Minimize existing clutter and excess possessions

but I am really working on whittling away our pantry stockpile. I buy quite a bit of food from salvage stores so things are already out of date or come in damaged boxes or dented cans. Then I get stuff at the regular grocery store that is marked down for the same reasons to sell it fast. So we bought cereal which no one enjoyed when it went stale, for example. The goal now is to use up all of that stuff before shopping much again and so that we won’t have to move it all to the new house too. I am making a weekly list of meals to give us variety and work our way through all this stuff. Oh, my goodness! We are having some excellent meals, if I must say so myself. We had lasagna, macaroni and cheese, stuffed peppers, cabbage/potatoes/kielbasa, pasta salad, a rice and chicken dish for dinners this week. I’m making a bean (from dried) and turkey soup with cornbread for tomorrow night. Next week will be salmon, chili (from dried beans), goulash, lentil soup, and rice and beans. Everything in all of these is stuff I already have on hand!

I had a stack of 32 that I was saving for the last 6 months. I know, I could have recycled them. But an Amish man about 30 miles away will give 2 cents apiece toward more organic eggs. So we finally went today and the pile went with me. I got my eggs and he got the pile! I’m happy and they will be recycled so I feel better.

Moldy, mildewed doormat is out in the garbage pile tonight.
Also, 3 of hubby’s nasty work shirts, a pair of shorts, and some of son’s nasty play clothes with holes and patches. We don’t have to live like that!
Small bag of boy’s clothes to take to a friend tonight.
I have a HUGE list of stuff that will go in a sale after we move because I’m not taking it to the new house.

I’m in crazy cleaning mode!!! I can’t even stay in one spot in the house. My son and I took the AC out of the window in the living room. That motivated some vacuuming around the chair and windowsill. Well, if I’ve got the vacuum out, I may as well go in the kids’ room and get all the dust bunnies they miss because they just vacuum the rug and not around the edges of the room. So we pull out the toys from under the dressers and that makes us have to sort those out. Quite a few are leaving! Also papers. Well, since we’re sorting, we better sort out the shelves. More books and toys got sorted and some of the books will go in one of my homeschool lots to sell on Craigslist. Found money—yippee! Boy, that rug in the middle of the room doesn’t look very good. The edging is all coming off one side. I got it for free off Craigslist when we moved to the apartment. I’m not taking it to the new house. I just listed it back on Craigslist for free (and told about the edging). I can put a different rug out if need be.

-I took the library movies back.
-One bag of recycling papers dropped off at the recycling center.
-A small bunch of non-dairy creamer packets given to a friend.
-For breakfast we used up some recently expired pancake mix. It was fine still.
-Oh, and we ate up a stash of Indian food for dinner tonight. Hot stuff! MMMMMM.

-I got the pair of blue jeans to a friend. He was happy with them.
-9 plastic kids clothes hangers went to another friend who is having her 3rd baby and everyone is little so she’s running out of hangers.

Also cleaned up the “pantry” a little and got rid of one huge box of food by consolidating it into 2 others. We NEVER go out to eat anymore because of building the house, so we are using the stock I already have. Dwindling fast with 3 growing kids and hubby here.

I found another bag of stuff to go to Goodwill sometime this week. I need to take the recycling too. Oh, and the consignment pile.

I’m hoping to take inventory of what I have vs what I need or still want. For example, I hold onto things too long, such as books. I’ll read a book, love it (but never plan on reading it a 2nd time), then hold onto it for sentimental value. Logically, to me, this doesn’t make sense. I used to hold onto the books because I would loan them to friends later, but now that my old friends are so far away, I have no need to keep holding onto them. I’m going to start my de-cluttering there. Then I’ll move onto cds that I’ve downloaded to my computer, since, once I have them downloaded, I really no longer need the original cd. Third, it’s onto the dvds, getting rid of movies I know I’ll never watch or watch again. What will I do with all these books, cds, and dvds? I’m going to trade them online at paperbackswap, swapacd, and swapadvd websites and get credits for books I haven’t read yet, as I’ve started reading more. Let someone else enjoy them. In between, I’m going to try to go through the hard stuff, including other items I’ve been hoarding through the years.

I believe it’s a family curse…..Papers, papers and more papers everywhere….I have seen it as a child on one side of my family and was completely turned off. Now as an adult I find it soo hard to let go of little things….It’s really crazy, because it’s not as bad as it could be but it’s definately one neglection away from becoming a major disease. It’s like I keep things around because “maybe one day I will need this or that”. Sooo not a good thing…. I mean this is organized clutter.

We’ve spent the week with my MIL. My FIL died a few months ago and she is cleaning things out. Most of the clothes fit hubby and he’s the only son, so we are going home with a van STUFFED with things to take home. Clothes, shoes, 5!!! pairs of slippers, tools, electronics parts, etc. This is NOT helping the clutter situation at home.

I cleaned out a paper box with receipts and travel brochures today. A 1 1/2 inch pile for recycling and the receipts into a folder for taxes. The box is now in storage for when we move into the new house.

Also gathered up some more stuff for the garage sale next weekend.

Slid backward a little because someone gave us 2 small bags of clothes for daughter. She can wear one bags worth and we’ll consign the other bag in the spring, but I have to move it and save it until then.(sigh)