Unloading the Boxes
I love winter. Honestly, I do. I love the crispness, the snow and how gorgeous it looks even if I'm not a big fan of the cold. It's snowing right now. 
I'm really sad that tomorrow is the first day of spring. Call me crazy if it makes you feel better...
Because the munchkins and I love winter, we have a lot of snow clothes - mittens, hats, scarves, coats, etc. It's a frugal choice for us to have extra, even though all those extra clothes take up a lot of space. We make up the cost by skipping the clothes dryer. One wet coat off, one dry one on and back outside we go... Wet things air dry and humidify the house for free.
On the flip side, around here, we generally only keep one bathing suit per person and don't have a lot of sand toys. We don't spend much time at the pool or on the beach, except on vacation or other rare occasions. We don't have the need for more. It might be different if somebody lives in, say, California or Florida or owns a pool. They might need 6 suits per family member and 12 sand pails to build world famous sand castles.
Depending on where you live and what things you like, the things that fill your home with should reflect your lifestyle. It's not frugal to keep things you won't use. Those things take up space and cost more to store than we realize. Besides, when you hold onto that stuff you're depriving other frugal bargain hunters the thrill of the kill. You wouldn't want that to happen, right?? 
How do we seperate the dross from the gold in regards to the stuff we should pitch and the stuff we should keep? It helps to know your call in life, your passions, what you enjoy, what your kids like that isn't just a passing fad or fancy and what you have easy access to from outside sources. Some things are easier to identify than others. Keeping or pitching gets shady when you only use something 3 times a year, but really need it when you need it because it's expensive, hard to find, etc., etc. Those are the things that require soul searching.
A homeschooler who no longer homeschools should donate their materials. A woman who tried jewelry making and didn't like it should pass on the beads and tools she acquired. Clothes smaller than the smallest child in the family, with no more children expected, should move on to happier homes. Out dated technical magazines (e.g. Computer Shopper from August 1989) should not pass go and land directly in jail... or the garbage, whichever is closer.
I know that should is a pretty strong word. People bristle when other folks tell them what they should do or be doing. I hear ya. I'm good with that. Even though there are a lot of shoulds, you still have the option not too. I just ask that you remember what it's costing you to store all that unused stuff. That might make you reconsider.
What did you donate or pitch in the past that you thought you would miss, but haven't? (Pick your favorite!) Or what did you find that you desperately missed and ended up replacing? I'm sure they'll be a lot of fun stories of regret and bliss!
About 10 years ago I got rid of my great aunt's vintage sewing patterns! ugh Up until that point, I hadn't made much from the time I left home until then. With 2 bouncing boys, I wasn't optimistic about getting the chance ever again. Silly me. Now vintage sewing is one of my favorite free time fillers. She had some good stuff too. {sigh}
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6 Responses to “Unloading the Boxes”
March 19th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
This is so timely! I have been thinking about the two big boxes of fabric taking up space on much needed shelves in my garage.
They are the remaining fabrics from the time I had a craft business (like ten years ago).
Perhaps this is another nudge to find them a needy home.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Absolutely. I’ve decided that Spring 2008 is the year of purge. (Clutter, that is…honestly, we didn’t overcelebrate St. Pat’s Day.)
We’re going through with three boxes. What we can donate to someone, what we want to store in the attic (this will be the smallest box), and what we’re going to toss. I’m going to add a lesson on recycling to this too so we’ll see that all that stuff that they (and me!) so desperately wanted didn’t really bring as much happiness as we thought…and we’ll try to brainstorm ways we could have/should have used that money to help others.
I think it will be a good exercise.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
This was an excellent post. I have been having debates over all our excess junk for weeks! Our family of 3 lives in a small 1 bedroom apt. and it irritates me how all of our closets, shelves, drawers & cupboards are overflowing. I can’t even find what I need because it is all too tightly packed!
D.I. has a donation container near our home and I am going to take advantage of it thanks to your nudge.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I took baby clothes to a consignment sale. It hurt a little when I saw the cute little pink outfits being sold but I looked at the people buying them and I was glad they were able to make their little baby girls look cute for just a couple of bucks. I made $143 off that sale and have so much more to sell off.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I’m big on purging. I can’t stand to have stuff taking up space for no reason at all. But sometimes that leads me to get rid of things that I later regret. The one big example of that for me is the box of coins my grandfather left to me. He collected coins. His collection wasn’t worth anything; it was mostly just coins he got during WWII. They were kept in a little treasure box. After more than a decade of dusting that little treasure box that didn’t really fit in with my decor, I decided to get rid of it.
I deeply regret that decision now because that collection was special to my grandfather, and I just dumped it. I would love to be able to look through those old coins now. I didn’t realize the (sentimental) treasure I had. Ah, youth and stupidity…
March 20th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Well, two weeks ago, we found that by rarely cleaning out our closets, we benefitted greatly (not exactly endorsing that method here!).
My husband has had two Stafford suits in the closet that he got back in 1989-1990 when he was in a music group. He’d been threatening to get rid of them for a long time.
We have a growing 15 year old son. He didn’t have any suits–so he tried them on, and, WOW! They fit PERFECT-LY. All they needed was some dry-cleaning and pressing. We figured the $23 to clean and press them both was worth it, at only 15-18% of the original cost of like-quality suits.
My teenage daughter is also growing. I had dresses saved from my college days ‘(88-90). In this case, they were special dresses that my mom had made and ones I wouldn’t ever wear again but wanted to keep. I didn’t know that they would fit my daughter like they were made for her! Double blessing!
But wait, there’s more. Our youngest daughter is now wearing a dress of my older daughter’s. Not quite as amazing, perhaps, but this dress was a kit that came all the way from Australia and one I smocked.
We feel pretty blessed to be able to provide this quality clothing for our children for Easter Sunday.
I think we’ll be sorting clothes with a different mindset from now on (however long the window of opportunity lasts!).
Sometimes the Lord has you hang onto things and you don’t know why!
Krista
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