I spent part of this week helping a girlfriend clear out her late mother's home. There were three different rooms that were so full of boxes and possessions that you couldn't enter them. I threw away multiple bags of junk mail, catalogs, return address stickers, freebie notepads, business cards and so forth. We didn't even tackle anything that wasn't pure trash, as apparently much of it can be sold in bulk at the estate sale.
Long story short, I don't want to die surrounded by piles of credit card statements from six years ago and clothing I haven't worn in 25 years and junk I don't even remember ordering.
As such, some recent declutter work:
* Packed a bag of weird geegaws for "art tray" at preschool
* Selected three cookbook/garden books to list on Amazon or otherwise release
* Packed a bag for Goodwill including Cuisinart blades, 3 insulated lunchboxes with off-putting logos, a checkbook cover, an extra grater and an extra bottle opener
* Packed up an ugly but ultrawarm blanket for the homeless guy who lives under our nearest freeway overpass
* Poured four expired medications into the worm bin and recycled the plastic containers
* Collected all remaining tampons (I've switched to a menstrual cup) and will drop off in the women's bathroom at the library next time I go
* Tossed out a jar of some unidentifiable, unlabeled spice.
* Recycled 10 or so empty glass jars that I was saving for no particular reason.
* Threw away three Very Special and Important Rocks we'd been saving.
* Tossed gelatin, pectin, coconut milk and condensed milk that has never been used and will presumably not be used in the foreseeable future.
* Composted some frozen food scraps I was saving for smoothies. Let's get through the superexpensive frozen wild blueberries before we start blending up leftover strawberry tops, mmmkay?
Working on:
* I have too many reusable bags. I think I need to release all those with logos (I have a set of 6 or 7 plain black hemp ones that more than suffice for all my grocery needs) but I haven't managed it yet. The ones from Whole Foods have shoulder straps and are organic cotton! Argh. I know better. I'm going to ask my mom if she wants to take them.
* I kept some blackstrap molasses that I think I've had for five years. Added a little to the overnight oatmeal I'm making. It has a lot of iron and nutrients so if I can choke it down in oatmeal I'll let it stay in the house until it's used up.
The struggle is real.