The Saturday Seven - #24

the absurdly late edition

It's not that I didn't do my Seven Things last week. It's just that I am so far behind in everything right now that I didn't get around to posting. My Seven Things were pretty boring this go-round anyway - 7 books, 6 of which I donated to the church rummage sale, 1 of which I gave to our babysitter (I am the Central Park Jogger, which I actually bought in hardcover).

I may be taking a break from this blog over the holidays (what's that you say? I already seem to be taking a break? well, you may be right). I'll try not to take a break from the project itself, but we'll see. I've got to cut myself some slack right now. I'm just a little in over my head. And the constant stuff coming into my house isn't helping much.

Here's to a new year, a fresh start, a renewed commitment!

Total stuff gone this week: 7.
Total so far: 200. That seems like a nice number to end this year's blogging on. See y'all soon!

The Saturday Seven - #23

This project continues to challenge me. It remains true that I have way more things than I need. It remains true that of the many things I don't need, there are many, many things I haven't used in years. And it remains true that every week, when I try to find seven things I don't need and don't use, I find myself hanging on to those very same things, with the thought, "I might use/need/want this some day." Or now, "My boys might use/need/want this some day."

This week, it's books. In my study at home, I have two bookcases that have been with me since graduate school. These are the books that don't merit a place in my office at work, or in my craft closet (where I keep most of my best knitting books), or on one of the shelves in my bedroom, or on my nightstand, or in our living room or sunroom. Basically, for some reason, the books I look at or refer to least are the ones in my study.

It's probably safe to say that of the six shelves of books in my study, I will probably never use half of them again. So why is it that it took me nearly half an hour to find just seven to give away?

At least the ones I found are ones I am certain I will not miss:
Sleepers (book on tape - listened to once and will not again)
The Celestine Prophecy (book on tape - never listened to, never will)
While We Run This Race: Confronting the Power of Racism in a Southern Church (a book whose primary purpose to this point has been to make me feel guilty for not reading it)
Hidden Prey (a John Sandford mind candy thriller - I've read all the Prey books, guiltily loved them all, and will never read it again)
The Fussy Baby by William Sears (given to me at a La Leche League meeting; but my babies weren't fussy so I never really needed it)
Who Do You Think You Are? (a personality profile book that I've had for more than 10 years and haven't looked at in about that long)
Dr Marcia Emery's Intuition Workbook (um, the only thing more embarrassing than owning this is that it has taken me more than a decade to get rid of it)

Things gone this week: 7
Things gone so far: 193

The Saturday Seven - #22

the grey t-shirt edition

Here is how this project is good for me. Because I am such an all-or-nothing kind of person, there are weeks I would be giving away nothing at all b/c there is no time to do the really big overhaul of my stuff I need to do (i.e., if I can't do all that really should be done, I'll just do none). But with this Seven Things commitment, on weeks like this, I just make myself go through my closets and find seven more things I never wear.

This week, I immediately came upon five grey t-shirts. How many grey t-shirts does a person really need? In fact, how many t-shirts of any color does a person need? The problem is, even though I usually only wear tees to workout in, most of them have some sentimental value for me. Most of my tees are ones I got from certain events, and they are like little souvenirs. Little souvenirs that I really don't need to be hanging on to 10 years later. But still.

Here are the five grey tees. I could only bring myself to part with two of them - a little cropped Adidas one (no need for anything cropped ever again), and a one from a mission event I was a part of in 2000 (shown on top of the pile in pic below). The other three, that I couldn't quite let go of: the Mickey Mouse tee on top - a Target find a few years ago, and I actually do still wear it; a cute tee from a children's camp I worked at 9 years ago; and a t-shirt from my graduate school (I never wear it, but I kept thinking I still might....)

Had to find 5 more things to go with the 2 grey tees. So:

• a light green shirt I bought at the Gap last year; the color doesn't suit me

• a rose-colored shirt I've had for years and My Old Man used to really dig, but I just don't like it enough to keep keeping it (but it's really hard to get rid of something I know he likes)

• a green t-shirt from last year's Vacation Bible School
  

• a flowy, crinkly blue, white, and purple skirt, bought at TJ Maxx my last year in college - it was totally me, I wore it for years and loved it, but the elastic has gone out in the waist and it's not so much my style anymore

• a pair of black bootcut stretch pants that are past their prime - the first non-maternity pants I could fit into after I had my babies; I've tried to get rid of these as a part of the Saturday Seven at least twice before but kept thinking I might wear them. I haven't.

Phew. This was hard. How is it that I can have so much stuff, know in my head that I don't need so much, and still find it so impossible to determine which things I can live without?

I'm giving these to the church rummage sale.
Total this week - 7.
Total so far - 186.