Lent is over but my 2019 Room by Room pruning is not. I’m taking a breather to reflect on what I’ve learned over the past 6 weeks. The photo at right shows much of what I decided to give away but not all of it since some items have already been disbursed, recycled, or trashed. […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts tagged Other’s Stuff
BEDROOM #3 (Click on photos to enlarge) Days 10, 11, 12 I thought this bedroom would be easy because I knew I dare not remove any of our daughter’s memorabilia. It hasn’t really been her bedroom since she graduated from college, almost 20 years ago, BUT she had personalized it by painting murals and sayings […]
We’re 9 days into Lent (not counting Sundays) which means according to my master plan I should have spent 4 days pruning our Master Bedroom, 4 days pruning Bedroom #2, and 1 day pruning the upstairs Bathroom. I’m one day behind (the bathroom), but who’s counting. I know curious minds want to know how it’s […]
When a crisis or catastrophe strikes, people are often motivated to be generous. Floods, hurricanes, fires, accidents, etc. are hard on the victims but they often bring out the best in those who are in a position to help. Maybe this is the easy side of letting go because it’s clear that someone else needs […]
Before you think I’ve gone over to the dark side and given up Living Lightly by acquiring 11 new items and letting go of none, I must again clarify. Our daughter will soon move back from Kenya to the USA – not to our home but certainly closer than Africa. She has a fellowship in […]
My last blog talked about “The Beauty of Empty” and how helpful it is to empty out a space to start the pruning process. Now it’s time to start with myself (and my husband). Since my first round of pruning our clothes closet in 2010, I’ve slowly been passing clothes on that I seldom wear, […]
I knew this was going to be a tough week because it involved our upstairs bathroom – especially the closet shelf that held medical supplies. Once a visitor opened the door and said, “Hey, you’ve got a whole pharmacy here!” Now technically this closet isn’t a drawer but it held many things that I knew […]
I’m not sure if I made much progress this week. I finished Bedroom #1 but one of the drawers took me a couple hours to go through. I had forgotten that this was where I stashed old diaries and calendars dating back to my college graduation in 1969. Eventually I decided to keep them since […]
True, there are no miscellaneous kids hanging around our home any more and we wouldn’t give them away if they were. The kids we have launched into the world have left some things, however, that we finally feel free to give away. I’ve been collecting these odds and ends for the last several months as […]
Our adult children were all home for Christmas. Hurrah! I hoped they would take some of the stuff I had been saving (especially for our grandchildren) back with them. A few things traveled to a new home but I again found that items that I’d been saving did not fit the taste or circumstances of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
One of our son’s has a model airplane that he’s never put together. In fact, he’s never even taken the cellophane off the box. The story goes that he received it as a birthday present when he was about 13 but wasn’t real keen on it. He saved it and later when he needed to […]
…Stuff. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to REALLY clearing stuff out of our house is all our kids’ stuff that we’re storing. The last time I asked our 36 year old if I could throw away his grade school papers, he said “No.” Child #2 has stuff from her Peace Corps stint in Mali and later work in […]
