Last week, while organizing my heart away during the whole organization maximation of our new his/hers desk area, I gave myself a little challenge. Remember it? I was going to get rid of 100 things? Yeah, that one. So how did I do? I totally rocked it out of the park! I honestly think I could have gotten rid of 200 things, easily. I actually chucked 114 things. I’m an overachiever. So here’s how the whole challenge shook out and my totals list:
Items thrown out or recycled:
(4) Old nasty bottles of lotion that dried out my skin
(1) Box of WAY outdated Crest White Strips
(1) Bottle of Victorias Secret body spray from my college years
(1) Expired tube of sunscreen
(14) Old magazines (after ripping out a few pages)
(3) Really old hairstyling products
(4) Bottles of nail glue
(1) Nail polish remover pen
(18) Bottles of nail polish (including the ones from both my high school AND middle school proms)
Items added to the yard sale pile:
(1) Non-digital camera from high school days
(23) 3 ring binders (left over from school and old scrapbooks that have been moved to storage boxes)
(1) Box divider tabs
(4) Plastic folders
(1) Box page protectors
(1) Financial calculator
(1) Masters cap, gown & hood
(1) Bag of ribbon
(1) Package small scrap booking paper
(1) Spiral bound notebook
(1) Package large scrap booking paper
(1) Box hanging file folders
(3) Magazine holders
(1) Clipboard
(1) Scarf
(3) Winter hats
(1) Pair of winter gloves
(1) Tea bag storage organizer
(1) Set of coasters
(1) Over the sink strainer
(1) Lunch box
(1) Collapsible cooler
(1) Hanger
(2) Long underwear tops
(1) Plaid shirt
(1) LL Bean messenger bag
(1) Pocket bartender guide
(3) Ceramic bowls
(1) Ceramic tray
(3) Small serving bowls
(1) Cracker plate
(1) Never used nail care kit
(1) Caboodles case from my tween years
It’s a random list, I know, there was really no method to my madness. I just kind of jumped from room to room and grabbed the first thing I found that we didn’t need anymore and was just collecting dust. I started down in the living room where my pile of wedding and home magazines were overflowing.
I went through a stack of magazines, ripped out the pages that I wanted to keep for inspiration. Then I moved on, opening cabinets and closet doors and digging through baskets until I came up with the rest of the items. I didn’t really think too hard about what had to go. Essentially, if we hadn’t used it since we moved here (almost two years ago) it was time to go. By adopting this system, we started to acquire quite a little pile.
One of the things that HAD to go was this old Caboodles case (ladies…remember those) from my tween years that was still containing a couple of bottles of nail polish also circa 1994.
Did you see the two inch layer of dust on the top of that thing?! It doesn’t get used often. I kept the seven bottles of nail polish that are newer and not orange colored when it should have been pink. In the end, we ended up with a pretty big pile of yard sale items.
And there goes Goose photo bombing my pictures again! We’re planning on having a big yard sale once the snow melts, which at this pace means we’ll probably be having it in two weeks. I kid, I kid. We’ve just had an unseasonably warm winter here in Maine. Until then, the yard sale pile (and other miscellaneous items like wedding craft hoarding) has taken over the porch.
It’s a serious mess. But at least once yard sale day rolls around, it will be super easy to lug all the stuff out to the front yard. Our goal is to raise about $500 for our honeymoon…or possibly a new couch for the living room. I know it’s a lofty goal but we’re going for gold!
Pssst…I’m curious, have any of you out there had a yard sale? Any tips? Dish!
