Thanks to a tip from Thomas Knoll (via Twitter), I found this post about getting rid of 100 things in the month of January, and keeping a list of what I get rid of.
There’s some debate in the comments as to whether magazines should be counted separately, and I expect to have to make some decisions about what really counts as I work through the piles. However, I like the prospect of getting rid of stuff I don’t need any more, especially if it can help someone else.
Item #1 was a CF card reader for a PC card slot, which I successfully gave away via craigslist tonight, after it sat in the living room for about four months. The “free” section is a great way to get stuff picked up by people who want it. Here’s someone else who’s getting rid of 100 (unspecified) things on craiglist.
What are you getting rid of? How?
Update 1/6/08: I’ll be posting items #2-100 in the comments rather than in follow-up posts.
I love this. It hits me right where I am presently. I don’t know if I can do it all in january but that’s probably not the point. Maybe I can do it by the end of feb or something.
Making this a regular practice would be a great way to bring greater simplicity to our lives. Thanks again for passing this on. You should update us on how it goes for you. I’ll probably end up blogging about it too.
#2 Old houseshoes. Soles still in good shape; a little ratty inside. To Goodwill.
#3 Bunch of magazines (about six; I’ll count more magazines separately later).
#4 Gloves
#5 Cup of soup (single-serving just-add-hot-water) - to school
#6 Tartar sauce - ?
#7 Some type of nubby implement from Bath & Body Works or someplace like that
#8 Ugly old binder (empty, 3-ring)
#9 An old pencil sketch, matted. Not sure who did it.
#10 Old watch battery
#11 Belt clip for pedometer we no longer have
#12 Divider with post-its on it (ratty)
#13 The cardboard box we mailed some of our Christmas presents home in. It’s amazing how tempting it is to keep boxes and bags around, holding stuff but still cluttering up the place. Filled it with recycling and took it to the can.
#14 A baking dish we got for Christmas that, sadly, did not survive its voyage in our suitcase. Never opened it - could tell from the sound it made when shaken that it had shattered.
Whoa, Justin. Not sure if things that should be in the trash or consumables should count. An old watch battery? A cardboard box? A shattered baking dish? The way this is going why not count your TP and empty soda cans? And as for the cup of soup and the tartar sauce, why not just eat it (unless you’re also counting loaves of bread and popsicles)?
Jesse-
Good question. If the only things that cluttered our homes were perfectly useful, non-consumable, and in working order, would we even need to do a junk purge? It’s amazing how much junk we haven’t already gotten rid of, despite its obvious uselessness. The point is to get rid of the stuff that’s been cluttering up the place, whatever it is.
For food items, the point is that, after many months, we haven’t eaten it, and have no expectation that we will in the foreseeable future. These items are prime material for a junk purge.
But make your own rules given what’s useful to your situation.
#15 Nostromo n52 SpeedPad (a gaming peripheral, to LesleyMac)
#16 CanoScan 3000 ex scanner (via craigslist)
I also took the recycling out today, but didn’t count that :).
There are many charitable organizations that want your junk and good excesses. They turn it into jobs and money for the poor, for the handicapped, for medical research.
I use Goodwill Industries because it provides jobs and income to the handicapped and sends their excess overseas in abundance.
The Kidney Foundation will send a truch to pick up.
I recently have used the American Cancer Society. They pick up any reuseable thing at your house and sell it in their stores and the procedes go to cancer research.
Group yard sales are good too. My school is charging ten dollars for a table I can rent and sell things one Saturday morning that other people want and I don’t anymore.
Our library just had a old book sale and raised 45,000.00 for new books.