Yesterday over on my personal blog I posted a photo of a beautiful old hand-painted wooden tray that came from my mom’s side of the family. I also commented on how I love to be surrounded by “stuff,” meaning things passed down from both sides of my family, or my husbands family. These things bring a smile to my face and I have good memories of them.
I also mentioned that there are times I am bothered by the clutter around me. Not the clutter of things from the past, but the clutter of projects that I am in the middle of or hoping finish soon, even dishes that need to be done.
Yesterday came and I had a bit of motivation in me, instead of working on a presentation I have coming up in January, I tackled an armoire in our bedroom. Ok, part of an armoire. I have more clothes than I could even need or use and it was time to chip away and decrease the piles. About 2 weeks ago, I took several boxes of clothes and other things over to a thrift store and it felt really really good. Today I managed to fill one trash bag full of clothes.
These clothes have a lot of life left in them and I need to let them get on with it. Live their life. Move on.
I know when I am met by a bit of motivation, I need to run with it. I get absolutely not where when I am not in the mood and I also know that I need to tackle things like this in small steps or it becomes too overwhelming and frustrating and then nothing gets done at all. So, I was in the mood, had a bit energy and got a lot done.
A laughed a bit, because as I went through the clothes, ever single piece was something that was handed down to me, things I didn’t spend a penny on and I don’t think I wore any of them. I hope someone else can get some better use out of them. They certainly aren’t doing anybody any good folded up in my armoire.
I still have way too many clothes, but it fells good to go through some of it and move it out. This journey continues.
What do you find is the best way for you to clean out a bit of stuff?
Sincerely, Emily
You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.
Not Dabbling In Normal 
We did the same thing early in the year…we went through our clothes and took everything that we hadn’t worn in years to the local op/thrift shop. The sad thing is that we then bought almost as much to replace it! At least we are wearing “this” stuff ;). I have some amazing tutorials for how to use materials to make bags, plant hangers etc and am going to be seeing if I can’t get creative with crafty things this year…I want to try to reuse, recycle and repurpose as much as I can this year. We have managed to minimise our rubbish down a lot and I am pleased to say that my mum’s “compost…Compost…COMPOST!” message finally hit home and there isn’t much that doesn’t find it’s way back into the soil these days. I think the first step is actually thinking about what you have and how you choose to use and dispose of it. After that it’s just a matter of getting creative with your thinking processes. It’s not hard…it’s great fun and there are some amazingly creative people out there to share how to repurpose what you no longer want into things that you absolutely positively MUST have. I start at “Instructables” and veer out from there 🙂
Hi Fran, It is good you took the clothes to the thrift store. I think buying clothes that you will actually wear is alright. We have reduced our rubbish by a lot over the past 4 years. It wasn’t bad before that, it is just a lot less now. I can go weeks without taking the can out to the curb for pick up. We also compost a lot.
One can have a one in, one out rule. Though I am not very good at that. The saddest clothes are the ones that belong to people who have died in the family, I have some of those and I find them very hard to take to the thrift store, or to wear, so they hang like ghosts in my cupboard. Think very carefully in those circumstances, because once you have them they are extra difficult to deal with, unless you wear them. Otherwise, it is a question of, does this fit? Will I get thinner,fatter? How many pairs of gardening trousers do I need? Is this the pair of trousers with the seam that rubs so I always take them off again.. and so on. I tend to do a sort out twice a year and then it doesn’t get too overwhelming. Cake tins on the other hand… 😉
Hi Joanna, the “one in, one out” rule doesn’t seem to work for me. All the clothes I have taken to the thrift store over the past few weeks are clothes that were given to me and most of them I held onto in case I went back to work…. time to sort through and pass them on. I am to a point where if it doesn’t fit (or the seam rubs like you mentioned) I do get rid of it. Death clothes – now I hadn’t thought of that one. I have a few of my dads sweaters & they get worn occasionally. We still have some of his jackets at the lake and they get used in the winter.
Oh, you are right, don’t even mention things like cake tins, or kitchen things….. we won’t go there just yet! Although I have worked in my utensil drawer and gotten rid of the plastic spoons, spatulas, etc and kept the metal and wood.
[…] may remember that I was cleaning out an armoire a few weeks ago. Well, I am still motivated (and having some fun) cleaning out a few more drawers. […]