Purge 2015 June Declutter 100 Items

[Float On]

I'm going to keep this going because I'm determined to see the whole year through.

I don't have anything to add yet but have a few plans for the month. Both boys will go to college in August so I'd like them to start going through their rooms a time or two before it's actually time to pack up and go. I also intend to go through the studio another layer. DH is ready to sell a few more glassblowing tools and color. I also want to go through the upstairs library/my former office.


“It's interesting to see that people had so much clutter even thousands of years ago. The only way to get rid of it all was to bury it, and then some archaeologist went and dug it all up.” ― Karl Pilkington, An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

When my parents bought our farm when I was a baby, the former owners used the old method of filling up ravines and ditches with their trash. 12 dumptruck loads were hauled out and as a small child I remember trips to the ravine for mom to look for things that might be used for flowerpots or "accents".

[lessisbest]

Things are back on track after Memorial Day weekend followed by a long distance wedding the next weekend. Saturday we made a much needed trip to the recycling center with some cardboard we accumulated. It's amazing how much of that stuff one gets. Took our first load for June to Goodwill.

3 w/tops
4 w/bottoms
1 w/housecoat
1 whisk
1 covered pie server
2 canisters
1 egg cup
16-pc. dessert set with demitasse cups/spoons
1 cloth basket
________________________
total: 30 items

[TVRodriguez]

I just filled a bag with old work skirt suits. They might fit me and they're classics in great shape, but I haven't worn them in at least 9 years--since I got pregnant with my first child. I had been holding onto them for after I was finished being pregnant, and I just never got around to wearing them again. My youngest is 4, so I've been done being pregnant for a while now! So someone is going to love finding these suits, which still look almost new. And I am loving finding at least 10 inches of space in my closet. Also tossed a few other items into that bag--an old purse and some other work clothes that I no longer wear, including some really nice dresses. Hope whoever ends up with them loves them!

[rosarugosa]

We sent two bags of clothes, a box of miscellaneous, and a like new bed pillow (very firm foam and not something we would use; I think Mom must have given it to us) to Salvation Army. We also threw away several pairs of DH's worn, torn and/or painted pants during the semi-annual closet clean out. We both bought some replacement items, but net outflow exceeded inflow

[Float On]

Going to the flea market booth

1-3 old metal watering cans
4 juicer
5 mini chopper
6 cake stand and cover
7-8 baking pans
9 small pair of handweights
10 oval metal washtub (with holes drilled to make a planter)
11-13 metal tomato cages (we built some wood ones I like better)
14-20 fence posts
21 metal bookworm garden sculpture
22-24 hanging metal/glass tea light lamps
25 windchime
26-35 bells
36-46 box of paperweights

To the thrift shop
47 notebook cover
48-50 notebooks/binders
51-61 shirts and 2 pair shoes

To the trash:
62 1 pair of work pants ruined by paint (I doubt they'll ask my son to paint again).
63 old cat bed
64 old dog bed

To the cat:
63 several old handtowels donated to her basket
To the dog:
64 giant beach towel stuffed with other old towels for his new bed

[beckyliz]

I went through several boxes yesterday of extra photos (ones that I didn't put into scrapbooks), old letters and cards. Got rid of 90% of it - most into the recycle bin. I've been meaning to do so for awhile and I'm glad it's done. I honestly didn't remember keeping all those greeting cards.

[gadder]

My June De-clutter:
- excess flower pots, kept just in case I find a use for them - but I have enough already so - donated
- office-type shirts, many given as gifts from parents. Haven't worn that type in years but kept them 'cause, you know, it's a gift from mom/dad - donated
- my adherence to some other people's expectations of what I can/should be. You know, this is tough. Letting go of bits of pottery and clothing is easy, but letting go of no-longer useful/fulfilling/truthful beliefs/emotions/habits is the really big kahuna. When you give old clothes to GoodWill they are gone forever and you feel good, but I sure wish I could as easily give away some old ways of thinking forever (cause they tend to come back). Maybe there's a Mental de-clutter thread somewhere...

[Float On]

gadder - you might want to do some research on the mindfulness movement. It seems to really help with priorities and being present and making decisions.

[kib]

Gadder, I know what you mean. And somehow the mental clutter can lead back to the other kind. I'm amused to notice this pattern in my life: DH asks for something (typically a food item) and I sigh a little, because it's not something I'd buy, but he asked and I love him and I'm out shopping, so here it is. Then he eats one serving and leaves the rest, and I sigh and say well, I'm not throwing this out, that goes against my principles even more than consuming this item, so I guess I'll eat it. My diet is sometimes 75% things I don't want to eat, but, hello, I'm the one who's bringing this stuff into the house. And still, there seems to be this disconnect in my head between buying it and what's going to happen once it gets here. So I clean out the pantry and get all the "bad" little bits and pieces to go away ... and then a month later, there they are again. Mindfulness, yes Float On, we need mindfulness!!

[TVRodriguez]

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to give away some old jackets. I have little need for jackets, living in South Florida. I have one nice rain jacket that's good for work and one casual rain jacket with a liner that works for coldish days. Those are the two I use. I also have:
-an older denim hooded jacket that I bought in 1993 (!) that I never wear but which reminds me of college
-a red rain jacket that is useless but which reminds me of our first year of marriage
-a blue rain jacket that I bought for work but which I don't wear b/c it has no hood or belt
-a red jacket that is too large that belonged to my mom
-a green fleece jacket that was a gift from an ex-boyfriend
-a black leather jacket that I can wear about 2x annually
-a black alpaca jacket that I can wear about once a year (or if I travel north in winter)
-and, I think, some others that don't come to mind off the top of my head.

I think it's well past time to get rid of the first 5 on this list. But I find it difficult somehow. Working on it.