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productive weekend

November 29th, 2016 at 06:47 am

I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet Thanksgiving staycation and I am so sad that the break is already over. I put the lights on my Christmas tree on Saturday night and barely had enough because the tree is larger than I realized. I made do with what I have because I didn’t want to venture out to the store yesterday and I think it looks ok. I thought I'd start trimming the tree last evening, but never did, so I will do that this week when I can find pockets of time.

I dedicated time Saturday and Sunday to decluttering. I want and need to get rid of a lot of junk that has accumulating in my house and is weighing me down. I started to tackle my office, guest bedroom and my clothes closet. Ugh – I always make the same mistake of working on too many areas at once. Now the house is in disarray and I am back at work. I am not sure when I will have the time or energy to focus on this project again. Ideally I will spend a little time each day going forward, but the reality is that I won't do this consistently!

I have a bag of clothes to donate. The trick will be to actually take them out of the house. I started this particular bag a few months ago and it has just been sitting in my bedroom. I think there might be a local organization that recycles textiles, so I have a bag of unusable clothes, too. Uh oh, I did some quick research and it looks like textile recycling is no longer an option in my area. This is a tricky situation for me. I have had a stash of these unusable clothes in my back room for years because I had heard of textile recycling, but wasn't sure where to do it and I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away. (Update – called a local thrift shop today and they DO still collect for textile recycling! I'm going to take both bags of clothes there this week!)

The reason I have so much junk is that my own mind is a master at talking me into keeping anything that I try to get rid of (might need it someday, could use it for this, etc.) AND I have a serious aversion to throwing things away and adding to a landfill. I also hold onto things with the idea that I'll have a yard sale, but I never do and probably never will. How can I let go of stuff that I could possible sell? But then I don't try to sell it. It's a vicious cycle!! A few years ago I hired a woman to help me get rid of stuff. She was great and very compassionately helped me to sort through a lot of items and took my discards with her to drop off at a donation center. She even agreed to take the boxes and bags to the car herself because I was afraid that I would see something and want it back! I've thought about hiring her again, but I'm going to start out on my own and see how far I can get.

I have some old sheets and towels for the local animal shelter – items that are on their wish list, so I hope they will take them. They were closed today, so I'll call tomorrow to inquire. I also added three rolls of toilet paper and one roll of paper towels from my paper products stash to that box since those items are also on the shelter's wish list.

I found $70 while cleaning out a purse, which was a total surprise because I rarely carry cash so I don't usually find money in pockets or purses. My best guess is that the money is from my birthday in late September. I bought concert tickets for a group of friends and it might be part of the reimbursement that I collected. Cool though!

I also refound a $1500 check from my 2015 flex spending account in a stack of papers in my office. I need to deposit that check and work on the paperwork for my 2016 flex spending which will be another $1500. I will most likely get a specialized mouth guard from my dentist in the next few months which will cost about $2000 and won't be covered by insurance. Frown I plan to use part of the $3000 total flex spending reimbursements towards this expense.

I wish I had kept track of snowflakes and found money for the year. Two recent ones:

$125 cash from sw@gbucks over the past two months
.16 found in parking lots last week

I also found $10 in a washing machine at the laundromat a few months ago! That was exciting! Smile

I’m on Day 23 of no sugar!

Goodness – it's very late on the east coast - time for bed!

4 Responses to “productive weekend”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1480429505

    You did have a great weekend! I'm amazed how you found a $1500 check that you had not cashed. There may be more money lurking around...maybe that is motivation to declutter!

    My advice is to only work on one area at a time. Declutter the easy stuff first. Trash and items you know you don't want. If you find something that belongs in another room and you know where it should go take it there right away! And then come back to the place you are working on. So you are really only dealing with one item at a time. You can organize once you feel you have fully decluttered.

    I'm glad you found a place to take worn textiles. Often these places turn them into rags and sell them! Keeping items just in case is a huge burden! If you never use it someone else probably can. And if the item cost less than $20 and can be found within 20 miles of where you live, you can acquire it when you actually need it.

    Great job on the sugar, too. I stopped putting it in my coffee earlier this year. I noticed I rarely get headaches anymore!

  2. CB in the City Says:
    1480430870

    My understanding is that Goodwill recycles/donates textiles that cannot be sold in their stores.

  3. ThriftoRama Says:
    1480437514

    Uh, can you come rub my belly for good luck? I need to find some cash!

    And, the major rule of decluttering is: ONE AREA AT A TIME!
    Like, we're cleaning out the kids toys this week. Last night, we did only the IKEA storage bins. Tonight, the closet. Wednesday, the toy box. One area at a time gets the job done and it doesn't upend your entire life.

  4. Dido Says:
    1480469677

    I'm like you with the decluttering. I made a start in a few areas of my house when I was unemployed for several months in 2014. It took a year to get the downstairs presentable so I could invite people in again, and two years later there are parts of my house still in disarray. I'm afraid it won't get done until I retire, though I'll end up making a New Years resolution again for 2017.

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