Day 47: More Books & Games

Today's Toss:
2 art sets
1 set of dominoes
1 book
1 soccer ball
1 container of Silly Putty
1 blue block
2 packages of pencils (16 pencils!)
1 sudoku puzzle book
2 journals
1 ceramic bell
1 cardigan sweater
4 shoes
=18 items

Day 46: Children's Books

I never thought I'd get rid of any of my children's books...especially if they are in good working order.  For years I tried to build up my classroom library and believe that the more books kids have to choose from, the better.

As I clean out the clutter in my house, and realize that more is not always better, I have to apply that same concept to our children's books.  We have no shortage of books in this house, and there are some that no one has ever read nor shows any interest in.  Some of them were even given especially to one of my children, you know, signed on the inside cover with the person it's from.  I have always felt it was wrong to give something like that away.

But when I found out that the MMCenter has children's books on it's Wish List, I decided that some of our books should go there.  We just have so many, and it is heartbreaking to me that some kids may not have their own books to read.  Knowing that someone else needs and wants them makes it easier to part with our books.

So, into the MMCenter donate box (which is growing quite large by now, I will actually need to take it all in soon!)

Today's Toss:
25 children's books
1 audio book CD

Day 45: What to Do With Binders?

So, in throwing out a lot of old papers, I am left with piles of 3 ring binders.  What do I do with these?  4 of them I gave to a neighbor who said that her husband could use them.  Apparently Staples will take your old binders and give you a $2 credit towards a new binder.  But what if I don't want to buy any more binders?  I guess Staples will take your old ones anyway, maybe they'd give a $2 discount towards another item??

It seems they should be recycled (versus thrown into the regular trash), since they are coated with plastic and I even found this website that says they have a green method for recycling them, but you have to pay your own shipping to send your binders to them.

I wonder if some non-profit organization would benefit from having them.

I'm still not sure.  I am open to any suggestions.

Today's Toss:
To my neighbor:
4 binders

To somewhere else: (Staples? Non-profit?)
6 binders
1 box of plastic page protectors
2 plastic upright magazine holders

=13 total items

Day 43-44: Old Meds

Cleaning out our medicine box gave me 24 things to toss!

I wasn't totally sure the proper way to dispose of all the meds. 

 I ended up flushing the pills down the toilet.

The old cough syrups/liquids I just poured into the trash.

Most of the other stuff went into the trash.

I put some of the plastic cups & dispensers into the recycling bin.

Nice!  More room for new meds!

Day 39-42: Baby Clothes

Today was a good day.  I got rid of some piles of things that I've been saving up.  Like, they actually left my house.  Baby clothes and other baby related items.  Hopefully all going to a good home.  I like that they are going to be used instead of trashed.

To the MM Center:
17 baby boy onesies, sleepers

To my friends:
1 baby name book
1 crib sheet
2 blankets
21 clothes

=42 total items

I'm going to count these items towards 4 days...

Day 38: More books

I'm continuing my purge and re-organization of my desk & bookshelves.  It's amazing to me how many things I've held onto in the thoughts that I will re-read it, or that I might need to refer to someday.  Especially old Bible study guides that I've written in.  If I haven't gone back and read through my notes by now, I don't think I ever will.  In fact, I am hard-pressed even to remember what specific things I learned in those studies.  Not that I didn't learn anything, but I think I will benefit more from going to the Bible and looking up new references when I'm studying a certain topic.  So, most of those went into the recycling bin.

I'm also learning that books that I decided to keep a week ago, I am re-considering as I put things back onto my shelves.  It's a bit of a process:  a book might be a "maybe" at one point, but as I think through it some more, I realize that I really don't need to hold onto it after all and then it can happily go into the "Donate" box.

Today's Toss:
Recycling Bin-
6 old bible studies

MCC Book Sale box-
15 books

Trash
1 silly band
1 plastic heart
1 photo book
2 binder envelopes

=26 total items

Day 37: Total So Far

Just because I've been wanting to have a running total, I thought I'd count up all the things that I've tossed so far.  Obviously this doesn't include everything (I do pitch random things that I either forget or don't bother to document..they seem too trash-like to count).  So it is a minimum, an "at least" to go on.

As of today, February 18, we have 429 less things in our house!  Not bad, eh?

Now, I realize the above statistic is not completely accurate either, because while I am purging, we also continue to add things to our house almost every day.  Not at the same rate of ten things a day (thankfully!) but some days I think that maybe I should count how many things we add into our house, and work on limiting THAT number.  And this new habit is changing the way I shop and think about the things I purchase, but new things do come into our house on a regular basis.  Even if I don't buy them, gifts are given to us, etc.

But again, let's celebrate:  429 things in 37 days.  It's funny that I originally thought this would be a month-long experiment.  Now I realize I can easily keep this up for a whole year, if not longer! (if I don't drive my whole family crazy in the process...)

kc