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!

Rebecca, Days 11-13: Editing rooms, closets, drawers

In the past week:

From my closet, I removed many items that no longer fit and/or have lost their appeal to me. Like James, I prefer to sell unwanted items when possible; but my favorite place to consign clothing recently closed, and I don't really feel like going through the hassle of booking a consignment appointment elsewhere and waiting a month or two for my items to be seen.

So instead, I took them all to Buffalo Exchange. They give you cash immediately for any clothing/accessories they think they can sell. They didn't take that many pieces, but I got $40 for my efforts. Then I gave several pieces to a friend's daughter, and I am hoping to organize a clothing swap among friends for other especially good pieces. The rest, I will probably donate to charity or post to Freecycle.

From the family room/living room areas, like Natalie, I went to work on toys. My toddler has way too many to play with. Most of what he hasn't been playing with lately went into bins in the basement, and he hasn't missed a thing. I'm going to winnow things down further when I have a chance. I also edited our decorations, moving a few things around and eliminating a few others, and I like the way things look.

I would love to work on the basement, but that's tough because we have a lot of things down there that we do use seasonally--or that we are saving for a second child we hope to someday have.

From my son's bedroom, I pulled a ton of clothing from his drawers and closet. He has way more clothing than he can wear, so anything in his current size that I didn't like (especially sports-themed items), I put into a bag and posted on Craigslist for only $20. No takers yet, so if anyone would like a bag of 3T boys' clothes, let me know! I did the same with the 24M/2T stuff he has outgrown, saving only a few favorite and/or gender-neutral items for potential future use.

The other area that needs serious editing is my home office. I don't have a great office at work, but my department is supposed to be moving to a much better space next year, and I'm hoping I'll be able to move lots of my academic books and files there at that time. In the meantime, I'd like to make a plan of attack that includes:

• Sending old papers/files to One Dollar Scan for digitization
• Donating/giving away some other books
  
• Trying to rehome the closet and dresser full of craft projects
  

Re: the last item, before my son was born, our guest room was essentially full of items for potential crafty projects. Yarn, fabric, embroidery and needlepoint supplies, etc etc. I gave a majority to a very grateful friend who actually works in the wardrobe union in Boston and has a dedicated sewing room in her home. I kept what I thought I could get to soon and/or really, really loved. But the reality is that I have way less time for crafting than I'd like, and I still have a closet and dresser half-full with craft-related items. I think I just need to part ways with anything I can't work on very soon. With the limited time I have, there is NO NEED for an entire stash. If I ever run out of crafty projects to do (ha!), I can just go buy a new one, right?

If anyone reading this is crafty and would like to take a look through my stash, please let me know. :)

Julia's Day 11: Editing the Vision

Instead of walking around cleaning stuff up like I should have, I sat down and wrote a big bunch of lists of things that I should have walked around cleaning up! Read all about it!

Christa, Day 11: Editing. And a Zucchini!

*raises hand* Compulsive straightener here! As mentioned in a previous post, I almost can't make it through a room without wiping something, shifting something, or grabbing something to put back in its rightful place. However, that hasn't stopped me from acquiring TOO. MUCH. STUFF. Sometimes I think it's a uniquely American dilemma even though I know it's not strictly true. But you have to admit, we here in the U.S. certainly go about our daily lives surrounded by a near constant barrage of advertising imploring us to buy, collect, refresh, update, whiten, upgrade, etc. And while we're not big shoppers, I am the sort who somehow ends of just... acquiring things. Which brings me to today's list item:

Edit your rooms. One room at a time, go around the room and eliminate the unnecessary. Act as a newspaper editor, trying to leave only the minimum, and deleting everything else. Article here.

Since I did nothing yesterday but *think* about getting rid of big stuff and on top of that, had nothing profound to say about it (unlike my fellow contributors who addressed stuff like debt and the larger clutter they don't have), I am going to stand up right this second and do some impromptu editing. Just as a way to get started, mind.

What did I edit in less than five minutes of walking around my house?

• A red metal and glass gumball machine
• A potpourri tin shaped like a treasure chest
• A cut glass pitcher
• A silver butter dish
• A brass bowl
• A big round vase
• Two sarongs (that are being repurposed dress-up items)
• The contents of a wee glass box (flattened coin, 9/11 pin, another pin, etc.)
• A cat picture frame with a picture of our wedding cake topper 
• A getting-on-vintage leather Coach purse from when Coach still manufactured in NY

Obviously, each of those things had either value to me or meaning to me or was otherwise valuable to me at some point in my life. But for the most part, I had no idea why I had these things. Or if they were gifts, they'd been taking up a fair amount of space without being at least somewhat useful. Honestly, donating some of these things will feel a little odd, but I'd rather have the usable space than the stuff itself.

Does anyone else feel like that? And then feel a little guilty about it? At some point, years ago, I apparently lost my emotional connection to stuff.

P.S. - Tonight I decluttered my fridge by beer battering a zucchini and frying it up. That counts, right?