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.

 

 

Declutter #38 - More Lake Stuff

Instead of posting this "early" (my target is Sunday evenings), I'm posting this late! (Tuesday, October 31.) I have a lot of things on my plan for today, but with a little pocket of time before I have to head out the door, I'm trying to get some things done that have been on my "to do" lists. Blogging is more fun than vacuuming.

When we were at the lake over a week ago, I cleared out a cupboard to do a sort and organize. I do not like or use can "coozies" (or whatever you call them), but my husband does like them. Fine. We had a half dozen in the cupboard and he was willing to let these two go.

The others are back in the cupboard, tucked in back. I'm fine with that. Any time he is willing to let go of things, I rejoice!

I also found this thing:

 

It's for putting over food outdoors in the summer so the hornets / bees / wasps don't get all over it. I forgot I had it! We could have made use of it earlier when the bugs were buzzing our food on a lovely outdoor day. But as I tried to open it up to look like this, the corners kept coming out of the metal arms. It was a pain to get it open and functional! No thank you. I forgot I had it, it's not super easy to use . . . it can go away. 

If / when we build a retirement home at the lake, we hope to put on a three season porch out front. That way, on buggy days, we can have the outdoor experience with protection!

There were other things I said goodbye to recently that I haven't blogged about. One was something I had purchased for myself several years ago because it made me laugh. I gave that to a friend who was also amused by it. The other was a cool prize I had won. It was something I would have enjoyed using, but I knew someone else who had a greater need for it. I want to be a blessing!

Blogging, Goals, and Plans

I have found that blogging about decluttering has been very helpful and motivating for me. I will continue that for the rest of 2023. However, I have a new plan for 2024. I keep wanting and intending to spend more time in my sewing room.  I have been using a monthly calendar white board to "help" me. I have tried rewarding myself with sewing time if I get other stuff done.

As you can see by these pics of my white board for the first nine months of 2023, I have not been very successful. It occurred to me that if I blog weekly about my studio projects,  that will probably motivate me to do them! Everyone has different ways of doing life.  Apparently, being accountable to a blog works for me! It's worth a try. 

I have worked on some projects in October,  but when I thought about erasing the September info and writing in October,  it felt a bit futile.  If nine months of this "system" wasn't helping, why continue? 

I may use the white boarddown in my office to focus on connecting with people - phone calls, snail mail, lunch dates, road trips . . . TBD.

Declutter #37 - books and gifts

 I'm actually doing a blog entry early! This is intended for October 22, but I have a "home" day and I'm trying to get lots of stuff done. Sometimes I think this is less about decluttering and more about just plain old getting rid of stuff. We have a LOT of stuff.

My husband claims I have many more books than he has. I don't plan on counting all of "his" and "mine" to see who has more . . . but I disagree with him. And I read a lot more than he does! Anyhow, we own a LOT of books. A box recently came out of the garage attic and I was excited to dig in. But they were almost all his SciFi / Fantasy books. Sigh. We currently have SIX boxes of his books in the basement. And a full bookcase upstairs. And books at the lake. And more in the garage attic. And . . . what can I say? We like books!

But as I put HIS books in HIS book boxes, I pulled out some I had rescued from library weedings. I've not read these, but I am trying to remove things from my house that I no longer want. If I ever want to read these, I can get them from the library! (BTW, if you do not know me or my sweetheart, we get along great and tease one another about things like this.)

The other AHA! that I had this week was as I was ordering things to pack into Operation Christmas Child boxes. I ordered a few soccer balls with inflators. But I was using my spending money, because that was what I wanted to buy. I'd love to go shopping for lots of gifts for lots of kiddos! But we're trying to live within our means . . . and only brand new things are supposed to go into the boxes . . . and then I remembered! 

Many, many years ago, I bought a bunch of these little Beanie Baby roosters. The intention was to gift them at a United Cursillo event (now called Unidos en Christo). They are new, they are cute, and they are now going to church for our OCC packing event!

 

I will probably use my next week's spending money to buy more little things . . . I'm so blessed and I want to bless others.