Declutter #9 - posters and makeup stuff

Again, this wasn't a huge week for decreasing my possessions, but I did go through a folder of posters. Some of them went right back into the folder, but the ones pictured below will get donated at NPMS (or tossed out).

The one with the baby always reminded me of Alex. I used to love posters so much! The Aruba poster - I dreamed of going to warm, sunny beaches, especially in the winter. The Peace Corps - I dreamed of joining. The Moonlighting Teachers - sarcastic humor. Kim Possible! Loved that show. Still have the soundtrack CD. I also had a laminated picture of the NPMS eighth graders of the 2002-03 school year. 

Getting rid of stuff feels good!

I also finished going through the basement bathroom thoroughly. Lots of cleaning and nitty-gritty scrubbing was involved! I held a small bottle of eye makeup remover . . . and realized that I haven't worn makeup in almost five years (since Nick's wedding to Mari, I believe). Initially, I thought about donating it. But I quickly heard my daughter-in-law Stacie's voice (quickly seconded by my best friend Jenifer's) saying, "Just throw it away!" So I did. I dumped out the fluid and recycled the bottle. 

 

There were some other makeup items that were a minimum of four and a half years old that got thrown away. When I told Jenifer via Marco Polo about this (because it made me laugh), she lectured me on not keeping any eye makeup past six months! Since I rarely wear any, this will not be an issue going forward. I simply won't buy any!

Declutter #8 - Lou's yearbooks!

So this isn't a huge declutter, but it feels like a tremendous victory! In the seven boxes of my in-laws' stuff that I got, I found three yearbooks belonging to my father-in-law. They were from his sophomore, junior, and senior years at Grand Island High School in Nebraska. I went through them thoroughly and took pictures of him in football, choir, etc. It was interesting to see these yearbooks!

The quality isn't the best, but I love how much Lou looked like Charlie (his grandson) back in the day. 

 

Here's a better one along with one from Charlie. Also, super interesting that Lou went by "Charles" as a teenager. I knew that, but have never asked him why his middle name became how he was known. (Even his report cards have him listed as "Charles LaMoore.")

 

After I took images of all Lou's pictures, I brought them over to his house to ask him about the yearbooks. He's 92 years old and I got twelve minutes of video of him talking about high school. (That's another project - upload to YouTube and add captioning.) In any case, he said he didn't feel a need to keep those yearbooks and told me I could donate them.

 

I went to the Grand Island H.S. website and found a "contact" button. I emailed the person asking if the school was interested in yearbooks from 1946, 1947, and 1948. I waited a week, but didn't hear back. Then I found out that GI is in Hall County, Nebraska and I called their number that I found on their webpage. No way to leave a message, so I sent them a notecard via snail mail asking if they were interested in the yearbooks. I didn't hear back from them, either.

Then last week, I decided to call Grand Island H.S. The voice mail system gave me different options and I chose #4 (the registrar). What a blessing! Gabriela Ryan Jaramillo answered the phone and was super friendly and helpful! She got my contact info and said she would ask around and let me know. She got back to me in just a few hours! They had a 1948 yearbook "in the vault," but would love to have the two older yearbooks. Woohoo!

She also gave me some Facebook groups where I could try selling the 1948 yearbook. I decided to just send it to the historical society with a note. They can do what they want with it! I just wanted to be done with these. This little declutter has taken me almost a month! Now I can tackle my mother-in-law's yearbooks . . .

Declutter #7 - Miscellany

In some ways, I'm more focused on getting rid of stuff than actually decluttering my home . . . but it's almost becoming a mindset. Buy less. Use what I already have. Get rid of excess!

Here are some relatively recent "get rid of" items:

• an ancient bottle of hair gel (from a decade ago? Longer?) I threw it away.
• a bulletin from South Santiago Lutheran Church. Initially, I thought it was from Joshua's baptism. But the date is from a few weeks before he was born! Must have been from the baby shower . . . I taped it into his journal where I'm writing stories and wrote about his baptism and his brother's baptism (which was today).
• My sister-in-law did not want the remainder of the cleaning supplies from her house in Maple Grove. Today, I threw away a few sponges and put the rest along with some rags into the wash. I'll add them to my cleaning supplies and use them up! (Theoretically . . . I don't actually do much cleaning.)
• I've added a few things to a giveaway box for my friend Jenifer. She is on the board of Saving Grace Village. They do a huge sale each year as a fundraiser. I'm putting nicer things in it, mostly clothing and household stuff. When it's full, I'll bring it to her house.
  

I feel as though there have been a few other things, but it's all pretty small stuff. I hope to move on to something more significant this next week! Also, I'm way too lazy to take and post any pictures!

Oh! Actually, I took this photo (of Louie with little Nick) out of the frame and added one of Morgan with Joshua when he was littler. I don't know where I put it . . . perhaps it's with stocking stuffers. Or my "grandma" bin. Or with the stuff I'm hanging onto until they're in their new house. In any case, I'll keep the photo of Louie and Nick but give away the cute frame.

2023 Declutter #6 - Furniture

So this isn't really a "declutter," . . . but it does involve me getting rid of some stuff. We gained a queen size boxspring and mattress from my sister-in-law and decided to put it in the guest bedroom. I planned to sell the futon that we had been using as a guest bed. I texted my three sons first, and only one responded - with "no thanks."

After I took lots of pictures but before I had posted it on Craigslist, my husband told me that our middle son wanted the futon. He was going to get rid of a too-large futon and use our old guest room one instead. So this has left my home and is now at his home.

 

 

I also had an office chair from my sister-in-law that she was going to throw away because it was missing two of the wheels. It sat in my basement for quite a while and then my husband fixed it! When I sat in it, I thought it was too bad that it was so uncomfortable. It is beautiful, but it needs a good cushion!

I've posted it on both Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, but no one responded when I had it listed for $60. So I changed it to free and got six people to contact me today! I'm blogging preemptively, but anticipate that it will be gone tomorrow. I hope it's gone!

I don't know that I'll make much decluttering progress this week, but I'll try! There's a lot going on this week. I'm eager to continue this quest, though.

Small things:

I got rid of a file folder that had a historical newspaper in it. I have another file folder with Valentine's hearts and streamers. I hope to foist that off on someone at the middle school.