Week 41 PURGE - The I.D.E.A. Store

It all started Sunday night when I bravely decided to attack the junk drawer in the kitchen. One word: "scary"...there was a Daily Illini, in there from December 2002.

It was motivating to expect that basically everything in there could be PURGEd because we hadn't opened the drawer in months *cough* years *cough* except for recently when Bo was looking for a spare car key, which by the way, wasn't in there.

Armed with the confidence that when I was done I'd have a whole drawer of reclaimed space, I started to PURGE and managed to salvage several candle sticks and put into separate sandwich baggies a bunch of colorful toothpicks, a handful of twist-ties and a couple dozen aluminum can pull tabs.

I thought someone might be able to use them for something, so I tweeted about it. Gotta love social media because chambanamoms almost immediately replied that The I.D.E.A. Store might take them.

Haven't heard of them? Neither had I, but it's my favorite combination of being able to PURGE and help a good cause, in this case, the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation and the Champaign-Urbana Public Schools. Plus, for those of you who are creative, this seems like the Mecca of craft supplies!

Here's a list of what they take. Unfortunately in my excitement of PURGing, I had already trashed some fun stuff they could have used like old keys, key chains, string, and some straws, just minutes before I had heard about this place :( Luckily this list inspired me to scour the rest of the house, especially the basement, to find more stuff to donate. Here's what I found:

#274 5 Shoe boxes (one is buried)

#275 9 Advertising Magnets

#276 6 Brown Paper Sacks

#274 18 Paint Chips (in the plastic rectangle box)

#275 1/2 Bag of Rafia

#276 Foam Egg Carton

#277 Straws

#278 Altoid Container (cinnamon, yum!)

#279 Wrapping Paper

#280 Quilted Fabric Scrap

Until they open on Sept 30th, they are taking donations on Fridays from 4-7, so I plan to drop these off tomorrow. I also have a sack of stuff I'm not sure if they'll accept but we'll see and I'll report that for Week 42.

I'm not one for being crafty, but at their prices and knowing that I'm not wasting money on new products and also not having to clutter my house with supplies, this may be just the perfect thing to get me to do more art with the kids. When we're in the mood to create, we can just head to The I.D.E.A Store and buy what we need then and there!