10.10.2011

Cleaning Out

Closet Case Kitty - 1 Closet Case Kitty - 2

Piles and piles and piles of stuff. How it all accumulates is beyond me. Last weekend I went through desk drawers, closets, file cabinets etc. and organized everything. I threw away old papers, sorted through forgotten shoes, consolidated and re-packed closets to use our space a little better. We even rearranged the living room. The whole experience was so therapeutic.

So...what to do with all the stuff you don't want to necessarily throw away?

SHOES: You can bring old running shoes to Nike stores and they turn the materials into playgrounds. Between the two of us, Jackie and I had 5 pairs of shoes to dontate. Done.

CLOTHES AND HOUSEWARES: I was also feeling too lazy re-sell clothes on consignment (plus, they never take anything!*) so we looked up places to donate clothes. There are many options for clothing drop-offs, but we wanted ours to go towards a good cause. My research lead me to a few discoveries: #1, those yellow clothing drop-off bins all eventually turn into recycled materials. The whole point is to reduce the amount of trash in landfills and increase the amount of textile reuse. That's nice and all, but my clothes are actually still wearable! #2, Goodwill...I heard that they throw away a lot of stuff. They also just sell clothes to support the salary of employees. Meh. Our last local choice was Out of the Closet, a thift store that is run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). All proceeds help run the medical services AHF provides. Perfect, done!

I'm embarrassed to show the state of my car in this photo but look at all this stuff we no longer have!!

cleaningout

*Tip recycled from a friend: If you wash and IRON your clothes, your chances of re-selling your clothes goes up by a TON! 

1 comment:

Leslie said...

that picture of neko is precious! love it. im cleaning too! its so cathartic and embarrassing to see how much stuff i have in my room...