View Full Version : May Purge
I didn't see a May Purge, so I will get it started!
In our spare bedroom we have a walk-in closet that we have has always referred to as the "library". Simply because it has our main tall book case. Granted we have books stashed all over the house, but this has always been the main bookcase.
After 38 years of having kids in our house, the youngest gets married next month and is moving out. I almost get giddy thinking about it! I am on a new quest to read
24 books this year and they have been piling up on my desk, so I decided to purge the "library".
Once I got started, I couldn't stop. I have a HUGE box that is overflowing by 2 feet of old books. I can't wait for dd to get home from work and for her go through her books. Next to me, she is the least sentimental so it I anticipate another box going out!
I put my 6 new books on the shelf and the book case is nearly full. What the hell? How can that be? I have this huge box - I bet 50 books going out. *sigh*
I empathize. I had an enormous collection of cookbooks and I loved each one for different reasons. I finally got the number down to one shelf and here they are growing again.
Now my purge is the riding lawn mower. I needed this big guy when mowing over 2 acres on the farm. I moved into a brand new house in town after DH's passing and needed my tractor for moving soil, manure, plants, pots, massive amounts of mulch over the past 6 years as well as the mowing. Recently I added a fence for my little dog and this rugged mower is too big. I have done the major landscaping, will hire the adding of mulch every three years so it is time to downsize. I am looking at cordless lawn mower but having a hard time deciding if I need a walk behind or a self propelled version.
Do you purge and substitute?
Sometimes I purge and replace.
So far this month I have sent 3 items to new homes. Dog clippers to a neighbor. Two pairs of brand new white athletic shoes, neither of which fit me well enough to wear, to my daughter, who passed one on to her Son’s girl friend. It feels good to continue to thin out the things that don’t meet my needs, while they do for someone else.
I thought with more time at home I would declutter, but instead I am afraid to throw things out. What if no matter how bad shape this is in I can't get another one and have to go back to it someday? Stores being closed has definitely impacted me psychologically. An example is uncomfortable shoes where the lining fell out.
I gave away a large shopping bag of plastic egg cartons to someone who was requesting them on the local FB giving page. It probably doesn't really count as purging, since I was saving them for her, but it was nice to send them on for another use rather than just putting them in my recycling bin.
I gave away a large shopping bag of plastic egg cartons to someone who was requesting them on the local FB giving page. It probably doesn't really count as purging, since I was saving them for her, but it was nice to send them on for another use rather than just putting them in my recycling bin.
If it leaves your home, it is a purge :) And better yet, your recycled them:cool:
Teacher Terry
5-9-20, 1:53pm
My kids had 10 big plastic bins in our shed. They went through it and found $1600 in savings bonds which were old and ready to be cashed in. They kept one bin and everything else went in our trash. We now have extra room out there.
My kids had 10 big plastic bins in our shed. They went through it and found $1600 in savings bonds which were old and ready to be cashed in. They kept one bin and everything else went in our trash. We now have extra room out there.
That is SO cool, Terry!!
iris lilies
5-9-20, 4:11pm
Man is that a score for you and yours, TT.
Teacher Terry
5-9-20, 8:04pm
When we bought this place I wanted to tear down the shed and all my husband could see was storage space:))
Finally threw out 13 items of old clothing and what did I find underneath but my old unemployment insurance password. Good to have in case I ever need it again. Now if only I knew the username!
flowerseverywhere
5-10-20, 4:46am
We cleaned out our closets and I kept the old clothes. I am researching old clothes on Pinterest and will examine if any can be repurposed before sending to the thrift store. People post many clever ideas.
I was looking for an old photo and ran across a picture of the Obamas and Bidens I had gotten, either for canvassing for Obama or maybe I donated to his campaign the first time he ran. Into the trash that went because of Biden, whose pitiful response to Clarence Thomas now makes sense in light of what he himself did to Tara Reed.
All our local donation centers are closed due to the virus. It took the wind out of my sails for some major purging this month. I have several boxes already in the garage that I took down to donate only to learn they had closed. We also have a large "donation" box in the garage where we toss stuff that can be donated, it too is over flowing. I am tempted to take it to the dump, but there are some good re-sale items. So I will wait. Some stores will be re-opening at the end of the week, hopefully that will include donation centers.
My husband put a bandsaw and a tiller on Craigslist and got rid of them both in one day!! He had to drive 80 mile roundtrip to meet the guy for the bandsaw, but the bandsaw guy drove all the way down from the UP and originally asked husband to meet him at the Mackinaw Bridge and I nixed that. Both of these items are enormous and heavy and I have no idea how he even got them into the truck. Sometimes I think he has superhuman powers.
Teacher Terry
5-11-20, 12:05pm
Big donation boxes are unmanned so Greg you can put stuff to donate in them.
happystuff
5-11-20, 1:04pm
Since being home, have sold a couple things on facebook marketplace (only thing that GOT me on facebook! LOL). Have a few more listed, but seems to have stalled. Also slowly filling the donation box, but since it hasn't left the house.... unofficial purge?? lol.
mschrisgo2
5-11-20, 2:23pm
I just found out via NextDoor that our little resale shop in town is open and accepting donations! Going to load 3 boxes full into my car now.
When I drove by St. Vinnie's today I saw lots of cars there, maybe it has re-opened? I don't know of any donation boxes in our area. I think they had issues with people either using it to dump trash or people were stealing from them...
Re-organized the pantry shelves in garage, next to our back door. Toss outdated food stuffs. We waste way too much food. In front of the shelves had lots of smaller boxes dw was saving for? I nested a bunch together and broke down A LOT. Especially seems dw and dd order so much online, we will always have a fresh bunch of boxes coming in for gifts and the like. Freed up a whole shelf which allowed me to organize all our canned foods, and boxed dry goods. Looks very good. I must admit I had to go out in the garage a few times just to stand and admire keen organizational skills! Such pleasure in the simple things. All the canned foods organized, labels are turned the same way and cans faced to the front. I should have taken before/after pictures.
Teacher Terry
5-14-20, 1:23am
Sometimes my husband buys food we don’t need. I donate it.
Sold a guitar on Craigslist; need to find a home for another guitar, sewing machine, and a violin. Hoping I can move these three items along. Husband put another bench saw on the list.
A picture frame I couldn't get clean and a few photos, a booklet of recommended services for my car. It ends at 90,000 miles and I am now at 108,000. I do have other booklets that go higher - don't know why the dealership gave me so much redundant information.
Sold another guitar, hooray
Teacher Terry
5-16-20, 12:23pm
That’s great Tybee. I have a big Pyrex baking pan that’s too heavy when full of a casserole. So I gave it to a friend and bought a lighter metal one.
I'm having that dilemma with cast iron frying pans, Terry! No way I can lift them anymore, although maybe it's just what I need, weightlifting with frying pans.
Teacher Terry
5-16-20, 3:14pm
I have been afraid that I was going to drop our meal on the floor:)). Opening the French doors on the refrigerator is hard while holding it. Getting old isn’t fun.
Husband got rid of two families worth of cardboard to our recycling facility today. It is not too far from our home and they will remove from car/truck without having to get out of vehicle. I had an ironing board delivered and of course it was in a huge box and a shower stool again a big box.
iris lilies
5-17-20, 10:11am
Well, here I’m running out of things I thought I would never run out of: old T-shirts to wear for gardening. I can’t go to the the thrift store to pick up more.
I had to toss all of my favorite v-neck T-shirts because they are V-neck. I have rosacea on my chest and I need to protect it from the sun now, so I need crewneck T-shirts. I don’t like crewneck but I gotta to do what I gotta do.
So, surreptitiously over the last few years I’ve been taking a T-shirt or two from DH and disposing of it because he never throws anything away and he had a constant stream of new, free, T-shirts that I now have stopped coming into our house. I want to appropriate 3 T-shirts for myself but he hasn’t many left! I don’t know if he’s gonna let me have 3.
Oh, the irony.
Teacher Terry
5-17-20, 11:33am
That’s too funny IL!
happystuff
5-17-20, 12:12pm
Sold 5 very large glass jars. 1/2 gallon to gallon sizes. Lots more room in the pantry now!
I saw that the local St. Vincient DePaul was back open for business and saw their back donation doors open. So I loaded up the car and headed down. Yah, the back donation door was open, but also posted was a sign that there would be no donations until further notice. >:( The boxes are one car ride short of going to the dump.
I hate to do it, there really is a lot of good re-salable stuff in those boxes...
happystuff
5-19-20, 11:53am
I saw that the local St. Vincient DePaul was back open for business and saw their back donation doors open. So I loaded up the car and headed down. Yah, the back donation door was open, but also posted was a sign that there would be no donations until further notice. >:( The boxes are one car ride short of going to the dump.
I hate to do it, there really is a lot of good re-salable stuff in those boxes...
Not sure what your housing area is like, but maybe a FREE sign on the box and set in front of the house/along the roadway?? At least worth a shot before the dump. Good luck!!!
Husband got rid of the bench saw.
We are gathering other things for a garage sale; keeping 6 doors and selling 4.
We are gathering other things for a garage sale; keeping 6 doors and selling 4.
I decided to check each door to make sure I wanted to keep it and only keep it if I would use it. So I stripped one of the questionables and found it will not fit with our new house projects. Then I started to strip this one, and I am so happy with how it turned out, and best of all, there is another one that resembles this one, pre-stripped, so I think I will have two of these:
3219
We also removed all the hardware, and are only keeping 2 handle sets and the mortise locks from two of them so I can use them with Bennington doorknobs.
Rest of hardware will go in a bin for garage sale.
Teacher Terry
5-20-20, 12:35pm
That’s a attractive door.
It is. I just checked though and the other door is NOT the same since someone already stripped it and it's not as pretty. But it's still usuable.
Which is that slippery slope to Hoarderville.
catherine
5-20-20, 12:41pm
Beautiful door, Tybee!! Definitely keep it!!
iris lilies
5-20-20, 1:06pm
It is. I just checked though and the other door is NOT the same since someone already stripped it and it's not as pretty. But it's still usuable.
Which is that slippery slope to Hoarderville.
Four blocks from my house is an architectural remnant Place where I dump all my stuff like this. I let them store it And in the very unlikely case where I will need it in the future, I will buy it back from them for a few bucks.
happystuff
5-24-20, 9:09am
Sold two fishing poles with reels yesterday. I dislike Facebook, but have to say I like the Marketplaces on there. It's been a good way to continue to declutter and pick up a couple of bucks along the way.
rosarugosa
5-24-20, 6:30pm
I love our local FB give away site. I have someone coming to pick up four books this week, and tomorrow I'll draw random names for the several people who want a bird feeder and wine glass holders that have been gathering dust in my shed.
Still planning a yard sale; governor just extended stay at home order through June 12, so that will delay the yard sale. Very discouraged.
I love our local FB give away site. I have someone coming to pick up four books this week, and tomorrow I'll draw random names for the several people who want a bird feeder and wine glass holders that have been gathering dust in my shed.
Yes, Freecycle is a similar type of site. Not sure if you have one where you are, but I've given away a lot of stuff on it.
I took 4 boxes of books to the dump today. Makes me sad, but they. Have to go.
iris lilies
5-28-20, 11:34am
UGG, the quantity of frozen vegetables and fruits in my deep freeze making me nuts.
Yesterday I thought I would take several tubs of frozen items and use them up. I took cherries, always my favorite thing to deal with, I made cherry oatmeal cookies with some leftover cherry filling for another dessert.
I also put cherries in my chicken salad along with pecans and that was a gourmet treats I love that!
I set aside peaches because I will probably turn those into a dessert along with the cherries, probably have cherry-peach bars. And then there’s the frozen zucchini. Oh dear God the frozen zucchini.
I have already had a come to Jesus meeting with DH about frozen zucchini, and there will be no more of it.
But I need to deal with what’s in the freezer and I took a container out thinking fine I will make zucchini bread. So after melting it down I find I have less than one cup. I need at least 2 cups for this recipe. So I go downstairs to the deep freeze and rummage around and pull up two containers of things that are caked with ice, hard to know what they are because one of them is not marked but they’re vaguely green so I bring them upstairsM melt them down yes, zucchini.
So after this hour long side trip I guess I now have enough to make a batch of zucchini bread. But a lot of trouble.
The only reason I make this stuff is because DH likes desserts and he eats them, and his weight is under control so he gets them. Yesterday I ate too much oatmeal cookie batter and felt sick. I’m not an anti-sugar person but on the other hand I don’t eat a ton of it so when I do yuck yuck yuck.
"I have already had a come to Jesus meeting with DH about frozen zucchini, and there will be no more of it."
One of my favorite lines ever.
Took a box of stuff to Goodwill. Was going to put it in the garage sale but I really, really needed to get something out of the house to get things rolling.
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