52 Things Will Leave the Mouse Pad (Round 2) Update

Dear Friends and Family,

It's a new year. And, I'm beginning another round of my clutter diet. The goal? I am going to try and have 52 things meaningfully leave the mouse pad this year. It's a purposeful decision to remove something that has found a home in our home. I'm evicting unwanted tenants.

There's different questions different people use to gauge what should stay and what should go. There's do I still love it, does it serve a purpose, when did I last use it, etc. My guiding light question will be knowing what I know today, would I buy this today?

The List (most recent departures listed first):

1. The next two are almost trivial. I almost feel guilty counting them. Yesterday, I went into a bin of light bulbs we had and I found a plant bulb from the pile of random bulbs that sit in our garage. I brought it into work and gave it to my friend who now uses it to light up the plant I gave her. (see below, second from bottom)
2. I brought a bag of P's swim diapers to school. We've been most excellent about managing diaper inventory and diaper transitions to not have spare diapers, but swim diapers are a different story. On numerous occasions, we bought a pack of 12 to use one at the hotel pool and brought 11 home. Since P doesn't need swim diapers anymore and since we forgot to bring them to my sister who does, I brought them into school and gave them to the two year old room, for those times they might need them.
3. Apparently Mr. mouse got motivated. Out went a cable modem box, an old telephone, two routers, and "some other stuff."
4. It comes out of the woodwork. Clutter. I decided to donate a unitasker. I have a sandwich maker. It makes sandwiches. You butter the outside, you put something yummy and meltable on the inside. You wait the requisite amount of time and voila! Golden brown and delicious on the outside, hot and gooey on the inside. Except, a pan and our bacon press does the same thing. And, I don't eat many sandwiches with cheese. And, the sandwich maker makes is a little too brown on the outside. Still, it's childhood memories headed to Goodwill.
5. More clutter coming out of the woodwork. I peeked inside a cabinet we never use. I know that all of the stuff in it needs to eventually make its way out of the mouse pad. For today, three plastic cups with a baseball logo on one side and a supermarket logo on the other are going to Goodwill. We'll never use these cups. I didn't even know we had them until I looked into the cabinet.
6. And, at the last minute, I decided to add the bagel slicer to the things headed to Goodwill. If the bagel is that hard, I'm not sure I want to be eating it. Why do I suddenly feel two rounds of 52 won't be enough?
7. Erin, at work, LOVES the aqua globes she got from me as a white elephant gift. I have one more box of three in the basement. I think I'll bring them in today for her. I hope that's all of the aqua globes we have in the house. I'm beginning to think Mr. mouse has hoarder tendencies. I hope he never spirals out of control.
8. Two winter coats, both gifts from Mr. mouse's folks to me for the holidays, I wore one coat until it died on me and I'll never wear the other one unless my life depended on it.
9. The other two baby gates, Mr. mouse brought three over for my sister (see below). These two didn't make the cut. They're loaded in my car so we can take them to Goodwill this weekend.
10. Mr. mouse is going on a business trip that brings him within a short drive of my sister so we're doing another scrub of the basement for stuff that P is done with. The biggest and bulkiest would be the five baby gates that my sister needs that P is done with. We took the last ones down late last year so I'll be glad when they're out of the house. Three made it on the flight. Five was too bulky.
11. books: five or more kid books
12. toys: two noise makers
13. toys: Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders
14. toys: elephant pull toy
15. toys: peg puzzle with farm animals
16. toys: two bags of blocks
17. useful, just not for us: house plant
18. useful, just not for us: exercise ball

The tally from 2012?

1. junk: 15
2. useful, just not for us: 14
3. toys: 11
4. baby gear: 7
5. odds and ends: 3
6. books: 2

We'll see if I can get to 52 this year. I'm cautiously optimistic.


Cheers!
mouse