tired already, I beleive all of the new ones cook at a higher temp due to some change in acceptable cooking termperatures. You need to go through yard sales or ebay to find an old one.
Guess my outbox as the garage works because all I do is open my car trunk and fill 'er up!
I like the crockpot we got as a wedding fit 31 years ago better than the newer one we also have. The old one is perfect for matzah ball soup ā long, slow cooking.
I did the same thing- gave away old crockpot for a new larger one. Same problem with the heat. I cook everything on low and for a much shorter time than the booklet suggests. Tomorrow I will take a bag around the house and toss stuff in. Iām in the right mood to get going again.
if you want a slow cooker that can be left for 8-10 hrs (which was the original point - for it to cook while you were gone at work) without burning the food, then you will have to find a vintage one. At some point in the past 10 yrs or so the manufacturers were forced to make the set temperature higher, for so-called āfood safetyā reasons. Though from what Iāve read online, no one knows anyone who ever suffered from food posoning from a Crock-Pot.
Another plus - the old ones were made in the U.S.!
there are plenty to be found at Goodwill, estate sales, etc.
I am going to my great-nieceās birthday party and need to find a gift for her. Last year, I gave her a box filled with old jewelry that I never wore. I might try to find some clothes for dress up or maybe one of my sonās nearly new board games that I wasnāt able to part with earlier. I do a better job with re gifting to her boy cousins who have many of the same interests that my son hadādinosaurs, nature puzzles, art supplies, etc. When I hand the birthday child the āusedā gift, I hand my sister who is the grandmother a check to add to the 529 accounts that she has for each of her grandchildren.
Clutter seems to expand to fill the space that is available. When I first moved into the house that my h already owned before we were married, the storage in the master bathroom was already filled. Instead of de cluttering at that time, I just moved into the second bathroom which had two full closets plus shelves under the window. During this past week, I had to completely empty everything for the remodel to begin. It was embarrassing to see what I had accumulated over 25+ years! I have two bags with nearly new beach towels to give to my niece who just moved to a house with a pool. I have promised myself that I will NOT put it all back when the remodeling is finished. Everything that I will not use in the next year needs to find a new home.
loq, love the used gift with check gift. Lovely.
Back in the category of heirlooms that are difficult to impossible to discard: I have one spat. Also one elaborately carved Dutch wooden shoe. I suspect that these items are the result of a quasi-Solomonic split of heirlooms by my mother and aunt, earlier on.
Can you find cousins who might have the matching ones to the pairs?
I think the same thing happened with my great grandmotherās sterling flatware, since I have six place settings. But Iāll never be able to find those cousins ā too many generations ago.
My D just went through some of her stuff over winter break and came up with two boxes of clothes to donate. My H today reminded me that the t-shirts she doesnāt want any more can go to our church. We have a group that turns t-shirts into diapers and then sends them off to Haiti.
If any of you are interested, there is a FB page called Diapers for Haiti and there are patterns if you google Diapers for Haiti. I donāt know if there is a central list of places that has groups making them for those people that want to donate shirts without actually making the diapers.
Anyway, just another way to declutter while helping others.
I went through a dining room hutch last night and found 10-15 water bottles with different logos on them that the kids have brought home at various times I am keeping the best quality or most sentimental and have 8 or 10 to get rid of. I have them in the recycling bin right now, though am wondering if there is something better? I imagine thrift stores are over run with things like this?
Small successes: Took a box of books to the local library, and a box of knickknacks (including some Christmas stuff I didnāt want anymore) to Salvation Army in town.
I did put some nicer things that the local antique store might take in the basement (depression glass, spode mugs). I want to wait until I have a larger cache before I deal with it.
Toss the water bottles - think about all the lips/mouths that have been on them with every use - or if they were not used, keep them only to use as ādisposableā - on a next car trip take one, use it and then dispose of it!
I just recycled those old promotional water bottles. I didnāt think anyone would want used ones.
In terms of germophobia - the dishwasher sterilizes things. When kids were infants, our pediatrician said that there was no need to sterilize bottles, as in the past - the dishwasher does a good job of it.
Tackling the tupperware drawer! This is going to be interesting. 
Bag A Week Club Reward!
This morning I decided to finally tackle my closet before heading off to work. I got up extra early to go for a run, and while running I thought about how much I missed my FitBit, which I lost last summer on vacation in another state.
Home from my run, started pulling stuff out of the closet (my plan was to remove EVERYTHING), and right on the floor was my FitBit - the one I was sure was lost out of state! What? How? I had gone through every pocket, every suitcase. I have no idea how this happened. Butā¦Yay!
And now I just found a missing earring! Woohoo!
I usually find the missing earring after Iāve disposed of the one that wasnāt missing. :((