A Bit More Is Gone

Again I loaded up the back of the car today and brought a whole haul to Goodwill. Books, clothes, household items, some more kitchen stuff.

I even went through my cookbooks.

Some lucky person will end up with some fabulous cookbooks.

There was a lot of decorating books too. I now have Pinterest so decor books have really gotten lost in the shuffle around here. I think I only kept maybe 3 out of the 25+ decor books that I once owned - a Cottages by the Sea, and a small house living, and a french country decor book.

I'm still debating about donating a few of my Rachael Ray cookbooks. She has a lot of great recipes but she uses SO MANY ingredients for simple meals. They can be a bit hard for me to make on any given night - plus I've discovered that I don't always have certain cuts of meat, I don't have certain vegetables on hand, so her 30 Minute Meals can be a little hard for me to throw together since I've moved into more freezer meal planning to make meals easier in this house (I just open the freezer, pull out meat in the morning and then decide on sides at 5:00 when I have more than two minutes to see what's in the freezer, fridge and cupboards). Ok, so after typing this, Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals goes into the donate box. Check and check.

I also have to start swapping out summer clothes for fall and winter. I opened up our small attic this morning and found clothes that I hadn't seen in three years. I only kept 3 items - one short sleeve green sweater, one pink sleeveless top, and one khaki skirt. Unfortunately it's only going to get colder after this week so I don't think I'll get to wear the skirt this year (and mostly because I don't feel like shaving my legs again. I've shaved them all freaking summer, I deserve a week off!).

Leggings are freaking amazing in Minnesota in the winter time and I have about 7 pairs of leggings. Two pairs pick up dog fur like mad and so I need to just get rid of those. I HATE DOG FUR. I HATE IT WHEN IT STICKS TO MY PANTS. Ugh, that's so embarrassing. So those two pairs of fur-leggings will go into the trash today, I have a pair with a hole which will also go into the trash. And I think, if I can remember correctly, I also have a super thin pair from Target - those can be trashed. I will keep my Under Armour leggings and my yoga leggings - both pairs are thick and perfect for fall and winter, plus the Under Armour leggings are also thin enough to be worn under my Levi jeans for shoveling and running errands (I know, this is a weird concept to people who don't live in cold-weather states, I wear long johns, I wear thermal underwear, I basically look like a frumpy, bundled, marshmallow for six months).

In the office I went through a large basket of extra paper, envelopes, and other office supply items. I trashed what was broken, what we couldn't use any longer (ummmm... CD labels???), and also what looked like it was just in rough and bad shape. I ended up keeping a pile of empty folders, copy paper, a few blank envelopes, and some plastic sheet protectors. Not sure why at this moment, but I'm sure those items will get used - whether its by me or for an art project for The Monkey I'm not sure. I have quite a few sheets of vellum from my drafting days in college that I'd like to use for some sort of artsy fartsy thing but I don't know what yet. I'll have to peruse Pinterest to find some inspiration.

And poor Monster. I went through his toys and tossed what was broken, unstuffed, in general disrepair, and what looked just disgusting. He'll need a new stuffless toy for Christmas and probably a few bully sticks.

So in a nutshell - today has been extremely productive, I'm super happy with my de-cluttering progress and at some point this afternoon I may even be more motivated to go through my closet and dresser once again.