And that is the second quarter of the year, over already! As you know, earlier this year I talked about doing some purging and since we are now another quarter into this year, it's time for another accountability check! My three areas I wanted to work on for the second three months of they year were pantry, garage/camping items and bedroom/clothing.
Pantry: The goal here is to go through things, check expirations, eat things that are getting closer (or are over, I am not against that) and then reorganize everything and get a good handle on what I have left before starting to restock slightly.
How am I doing? I am a woman on a mission. First I took stock of how many of each thing I had. Don't laugh at me, but I found a lot of good deals during the pandemic and when I found a deal, I bought a lot. Didn't everyone? No? Okay. At the beginning of January 2022, I somehow ended up with 14 cans of coconut milk, 12 cans of garbanzo beans and 10 cans of artichoke hearts among other things. I revisited this list in April of this year and although I had done a very good job of eating my way to a cleaner home (I only had 2, 5 and 0 left respectively), I am still working on it (I now have 1, 2 and 0!)
What is next? I still have some weird items like tomato paste (I guess I don't make as much sauce as I used to), pureed pumpkin and canned sardines left which I will probably try to make into a meal (not together mind you!) while also focusing on using more of my dried items (quinoa, dried beans, rice, lentils etc.) and bakery items (pumpkin bread anyone?) before taking stock again and then maybe buying a few things to fill in the gaps.
Garage/Camping: The idea here was to prep for summer by organizing all camping stuff, make sure it's all in top shape, update it, fix it, patch it, go through my food supply etc.
How am I doing? Meh. I went through the food as part of the pantry clean out, and have all of the stuff organized by car camping vs backpacking items, but I still need to get down and dirty and throw some stuff away or give it away. However, I am ready for a summer of camping, even if I did not do a good job of purging.
What is next? Get down and dirty and sell, give away or throw some stuff away.
Bedroom/Clothing: The idea here was to once again go through drawers and closets and pare things down. Kae and Lisa will get a kick out of this line, which I wrote in January: But really, how many hoodies does one woman need? (the answer is...seven...or eight...or maybe nine? See what I mean!?)
How am I doing? Great! I have desecrated my closet and it is about half as full as it was six months ago. I only own two pairs of jeans and two pairs of (non-running) shorts. However, I have a pile the size of the Empire State building of "stuff to sell" and another of "stuff to donate" so we are not quite there yet. HOWEVER! I did put some stuff on eBay and have had some luck, and I also have a drop dead date where if it is not sold by that date, it will go to either threadUP (nicer brands) or Salvation Army (everything else). So we are making progress!
What is next? In about a month, the neighborhood is doing a donation pick up, and I already took a few boxes over to my neighbor for that. For the rest, I will continue to try to sell a few things and then in October (beginning of Q4) if they are still not sold I will send a bag to threadUP and take the rest to Salvation Army. You heard it here first.
One thing I did not put on my list, but I would consider it "bedroom" for now, since my spare bedroom is also my office, is electronics. I have two old laptops, a printer and various old cell phones (along with the usual cords and other random electronic things) that I need to get rid of, so for Q3, I am also adding an e-waste drop off to my list. The place I found will try to refurbish the item and if they cannot, they will properly recycle it. Before I take things to them, I do need to clear out any files or personal information though so this is one of those two step processes that can take longer than expected sometimes! I am also planning a bulky pickup later this year, which will only be for trash, but is a good way to get rid of some of those odds and ends once they have been picked through.
How are you doing on your goals so far this year? What is your strategy for getting rid of stuff? How many hoodies DOES one woman need?
