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Home > Taking back the house, Clothing Purge

Taking back the house, Clothing Purge

July 30th, 2011 at 01:15 pm

After two solid days of cleaning and yard work, we have taken back control of our house. The mess from the housesitters is gone. I just have to clean in the basement which is not a big deal. Our new dryer was delivered yesterday so I can also start washing some window sheers that are very dusty, my crumb covered dining room table cloth, as well as the bedding from the guest room that they slept in during the summer. I am so relieved to have the housesitters dirt, grime and hair gone (well pretty much gone)! We are also completely unpacked.

Our grass looks very nice. We did some more raking to get up more clippings since the lawn was so high when we got back. We also weeded the most visible shrubbery beds so at least from the street and driveway, our yard looks well-kept. We also hand-trimmed the yard-tall grass around all of the things one would normally trim. The housesitters had never once trimmed. We still have to weed the entire back yard which includes a big hillside and power wash the deck and porch. We live at the bottom of a big hill just below a huge trickling spring and just above a stream so our house sits in a very wet environment. This creates a lot of green mold-like stuff that grows on our house, porch, and deck. I will be scrubbing the front steps today with a bleach solution.

To save money, we have what we call an "equipment alliance" with our next-door neighbor. We share a power washer, snow-blower, push-mower, a spreader, and certain tools. If things need to be fixed, we share the cost. This works so wonderfully. We don't each need these things as they get used fairly infrequently. We have a lawn tractor and use the pushmower on the steep and wet parts so we don't need it a lot either.

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Since we moved all of our things out of our closet and dressers to make way for the housesitters things, we had to move them all back in. This was the perfect time to purge items that a) were damaged, b) very old and out of style, c) did not fit, and d) were excess items. Because we lived in Sweden for 7 months and had to take everything with us when we flew, we took very little. We learned to live with just a few items of clothing and realized how much excess we had so we decided to add the "excess" category when we did the purge. We ended up donating 4 big, black garbage bags of clothing to our local charity. This was about 65% or more of what we owned. it felt really good to get rid of these things! Our closet is half empty and our drawers are half full. Now I need to work on the kids' closets.
This will also save money since I know now exactly what I need to buy for work for my new job. I tried on a lot of things and realized that I had some nice outfits that I had bought for interviews, my mother's funeral/viewing and my brother's wedding and rehearsal dinner in the last 5 years. I will be able to cut the amount I thought I would need for work things in half. Now I need to get busy on the kids' closets so I can see what they actually need to start school. My DS10 was going to a private school where he wore a uniform so he may need some new things since he is moving to the public school. Most of his regular clothes are hand-me-downs from his older brother and have seen quite a bit of wear and staining. My older son just turned 13 and is growing so fast that I know most of his things that we did not take to Sweden are too small since most of the things we did take are too small. He needs new everthing except shoes, socks, and underwear. I just need to figure out how much he needs.

1 Responses to “Taking back the house, Clothing Purge”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1312031476

    I love that your trip produced a desire for less. That should make for even more future frugal living!

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