Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling, def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

Despite the ups and downs of the last couple of months, upcycling things out of our home (through selling, donating, gifting and Freeycling) has gone on unabated. Back in December 2012, I joined a challenge to free my home of 2013 items in the year 2013. At the time this seemed a little unrealistic, and yeet here we are, barely a third of the way through the year, and I have currently moved 1,412 items from our home!

That's right! 1,412!!

In addition to Freecycle, I have also started putting together boxes for Goodwill (just in case items are not taken through Freecycle), and I have also started to sell an item here or there through Craigslist.org or Ebay. 

Selling items is newer for me, and I can't say that it has been a huge money maker for us, but the few dollars here and there do start to add up.

But really the biggest Upcycling news in our home this week is this ...

 In the past, this chair has been the waiting area for any items awaiting sale/donating/gifting. And we are now at the stage where our waiting area has been whittled down to a single box. Yay! Which means we get our chair back!! (I am going to conveniently forget that Baby Girl and Little Boy are now using the chair to either get to the books on the bookcase behind the chair, or to catapult themselves onto the floor ... )

How is your Upcycling going? Do you have any donation goals you are working towards? Feel free to share in the comments; I'd love to hear from you!

Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling, def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

I have really been on a roll this past couple of weeks; sorting, selling, Freecycling, gifting and trashing. After my initial sweep through the house, about a month ago, I am now going back and having a more thorough sort. This means going through closets, boxes and making harder choices.

And one of the things I'm finding about this second sweep, is that I am making huge messes in the house. There are just piles of things all over the place; stuff to sort, things to donate, or sell, or organize. I keep telling myself that once this is all done, our home will be better for it, but it's not exactly an easy, or quick, process.

One of the things that I consistently hear (from My Good Man!) when I suggest getting things out of the house, is the age old argument that "we might need it someday", to which I generally retort "well when we do, the one that we're keeping will be so out of style/too old/cheaper to buy again". I've generally disregarded that whole argument.

Until last week, when I had real first hand experience of this very issue. We received a VitaMIx as a holiday/birthday gift from family (a kithcen item that we have been hankering for, for quite some time). So out went our dependable, but now obsolete blender.

Two days later, our lovely new VitaMix started to make horrible sounds while blending, accompanied by a strong burning smell. Not good.

So back to the VitaMix company it went, and we suddenly found ourselves without a blender! At least My Good Man had the decency not to tease me for my cut throat "get it out of here" attitude!

And a quick update on my 2013 in 2013 project ... I'm currently at 533 items out of the house, via sale, gift, donate or trash, leaving just 1480 items more before the year is out. Not too shabby!


And how is your Upcycling/donating/organizing going? Feel free to share; I'd love to hear from you!

Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling, def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

I started 2013 with a lofty goal; to give, sell or donate 2013 items from my home in the year 2013 (without bringing a bunch of stuff in to replace it!)

As I approached this project, it seemed unbelievably large. Almost too big, something that I would struggle to achieve.

I also thought that removing 2013 items from my home would make a huge difference. The response I most often get when I tell people about this project is "I don't think I even have 2013 items in my home!"

Well, we are nearly 2 weeks in to 2013 and my 2013 items project and I've come to a big realization on both of those assumptions.

It will be much easier to get 2013 items out of my home than I had first thought. And I'm not sure it will make as big a difference as I had initially hoped either. But are we down-hearted? No!

Right now I have donated, sold or gifted 375 items, leaving just 1638 items to go.

If you are considering joining the 2013 Items challenge, I'd love to hear from you! Or maybe you just want to start a one month challenge of 168 items in a month (12 x 168 = 2013!). Or even 5 items in a day (just 5 items each day, would total 2013 at the end of the year). And don't worry that the year has already begun ... it's never too late.

For some reason, I was so focused on getting things out of the house, I totally forgot to to take any pictures, thus the random pictures of my Little Ones playing!


What have you been de-cluttering, organizing, gifting away, and donating recently? Feel free to share; I'd love to hear from you!

Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling, def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

I have been on a Freecycling roll this week! This week I tackled some boxes of books; I have always been a book collector, but  I suddenly realized this week, that if I'm not going to read a book again, I don't need to keep it! I know that sounds really obvious, but it just hit me ... and suddenly letting go of books was just so much easier. Some I posted on Freecycle, while others I put onto BookMooch.

I let go of a lot of other items too, but didn't take photos of everything. A couple of things that did get snapped though ...

I let go this half roll of rug tape, that I've been holding on to, just in case, for years ...

 ... and a bag of baby socks. (Isn't it amazing to compare newborn socks with whatever your Little Ones are wearing now? It doesn't seem possible that they have grown that  much that  fast!)

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my plan to donate, regift, sell or throw away 2013 items in the year 2013; I started a little early and decided to let go of 168 items in the month of December (168 is 2012 divided by 12!) As of right now I have let go of 166 items! Which I'm pretty proud of myself with. I was surprised at how easy it was actually, and I think I am definitely feeling inspired to get cracking on my 2013 items for 2013 (yes! - I think I'm going to give myself a little bit of a head start, because I'm on such a roll here!)

So who is going to join me? 2013 items?! I know it sounds like a lot ... but I found that once I decided that I would rather have the space and time that just owning and organizing all that stuff requires, the mindset was really easy.

So what did you Upcycle this week? Are you planning to join the 2013 Goal? Feel free to leave a comment; I'd love to hear from you!

Upcycling Sunday, or A Nose Book?

Upcycling, def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

A Nose Book? Read on!

I've seen these little cloth handkerchief books for the past couple of years, and been intrigued to make some for my family. But, I got all caught up in finding the perfect fabric, the perfect pattern. And then, thank goodness, the humor of the situation struck me ...  that they were to be used for mopping up noses! They didn't have to be perfect. It occurred to me that receiving blankets (those super soft, flannel blankets with a thousand different uses when you have a baby) would make the perfect Upcycled fabric for my handkerchief books.

So, with that in mind, I sorted through my stash of receiving blankets, found two whose pattern and color complemented each other, and cut them into rectangles. 

I was very rough with my cutting, but each rectangle measured approximately 7 by 4 inches.

Then taking a piece from each fabric I pinned them together, and stitched around the edges. (I used a rounded zig zag stitch). 

 At this stage they still looked pretty rough, but it's okay. Once all of the pieces had been paired up and stitched, I then went back and trimmed the excess fabric away. They instantly looked much better! Phew!

Then, taking two of your new double thickness and trimmed pieces, I lay one on top of the other, with like touching like fabric. Giving them a fold will allow you to gauge where the mid-line is, before you stitch straight down the middle of the pieces, forming a 'book' with four leaves.

And there you have it! So easy, so simple, and such a great way to Upcycle all those receiving blankets!

These have already been in constant rotation, and are the just-right size for tucking in pockets. And an added perk? - they gave The Little Guy an opportunity to join me in a sewing project!

As soon as The Little Guy saw these, he renamed them Nose Books ... which we just thought was hilarious! And the name stuck!

  And what about you? What are you Upcycling this week? Feel free to share in the comments; I'd love to hear from you!

Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling - def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

Definitely a lighter upcycling week this week.

I sold a book on an online homeschooling group.

I had a random little collection of baby boy clothes that found a new home through Freecycle, as well as a platter and this cute spatula. (As soon as I realized that I was probably never going to use the spatula myself, because it was too cute, I let it go. Function over form is ruling our home at the moment!)

And what about you? What are you Upcycling this week?

1. Please enter the direct link to your Upcycling Sunday blog post in the Linky tool below. If you don’t have a blog but still have something to share, feel free to add it to the comments.
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Upcycling Sunday!

Upcycling def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

A good week for Upcycling!

We gave a bag of fireworks to a neighbor who was going to a big family celebration. (They *really* enjoyed them, which made me oh-so-happy! We've been saving them for an occasion for ages, so giving them away to help celebrate someone else's special occasion felt really good!)

Two kennels went to a friend of ours who has a new kitten (we had three kitty crates, and three kitties; now we just have our one cat, Puffin Muffin, with us, so we only need the one crate).

Before ...

 ... and after!

Some gift bags went to a new home through Freecycle. (No photo ... they went so quickly!)

I made a new (longer) door snake to replace a store bought (much shorter!) So the shorter one went out to a Freecycler.

Two stacks of magazines went out on Freecycle as well.

I also sold a homeschooling book through an online group.

The Little Ones have suddenly decided that they're done with baby food, so the pouches of purees went to our local homeless shelter.

But really, the big Upcycle this week were the three huge bags of baby clothes that I took to a consignment sale yesterday. I marked all of my items to be donated if they don't sell, so it's really a triple whammy; I move some things out of the house, I may make some money from the venture and other people get the benefit of the donated items - it's all good!

And what about you? What are you Upcycling this week?

1. Please enter the direct link to your Upcycling Sunday blog post in the Linky tool below. If you don’t have a blog but still have something to share, feel free to add it to the comments.
2. Be sure to come back and read others links.
3. Check back next week to link up again!

Upcycling Sunday

Upcycling def. the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Wikipedia.org

One of my major goals with living a simpler life, is to clear some of the 'stuff' out of our home. I don't think I have it in me to become a strict minimalist, but less clutter and more space in our snug little home would be a good thing.

I'd love to start a weekly feature tracking the items that I am able to 'upcycle' to a new home each week, whether it be through Freecyle, selling, gifting or donating.

If you are unfamiliar with Freecycle, check out my link ... I just love this organization, and they seem to be growing rapidly. I really find Craig's List to be another good place to either sell or give away items, as well as Diaper Swappers, for diapers, children and baby items and clothes, and some mama items (such as maternity wear and nursing items).

I gave away a stack of pre-fold diapers, through Diaper Swappers ...

 ... and a stack of covers,

 ... and this changing mat,

  ... and this cover! All of the above were gifted to me by someone through Freecycle, and I just wasn't using them. This was a great way to find them a new home where they'll get used!

Speaking of Freecycle, I found new homes for two lamps that weren't being used.

A good week!

And what about you? What were you able to Upcycle this week?


What are you Upcycling this week?

1. Please enter the direct link to your Upcycling Sunday blog post in the Linky tool below. If you don’t have a blog but still have something to share, feel free to add it to the comments.
2. Be sure to come back and read others’ links.
3. Check back next week to link up again!