I saw a recent episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive and I thought that I have a couple of rooms that could be candidates for the next show.
Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but truly the stuff just seems to appear. I find things, and parts of things, that I’ve never seen before and that my kids claim they didn’t bring into the house. That leaves our dog as the only suspect.
My younger son is a bit of a hoarder and I find mystery items on his desk, under the bed, on the floor of his closet, in the car, in his backpack.
There’s a bike in my yard that my kids say don't belong to their friends, sports stuff in the garage for sports my kids don’t play, coats & sweatshirts we’ve never seen before. And you know you have too much stuff when you come across unopened toys or games and clothes that still have tags on them that you got as birthday or Christmas gifts.
So it’s time for spring cleaning. At least it’s easier these days to get rid of things than years ago. My mom always kept a running box for Good Will in the basement.
“Why throw something out if someone can use it?” was a motto I was raised with and now I’m thrilled if I post something on Craigslist and someone who really needs it responds. Instead of just dumping a box of miscellaneous stuff in the church clothing dumpster, if you post a specific item, especially with a photo, you can often find someone right in a nearby town that wants it.
This is especially helpful with bigger items.
I had an unused foosball table in the basement. I offered it to a few friends but no one wanted it. Within 15 minutes of posting it on Craigslist for $25 I had five responses and someone picked it up that afternoon! I also had a couch that didn’t sell, but as soon as I posted it under “free” I had numerous emails in response.
I had a couple of wooden shelves in good shape, a small table, and two lamps I wanted to move and found that the on Franklin Avenue takes donations with all proceeds going to local charities. It was a great feeling to drop these things off there for worthwhile causes.
