Purge log, day 2. Not the decluttering ‘adventure’ I’d intended for today.

I meant to tackle some other small, inconsequential item – more expired medicine, perhaps?

But while tending to the menial task of folding laundry, I discovered I had more t shirts than fit in my t shirt drawer.

Like, overflowing with t shirts. My drawer runneth over. 

I had read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, of course. At this point, hasn’t everyone? (OK, just those of us who dream of decluttered homes.)  And while it didn’t really “work” for me, my clothes are all folded nice and neat using her method. So I could see every single shirt in that drawer. All 38 of them.

Thirty eight. Good grief.

I don’t recall where I first heard about the “container method”, but it’s my go to approach when coaching my kids on cleaning their rooms. (Hot tip: don’t coach anyone who hasn’t asked for it. Just saying.)

The premise is simple. The container – in this case, my t shirt drawer – is only so large. Empty it. Replace items one by one until it is full, starting with those things you love the most. Once the container is full of the things you actually like, get rid of the rest. Easy, right? And here was my chance to heed my own advice.

It wasn’t so bad, until I was done. A few shirts got rehomed to my “dressy” drawer, a few to the “lounge wear” (aka comfy but no longer in a condition suitable for outside the home). Once the regular t shirt drawer was full, nine shirts remained on the floor. They were too tight, too shoddy, or just plain didn’t look good on me.

The three that were 100% cotton will live out their days as rags in my husband’s workshop. Now what do I do with the rest??? I hate the thought of throwing them away, because landfills are already so overfull. They aren’t worth enough to try reselling on eBay. (I learned that particular lesson earlier this year.) I could schlep them to the local thrift store, but would anyone actually buy them? Isn’t that just deferring the landfill to some murky future of which I will remain blissfully unaware? 

Aaaaaaand into a bag at the back of my closet they go!