Project Update: 10-13

If you see small household items on my front porch sporting name tags, don't worry. I haven't gone nuts and named frying pan "GEOFF" or the microwave cart "MEL B." I've just been--as Christa put it--freecycling like a boss.

• Needlepoint kits I'll never get to? Gone.
• Electronic charging station that seemed like a good idea at the time? Adios.
• Board games we haven't played in 5 years? So long.
• Carry-on suitcase with the missing zipper pulls? Bye!

Freecycle is not my only pal as I edit/purge/simplify. Craigslist sent a nice momma my way; she bought a bag of toddler boy clothes from me.

And at 3 a.m. today, I decided that tomorrow would be CLOTHING SWAP NIGHT. About a dozen friends woke up to learn they've been invited to stop by at 7 tomorrow with clothes and other small items they no longer want/need. It looks like four people are coming so far. If all goes well, everyone will unload a few items by leaving them with other folks who'll enjoy keeping them.

A lot of these items are from the closets that I worked on most of the yesterday. Office closet looks WAY better now. Living room closet now makes a LOT more sense. I've still got some figuring out to do in the coat closet, and probably spend more time in my son's closet, but things are looking pretty fine!

Christa, Day 10: I Guess We're Not Starting Small?

Did you know that I used to be a compulsive side of the road furniture grabber? In a handful of cases, that compulsion has resulted in useful furniture upcycled by yours truly, such as this and this. In many others, however, grabbing side-of-the-road furniture has resulted in less space in the unfinished side of the basement until we hauled it back outside. Oops.

Which is why, perhaps, I feel a special fondness for today's 72 Days simplification idea:

Get rid of the big items. There’s tons of little clutter in our lives, but if you start with the big items, you’ll simplify your life quickly and in a big way.

I'll admit, it is 9 p.m. and I have not actually divested myself of any big items.

The linked article that accompanied today's idea seemed like it was designed for a slightly higher income bracket than my own. Why yes, I am reconsidering my need for a vacation home! Upon reconsideration, I still can't afford one! And I finally got over my sports boat addiction, so that's another bullet dodged. Unfortunately, a car is what I'd call necessary around here since we're not living in NY's five boroughs or in Boston proper anymore. Storage unit? Nope. Unused appliances? What does that even mean? A second washer on top of the first one?

But seriously, the main big items we have around here are furniture, and most of that is furniture we use. Mostly. However, there are four items that I can say without a doubt are doing nothing but taking up valuable space. These are:

• Paloma's old changing table
• A little yellow side table
• An old glass door book shelf
• A treadle table for an antique sewing machine

Why these four? Paloma's changer is kind of useless at the moment and if I was having another baby I think I'd spring for a convertible dresser with a built in changing table top - or, you know, change the baby on the closest flat surface so I could keep mah money. The little yellow side table is currently just a spot collecting stuff that ought to be put away. I painted that table myself, but it no longer is "me," if you understand what I mean. The old glass door book shelf was given to us by an upstairs neighbor who was moving out and it was one of those weird situations where I didn't know the guy but felt strange saying no. Ditto on the antique treadle table - which has an antique sewing machine to match in a box somewhere.

None of these things has any real sentimental value to me, save the changing table. And what kind of sentimentality is that, anyway? I can't toss this! I took our daughter's rectal temperature on it! Sheesh. Each of these things is taking up space and doing a whole lot of nothing. Okay, the treadle table has a box fan on it, but a chair would do almost as well. It's a bit late to be dragging these items outside at the moment - hello, 9:19! - but I feel good that I've identified them as problem furniture, and in the next week or so I will list them on Craigslist and Freecycle and hopefully someone bites.

Problem almost solved!

P.S. - Check out the Day 10 post on 31 and Holding!

Julia's Day 10: I coulda been a contender!

It was going to be an easy day, and then I didn't get anything done. Poop!

At least I have clear plans for the next time that I am able to actually accomplish anything.

Rebecca, Day 10

Day 10:

Get rid of the big items. There’s tons of little clutter in our lives, but if you start with the big items, you’ll simplify your life quickly and in a big way. Read more.

I feel kind of "eh" about this one. Suggestions from the "read more" link leave me cold. I don't have "big things" lying around to get rid of. Eg: "TACTIC: If you rent storage space because you can't fit all your stuff in your home, recognize this as God's way of telling you that you have too much stuff." Rent storage space? Heck, no! I would never waste money on storage space indefinitely. We have only rented space for a month or two at a time, during moves, on an as-needed basis.

"TACTIC: Get rid of unused major appliances, furniture, and vehicles as soon as possible." Unused major appliances or vehicles? Um, no, we have exactly what we need. Furniture? Sure, as we became parents and turned the guest room into a nursery, etc., we have had some furniture to get rid of--but we've kept mostly on top of it with summer yard sales (and the occasional Craigslist ad). I DO have some antique guest bedroom furniture in the basement that I need to sell, but it's taken me three years to resign myself to doing so. It's so pretty; I'd rather keep it. But the housing market being what it is, we're not moving anytime soon, which is the only way a guest bedroom might possibly be in the realm of possibility. So, yes, that is a good reminder. I need to orchestrate getting it out of the basement (it's heavy) to be photographed and posted for sale online.

"TACTIC: Question the need to have a car." Actually, we experimented with this last summer. Our older car needed some costly repairs, so before doing them, we spent three months as a single-car family. We realized that we could reduce to one car if needed, but as our older car has been reliable and is completely paid off, our answer to that question is that the costs of routine maintenance, inexpensive insurance, and occasional repairs are worth the added convenience to our family.

"TACTIC: Reconsider the need for a vacation home or property." I would LOVE to have a vacation home, but alas, I do not. (I am clearly not a member of the author's target audience for these tactics.) If I did, though, I would be very careful to choose someplace that could generate rental income to cover expenses.

"TACTIC: Ask yourself if you really need sport boats, vehicles, and other large pieces of equipment." Hahahaha. No, I definitely don't. That's why I don't have any! Silly.