A fleece jacket I have had for at least 30 years but it might be closer to 35 years actually.
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A fleece jacket I have had for at least 30 years but it might be closer to 35 years actually.
Yesterday someone admired a quilt pattern I was making so I gave it to her. Already made it twice. I did not need to hoard it and so I sent it into the atmosphere.
I made a packet of greeting cards and Christmas cards that are sent by charitiies to give to the local, new thrift shop, along with a microwave popcorn popper that is in perfect condition. Now to make sure I get them there before next week!
Almost a decade ago, I was gifted a very high quality windchime. As we now live a very windy place, it never got put to use and has been in the back of a closet all this time. I don't know that I would ever use it at this point. I checked and it has a value of around $200 so I am thinking about selling it. The thought of someone actually enjoying it makes me happy. However, getting rid of it feels odd. What to do??
I'd hang it and see if it fits into your new life. If not, sell it.Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
You have had the thing for a decade. Your personal “use” of it is over. Get rid of itQuote:
Originally Posted by pinkytoe
I agree that at this point you should either use it or sell it.
Sister and I were at Mom's yesterday, and we decluttered a bag of stuff for the trash and two large containers of items to be donated. At this point we have removed just about all of the winter clothing that is in good enough condition to be donated and that is not in current use.
It still sometimes feels surreal that I used to have to struggle with Mom to get her to let go of anything, and now we can just get rid of anything using our own judgment.
You are making great progress with this Rosa.
I got rid of one of my rolling pins because it developed a large crack. Still have one left, and then moved my rolled up silicone sheet into the space formally occupied by the rolling pin. So win/win, at least for now.
This morning, I figured out how to solve a Christmas crap problem.
i had purchased small fake wreaths to hang on my kitchen cabinets. I don’t want to store them after this season.They are not that great although initially they’re cute. But I thought “what if I want to use them again? Or what if I want to decorate these cabinets?” And then I saw some solutions on Pinterest about decorating kitchen cabinets. So in the future, I can use those suggestions if needed.
after my brother and his wife visit in a few days, I’m going to take the fake little wreaths to Goodwill so they can sell them in this Christmas season.
I am trying hard to keep my Christmas decor down to TWO storage tubs plus an artificial Christmas tree.
Just finished our annual Friends of the Library book sale. A huge undertaking shared by a great group of book-loving folks.
We purged some old books (some in bad shape) that have not sold in several past sales. Hard for we book-lovers to send books to the "archive" but it costs money to store them and lots of human labor to box them and store them. So bye-bye.
We still have thousands and get donations daily so a fresh supply is always at hand.
And no other facilities want these old books--we've tried!
i’m surprised you carry some books over from year to year for your sale. Of course no one wants them, old books are really hard to be rid of.Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyHiker
One of my jobs at a large public library system was to oversee the withdrawal of 100,000 items from our collections every year. For several years our library played around with book sales that were merely money pits. Never made money, certainly lost money, but I came to view them as community building efforts, even though it was a feeble way to be rid of all the books.
After years of that we identified a vendor based in Denver, Colorado, who would come and pick up our discards twice a year, or more often if our storage facility filled up. They sold what they could and “recycled” the rest. I never asked what “ recycle “means because I didn’t want to know, but of course they went in the land fill, where else would they go?
i’m surprised you carry some books over from year to year for your sale. Of course no one wants them, old books are really hard to be rid of.
One of my jobs at a large public library system was to oversee the withdrawal of 100,000 items from our collections every year.
You're so right! It's a bone of contention for me...but I'm out-voted on keeping them versus not keeping them. And we also get the old purged library books which are not in demand...
We're quite overloaded with donations....
My small local library here in town, which is part of a larger library system has two book sales a year. I stay far away from them because I have no interest in used books, the whole thing is so depressing for me having managed literally millions of discarded library books.Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyHiker
They have their book sale in their meeting room that my plant society wants to use in May, but we can’t use the meeting room because it’s full of stupid used books they’re organizing for their sale. Ugh.
yeah I sure know about the reluctance to throw away a book because I’ve heard that sentiment expressed, oh maybe 1000 times. Or thereabouts. I have zero tolerance for it. It seems people are so proud to display their virtuous view of saving books! I’ve seen little old ladies turn themselves in knots to give worn, dirty children books that are outdated to poor kids. The concept is disgusting.
We have Wonder Books, Frederick Maryland where they will take your old books and other media. I have gotten $5 twice for a small box of old books. As I cull the attic, I will drop some off every time I am in town. Pretty convenient. They also sell books on line. I've gotten bought a few. If you don't take the cash, you can get a $10 credit...I took the cash!Obviously I don't need a book!!!! https://www.wonderbk.com/
Taking a really nice Quaker lace tablecloth to the Goodwill along with the new garland I bought yesterday to spruce up the old tree. Turns out, I like the old garland better. And a Christmas jigsaw puzzle that I started and didn't want to finish, along with a couple of pillow cases and books. Mad at myself for buying the new garland, but maybe someone can use it this year.
My sister in law is here, visiting with my brother. She is taking the small plastic wreaths I used to decorate my kitchen cupboards for the house tour. Yay!
About books: I'm almost all eBooks these days. Some people bleat about "you're only buying a license for the book." You know what? I don't care. I don't have the space for all the books I would want to read. The library either doesn't have what I want or there are hundreds of people in front of me on waiting lists. So I buy my ebooks. After I'm gone, people won't have to worry about getting rid of tons of books and I won't have to worry about moving them whenever I move next. I have one small bookcase, and a few other books. That's it.
Tradd: Different strokes for different folks, but I do really well with the library. I order the books online and get an email when they come in. My TBR list is so vast that I am usually reading books that I put on the list 1 -2 years ago and were often published a year or two before that, so I seldom have to wait for a book. When I do, there are so many books on the list for me to read in the meantime that I don't mind! Right now, there are 91 books on my list and about 30 that await me in the other room. I also find that when I'm spending too much time online, it works well for me to get a few library books, because those due dates light a fire under me! Most of the books will auto-renew, and most of the area libraries don't even charge fines, but I do always try to get a book back before it is due.
Got rid of a wooden Santa that you put on tops of doorframe or cabinets. We would stick it on top of our living room sliding glass door when we had the 6 foot cat tree there too. Kind of give the cats a little Christmas decor in their corner of the room. We have a smaller cat tree there now and that Santa looked so out of place.
Went through the freezer and got rid of some stuff that has been in there a while and won't ever get eaten. A ham, some chicken breasts, and a box of Steak Umms. Will also be getting rid of two ice cube trays. No one in the house uses ice so it's been sitting in the freezer unused for quite a bit.
I'm with you on this, Rosa. The Libby app has some good features, not the least of which I can use more than one library card! If my local library doesn't have the book I want, my former library (where I used to live) or the library in my daughter's town might. I took my grandson to get a library card there and they asked me if I wanted one too. Well, sure!Quote:
Originally Posted by rosarugosa
I’d keep the trays. I freeze lemon/lime juice plus other things in them. So nice when you just need a small amount. YLMVQuote:
Originally Posted by Klunick
I did the same when I moved to Texas. I even have a Houston card (even though I don’t live anywhere near there). I even have Hoopla now! I love it!Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLR
I have a book checked out on Hoopla right now. It is Swallows and Amazon which is a British children’s book from the 1930s, one of those classic children’s adventure stories that only the Brits can do. It’s that world where children go outdoors and create their own fantasy world, barely checking in with their parents. I love those books.Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
I've been on a roll for clearing out odds and ends. Today's project was a jewelry box with about a bunch of keys of unknown purpose. They'd been accumulating for decades and for houses and things that are no longer part of life. I went through everything in my home. Garage, slider door, tool box, etc. plus a few of know use. I ended up tossing about ten or twelve. Funny how those things just get tossed into boxes and drawers and forgotten.
for key clean out I envy you your single life. I have to fight with DH about keys. Sometimes the best I can do is separate all the keys that work into one container where each key is labeled and put all the others into another container that is labeled with a big?. That way when we die, our successor will know we didn’t know what the keys were so they don’t have too much worry about it. DH won’t let me throw away many keys although I think he did let me pitch some last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar
I gave away two multi-tools from Mom's house on FB. They are like new and would make great stocking stuffers. A multi-tool is about the last thing Mom needs at this point in her life. Our slow and steady decluttering allows me to find good homes for small things like this, that I would probably not find time for if we were cleaning out in one big push.
I have few mystery keys myself, but Mom has a lot. Almost all of her keys are mystery keys!
Boss gifted everyone in the office a 10 piece set of knives. Those will be decluttered one way or another before I even get home. I don't need a knife set and it wasn't too long ago that I decluttered all but one large knife and about six steak knives that had been sitting in a block on top of my fridge for decades. I have someone in mind at work that I can give them to but if she doesn't want them, they will be dropped off on my way home.
We don't freeze anything like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by frugal-one
Charcuterie board my Mom gave me for Christmas. It won't get used. Also thinking of ditching the stocking holders. The weight of the filled stockings has put some scratches into the top of the TV stand. It has barn doors on the front and the stockings can go over the rollers since we never open those doors.
Got a new electric skillet and a Pyrex 9x13 baking dish for Christmas so my old skilled and baking dish got decluttered. New baking dish got used for last night's Christmas dinner.
I gifted DH two baseball caps for Xmas with the hope (dream?) he would let go of several of his unattractive caps.
He agreed to let the most paint-stained ones go, two of them.
He refused to let a 3rd one go, one with sweat stains. I harangued him. He hid it in his closet.
i also harranged him about two brand new but stupid looking caps from Switzerland sent by his relatives. They are always sending stuff we don’t need, it is tiresome. These caps are the type that have high crowns, the type that old farmers wear and you just know these were expensive because everything in Switzerland costs big bucks. They are a heavy materials with inscrutable Swiss logo/ writing which COULD be kinda cool if the material wasnt polyester and the style so stupid.
He of course refused to consider getting rid of these.
So if he wants to look like an 85 year old farmer, fine. Ugh.
I'm really glad that Christmas no long results in a bunch of unwanted stuff coming into our home. Our gift exchange at sister's house resulted in us bringing home 2 LL Bean t-shirts for DH (he'll toss some tattered ones), a gift card, a mug made by our pottery instructor for me, and a few catnip toys. Sis and I had gone to one of our instructor's sales specifically to pick out mugs to give to each other. Did I need a new mug? No. Did I want a mug made by Erica? Yes! The cats toys are just artfully strewn about the house, lol. I should probably get rid of a few that they don't play with, since they are just impediments when I vacuum.
DH and I had splurged on some pottery tools (that will reside at the studio) and some new clothing items that are replacements. We don't really exchange gifts per se, but we enjoy a few indulgences that are items we know that we want or need.
In years past, we would do massive gift exchanges with my mom and my sis, and we would come home with loads of stuff that would actually make me stressed and unhappy about what to do with it all. First world problems indeed, but such a ridiculous waste of time, energy, and money.
Rosa, not family gift exchanges, but I remember one work gift exchange around 2007ish that resulted in so much cheap junk that I threw it all out when I got home. That was it!
I only got two gifts this year. Manager gave me a cute little Christmas decoration that I put on my desk. I got a small jar of fancy jam from my choir director. That was it! Fine with me! The only gifts I gave were tea to two people and cash to goddaughter.
Got three books (mine plus dh gave me his) from the grab bag. Like getting those as books tend to be easy to pass on once read. Gifts were thoughtful and few this year! Got things I will actually use and have a place for.
Went to put on the new bedding my husband got me for Christmas. Realized it was for a California King and we have a Queen sized bed. I don't know anyone with a California King so those will get decluttered.
Great Xmas. We got ourselves what we wanted during the month. Hubby got a set of hole cutting drill bits. Habitat liked them so much they are going to buy a set for each tool trailer. I got a new Kindle. Since I use it every day, having one that works better is great.
His mom gives him money. This year he bought 3 custom Tshirts with designs that are about woodworking and retirement. He loves them and he could tell his mom what she got him for Xmas.
Now a friend did get us a cocktail advent calendar from Costco. It went in trash. I cannot understand why anyone would want cocktails from a can.
Christmas Day was very quiet with just a good homemade meal.
Klunick, I would at least keep the top sheet. I find that queen sized ones are never really big enough on a queen bed. The pillow cases can easily be shortened if you want "regular sized ones". Probably not worth the work to make the fitted sheet fit.
Do you have a Kindle Paperwhite? If so, it's waterproof. Great for reading in the tub or otherwise near/in water.Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetana3