that I want to HALVE our possessions

(and not HAVE them).

Got to get back into getting rid of things. I don’t mind things that we use, but ‘stuff’ just seems to accumulate in homes. Ugh. We live in a 600 SF apartment so obviously we don’t have that much stuff, but still more than we need.

Gave a book and two CDs to my cousin

and a book on photography to my mom

and 4 silver Big Y coins to my friend.

Last weekend I was at a show with my sister and we talked to one of the band members afterwards. My sister mentioned something about the clarinet that we both used to play and how we hadn’t touched it in….ten years. The band member said we should think about donating it. It was a casual comment and I don’t think she expected us to actually go through with it. But she started talking about a friend in a band who had a clarinet that was barely functionable….. and so I thought about it, found my clarinet in the closet, dusted it off, tied a purple ribbon I found to it along with a note and a CultivatePeace bracelet, and brought it to a show on Thursday night for the same band. When I told the girl I had brought a clarinet for her friend she was really excited (and surprised).

I’m glad it’s going to a good home. If she hadn’t casually mentioned anything last week, that clarinet would have sat in the closet for another ten years.

A buncha photo paper to my dad and a friend.

Two books, a graphing calculator, pens/pencils/thumbtacks, 3 hole punch and a scanner to my mom who can use them at school.

Lots of stuff to Salvation Army, including an old tripod, buckets of books, 3 bags of clothes….

10 binders to my mom (who can use them for school- she’s a teacher) (they were holding all my old college notes, most of which i just recycled today)

13

I must have subscribed to a mailing list- because the other day I got two packages in the mail from Method (they sell environmentally friendly household cleaners and other items). One was a book about how to be more environmentally friendly- I can use that. But the other was a sample of their new baby stuff line. I got a nice big bottle of environmentally friendly baby shampoo and baby body wash. Hm, I thought when I got it. Then I remembered… my cousin was having a baby shower in a couple days- and so I got her some other things to go with the Method stuff, and wrapped them up. She loved ‘em. :) Mission accomplished, eh?

12

150 beanie babies.

I used to be a huge beanie baby fan, to put it lightly. obsessed over them, was always on TY.com or watching sales on them on QVC. I knew everything there was to know about beanie babies. In 1997. Since then, however, the beanie babies sat in a few boxes in my closet collecting dust.

However, I’ve found an excellent use for them!

I will be going down to the Texas/Mexico border to help run a summer camp- and we were planning what we would do that week… and I brought up that I had a bunch of beanies I could donate if we found a use for them. So now we are incorporating them into a number of games and such, including beanie baby toss.

Also donated: crayons, glue, scissors.

I was at a show last night with my cousin

and the musician was selling CDs. The CDs were 8 bucks each, he said, and that if we didn’t have the money, he’d accept bartering too.

And anytime someone mentions bartering…..

So we get out purses and see what we can pool together.

I ended up giving

-a screwdriver I made in my high school tech ed class
-fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie (“Flattery will get you far tonight”)
-a CultivatePeace rubber bracelet
-a mini roll of duct tape
-four dollar bills
-and my cousin chipped in a hair clip

(No one had ever taken the musician up on the bartering deal, so he was excited when he approached him with all sorts of goodies)

(We also got to get rid of a few things we didn’t need that maybe he could find a good use for!)

(PS- I <3 bartering)

I got a new cell phone last fall
and had kept my old cell phone,
waiting to find something to do with it.

Just last week I came across it
and was going to ask around for a charity.

I joined FreeCycle the other day, and although I get buckets of e-mails a day, it’s actually quite freeing, I think.

Someone posted about needing a cell phone, because hers had died. I immediately e-mailed her- Hey, I have a cell you can have! She even lives down the road from me. So I charged the phone and deleted all my material off it. And dropped the phone off this afternoon.

She came right outside and was very friendly. She even gave me a hug (A HUG!). She was really appreciative of the phone, as she needs it for work. She also gave me a huge cookie (it looks home-made). Her kids were also pretty friendly.

So sweet. I love strangers- can’t wait to give away more.

An old dusty organ. A huge organ. (The musical kind). My grandpa bought it a few dozen years ago for three thousand, and he loved it. It found us maybe 8 years ago, but we never use it either. One of my friends is starting a band with her boyfriend and they think they can make use of it. Cool beans. They’ll be coming soon to take it away.

In an effort to get rid of as much of my possessions as possible

the Salvation Army is giving me a hand.

Let’s see what I can get rid of today….

Ribbons from the Spencer Fair- where I used to enter my photography each year.

1 purple grand champion ribbon
5 blue first place
5 red second place
3 white third place

Maybe someone else can have a use for them. I hang onto them- but they just sit there in my room, not helping anyone here.

Also, some old graduation tassels.