One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.
Can I ask you something? How many casserole dishes and pie plates do you own? I’m not sure if I own an average amount, or more than the norm.
I emptied the cupboard this morning to discover I owned 10 casserole dishes and 8 pie plates. I’m pretty sure, I’ll never make 10 casseroles or 8 pies at one time. So why do I feel the need to keep them all? What is wrong with me? I am totally not a hoarder… except maybe in this one teeny tiny area.
After much thought {and after finding 2 more pie plates} I decided I could part with 3 casserole dishes and 3 pie plates. 
I also decided to get rid of my bean crock and 4 random plates. I bought the bean pot a few years ago at a thrift store because it looked really cool and thought the pot would look spectacular in the saltbox house I’m going to live in someday. But even though we eat beans all the time, I have only used the pot once. So really, why keep it for someday if I’m not putting it to good use now? I’m pretty sure if I really want a bean pot again, I’ll be able to find one at another thrift store. It’s not like I’m holding on to an antique, or the last bean pot on the planet.
Is decluttering on your “to do” list this year? If so, what are you hanging on to that you don’t use and know you should get rid of?
~Mavis
Year to Date Totals
Donated: 12 items
Gave Back: 42
Kept: 43 items
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 366 items
See what else I’m getting rid of this year:
- Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
- Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
- Used Books
- DVD’s
- Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More
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I’m enjoying learning to garden. I love starting seeds with my kids. I’m still not great at getting my garden to produce tons of food, but I feel like we are heading in the right direction. I also have enjoyed learning to can. Our garden hasn’t produced enough tomatoes to satisfy my canning urge, so I love to buy a couple of boxes of local tomatoes when they are in season and mix in my few tomatoes with them, so at least I can say I’m canning some of the food that I grew.
Another of my favorite ways that we save money has to do with our weekly date nights. We rarely splurge on a babysitter, but every Wednesday night while our three kids are at a great children’s program at church, my husband and I slip away for a quick date. It is so much fun to have one night a week where I don’t have to plan a supper, and eating at a restaurant, just the two of us, is such a treat!
We save money by not spending much on gifts for our kids. They have such generous grandparents and aunts and uncles, that there’s rarely anything left in the way of toys that they could possibly need at Christmas and birthdays, so we can get creative. For our boys’ first birthdays, we gave them apple trees. They have the best time hanging bird feeders in them and helping to take care of them.
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Kid’s Stuff
Well, I found yet another reason to continue purging 1,000 things! A recent 