To buy or not to buy – That is the question. The word “black” can be a source of pride or despair. In the Great Depression it meant the economy was in crisis. For the day after Thanksgiving it has come to mean the beginning of the Christmas shopping season when retailers move from red […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts in The Process
Saving money vs. Saving Time
All four of our children are sprung, but not their stuff. We still store memorabilia, some clothes, and high school papers that one 30 something can’t possibly part with. In their defense two of our children live out of the country, and one has a two room apartment with no storage space. The fourth young […]
…But being used in a good way. As my reputation grows for being a “go to person” for where to take used but usable clothes, toys, kitchen supplies, etc., I’ve found that people are starting to drop things off at my house. One reason is that my parish has an in-house thrift store and since […]
I travel a fair amount, have a brother who is a dentist, and tend to hold on to stuff way too long. I have thus collected an assortment of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorants, soaps, shampoos, combs, and other miscellaneous things one keeps in the bathroom. When I travel, I’m especially fanatical about packing small and light. […]
Recently I have found myself the recipient of other people’s stuff. Some of this may be due to the fact that I have developed a bit of a reputation as a “go to” person for those who are trying to prune their wardrobes and homes of extra stuff. Other’s know I am frugal and don’t […]
Recently we were visiting our son and his wife in Washington, DC. It was trash day and I looked out at the street lined with identical green garbage cans issued by the city. It was a strange sight to me. They all seemed so tiny by Midwest standards. I checked and each can was 32 […]
Once I diligently finished my first 365 days of give-aways, I promised myself that this would not be the end of giving stuff away. Although my pace has slowed, I notice that I am now more mindful about what accumulates around the house. BUT, I don’t want to make weekly drives to Goodwill or Best […]
One of the things I’ve learned about letting go of stuff over the past 1½ years is that choosing what to give away is easier than figuring out how to give it away. Knowing who or where to take it to, carting it there or waiting for someone to pick it up, or repairing/recycling is […]
I’ve been saving this give-away for last because of weather, I couldn’t get anyone to take it, and I had moral qualms about giving it away anyway. You may recognize that the object in the photo was once a baby crib. I have now re-purposed it as a couch. Here’s the story. All four of […]
I know I’m treading on dangerous territory here, but I’m trying to be careful not to give-away / throw-away things that I have no use for, but that belong to other family members. The easy person was our niece, Linda, (right) who cooperatively visited from out of town to go through several boxes of family […]
In examining several dining room shelves for more things to give away, I found 11 sterling silver pieces with varying degrees of tarnish. Silver can be beautiful but I definitely don’t want to spend time polishing it for the rare fancy occasions we might use it. I’m sure, however, that a beautiful silver coffee pot […]
I suppose that a pruning purist would challenge every box, space, and piece of paper in the house, but I have to draw the line somewhere. For me, I’ve decided that I simply don’t have the time or will to go through four crates (40 years) of photo albums and five file cabinets of folders. […]
It’s book week #3 and I’m now evaluating the bookcases in the dining room. Technically this room has three bookcases but two of them are actually display shelves with stuff we’ve collected from various countries. One bookcase has books related to the continent of Asia, the second has books on Africa. Most of these are […]
Today I took on our biggest bookcase of 439 books. (One whole shelf contained sort of sorted Legos. I wouldn’t dare give those away.) I chose 193 books to give away which are pictured at right. Probably it’s more instructive to discuss what I decided to keep. A few old college text books: I thought […]
I’ve procrastinated long enough. It’s now time to tackle the books in our house. I counted 11 bookcases (not counting the 2 in Jim’s office and 3 that primarily have artifacts on them, not books) and 1,339 books at last count. Surely I can find quite a few to give away although it may be […]
As we close out the year I thought it would be fun to survey all the useless stuff I still have hanging around the house. Should I just trash these items or could there really be a use for some of them. It all started when I found a box of 124 floppy discs. On […]
Some weeks I give away a lot of things; some weeks only seven small items. The most satisfying times, however, are when I can find just the right person or place to give an item to. This past week I was happy to give our son’s trumpet from marching band back to the school for […]
I don’t’ think it’s fair to count our kids’ elementary and high school trophies and plaques as things to give away since they are of no use to anyone else. Still, I counted 22 trophies and 30 award plaques stored in a cedar chest that could be put to better use. (Trophies take up a […]
I counted 29 coats/jackets in our house. It’s December. It’s cold (10-20 degrees F). It’s embarrassing to think that a household of two people have 29 coats when some people are on the streets shivering. Some might call it sinful. I was planning to give away miscellaneous items this week but coats seem more urgent. […]
