January 31, 2010 Kids Toys

Kids Toys

A scary dog and a duplicated xylophone.

January 30, 2010 Freezer Water Bottles

Freezer Water Bottles

I had filled these milk jugs with water to put in the freezer to take up space. They say that it's cheaper to run a full freezer than an empty one. The problem came when I had built up my supply of frozen foods enough that I no longer needed these bottle however I didn't throw them away. Why? Maybe someday we would need them again. Maybe someday we would eat so much of the frozen food in the freezer that we would desperately need another 4 old milk bottles already full of water. Perhaps because we don't drink enough milk in a week to replenish our supply of disposable milk jugs. Seriously??!?!?

January 29, 2010 Christmas Garland

Christmas Garland

Yes, this garland IS as hideous as it looks in this picture.

January 28, 2010 Useless Mixer Bottle

Mixer Bottle

I am giving this seemingly nice mixer bottle away because I never use it. I used it once in the year that I've had it. I don't use it because it is impossible to close. Seriously, I've only been able to close it once (the one time I actually used it). The other times I've tried, I spent no less than 5 minutes trying to close it until I finally gave up and put the contents in a bowl and mixed it with a whisk.

January 27, 2010 Sleeping Bag Bag

Sleeping Bag Bag

This is an extra sleeping bag bag that I had in the garage that wasn't being used. I put the sleeping bag in it (why didn't I think of that sooner) so that someone who doesn't have a home can keep their sleeping bag in it.

January 26, 2010 Sleeping Bag

Sleeping Bag

This is an extra sleeping bag that we have. It had a tear in the head portion that I fixed and then I gave it to our Homeless Ministry so they could give it to someone who really needs it. It wasn't doing anyone any good sitting in our garage. Now hopefully it will keep someone warm.

January 25, 2010 Scary Barney

Scary Barney and Doll head

I'm surprised we don't have more nightmares in our house because of this Barney. The doll head is Tinkerbell I think. She's one of those doll heads that you style her hair and put makeup on her. In a house where my real makeup mysteriously disappears and ends up under my 9 year old's pillow, the last thing we need is a batch of pretend makeup.

January 24, 2010 Baby Bottles

Baby Bottles

My youngest child hasn't used a bottle in nearly three years. However I still hung on to these bottles. WHY?!?

January 23, 2010 More Children's Books

Yet, another Round of Children's books.

January 22, 2010 Children's Books

Yes, another round of Children's books.

January 21, 2010 Diaper Bag

Diaper Bag

My three year old hasn't been in diapers in months. Why do I still have a diaper bag???

January 20, 2010 Toddler Clothes

Still More Toddler Clothes


This box has also been in the garage to take to Goodwill.

January 19, 2010 Toddler Clothes

More Toddler Clothes

This box has been stored in the garage for 6 months to go to Once Upon a Child.

January 18, 2010 Toddler Clothes

Toddler Clothes size 1-2. I should have gotten rid of these clothes a year or more ago.

January 17, 2010 Size 3 Clothes

Size 3 clothes that our youngest has just grown out of.

January 16, 2010 Kids Clothes

Too small kids clothes

These clothes are too small for our older three girls, and by the time they would fit our youngest they would be really out of style. I may be a mean Mom, but I do have my limits.

January 15, 2010 Pillows

Two pairs of old pillows

The plaid pillows don't go with any chair or couch that we currently own. The green set actually go to a couch that we got rid of two years ago.... don't ask me why we still have them.

January 14, 2010 Mirrored Tray

I've been holding on to this tray for at least 10 years. You may say, "it's broken" but that's the way I got it. Don't ask me why I accepted a broken tray when someone offered it to me. (it's a sickness, I know.) For a while it kept all my cosmetics, perfumes and other bathroom items neatly contained, but it's crack was always visible.

January 13, 2010 Basket

Another basket that serves no purpose. I held on to it "just in case".

January 12, 2010 Big Girl Clothes

In lines with keeping things "just in case", I'm getting rid of my big(ger) girl clothes. These clothes are 2 sizes too big for me and fit me when I first started my diet over a year ago. I held on to them "just in case" I regained the weight. Why would I want to do that? Good riddance!


(I did keep one pair of pants so that if I ever need to go on one of those commercials, I have a pair of pants to show where I started at)

January 11, 2010 Music Basket

Someone gave us this basket for our honeymoon, filled with cookies, cheeses, crackers, a bottle of martinelli's, and a picnic blanket. We drove to San Diego and munched on the delicious contents of this basket. After returning from our honeymoon, I kept music books in it. (we have TONS of music books) I recently purchased a faux leather box that holds twice as much music to replace this basket. (it's actually a nice sturdy basket... I just don't have a use for it so out it goes!)

January 10, 2010 Stack of Phone Books

This one will make my husband particularly happy. We have a huge stack of phone books. One for every nearby county that we would possibly visit. I thought they would be a good idea to keep around because... well... it's a phone book. Like if you wanted to look for someplace to eat, but don't have a clue what you want... the phone book will give you ideas. If you need someone's phone number... you look it up in a phone book. You always have to have a phone book right? Well we never use them.... I mean since I've been saving these I haven't even opened one of them. We use the internet for everything. So, into the recycling bin they go!

January 9, 2010 Mom's Vacuum Cleaner

So I'm cleaning one day, and my really nice expensive vacuum cleaner stops working. (I had my suspicions about all the possible things that my kids could have sucked up, but I didn't know for sure.) After some preliminary investigation, I couldn't find out what was wrong. My mom graciously offered to let me borrow her back up vacuum cleaner. I think that was 3 years ago. Mom's vacuum cleaner needs to go home.

January 8, 2010 Christmas Tree Jello Mold

Nothing says Christmas like a Festive Jello Mold. Do I need to say more about why I'm getting rid of this???

January 7, 2010 Expired Prescriptions

All these prescriptions and medications were at least a year old. Every time we got sick or filled a new prescription, these got pushed to the back of the medicine cabinet. Since my husband got a bottle of pain killers that wouldn't fit in the medicine cabinet, I figured I would make some room.

January 6, 2010 Hair product consolidation

Consolidation:

For some reason we had WAY too many bottles of shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom. I consolidated 8 bottles into 3. Makes mornings showers easier when you're half asleep.



(P.S. Please bear in mind this was my purge item the day before my husband went in for surgery. )

January 5, 2010 Laundry Soap

3 year old liquid laundry soap:

This bottle of laundry soap was bought 3 years ago just before Christmas. I had sent David out to pick up a few Christmas gifts at Sears. In an effort to make as few stops as possible, I asked him to pick up some laundry detergent so that I could finish a couple of loads before Christmas. It served its purpose for a week or two until I was able to get to the store and buy a box of our normal soap. This bottle was saved as a "just in case" option. I learned something in the past 3 years. Liquid laundry soap does have an expiration date. While I have never seen an actual date on this bottle, I know that it's expired because it REEKS! I refuse to wash our clothes with this. Still, in my frugal state of mind I thought: "maybe I can use it when I wash the floor rugs. It couldn't possibly be THAT bad." I was wrong.


I know that ordinarily I would just throw this bottle away without pomp and circumstance, but 1) I've had this bottle for 3 years and haven't cut it loose yet and B) this is my blog and I get to make the rules. So after holding on to a bottle of laundry soap that I haven't used in over a year (the layer of dust on the top is proof), I'm finally throwing it away.

January 4, 2010 Angel with Broken Wings

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise."



Somehow I don't think the Beatles were thinking of my dime store angel when they wrote these lyrics. I thought this angel was cute when I bought her at a thrift store last year as a Christmas decoration. She proudly sat on our piano and played her little porcelain harp. Sadly, she lost her wings while being packed away. I don't think her broken wings will be able to fly her out of my garbage can.

January 3, 2010 Children's Books

Children's Books

I've had these in a box to give away for 3 months now. The kids keep finding them and pulling them out to read. They were never read... until I separated them to get rid of them.

January 2, 2010 Christmas Decorations

Miscellaneous Christmas Decorations:

* LARGE (3 1/2' X 3') cardboard Christmas card holder.
* Gingerbread kleenex box cozy (contrary to what it looks like, there is no hole in the chimney to dispense the kleenex)
* 4 brass angel napkin rings (there are 6 in our family)
* Red plastic Tree skirt. I bought a new one a few years ago with snowflakes on it.
* Misc mis-matched stockings. (We bought really nice ones last year from Restoration Hardware)
We haven't used any of these decorations in years, and yet I hung on to them. Kept them safely tucked away in a box... just in case... just in case cardboard Christmas decorations ever came back in style.

January 1, 2010 DVD Player

This DVD player has been in our family for a whole two years now. Santa brought it for Christmas. It worked great for the first year or so and then it started having trouble not recognizing disks and eating video tapes. Then it suddenly stopped working completely. It's been under our TV the whole time... even though we knew it didn't work. I'm not sure if it was because I kept holding out hope that it would spontaneously start working again or if I was just too lazy to remove it.


This Christmas Santa brought us another DVD player. So in order to make room for the new one, the old one will be going to the electronics recycling.

Roseville Residents: I received a card in the mail that on January 4th, Tri-Valley Recycling will be picking up E-Waste from my area free of charge. Visit Tri-Valley Recycling for information.