Better her closet than yours!
āWell my big purge is coming up. Itās been a year since I lost a significant amount of weight and moved items to my extra closet. It feels scary to get rid of all my fat clothes. But I know I need to do it. DH will be out of town in a few weeks and my plan is to go through everything over my weekend aloneā
UPDATE: 7 bags in my car ready to go to Goodwill!
My kids were home for the holidays and my youngest was charged with cleaning out her room, the last of the three to do so. Mound of clothes to discard which also prompted me to go through my clothes again. At D3ās suggestion, we ordered bags from Buffalo Exchange and just this morning I packed up the three bags which Iāll drop off at UPS tomorrow. I also have three boxes for GW which Iāll also drop off tomorrow. Will be thrilled to have it all out of my house.
D3 suggested Buffalo Exchange. None near me but a chain of used clothing stores where one can take their clothes in and (as I understand it) haggle prices which would not be my style at all even if it were an option for me. But when you request a bag and send it back, they will evaluate your clothing and possibly send you $$ ā not sure if they guess and estimate in advance regardless of whether it sells or not or if itās post sale. Either way, the bags are all in my kidsā names and if any get a few dollars, good for them.
And, @OHMomof2, your next phase of life sounds like a dream!
Iāve managed to get though our entire condo since the year started. Pretty easy at < 1,000 sq ft. I bet I got rid of 100 useable, donate-able items, and around 150 items of trash. Expired food, spices, mail, unused but tired make-up, etc. I need to work on being better about keeping up with ānon-perishableā food items - because they DO have expiration dates.
Interestingly, our ds said he had gone through his closet as well - completely unprompted by me. Iām sure he hadnāt done that on his own - ever. Yay for adulting.
My H is out of town in early feb and Iām going to go through my closet again. I have a bag that I have been planning on taking to consignment but I havenāt made the time.
I also want to pull out all my spices and discard what is old and figure out a better system.
I got rid of all the Christmas delivery boxes today. Decorations are all put away. Got rid of old pillows and a blanket. Thinking of donating a bunch of DVDās to the library.
If you donāt watch the DVDs you might as well donate. The library may opt to keep or sell in book sale, but either way theyāll get used. I
^^I have wondered why we are hanging onto our dvd player. Canāt remember the last time we used it.
@abasket - we do have a ātechnology graveyardā in our place. A couple of old cameras, old phones, old iPad, etc. Hard to know what to do with those things.
For a few years I worked for a well-known, renowned designer retail company. I was able to buy several really high-level designer items at incredible discounts. Two of those items, I suspect, Iām never going to wear again, so Iām thinking of consigning them. They were such incredible steals, though, that Iām reluctant to part with them. One is a wool sweater dress ā very dressy, with a low-cut front and rhinestone belt ā that originally retailed for $1,300; I paid ~$250 for it. Again ā I wore it once!! Think it would sell for a good price??
On the other hand, as my husband likes to say, āItās not hurting anyone where it is.ā
@Hoggirl our small city has an E-recycle center for such things. You just drop the stuff off at the door and they take care of it.
@mom60 re organizing spices, we had a jumble in a cabinet shelf for years. Then saw DIL and son had theirs in a deep drawer where you could see everything at once (caps are labeled) without having to rummage. We donāt have a similar drawer but the top shelf of my pull-out pantry (lower cabinet within a step of our stove and prep area) works beautifully for a similar setup.
This can be cut to fit your drawer.
https://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-4SDI-24-X-Large-Drawer/dp/B00KWEQL9I
I love having all of my spices in plain view when I open my drawer. Penzeyās jars fit in it just fine.
Ohhhā¦ this looks soooo cool. If you donāt want a drawer:
I have the spice drawer that BB mentioned in #4192. Spices come in different shapes, so all but the largest fit (Kosher salt, e.g.).
Mine is built in, but looks the same.
I find that the spice problem typically occurs for me because I will try a recipe that includes a spice that I donāt typically use. I use one teaspoon, and then its jar/container gets commingled with those I do use all the time which makes it harder to find things.
I have a great little triangular, cabinet at the end of my upper cabinets which is pretty much perfect for spices because it isnāt practical for much else. I only struggle when it gets too overloaded, and I canāt see everything. It only gets overloaded when I have had to acquire too many of those one-off spices.
I donāt have a drawer available for spices. I have several friends who use that method. I use a upper cabinet that is about 16 inches wide, the shelves are adjustable. I have a lot of spices, some from Penzeys in the small jar and others in the large jar. I also have spices from the grocery store, Trader Joeās and the middle eastern market. Some are in jars, tins and bags and even those little boxes. Itās a mess and that doesnāt include salts. Every year I pull them all out and toss the oldest and put them back in a somewhat logical order. Overtime it gets a jumbled mess. Searching for what I need involves pulling things out and putting some on the counter and when Iāve found what I want I just stick the rest back in hodgepodge. What I find difficult is while I have some depth in the cabinet I canāt see the spices that are at the back. Marie Kondo would not approve of my spice cabinet.
I use a lazy susan to keep my spices (salt and pepper and some flavored vinegar) in order in an upper cabinet right next to the stove. It works for me (I hide the big tall stuff in the middle so i can see them over the little stuff on the edges.)
^^^ Same - I actually have two lazy susans for spices (except the bigger Costco sized ones). One lazy susan has the spices I use most (the one that is easiest to reach) and one lazy susan has the less used spices.
I went ahead and ordered a lazy Susan from Amazon. If it doesnāt work for spices I can use it elsewhere.