One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.
I thought I’d tackle the closet this week. Or at least my side of the closet. Which you know, took all of 30 seconds to clean out. I’m telling ya, being on the cutting end of fashion…. it’s a tough gig. But someone has to do it. {By the way, when have you ever seen me wear white? Why am I even hanging on to those tops?}
Lucy, who only owns 1 article of clothing {her collar} was not impressed by the “thinning of my wardrobe” this week. Clearly she thought I could do better. Her mother is living a life of excess and what must the other dogs think? How embarrassing.
On a side note…. See that small blue tee and tiny red dress? Those are from Monkey Boy and The Girl when they were little. I just can’t let those go. Monkey Boy wore his blue Thomas the Tank Engine shirt at least 5 days a week when he was around 4 years old and The Girl LOVED that dress.
Yada yada yada, all I could find were 5 articles of clothing and 1 leopard scarf to get rid of. I plan on donating the race tee shirt and long sleeved tie-dye to the thrift store. I’ll gift the grey shirt to a friend, add the wool coat {and scarf} to my garage sale pile and I think I’ll try and sell my Oktoberfest/German girl dress on eBay this fall when costumes bring a little more money.
The shoes were a little harder to weed through. I own 19 pairs!
And now I’m down to 16. The heel bothers me on the green boots, I’ve only worn the black heels once in 4 years and I’m not a fan of sandals to begin with so why am I hanging on to those flip flops I bought 5+ years ago anyway?
Even though I only got rid of 9 items this week…. it still feels good to do a little purging.
How about YOU? When was the last time you cleaned out your closet?
~Mavis
So far this year I’ve purged 560 items. Only 440 more items to go.
Year to Date Totals
Donated: 20 items
Gave Back: 42
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 415 items
See what else I’m getting rid of this year:
- Gift Bags, Binders, Glass Frogs and More
- Casserole Dishes and Pie Plates
- Dessert Plates, Crock Pots, Tablecloths and More
- Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
- Used Books
- DVD’s
- Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More
Pauline says
Mavis, if you ever talk HH into moving to your east coast house, especially if that’s a NORTHEAST house, you just might want that wool coat. It looks like a classic style. Just saying…
Pauline
Mavis Butterfield says
I have my puffy LL Bean coat!!! It’s like walking around in a sleeping bag and is a more comfortable. But I agree… peeps sure know how to bundle up there. Lot’s of wool and puffy coats.
Jeanie says
I had my closet honed down to the bare minimum…then somehow excess creeped in again and now I own too much. The hubs got bored of seeing me in my dark grey or black Eddie Bauer long sleeve tee’s and begged me to buy something else. So I did and have really never worn any of it. I bought a very expensive ill fitting dress for a formal wedding. It ended up having a major cleavage issue and although it looked stunning…it was just not me. Needs to go.
So all that to say…I have a lot of work I could do in there. Right now I am gleaning out books from my large library and have 22 Whole Foods bags to donate to either our library bookstore or our city’s literacy program. I need to go through the shelves again.
Megan says
You’re so inspiring! I’m in the middle of it, but I can’t wait till my closet looks that neat!!
Maybe you could do a post of creative things to do with those special clothes you really can’t part with….? Pinterest must have ideas! I have a couple pieces too that I’m saving, and not sure what to do with.
kristi says
Shadow box the two items…
Lauralli says
I’m impressed that you could only hold on to one item of clothing from each child! I have a box of baby clothes that my boys wore than I can’t part with–most of them are classics that could be used for a grandson one day–maybe? If not, I’ll make a quilt if I can bear to cut them up! Have you seen those adorable baby clothes quilts? I also have a box of baby blankets, bibs, and burp cloths all of good quality that can be used again!
On another note, I have got a great idea for you! You need boot stands to keep your boots from flopping over! These would be great to sew up with fabric scraps and you could use plastic bags to stuff them with! Would make great Christmas gifts, too! Or, you could use old wine bottles–not nearly as cute, but thrifty!
Nancy K says
I find it much easier to grim reap my closet when I keep track of what I wear and what I don’t wear. I saw a post on Pinterest suggesting hanging clothes the opposite way after you wear them (with the opening of the hook facing out) or segregating worn clothes at the back of the closet, or using some means of identifying what has been worn. I did this for several months and found I wore only a fraction of my clothes. It made it easier to decide what to sell/get rid of. In any event, you’ve inspired me again and I’m going to take another pass through the closet.
Molly White says
I made your buttermilk with 2% milk and apple vinegar and used it to make my usual Irish Soda Bread. I must say that the buttermilk flavor just wasn’t there in the baked bread. I was really disappointed in the bread and won’t use it again.
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Molly, when I “make buttermilk” I use regular white vinegar. I have never used apple vinegar and wonder how that changes things taste wise.
Molly White says
Re: using vinegar to make butter. I think what you are actually making is sour milk and it lacks the rich full taste f buttermilk particularly in my Irish Soda Bread. I don’t think white vinegar or Apple vinegar would make much difference. I think I’ll stick to real buttermilk and thanks for the reply