Not quite a horder - decluttering
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Zills, That is a great idea! I don't think we would make minimum wage with a garage sale, but this could be a fun party as well. Once DH gets into salesman mode he can make things go. When we moved to Seattle, someone bought the dirt in the flower pots! I'm sure they had a back yard full of dirt too, so who knows why. Could have been because we lived in a white/black neighborhood and a lot of people were moving to get away from the black people. When they heard we were moving clear across the country, it took away the sting the other moves must have left.
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Zills- this is a great idea. Most of my friends my age (I am 59) are trying to downsize, but I have invited over some friends who live on a limited income and are happy with some of my clothing or shoes I am ready to pass along for their wardrobe needs. I had a good friend who is 15 years younger and passed along a bunch of items from my home after the reno and downsizing a few years ago. Younger folks always need stuff, if you have a downsizing party, invite your friends kids!
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Loved that article, Zills. What a novel approach to cleaning out. I wish I knew enough people to do this. But it does make me think that there has to be an easier way versus what I have been doing-piece meal
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Great article Zills. Thanks for posting.
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oh, I just remembered...a cousin got married last summer. Her father who had passed away a number of years ago collected crystal vases and bowls. She used the crystal to hold flowers on all the tables at the reception and she attached a note to each about her dad asking people to take an arrangement home along with the vase to remember her dad.
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GoKale, fabulous vase story!!!
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Posted this on the dinner thread since I never really stopped to eat today except a package of frozen Yakisoba noodles.
Cleaning cupboards and packing boxes to donate to the Battered Women's resale store. I had already decided to get rid of all the silver plate - bowls & trays & pitchers & candle holders - mostly wedding gifts from 1966. But I really needed to polish stuff first since none had been used in 25-30 years. Oh my what a chore. Even though everything was wrapped in plastic, some of it was quite black.
And amazing stuff. My Mother used to pick up flatware serving pieces at rummage sales if they were interesting or useful (like gravy ladles - everybody needs 3 right?). I found 5 unique meat serving forks - all but one are silver plate and reasonably worn. One says "Kiwanis" - but no other personalization. Maybe my grandpa? But probably a bargain buy? Gone!!!
Also purged a bunch of glass & crystal serving dishes for candy, butter, nuts, sour cream, whatever.
Three cupboards mostly empty and stuff in boxes to drop off on my way to the Med Center Friday. Woo hoo.
(Jazzy - yes I did think of consignment but no one wants silver plate anymore. Hell I can't even sell my Lenox china. It has to be washed by hand. Another life another time)
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MinusTwo- you go girl! Consignment is good for more recent things, but have had the same experience with the old silver, crystal, china, etc. I have taken most of that to the thrift store. My sister found some china cups while doing some decluttering (we had a split load of things moved to our homes when we cleaned out our parents home) and she brought them out here during a recent visit and said they belonged with some of my things. Ha, most of that was already gone to the thrift store and so they went in a stack for my next visit there.
I have shared my 30 day calendar with a few local friends who are also feeling they need to both declutter and do some deep cleaning. As I clean out a space, I both clean and put things in a bag or box to go to donations. I find it is important to have both cleaning supplies and things to put your donations in to directly as you go along (or in some cases, things go in the trash or to recycling). I have done several cabinets, drawers, the fridge, etc. over the past few days. Good progress but so much more to do......
A friend of mine was telling about a community "free stuff" page they have on FB where people can post things they just want to get rid of. She is going to post an ice creme maker she wants to get rid of. She said it is a nice way to exchange and build relationships within her community. I know Craigs list does free stuff, but not a fan......
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I'm nervous with strangers coming to my house, so unless it something that can be left outside, I wouldn't post. We did get rid of a potted tree whose top had frozen. The guy who took it said his house backed up to a woodland and he was adding trees for privacy.
I'm really happy I didn't get Mom's silver. She was worried that I would feel bad that it went to my SIL, but I was secretly grateful. I have a teacup and a meat platter from Mom and that's all I wanted from the kitchen. I think the teacup is actually one I brought back from London for her. I have her bedroom furniture which I like and use in my spare room. For the rest we hired an auctioneer and split the proceeds.
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Wren- I agree with that and won't do yard sales here, nor have anyone come to my house I am not expecting. I think my friends go to a meet up place at a police dept for safety. That is what they do here in my city, they have designated place to do exchanges. But as a woman, I don't assume someone may not follow me home too. Safety first always......
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I agree with both Wren & Jazzy. Not going to have anyone come to my house and not likely I'd even meet somewhere. We all had garage sales when our kiddos were little & you could find great children's toys & clothes. A bunch of us even bought all our children's "early american college student" furniture from garage sales. The world is a different place.
Our neighborhood does host a garage sale day when everyone sells from their own driveway/garage. For a long time I've even made sure to stay home that day so there's no one watching me leave. The board has discussed discontinuing the program so strangers aren't driving around the neighborhood, but the majority really want to continue.
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I wouldn't let anyone into my house. I remember once when I panicked when my Kindle wasn't working right, and hit the button for a new one. In the meantime, I got the first one working fine. I posted it and met the buyer at a gas station parking lot close by. As for garage sales, again, everything is outside or in the garage. It is just like cancer-- why should a person ruin their joy in life by constantly looking around the corner at what might happen but probably won't.
Someone was passing around a card with a longer quote by him this morning. I didn't find it, but I did find this:
"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt." ~ Thomas Merton
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I was cleaning out a cedar box (mini hope chest) where I store some important travel info (like passports, birth cert, immunization history card for some things I needed when traveling into the Central American jungle). I was thinking about this mini hope chest that I got as a gift from a local furniture store, which was something all us graduating female seniors were received prior to graduation.
I remember asking my mother what a hope chest was and why I needed one? She explained it was a place to put things away for the future when I was to be married. I graduated from high school in the late 1970's and from a part of the country where most young people were headed to college at that time; very few of my friends (only one I can remember) ended up married after high school. I ended up with a hand me down full/sized hope chest from a neighbor when she was downsizing her home, and that I took with me when I moved away to grad school in the early 80s. I have dragged that fuller sized one around too for decades, and it is still a great place to store items, including my yoga gear.
I wonder how many here were part of the Lane mini-sweetheart chest marketing game back then?
https://bust.com/feminism/15787-femoribilia-hope-chest.html0 -
Jazzygirl— I received a Lane mini hope chest around high school graduation. I still have it but not sure which box in the closet it is in. I, too, have a full sized hope chest cedar lined which has been great for storage over the years
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Jazzygirl, I got a Lane mini chest when I graduated high school in 1978. For the next few years I kept pot and paraphernalia in it. ;-) These days it lives in the drawer of my husband's bedside table. If I remember correctly, for a while we had condoms in there. Not sure either of these uses is what Lane imagined...
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LOL, MountainMia! That would be a funny skit on Saturday Night Liv
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I have the two full sized cedar chests from both my maternal & my paternal grandmothers. Both are from the turn of the LAST century. Neither are Lane. They are great for storage, but take up a LOT more room than a chest of drawers. I use one as an magazine table in the living room. That means I never get to the blankets inside because it's always covered with books & magazines & papers. The other is in my bedroom and holds wool sweaters, heavy winter gloves & scarves & hats & long underware - rarely needed in Houston - along with some keepsakes like my Raggedy Ann doll. The top of that one tends to be a staging area for what ever project I'm working on.
Come to think of it Mia, I might still have a very old stash in the latter one. And I do mean VERY old - from before my move to Texas in 1973.
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I had a hope chest from my great aunt, so never got the small one from Lane. I know it's in the basement with an old shower curtain over it for protection, but I'm not sure if it has anything in it or not. I used to keep my fabric in it when I was making all my clothes. We also used it for a coffee table several times.
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I got the mini Lane chest in 1968. My mother bought an old camel-back trunk when I was a baby, or before. She painted it pink for me. When I got it, I stripped off the paint, sprayed the tin with rustoleum, put tung oil on the woodwork, got new leather straps for the ends, and had a new tray made for it. The carpenter for the tray persuaded me to line it with cedar. The inside of the lid is lined with a pink print fabric. The lid stays open and the tray is upsidedown, making it into a surface for jewelry box, etc in my bedroom.
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Silver plate alert - When I was checking before, most places would not take silver plate on consignment and no one would buy it (asopposed to coin dealers who would sterling at the current value of the metal). Just talked to a coin shop that I've used before AMAZING, they are now buying silver plate. Not for the thin coating of silver, but for the copper or brass or underlying metal.
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Jazzy--I have one of those mini cedar chests! I'm not sure exactly where it is now, but I do remember seeing it when I moved in after buying the house. It probably still has some trinkets from my college days. Hmm. Have to look for it now.
Wow, those little cedar chest get lots of uses! What stories I bet they could tell!
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The ladies here who used them for birth control win my vote for best use of the mini hope chests
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This article is about 30 things people need to reduce or clear out for retirement. Most of it we already know, but a couple things made me think...I probably have a couple kitchen items I don't need (electric knife), and I could probably scan a few important documents and then shred the originals. I think I recently threw out some income tax files because I read that I only need to keep the most recent 3 years or maybe I kept 7 but threw out all the back-up paperwork for years 4.5.6 and 7.
For the "decorating with clutter" I just remembered that I have a large lantern that holds a big fat candle that I bought for another house with a huge stone fireplace and mantel. Really need to get rid of it. It's sitting on my tiny hearth now (for the last 9 years), never lit.
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Where did all this music come from #30yearpurge
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Awwe Jazz! You love your music, I bet this one will be a tough clean out for you.
I am working on cleaning out and have been doing real good. My next project is pictures, I have some pictures that were my kids childhood friends and I don't even remember their names. Really need a good purge and organization. I found about 7 of those disposable cameras and finally took them to get developed. That was a bunch of interesting pictures, one camera none of the pictures came out, couldn't even guess what they were. I only paid for the pictures I wanted to keep.
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Jazzy, I still have cassettes too. I listen to them on an old boombox when I’m quilting. I copied all my CDs to my computer and put them ona thumb drive.
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Now I understand why you took the screen name "Jazzygirl". That is some collection!
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Ta da
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Good evening friends- I have been working away on my 30 day decluttering and cleaning calendar (and then some). So far I have completed days 1,5,6,8,9,15,16,17, and 22. Several items like cleaning out the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen have been in progress since early January. And there are many things getting done that are not on the list too. Lots of deep cleaning too, and pull out furniture to catch dust bunnies that are more like dust dinosaurs, lol. Although I am frequent declutterer, I realize I am doing a bigger pass again for the first time in about 5-6 years since I did some upgrades here at the house.
Misty- the music was not too bad to do as it helped me to find some music I forgot I had and pulled some of those CDs out to play again. What I did do was to put some items aside that I knew I was not listening to much and that could go. Some music given to me by others that is not my style. I have a bunch of friends who love jazz (a big part of my collection) and going to be seeing some of them in the next few weeks. I decided to give them a pass at the CDs to see if they want any, the rest will go to my thrift shop. I have a few other CDs that may go in time, but need to start listening more to some of my music before I purge any further. I still have some old cassettes to go through too. I had a couple items on the calendar that did not apply to me, but put the music as one of the major clean out items to do.
Next up is working on the stuff under the sinks which also means purging old makeup and other products that have been around too long. The final frontiers will be more purging in the garage and the paperwork stuff......
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Six bags of items to my fav donation place yesterday. All the music (CDs and cassettes) plus books, some clothing, costume jewelry, etc. went and they were thrilled to have them. I think finding the right place to donate where you can feel good about letting go of things and know they will be appreciated, as well as recycled back into the world for others who may want them makes all the difference.
I always end up buying something there too and yesterday I found the coolest short grey wig for $12. I bought it as I am turning 60 in a few months and although I went prematurely grey in my 30s, I began dying my hair. I told myself when I got to 60 I would re-evaluate whether I might just let myself be grey, and still on the fence about it. So before I decide, I am going to wear this week sometimes to try it out and see how I like it. Or maybe if I want to go somewhere "incognito" like the movie stars do......
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