Save or Scrap? Oh my gosh, this part is soooooo hard. For me, this really is a tough choice. There's two conflicting lines of thought here. One, save things that are useful, because I don't have funds to replace them. We are also a bit of MacGuyvers here, and like to make things from what we have. That's part from a financial standpoint, and partly because we like to do things ourselves. Two, I want to clean house. And by clean house here, I mean purge. To get rid of non-useful things, broken things I haven't fixed in a long time and don't want or need anymore, things I keep purely for vague sentimental reasons, and other things that seem only to take up space on a shelf and in my brain.
So what wins? I'm not the kind of person who keeps a half shoelace because "one day it might be useful." But I do keep things which "one day is very likely to be used." I know, a fine line, and maybe I'm still kidding myself, but it's a step in the right direction until I can answer the question - Save or Scrap?
Case Study: I have a box labeled "Junk for Crafts." It's a plastic shoe box size tub with a lid filled with interesting looking parts of things for the kids to do with what they want. It has a spot in the cabinet with the other crafty/art/paper stuff. Every so often, we have junk craft days where I pull it out with some glue and tape and other craft materials spread on the dining room table and tell the kids "to make something interesting." This empties the box, keeps the items fresh, teaches the kids about not being wasteful, gives them an indoor activity, gives me time to concentrate on some other project, and gives them a creative outlet. What to do if I have an odd item to go in the box, but it's full? Then it's junk craft day, or the item goes out the door - trash, recycle, whatever. This is one of the small steps/rules I made last year, and I've proudly stuck to it.
I call that success in reigning in those odds and ends without feeling wasteful (one of my few "hates"). But then there are things like electrical/electronic cords that I have no idea what they go to, extra 3-ring binders I know I will need (no, really, I've already used 3 out of the box this year, I really will use these), and other things I believe I will very likely need later on.
So do I stay frugal and keep what I likely will need (not just "maybe one day"), take the time to try and sell anything worth selling, or do the purge thing and box it all up for the local charity?
Save or Scrap? Save or Scrap? Save or Scrap?
The answer sometimes depends what it is, and sometimes it depends on the day. This is one part of the Messies Anonymous I haven't wrapped my head around yet. So for now, I will stick to getting to "A place for everything, and everything in it's place." I'm positive further down my path I'll have a better answer to this. Here's to progress!
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