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 Oops, sorry about the mess up there!Posted November 1st, 2008 by Jen in blog stuff, featuresGive me a few days and I’ll have the mess up there on my header fixed. I just need my tech guy (husband) to finish the hunting season and then we’ll clean it up. I’m looking forward to a Saturday of catching up around the house. It’s as bad as my header at the moment. Boxes from our move fill one room and are scattered throughout the house and garage as well. I took one van full of “stuff” to Goodwill yesterday, and I hope to gather another van load today. I’m setting aside nicer things for our school’s rummage sale, but other than that, I don’t like to take the time to put on a garage sale, so typically, the bulk of things I give away. My husband has been listening to Dave Ramsey lately, and keeps telling me, “rice and beans, beans and rice!” Basically, pare down, live simply and frugally, and within our means. Part of the issue in our family is time, which translates into an economic product if you really think about it. An enormous amount of time (and thus money) is wasted in organizing our “stuff,” finding it, putting it away neatly again. A move is a fabulous time to get rid of the non-essentials, as your possessions are being eyed in their entirety, perhaps for the first time in five or ten years. My sister visited last week, and I was able to finally begin to purge my linens of my endless collection of baby blankets. She has a young one, and just as the little girl happily took my pile of pint-sized blankets, I was lighthearted to be free of the emotional attachment. At one point, though, I did snatch back one of my first child’s blankets, saying, “Wait! This was Little L’s crib blanket, I can’t get rid of it!” However, the thought of perpetually carting this baggage through life for no good reason won out, and the girl took home the blanket. (Don’t worry, all you memory-lovers, I’m keeping one special hand-made baby blanket per child!) Will you leave me a comment and share with me what five non-essential items you can get rid of today? I’ll leave notes in my comment box for you, and tell you about some of my belongings that I clear out today… |
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20 Responses
I don’t enjoy moving but I do enjoy paring down and find myself doing so about once a month.
Let’s see, five non-essentials I can get rid of today?
1-Some flip-flop-clog-like things I’ve worn a few times and always wonder what in the world I was thinking when I bought them.
2- A summer dress my husband said makes me look pregnant (which would be awesome if I was)
3- A formal dress that is literally collecting dust in my closet waiting for that day I get invited to the ball :)
4- Some of my kids winter clothes from last year that don’t fit anymore.
5- A bunch of crafting things I’ve got stored in my hope chest.
Okay, now I’ll get to those after I do the dishes, sweep and mop, do two loads of laundry, plan and prep dinner, go to the gym with my husband, run a few necessary errands :)
Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover has totally changed our lives! We are ending Year 3 with Dave’s plan, and it is amazing.
Five non-essentials:
1. Too many coats, jackets, and hats
2. Too many half-burned candles and knick-knacky things in storage.
3. Too many toys.
4. too many boxes of old clothes
5. Things like punch bowls, serving dishes, etc. that I only use once a year.
Sheila, I must have the same clogs! They’re going. That summer dress and formal dress - ditch them! Way to go!! Ha, ha, I know, after the rest of the chores get done!
A tip–keep a “get-rid-of-it-box” always handy somewhere in the house or garage, so you don’t put off dumping those items for a later, more convenient time, but can take care of it the moment you think of it.
SmallWorld, Wow, congrats on your 3-year journey!! I have every one of the items on your list to get rid of as well. In the toy category, it ends up being a lot of stuffed animals that go, and also those little toys that come in the children’s meals at that fast-food place we should NEVER go to!!
Someone picked up a HUGE set of china from our front porch today, plus a lovely Platzgraf cannister that was lovely but awkward and useless. :)
Heather, I love it! You just put stuff out on your porch and random folks come by and take what they want!! I live sooo far off the beaten path this would never work for me, but how cool!
We got rid of the non-essentials when we moved to Dubai. The stuff that pile up over the years is just overwhelming.
Right now, we are living minimally. We don’t even have curtains in some windows (but we live in a high building so no one can really see us). I couldn’t think of any non-essential items we have right now because everything we use are all the least that we could have.
Would you believe, my hubby and I only have 5 shirts each (we even think it’s many), to be used at home. :-) Are we crazy or what?
Sandier Pastures, Amazing. You need to be giving me some pointers on how to do this…I’ll be emailing you! So, the five shirts…are those just for home, and not including your office wardrobe? And tell me what you have for Pristine to play with–that’s a big issue over here, too many play-things. And even too many books. I NEVER thought I’d get rid of any of my books, but there are taking up an inordinate amount of space. I’ll talk to you soon!
Okay, here’s five things I’ve boxed up for Goodwill (out of about a hundred things so far today!):
p.s. most of this gathered by the children
1. 3 pairs of children’s animal slippers
2. Rokenbok children’s toy
3. 2 picture frames
4. 10 children’s picture books
5. rain slicker that no longer fits the youngest child
Hey, get your kids on board and it goes so fast!
Big L brought me his entire set of wooden train tracks and said, “Here, this is for a child who likes trains.” He also brought me his “Zoob” lego-type toys that click together to create things and said, “This is for an intelligent child.” I love him!
I have been cleaning out too! I’ve sent tons of clothes to a consignment shop and some to a local charity. Also used books to the used book store. I tend to save things and then go wild one day getting rid of stuff all at once. It is true most of us have too much stuff!!
outgrown clothes
books that we don’t read
dishes
knick knacks I don’t like that are in storage
shoes- too many!
scarves and toques.
Glad to hear you are in your new place. Some pics would be great!
It sounds like you’re moved into your new house???
I did a major clean-out of our basement this summer. Still need to donate–an extra coffee maker, a nuts & bolt organizer, and a pearwood recorder. I have extra kitchen dishes, some artwork, and an old table still to sell on Craigslist. Taking a breather… :~D
Wow! Just five? We’re kinda Clutter Kings (and Queens) here. I guess we could
1. Pare down our book, CD, and album collections - this is, by weight, about half of our expense when we move (no joke)
2. Broken things. We have “oh, we’ll get around to fixing that [insert item - rocking chair, etc.] sometime” all over the garage and in our shed.
3. Old clothes (but not any more of my concert t-shirts, please)
4. Old floppy discs - couldn’t read them if I wanted to
5. Knick-nacks (places for the dust fairies to rest)
Hope all goes well with your cleaning!
-Mittens I knitted last year that don’t match in size
-flip-flops that have broken but they were my favorite pair and I can’t stand the thought of not having them
-the various ink pens that don’t work which need to be tossed yet we’ve jammed them back in the pen cup
-every single movie ticket stub I’ve ever been handed
-fortunes from fortune cookies that I decided to save
How did I do?
Blessings!
Lacy
Good for you! I try to think of the amount of time it will take to care for an item before it ever comes into my home. That doesn’t always work. ;)
I have three tubs of clothes, toys, and misc. “stuff” ready to leave our home right now. I’m sure I can find 5 more things to add to the stack before I take it to the second-hand store.
Hi Aunt Jennifer!,
Oh my gosh!!! I haven’t seen you guys in, like, a century it seems like!!! We’ll have to visit sometime!
xoxo, Sammie
You’ve won an award! Come pick it up when you get a chance. Have a blessed weekend. :~D
i hear ya! we live in the country so we can’t put our stuff on our steps.. the coyotes aren’t interested in, except maybe the dirty diapers *snicker*
i am trying to pair down since we downsized our house. it’s so hard when there is so much consumerism around here!
Hello friends, I’ll be back soon. Been very busy with parent-teacher conferences at school.
Just had some folks come over yesterday to take away a desk, dresser, two office chairs, a file cabinet, and more! Continuing the paring down… :-)
Just checking in… hoping for updates. Hint hint
:)
Blessings!
Lacy
Dave Ramsey ROCKS!!
We’re paring down today too:
1. Baby Clothes
2. A second pair of skis
3. A set of snowman dishes - no more dishes!
4. Crystal salad bowls (whatever)
5. Extra stereo system living in a box
Can I post again so I can list another 5 things?
I’m thankful for CRAIGSLIST!
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