Week Twenty, Items 156-162

Silly sunglasses

I'm not quite sure where my husband got these sunglasses, but he's had them for years. The neon pink cord woven through them has faded, though, and for that reason (okay, and host of others), I think it's time these can go.

Rainbow socks

My husband was a Reading Rainbow for Halloween year before last (I thought that was pretty clever), and these were part of his costume. Since then, they have just been sitting around. Neither of us is going to wear these, so we can get rid of them.

Puzzle book

This little book of brain teasers and puzzles is one of those single-use items we are working on reducing, so we can get rid of this. Besides, when we want to give our brains a little workout, we turn to Sporcle (fair warning: it's addicting).


Car light bulbs

These two light bulbs go to our old car. Somehow, they got put in with the stuff for the car emergency kit. I guess it wasn't that unreasonable a place for them to end up, but they certainly don't belong there. And, in fact, they don't belong in our house. We just don't have a use for these now.

Garbage disposal cleaners

Our sink doesn't have a garbage disposal, so I'm not sure how we ended up with these. Maybe we had them at the condo we rented before we bought this house? Regardless, we can't use them, so they can go.

Maroon shirt

This sweater was a hand-me-down. I have a shirt that's similar in several ways—color, sleeve length, buttons down the front—that fits me better. It seems odd to have two shirts that are so similar, so I will keep the one that fits me better.

Gray cardigan

I have a few gray cardigans, and this is my least favorite of the bunch. It has just one button and is somewhat boxy, and I tend to wear shirts that fit fairly closely. I bought this in an effort to get myself to branch out a little, but I just ended up not wearing it very often. It might be boring, but I just need to stick to what I know I like.


Progress: 162 items out of 400 = 40.5% done.

Week Nineteen, Items 146-155

Ribbons 3-7

We had a bag of odds and ends sitting around, and I finally went through it. It included this little stash of ribbons, tinsel and tulle. There are some people who are really crafty, or really into upcycling, who could probably use these ribbons in some way or even transform them into something cool. But I just am not one of those people.

Gift bag

I've mentioned before that I like gift bags because they are convenient and reusable. But this one is small and sheer, so it seems like it would work better as storage for some little items than as gift wrap. But we've got plenty of storage options already, so we don't need this.

Green spiral

Another entry from the assorted odds and ends. The only use I can think of for this is demonstrating the concept of a phone cord to kids who, growing up in a wireless world, might not have seen one before. Perhaps someone has another idea? Anyway, it can go.


Travel toothpaste

Yet another item that was just sitting around, not being used (actually, I got rid of an identical tube of toothpaste back in Week Two. This isn't the same one, I promise!). While we aren't into the dirty hippie zone just yet, we do use a natural brand of toothpaste rather than this one. So this can go to someone who is less particular.

Travel case

At my last dentist appointment, my dentist gave me a new toothbrush and a couple kinds of floss in this little pouch. I will definitely use the floss and the toothbrush, but I already have enough travel cases. So I don't need to keep this one.

Plaid shirt

This shirt of my husband's is too big for him now. He has said that, when he was younger and still living at home with his parents, his dad would swipe this shirt from him and wear it a lot. Now that it no longer fits my husband, he is planning to see whether his dad will want it.

Progress: 155 out of 400 items = 38.75% done.

Week Eighteen, Items 139-145

Sonicare DVD

So, apparently our toothbrush came with an educational DVD. I can't decide whether that's a sign that a) the toothbrush is too complicated or b) the company simply has little faith in its customers. Either way, we don't need this. We've each been able to use the toothbrush without watching this DVD. I'm going to go ahead and say we should get gold stars for that.


Playing cards

This sheet is supposed to be cut up and used as a deck of cards. That would be great, but we already have a few decks of cards. We don't need to go through the effort of cutting these up because we don't need another deck. Someone else could use them, though.

Headbands 2 and 3

I've already donated one headband like this (way back in Week One). I was surprised to come across two more in a travel bag the other day. These two, just like the first one, are too big for me. So they need to go to someone else.

Puzzle ring

Definitely one of those single-use items we're trying to cut back on. I only have four rings I ever wear (my engagement ring, my wedding ring, a ring that belonged to my grandpa and a ring that belonged to my cousin), and this is not one of them.


Puzzle die

Another single-use item. This particular little puzzle seems like it would be frustrating in large part because of its small size. I don't think trying to manipulate a puzzle the size of a standard die seems like much fun. Perhaps there's a surgeon out there who would love this, though.


Warsteiner hat

Warsteiner's slogan is "A queen among beers." Still, as nice as the crown in their logo is, my husband hasn't worn this hat. There's a German pub we love and go to regularly, and I think he's holding out to drink enough beers there to earn one of their hats instead. (They give out hats, shirts, steins, etc. at various milestone liters of beer.)

Progress: 145 out of 400 items = 36.25% done.

Week Seventeen, Items 132-138

Magnet

Recently, I heard a great quote from William Morris. "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." That is definitely what I'm striving for. As for this magnet, well, it's obviously not beautiful. Magnets are useful objects, sure, but we will still have enough magnets if we get rid of this one. So it can go.

Wine plates 

These items were part of a great wine-themed gift basket we received. But we have not used this pair of appetizer plates. We are trying to reduce the amount of plastic we have and use in our lives. So these can go to someone else.

Slow cooker cookbook

I don't know how in the world I ended up with this cookbook. I like slow cookers, but this cookbook is full of the kind of recipes I never make. Few are vegan; none are worth adapting. I can appreciate that it aims to be simple, but the few ingredients called for in each recipe are processed foods. There are only a handful of recipes that don't include canned cream-of-whatever soup. It seemed so dated that I checked the publication date; this came out in 2004. I didn't think anyone ate like that anymore.


GOP shirt

This was another item we bought at a thrift store for the Hick Party. After we purchased it, though, we realized it could inadvertently offend someone. As I mentioned before, people dress up as hicks at this party; we didn't want someone to think we were poking fun at Republicans or the military community. That's not what we were going for. So, back to the thrift store this goes.


Coral shirt

I have two other shirts with similar detailing to this one, but they both have tonal buttons. I prefer those to this one with its beige buttons, so I will keep the other two and this one can go. Having two similar shirts seems reasonable to me, but having three things so similar to each other just seems excessive.

Teal shirt

I love the color of this shirt, and the idea of blouse-y peasant tops. They have a kind of '70s vibe that I like (not that I was around in the '70s). But I think I like them on other people more than I like them on me. I feel like the loose sleeves of this top make my arms look big, when they definitely aren't. I'm no Michelle Obama, but I don't need clothes that create problem areas where none exist.

Striped sheet set

I recently came across an awesome tip, which is to fold up sheets and store them in their corresponding pillow case(s). But I could not get this sheet folded that small, so instead I just tucked the pillow cases into the folded sheet. Maybe I just need a little practice. Anyway, this is a perfectly fine sheet set; it's just that we have too many of them, and I prefer solid sets to printed ones. (Honestly, I didn't think of myself as a particularly print-averse person until I started this decluttering project!)

Progress: 138 items out of 400 = 34.5% done.

Week Sixteen, Items 125-131

Lip gloss samples 1

Yes, more samples in bubbles. I cannot figure out who decided that these were a good idea, or how they became so popular. Open bubbles of lip gloss might be less messy than open bubbles of perfume, but I imagine it's not by much.


Lip gloss samples 2

Yes, more samples of lip gloss! These, at least, come with a little applicator brush (you can see it to the left of the lip glosses). At least someone out there is trying to turn sample bubbles into practical objects, but they're not there yet. There is still way too much product for one use, and besides, I don't wear lip gloss anyway. Unless I am in a wedding, I just wear lip balm. So I really don't need any little bubbles of lip gloss.


Mirror

This pretty little compact has mirrors inside, and is meant to be carried in a purse. It's cute and shimmery, but I always have a pressed powder compact in my purse. Those always have mirrors, so I don't need this. It could be useful for someone else, though.

Mints

These mints were given out in favor bags at a party. They are Starbucks mints, though, and I don't have anything to do with Starbucks. I have intensely disliked Howard Schultz since he sold the Sonics, and I want nothing to do with the company.

White shirt

I have two long-sleeved white shirts. Unlike my variety of gray long-sleeved shirts, though, the white ones are pretty similar to each other. This is the one I wear less often, so it can go. I don't need to have two nearly-identical shirts.

Gray tank top

I have about a dozen ribbed tank tops like this, and I wear nearly all of them frequently. But I haven't worn this one in a long time. I've had it for more years than I should probably admit publicly, and after years of being washed and dried, it's a little too short for me. I've kept it because I like it (it doesn't really show up in this picture, but some of the threads are a little bit shimmery), but it's silly to keep something and not wear it.

Moulin Rouge

This is one of my favorite movies. In paring down our movie collections to only those we truly want to own, this movie will make the cut. But this particular copy will go, because my husband and I both have it. As much as I love the movie, we don't need to own it twice.


Progress: 131 items out of 400 = 32.75% done.

Week Fifteen, Items 117-124

Angels and Demons

Oh, Dan Brown. If only I, too, could become so wildly successful with so little talent and creativity. While your books are not the worst books I've read (the prize for that goes to Stephenie Meyer, who has managed to sell hundreds of millions of books despite her obvious illiteracy), I don't feel the need to own them. Also, readers, in case you have not seen it, give this Dan Brown sequel generator a try! It's hilarious.


Black shirt

This shirt has sleeves that hit me in just the wrong place. They stop right below my elbow, and when my arms are bent, the sleeves slide up above my elbow. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's annoying by the end of the day. Someone whose arms are just slightly longer or slightly shorter than mine can get some good use out of this shirt, though.

Book

This book was given to commemorate what's actually a rather unhappy event. The thought at the time was nice. But I didn't even realize that I still had it, and it's certainly not something I need to keep; I'm not going to look through again. So it goes.

Keys 1 and 2

These are the keys to my parents' old house. Because they sold their house and moved to a new place (well, two new places), I obviously don't need these anymore.

Perfume samples

These came as a free sample with a Philosophy product I purchased, but I'm not going to use them. First, I don't wear perfume. Second, even if I did, these do not seem user-friendly. Maybe there's some way of opening a bubble of perfume without making a mess, but I don't know what it would be. Also, I can't think of a way of reliably re-sealing the bubble once it's open—and those bubbles hold way too much perfume for just one use. Nobody needs to bathe in the stuff.


Ribbons 1 and 2

Martha Stewart and I have a couple things in common. She likes dogs, I like dogs; she likes food, I like food. But I think that might be it. See, I assume she is the type who wraps gifts in pretty paper with coordinating bows, and the type who makes those fancy ribbon curls. Well, I'm more of a gift bag person—they're easy and reusable. These ribbons came from gift-wrapped packages, and that's the only way I can think of to use them again. But I'm certainly not going to be the one to do it, and don't need these floating around in my closet.

Blog mention

Judith is an organization (organisation, rather—she's in the UK) coach who has a blog over at Clutter-free Mind. She found my blog via Twitter, and recently wrote a nice little post about it—and the slow-and-steady philosophy of de-cluttering—here. Thanks, Judith!

Progress: 124 items out of 400 = 31% done.

Week Fourteen, Items 110-116

Red plastic cups

We have had this bag of red plastic cups for years, and have occasionally used them at parties (because we typically drink & serve bottled beers, though, we really haven't needed many of them). Now that we're closer to 30 than 21, it's probably time to start serving other drinks out of actual glasses.

Blue dotted shirt

In buying this shirt, I outwitted myself. It came in solid colors, but I decided to buy a patterned one to make myself branch out a little (as I've mentioned before, I don't wear prints that often). In reality, I just wound up with a shirt I hardly wore. Oops.

Blue henley

The amount of blue clothes I've listed on this blog might lead you to think that perhaps I don't like blue. In fact, the opposite is true: I love blue so much that it makes up the vast majority of my wardrobe. My closet is organized by color (well, by sleeve length—sleeveless, then short sleeve, then 3/4 sleeve, then long sleeve—and then by color within each of those categories) and my husband occasionally teases me about the percentage of blue compared to other colors. Anyway, this shirt still fits, but I feel like I've outgrown the style. It's been a couple years since I've worn it, so it's time for someone else to get some good use out of it.

The Summons

John Grisham books are a bit like Tom Clancy books—if you've read one, you've read them all (though Grisham's books at least have the advantage of not being peppered with the phrase "pure vanilla"). Anyway, while this book is fine for mindless summer reading, that's something I've done a lot less of as I've gotten older. With all the good books in the world, it just doesn't make sense to me to spend time reading mediocre ones.

The Thomas Crown Affair

In addition to consolidating our movie collections, we've started going through and evaluating them. We both have several movies that we like, but don't necessarily feel the need to own (buying used movies for cheaper than it would have cost to rent them is to blame for this). This is one such movie.

Rush Hour

I enjoyed this movie well enough the first time I saw it; it's mildly entertaining. But the first time I saw it was also the last—a clear indicator that it's been just collecting dust for years now, and that it ought to go to someone who will get some use out of it.


Rush Hour 2

Consider this paragraph a sequel to the one above (as in, I don't have to come up with anything original. I might have more to say if I could recall any distinguishing facts about this movie. The fact that I can't means that, quite obviously, we can part with it).

Earth Day

And, because today is Earth Day, check out this great list of 42 ways you can prevent future clutter by reducing the amount of trash you produce (my inner geek loves that the list contains 42 things). And after you're done reading that list, I highly recommend that you peruse a few other articles on that site. YES! Magazine is one of my all-time favorite publications. I'm proud that they're local—it makes me happy to know that so much great work is being done right where I live. If you've got any interest in making the world a better place, I promise you will love YES!


Progress: 116 items out of 400 = 29% done.