Where to Start? deClutter

Looking for a way to get started today? Start with looking for bags and boxes that you should be tossing anyways and then start filling them :) 

I had a LOT of paper grocery bags, still do and i just feel so good filling them, much better than spending money on more plastic. If your grocery gives you plastic those are great too, I don't get many of these and use them for trash. Plus the bags are smaller, so they fill quickly, and i can move it out and feel accomplished, and i am getting rid of all the paper bags too. Also works with those reusable bags, you know the ones that are too worn for you to want to use any more. The boxes you have been saving from various appliances, the warranty is long expired, and for me at least, i had passed many of the items on but still had the box in the attic, so fill it up and move it out 

This post was written in October of 2018 and never published. Today I am reducing the number of unpublisheddrafts I have on blogger.  I have no idea why I did not publish immediately, perhaps I was worried about relevance, or lacked the time to polish it. 3.5 years later, I can see that this post is still relevant, and even having written it myself enjoyed re-reading it. So here it is for the world, unpolished and honest.  

American Dream - Everyone Has The Right to Own Things

AMERICAN DREAM

So I am sitting here going through my bedside table area. Thinking that maybe having a clean room will make it easier to get up in the morning. I found an old notebook here something that I've been using the rest of the pages up just writing notes for the day, or at least I was doing this at one point before it became buried. So I'm just going through this Notebook thinking can I just toss it.  I only NEED one Notebook.  I wanted to make sure there's nothing I really needed in it. Of course one might say that it's been sitting there for probably more than a year, the content in it was either daily tasks, or my notes from high school, so I really did not NEED to go through it.

Looking through, I happen to stop on a page titled The Great Gatsby. In the middle of the page where the ink turns from black to blue, the first line there reads,

American dream everyone has the right to own things.

Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, we are taught in high school by the classics and our school system that we should dream of owning stuff, the title alone Great Gatsby says it all.  We need lots of stuff. Therefore I am successful and I learned it in English class.

And so the question remains what do I do with a notebook?

Purging Kitchen Utensil Drawer

Utensils before

So I was browsing my posts this morning, and had a thought about my Making Space! post.  I realized that the project was started due to the utensil drawer being jam packed, yet I only removed the one slider press from the drawer.  I have admit, that did the trick.  I have been able to use the drawer without an real issues, it now shuts.


It occurs to me in reflection, a definite bonus of keeping this blog, that the drawer could stand a good going-through.  As I sit thinking of it though, I am telling myself that everything else belongs there.  And that I do use it all...sort of.  Even the cork screw, there is a story there.

Corkscrew

We have disposed of at least 3 cork screws in our married life.  We would be doing a clean-out and be on a roll, then we come across the corkscrew and say "oh, that can be donated!"  Then a month down the road, someone would bring a bottle of wine to dinner, or we would come up with some other utilitarian use for a corkscrew.  Now, life has always provided a means, and we have been able to procure a new corkscrew. There was no need to feel regret over the decision to let go of it.  Yet, I feel like buying the new corkscrew is wasteful, and inconvenient.

It is this sort of situation that leaves one feeling like we should just hold onto anything that is useful, as we may need it one day.  Balancing seems to be the answer.  We need to balance the amount of things that we keep with the amount of space we have.  Karen Kingston states in one of her books that we need to believe that life will provide what we need...yet there are many starving people in our world...so maybe these are just really words said, not believed--for valid reason!  Of course this is all the more reason to know that we do not need all the 'stuff', and to consider our real needs.

In balancing it is necessary to consider the priority of the space we have and the items we choose to keep.  If you won so many things that you cannot find them when you need them...Then you are wasting the space, and your time looking,  perhaps keeping them from going to a home where they will be used rather than that other person creating demand for another item from 'overseas', and in the end how many times have you replaced the item, just to then add it to the storage where the duplicate is already lost?

Coming back to the question at hand, the corkscrew.

After

1. PRIORITY OF SPACE  the corkscrew is in the utensil drawer, prime real estate, for items that should be used everday--or at least weakly, at worst once a month.  The corkscrew fits none of those.  I think we have used it 2 times in the 6 years we have lived here.  And there are other things that we do use that belong here.  Having more space in the drawer would make access to used items much easier.
2. PRIORITY OF ITEM:  it is used, but very infrequently.  If I were moving overseas I would not bring it, or even think of it.
3. IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?:  While i have needed it, is there something else I could use, or even a duplicate?  Actually, while writing I have come up with the perfect solution.  We have a jackknife somewhere that has a corkscrew.  The plan is to write the task of finding the knife down, and not worry about it.  When I come across the knife, we will find it an appropriate home and donate our LAST corkscrew!  

duplicates

 And now that I have worked this through I believe that I will be able to apply it to other items that cross my path, at least I hope so :)  And maybe that jackknife (when i find it) will stand in for at least a few other things too!

 Donations

I have now made a difference in the drawer although the picture does it no justice.  Look how you can actually see the bottom of the drawer!  Some utensils I had duplicates for.   Isn't the mouse grater fun,  I kept hem, but the smaller hand held grater and the turn-handle grater both left.  I kept the large hole grater, as we use it most often.  I love the idea of the hand-crank beaters, but they are so hard to use the kids really cannot do it, and neither can I.  Since i have the electric mixer, there is no need to keep an unused utensil for idealism!  This reminds me, i have an electric hand-mixer under the counter that i never use...

Why the Clutter Out Box Works for Kids

We keep a little green plastic box under the kids art table.  The kids can throw any unused items in it at any time.  This works for them.

Yes, our Clutter Out Box is a Lego Bin!! so appropriate

Why It Works 

They don't have to ask where to put it or bring it to the garage, where I keep the outgoing items.  They know that if they put it in they never have to put it away again.  The item will sit there for a fair bit in case of any regrets either by themselves or by siblings.  This has not happened though, rather they have found that once an item is placed in the bin, they know they can live without it, and without even missing it.  It give me a chance to see what they decided to fling, in case it was an odd part to something of ours, or a toy set. 

 I also, sort items from the bin.  sometimes they don't want to throw away an art project, but no donation center would do anything but throw it away, and they don't need our trash.  Also, this gives me a chance to think on the waste we create, and have our children create.  I have been working toward not having the children spend their time, and our money, on projects that are just going to end up in the trash!  School is another thing....sooooo much waste.

As I am writing my daughter is sitting next to me working on a project kit she received for her birthday.  This is a better one.  she is making a headband-so it is something useful.  It looks to be of reasonable quality, and I think that it will be a useful item that will make her happy to know she made.  Still there is an awful lot of packing to dispose of.  Awareness is the first step.

  She is saying, "how do you type so fast, it clicks like every five seconds.  It is such a happy computer.  That computer is enjoying you."  Hmmm, interesting, the computer is happy to click?  Or is it happy because it has my attention?

Making Space!

I tackled another kitchen cabinet!  I went to get the cork screw this morning (to pull a rubber stopper from the cod liver oil)  and realized somehow our utensil drawer had become jam packed.  One look and I knew there were at least a few things that did not belong there.  Right on top was my husband's slider press.  Silly, yes, perhaps...he could use his hands to shape, and not this tool. BUT it makes him tremendously happy (just like the Legos my kids do not need), and he does use it frequently.  So for now it stays.  This is a process that everyone needs to be happy going through.

I figured i would just find it a new home, JUST?!  I could find no happy home.  Something had to go!  At first glance I saw nothing obvious to leave.  In fact, I thought I had done a pretty good job maintaining the kitchen stuff.  Not so.  I found this cabinet, and i set to work :)

I found a great Vitamix on vacation last year, and so the Osterizer has sat dormant ever since.  For Now--those fateful words, this will go to the camper and take the recently vacated place of the waffle maker.  We did really enjoy having smoothies while on vacation-they are simple, quick and nutritious.  Not sure if this one is up to the task, but if I am using it, and it drives me crazy I will be motivated to get rid of it.  Then I will just take our Vitamix with us, a bit of a hassle, but worth it.  I also found a new Oster lid that doesn't even fit this model!  I set it aside for a friend who has one that it might fit.

I gave the Brita Filter to my grandparents, I hope it turns out useful to them.  We have been using the more expensive fridge filter because it is there, saves space, and saves spills, also we drink a LOT more water that way.  Not sure about the waste issue with the filters....wonder if they could be recycled?  Or at least backwashed for reuse.  They do last a long time, and make a huge difference in our water taste.  At any rate I no longer needed the pitcher.

The 4 brown bowls are now in the donate box.  I do have a friend that has a similar set, but not sure if I will get them to her, which ever happens first is where they will go.  I also have a table cloth that makes me think of that same friend, and so I grabbed it out of my linen closet and threw it in with the dishes, it will either finally make it to her or not with the dishes---oh, it would make a good skirt though....

I would love to get rid of the Parafin Spa for hand wax....but the kids and their friends love it.  I recently refilled it--i know it is not a good step in waste reduction to use this product--but I bought the wax a year ago.  I will donate when this wax is all used up.  Maybe it will at least keep someone else from buying a new unit.  For the moment we will enjoy this gift from my grandparents (my grandfather's therapist thought it would help him with the pain in his hands, but he did not like it).

Well it felt like a lot more when I was doing it...but still I cleared off one whole shelf's worth of things in the process of finding a place for a 2"x4" by 2" tall slider press!!!

A Twist on Heirloom Guilt

I would like to think of one task to do tomorrow.  One 'doable' task.  See I am always thinking of lovely, grandiose ideas that take lots of planning and materials, and importantly discussions with my more cautious half.  Oh, and i tend to stack several large scale ideas together....i am sabotaging my efforts, yes?!  I make it so big it is impossible, and then i do nothing.

I am thinking that i could reasonably hope to reduce the clutter in my house by saying farewell to my late grandmother's old plant stand.  She used it for years, and it served her well.  However, she was living alone in 1600 +sqft.  and i have little more than that with 5 people.  A friend recently tripped over it, and had no qualms telling me it really had to go (she is also older and lives in a 2300+ sq. ft. house with just her husband).  Even before she said something i knew it didn't work.

That is why it started it's life in the garage.  Eventually it was moved to our small storage space above the garage.  Then, I was trying to make room up there, and came to my senses....sort of.  If I was going to keep it, it had to be useful...which I construed to 'put to use.'  I hauled it out, gave it a paint job, and set out to find some plants to set on it (it has never been full, I love plants, but outside).  I never did find a place that it 'fit'.  We just don't seem to have any extra space, and the whole endeavor has been wasteful.

Why?  Why am I keeping it?  Am I really sentimental over a plant stand?  Honestly, it is heirloom guilt, but not in the traditional sense.  There is a twist here.  If it was the association with my grandmother at issue, I would have taken a picture years ago.  No.  It is the guilt I feel when my mother realizes (and she will) that it is missing.  More than that it will be dealing with her over it, so I guess it is more like anxiety...not good.  It will go tomorrow...

But wait! there is more.  You see she has NO space left.  If I tell her i am getting rid of it she will want it back-and then i feel guilty to adding to the worthless things she is keeping (there is no way she could use it, hence  worthless).  My father will blame me for her bringing one more thing home.  Now if I don't tell her it is going and just get rid of it, she will be upset that I offed and 'heirloom.'  And no, there is no one else to pawn it off on--I only get the stuff that no one else would take, I am last in line.

UPDATE:  I talked to her and she agreed I could release this item!!!  It is gone!!!!!

Not Going Gandhi

For Christmas we received a new toaster oven.  Our old one was fine, but the giver felt it looked, well, used.  The minimalist producer of trash in me was not happy.  And the toaster sat in the living room for almost 2 months in its box.  I asked if we could return it, dh thought not for a myriad of reasons.

I reasoned we could please the giver and use the new one.  The old one could find a new home with someone who needed it.  I have to confess I considered keeping it, to cook the kids modelling projects in.  That clay always says it should be kept separate from your food prep areas.  Thing is I don't trust that clay.  We have had it in a shoe box since we bought a 'few' packages back in college for some projects.  We did break it out the other day for our sons school project.  Please note that 4 months after project completion the whole thing has ended up in a landfill!

One look at our storage area proved there was no space for it.  I put the new box on the counter and told my dh the plan. We discussed it and he thought the toaster oven for his work place could improve his lunch choices, so it was decided. 3 days later it was still there and my dh took it upon himself to swap it out and took it to work.

At first I was immensely pleased at the action.  Then I noticed the little dent in the corner, sorry, it bothered me, my old one was not dented!  I did not use it that day. The following day I was over the dent and we began using the toaster oven.  It was terrible, there was no 'toast' button, so the kids had to turn the dial to start it for reheating their pancakes, etc.  The dial was so stiff that a tremendous amount of effort had to be put into it and then the dial went way to far, but was near impossible to turn back.  They had to stand there and watch it cook, when done take it out, and then unplug it.

Of course, with all of the things that they have on their mind (legos, dolls, play , ................getting ready for school), I knew it was just a matter of time before they forgot something and start a fire.  I called dh, and explained the problem.  He agreed that he would bring the old toaster back.  He was not pleased, it felt awkward to take it back even though we fully intended to switch it out with a new one. Several days later he had made the switch.

We learned something for the hassle.  First, if possible do not replace something that works for something 'new'.  It is wasteful of money and time, and you are promoted use of resources to produce something that is not truly needed.  Second, if you do replace something, give yourself a buffer period to be sure you made the right choice before sending out the old.  We often do this with the box of new products too, keep them for a few weeks--but we really are reducing the number of occurrences of new in our home.  Luckily in this case, we hadn't donated it and were able to remedy the situation without further purchases

We had made a similar mistake a few years ago. Every time that I use our tiny shop vac I wish that i had kept the rigid hose extender that went with it.  Upon receiving the new vacuum I promptly marched down the stairs and brought the old one to the curb.  I had even taken the time to write a not to would be takers there was a crack that needed repair.  THEN I went and used the new one, which had only flexible hose, and nowhere to hold on!  by the time I got to the curb it was gone :(

I know for a Blog about Simply Reducing there is a lot about purchasing in this post.  Remember I am on a Journey, and hope to get there.  And I simply want to reduce my waste, not go Ghandi.  Also, you can tell how much thought I give to new things--at least sometimes, and that is a step in the right direction.

Get Rid of It

The Get Rid of It tab at the top is a photo library where i will be posting pictures of things.  Certainly not all of them, I know I have already missed boatloads--when you are in the mood to fling, sometimes you don't want to slow down for photos.  Other times, it seems like such a herculean effort to clean out and part with items that you want to memorialize your success and share it.

stuff that was on loan that is ready to go back with its owner
and a few Christmas present that were found on top of the Piano...

I will try to post a picture and the thinking behind why it left our home.  Sometimes i will add where it is going and/or why.  I hate to waste, and hate to send things to the landfill...

"Put it in the 'get rid of its'!"  That is how it was phrased by my mother.  I still think this, but in practice we have been using a green Lego bin in the kids area where they can simply put anything they no longer want to have to clean up.

Right now I in the middle of a real purge, I will have another post on that in the near future.  For the first time the kids have really been involved--and i think that they are enjoying it.

I also, added an About Page, so you can understand what I am presently trying to accomplish with my blog.  First and foremost, this has to be something that I want to do, as I am not sure that anyone else (save my poor husband, who almost chided me into writing a blog by joking i should write a blog because what else would i do with my photos of stuff i am getting rid of) will ever read this.

Happy I am to try.

Is this a sustainable practice time will tell...will I run out of things to get rid of, run out of other things to reduce and simplify?  At this point I don't think so, but it is nice to believe that it might be possible to 100 percent achieve this goal.  

Challenged by 100 Things : Paper Goods Overload

half-emptied cabinet

I have been working to simplify my life for some time.  At first thought this should be a SIMPLE process but no....

I actually started a reduce 1000 things challenge through the Ravelry site years ago, and it caught on!  I was posting so much on Freecycle that people were sending requests, and some people (not sure what their angle was?!)  Even wrote to ask if i would ever be done posting.

Then i saw the 100 thing Challenge, and didn't even *want* to attempt it LOL!

Well today I realized that for someone who detests waste, I had an entire cabinet devoted to paper goods!  My MIL loves disposable :(  I try not to start a war, so i simply accept and stash...not working.  I do love to volunteer to bring these items to events that i know that i cannot get them to change their ways, i.e. school parties--but there just are not enough!  So I started using it when my MIL came, which did use some, and pleased her greatly.  However, it simply fueled the fire, and she brought more :(

What  was removed from cabinet in above photo-and the beginning of a blog

Today I decided that I would:

1.  politely show my MIL my stash and let her know that we would "let her know when we need more"

2.  Move the whole lot into a "module"   
      Previously I referred to these as boxes, and had been using this technique of limitation prior,but
      found Miss Minimalist Blog last night)http://www.missminimalist.com/.  I will keep one box and  
      donate the rest.

3. Get the stuff that I use more often often the top of the fridge and into the cabinet  :)

as the paper goods pile on the kitchen floor grew I looked down and laughed at the thought of the 100 Thing Challenge!  I think that I have more than 100 Paper goods items alone....well, if you count each separate item I am sure there are thousands, but if you count each package of items maybe i could squeak in under 100 check out the photo.  I decided to sit down and start a blog I have been thinking about to log my progress instead of counting...

Now I am off to finish the task.  My hope is that this blog will keep me accountable.  Perhaps it could even help motivate another by sharing my journey.

Update:  see pictures of the finished cabinet in the Bacon Grease Enlightenment Post!  Where I ponder the appropriate use of disposable dishes.  Also, I really only *reduced* about 10 bowls, where the water-proof finish had delaminated, these were tossed into the trash unused!