January purge

[iris lilies]

I am not one to say much on these purge threads, but January and winter months are traditionally my time to toss crap. So here we go.

[iris lilies]

I have a couple of random thoughts today about purging.

I dont ask DH if it is ok to get rid of most things in the house since those are in my arena. But the dogs--their opinion counts! I had moved out a big, stained, ottoman with the idea of getting another one at some point but not immediately. This one is ugly and I want it gone, so I set it on our patio last week.But DH told me that Teddy Bear sat on it regularly to look out the window for me, and in fact wanted to climb on it today (used another stool,that was too small for him.) well, shoot. How can I get rid of that??!!! It is Theodore Bear's stool to keep tabs on his mom. He wins, it stays.

i have been wracking my brain to see how I could cover it with an easily washable cover without working hours on a tailored slipcover project that is beyond my sewing skills. So, at the moment, I think maybe I can GLUE
fabric to the existing fabric. Hmmm, maybe. And then, keep a loose throw over the top that can be washed.

I spend my life thinking about soft furnishings that can be washed, the dogs are so dirty.

edited to make sense

[iris lilies]

Today DH showed me a hunk of wood, a solid piece about 8" x 8." He is cleaning up his shop and is burning scrap pieces. This particular piece of wood is from the wooden windowsill of a tiny house we owned, built about 1875-1880.

While I am not sentimental about that house, I love that this piece of wood is from "the King's Forest." As our friend who loves oir old houses points out, all of the old growth wood in our houses date from the time King George owned the forests.
This piece of wood is old, and I like old stuff. It probably isnt the oldest thng in the house because I have Georgian Spoons and a King James coin, but it is pretty damned old, for the U.S. anyway.

[herbgeek]

Iris Lily maybe use sticky Velcro to make a cover for that ottoman? I was thinking of strategically using those Velcro dots at the corners and maybe a Velcro strip at the bottom green to attach underneath? At least it would be removable, unlike glue.

[sweetana3]

Find whatever you want to cover it with. Measure and cut out a square (or rectangle that is from floor to floor if you want it to go to floor or pick another location for end of the cover if you dont want it to go down to the floor. Lay on the ottoman with the outside of the cover down. Pin the excess flaps at each corner and then sew those four seams or pin with safety pins. (can cut off the excess flaps) Take off and turn inside out. Put back on.

[Tybee]

Iris, have your husband make something out of the piece of wood. A key holder--screw cup holders in there and put it up on the wall by the door.
I had old chairs I loved that the puppy chewed the legs out of, so I cut off the top of the chair and put cup holders and hang necklaces on it.

[iris lily]

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Find whatever you want to cover it with. Measure and cut out a square (or rectangle that is from floor to floor if you want it to go to floor or pick another location for end of the cover if you dont want it to go down to the floor. Lay on the ottoman with the outside of the cover down. Pin the excess flaps at each corner and then sew those four seams or pin with safety pins. (can cut off the excess flaps) Take off and turn inside out. Put back on.

Oh, maybe. It wont look polished if I do it. But I keep thinking that a basic cover like you describe would be fine if I throw a loose topper over it, one that can easily be washed.

I love fussy, foo foo ottmans like the one pictured above but I cannot replicate this upholstry and I cant keep it clean.

[JaneV2.0]

Iris, have your husband make something out of the piece of wood. A key holder--screw cup holders in there and put it up on the wall by the door.
I had old chairs I loved that the puppy chewed the legs out of, so I cut off the top of the chair and put cup holders and hang necklaces on it.

With a tiny plaque to indicate its provenance, maybe?

[Zoe Girl]

Oh, maybe. It wont look polished if I do it. But I keep thinking that a basic cover like you describe would be fine if I throw a loose topper over it, one that can easily be washed.

I love fussy, foo foo ottmans like the one pictured above but I cannot replicate this upholstry and I cant keep it clean.

I crochet everything, so sometimes I just put a crochet afgan over the top of whatever it is. I wash my afgans, they are not heirloom anything. However an open type crochet may not be great with dog's paws.

[19Sandy]

Cleaning out the kitchen today - as in getting rid of stuff. Tossed mix matched plastic containers and lids.

Sorted through freezer, have old loaf of bread that was free (white bread that I really don't like) but is over 6 months old along with hot dogs and lunch meat from this summer. Going to toss those as I go out the door later. Not worth food poisoning to save money. Online it says between 2 and 6 months for freezing -plus I had a 5 hour power outage a few weeks ago. I do need to stock up before next week though to have extra food in the house for the winter.

[Zoe Girl]

I am working but totally bombed on the bathroom cabinet. For a small apartment I have a LOT Of crap in there, and I can't quite bring myself to toss out perfectly good stuff that I simply have too many of. I don't have nice nails often but recently they grew out and I found my nail polish but couldn't find more than a drop of remover. I bought more, and then found 2 more bottles. Geez. I have bug spray, sunscreen, hairspray, etc. that I seem to lose when I need them. So I am just going to organize it a bit, but the wonderful idea of emptying out the cabinet is not going to happen.

I did get rid of some clothing, got another wooden bin so that I can store my new books, put away all holiday ornaments, did ALL the dishes (there is always a baking pan dirty it seems), and made my bed,.

Here is my sticking point, I got some cute little things that I want to give away to goodwill immediately. But I still feel bad.

[nswef]

Zoe Girl, Some person will be thrilled to get the cute little items. Think of the smiles you will create!

[Zoe Girl]

Okay thank you, I am keeping the little sister dish my sister gave me for my meditation alter, and I have a new box for cards since I like to save those, plus I have more room for my framed pictures of grandbabies!

[rosarugosa]

I am methodically working my way around the cellar. I put a bunch of stuff in the trash and am working on filling 2 more boxes of stuff to be donated. I'm feeling good about making slow but steady progress.

[iris lilies]

I had to deal with a hoarding Motherload yesterday. Our neighborhood association has its headquaters in this adorable Victorian building (see below) and over the past 40 years of its existence, it has generated stuff, as you can imagine.

This stuff has been removed at least twice for construction. The organization's publications, documents, business records are hauled away, some never return. Plus, over the year 300+ people have had keys, so stuff disappears due to people helping themselves, not really in a malicious way, but in a "I need this for a neighborhood project" way. Back 20 years ago I organized the stuff that was there, including house tour brochures, unique publications.

Now we have an official Archives committee that is charged withh organizing and preserving the documents relating to our neighborhood. First up, we are going to digitize house tour brochures that go back to early 1970's. Or not! B cause all of the files I organized 20 years ago are gone. Hmmm. But there were plenty of misc boxes and file cabinets of business records and documents and etc. that contained randm house tour brochures. We are missing them fr M several years, but fund 3/4 of what we needed.

What a lot of junk we will have to go through, ugh.

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[razz]

IL, that is an adorable little house. What shape is it in? How many BR, etc?

[iris lily]

IL, that is an adorable little house. What shape is it in? How many BR, etc?

Isnt it,adorable?!! It is rectangular, I guess. The tower contains the staircase. Otherwise, the first floor has two rooms plus a small bathroom. The upstairs has one large room and a small closet.

It was built in the 1870's as a police station inside Lafayette Park, a city park.

[razz]

It looks as though someone went to a lot of trouble in design and took pride in the brick laying. Did it need fresh pointing for the brickwork or has it lasted all this time? Wonder who designed it? Copper roof? Tell me more please. There is a story about the building. Was it part of a series as it too unique to be just one building. Everyone would have clamoured to get something similar unless humans were very different in 1870.;)


Isnt it,adorable?!! The tower contane the staircase. Otherwise, the first floor has two rooms plus a small bathroom. The upstairs has one large room and a small closet.

It was built in the 1870's as a police station inside Lafayette Park, a city park.

[iris lily]

It looks as though someone went to a lot of trouble in design and took pride in the brick laying. Did it need fresh pointing for the brickwork or has it lasted all this time? Wonder who designed it? Copper roof? Tell me more please. There is a story about the building. Was it part of a series as it too unique to be just one building. Everyone would have clamoured to get something similar unless humans were very different in 1870.;)

Awww, thanks for taking an interest in our Park House. So many women over the years have expressed interest in running away from responsibilities and living there, we all love it! I don't know who designed it, but it was built as a police station amd jail, amd the police stayed upstairs.

In the 1950's someone painted all over the brick and the porthole windows, all rotted, were removed and boarded up. Paint was a cheap way to avoid tuckpointing. Later in the 1980's we paid to have the paint removed. Then, around 2005. We put about $350,000 into it, restoring the porthold windows (image below) tuckpointing, roofong, sprucing up the interior, and restoring the gazebo off the back (image below.)



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[ejchase]

Counting the objects I'm getting rid of has really been a good motivator in the past. I started counting what I was getting rid of about five or six years ago, and the most I've every gotten rid of in one year is around 725.

This year, I really want to get to 1,200 - a hundred a month, obviously. I had the same goal last year but I had a lot of big life events going on, and it just didn't happen. In fact, I think I got rid of less than 300 things last year.

But I think this year it might be possible. And because I do 90% of my purging for the year in January and February and then in summer (I'm a teacher - that's when my schedule is light!), I'm going to try to get rid of 600 things by the end of February. If I do that, I really think the goal will be attainable.

Today, I took 51 hand-me-downs from my daughter to a friend's daughter - mostly books, but also a bike, a pair of shoes, and a couple of dresses, all with my daughter's permission.

[catherine]

I dont ask DH if it is ok to get rid of most things in the house since those are in my arena. But the dogs--their opinion counts!

You made me feel better about the time that DH insisted we throw out a sofa we had had for a long time. It was a beige velour-ish material. I had some kind of irrational resistance to getting rid of it, although that beige was really dirty, and then I realized Laddie would lay on it and rest his head on the arm of the sofa that was close to the piano. I'm a very bad piano player, but when I played, Laddie loved to listen and his head was right there, right next to the gawd-awful strains of my "music." He was my best audience, and getting rid of that couch meant getting rid of Laddie's VIP box seat beside me.

[ejchase]

I took 20 bottles of expired vitamins and medications to a hazardous waste materials drop-off and 20 kids' books plus an unused crib sheet to a kids' charity drop off. New total for the month: 92.

[Teacher Terry]

IL: that house is adorable! I went to visit my son in Kansas and he is renting a funky old house. YOu walk in to a landing and there is a big flight of steps up or 4 steps down. If you go down you have a living room and bedroom. If you go up you have a small bathroom, big dining room and a tiny, tiny kitchen. I got lots of exercise just going up and down when I visited:))

[Gardnr]

I shipped off 34 yards of quilting fabric to a prolific online quilting friend who makes quilts for "burnout families" in her community. Last year she went through more than 700 yards. That is expensive!

I cut another 3 yards into a patterned "kit" for an online friend's Down Syndrome daughter. She is 39 functioning at age 5. Mom spends a great deal of time prepping pieces for her daughter so I thought I'd help with the workload. I grew up with a DS adult sister of my bestie. It is so awesome when they have a creative outlet with successes;)

I've started my next Goodwill box.

[Chicken lady]

Yesterday I took a stack of used and washed disposable plastic cups to the elementary teacher because I noticed that her class had used a bunch to make string telephones - so they are now in her supply closet instead of my basement.

bit. By bit.

[ejchase]

I boxed up 50 items from my daughter's toy shelves and put them on the curb with a "free" sign on them and the entire box was gone within 20 minutes. Didn't even have to drive to Goodwill! New total for the month: 122.

[ejchase]

My daughter and I boxed up another 12 things of hers to give to a friend. New total for the month: 134.