14 June 2008

The Great Summer Destash 2008

100 Things or Categories I’m giving up . . . my sister-in-law,Marsha, has inspired me to simplify with an article she posted on her blog about the 100 Things Challenge. I told her I didn’t think I could do this – reduce my possessions to 100 things. There’s too much memorabilia and stuff at this point. However, I think I can get rid of 100 things. I’m going to try it this summer – ending with a garage sale and then give all the rest to Goodwill – and see how it goes.
Marsha, you’re my judge – this is the beginning of my list. Do all these count as one thing? Or can I count some as individual items?
1. 1 box of summer clothes that are too small
2. 1 box of winter clothes that are too small


3. non-black/white turtle necks
4. the fancy sofa
5. sewing patterns with no material attached to them
6. fabric with no project attached to them
7. non-matching mugs (ugliness factor)
8. plastic cups (ugliness factor)
9. old lotions
10. big pink pillow
11. old sheets
12. 5 knicknacks
13. 1 box of Christmas stuff
14. bag of candle melts
15. 1 box of other Holiday items
16. 2 boxes of books
17. 1 box of paper (to recycle)
18. 3 games
19. 1 box school stuff (Social Studies)
20. 5 skeins of yarn
21. 5 scarves
22. 5 pieces of jewelry
23. 1 box of scrapbook/craft items
24. 2 kitchen appliances
25. Old makeup
26. 5 hanging shirts
27. 5 skirts
28. 3 dresses
29. 2 pairs of jeans
30. 5 t-shirts
31. 1 box of office items
32. 1 box of memorabilia
33. 1 box of old stuff
34. 1 set of dishes
35. 15 Martha Steward mags
36. 15 cooking magazines (useful recipes saved in recipe folder)
37. 1 box of picture frames
38. 1 box of old tapes, books on tape
39. 4 old towels
40. 1 box of winter clothes I never wear
41. 1 box of summer clothes I never wear



This is not 100 yet . . . any suggestions.

The Upcycle Corollary
As a corollary to this I would like to find 10 things to up-cycle among our trash this summer. Up-cycling is recycling items or material that makes them immediately useful. Wikipedia defines up-cycling here. I heard the word first on etsy.com because their all about handmade and recycling. That's cool.


Here are some examples: leather cuff bracelets, a wool wreath, bird giving ball, plarn and crocheted plarn, journals and much more.


I like the idea of up-cycling, because it requires some imagination to repurpose materials originally used for another. Often the most successful up-cycling requires some artistic expression, but it is also entirely practical.


The bird gift balls are a clever example of this. I’m tempted to buy birdseed just so I can try out these bird gift balls next spring.



Stipulations:
- I will not buy any new supplies in order to up-cycle these items. I will have to use the supplies already on hand in order to complete the process.
- These may be items from the 100 things challenge. They may also be just trash that we would have thrown away otherwise (paper, aluminum, cardboard, etc.).
- The products may be reused in our household or made to sell.
- I need to list these on the blog as they are completed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting idea, up-cycling. I think my daughter does something similar when she uses the packaging toys come in as toys while the real toys add to the consumer clutter.

Evan and Julia Abla said...

As usual, children have it figured out before we do! :)