One thing that has happened with putting the house up for sale is that I have done a lot of de-cluttering.
I have a thing for Christmas decorations and over the years have accumulated a ton of them. When we had a finished basement we would put two trees up. One in the living room and one down the basement. Since we have been in this house, we have only ever put up the one tree in the living room.
Both our trees were at least 15 years old and had seen their better days. A friend mentioned she was looking for a tree, so I gave her one of ours. I then decided to buy a new tree which already had the lights on it, as I find that a bind putting the lights on the tree. However I still had the one tree, plus a ton of ornaments and lights, so I gathered them all together along with other Christmas items that we no longer use and took them to the women's shelter (Salvation Army).
There were enough decorations including a small table top tree and a tree for the creatively challenged (it was plastic with slots to put the ornaments in, any one could decorate that one!!) and the regular 6 foot tree, so three households could have some sort of Christmas decorations in the house.
Now the reason I am telling you this story, is that you don't have to give money all the time, if you do have spare Christmas ornaments or a spare tree, this is the time of year to be donating them!!!
This was a big deal for me, as I never ever thought I would part with a lot of my Christmas stuff. We also now have a lot more room in the area in the basement where I keep all the Christmas stuff. Also maybe I was planning ahead, as I know when we moved into this house, dh whined for days about how much Christmas stuff we had!!
I am going to tackle dh's closet this weekend, as CP (cerebral palsy) is coming to pick up used clothing the beginning of December, I donate to them on a regular basis as well. Also for those of you in Canada, Fruits and Passion, have a nice bottle of bubble bath on sale, where part of the proceeds go to Habitat For Humanity.
I am also going to make a point of buying a few extra cans of food this weekend to pop into the food bank boxes, as every little helps.
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9 comments:
We are supposed to be de-cluttering as well Gill. I had already decided to put my Christmas tree and decorations up early this year so that will give me time to donate any that I'm not likely to use again. I love buying Christmas decorations though and usually find an additional something each year!
A x
What a lovely thing to do. Getting rid of stuff can be so liberating in so many ways.
daisymum
Oh I know the feeling about the Christmas decorations. Ours are in the loft and every year my husband moans like mad about how many boxes he has to bring down. Then they lie for ages in the spare bedroom until I can persuade him to put them back again. I just can't throw them out.
That is probably the one good thing abut moving, getting rid of some of the clutter. However I know if I ever moved again, I'd just take it with me. I've accepted I'm a hoarder, comes from all the years of rationing and making do and mending I think.
Ah the 'de-cluttering', what a concept. When I go down into our basement and see all those boxes upon boxes, I know the time draws nigh. Great idea to donate. Womens shelters also are always badly in need of toiletry items too, soaps, shampoos, etc. All the stores seem to have big boxes for people to drop in cans of food, and we have had the boy scouts round who collect them. Good look on your de-cluttering. Another great post of yours Gill.
That was a sweet thing to do!
I often will bring clothes to the shelter when I downsized I brought over boxes of linens and towels too, Once at shoppers there were life brand shampoo on sale huge bottles for 50cents Shoppers were moving to a new location I bought 20.00 worth and brought over boxes of shampoo to the shelter..Feels good dosent it!
Diane
Great ideas Gill! Thanks for sharing!
I usually read your blog first thing in the morning, but this morning, since it was storming, I got up and made a batch of cookies and we have spent the day decorating. I have been superstitious over the years thinking it would be bad luck not to put out every ornament I own (crazy, I know). Today, I realized that the best thing to do would be to pack up what I feel I no longer need and give it to Family Services here, who will then pass it on to a needy family. It was a win win - my crazy superstition certainly would be well balanced with giving to others. It amounted to a tree with all the lights and decorations as well as enough items to decorate a home. Great minds think alike! My house looks very merry and less cluttered, plus, when it comes time to pack it all up it will be so much easier! Great job using your blog to pass on these ideas to others!
I have downsized and de-cluttered my Christmas decorations down to nearly nothing. We don't spend the holidays at home, so I don't even bother much anymore. I gave away my lighted tree and just have a few sentimental things left. It is certainly easier.
That's a great idea - I have I think 10 rubbermaid containers of decorations, plust the Christmas tree and ornaments, and I think last year I didn't put out a bunch of stuff. I'll have to look into donating it somewhere when I get it out next week...
Kris
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