November Purge

[rosarugosa]

I gifted 2 jigsaw puzzles and 1 book via my Facebook giving group.
My sister grabbed my bag of fabric recycling and a bag of donation items and dropped them off for me while she was dropping off her own stuff. She also took some unloved pottery to give away at work. I love my sister!

[happystuff]

Took 5 little children's books to the "Little Library" box next to the park. I've gotten a book or two from there. Love the idea and that it seems decently used by people in the area.

[Yppej]

A pajama top that just was not comfortable.

[Tradd]

Need to get rid of boxes from a bunch of online orders this weekend. They’ve piled up.

[beckyliz]

I bought the wrong sized Tena disposable underwear for my husband from a 3rd party seller on Amazon. My fault, but can't return them. Just dropped them off at a local non-profit hospice. Also dropped off a roll of super-large lawn trash bags at our church (they specifically need them). Since we moved to a duplex, we have a much smaller yard and I don't rake leaves, so we don't need them anymore.

[pinkytoe]

I ordered reading glasses from readers.com and they did not fit. They don't do returns and exchange was no charge so I guess the first pair will go in the thrift store bag. Also plan to go through bedsheets and eliminate the 20 yr old ratty ones.

[Yppej]

My protest sign (two sided).

[Tradd]

Got rid of all the boxes. Felt good to have them gone. Pitched some other stuff, mostly paper.

[iris lilies]

We moved from the city where we could put furniture out on the alley and the city’s bulk truck came by once a month to dispose of it if no one else had come along to pick it up.

Here in Hermann, they do bulk pick up only twice a year. We put out our stuff on the curb, and I was happy to see people driving around picking stuff out of our pile. I had three pieces of furniture that were borderline for going to the landfill. They took each of those three pieces.

I still have pieces saved back that are nice enough to go to Goodwill and we will drop those off one of these days. And then, I have an entire set of furniture —pink chairs, a pink rug, and a screen, —that are all color coordinated. They don’t fit in this house but we’re going to use them for a while and then they will go to a thrift store. But they’re not going go to Goodwill because Goodwill doesn’t have enough floor space for a lot of furniture. The St. Vincent de Paul Society in St. Louis has a big store that has lots of furniture choices.

[Tradd]

Have you considered trying a buy nothing or free giveaway group on FB for the furniture?

[iris lilies]

Have you considered trying a buy nothing or free giveaway group on FB for the furniture?
I have. My experience with giveaways on Facebook is frustrating. People say they’ll come and get it and they never do. I just waste too much of my time. And I have people lined up waiting for the first person who didn’t show up, and then I have to manage the waitlist. Again, I waste of time.


Boy did I think about it for these pink chairs and everything goes with it. It is a pain in my butt to load them into the truck and haul them into the city. But I think that still may be less involvement of my time than dealing with people who say they’ll come and get them and then don’t show.

Will say though that the last Facebook giveaway went well. It was for my KitchenAid mixer of 30 years.. I told the person who took it “I will set it on your doorstep.” It was impossible for me to arrange her for her come and get it because I was living in Hermann, the giveaway was in the city of St. Louis. And it worked very well because she was home when I stopped by and dropped it off. It turned out she lived across the street from my old Iris garden and we chatted about the huge Iris garden I used to maintain there.

[Klunick]

Got rid of a handful of check registry books because we don't write checks anymore so only need one. Also got rid of the last 3 pairs of earrings that I own because I decided to let the holes close up for good.

[flowerseverywhere]

Brought a big box of fabric and another of yarn, most of it had been gifted to me, to a sewing group that serves 41 charities. Hundreds of us make mastectomy pillows, knit chemo hats, port pillows and so on. Stuck in due to the hurricane, I’m cleaning out my own fabric stash to pass on.

[rosarugosa]

Klunick: That is funny because I actually buy check registry books online, since I am someone who needs to track my account to the penny, even though my transactions are mostly electronic these days. When I do my monthly reconciliation, everything must perfectly balance and I will not walk away until it does!
Flowers: That sounds like a cool sewing group/charitable cause.
I gave away a bowl via my local FB giving page, because I suddenly find new bowls coming into my life with alarming frequency, lol. That is the downside of pottery classes. Interestingly, my sister takes boxes of this stuff (our pottery) to work and puts it in the nurses' lounge and it all disappears, so hurray for that. I've toyed with the idea of a Little Free Library type of thing full of pottery.

[Klunick]

Pizza cutter we no longer use.

[iris lilies]

Pizza cutter we no longer use.
I just use kitchen scissors on pizza and flatbreads

[Klunick]

I just use kitchen scissors on pizza and flatbreads

We used to do "make your own pizza" nights but we discovered a really good pizza place so we get pizza from there now.

[frugal-one]

Went to the bank and asked and they gave me check registers for free.

[Klunick]

Bag of throat lozenges. Expired in 2019. Kept a bag that expired in 2021 because all day yesterday I felt like I was swallowing razor blades and even though expired, they helped. Feel much better today.

[catherine]

Gosh, you guys are such lightweights! I'm doing a good job (I think) of keeping clutter to a minimum here, but getting it down to purging random lozenges and pj tops makes me feel very inadequate! Really--I congratulate you!

[Klunick]

Gosh, you guys are such lightweights! I'm doing a good job (I think) of keeping clutter to a minimum here, but getting it down to purging random lozenges and pj tops makes me feel very inadequate! Really--I congratulate you!

I just don't have a lot more to declutter so it's really just random stuff that I guess I never paid attention to that suddenly becomes evident that it needs to go. Been a while since I've had a sore throat so that is why I never paid attention to the random bags of lozenges. I like to declutter but I really have to search for stuff now and most of it is to satisfy the urge to declutter more than about it needing to be decluttered.

[rosarugosa]

I'm working in our cluttered cellar yet again, and I'm trying EJ's technique of spending small chunks of time down there. Yesterday I spent 30 minutes and decluttered a rather amazing amount of plastic shopping bags and plastic deli-type containers.

[Tybee]

Got rid of some old jewelry ring boxes since I had bought new ring boxes and then a jewelry box to hold all of it. I notice that I hang on to the old when I get the new to replace the old. Why do I do that?

[rosarugosa]

Got rid of some old jewelry ring boxes since I had bought new ring boxes and then a jewelry box to hold all of it. I notice that I hang on to the old when I get the new to replace the old. Why do I do that?

I do that too sometimes, often with clothes. With clothing, the rationale is that I can use the old for painting, gardening, or more recently, pottery throwing. With other items, I think it's more the idea of having "backup." I have way too much backup in my life!

[catherine]

Got rid of some old jewelry ring boxes since I had bought new ring boxes and then a jewelry box to hold all of it. I notice that I hang on to the old when I get the new to replace the old. Why do I do that?

I do that with sneakers. The old ones, I reason, will be perfect for the garden. But now I have one pair of nice sneakers and three for the garden. And I used to yell at DH for keeping a dozen "under the car" shirts.

[nswef]

Catherine, Rosa and Tybee...I have the same problem. And a husband who also does. It is just hard to throw some stuff out. We have a closet in a bedroom that needs clearing. He's on board now as he is running out of space elsewhere, so I think we may accomplish this soon! it helps to know others struggle and I need to follow ej's plan!

[herbgeek]

I don't normally post in this thread, but I did a purge of my "attic" this week. The attic is a second floor closet that keeps off season clothes and holiday stuff. I finally decided to get rid of this wool rug my aunt gave me in high school, but that has been in the attic for 20 years now. I'm sure my now deceased aunt would not want this gift to have turned into an obligation/hassle for me. I held onto it for years knowing I'd never display it again. So other than the 3 boxes of memorabilia, and a few artwork pieces, almost everything in my attic is used at least once a year. It feels lighter. I know what's there and where it is.

[rosarugosa]

DH and I spent 45 minutes in the cellar last night. It's really helpful to have him with me, because my eyes can just sort of skate over something that is in it's place, and he is more likely to notice and ask whether we really need to have it at all. I have 5 mugs and a power strip on their way out the door via my Facebook giving group, and a couple more things on offer. We put a few more bits and pieces in the trash. DH did some rearranging to make things feel less cluttered.
My goal is to have only things in the cellar that belong there, and to eliminate the purgatorial waystation category of stuff that we're not even sure we want, and don't know where else to put it.

[rosarugosa]

I don't normally post in this thread, but I did a purge of my "attic" this week. The attic is a second floor closet that keeps off season clothes and holiday stuff. I finally decided to get rid of this wool rug my aunt gave me in high school, but that has been in the attic for 20 years now. I'm sure my now deceased aunt would not want this gift to have turned into an obligation/hassle for me. I held onto it for years knowing I'd never display it again. So other than the 3 boxes of memorabilia, and a few artwork pieces, almost everything in my attic is used at least once a year. It feels lighter. I know what's there and where it is.

That sounds good Herbgeek, and I'm aspiring to something similar for my cellar.

[happystuff]

One step closer to a purging... just scheduled a donation pickup for right before Thanksgiving. That is usually motivation for me to start gathering up stuff to go!

[nswef]

My goal is to have only things in the cellar that belong there, and to eliminate the purgatorial waystation category of stuff that we're not even sure we want, and don't know where else to put it. Rosa, you stated my goal well. We have way too much purgatory! Attic and basement and a closet.

[iris lilies]

My goal is to have only things in the cellar that belong there, and to eliminate the purgatorial waystation category of stuff that we're not even sure we want, and don't know where else to put it. Rosa, you stated my goal well. We have way too much purgatory! Attic and basement and a closet.
I will never be able to achieve the “only have things in the cellar that belong there. “And I am resigned to that for my life.

[rosarugosa]

The three people who said they wanted things I offered up on FB Sun night all came to pick them up yesterday - definitely a record! We also dropped off a bunch of stuff at Saver's.

[rosarugosa]

I will never be able to achieve the “only have things in the cellar that belong there. “And I am resigned to that for my life.

You have a much larger cellar than I do IL, so I really have to be more disciplined about accumulation. I suppose that could viewed as either a blessing or a curse.

[rosarugosa]

One step closer to a purging... just scheduled a donation pickup for right before Thanksgiving. That is usually motivation for me to start gathering up stuff to go!

I often do really well with that type of deadline, as with library books. Good luck!

[Yppej]

Doing electronic cleaning. I had emailed all the 350 other municipalities in my state to see if they elect or appoint their Board of Health, so I have a lot of responses. Doing a little every day.

[Yppej]

A pair of gloves going threadbare.

[rosarugosa]

I was able to give away a needlepoint picture I've had for 40+ years that I am not going to finish in this lifetime. I had completed about 75% of it, so it felt great to pass it along to someone who seems enthusiastic about taking it on (all the materials were included). I don't even really like the picture anymore. It's not awful, but no longer my taste.
Things like this are the hardest, because there is an attachment, but also no real desire to keep, if that makes any sense.

[Tradd]

Just sold 4 scuba tanks to 2 friends for $1100! I need the space.

[hana]

Concluded the 2nd annual organizing of the tupperware. 3 containers tossed and lids posted on the local Buy Nothing group. They're going into to the trash is no one picks up before 5pm Wednesday.

[rosarugosa]

Tradd: That's a nice chunk of change to get back if you didn't need those tanks anymore.

Hana: "2nd annual organizing of the tupperware" sounds like such a festive occasion!

[Greg44]

Slacks, sweater, Levi's, 6 books+ for donation. Several clothing items not worthy of donation. Small bag of Knick knacks, tossed. Bag of plastic to the recycle bin at the grocery store.
Sorted/recycled a mountain of political and Medicare open enrollment mail.

[Tradd]

Donated a winter coat to a coat drive.

[hana]

Tradd: That's a nice chunk of change to get back if you didn't need those tanks anymore.

Hana: "2nd annual organizing of the tupperware" sounds like such a festive occasion!

Wanted to turn it into a red carpet event, but husband said no because we don't have a red carpet and it seemed a bit over the top.

Listed some hats I misplaced and book lots on the local Buy Nothing group. If the hats don't go there I'll text social worker friend to see if the wants them or to start next year's donations.

[hana]

Donated 3 winter coats to a coat drive and tossed a pair of leggings that had holes.

[beckyliz]

Sold a pair of booties on Poshmark and gave 2 sweaters to my son that my DH has outgrown.