Gifts are a difficult area to simplify. Wedding gifts, Christmas gifts, work-related gifts, gifts from children...all are difficult to get rid of because of the value we place on the giver. My practice has been to use each gift in some way for a time:
all the apple or handmade Christmas ornaments go on the tree at least one Christmas
display the pink antique glass for a few months on a shelf
bring out the silver tea set on special occasions the first year
After that, I feel better about giving the item away, or if it's a family heirloom passed down, storing it with other such treasures in a bin in the attic until I can make up my mind. Today I put a bunny ceramic planter in the give away bin after using it for some time after receiving it for Easter.
Long post short...just because someone gave something to you as a gift, you're under no obligation to keep it long term.
My daughter and I sorted through a lot of her outgrown clothes. We filled up three bags of clothes to give to Goodwill and discarded a lot of torn and stained articles of clothing . She also set aside some t-shirts to make a quilt out of. (Hopefully, you still have the quilt directions available!)
ReplyDeleteThe bonus of this is that I finally found my missing Smartwool sock! It was in the bottom of a laundry basket filled with my daughter's outgrown clothes. I'm so glad that I didn't give up on the lonely sock stored in my sock drawer. The two socks are happily reunited.
I think I like this post the most of all. I have a ton of stuff that other people have given to us over the years.....and you are right - I don't have an obligation to keep them forever.... As we get going in downsizing for our move next year, our "keep" list is shrinking. And, Heidi, I am planning on having the "truck" come to the house in September. Will let you know how that goes.
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