothes for a family of 5 people. Really makes me notice the purchase-to-garbage pipeline… and we do not have large wardrobes and tend to wear things out pretty thoroughly.
To be fair, 3 of your family members are growing a lot and are presumably rather tough on clothes – that leads to more turnover than you’d have as an adult.
But also yeah it definitely makes it SO obvious that there’s a discard pipeline!!
I saw a Youtube video with an expert that bought early 2000’s clothes from a “vintage” store and compared with similar articles made today. The stuff made today was very obviously made more poorly when they had the items side by side.
Re-orged his and my tshirts and rearranged some drawers so that he now has a ‘meetings’ drawer, a ‘field work’ drawer, and a ‘home only’ drawer. Also got rid of a bunch of stuff (where ‘got rid’=it’s in a bag in the car for eventual drop off).
This is starkly true even from pre-pregnancy stuff I’m unpacking from pre 2019. Same brand and item (ie target Modena women’s v neck t shirt) and the old ones are like twice the weight, better seams, etc etc it’s wild
It’s really disgusting how big of a difference even a few years makes in clothing quality
Oh smart categories!
Sizing went crazy since getting pregnant too. And then one of the documentaries was showing how much sloppier size consistency is on the same item same year
I love learning things like that, makes me feel like my body dysmorphia is only half the problem 
rude. very rude. These words should not be in the same sentence.
We have started purging and decluttering my mom’s kitchen. We pull everything out of one cupboard, let her make decisions and then put stuff back. We have completed 5 cupboards and one drawer, which has resulted in a lot of space (the one cupboard over the fridge is completely empty and so is the top of the fridge). I have a lot of Corning ware headed to my house, some things gone to trash, and 4 full reusable bags for donation. We put the coffeemaker from the counter into a cupboard since neither of us use it.
We have 5 more cupboards to go through, and the pantry ones. Slowly but surely. We can do one a day to get through, depending on my patience and time.
I’m in a big construction/renovation phase, so I’m digging through all the stuff I threw in the garage to make space for various supplies. I’ve done a goodwill trip, a specialty recycling trip, and I just found another box of goodwill stuff and three million cardboard boxes for more recycling
I have thrown away 3 pairs of hand knit socks that were getting threadbare or already had holes. No point in starting the season with sad socks, since I have so many pairs waiting in the storage drawer.
