weekend uncluttering

[fred_mouse]

How has your weekend gone, uncluttering wise?

I've been camped out at someone else's ice-rink for most of the weekend, watching the Australian synchronised skating nationals, and so have done no uncluttering. On the plus side, we appear to have acquired a minimal amount -- one small soft toy, two programs, and a fabric rose, which seems not bad for a short trip away. Now to see whether we can keep our shopping light over the next two days, so we don't take much home with us (I owe two kids t-shirts, because I only bought one on my last inter-state trip).

Comments

[yukonsally]

I shipped TWO boxes of handmedowns out! Turns out, she WAS ready for them! Now I have only off-season clothes for my friend, though I'll hang on to them in case the kids outgrow them in the meantime.

Time to start keeping my eye out for furniture because soon, I'll have a crib to sell! Babies keep growing!

[fred_mouse]

Fabulous! It is so nice to get those outgrown items out of the house, isn't it. I swear, no sooner has one of my kids gone through their clothes and we have rehomed all the out-grown ones than the next one suddenly outgrows everything. Mind you, I have teenagers, and they do that.

[yukonsally]

One child often outgrows another batch of clothing a few hours after I send off a box.

[fred_mouse]

Aii. I guess that way, it doesn't matter when you send them on to new homes, because there is never going to be a break in the outgrown clothes, so no point in waiting for it!

[adair]

I too have done very little but I am at home so I don't really have an excuse. I did rip the backs off about 40 catalogs. They've been accumulating since the middle of October, and are still pouring in. I can't shred them to get rid of the name and address because the shredder has given up. We think the motor is going, so this afternoon we will shop for another shredder. B shreds all the stuff with personal information and I shreed filled letters from Books to Prisoners. The shredder gets a workout.

[fred_mouse]

Getting things set up for quick disposal later surely counts? At least you will know where all the items that need shredding are when you get the new shredder. When our last shredder died, we compromised -- papers that would have been shredded get put aside for lining the compost bucket, and if the pile gets too large, partner has agreed to take things to work and put them through the shredder there!

[yukonsally]

Unpacking the Christmas things this weekend, Spouse said the magic words: "Let's get rid of everything we'll never use again." Offering a tree skirt on FB!

It's big for Spouse to suggest getting rid of things. Usually there's resistance when I ask if we can give away a thing.

[fred_mouse]

Wonderful! In general, I I loathe Christmas decorations, but the rest of the family are much more attached to the whole concept. Last year, as we packed everything up, I made them go through the box of things that hadn't been used, and they let me throw almost all of them out. My goal is to stop doing any Christmas decorating in five years (when Youngest will be 18).

[yukonsally]

That's pretty hardcore! At least as the children move out, they can take decorations with them for their own homes. Less work for you that way.

[fred_mouse]

We had an amazing range of very dilapidated decorations that never ever got used. Many are ones that I inherited from my mother, and some of them were older than me. Plush balls with bald spots, silk wrapped balls that were more loose threads than decoration, paper plates with red and green splotches that were made by one of the three kids at age 2 (or thereabouts) but no-one knows who, and no-one wanted to claim sentimental attachment to -- that kind of thing. Oh, and a bucket full of pine cones that used to be in good condition, but have been slowly shedding bits on the carpet every year (everyone's toddlers love pine cones, and they had been loved to death).

The ones we kept are much more loved, and will be split between households as people move out (and I plan on gifting Oxfam ones to the kids each year, once they move out!)