View Full Version : November Purge
Did a quick sweep and happy to report not much clutter crept in over the last month. Only things to go were an alarm clock, a broken TV remote, and 5 holey socks.
Will be posting some things on Buy Nothing group: Apple HomePod Mini and some smart plugs. Siri stinks and so I switched to Alexa. A couple of purses. Some canned goods that are a few months past best by date. Can't donate them to food pantry, but people will take them on Buy Nothing group.
Pulled out Merrell leather winter boots I've hardly worn. A heavy winter jacket that was too warm for me. Laptop stand, some travel pouches (for toiletries and the like), a few purses, some books.
For some reason, I have held on to a pair of never worn work/dress shoes that I probably bought 15 years ago. They are going into the give away box. I know a move is in our future so I am eyeballing all sorts of things I don't want to carry forward to another dwelling. It's funny but the older I get, the less attached I am to physical objects of any sort so it gets easier to let things go.
For some reason, I have held on to a pair of never worn work/dress shoes that I probably bought 15 years ago. They are going into the give away box. I know a move is in our future so I am eyeballing all sorts of things I don't want to carry forward to another dwelling. It's funny but the older I get, the less attached I am to physical objects of any sort so it gets easier to let things go.
Yes, totally agreed on easier to let stuff go as I've gotten older!
happystuff
11-3-25, 12:57pm
pinkytoe and tradd - totally agree about letting go of more as I age. I'm actually in the middle of testing out a "down-sizing swap" of my desk. Should be interesting and a huge test of what I can get rid of from these desk drawers.
rosarugosa
11-4-25, 7:24am
I cleaned the kitchen yesterday, and got rid of several things that were never going to get eaten for whatever reason: old nuts, healthy snacks we didn't like, etc. It's funny how the unhealthy snacks never go to waste, lol. We just can't seem to get food right, and we waste an awful lot of it, but at least we aren't now housing a bunch of dusty, half-eaten packets of things we don't like. I guess this is also the downside of trying new things, sometimes we just don't like them.
iris lilies
11-4-25, 9:35am
We waste very very little because we have a dog. Just the other day I bought “chicken sausage “which DH can eat, but then we read that it has pork sausage casing. Well, that’s not good for him.
so I can eat it, but it’s high calorie and full of more additives and fat than I wish to consume, so our dog will get much of it, and he will be thrilled. He does love his “Chimkin.”
rosa, your cats are useless in this regard.
If you want to feed leftovers to cats, grind them up with rice and tuna oil in a blender.
iris lilies
11-4-25, 10:22am
If you want to feed leftovers to cats, grind them up with rice and tuna oil in a blender.
Yes, the tuna oil might be the deal maker, but I can see my ungrateful little beasts turning up their noses at this after I go to the trouble of grinding up stuff for them.
we have had to resort to buying milk exclusively and for one cat. With Alpha-Gal allergy, DH can no longer drink milk and I would use his milk substitutes, but our cat insists on a nightly milk drink and won’t touch the substitutes.
on the other hand my little orange cat loves her pasta noodles. Whenever we have pasta, we always have to put out two noodles for her.
rosarugosa
11-4-25, 2:35pm
Our cats don't eat people food, and that has been a wonderful thing overall. Every once in awhile they persuade us to give them a small bit of cheeseburger or some such delicacy in their dishes, and then they turn their noses up.
They are both overweight, so it's just as well. In the past when we shared people food with our cats, they were relentless little robbers and beggars who made mealtimes less pleasant. I actually do have some pretty funny memories, like Humphrey getting up on the table and pulling a strip of bacon from the back of the BLT I was holding, and Boris jumping up and making off with a pork chop. We would just laugh and cut the food up into smaller pieces for them. We are terrible disciplinarians and it's a good thing we never had children!
Our cats don't eat people food, and that has been a wonderful thing overall. Every once in awhile they persuade us to give them a small bit of cheeseburger or some such delicacy in their dishes, and then they turn their noses up.
They are both overweight, so it's just as well. In the past when we shared people food with our cats, they were relentless little robbers and beggars who made mealtimes less pleasant. I actually do have some pretty funny memories, like Humphrey getting up on the table and pulling a strip of bacon from the back of the BLT I was holding, and Boris jumping up and making off with a pork chop. We would just laugh and cut the food up into smaller pieces for them. We are terrible disciplinarians and it's a good thing we never had children!
The only people food my cats eat is lettuce. No idea why they chose that but they did. One is overweight and the other isn't. They eat the same amount of food but one would rather lay on the couch and the other moves around the house all day.
Decluttered my last Thanksgiving gnome. Decorated on Saturday and lived with it for a few days and didn't like how it looked where I put it. No where else it can go, so it's gone. The others got decluttered several month ago in my big decor declutter.
Decided to declutter a small stuffed turkey also. I have two and after removing one, I think it looks better.
iris lilies
11-4-25, 7:01pm
The only people food my cats eat is lettuce. No idea why they chose that but they did. One is overweight and the other isn't. They eat the same amount of food but one would rather lay on the couch and the other moves around the house all day.
we had a cat who loved zucchini. Sometimes he would eat practically an entire zucchini of small amount of size and his sides bulged for the next few hours
Our 18 yo cat becomes pickier by the day but still prefers any real meat or fish we are eating so we always hold back a little for him. He also likes whole wheat bread.
iris lilies
11-5-25, 12:01am
Our 18 yo cat becomes pickier by the day but still prefers any real meat or fish we are eating so we always hold back a little for him. He also likes whole wheat bread.
One of our friends had a binge eating cat who would eat so many things including bread. They had to out locks on their bread storage cabinet.
rosarugosa
11-5-25, 7:25am
When we come home with groceries, we've learned to put away the bread immediately before Raymond gets his paws on it.
Dumped 10 or more cassette tapes...taking up space in the cabinet where my writing goes...tried out just one of them and it didn't work.Off they went. Next is home made cds!
Got rid of an electric toothbrush I had bought for my husband. He finally decided to use it and found out it was a rechargeable one, not one that uses actual batteries. We tried to figure out how to charge it and couldn't. Plus having a cord on the sink wasn't ideal as it's a small sink area. It was too late to return to Amazon so we are just letting it go.
happystuff
11-7-25, 8:47am
Have three xerox boxes and two bags out on the front porch for pickup. The donation corner now has a new empty box ready for filling. LOL
Cleaned out my clothes closet in preparation for winter. Got rid of several nice things that I do not wear and a bag of tshirts. Threw out old underwear and socks. A benefit is that I found several outfits I did not remember buying that are perfect for winter. Now I am ready for cold weather.
Felt really good about the activity.
It took a couple of years and a bit of grieving over it, but I am finally starting to sell my metalsmithing/jewelry tools. Since K. also used to silversmith, we ended up with many duplicate tools when we moved in together. I am finally ready to sell the excess/duplicates that are mine. I will still be able to fabricate jewelry in the future if I want by using his tools if I somehow make a miraculous recovery, but I am not holding my breath on that anymore.
I am currently waiting for my neighbor to come over and purchase my jeweler's bench. Yesterday another friend bought my Foredom Flexible Shaft grinder and a polishing set. I still have an acetylene tank for sale, plus various hand tools, stones, beads, display stuff and what-not. It feels good to let these things go. When I think about it, I accomplished every thing I set out to do when I moved to New Mexico and entered a market saturated with silver jewelry. Over the years I got myself in several galleries (even a hoity-toity one on Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe) and was quite successful. I still have the remainder of my work in a friend's gallery in our little town but sales have been very slow this year.
I feel like in letting go of what once was, I am more able to open my mind to finally move onto doing other creative things. I have been trying to teach myself how to paint for the past year but it admittedly has been slow-going. It's so very different in all ways from being a silversmith and is quite the learning curve to deal with a completely different medium but I have already sold 4 small paintings in the past few months so that feels very validating.
With the money I earn from this sale I will be able to set myself up with a lot more space in our studio for painting and doing my found object collages. I'll be able to buy more paint, canvasses and other stuff to make this transition be more "real" for me.
frugal-one
11-7-25, 11:46pm
Impressive SiouzQ in your ability to reinvent yourself!
rosarugosa
11-8-25, 7:39am
Got rid of an electric toothbrush I had bought for my husband. He finally decided to use it and found out it was a rechargeable one, not one that uses actual batteries. We tried to figure out how to charge it and couldn't. Plus having a cord on the sink wasn't ideal as it's a small sink area. It was too late to return to Amazon so we are just letting it go.
We have a Philips electric toothbrush that came with a plug-in charger. Our bathroom is tinier than tiny, but the toothbrush only needs to be charged about every two weeks, and I charge it in the bedroom where there is more space and plenty of outlets.
rosarugosa
11-8-25, 7:40am
It took a couple of years and a bit of grieving over it, but I am finally starting to sell my metalsmithing/jewelry tools. Since K. also used to silversmith, we ended up with many duplicate tools when we moved in together. I am finally ready to sell the excess/duplicates that are mine. I will still be able to fabricate jewelry in the future if I want by using his tools if I somehow make a miraculous recovery, but I am not holding my breath on that anymore.
I am currently waiting for my neighbor to come over and purchase my jeweler's bench. Yesterday another friend bought my Foredom Flexible Shaft grinder and a polishing set. I still have an acetylene tank for sale, plus various hand tools, stones, beads, display stuff and what-not. It feels good to let these things go. When I think about it, I accomplished every thing I set out to do when I moved to New Mexico and entered a market saturated with silver jewelry. Over the years I got myself in several galleries (even a hoity-toity one on Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe) and was quite successful. I still have the remainder of my work in a friend's gallery in our little town but sales have been very slow this year.
I feel like in letting go of what once was, I am more able to open my mind to finally move onto doing other creative things. I have been trying to teach myself how to paint for the past year but it admittedly has been slow-going. It's so very different in all ways from being a silversmith and is quite the learning curve to deal with a completely different medium but I have already sold 4 small paintings in the past few months so that feels very validating.
With the money I earn from this sale I will be able to set myself up with a lot more space in our studio for painting and doing my found object collages. I'll be able to buy more paint, canvasses and other stuff to make this transition be more "real" for me.
It's great that you are able to use your creative abilities in a way that is not punishing to your body.
happystuff
11-8-25, 9:02am
I love how you are moving on from one craft to another, SiouzQ. I hope the new creative endeavors are just as fun and rewarding for you!
Decluttered six Christmas ornaments that no longer have significance for us. Also a glass pump bottle that isn't needed anymore.
happystuff
11-14-25, 8:34am
Child that just moved out was lamenting that their house had no Christmas tree and probably wasn't going to get one. Gave them the little two foot artificial tree with accompanying little tree skirt and tiny ornaments. Win-win!
iris lilies
11-14-25, 10:45am
Child that just moved out was lamenting that their house had no Christmas tree and probably wasn't going to get one. Gave them the little two foot artificial tree with accompanying little tree skirt and tiny ornaments. Win-win! how handy is that! Good job mom
pinkytoe
11-14-25, 10:59am
Good for SiouxQ moving on from one creative endeavor to another. I can't explain it but as a long-ago art student and artist, I moved on too as it felt like something from the past. All that is left is a small tub of paints and brushes that I will gift to my grand-twins (if they show interest). I am keeping a large set of colored pencils as they can be used anywhere without setting up a dedicated space...if I get the urge to draw again.
Bought a set of neutral kitchen towels so that I could finally declutter all (8 in total) seasonal kitchen towels.
rosarugosa
11-22-25, 8:51am
Mom is at the stage where she is only wearing PJs or sweats, so I culled a bag of nice winter sweaters and scarves to be donated. I'm planning to do more of the same this weekend. I know the smaller thrift stores really want clothing that is in season, so now is the prime opportunity to donate winter items. A couple of the sweaters were stained. I treated and washed them, but the stains remained, so I put them in the fabric recycling bin. I felt a little bit guilty at not expending more effort, but one has to choose how to expend one's limited time and energy. I think our main goal is to avoid hastily trashing perfectly good items after she is gone, so we're doing pretty well with that. She has a lot of clothing (like mother, like daughters as far as that goes).
We also had lunch yesterday with two very dear friends. We go back to when we ranged in age from 0 - 5, and they were very fond of my Mom and always kept in touch. We had them choose pieces of her fine jewelry, and they seemed extremely touched and pleased. Sis and I felt really good about it, and we know former Mom in her right mind would definitely have approved. In fact, I have a little handwritten list that is at least 30 years old, of people whom Mom wanted us to give something meaningful from her after she was gone, and these women were on the list.
Mom is at the stage where she is only wearing PJs or sweats, so I culled a bag of nice winter sweaters and scarves to be donated. I'm planning to do more of the same this weekend. I know the smaller thrift stores really want clothing that is in season, so now is the prime opportunity to donate winter items. A couple of the sweaters were stained. I treated and washed them, but the stains remained, so I put them in the fabric recycling bin. I felt a little bit guilty at not expending more effort, but one has to choose how to expend one's limited time and energy. I think our main goal is to avoid hastily trashing perfectly good items after she is gone, so we're doing pretty well with that. She has a lot of clothing (like mother, like daughters as far as that goes).
We also had lunch yesterday with two very dear friends. We go back to when we ranged in age from 0 - 5, and they were very fond of my Mom and always kept in touch. We had them choose pieces of her fine jewelry, and they seemed extremely touched and pleased. Sis and I felt really good about it, and we know former Mom in her right mind would definitely have approved. In fact, I have a little handwritten list that is at least 30 years old, of people whom Mom wanted us to give something meaningful from her after she was gone, and these women were on the list.
Well done, Rosa! I definitely felt that responsibility both before and after Mom's death, to make sure the people she wanted to have things got them, and I feel her approval even now.
rosarugosa
11-22-25, 11:48am
Thanks, Tybee!
happystuff
11-23-25, 10:30am
Ditto, Tybee - good job, rosa!
iris lilies
11-23-25, 10:45am
Yesterday I unfurled a string of icycle lights, ones I had purchased from Goodwill last year. Last year I didn’t really like them after all anfter putting them up. This year I was kinda hoping they wouldn’t work when I plugged them in because then I could pitch them. Half of the string didn’t work so yay, I got to pitch them.
iris lilies
11-23-25, 10:48am
Thanks, Tybee!
That is nice of you to not dump sweaters on the second hand stores in July.
I wouldn’t worry about using your life’s energy to dispose of clothing responsibly. There is FAR too much clothing in the U.S. Documentaries show the tons of clothes that are shipped overseas or are destroyed as rags. It’s just horrible. And I find the “fashion industry’s“ feeble attempts to address the monster they’ve created, fast fashion, with their “sustainable “ efforts to be entirely laughable. They are a bunch of morons when it comes to earth friendly practices.
That said, I am the first to run old episodes of Project Runway again and again.
rosarugosa
11-24-25, 7:46am
Good point, Iris. I think I felt bad because the sweaters were both quite nice, one of them really nice and showing little wear, because Mom always bought decent quality clothing.
In retrospect, that should have been one of the first red flags to the earlier stages of her dementia journey. She had an entire rack of clothing set up in the upstairs hallway (despite having 3 bedrooms with closets and a few dressers all to herself). When I really delved into it, each item had some stains that needed to be treated. Rather that treating and laundering, items just went on the rack. Mom was always impossibly fussy about laundry, and sometimes couldn't live up to her own standards. At the time, I took stuff home, treated and laundered, and got rid of items that were still stained. The rack got emptied completely.
I had a good visit with her yesterday, and I took away another bag of winter sweaters.
Good point, Iris. I think I felt bad because the sweaters were both quite nice, one of them really nice and showing little wear, because Mom always bought decent quality clothing.
In retrospect, that should have been one of the first red flags to the earlier stages of her dementia journey. She had an entire rack of clothing set up in the upstairs hallway (despite having 3 bedrooms with closets and a few dressers all to herself). When I really delved into it, each item had some stains that needed to be treated. Rather that treating and laundering, items just went on the rack. Mom was always impossibly fussy about laundry, and sometimes couldn't live up to her own standards. At the time, I took stuff home, treated and laundered, and got rid of items that were still stained. The rack got emptied completely.
I had a good visit with her yesterday, and I took away another bag of winter sweaters.
Any wool sweaters should absolutely be donated because felters use them (I have bought them myself to felt.)
rosarugosa
11-24-25, 9:34am
Any wool sweaters should absolutely be donated because felters use them (I have bought them myself to felt.)
Mom is allergic to wool, so none of those I'm afraid. She was all about cotton or fleece.
iris lilies
11-24-25, 9:51am
Mom is allergic to wool, so none of those I'm afraid. She was all about cotton or fleece.
I hate wool for that reason. I like cottons and linens which, being natural fabrics, stain. But that is ok.
rosarugosa
11-25-25, 8:08am
Well stains usually can be vanquished, especially if treated early. If you let them set for several years it becomes more challenging.
Tomorrow I am going to take down my Fall/Thanksgiving decor and put out my Christmas decor. Will declutter my wreath I currently have on the coffee table. Cat has been chewing on it, swallowing parts and then throwing it up. Not sure what it's made of but I worry about something getting wrapped around or causing an obstruction in her intestines. I have another less dangerous wreath or a little wagon filled with pinecones I can put there next year.
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