I think what makes it hard to get rid of older books, for me, is that they are often not readily available in a library because libraries themselves weed unread books. I know, because I do it. I also process inter-library loan books and older books are usually the harder ones to get because of the continual weeding. Our state mandates that we buy so many new books every year and to make space for them, we get rid of the older books. It’s sometimes painful, but there’s really no other option.
I don’t re-read books but keep favorites to loan to friends or travel books of places I have plans to go to, or books I plan to read in the future. I also have some books that are rare and old with beautiful illustrations. We have bookcases in every bedroom and I have a cookbook bookcase that I am constantly purging and then replenishing!
Last weekend I cleaned out under the sinks in two of our bathrooms. I bought stackable containers at Target and purged a bag of half used tiny hotel toiletries and filled a bag of unopened ones for the food pantry. My one stumbling block is a dozen bottles of opened shampoo/body wash/conditioner that someone tried and didn’t like. Costco sized bottles. It seems wrong to pour the contents down the sink but when I looked at donating them to local shelters, they only want unopened bottles. So now, they are sitting in a box in the upstairs hallway while I think of a good way to get rid of them.
In my hometown, there is a night each week where we can drop off shampoo, clothing, etc. to the homeless who will not stay in a shelter- usually due to drug use or other mental health issues. They will gladly take items that have been opened. You might check and see if your town has the same.
When my FIL passed, my MIL had trouble with what to do with his clothing - and there was a lot of it.
I took his dress shirts and started sewing. I made baby blankets with the oxford dress shirts and made my MIL very happy. I also made a few teddy bears for the granddaughters from his shirts, a pillow for my MIL and a few other miscellaneous items. I think that put me on her ‘good’ list.
@mompop - I live in a small town. We have no shelters of any kind. I’ve looked on line at all the shelters in a nearby small city and on the donation pages, they all specify new products.
Ask a neighbor. The stuff you didn’t like they may use regularly. I gave a neighbor a huge bottle of laundry detergent I had purchased that had a scent I couldn’t stand. She was pleased to receive it.
@walkinghome I’m on a FB page called “Buy Nothing (insert name of my town)”. People often put opened bottles of shampoo/conditioner/perfume, etc. up for grabs, and it’s always taken.
The way it works around here is you then put it in a covered bin in your driveway, labeled with the name of the person who has agreed to come and get it. The person contacts you through FB messenger to get your home address. This way you don’t even have to be home when they come to pick it up.
Maybe you could check to see if your town has something like this? Or a free cycle page?
I just finished watching the final episode. I enjoyed the show and got some good storage and folding ideas. I also don’t understand the public hate, especially about books. I could find nothing wrong with anything she told people and thought she was very kind to her clients.
@walkinghome, shampoo that doesn’t contain conditioner and body wash work just fine as hand soap. That’s what I’ve done with products my family didn’t care for-- just put it into a liquid soap dispenser, at the kitchen sink or my laundry sink.
Maybe I’m the outlier here. My take is just get rid of what you want to trash and move on. Do not get hung up on how to get rid of things.
The goal is to make your life more livable.
Don’t leave a pile at your door. Don’t worry about the sample size bottles. Don’t angst over half used soap bottles. Or I’ll get to see you on the hoarders shows.
If you have an easy solution take it of course. If not , say goodbye and move on.
This is next up for me. I try to do this every January so I can assess what items weren’t used within the past year. I’ll cook from the pantry and freezer for a week or two so we can start over with new food supplies in February.
My pantry is very deep. I do use long narrow baskets to keep cans and other items organized for easy access, but there are some areas where odd items get shoved in the back.
Our day to do that in CT is tomorrow. While I’m not looking forward to the snow, it’s nice to be able to focus on something like that and not feel guilty about ignoring something else!
Relatedly, a friend of mine with a very cluttered abode, recently quipped to me “I’ve got a lot of stuff, sure, but that’s just because I have deeper reservoirs of joy than most people!” Just a quip, but it’s not crazy to think that by Kondo’s logic, a minimalist home suggests a tragic paucity of joy…
Sadly, we have pocket doors for our closet and bathroom so there would be nowhere to hook this over. I think it would take me back to my lazy stacking ways.
I’ve decided to hang my 1/2 dirty things on hangers in the front portion of my closet, where they won’t mingle with my never worn garments in the rest of the closet and dresser. H has been doing this for decades and it works well for him.
@walkinghome , look at givebackbox.com . I’ve never used it but heard about it on a podcast. I think it’s a way to ship your gently used stuff to charitable organizations.
