I'm not a minimalist. I'm also not a maximalist. I like having the right tool for the job, and I like to think ahead to possibilities when I might need an object before deciding to get rid of it. But my house doesn't look overly cluttered with stuff. And yet, I was thinking today of all of the items that I own that are not being used and may never be used by me.
1 -- wooden spoons
I first began thinking about this idea when thinking about my crock filled with wooden spoons. I don't use wooden spoons for cooking as they don't seem hygienic to me, like bacteria could get trapped in the wood or something. Anyway, I've been gifted a lot of wooden spoons over the years, and every single one of them is pristine in appearance aside from dust. I need to donate these. That tiny corner of my kitchen counter would look more tidy if I just got rid of the spoons.
2 -- pillowcases
We all know that sheets wear out. This is especially so with the bottom or fitted sheet. I will often find a use for the top sheet when the fitted one is too worn for use, such as an outdoor movie screen, a paint drop cloth or a dust cover for the parts of our artificial Christmas tree. The pillowcases don't seem to wear out. They sometimes look dingy after many years of use, but they don't wear thin or develop holes. I'm not sure how to trim down my pillowcase excess or find a repurposed use. I'm open to suggestions.
3 -- mismatched plastic containers and lids
I'm thinking of all of those plastic food containers and lids that are jumbled together in a drawer in my kitchen. I'm also thinking about larger storage bins and lids. With both kids of plastic containers I seem to have mismatched containers and lids. Pieces crack and are thrown away/recycled. But then I'm left with parts that don't work together. With the food containers, I do go through that drawer about once a year, find lids that work with about half of the containers and recycle the rest. But what can one do with larger storage bins that have lost their lids?
4 -- old pairs of shoes
I'm not talking about simply out of style shoes that I don't wear any longer. I'm talking about worn out sneakers that I've replaced. I save a couple of old pairs to use when painting, mowing the lawn, tromping through mud, or for when my better pair is soaked from a walk in the rain and my feet still need shoes. I think I need to set a limit on how many old pairs of sneakers I could realistically need and dump the rest.
5 -- outdated technology items like cords, floppy disks, dial-up modems
My daughter was looking for a slim box the other day. We came across the laptop boxes from their 2013 university laptops. Inside one of the boxes was an unused power adaptor extension cord. In another closet was a box filled with old tech stuff that really has no purpose for us any longer. This stuff is really my husband's domain, so I don't feel I can just get rid of it. But it's still taking up space that could perhaps serve us better storing something we actually use.
What things in your house seem to multiply faster than you can get rid of them? Are you good at decluttering? Do you have a preference between donating stuff to a thrift store vs. repurposing it in your own house?
A couple of ideas for reuse of your extras. I reuse fannel pillowcases to make "wipes." I take an old alomst worn out towel and cut it in a rough square 6 by 6 and cut the fannel pillow case the same. Then I sew them together. The church ladies at my old church did this many times when I was growing up and I adopted the practice. It gives them an few years use and I use them as kitchen and cleaning clothes. Saving wear out time for my store bought kitchen clothes. Which are usually gifts. My daughter keeps our plastics under control. We almost never lose any parts anymore. She also has final say on what gets thrown. Finally I started using bread ties ( the plastic square ones) to label the cords we had after yet another "do we still need this" session with my husband. This way when the equipment goes so does the cord. IF it doesn't I know what it can be used for.
ReplyDeleteMy five things:
1. Pens - I used to work for a company that passed them out and at some point I had over 500+. And I seem to take every bank pen they give me.
2. Bread loaf pans - I have 4 small one, 4 regular size and 2 bread loaf size. I feel like that is too many but I can't seem to let any go. Maybe the trick is to actually make bread.
3. Plastic boxes, baskets and storage crates - I think I have everyone that I have ever bought. They all seem to have a job to do or we find something for them to do. My concern is that maybe what we should do is stop storing as much stuff.
4. Ok this one is tough- Canning jars - I probably have an extra 300. That's right jars that don't actually get used, but I don't want to get rid of because in case I might need them. 2 years ago I got rid of almost all of my regular mouth jars because my arthritis made it difficult to put my hand in them to clean, that was about 60 (5 dozen.)
5. Cookbooks - I never wanted a collection and what I seem to have now is a collection. I would like to have a solid set of cookbooks I use regularly, without the BBQ and cooking with beer books my husband dragged in. Which we do not use.
If anyone has any ideas on curtailing these please let me know.
Lili's list is pretty similar to mine, although I periodically have to sort through pens, too. I know that animal shelters like to be gifted with old towels--perhaps they would like pillowcases, too? I desperately need to sort through our plastic containers/lids. We use our wooden spoons, but I have a spoon/spatula that was gifted to me a couple of years ago that rarely gets used. However, my kids are in the stage of life where they are getting ready for "real" adulthood, so I'm hanging on to some of those items in the hopes that it might be useful for them.
ReplyDeleteI donated my pizza stone to my son recently. I never really liked using it--it's heavy and cumbersome, and the homemade pizza recipe I use these days uses a large cast iron pan instead (and is way simpler than how I previously made pizza).