Is Anbody Else Doing This?

[SecondhandSophisticate]

I am in the process of doing my "end of the year" cleanout of "stuff" and have been at it for several hours. If it doesn't serve, it goes to the thrifts I have shopped at through out the year; a way to say "Thank you" for all the great buys at fabulous prices. It's a great way to recycle stuff in the hope that it gets to someone else who needs/wants it and will use it.  Some of it is stuff that I bought thrifted and some of it is new. The donation stuff includes jewelry, books (LOTs of books), clothes, kitchen items. All of it is in good used condition, a lot of the books look brand-new.

I do this twice a year, at year's end and then again at the summer solstice, and may also do it at intervals throughout the year if I am cleaning  an items that no longer serve.

What astounds me as I go through this process is how much I've changed as a person--over ten years, let's say, my life has changed so drastically (both internally and externally) that it actually feels wonderful--like pyschic weight loss, if you will--to release all this stuff, that seems to have belonged to somebody else. There's no attachment to it, I send it all off with great prayers and blessings that it goes to the right person/people at the right moment.

I know just from being a thrifter for over 30 years the sense of karma and luck and perkiness I feel when I find that perfect item at that perfect price. Isn't it neat to think that something that was in (my) your posession could be someone else's perfect moment?

Luxuriating in the unbearable lightness of being,
SeSo

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

It's a nice sentiment, SeSo, as well as being a really effective way to lighten the load of "things." I do this myself periodically-- not as often as I should, but yes-- it does lift a bit of a weight off somehow.

Power to you!

[alexandra]

I have resolved to do mostly the same thing!

The great thing about thrifting, is that since we did not over-pay for items to begin with, there is less reason to hold on to things we no longer need.

My size fluctuates. I no longer hold on to clothing in the hope that some day it will fit again.  I donate it.  Then when my weight drops, I go buy clothes to fit -- and donate the stuff that no longer fits.

Maybe in some strange way, I'm merely leasing my clothing?  There are a few quality peices that I am loath to part with.  They either become projects or go on to someone else I know.

I wonder how many items we buy at thrifts are actually "re-donated" items? Hmmmm!!!  In that case, everyone wins -- the store, the environment, the buyer.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Jay2TheRescue]

I have resolved to do mostly the same thing!

The great thing about thrifting, is that since we did not over-pay for items to begin with, there is less reason to hold on to things we no longer need.

My size fluctuates. I no longer hold on to clothing in the hope that some day it will fit again.  I donate it.  Then when my weight drops, I go buy clothes to fit -- and donate the stuff that no longer fits.

Maybe in some strange way, I'm merely leasing my clothing?  There are a few quality peices that I am loath to part with.  They either become projects or go on to someone else I know.

I wonder how many items we buy at thrifts are actually "re-donated" items? Hmmmm!!!  In that case, everyone wins -- the store, the environment, the buyer.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

Do you ever wonder that at some time you may have actually re-bought the same item you donated a few months earlier?

[LadyinRed]

I usually gather loads for the thrift stores as the seasons change.  In the fall I make sure all the laundry is done and then pack away my shorts, capris, light weight sundresses, and summer sandals.  I use the drawers that they occupied for my long underwear, ski socks, wool pants, etc.  In the spring I get out the fuzzy pastel sweaters and lighter fabrics and put away the dark/heavy clothes.  As the months get warmer and ski season ends, I bring back out the shorts and pack away most of the ski gear.  It is a great opportunity to re-evaluate clothes, decide if they still fit, are still my style, etc.  So I usually have a box to store, a box to donate, and a box of others (to re-fashion, give to a friend, etc).  And I absolutely agree, it's always a very freeing feeling.

Do you ever wonder that at some time you may have actually re-bought the same item you donated a few months earlier?

This makes me laugh!  I don't think I've ever re-purchased my own clothes, but one time I found an exact duplicate, NWT, of my favorite swim-suit.  It was the right size and everything, so of course I snatched it up, especially since I had just recently retired the old one.

[superiorgirl]

DH jokes that when I bring items in the back door of the ts he has warned them in advance that they have to mark the tags in such a way so I can recognize that I had already owned and donated the items and not repurchase them. I *always* drop stuff at the back, drive around to the front and go in to shop!!!

I know that I have picked up things, looked at them thinking they were neat, then realized I donated it!! A couple times I have bought back items I donated - once I lost a pillow sham, so donated the odd one. Then I found the odd one, bought back the other one so I had a pair again. I can't look at them without remembering that!

I always have a donation box going. Whenever I run across something that doesn't fit anymore or that is just taking up space and not serving any purpose, in the box it goes. When the box is full, off it goes. The rule is once something is in the box, it stays in the box.

I consider this revolving door process to be a matter of steadily upgrading my junk. I get rid of old junk and replace it with better quality junk, or sometimes just different junk! It's a win-win situation.

[Jay2TheRescue]

DH jokes that when I bring items in the back door of the ts he has warned them in advance that they have to mark the tags in such a way so I can recognize that I had already owned and donated the items and not repurchase them. I *always* drop stuff at the back, drive around to the front and go in to shop!!!

I know that I have picked up things, looked at them thinking they were neat, then realized I donated it!! A couple times I have bought back items I donated - once I lost a pillow sham, so donated the odd one. Then I found the odd one, bought back the other one so I had a pair again. I can't look at them without remembering that!

I always have a donation box going. Whenever I run across something that doesn't fit anymore or that is just taking up space and not serving any purpose, in the box it goes. When the box is full, off it goes. The rule is once something is in the box, it stays in the box.

I consider this revolving door process to be a matter of steadily upgrading my junk. I get rid of old junk and replace it with better quality junk, or sometimes just different junk! It's a win-win situation.

Often my friend Susan will donate Pyrex that she can't sell.  Often times she will call me and tell me not to buy Pyrex at goodwill because I'd be buying back stuff she got rid of.

-Jay

[foutchie]

That is SO funny about the pillow shams - what are the odds?  LOL

[oceangurl]

Oh Iam forever lugging and tugging stuff into my home and then lugging and tugging stuff out to my suv donating it to Habitat for Humanity, local Animal thrift store and Goodwill. Right now I have my guest  bedroom and all closets jammed pack and I have some serious donating needed to be done, along with the accumulation of many many magazines that need donating. Does anybody else have the issue of collecting magazines like myself? Sometimes I feel like such a creepo with all these magazines, its just that I love to read and do indeed read them  but then when Iam out I will collect more and I just can never stay on top of it, oh please tell me Iam not the only clutterbug around, clothes, mags, shoes, purses whatever! Would like to hear some of your stories to maybe help me feel better. 

[Magpie18]

I release magazines to the various waiting rooms I have to visit...hair salon, mechanic, nail salon etc

[MrsGoodwill]

Oh, SeSo! I love the way you think about things!

I am gearing-up for a big New Year's clear-out. I cannot wait! I would've have already started, but the kiddies are out for school break and there is NO way I can get anything done without them being underfoot! Plus I am going to have to go through their things and I *know* that #1 daughter would hassle me about getting rid of her stuff.

[alexandra]

Jay,

I often spot my donations on the rack!  But I haven't yet re-purchased, I don't think!  If so, I hope it means I am rebuying the smaller sizes!

If I were to repurchase a donated article, it is more likely it would be a menswear item. 

When I see one of my items on a hanger, I am always curious to see how it's priced.  Lots of times, I think it's priced too high.  Then when I am back at the store, I kinda look for it again, just to see how fast it sold.

Maybe I should put a mark on the label so I don't pick the same thing up again!

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[superiorgirl]

My mom isn't quite as bad as the folks you see on tv who have so much stuff that they have trails going through their house, but it's close. She will read a newspaper, mark her initial on the corner that she read it and put it in a pile. If there is an article she watns to save, she notes the page number on a front corner and saves it. Why she doesn't just clip it then and there I will never figure out. Not to mention, with all of the resources available at our fingertips today, I don't get why she thinks she has to save all of these valuable tips in articles!! Happily, since I have birds, she has been parting with some of her papers to line cages. A bag I brought home recently was from the mid-80's!!! SO....I am the opposite. I read a paper or magazine and it gets disposed of right then and there. Papers go for cages, magazines get donated. A great place to donate your mags is to any Veteran's Administration hospital.

[valleythriftshopper]

Does anybody else have the issue of collecting magazines like myself? oh please tell me Iam not the only clutterbug around, clothes, mags, shoes, purses whatever! Would like to hear some of your stories to maybe help me feel better. 

My parents never threw out their old magazines and there were piles of them all over the house.  My sister ended up buying the house so all that stuff was cleared out.  I did still have some of my mother's embroidery magazines though & discovered one of them - Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly- was quite collectible.  It is not an old magazine but went out of print & is still coveted by needlework enthusiasts.  The prices continue to go up for back issues. I found some other issues at the S.A. which I would have passed over if I had not been familiar with them.   So you never know, your magazine saving may be a good thing.  I still have my old Martha Stewart magazines from back when she did alot of articles on collecting & decorating (I get BH & G now).  I was just looking at them the other night & saw some articles about stuff I was less interested in years ago, but find more interesting now so it was like reading it for the first time!

[oceangurl]

Thanx everybody you-all helped me some with this magazine thing, I want to get away from this certain addiction, now that I have the Internet and computer and can do all the reading I want on here, and surfing there really should be no need for me to (how can I say this gentley) HOARD (there I did it) magazines, I just think that if i give them up Iam missing something wonderful to read or ideas, any suggestions or help? lol!