<p>Swimcatsmom- re: tee-shirts not worn, but sentimental- You can spread them all out on the bed or floor and take photos before parting with them or send them someone who will make them into one quilt. I know people who did this as a high school grad gift for their kids. I have to act on this or discard lots of childhood travel and grandparent memory tees. I am not convinced that the quilt would have meaning to the now adult children involved. </p>
<p>We have a household goods recycling option in our town that saves us from the guilt of purging unneeded items. They allow for dishes, linens, furniture, pots and pans, appliances, etc. in good condition to be donated to people who are newly setting up apartments and are of limited means. Makes us feel good to know that the items are in use and we can drop them off as soon as the decision is made- a true win/win.</p>
<p>I will now be referring to this thread for inspiration. Time to get rid of the excess. Thanks all! </p>
<p>Just a progress report, toward my goal of parking a second car in the garage by October. (Yes, October <em>2014</em>, cynics!): </p>
<p>I have taken care of 2 boxes out of 27 that need to be handled. In the process, I found a fossil dinosaur footprint. No, really! It was a gift, and not a footprint laid down contemporaneously with the last time I cleared out the garage, in the mid-Jurassic.</p>
<p>This thread is an immense help to meâI hope that it will continue.</p>
<p>Was reading some spring cleaning column and it suggested cleaning out your email too to reduce how many you get. So I am contributing to cleaning that by unsubscribing to admails I don"t really read and just delete. Surely worth a bag Amazing how many pile up with on line orders, etc from the holidays.</p>
<p>Two garbage bags worth of clothes OUT! I have a semblance of order in my closet now. Happy dance!
Cleaned out drawers that really were another âlimboâ place. Happy to have it back!
Going to take pix of my old t-shirts and make a collage of memories! I know the quilt will never happen since I donât have time for it. I can probably combine some old pix of me actually wearing those T-shirts which would be more meaningful.</p>
<p>Cleaned some more stuff from the MB closet and found a couple of purses that needed to go. BTW, I adore my new purse!!! It is so cute and so tiny yet so functional. The best part is that I canât stuff too much crap on it, so I have to be minimalistic about what I carry. </p>
<p>We had plans to be out of town this weekend which fell apart so I decided to use my vacation day cleaning my closet! I have 4 bags ready to go to Goodwill - a couple of bags of trash - a few things are set aside to be altered. And it feels so good to see everything hanging in order, ready to go! Thanks for the continued inspiration.</p>
<p>Bonus! Cleaned out sock, underwear and etc drawers, besides the bag to donate and the one to throw away, found old old family pics in the sock drawer. From my mom as a baby, my parents dating, me as a child - you get the idea. Now to scan them in and share them :)</p>
<p>I need to start focusing on one area of the house at a time instead of bopping around randomly. Anyway, today I decided to go through the cupboards in the master bathroom. Or should I say, start going through them! Huge job - there are boxes and bags in there that have been there for years - many many years. Part of me thought âI havenât looked in these for years so just dump themâ, but I have some misplaced items I am in hope of finding so need to go through everything (have a âlight fingeredâ in law and on the rare occasions she used to visit I would hide things - then forget where I hid it. Am missing some jewelry and am hoping i hid it - not real valuable, but sentimental - my wedding ring which I canât wear because it wonât fit over my swollen joints and an opal ring that was my grandmas, left to my Mum and she gave it to me). Went through a bunch of stuff and it was mostly trash - 3 kitchen sized trash bags - yikes - and Iâm nowhere near done. I guess I just shoved cr*p in there to hide it and forgot bout it. Did find 2 silver necklaces I forgot i had and look forward to wearing wear once I get the tarnish off. Also went through the overflowing laundry basket which i have not seen the bottom of in years. Washing it all and most will go in the donation pile. And opened a large box to find it contained tons of unmatched socks that I assume I was planning to try and find matches for - trashed the lot without hesitation (progress! and my husband saw me do it and was fine with it - HUGE progress!)</p>
<p>So tally so far, 2 blackbags for donations (plus a bunch more clothes I am going to wash and then go through and bag up), 3 white trash bags full for trash today plus a couple last week. Couple of boxes of text books to recycling. And was able to sell 2 textbooks books on Amazon for a $65 gift card - woot.</p>
<p>Bad things is I am realizing I am as bad as my husband when it comes to getting rid of stuff. Well, maybe not that bad. Good thing is, I think I am getting more ruthless as I do this. Thank you again for this thread.</p>
<p>Bathroom looks like a bomb hit it, but Iâm done for today.</p>
<p>hint for cleaning silver jewelryâfill a bowl with warm water and a crunched up piece of aluminum foil and add a big amount of table salt. Add silver jewelry and wait about 30 minutes or so (there really is nothing specific about this formula) and you will have clean and shiny silver jewelry again.</p>
<p>I just found at least 100 VHS tapes in the back corner of my basement. Can these be junked with regular trash or is there a special disposal method? </p>
<p>OregonâŠwill that work on silver plate flatware?</p>
<p>Just get a silver cleaning cloth for your chains. They cost under $10, and all you do ons slide the chain between the cloth. Easy peasy and gets the silver chains clean. And you can use it again and again and again. I keep one in my jewelry drawer.</p>
<p>Re: VHS tapes? Does your transfer station have a swap shack? Some will put VHS tapes in there.</p>
<p>What is the best way to dispose of expired medications? I searched to see if there was a collection site in the area but didnât find anything. Only thing I find online is to mix pills with garbage (like coffee grounds) before throwing away. Is there a better way. DH the collector also never throws out a prescription, even if itâs expired (some for more years than I care to admit).</p>
<p>VAMom2015, my local police take those expired medications and then they incinerate the collected meds somehow. You might call to see if thatâs the case in your community.</p>
<p>Some pharmacies take expired meds and dispose of them. Mixing with cat litter or coffee grounds before putting in the trash is a good way, too. It prevents dumpster divers from getting their hands on the pills. </p>
<p>I got 6 boxes out to Goodwill this morning (none from the garage, though). The man who pulled in just ahead of me had an entire van full of donations, literally.</p>
<p>Our local Goodwill will take VHS tapesâI asked.</p>
Amazing how many pile up with on line orders, etc from the holidays.</p>