Declutter #42 - Small Stuff

 While at the lake last weekend, I looked at all the cups we have in the cupboard and decided to say goodbye to these two. They're super cute, but rarely used. Into the Goodwill box they go! (I cringe to think of combining our possessions from our home in the Twin Cities with our lake home when we move there. I'll have to get really radical with donating!)

I also refilled my teaching bag with pencils. For some reason, I was handing a lot of them out to students the last few times I substitute taught. I have so many at home that it gives me joy to give them away! Waste not, want not. Plus, the older pencils get, the less likely the eraser is to be functional. I love office supplies, but I'm trying really hard to use up what I have.

Not much of a declutter, but I finally got rid of this sign a coworker made for me when I left Pioneer Ridge at the end of the 2016-17 school year. Her intentions were wonderful, but this is not at all something I value. Plus seeing it brings back some distinctly negative emotions. Bye-bye! (I'll keep the frame, of course, and use it for something else.)

<My technology is not cooperating, so I will upload the photo later!>

So, it's the day after I finished writing this post. I was able to upload the photo. While doing so, I actually read what the coworker wrote . . . and saw the typo!

"So many reader's lives changed . . . " UGH! 

Readers plural. Readers' lives. 

I'm very glad to see this go!

Declutter #41 - My Husband's the Hero

I meant to write this over a week ago! But life got busy with hosting Thanksgiving, heading up to the lake, etc. I'm usually the driving force for getting rid of excess stuff, but my husband was the real declutterer two weeks ago!

 

While rearranging the garage to put his motorcycle into storage and have the snowblower handy, he threw out an old hose that we don't use any more. I'm betting it leaks or has a bad attachment piece . . . but it went into the garbage!

 

He also threw away a tarp for . . . a snowmobile? The mice had gotten to it and chewed it up. Yuk.

 

He also gave away a laptop that he inherited from our brother-in-law but wasn't using. And he gave one of our sons a large empty tin for storing bird seed. We hang onto things like that because they can be really handy! But I love that he is willing to share things we're not using with someone who can make use  of them! 

He doesn't like me blogging about him, so please don't congratulate him on decluttering this stuff!

Declutter #40 - Yet More Lake Stuff

It's very liberating to get rid of unnecessary things! We had a lovely work weekend at the lake. We rented a boom lift and took down a few trees near the septic field. (Louie didn't want to drop them on the field and wreck our septic system!) 

 

But the trees aren't my "declutter" items this week . . . 

 

I wore my work boots Saturday, but switched to tennies on Sunday . . . because my work boots are a size 9. Feet getting bigger as you age is a real thing! (Actually, I was going to link some medical articles, but they are about the ligaments and such spreading out. So your feet don't actually GROW bigger.) Suffice it to say that although I used to wear size 9 shoes, I have been buying size 10 shoes for quite a while. 

I had a dilemma. Keep wearing work boots that hurt my toes? Buy a new pair of work boots for at the lake? Then I realized that I have work boots that fit me at home in Jordan. I do wear them there, especially in the winter and spring when it's icy. But I can easily bring them back and forth until we downsize to one residence! So I have a pair of awesome work boots to clean up and donate.

I also did a little rearranging at the lake and noticed that a bin with a spare sleeping bag and a spare comforter had been adversely impacted by mice. Not a new ingress! Just something I missed last time we dealt with the critters. I shook out the fabric and will launder them both. The comforter looks okay to donate. The sleeping bag may need a bit of patching . . . or may be repurposed as a dog bed. I'll see after I've laundered them.

I washed out the empty bin and put it away. It may be used to hold extra life jackets. Not a lot this week, but it's something.

Declutter #39 - Random Stuff

This was not a stellar week for getting rid of stuff. And no photos. I'm writing on Wednesday instead of Sunday. I am NOT in top form!

 

This past week, I removed some people from my contacts list. (eContent counts toward decluttering!) I don't often go through my contacts list and remove people unless they've died and their info is no longer useful on this side of eternity. But sometimes I realize that I keep people's info even though we haven't been in contact in a long time. "Just in case." 

 

But really, how likely am I to need to contact someone with whom I've not spoken in several years? And if I really did want to contact them for some reason, couldn't I reach out to a mutual friend with whom I'm still in contact? Not likely, and yes. So I've deleted a few people from my contacts list. (As of this writing, I have 408 people in my Google Contacts.)

 

I hope that doesn't sound too callous! But communication is a two-way street. I simply don't have the time and energy to reach out to and connect with everyone I've ever known.

 

I also had some books and intended to drop them off at the Better World Books drop box in New Prague. When I went to Coborn's today, I realized that their dropbox is gone! So I put them in a fairly full Little Free Library near my house. (I was tempted to take a book out, but I have a LOT of books right now!) I just checked and my closest BWB dropbox is in Shakopee.

I had some beads that had fallen off some bracelets. It's hard for me to throw things in the garbage if they could possibly find another purpose. A friend at church enjoys making bracelets (and donated lots of them for our Operation Christmas Child box packing). I asked her if I could give her random beads and she said yes!

I try to ask people if they want things instead of just giving them items because I want to get rid of them. Like I said, it wasn't a super declutter week, but I did make small progress.