The 100 Days Cleanout

Day 46- Tiling It On

2012-02-08T12:55:00.001-08:00

One would think that I am neglecting this poor little blog.

And one might be right.

I must apologize to all 6 of you who wander by here occasionally. January is generally a bad month for me. I have trouble getting things done. I just don’t have the mojo after all that goes on around here in November and December.

But I think I am back on track. Today’s offering is small but significant.

Or not

Yes, that is a partially full box of tiles. Tiles from my back hallway to be specific.

They are being given the old heave ho. In the figurative sense that is because in the literally sense I would then have to clean up all the shattered tiles. I am all for making LESS work for myself rather than more.

And yes, I KNOW I should probably keep them. That the minute they leave the house for good I will drop something heavy on the back hall tiles and break one.

I am going to risk it. And there are other half empty boxes of tile from other tiled areas that are also going bye bye. Yes I could keep them for the next people who inhabit the house, whenever that is.

But I am not going to. They are on their own.

I am mean.

Day 45-A Bit of This, A Bit of That

2012-01-24T10:23:00.001-08:00

Today is a mish mash of things. I was going to stretch them out to multiple days but really I don’t need to do that. I have PLENTY of things to cover the rest of the days that this particular period of cleaning out will encompass.

PLENTY.OF.THINGS.

So today you just get a mish mash of things.

This box isn’t even my stuff. It is a box that is full of things that Shoe Queen is getting rid of. When we were preparing to put Chez Knit on the market a couple of years ago Shoe Queen had to clean out and put away things that were in her closet and in a wardrobe that sits in her room. She just sort of stuffed misc things into the boxes and I toted them to the basement and there they have sat for the last several years. But when she was home at Christmas time she went through the boxes, discarding some things, keeping others. This is the box of things that are being donated.

Thank goodness I found the totally good and working ipod Classic before I donated the box!! That was a very good afternoon.

Sorry the picture is a tad blurry. That is just sort of what my life is like some days. This little beauty used to sit on the counter with fruit in it. We have found that if we keep fruit on the counter we tend to grab that for a snack rather than something less healthy.

But this thing really is rather massively tall. I don’t even remember where I found it. But I have been using a different fruit holder that is a little less “statuesque” so I am culling this one from the herd.

Again with the blurry pictures! One would think that I wasn’t a photographer.

Yes, this is a box. A wooden box. I used to have a lot of these. I had them screwed to the wall of a guest bathroom at the last house. They had loads of tchatchke in them that gathered dust and looked country.

What was I thinking?

Most of the boxes are long gone and this one has been hanging around in the basement gathering dust down there. So it has gone bye bye.

Ahhhhhhh. I feel better.

Day 44-

2012-01-23T09:56:00.001-08:00

The winter days grind slowly here at Chez Knit. The snow comes. The rain arrives and melts all the snow.

I continue to clean things out.

It may not look like much but all of these little items have been clogging up my winter wear basket. And so they must go to new and better homes where they will be appreciated.

The fuzzy little thing on the bottom is actually a scarf that I rescued from the parking lot at Wally Mart. It was all wet and bedraggled so I brought it home, washed it and it is as good as new.

Only it is fuzzy. And a shade of green that makes me look like a zombie on the set of The Walking Dead.

Then there is the fleece scarf and gloves. The scarf is too short and not as warm as my hand knit wool scarves. The gloves are DEFINITELY not as warm as my mittens. And those multi stripped mittens that are hiding in the pile?

What the heck was I thinking. There are actually TWO pair of them which makes me think that either I purchased them for the progeny. OR I inadvertently purchased them twice. I am not sure which thought is worse.

The other things that are going bye bye are my old knitted dish rags. I lovelovelove my cotton dish rags.

Did I tell you that I love them?

But these are getting a bit ratty. You can’t really see it on the picture but they have seen better days. So they are getting the gentle heave ho too.

But never fear….

I have knit a whole bunch of new ones AND managed to use up my stash of cotton yarn. Killing two birds with one stone.

I love it when these kinds of things turn out.

Day 43-I Am a Picture Hoarder

2012-01-18T11:57:00.001-08:00

I might have mentioned before that I am a “belt and suspenders” kind of gal. I think through all the possibilities. I plan the escape route on the plane if I have to evacuate. I know where all the exits are.

I hoard every picture that I have ever had printed.

Boxes of them. Stacks of them.

There was a time, long ago, when I would actually take a roll of film to wherever it was that I had film developed. And always I would choose the “double prints” option because, you never knew when you might want to send a picture to the grandparents or use one for a project or something. And then I started scrapbooking and rather than selectively re-print some pictures I would have a moment of sheer madness and say,

Print them, print them ALL!

And then I would use about half of those prints and then put the rest in a box, all neatly organized by year. And then when I needed those pictures again….of course I wouldn’t actually look through the boxes. I would have them printed again.

Insert expensive dope slap here.

But I am slowly beginning to go through those boxes. To look, quickly, at the pictures and decide if I already have a copy of them in my carefully organized photo boxes that I AM using for scrapbooking.

Yesterday, while Nick the plumber was here replacing the ejection pump, I was busy ejecting pictures from the boxes. This pile represents pictures that I already have a copy of somewhere else. Or pictures that are blurry. Or pictures that just aren’t right.

I was going to scan some of them to show you but then I would just end up saving an electronic copy of pictures that I don’t want to keep anyways.

And that would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole clean out thing.

Trust me, I am scanning in a BOAT LOAD of pictures every day and some of them are doozies. I am sure I will show them to you at some point.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Look OUT! It is a photo avalanche.

Day 42–The Decorations Keep On Comin’

2012-01-17T13:23:00.001-08:00

Here we are, the middle of January…

And I am still dealing with getting rid of Christmas decorations. I promise that this will be the last post. I hope. But this one almost didn’t happen. I almost chickened out and put it back in the box.

Even though I haven’t put it out in a boat load of years.

Even though there are issues.

You see, there is a story attached. Like THAT is a surprise.

Yes, that is a white picket fence. You might be asking yourself why it is in with the Christmas decorations. Well…..I used to have this miniature Christmas tree that I would set up on a table. And it had it’s own little decorations and it’s own little lights and it’s own little tree skirt. And I even made decorative “gifts” that went under it every year. And my Auntie Jane decided that what I needed to make the thing complete was a white picket fence to go around it. So she made me one.

And I have used it for many years. But it has had some hard use and been dropped here and there and…..

Well, it got dropped one too many times. I am sure that I could fix it if I really had to but I have decided instead to let it go. I no longer have the tree that it went around nor the ornaments for said tree. So it is time for the final goodbye.

But if I had to I could make one for myself.

But I am not going to. I will just remember this one with great fondness.

Day 41-Mr. Monkey

2012-01-12T12:08:00.001-08:00

There was a time, here at Chez Knit, when we had a wealth of stuffed animals.

A plethora.

An overflowing abundance of plushies made in far away places.

Thankfully over the years we have divested ourselves of all the stuffed dogs and cats and assorted animals. HHBL and I actually carted all the Beanie Babies to Rwanda and handed them out to all our “kids.

Carting a suitcase full of Beanie Babies and little back packs from Cleveland to Newark to Brussels to Kigali to Entebbe and back to Kigali was NOT a good time had by all. But it got them out of the house and into the hands of someone else who would enjoy them.

But I digress.

Today I am letting go of a treasured friend who has been hanging around eating stray bananas for many a year.

Mr. Monkey

I don’t remember how Mr. Monkey came to live with us. What wild jungle he was snatched from. It is quite possible that he was, dare I say it, a “bribe” for good behavior at one time. His “squeeker” is on it’s last legs. He has permanent orthopedic issues. And he is none too clean not to put too fine a point on it.

He is one of those stuffed animals that you can insert your hand into, all the way up to his head where you can make his “squeeker” squeek.

Putting my hand up his posterior regions always felt sort of proctological and just plain wrong.

And so, even though I cannot put him on a slow boat back to the wilds of Borneo I can send him to AmVets. That may just be wild enough for him.

Good Bye Mr. Monkey.

Day 40-Mr. Hammond, The Christmas Decorations are Down

2012-01-11T12:57:00.001-08:00

Well, I have finally gotten the Christmas decorations stowed away in their assigned boxes. All the boxes are IN the basement but not back in the correct portion of the basement. That will happen tomorrow….

I hope.

But I have cleaned out the Christmas decorations, culling an entire box of things that we no longer put up, that are old and worn out, and that I never liked.

I was going to spend endless hours today photographing each one of the items and telling you about them.

And then I put on my big girl panties and decided that that idea was just too obsessively organized even for me…which is saying something.

Trust me it is a big box. I think I herniated a disc in my back lifting it up onto the counter so that I could get a good picture for the 3 of you who stop by here. And now I have to lift it off the counter and put it into the garage. Or better yet I will put it directly into Coco and take it to AmVets on Friday!

I have also made the decision to make life easier when decorating and to stick to one color of lights….clear.

I have eliminated most of my stings of colored lights over the years but there were three strands left, hiding in the bottom of the “lights bin”. I found them despite their efforts to hide. They are getting the heave ho as well.

Ahhhhhhh, it is nice to have my house back to it’s usual self.

Day 39–His Day Has Finally Come

2012-01-09T12:08:00.001-08:00

Well, the new year has finally arrived. And that means that I am finally getting around to putting away the Christmas decorations. I will admit that this is one of the least favorite jobs that I do here at Chez Knit. And there are times when I think…

HEY! Maybe I can just leave the decorations up all year long and then just tell people that Chez Knit is actually a West Virginia colony.

No?

Darn.

But I digress.

When I put away the decorations I try to decide if there are any decorations that just don’t fit anymore. Those decorations that you pull out every year and then put right back in the box. You know the ones I mean. We all have them. I am sure that there are more of them that will show up here in the next few days.

But today…..

I am sorry to say that it is time for Easy Rider Santa to ride right out of here.

Yes, Ardith, I still have him….but not for long.

Easy Rider Santa “came” to me several years ago at The Annual March of the White Elephants. That is just another way to describe our yearly gathering to exchange unneeded, unwanted and sometimes heavily damaged goods. What a family!

Easy Rider Santa came to me fully functional and in it’s original box. SCORE!!! And I have put him out several years now. But he really doesn’t play well with others and must be put in a lonely spot where he cannot incite the other Santas to up and take a road trip.

Good bye Easy Rider Santa. It has been nice knowing you. Ardith do you want him back?? I would be GLAD to send him to you.

Day 38 The Re-purpose

2012-01-06T10:31:00.001-08:00

Today I am not cleaning out but re-purposing. I try not to do that too often but you will understand when I tell you the story.

First a bit of back story. In 1998 HHBL and I were blessed to be able to take a trip to Israel with my Parental Units. It was fabulous! And I might have brought some things home with me. One of the things that I brought home and put to immediate use was a mug. A mug that I had purchased from the shop of a potter in Bethlehem. Ah Bethlehem, paradise of the locals who would gladly sell me a carved, olive wood camel for $5 or two for $10! Who would follow me on to the bus to try and get that final sale.

But I digress.

I brought the mug home. I loved it. I used it for tea and for coffee. And then one day I decided that I wanted to do a bit of “home remodeling” without having any knowledge of what I was doing. I got it into my brain that I wanted to get rid of the soffits that were above the cabinets in my kitchen. You know what a soffit is? It is the “filler” between the top of a cabinet and the ceiling. I don’t have any here at Chez Knit because I don’t like them. But at the old house I had plenty of them. And they bugged me. So one day I looked at the soffits above my cabinets and thought

I have never liked those.

I am sure they are just decorative.

How hard can it be to take them down.

I will go and get the hammer and the crow bar.

No one ever said that I knew anything about soffits. Or remodeling. The cabinets were fine without the soffits but those soffits were not entirely decorative. But that is neither here nor there. What I need to tell you is that when I started my mini demolition project I didn’t take the time to remove the dishes that were sitting on the counter. It didn’t even occur to me.

And so it was a very big surprise when part of the soffit came off in a less than controlled manner and crashed down onto dishes, breaking 5 cereal bowls AND…..

Chipping my favorite mug in not one but TWO places.

It was not a good day. But that was many a year ago and the mug has been in constant rotation for tea and coffee. The chips never seemed to be a problem. I was happy. Until recently when I took a look at the inside of the mug…..

Ever expanding cracks and hot liquid are not a good mix. The mug hasn’t yet begun to leak but it is only a matter of time until there is an unfortunate coffee incident early in the morning. But I am not ready to totally get rid of the mug. I love it. So I have given it a new life as something else. For the last two months I have had two very small rosemary starts that have been rooting in a little jar on my window sill. They were volunteers that I found in the rosemary plants that I brought inside at the end of summer.

Have I told you that I love rosemary.

And I love my Bethlehem mug.

And now everyone is happy.

Day 37- And The Pottery Just Keeps on Comin’

2012-01-05T12:52:00.001-08:00

I think I have mentioned before that I have a pottery problem.

A dishes dilemma.

I ask myself daily the age old question….

How many dishes does any one person need in her life?

And the answer always is, Not as many as you think.

I cling to my pottery/dishes like I cling to my gray hair. Tenaciously. Like a bulldog with a nice meaty bone.

But even a bulldog has to drop that bone at some point.

This is what is being shipped out.

Sorry for the unfocused nature of the picture. That is because it is not focused. In case you missed it. This is a bowl that came as a Hostess gift several years ago at the
Annual ~~Steal-a-thon~~ Ornament Exchange. I have used it off and on but I have other things that work better and so…..bye bye.

This has been used in the past as a butter dish. We keep our butter out on the counter so that it is ready at a moments notice to be slathered on toast. But the problem with this little dish is that it has no top and is therefore open to the air…and vulnerable to rapacious dog lips. Remember this little incident…..

So I have decided that we will stick with the butter dishes that have a lid. It is safer that way.

Yes, yes I know this is Pampered Chef stuff and I know it is great. But I haven’t used it for any reason at all in about 3 years. And I think I can say that if I haven’t used it in three years then I am not going to use it so it goes….bye bye.

This beauty belonged to Grandma Amsler I believe. I have used it in the past but frankly I am tired of cutting a finger on the severely chipped handle every time I cook with it. It is a small size and that was a plus but I am tired of putting money into band aides.

And finally. Hope, these bowls belong with the set of white dishes that I gave you. Do you want them? If so then you can have them. I am not sure how they missed getting into the box of dishes but they did.

My dish cupboards feel lighter.

Did You Miss Me??? Otherwise Known as Day 36

2012-01-03T11:47:00.001-08:00

Well! I certainly didn’t intend to take a good portion of the month of December off. I had cleaning out plans. Great and weighty plans.

And most of them came to absolutely nada.

I only have so many hours in the day. So many minutes in my life. And the month of December were filled with parties. And then more parties. And then Christmas. And family. And friends. And cookies, oh so many cookies. But no snow…..at least not until today.

Can I clean out the snow?

But I am back now and gearing up for more clean out.

As proof of this I offer you my small clean out for today.

You may not think this is a very big offering but believe me it is. It is the first step in breaking my addiction to pottery and dishes.

Good golly it is about time!

I am sure that there will be more pottery to come as I work in the dish cupboards.

That I even have multiple dish cupboards should tell you about the problem.

Sigh.

And to those who have let me know that you are starting the year out with clean outs, my joy is overflowing!!! Jen and Bonnie and all…..

You go girls!!!

Good Golly!

2011-12-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

I so did not intend to take a break from The 100 Days Cleanout!! It is just that Thanksgiving and then Christmas have caught up with me. They have beaten my to a pulp and then gone off and taken over. It might have been the 4 parties in 10 days that we hosted here at Chez Knit. And that doesn't include the parties that HHBL and/or I were invited to. Good Golly.

Don't leave me.

We will be back after the first of the year with lots of interesting things that are being cleaned out. I will tell you that the cleaning out is continuing and I took a boat load, or perhaps I should say a car load of stuff to Am Vets late last week. They were happy. I was happy. It was all good. Coco, my car, was happy when I unloaded all that stuff. She was packed to the gills.

And then Shoe Queen could put her car in the garage for the Christmas holidays so she was happy. Of course we don't have any snow at the moment so her car, Annie, could have been out on the driveway. But I am a nice mommy so she gets to park in the garage.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Try to clean something out for every thing that is brought in over the holidays. I am trying to remind myself of that.

I might be in negative territory at the moment. But we won't talk about that right now.

Day 35-Angels We Have Heard

2011-12-05T12:02:00.001-08:00

The house is finally decorated. The tree is finally up. And I have been busy cleaning out Christmas decorations that no longer are used.

The first to go are these.

I know, I know. I am horrible for giving the angels to boot. I hang my head in shame.

But they are still going in the donate pile.

The angels that are standing I purchased somewhere, in some shop, some time ago. I cannot remember a thing about the purchase and I don’t really like them all that much. They have never really played well with the other angels over the years. And so, because of my ambivalent feelings towards them, they must go.

The pile of egg angels in the front are ones that I made many years ago when the progeny were little. I spent many hours doing crafts because it was either that or dig a big hole in the back yard and bury the little ankle biters up to their necks. These angels were actually a project that I taught at a crafting workshop at church. I have a bunch more but these fellows have not fared all that well. I could glue the wings back on but there are other problems with them. Eggs are not generally flat on the bottom and do not sit up well. I sanded the bottoms of these when I made them to help them be a bit more stable. These angels evidently didn’t get the memo. And I am tired of taping their little eggy angel bottoms to the table.

So they get to go

Bye Bye.

I Haven’t Cleaned Out A Darn Thing Today

2011-12-02T12:45:00.001-08:00

I hang my head in shame. I haven’t cleaned out a thing today.

This is why.

I have been cooking. And baking. And generally getting a bunch of prep work done for a party on Monday.

My kitchen looks like a bomb hit it and I have managed to use every measuring spoon and cup that I possess. And I possess more than my fair share.

And the bowls! Oh the bowls.

Plus the food processor.

And various pans.

I have used 2.5 pounds of butter in the past three hours.

And 2 pounds of powdered sugar.

And pounds of coconut.

And mounds of chocolate chips.

And blocks of cheese.

So maybe we can say that I cleaned out various shelves at the local Wally Mart.

Yeah, that’s it!

Day 34-Mugging It Up

2011-12-01T05:27:00.001-08:00

Mugs. I have a problem with mugs. I have a weakness for mugs. I have mugs that have saying on them. I have mugs that have pictures on them. I have mugs that have come home from far away places.

Who could ever forget

The Tumbling Bears Mug

Oh don’t they look so HAPPY!!!

Of course I am not going to get rid of THAT particular mug. It stays with me forever.

But there are other mugs that are getting their walking papers. Some of them are basic mugs that companies have given us as a “thank you”. Companies that do this PLEASE stop. They are cluttering up my cupboards.

And then there are a few mugs that I have purchased on trips here and there. Most of those I am keeping as they get regular use. But there was one….

One big mug…..

One gigantic mug…..

The Gigantic Mexican Mug of Un-usability

The picture doesn’t convey to you the size of this thing. And I just have to ask myself why I purchased it. I think, and this is only a theory because I can’t actually remember, that I must have had some leftover pesos and needed to use them up in the airport before flying back to the USA. That is the only possible explanation for the purchase of a mug that is gigantic in proportion and isn’t very good for coffee and definitely cannot be put in the microwave or through the dishwasher.

Pretty to look at, impractical to use.

So I will say Adios Mugmigo!

Day 33- The Linens Are Breeding

2011-11-30T10:37:00.001-08:00

I found another box of kitchen linens in the basement. I had no clue that I had so many kitchen/table linens. It is almost scary. I am sure that there will be more stuff that shows up here but I just thought I would show you a few that are going to a good home and out of this den of craziness.

I was very big into placemats when the progeny were growing up. It was just easier to clean up the mess that way AND we didn’t have fights over who sat where.

But these days I am just as likely to use a table cloth as placemats so we really don’t need such a large collection of them.

I have kept the ones that I really like. And some of those are even “on the bubble”. This pile has been added to the ever growing mountain of stuff.

Day 32-A Bed Frame Too Many

2011-11-29T09:09:00.001-08:00

Ah bedframes. So often when you buy a new set of mattresses the company will “throw in” a bed frame for “free”. You do know that they have just added the cost to the mattress right? Mattress company’s do not have your best interests at heart.

I do because I want you to clean things out and free yourself from clutter. But not them.

I am not sure how we managed it but we have several extra bedframes down in the bowels of the basement. I know that we don’t have any extra mattresses hanging around so I am not sure where they came from but I do know what is going to happen to them.

They are going bye bye.

I am tired of moving them from one side of the basement to the other. And I am tired of having them fall on me after standing them up against the wall.

I am bitter.

And someone else can certainly use this thing. If I need another one some time I am sure that I can find one without too much difficulty.

Or the mattress company can just give me one for free.

Day 31- How Did All That Stuff Get In There?

2011-11-28T12:30:00.001-08:00

WOW and entire week off! Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was fantastically filled with food, fun and family. Mine was, emphasis on the food.

But now it is back to the serious business of cleaning out.

We have a shed in the back of the yard. It is the repository of all that isn’t in current use or hasn’t been in current use for the last 10 years. Someday I will tell you the story of the shed. It is long and involves misplacement of said shed and movement of said shed to another spot and all the things that happened in between. Remember it is me who is writing this. Things just go KAFLOUIE! around here sometimes.

But I digress.

This is an entire garbage can full of stuff that HHBL and I cleaned out of the shed.

Sprinklers that do not work.

Hoses that are the only part left from some unremembered and long gone yard machine.

Half empty, mouse nibbled bags of grass seed.

Broken pots.

A non-working lawn mower.

A very old and non-functional leaf blower.

Once we started the cleaning out my main mantra seemed to be

How the heck did this get in here? I haven’t used this in forever!

And every time I said that then I knew that it was something that I should just put in the garbage pile or the donate pile.

Now the shed is all nicely organized and ready for winter.

And next Spring I am so selling that tandem bike on Craigs List. Someone will want it I am sure.

Questions to Clean Out With

2011-11-18T11:46:00.001-08:00

I am taking a short clean out break today, just today don’t worry, to tell you about the frame work I am using in my own brain for the clean out. It is all well and good to tell myself, and you, that I need to clean out. But it shouldn’t be a willy nilly process where you are pitching stuff left and right in a great orgy of “cleaning outness”. I can tell you from experience that when you do it that way you will throw out some things that you will regret. The clean out must be steadily and thoughtfully done, emphasis on steadily. Bite off a bit at a time and don’t get discouraged, throw up your hands and quit.

I have a framework in my head that I use as I go through things. I have a few “clean out questions” that I ask myself, 10 to be exact about it and I was going to tell you about them…..

And then Miss Minimalist beat me to it. Curses! She has 20 questions to my ten (the over achiever!). And to top it all off her questions are better than mine ever could be. Sigh. Go over and take a look at her exhaustive list. But NOT until you are all done here thankyouverymuch.

I am no expert on cleaning out. You will never see me on Hoarders or Hoarding: Buried Alive saying,

My name is Debbie Q and I am a specialist in the field of……

No, I am just someone who, many years ago (that makes me sound ancient), came to realize that in order to have a life that was in any way productive I needed to have things organized. That is where I started, with being organized. You can have a lot of stuff, a lot of duplication of things, and still be organized. I certainly was. I was organized, oh yes I was. But I was unhappy, boy howdy was I! And I filled those unhappy spaces with the acquisition of “things”. Never big things mind you. Oh no, The Dollar Store was my friend. I wasn’t cleaning out Dillards and hiding the clothes in the trunk to sneak in the house. But I was steadily purchasing.

And I had collections of things. And if you have a collection of something of course you need to continue to add to it. You couldn’t possible say,

You know, I think I have enough of this particular item. I am going to stop adding to the collection and just enjoy what I have.

So, I was organized. But I was weighed down with stuff. I ran on the thought that I had to “save that” item because I was going to use it/read it/wear it/craft with it again some day. I was absolutely sure of it.

That is such a lie.

If you haven’t worn that piece of clothing in the last 12 months then you are NEVER going to wear it. Your hand has passed over it in the morning, looking for something to wear, and you have chosen not to wear it. Why keep it?

With the exception of a few core craft supplies you can pitch the things that you bought specifically to make that project from 1997.

We all know that I am a lover of books and reading. Books have always brought me knowledge and solace. And yes, there are books that I re-read on a regular basis. But I know that most books that I have read I will not re-read. And if I need to then I am pretty much guaranteed that I can find it at the library. That doesn’t apply to all books but it does to many of them. So why keep them. Now, I am slowly acquiring books in electronic form but those take up no space, other than what The Nook, inhabits. And I am being careful of what I purchase. I really hate buying a book that in the end I wouldn’t have wanted to keep.

I think I digressed. Yup, pretty sure that I did. But then this is sort of a stream of thought thing so we will just have to go with it.

I could go on and on and on and you would eventually run screaming into the night. So, let me just tell you the questions that I ask myself when I am cleaning out.

1. Have I used it in the last 12 months? This applies to clothes, to shoes, to cooking utensils, to just about anything. 12 months is a good time frame because it covers all the seasons and holidays. If the answer to this question is no, then it needs to go.

2. If I cull this thing from the herd can I replace it if I need to? The answer to that is almost always yes.

3. Has this outlived it’s usefulness? If it has then release it back into the wild. If it isn’t useful to you anymore it won’t ever be useful to you again.

4. Do I have something else that I like better than this and has a similar function? If so then you don’t need two of whatever it is.

5. If I donated this item would it hurt someone’s feelings? This is a sticky one. And one that you have to answer on your own as to what to do. But it is something that I ask myself.

6. Does this item have monetary value that I can extract? Craigs List and ebay are beautiful things. As is Amazon where I have been known to sell a book or two. Take some time to find out if the item has some worth. But be prudent!! If that book you are dying to sell can be purchased at Amazon for .01 then you are going to lose money if you try to sell yours. Donate that item. Or set up an account at Paperback Book Swap.

7. If you are unaware that you even owned it then you don’t need to keep it. It has no hold over you. Let it go.

8. Is it broken? If it is and I do not know how to fix it and it has been broken for a while….let it go to someone who can nurse it back to health if that is possible.

9. Do I really need ALL these Christmas decorations? Oh believe me, this will be the question that I am asking myself after Thanksgiving. And the companion to that question is: How much Christmas decorating is too much. A whole blog topic in itself.

10. Does this item bring me joy. If the answer is no then you know what to do.

This post turned out a lot longer than I had expected but then I am not known for my brevity. Ask HHBL and he will tell you. Sometimes I just have to use a bunch of words when fewer would do.

The 100 Days Cleanout is taking the week of Thanksgiving off so that I can play with Cartoon Girl, TMO, TSiL, Shoe Queen, Pilot Man, The Chef, The Parental Units, various and sundry family who haven’t ever been blognamed and of course HHBL. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will see you in a week.

Day 30-The MishMash of My Life

2011-11-17T10:11:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it is the little things that accumulate here and there is our lives. We move them from one side of the house to the other or one drawer to another.

At least that is what I do. They had a place at one time but have been unused for a time or replaced with something newer but never “culled from the herd”.

There was a time in my life when I had short hair. I mean REALLY short hair.

See, really short hair. And then in 2005 I looked in the mirror one day and decided that short hair just didn’t work for me any more. And if it didn’t then that meant that I had to grow the hair out.

And for a time I looked like a crazed poodle. Curly hair everywhere. There wasn’t a ton of hair so I could actually use small clip barettes and clips. But no more. I have enough hair to braid into a rug so these little clips have to go as they can’t hold a thing.

I have no idea where the basket came from. It is cute but I don’t know what I would do with it. The calculators are the last vestiges of my less that stellar career as a scrapbooking consultant. I had a bunch of these so that people could add up how much they wanted to pay me. People just didn’t seem to want to use them for some reason. And then there is the metal container. It had a lotion bar in it at one point but I used that up. And then I used it to store some…….post-it notes. But no more. It is gone.

These little beauties used to sit on the bathroom counter. And then along came Joyce the Stager.

Well they are cute, but it really doesn’t portray a clean and sleek look does it. I am afraid they will need to be stored UNDERNEATH the counter.

And I got used to them under there. And then I decided that if I was going to store the q-tips and cotton balls under the counter I would just put them in mason jars and give these away.

There was a time in my life when I painted my nails all the time. I buffed. I shined. I painted. I was concerned about my cuticles. Ragged nails were instantly banished.

And then I became a nurse. And I had very short fingernails. And then I had kids. And nail polish lasted for about 2 days. And I cannot stand to have chipped nail polish.

I can honestly say that I will never take the time to buff my nails again. In fact, I didn’t think these should even go in the “to be donated” boxes so I just pitched them out.

I have no idea why there was a tongue depressor in with all the nail stuff. And I don’t think I want to know.

Ignorance is bliss.

Day 29-Little Pots For Little Plants?

2011-11-16T08:39:00.001-08:00

I have no clue why I have these.

The photo doesn’t really give you the sense of how small they are. Really small. And I have no idea why I actually have them. I don’t remember buying them. I don’t remember the craft that they were probably purchased for. It may have been something long ago when the progeny were in grade school and I was often called on to do “craft time”.

I earned my nickname, “The Craft Lady”, legitimately.

Yup, they have been tucked away in that corner of the garage for a long time.

A long time.

I will assure you that I did clean them off a bit before adding them to the donate pile.

I didn’t want to have the Am Vets guys run screaming down the driveway and vow never to come back.

I need the Am Vets guys.

But I don’t need the little pots.

Bye bye.

Day 28-Everyone Has One

2011-11-15T11:57:00.001-08:00

Everyone has one. Don’t deny it, you know you do.

Everyone has…..a junk drawer.

I happen to have two that reside in the laundry room. I have a feeling that is where many ~~junk~~ utility drawers can be found. It seems a natural ~~hiding~~ storage place for these sorts of things.

I will admit that I regularly clean out my “storage” drawers. An orderly storage drawer points to an orderly mind?

Or not.

But for some reason I had overlooked these beauties until today. It was part rearranging and organizing. And it was also looking through and discarding and scratching my head in wonder.

A nice but a bit rusty Master lock. And if I only had the key to go with it then it might be useful. But the key is no where to be found. I think this is the lock that I used on the storage unit we rented the year that we built Chez Knit. But I cannot be positive. I am fairly certain that it hasn’t been used since about then. Bye bye Master lock.

I have duplicates of the tools and I have no idea what that bottom piece of metal is. Anyone have any guesses?

Yes, I know that I am going to want these at some point in the future. But they have been unused for the 11 years that we have lived here, residing all of that time in the back recesses of the drawer. So they are getting the boot. When the time comes and I find that I want them I will just spend some time castigating myself for my shortsightedness. Until then…..bye bye.

The tube is hard as a rock. Therefore I have concluded that it might be time to throw it out.

A mismatched assortment of pieces of plastic, keys with no home, push pins and other assorted junk. Hmmmmm, I see a piece from the Battleship game. I had better pull that out.

Stuff. It is the little pieces of detritus that I find so interesting. One foam earpiece from a long ago headphone set. One small pink clip.

And last but not least. Some of the cupboard knobs that I replaced when we gave a cosmetic lift to Chez Knit. I actually sold all the cabinet door handles on Craigs List. These just didn’t sell and I am tired of shuffling them from one dark corner to another so….

Bye bye.

Oh the drawers look so clean and organized. Doing my happy dance now.

It evidently doesn’t take much to make me happy does it.

Day 27-Not The Sharpest Blade in the Drawer

2011-11-14T12:41:00.001-08:00

We all have them. Lurking in a drawer in the kitchen.

Dull knives.

I had Shoe Queen’s friend Abby here today demonstrating Cutco Knives. Do you know about these. They are the most completely fabulous knives in the entire world.

I have three.

I want more.

It isn’t happening any time soon. They are a tetch on the expensive side.

But after Abby left I felt the need to look through my knife drawer and at least pare (get it PARE) down a few of the knives in there. Some of them are still “on the bubble” as far as whether I will keep them or not. They never get used but I let some of them stay for a bit.

They begged and I was feeling generous.

These fellows did not make the cut. I know it doesn’t look like a very big amount to have cleaned out but this represents about half of the paring knives/utility knives that I have. But I don’t use any of them as they are dull or not very good quality or just plain old. And so I have carefully wrapped them and put them in a box labeled “knives” and put them out with the rest of the donation stuff.

Ahhhhhhh that feels better.

Day 26-Books Are The Hardest Thing

2011-11-11T11:00:00.001-08:00

Books and I we go WAAAAAAAAAY back.

I wasn’t called Bookworm growing up for nothing. I took books on vacation. I would just stay in the car and read when everyone else got out to see the sights. I took books to camp even though it was forbidden. I read under the covers at night with my flashlight, fully convinced that Papa and Mimi didn’t know. I read through the heat of summer. I read in spare moments at school. I read in the car.

You get the point.

And when I had a bit of money I bought books.

I have always had a collection of books. I cannot imagine life without books, both traditional and ebook. It is a reoccurring nightmare for me to be some place and not have anything to read.

But books take up space. At least the traditional paper kind do. Lots of space. Shelves and shelves worth of space. In our last house all my books were stored in a dark and dank room in the basement or in boxes under the bed. If I wanted one of them I had to literally take a flashlight down to that dimly lit room and look for it. So I made sure that when we built Chez Knit I had PLENTY of space for books.

See, loads of places for books.

Add to the fact that we have space for books is the fact that I live near libraries. Libraries that have book sales. AND one of those libraries also has shelves where they put out free books that they aren’t going to try and sell. And then there was a Borders close by Chez Knit, at least until they closed. And then there were the books that Papa or DaPoo or Linda or Abuela would give us.

We had lots of books.

I have been steadily cleaning out books over the last 18 months or so. Oh it is hard. So hard to do. I will look at a book and think about the good times that we have had together and think….

No, I am not going to donate THIS book. I might read it again. In fact I KNOW I will read it again. I am certain of this.

No, I am not going to read it again. Lets be honest about this. And if I feel the urge I bet I can get it from the library.

Here is a pile of books that are going to the local library. I have The Red Badge of Courage, The Last Days of Pompeii and The Cloister and the Hearth in digital form now. Oh how I love The Gutenberg Project. I have read American Lion. I have Shelby Foote’s Civil War master work from which The Stars In Their Courses is taken. And I have electronic copy of Death Comes For the Archbishop which is my favorite Willa Cather.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a bunch of shelves full of books that I am working my way through. And there are a number of boxes in the basement that still need to be gone through so you may see more books as the days go by.

But this is my start.

But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard.

Have a great weekend everyone. Clean something out. You will feel better for it. Email me and tell me what you did. I love to hear what people are cleaning out.

And don’t get discouraged!!! Just concentrate on one little thing at a time. It all gets done eventually.

Day 25-The Linen Edition

2011-11-10T11:53:00.001-08:00

Towels. Sheets. Blankets. Lap throws.

You name it we probably have had it spilling out of our overflowing linen closets. There was a time, in the not too distant past, when I felt that I really needed to have two sets of sheets for each bed in the house. That way when I took sheets off the bed to wash I could put the other set of sheets on.

I was especially bad about the sheets for our bed. I will admit that we had more than two sets of sheets. WAY more than two sets. And you also have to know that in the winter time we use flannel sheets. So there were sets of linen sheets and sets of flannel sheets. And then HHBL and I got a new mattress and box springs this year. And it is one of those lovely, cushy pillow top deals that are really deep. And that meant that none of our sheets fit the bed. I had to make a decision at that point. It just didn’t seem to be a good economic idea to go out and buy more than one new set of sheets for the bed. I would just have to wash and remake the bed all on the same day. Horrors! But it really wasn’t horrors. It worked very well. And I also bought only one set of flannel sheets. And I am good with that.

We have more than our fair share of bedrooms. And that has meant that we had more than our fair share of sheets of various patterns and shapes and ages. Regular twin bed sheets. Those dang extra long twin bed sheets that colleges curse us with. Full size sheets. Whatever. When we put Chez Knit on the market in that not very successful attempt to sell I went through the linen closets (yes I have two) and purged somewhat. But not enough. No not enough.

These are just a representation of the sheets that are being culled. And there are also a bunch of “single” pillow cases that don’t seem to have any sheet sets that they belong to.

There are also towels in the box. These are towels that were used by the progeny. And I would like them to answer something for me.

What in the world did you guys use that turned a portion of the towels a lovely pink color. Big splotches of pinky color all over. Actually I think it was something that bleached the color of the towels.

Every one of them.

So I have decided to give them their walking papers. When the house was on the market Joyce the Stager said I had to buy some nicer towels for show. Heaven forbid that we would use these towels. So I do have some towels to use in that bathroom.

Progeny please do not stain the new towels when you come home to visit.

And I am not just cleaning out bedroom linens. I am also going through my larger than it should be collection of table linens. Out go the table cloths that we never use and that I won’t ever use. Say goodbye to the cloth napkins with a color that I loathe. There are also some placemats but I just didn’t take a picture of them.

Placemats?!? Mmmmmm, I love placemats. I love the crumbs on placemats. I love to pull them off the table and lick and lick and lick them until they are clean for you Alpha Male.

I am always looking for ways to help you Alpha Male.

I am a good dog.

And then there is the story about the duvet cover. And the duvet that went with it.

Are you surprised that there is a story? How long have you been hanging around here. There is ALWAYS a story.

Many a year ago Abuela (my mother-in-law) decided that what she wanted to buy for all of us for Christmas were duvets for our beds. Perhaps we looked cold? They have a duvet and felt that we would benefit from the same. Okee dokee but I wasn’t too excited about it. And then we needed to get duvet covers for them. For some inexplicable reason I picked this monstrosity. A duvet is, in and of it self, a really warm blanket often stuffed with down of some sort. And to add this thermal cover to the duvet just meant that I felt like I was weighed down by something that was giving off enough energy and heat to power a small city. And I wasn’t even close to menopause at that point in life. But I sure felt like it!

The duvet didn’t last long. In fact I think it is now on Shoe Queen’s bed. But this duvet cover has been stored up in the closet for about 8 years. And so I will say……

Bye Bye.