Halloween Trinkets and Blow-Up Sculptures

Trinkets...you know, the little goodies sold along with Halloween costumes like jack-o-lantern flashlights, scary buckets, glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets, toys, etc.  Gone are the days of throwing a sheet with eye holes over your head and carrying a pillowcase for candy.  We buy lots of stuff for holidays.  Before you buy, think about how you will store those little goodies after Halloween.

Another thing that blows my simplifying brain is blow-up characters outside people's homes for Halloween or any other holiday.  Usually there's not just one.  They are cute and all, but my thought is, "Where do they keep all that stuff the rest of the year?"

If you are a target for holiday marketing of trinkets or blow-up sculptures in your front yard, be forewarned.  They will take up space in your home for storage.  If you don't have space for such frivolity, perhaps just enjoy your neighbor's displays.

Magazines

How old are your magazines or catalogs?  Sometimes they stay in a rack for many moons and we just get numb to the pile in the living room.  Purge some older catalogs today and sort through magazines you have finished.  It gives the room a less cluttered look to have fewer lying around.

Boxes

Sometimes empty boxes cause clutter.  We hang onto boxes just in case we need to return items.  With all the shipping done by Amazon.com and other online shopping, boxes are something we must deal with more than when we shopped locally for everything.

Today I am breaking down a couple boxes that have been sitting around.  They are the outer boxes protecting the inner boxes of products we ordered.

Old Diaries, Journals

This topic is a tough one.  I love history and if everyone in the past had decluttered their diaries, we would have lost valuable insight into life in those times.  One option is to at least organize your past journals and diaries into a central location, a single shelf or box.  You could type the info into a computer to save, but the historian in me recoils at that.  Some would say to scan the pages so the handwriting can be seen.

I don't have an answer except I know I have discarded some of my past because what I wrote was dumb and I didn't want others to read it.  Others are being kept, at least for now.

Experience Birthday Gifts

Those of us who want to simplify our lives, especially from clutter, have a hard time with receiving gifts.  If you really don't need it, but it comes from a loved one, you want to hold onto it because you love them, yet...

My family has become really good at choosing gifts that aren't the "sit around on the shelf" type.  They are generous with things I'll use up or wear.  Recently, my kids gave me "experience" gifts.  These gifts were to spend time with each adult child going to some event in which we were both interested.  One was a cookie tour throughout a historic area's bakeries.  The other was a day at a  cooking convention with vendors, how-to sessions, and a Food Network star cooking demonstration.  I loved spending one-on-one time with my adult children,  the memories made, and all we learned! Plus, nothing with those took up space.

Consider your gift giving this year.  Can you give an experience to someone?  How about a service like babysitting or car washing?  Could you donate to a charity in their honor?  If asked for your wish list, offer those suggestions.

School Pictures

What do you do with leftover school pictures?  Those of us who are teachers receive a complimentary  pack of 24 photos of ourselves about this time each year.  I want to say, "Mom, how many do you want?"  When we were kids, we used to trade photos with friends and collect as many as we could before our stash ran out.  Sometimes our character was tested when the unpopular kids wanted to trade photos with us.  That doesn't seem to be a trend now, at least with my students.  So where to the zillions of mini photos go?

As a parent, do you hold onto the extras?  I would advocate not keeping them.  With all the easy access to digital photography, it's unlikely you will lack any of your child at this age.  Just throw them away.  I do.

Recycling Days

Our county has designated days to help us declutter:

1.  Hazardous Waste Day:  we can take all the half used bug sprays, paint, car waxes, old oil to the recycling center and they will deal with it all!

2.  Electronics Recycling Day:  all those old computer components, PDAs of old, TV's, boom boxes, etc. that are outdated can be dropped off.  I'm very excited for this one.

3.  Shredding Day:  people can take bags full of old papers to be shredded and then recycled.

Check out your local government website or the waste management link to find out about these opportunities to unload unwanted stuff in a safe way.