Declutter #33 - One Step Back . . .

Sadly, not only did I NOT get rid of stuff this week, but I added unnecessary items to my household. 

I love sewing horse blankets and sheets at RaDon, Inc. I love that my boss is super generous with fabric scraps and no-longer-used bolts. I have used scrap fabric for many different things!

However, a co-worker (Kriss the amazing!) no longer wanted her bin of scraps that she had taken home over the years. She is clearing out a lot of her sewing room. Although I know that lots of fabric goes into the garbage . . . I just couldn't see these go! So I took them. All of them.

I now have burgundy, red, black, navy, forest green, kelly green, and gray/green scraps of "cordura" - at least that's what it sounds like. It's like a canvas but with a different texture. It's super handy for making sturdy things like grill covers, carry sacks, etc. 

What will I do with all of this?! I have no idea. Actually, I have some ideas, but it's not a priority right now. Ugh. Two steps forward, one step back.

My sister Ann and I just did some brainstorming. Perhaps I'll be able to use this stuff up!

If you want some, please let me know!

I also took a box with stall curtains that had a broken zipper. The customer wanted it replaced, but she ended up buying new curtains. These were going to be thrown away so I took them home! They measure 4' x 8'. I asked my sister-in-law who has horses if she wanted them, but she hadn't ever heard of stall curtains! I have a few other people I can ask, but they may just have to end up in the garbage.

Declutter #32 - A Teeny Piece of "Marie Kondo" Method

I didn't get rid of much last week, but I'm trying to keep moving forward. When we were up at the lake, I needed to organize our drawer of cooking utensils. The "dividers" had gotten moved and everything was in a mess. I took everything out and then started to put things back in based on how we actually used them. Then I asked Louie which things he wanted to put back in and what we could get rid of.

 

These three items (yes, only three) are in the donation box. I know that if/when we combine our two homes into one, many more things will go! But for now, we function out of two locations and try to keep both stocked. I thought about buying some drawer dividers on Amazon, but am going to try some creative "use what we have" options to keep order.

 

 

I wore these capris . . . and decided that although they fit and are comfortable, I really don't like them. (This is where Marie comes in.) I have other capris and shorts that I like much better. There's nothing really wrong with these, I just don't want them. I always consider waiting to donate summer things at the start of the next season rather than at the end (and ditto with winter) . . . but once I've decided to get rid of stuff, I just need it to go away! My apologies to the donation places where I take my things. I just can't see hanging on to these for the next 7+ months just so I can donate them at a more seasonally appropriate time! Also, I got these and another similar pair at Costco. For several years, they were my favorites! But now I have ones that fit better - some from Costco and some from Jenifer's closet cleanout. I am so blessed!

Storyworth Plus: Easter Bunny (Find the pic . . . )

I don't think I wrote about this in my Storyworth book, but it is a big part of my childhood. I hope I can find the photograph! 

I was born on Saturday, April 9, 1966. Easter was on April 10th that year, so my parents referred to me as their "Easter bunny." Somewhere there's a photo of me in pink footie pajamas with a bunny ears hat. I need to find that and upload it here!

Growing up, I loved Easter so much! The candy was a big draw, for sure, but I also liked the excitement of springtime, my birthday being in the general vicinity, and the drawing end of the schoolyear with the promise of summer freedom. 

 

One of our family traditions for Easter was to fill four baskets with candy (one for each of us kids). Then one person would stay in the tv room or kitchen while the rest of us would close the sliding doors to block off the living room and dining room area so we could hide that person's candy. It was so fun! I think my siblings tried to make it not too hard for me because I was so much younger.

One of my favorites was to put white and black jellybeans on the piano keyboard. (My parents bought those horrible, overly sweet Brachs jellybeans. I don't think the many fun flavors and varieties existed in the 1970s.) I also liked putting orange ones on those orange yarn potholders. There were lots of "tricky" places and color matches that we strove to find.

One hiding place that I remember is the tops of the door frames. The very corner where the front door and the coat closet door are has a small gap between the frames. I distinctly remember putting jellybeans up there (with the help of a step stool) and hearing them fall down into the gap! Adult me is horrified at the thought of the ants drawn to all that sugar. Yuk!

Another yuk is the thought of unwrapped candy being put on so many surfaces only to be found and put into the owner's basket for snacking. But as a child, this was such an incredibly fun ritual! I loved hiding candy for my siblings and I loved finding my own candy. What a delightful memory!

As an adult, I love Easter best of all holidays but for an entirely different reason. Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice so that I might have eternal life. Forgiveness of sins, grace, mercy, love . . . that's the best Easter gift of all!

Declutter #31 - Camping stuff

I picked a happy photo for this, though it isn't an image of what we're getting rid of!

We were in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at the end of August / start of September. It was an amazing family trip!

But Louie and I are getting older and slower . . . and we're not sure how many more camping trips we'll be doing.

Our tent is okay, but showing signs of age. Some of the "weatherstripping" on the rain fly is coming loose. The elastic paracord in the poles is losing its elasticity. Louie had said that we had the identical tent at home (from when we went camping with the "boys" as a family of five). It would be cool to put together one "best" tent and get rid of the rest rather than buying a new tent at this point in our lives.

So after the trip, we were cleaning and storing things away. All that was left was the tent. I finally set it up on the deck to air out this week. When he got home from work, Louie got out the other tent. 

They are NOT the same design and the parts are not interchangeable. So the older tent got dropped off at Hands of Friendship Thrift Store in New Prague yesterday, along with a duffel bag that Louie decided he didn't need.

Yay! I love getting rid of excess stuff! I appreciate that we are so incredibly blessed to have surplus, but every time I help people with packing to move, I think about how much I'd prefer to get rid of stuff in a less stressful time period and manner.

Declutter #30 - Papers!

 I had originally planned to write about something else, but I went to look for the file folder with my knee surgery info. (I landed really hard on my left knee while in the BWCA and was concerned about having wrecked my artificial knee.)

I was astonished by how fat my "medical / health" file was! As I started to dig through it, I laughed.

Gone into recycling:

• a file folder with info about menopause! (Been there, done that.)
• a file folder from Health Partners . . . from the employer I left over six years ago!
• a file folder with my personal weight / exercise / tracking info from the early 2000s

 

None of these files was skinny! I am horrified at how much paper I wasted "back in the day." I still print some things out, but it is much more streamlined.

 

Here's what I started with:

 

Now I just have the upright file holder (old plastic magazine storage thing) with 2/3 the amount of files inside it.

It wasn't a planned declutter, but it felt great! Too bad I'll have to wait two weeks for the next Recycle bin date. My bag is full!

Just for the record, here's how my knee looks one week post injury:

The swelling has gone down dramatically. The bruising has spread down my leg. It doesn't hurt as much as feel as though the skin is pulling too tight. 

But I got rid of a lot of papers!