When my daughter moved in here, my stuff got moved from other areas of my house to make room for her and Ladybug's stuff. I put three rooms of stuff into only one room. This area is also in my bedroom. I feel claustrophobic when I go to bed at night.
Only two more weeks and I'll have my house back to myself again and all this stuff will go back where it belongs. Much better organized I hope.
Someone asked me recently..... where do you put it all? Can you be thrifty and neat at the same time? Hmm.... space, just like time and money are precious commodities. It really is hard to be neat when my home is filled with too much stuff in too small a space. Keeping stuff organized is a key to saving time. Saving time is the key to saving money. The trick is to balance everything to get the best quality of life I can.
The next time I feel I really should purge out some of my stuff, I'm going to be sure it goes where it will be used and not just put into a landfill. Donating to a thrift store is not much of an option anymore. Far too many people are donating and most of it is now being sent to the landfill. A few weeks ago I donated some sewing items to a thrift store. I went back a couple of days later looking for something I accidently put into one of the boxes. I figured I would just buy it back. Guess what? Not one single thing I donated was out in the store. It wasn't in the back room either because the employees let me look. I asked why? Where could the box have gone? I was told that 85% of the donations go straight into a dumpster. It doesn't matter if its good stuff either.
Yikes! Evidently everything I donated was thrown away immediately. What's wrong with this picture? What does it say about us as Americans when even the thrift stores are over burdened by too much stuff? We are too much a throw away society. I'm doing all I can to get away from throw away stuff. I look for quality rather than simply a low price. Quality costs more but lasts so much longer.
When I start putting my stuff back in it's own space I hope to get a better idea of where everything is again. It's hard to be frugal when I can't find what I need when I need it.
3 comments:
I read your blog all the time and just love it and your attitude. I agree with you about becoming a throw-away society. I have been trying to clear out my house & organize myself better and have signed up for the Freecycle list on yahoo.com for my area. It is working well for me. I feel like I am helping other people find things they can use, keeping stuff out of the landfill and most importantly, getting it out of my house. Funny, I am at the time of my life when I am starting to try to get rid of things I seem to have spent the first part of my life trying to get.
Susan R
Ooo, well stated Susan. I'm spending time getting rid of things I spent lots of time collecting. I've found that we are not alone doing this.
I'm also signed up for freecycle in my area. I get about 10 email digetsfrom our freecycle each day. I had no idea there would be so many resonses to each give away. Each time I post an item, I get maybe 30 requests to have it. Do you get that many? How do you handle them?
WOW. did THAT hit me right between the eyes. I was just feeling guilty over all the Barbies i just HAD to BUY FOR MYSELF a few years ago. and NOW i am busy giving them AWAY. yes, we spend YEARS acquiring stuff. and NOW we are trying to GIVE IT AWAY. but NOBODY wants it. so sad. I had NO IDEA the thrift stores just THROW STUFF OUT as well. AWFUL. so sad. I am trying HARD to find places that IF i donate. they just GIVE IT AWAY to someone else. My david is HUGE on "recycling" but even the recycle center is getting really PICKY. NO more GLASS. WHAT??? no cardboard tubes, etc. no a TON of stuff you would THINK they would want. CRAZY. HMM freecycle. i've got to check that out. but don't know if i WANT "others" just stopping by to "get stuff".
Post a Comment