I'm working harder on decluttering recently. With the Offspring in Europe for a semester, I'd like to have some very visible progress made by the time they get home.
As of right now, I've got about 30 things listed on Marketplace, and half a dozen or so on the local Buy Nothing group. Plus a few things on NextDoor, but most of those are also on MP. I'm listing a few Hallmark ornaments right now, because I've been pondering those in the post-Christmas season. Most of mine honestly have never been on a Christmas tree. Some of them were gifts from Mom.
The ones from Mom tend to be personalized non-Hallmark ornaments, or Hallmark's "Family" series that say "Daughter" or "Mother" for example. The ones with my name on them, I'll keep one or two that I like the best. The rest are getting donated. At least I've got a common name. As I told someone, I'm not at the age yet where I forget my name, so I don't need my name painted or engraved on every-damn-thing. (Note 1). The "Daughter" ornaments are getting the same treatment. Keep the one or two I like the best, donate or sell the rest. So far, I've found a "Daughter" that is a squirrel flying a plane. That one is in the Keep pile for now, given my history with squirrels. I've also got a Daughter bear, stocking, gingerbread cookie, snowman-on-a-cupcake, and gawd only knows how many more. (Note 2)
Note 1 - we've also been given some personalized family ornaments and picture frames. Those have all three of our names on them, and often the family name as well. If I can paint over the names, those will be donated. The photo frames, on the other hand, are wood, with the names engraved multiple times. Unless we have a doppelganger family somewhere, we're stuck with those.
Note 2 - The Offspring is getting their choice of the Daughter ornaments and personalized ornaments. Then we'll discuss the "Grandson" ornaments.
Another part of this process is that I've put two boxes near the door - one for things I'm selling, one for things I'm giving away. Because I've spent too much time looking for stuff that I've posted online and then put "somewhere safe" which then disappeared. Still trying to find a camera lens that someone wants. I can't find it, and I'm 99% sure I didn't donate it. And, to go along with the sign on the wall that says "I need the SPACE more than I need the money" - about every other week, everything in the "free" box is getting donated.
Exhibit A - One answer to "where does this stuff come from?!?!?" I bought these three Hagen-Renaker cats at the local auction. (The Scottish Fold on the right was a surprise, rattling around in the bottom of the box.) But, the cats came as a box-lot of stuff, including half a dozen trinket boxes, two wine stoppers, and assorted other bits and pieces. Most of that has already gone to the Habitat ReStore, although there's a nice little glass sculpture that I'm going to list for sale. But I need to get better at sorting out the keepers and non-keepers, and reducing the amount of time that everything sits around taking up space.
So far this year, I've made $16 on stuff, and gotten rid of about 30 things. Yay me!
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