I started the month with pulling two huge boxes of books and DVDs for donation to our library. Got more to do but this was the start.
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I started the month with pulling two huge boxes of books and DVDs for donation to our library. Got more to do but this was the start.
I'm continuing with my purge every day approach. So far - two hangers yesterday and a very large lump of tangled baling twine today. Also threw away some random bits and pieces from my classroom.
Yesterday I finished going thru the stuff that had been dislocated in the garage. I purged 2 large bags of recycling, 1 bag of trash, 1 box to Goodwill, and broke down a bunch of cardboard boxes which I gave to my neighbor who takes them in and gets cash for them at the recycling center.
I decorated the new empty garage wall (which is finished with drywall and painted white) with some pretty decorations I'd had boxed up and now I can enjoy it every time I go in there. It's next to my laundry and the outside door so I get to enjoy it quite a bit.
Genial, that sounds great!
I'm still working my "every day" system. It seems like I should be able to see a difference after more than 30 days, but many of the things I've gotten rid of have been small.
i do see a difference in me though! Here is a short list of things that have been recategorized as "things I throw away if I don't need them now" from "things that I save because they might be useful": twist ties, empty feed bags, empty plastic food containers, used straws, used baling twine, bottle caps, and sterile syringe containers.
today I threw away some broken stone and tile pieces that have been sitting in my barn for more than 5 years because they might be useful for a project.
Today while waiting on the internet repair guy, got a 2 foot stack of clippings organized into the file cabinet. Next step is to take one big category and make it smaller. In reality, there are a lot of duplicate patterns for quilts just done in different sizes or colors. Don't need all of them.
Also tamed the past tax return monster and got more paper in the shred file. Did find the piece of siding we saved to have paint matched for the new siding. Should have kept a smaller piece.
We FINALLY purged my son's room. He wants a more grown up room, at his ripe old age of 10.5. :) 1 FULL bag of trash and 1 bag of donations.
I have cleaned out a lot of my digital items on my computer and organized some of the photos I have. Feels great!!!
Am donating a chair, floor lamp, fold-up futon base, and a round wood dining table. It's going to a good cause: young single moms.
Next purge will be month end when I have some days off.
I am doing great with the purge something every day, and I am doing a lot of cleaning and organizing in anticipation of Dd's wedding next weekend - family will start arriving on Friday.
i am also very hyper aware that Friday morning is trash puck up - so I need to get the trash and recycling gathered up as much as I can this week and get it up to the curb Thursday night!
my list just keeps getting longer and longer and longer as I see more and more things that need to be done!
Gave away six jars of spices which I had duplicates of or didn't think I would use. Tossed about four packages of stuff from the freezer which I feared was too old to be safe to eat. Total for month: 10.
I don't know if this qualifies as purging, but I removed two bookcases from the dining area that were making it look crowded. 1 was holding reference books so that went into the library/guest room where we have most of the books. In there it fits right in. We hardly ever use those reference books; I don't know why I didn't think to move it before. Bookcase 2 went into the garage to hold all the pet related items - grooming, canned food, etc. Much better use of it there than in the dining area where it tended to collect all the things that we were too lazy to put back where they belonged.
Now the dining area looks bright and airy. I put up a couple of colorful art pieces that had been in storage and now the room pops with color.
Nice!
i just cleaned out the food cupboards - net a plastic grocery bag worth of open/stale food from the years of dh elimination diets (thank god that's over!) to feed to the chickens
and listed the 160! items that I have set aside since the end of April to take to goodwill. Loaded them in the car and going later today.
And then I remembered another box I meant to sort through and cleaned off the counter in the barn, and I found 30 more things that could go!
Well, got rid of sme stuff at the neighborhod'd sale.:~)
Took home some some stuff, too. All of them "bargains" of course.:D
Finally hemmed four pair of sweatpants so I threw out four pair of really old, stained and dotted with paint sweatpants.
Cleaned out unfiled pattern clippings and filed away those I wanted to keep. Have a pile of crafty stuff for the donation pile at my retreat. Still have way too many clippings and patterns. (3 lateral file drawers full.
It is so cool that I was able to puchase an old Persian rug, a runner, for $40 (with a pad!) and it was exactly the rug I would have chosen in out of a group of 50 rugs, it was the only runner inthe grou of 3 rugs.
We have had no rugs on our floor for 25 years because we seem to always have a dog who pees on a rug. Now, our current dog doesnt do that. And he promised me that he would not do that.
This means that I will sometimes have to drag the vacuum cleaner downstairs, and thats not fun, bur we shall see if its worth it.
Then I went out looking for "a couple of taller buckets and maybe some colored canning jars" for the flowers for Dd's wedding. And I bought: two galvanized watering cans, three vases, two stools to put the watering cans on, and one glass pitcher all for Dd's flowers and a new rake to replace my almost worn out one and a stone cookie mold (my other collection) total damage about $66.
I have all my pantry items spread out on the kitchen table to sort thru and clean out. I'm going to use my glass containers and get rid of a lot of the plastic packaging and go through and check expiration dates. I also have some things that we just haven't been eating and I need to just get rid of that.
Went thru the pantry yesterday and gave it a good cleaning and sorting. I'm now using my glass containers and it looks so nice! Purged 2 bags of recycling and 1 bag of trash. Now I have 1/3 of the pantry empty. It will be a nice spot to store all my kitchen and table linens.
I always get a pick up from an orderly pantry. Enjoy. :)
i am am still plugging away and getting rid of at least one thing daily. May be a bit of a challenge this weekend with all the company and my daughter's wedding...
Today I got new shoes. I am not up for purging my shoes right now, so I got rid of a different item from my closet I had been waffling about instead - in addition to my purge item and more trash from my barn.
My daughter and I picked out three old jackets of hers to give a friend. New total for month: 13.
I did not purge anything on Friday, but yesterday morning, when my brother came for brunch, I gifted him four puzzles and two dresses for his girls.
Took a little pitcher and six teeny glasses designed for toddlers to use to a friend who has a toddler. Threw out three more expired items from the pantry (not proud of it, but couldn't eat the stuff :( ) New total for month: 23.
Ug. I have now gone two days in a row without purging anything and there is wedding stuff all over my house - two new stools, three vases, a pitcher, two watering cans, heavy plastic flower buckets, a huge stack of tablecloths, little hand thrown flower pots, plastic spoons we bought for brunch, paper lanterns, and my brother gifted me a handmade pen in addition to the one he made dd for her guest book. It's gorgeous.
some of the wedding stuff will go to the bride in a few weeks, but I really have to get back in the habit.
Gifts from others frustrate me to no end. And when people just schlep their stuff onto me. Oy vey!Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicken lady
Lo siento.
No hablo espanol
i actually love the gift - what I need to do is get rid of about 50 disposable pens - but they still write! Ug!
i have Dd's stuff because she left the wedding and went straight to Germany. And I will probably keep 4 tablecloths (I have folding tables they will fit and would love to have matching ones for the next big gathering) and the pitcher. The rest I will think about after she takes what she wants.
Yesterday I got rid of about 8 small paint cans that had dried out and a few more that I combined into one to paint two of my potting tables. I'll be painting some more outdoor stuff this week and will use up more of the paint we have on hand.
This week I purged several items of husband's clothes that no one wore. Approx. 30 quilt top kits are leaving Thursday for the charity quilt group. A big box of patterns and such is ready to go to my retreat in August. Another box of patterns, etc. is going to the guild for the show shop of donated items.
Our tshirts are now sorted, folded and all are wearable. Our sweatpants are now up to date with all the new ones hemmed, folded and ready to wear. The old stained and worn ones made it into the garbage. I could have done something? with the old fabric but decided that it would probably never get done so threw them out.
Sorted my Ebay sales area and we more realistic about the work I wanted to do and a lot went into the previously mentioned boxes.
I have a small kitchen drawer of old rags that I make by cutting up worn out clothing - too worn to donate. Then when I use a rag I throw it out instead of washing it. It bothers me to trash it, but at least I'm getting multiple uses out of old clothing before going to the landfill.
I don't like washing rags cause they are so filthy, often with grease or chemicals or paint etc.
I think of it as better environmentally than paper towels, even though I could recycle the clothing and use paper towels. I wonder which plan is best for the environment ...
Back on the wagon - tossed some flowerpots and old markers (keeping ahead of the new pots and pen)
Next step in June purge: Went thru our enormous cabinet of DVDs and such. Got a big box to leave the house. I am asking myself why some of these were bought in the first place. Good lesson. Also have a stack to watch and donate. Have told husband not to buy any more "because I might like them".
I am keeping up with the daily trash/recycle/goodwill box again.
today I worked in the basement mostly, although one of my items was out in the studio/shop barn. I picked it up in passing.
I love that you "picked (it) up in passing" something to dispose of! I always consider those bonuses when it happens to me that I just notice something that should go, in passing.
A bedrest pillow, a sack of books, and pairs of unused athletic socks are in the car waiting to be donated. Onward and upward.
Donated a bag of women's and men's clothing to Goodwill, along with a fancy hat only worn once.
I think that's another business that could make money: women's hat rentals for social occasions like formal parties, weddings, etc. I know you can rent formal dresses, and maybe accessories too, but if hats aren't included they should be!
I got rid of six bags of old sheets, towels, and clothes, plus an old computer and two old tivos. And best of all i used dry cleaner bags for the clothes. (I collect them for packing dress clothes when i travel for work. But i dont think i'll ever go on a trip long enough to need 8...)
I am still keeping up. Yesterday was hard because I was really busy all day, but then in the evening I remembered I still had child sized knee and elbow pads saved "just in case" in the barn. - to the goodwill pile!
my recycling bin is stacked up as full as I can get it and it doesn't go up to the road until tomorrow night! Meanwhile, the bag for paper in the kitchen closet is almost full. I don't think I've ever gotten this far ahead of the bin before. I cleaned out a bunch of "useful" plastic bottles and small cardboard. (Big cardboard gets laid under used bedding for mulch)