Week Eight, Items 59-66

Ichiro shot glass

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Ichiro and I love shot glasses. But we have two of these. And while there are many things I think a married couple ought to have, matching shot glasses don't necessarily appear on that list. With the regular season fast approaching, I'm sure there is someone out there who is in need of an Ichiro shot glass.

Alarm clock

Another duplicate item. My husband's workplace gave out alarm clocks a while back, but—like every adult I know—he already has one. This one has been just sitting around, taking up space since the day he brought it home. It's one that projects the time in large numbers, so it might be useful for someone whose vision isn't the best. But we don't need it here.

Plastic hanger

I don't even know how this hanger got into our house. I like to use all the same type of hanger (all facing the same direction, of course), and this is not the type I use. Out it goes, so that someone less particular than me can hang another item in their closet.

Big red earrings

So it turns out that big red earrings just aren't my thing. It's hard to tell from the photo, but these are slightly larger than silver dollars. The size would be fine with me if they were a color I liked, but I'm discovering that maybe I just don't really like red. I don't own many things that are red, and the few red things I do own keep finding their way into my assortment of things to part with.

Shells 1 and 2

These are nice, basic tops that are perfect for a professional wardrobe. But I rarely wear them, and someone else could get a lot of mileage out of them. Seattle has a Dress for Success chapter, so I will stop by there soon to donate these tops and other clothing items that would be suitable for a work wardrobe. (In case you haven't heard of Dress for Success, it is a fantastic organization that provides disadvantaged women with professional clothing for job interviews. Once a woman lands a job, she can return to receive more office-appropriate clothing. They also have mentoring and career development programs.)

Anthropology book

At the end of an academic year, my college's library had a small book giveaway. Not being one to pass up a chance to get books for free (but then, what college student passes up anything that's free?), I picked out a few that looked interesting. Two have indeed been interesting, and I'm quite grateful I got the chance to scoop them up at no cost. But I haven't read this one. I've had it for several years, and if I were going to read it, I would have done it by now. So I will pass it along to someone who will read it.

Grey's Anatomy

I love the person who gave me this, but I have never opened it. I know the show is set in Seattle, but that's just not enough of a draw for me to be interested in the show. Soap opera/medical drama shows aren't really my cup of tea. I feel guilty that I never watched an episode and I feel guilty that I am giving it away, so I am just going to choose the guilt that results in less clutter, and then tell myself to get over it.

And now, please allow me to briefly geek out over how cool the Internet is. Debra Daniels-Zeller, the author of one of my favorite cookbooks—The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook—stumbled across my blog on Twitter. She said my blog inspired her to do some decluttering of her own, and in this post on her wonderful blog called Food Connections, she details how she tackled her fridge and pantry and got rid of items that were going unused. She also talks about food waste in America, which is much more rampant than I realized (researchers estimate that 25 to 40 percent of food that enters American homes goes to waste). Anyway, I just think it's cool that the Internet fosters a sense of community even as the planet's population nears 7 billion people, and I love that this blog has allowed me to connect with people I would not have encountered otherwise.

Progress: 66 out of 400 items = 16.5% done.