You might recall a post about starting my journey and the things that had to go. Now I’ll tell you what exactly I did with all the stuff.
Giving out plushies
One of the most emotionally painful things to get rid of was my mountain of plushies. Every single one of them had a story behind it, had a name, had a soul I had given it. There were creatures from Italy, from Scotland, ones I had kept since my childhood, and more. Now all that is left is my pictures of said plushies, and as I look at them I’m filled with this bizarre feeling like I’m looking at a live thing I gave away. Like a bad plush-mum.
They had to go, all the dust gathering and shoving them in the closet to be out of the way and not hindering the actual life we live was long overdue. And so I graciously gave them away in two patches, one with the bigger fluffies went first, and the smaller ones went later on. I like to think the ladies that picked them up found a good use for them, some child or two may be smiling and using the toys for what they were meant for: playing. At least I hope so, I’d hate to think they’ve been turned into some experiments like the ones that were unfortunate enough to be entrapped in Sid’s room in Toy Story.
The mountain of books
I’m not exaggerating when I say it was mountains. I had filled about ten of those boxes you can get from a grocery store for moves with just books. They were looming over us near the entrance, taking space from underneath the hat shelf. There were over 200 of them in total that I send out into the world.
What was so heartbreaking about this one was that I had accumulated a collection of books from the authors I look up to (King, Nix, Pratchett, etc.), and now I was giving away these golden tomes of endless joy. But, my dear readers, when you do not use something for more than once in your life, no matter how hard you tell yourself you’ll get back to it one day… It is time to let go of such a thing. These 200 + books were sitting on the shelf for over a decade, and then sitting in the boxes until they finally got adopted.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a collector of books, just in a more sensible way. I know, I know, I love the smell and feel of the paper too, but from a more functional and home-friendly point of view, having our collections in the digital form is so much better! And on top of that, no matter how many you amass, you’ll never run out of shelf space or risk ruining or losing the epics!
Flea marketing to the max!
After the biggest hurdles, the toys and the books, I had to get rid of some clothing and games, as well as other small knickknacks. I put them all out there in online flea markets and waited patiently for the people to come asking, and eventually, I got my share of attention in the recycling circles. It was not too difficult to get rid of the things I didn’t need, didn’t fit, or just otherwise were in the way of the life I am trying to lead these days, and as an added bonus I got some nice pocket money out of it too! I am a fan of trying to repurpose whatever we can, giving it away to people who may need it more, or just selling it to those who would like nothing more than to take that Ratchet & Clank series out of your hands and into their consoles.
I had one item though that required some research and a more specific place to put it in, and that was my bow. You see, I used to do archery before I had to move to southern Finland to try and desperately heal my dying dog at the time. Down here I never picked up the noble hobby again. It was a shame really, I really enjoyed archery, the whole prideless proudness of it. Either way, the bow had to go.
I found a weapons market that had all sorts of things on it from rifles to pistols and bows, and I managed to sell my bow, albeit with quite the loss. (Nifty knowledge for you guys – in Finland you don’t need permits for bows, crossbows, or air/gas operated things like general airsoft weaponry. There’s something about if the barrel is over 6,35 mm in diameter you need to inform the authorities, but seriously, who has those kinds of cannons!)
Trash items
Now, not all of the items were give-away quality as one might expect. These we graciously disposed of by sorting them into their respective bins.
The one thing we did something a tiny bit more special with, however, was all the pieces of old jewelry I had that did not sell and would not have given much even as junk metals, be they design or sterling silver. We made a ritual out of them and buried them along with most of my past into a fitting place, where maybe one day an archeologist will dig around and find them when we are long gone.
Other than the journey I’ve been through already, I still keep finding more things to toss as time goes by and I come more into my senses. The more I read from other homemakers and wives, the more I start to embrace the sort of living that will make my day-to-day tasks and chores easier. Unfortunately, that does not include the dozens of little things like snow globes and various other memorabilia that are impossible to keep clean and dust-free.
As it stands, I have some picture frames, the jewelry box, and some globes to get rid of. Let’s hope those find homes as easily as the other ones did, and then time to properly try and sell the things that I’ve created along the way!