One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.

I don’t think I’ve decorated for Halloween in 2 maybe 3 years. It’s just not as exciting as it used to be now that our kids are older and no longer go trick or treating.  Back in the day, I’d totally get dressed up and join in the fun… but nowadays, I just want to BUY extra Halloween candy so I have an excuse to eat it. Gone are the days of sneaking a tootsie roll or Butterfinger from their stash {snif snif}.

Now that I think about it… I wonder if I should keep that {10 year old} pumpkin candle and melt it down and use the wax for firestarters. Hmmm.

8 Pumpkin balls and 10 ears of Indian corn.

From the craft room:

Needles that are too small for my hands, note cards, an old phone case, pushpins, a mini flashlight {it seems like we own a million flashlights!}, a compass, and some scrapbooking brads.

Crafts are funny. I think we all go through our phases. We like making/creating a certain something for a few years, and then we move on. But the good thing is, people LOVE buying craft supplies at yard sales.

You know what they say… one mans trash, is another’s treasure. 😉

Keep calm and declutter on!

~Mavis

Year to Date Totals
Donated: 20 items
Gave Back: 45
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 544 items

So far this year I’ve purged 692 items. Only 308 more items to go!

See what else I’m getting rid of this year:

• Magazines
• Party Platters, Placemats and More
• Cleaning out the Closet
• Gift Bags, Binders, Glass Frogs and More
• Casserole Dishes and Pie Plates
• Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
• Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
• Used Books
• DVD’s
• Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More

 

One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.

Magazines. Why do we hang on to them? I mean, it’s not like this is 1950. We have the internet and youtube and quick access to every topic imaginable at the tip of our fingertips. But still, we hang on to old magazines like they are prized jewels. Well, at least I seem to anyway.

See that copy of Architectural Digest? It’s from 2008. I fell in love with 3/4ths the houses in there and just couldn’t seem to part with it. Until today.

Do you think anyone would even want these if I offered them at my yard sale? And if so… how much? I know I’ve paid $0.25-$0.50 for magazines at thrift stores before so maybe that’s the going rate?

Or maybe I should just take them to the recycle center. I don’t know, what do you think?

~Mavis

Year to Date Totals
Donated: 20 items
Gave Back: 45
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 468 items

So far this year I’ve purged 616 items. Only 384 more items to go!

See what else I’m getting rid of this year:

• Cleaning out the Closet
• Gift Bags, Binders, Glass Frogs and More
• Casserole Dishes and Pie Plates
• Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
• Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
• Used Books
• DVD’s
• Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More

 

One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.

Just when I think I don’t have any more dishes to purge…. I find more. This week I went through the sideboard for a second time and asked myself why on earth I need to keep hanging onto things I haven’t used in the last 2 years.

Seriously. Do we really need enough serving dishes to host 50 people anymore?  The kids are out of high school and pasta parties and large gatherings are pretty much a thing of the past.

Having enough serving dishes for family gathering makes sense for this stage in our lives. So off to the yard sale pile the extras go. I’m sure someone else will be able to use what we no longer do.

What the heck? How did I acquire so many mismatched placemats?

The turkey baster I never use, 2 large salad grabbers, a pasta fork and a small dish. Those are head for the yard sale as well.

And this set of 3 serving dishes needs to be returned to Francisco’s sister in law. {Ooops!} 😉

Man oh man, I can’t wait to get this project done. Living with less clutter…. Is really starting to feel good.

How about YOU? Have you been purging this year? How’s it going?

~Mavis

Year to Date Totals
Donated: 20 items
Gave Back: 45
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 447 items

So far this year I’ve purged 595 items. Only 405 more items to go.

See what else I’m getting rid of this year:

• Cleaning out the Closet
• Gift Bags, Binders, Glass Frogs and More
• Casserole Dishes and Pie Plates
• Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
• Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
• Used Books
• DVD’s
• Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More

 

One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.

I thought I’d tackle the closet this week. Or at least my side of the closet. Which you know, took all of 30 seconds to clean out. I’m telling ya, being on the cutting end of fashion…. it’s a tough gig. But someone has to do it. {By the way, when have you ever seen me wear white? Why am I even hanging on to those tops?}

Lucy, who only owns 1 article of clothing {her collar} was not impressed by the “thinning of my wardrobe” this week. Clearly she thought I could do better. Her mother is living a life of excess and what must the other dogs think? How embarrassing.

On a side note…. See that small blue tee and tiny red dress? Those are from Monkey Boy and The Girl when they were little. I just can’t let those go. Monkey Boy wore his blue Thomas the Tank Engine shirt at least 5 days a week when he was around 4 years old and The Girl LOVED that dress.

Yada yada yada, all I could find were 5 articles of clothing and 1 leopard scarf to get rid of. I plan on donating the race tee shirt and long sleeved tie-dye to the thrift store. I’ll gift the grey shirt to a friend, add the wool coat {and scarf} to my garage sale pile and I think I’ll try and sell my Oktoberfest/German girl dress on eBay this fall when costumes bring a little more money.

The shoes were a little harder to weed through. I own 19 pairs!

And now I’m down to 16. The heel bothers me on the green boots, I’ve only worn the black heels once in 4 years and I’m not a fan of sandals to begin with so why am I hanging on to those flip flops I bought 5+ years ago anyway?

Even though I only got rid of 9 items this week…. it still feels good to do a little purging.

How about YOU? When was the last time you cleaned out your closet?

~Mavis

So far this year I’ve purged 560 items. Only 440 more items to go.

Year to Date Totals
Donated: 20 items
Gave Back: 42
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 415 items

See what else I’m getting rid of this year:

• Gift Bags, Binders, Glass Frogs and More
• Casserole Dishes and Pie Plates
• Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
• Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
• Used Books
• DVD’s
• Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More