Week 12 Purge

No creative theme for this week, but we our whole family did some great PURGING.

#70 Bean's Sneakers

We got him a new pair of New Balances, that kinda look Spiderman-ish. We it's a win-win situation cuz they are great sneakers, and he likes them cuz they are blue. The ones pictured to the left had holes quickly growing around the toe. Obviously not consignable, and I didn't think donations to local charities would be Went to: one of those red bins of by US'Again that you see in parking lots of some businesses.

#71 Sleeping Bag

This was in the closet in the boys bedroom. We actually have 4 sleeping bags and rarely use them, so I figured I could get ride of at least one without much impact on our sleeping bag availability. Went to: Melinda, a friend from church who just bought her husband a tent for his birthday.

#72 Lotions

These still has some lotion in them so I dedicated myself to using them up so I wouldn't have to give them away or trash them. So I lathered myself up every day and within a week I was able to just recycle the bottles and not waste anything. I felt good about this PURGE cuz it took some focus, but really wasn't that hard.

Went to: Recycling

#73 Summer Maternity Clothes

These I had set aside in my closet because I was going to consign them. But my heart broke for a mom who posted to free-cycle that she was in need of size small summer maternity close. Being a small person myself and knowing how hard it is to find clothes, I was confident that she wouldn't receive anything had I not contacted her. The satisfaction of knowing that she would use them was more valuable to me than the small amount of money I would have made if they happened to sell as consignment.

Went to: Toni on Freecycle

#74 and &75 2 of Bo's Sneakers

These were both in our basement and I convinced my husband to PURGE them cuz he just bought a new pair of sneakers and has another pair for running and another for junky stuff like mowing the lawn. I was proud of him!

Went to: one of those red bins of by US'Again that you see in parking lots of some businesses.

Next week: Spring Wardrobe PURGE

Week 11 Purge - Winter Wardrobe

It's really easy for me to PURGE from closets because I'm not sentimental or otherwise attached to clothes. My memories aren't weaved into my clothes, as I know some people's are, so I can be pretty ruthless. Granted, I still have my wedding dress hanging in there, but I've considered even donating that (more on that later). My clothing philosophy is that if I'm not making the most of out the clothes in my closet, I'm sure there is someone else who could. So why not just pass it on?

Here are some closet PURGE strategies that have proven useful to me in the past and with this PURGE:


1) Discard the dredges. Delay doing laundry for a really long time and see what is left in your closet. Because we tend to wear our favs first, what left is like scraping the bottom of the barrel. If you have no desire to wear an item that's left in your closet after a long laundry delay, PURGE it.

• Using this method, I PURGEd #64 Some Long Sleeve Shirts that I really have no inclination to wear anymore.

2) Employ the hanger trick. If you do still have a desire to wear an time "some time" in the future, reverse the hanger that it's on, so it's hooking towards you. Decide on a time-frame (a season, a year) that you are willing to keep the item to see if you do happen wear it. If/when you do wear that item, return the hanger to its original orientation, and you get to keep your clothes. If that "some time" never comes and you still have clothes on reversed hangers at the end of your designated time frame, PURGE them. This is also a sneaky way of PURGing from your spouses closet cuz it's not too obvious of a tactic. For that, I'd allow a year. If s/he doesn't wear something in that time, it probably won't be missed if you PURGE it.

• Using this method, I PURGEd #65 3 Wool Sweaters that I had from last winter, but never wore this winter and #66 2 Lounge Pants of my husbands, that I'm sure he won't miss.

3) Eliminate duplicates. At one point I had dozens of boxer shorts that I like to sleep in in warmer months. While I did wear each of them at some point, I really didn't need all of them. Just keep a handful of your favorites and you can still rotate through them. Keep enough so that you won't have to do laundry constantly, but not so many that you only wear something like once a year. For me, this needs to be done with PJs, sweatshirts, T-shirts, and basically any comfy clothes. If you have more than you know what to do with, PURGE the ones that aren't your favs.

• Using this method, I PURGEd #67 a Sweatshirt and #68 a Matching Sweat Set, without batting an eye, because I know I have plenty others.

4) Find the right fit. For a very few items, they pass the hanger trick because I actually wear them and I may even wear fairly them regularly, but I hate them for one reason or another, usually because they just don't fit right. Do they expose my lower back? Do they expose too much of my chest? Too tight? Too loose? Or maybe they are just loosing their appeal for other reasons. Getting old and pilly? Not really my style anymore? So I give them one last shot and wear them again and really think about if I want to keep them. If you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious or otherwise don't feel like a million bucks, PURGE it! There's no use feeling bad about how you look and/or feel in your own clothes.

• Using this method, I was relieved to add #68 2 Long Sweaters to the donation pile. Neither were very old, but were getting pilly. Both were fairly loose and I was self conscious bending over and exposing my cleavage. While I've been wearing them, I wasn't feeling great in them. I feel much better knowing that someone else with a different body shape than mine will likely be happy in them. I also PURGEd #69 1 Long Sleeve Collared Shirt of my husbands because it was too large for him.

All in all about 4 bags of winter clothes went to Goodwill. And man was I impressed with the new facility! In Champaign they moved to just north of the interstate off Prospect in the old Rhodes Furniture building kinda behind Culvers. They have a drive up and everything. People came out to my car to help unload. It was a very smooth process and a nice place compared to the cramped building and pot-hole ridden parking lot that I was used to up until January.

So, what are your strategies for cleaning out closets? And what are the things you just can't seem to get rid of no matter how hard you try?

Week 10 PURGE - Car

Car PURGE sounds like I got motion-sickness and had to pull over to hurl out the door. Considering the amount of filth that has collected this past winter in our one shared car, I could have hurled while cleaning it out finally this weekend. I had hoped that a road trip to the East Coast for Christmas would force me to clean it out once during winter, but that trip was canceled and along with it went my only incentive to PURGE the car.

Well, when this Saturday brought our first taste of spring, Bean and Monkey were so eager to play outside that it freed me up to be the "Car Cleaning Monster" as Bean called me. Armed with a crate (to bring items inside), a trash bag (to throw stuff away), a vacuum cleaner (to suck up fallen breakfast items from the past 4 months), and a vengeance (to unleash on our unsuspecting Civic) I gave that car a much needed PURGE.

I was too embarrassed to take a "before" picture in fear that you might think my family are carriers of dysentery. Ok, there was nothing that bad in there, no forgotten diaper, not even an old sippy cup with sour milk in it. No, the worst of the gross stuff was #59 Crumbs and Cereal from when we've had to do breakfast on the go. You gotta love bagless vacuums and their not-so-subtle way of telling you that you should vacuum more.

The next main items PURGEd from the car were #60 Arts and Crafts that the boys make at school and Sunday School. No joke, I found a coloring sheet from Thanksgiving! Also some placemats from a Mexican restaurant that the boys colored on. Most of those went into the recycling, but we kept a few as mementos.

I also found #61 Thank You Notes from the boys' teachers for their Christmas presents to them. I let them read over them, but the went immediately into the recycling after that. I try not to be too sentimental. The point is to keep as much as possible from entering my house, so I don't have to PURGE it later.

There was also #62 a Bag of Spare Clothes for Corban to bring to school. Luckily he hasn't needed them, cuz I was thinking that they were there already.

Surprisingly, our trunk isn't that bad. But, #63 a Bag of Bags finally got brought back to the grocery store so they can recycle them. That was about it back there.

There was also a lot of toys, books, cups and bowls, but that's not really a PURGE because they just went back into the house. Thankfully, I was able to quickly get them cleaned up and put away where they need to go, so they didn't add to the clutter of the house. Our new rule is that whatever is brought into the car is taken back out, so that the car is not a storage facility anymore. We'll see how long we can keep this up with two kiddos who love to eat in the car and bring toys in the car every morning :/

BTW, sorry there are no pics again. I can't find my camera! I took pics, so I'll upload them later.

Next week: Winter Wardrobe PURGE

Week 9 PURGE - Returns

It's amazing how much stuff in our own homes that add to the clutter don't even belong to us. So, this week's PURGE challenge was to return stuff to their rightful home, which isn't ours. No pics this time. I only took some, and since the kids were sick the past couple weeks I'm just trying to catch up at this point.

#53 - Baby Swing
This has been in the basement for way too long and it belongs to church. When I was Children's Ministry Director, it was broken and a friend fixed it, but I never brought it back.
Went to: Children's Ministry


#54 - Pie Plate and #55 Scarf
We've had both of these since our New Year's Party. We knew that the pie plate was Jenina's cuz she made an amazing shiitake omelet for our annual breakfast potluck. When I returned the pie plate plate I asked her about the scarf that was also left at the party and it was hers too! Luckily she didn't even miss it.
Went to: Jenina

#56 - Baby Clothes
These came home with Monkey from his day care. I was the bad mom that didn't keep his cubby stocked with spare clothes in case of accidents. So when he did have an accident, he came home in these. I don't want to be the worse mom that doesn't return day care clothes. So in addition I packed a thank-you note and some cookies :)
Went to: Monkey's day care

#56 DVDs, #57 Bib, and #58 Sippy Cup
We borrow movies from my in-laws almost every weekend, but we are bad about returning them. :/ Last time a sippy cup came home with us too cuz Monkey seemed pretty attached to it. I don't even know about the bib, but I wanted to bring it back so we have a stash over there.
Went to: Bo's parents' house

We have a couple more things to return to friends, but it was hard getting them back. We'll have to tackle that in weeks to come. What are you borrowing that needs to be returned?

Next week, car PURGE!