Spring Cleaning is Awesome

I have to admit that organization is really, really, really not my strong point. (My stockpile is my one significant exception to the rule.) The problem with living in a small house and not being organized is that I lose things, because any things that I have end up being stashed away in whatever place I can find.... only when I need these things I can't really find them again. You have no idea how many things I ended up buying double (or more) of because I couldn't find the ones I already had at home... And then, of course, since I end up buying too many things because I lose the things I have, my tiny home becomes even more cramped...

So once a year, spring cleaning, at the very least, I find what I was missing. I find what was hidden away and forgotten about for the last year.

And I declutter.


I now have more room to store my things. I now have a small home that looks at least a little more spacious and user friendly now that I got rid of the things I no longer need (or never needed in the first place) that were just sitting in my house taking up room.

And when I declutter, I try to see if others can benefit from my cast offs.

Today I gave away a humidifier that my friend passed on to me that I had no use for. Its been sitting in my hallway for a few months- today I got rid of it by giving it to a friend that has a need for it.

Today I found a bunch of clothes that Ike outgrew- sizes 3 and 4 boys things. Since Ike is my youngest son, and he is 5 already (and my next two are girls) I see no reason to keep the things that he outgrows, because even assuming I got pregnant tomorrow, and it was a boy, it would be at least 6 years before anyone would fit into Ike's clothing. That is even assuming that my next one is a boy. Who even knows if I'll have any more boys? Maybe the rest of my kids will be girls?
So hanging on to Ike's things is just pointless, since it is storing things for years and years and years just for the possibility that maybe, maybe, many years from now one of my kids will wear it.

I'd rather give it away so someone else can benefit from it.

Our local thrift store is packed to the gills and isn't taking any more donations, so I just put the bags of clothing next to the dumpster, and within an hour, it was gone. Someone hopefully will get more use out of it than we will.

I did the same for a bag of winter clothes of Mikes. They were sitting unused for at least 2 years, minimum. I figured if we could go two winters without having any need for them, we don't need them.

They also went next to the dumpster, and also were taken.

I also managed to get some great stuff that other people must also have discovered spring cleaning.

A nice metal mixing bowl. (I have one already and it is super useful. I use it to make a double boiler, among other things.)

A bunch of Tintin and Astrix comic books. (There were a bunch- I just took the ones in great condition.)

I saw a whole set of encyclopedias and a magic trick book but I passed them up.

I put two of my old strollers out there that I no longer use...

And I got a Phil and Ted's stroller that my friend had sitting in her storage shed for the last three years. It needs a wash and more air in the tires but other than that its in great condition.

Not my stroller, but this is what I got. In bright green.

I have to say I am really, really excited about the stroller.

I had a double stroller once upon a time, but it took up so much room and it was a royal pain to push. So I sold it since I rarely used it.

A Phil and Ted's double stroller is kind of double decker, so it doesn't take up any more room widthwise or lengthwise than a regular single stroller when pushing it, but the second seat will hopefully allow me more room to carry groceries, since I have no car and my stroller ends up being my means of bringing home groceries.
And I can take off the second seat and just have a regular single stroller if I want.

I was totally going to buy a Phil and Ted's stroller before, but the price put me off.

Can't say no to free.

So anyhow, I just love spring cleaning. :-D

So much renewal, so much getting rid of junk I no longer need, so much discovering things we already have that I forgot we had or where they were so I don't need to buy doubles, and not to mention helping others get free things and getting free things from others.

Have you gotten any free things from the dumpster or from those purging as part of their spring cleaning? What have you gotten? Have you given away anything? What did you give away?