An Added Advantage/Bonus From Our Kitchen Renovations

I blogged yesterday about how much I'm enjoying our new kitchen, there's something I left out. Renovating the kitchen required going through all sorts of things, sorting, throwing them out, giving them away and also finding items we're happy to use but forgot we had.

No doubt we're not the only people who just let possessions pile up until the mess is overwhelming just to think about. We aren't great at clearing out stuff. Our stuff increases like yeast dough on a hot day. Or you can say that "clutter is our middle name."

One of the things I found when taking apart, emptying closets etc of the old kitchen was this Havdala candle. Tonight we finally used it, about three years after we got it.

Cleaning, Clearing and Donating

Is this Baile Rochel talking?
Could be...

How can one clean when buried under an avalanche of things?

Shuffling/transferring stuff from one place to the next doesn't really help, even if it's the only way to reach the floor. I look at my house and feel sick. I can't paint it, not just because of the expense. I just can't imagine moving everything around and then having to put it back. Just the thought of it, and I go catatonic.


Not all that long ago, the woman who coordinates the senior citizens activities sent out a notice that she would like a few music CDs, so I happily filled up a bag. I haven't bothered listening to my collection for almost four years. I got out of the habit when my mother passed away, and it was forbidden to have music on. Since then the news is on TV most of the day. But I still have too many. Now I'm at the tail end of the year's mourning for my father. Will I start listening to music when it's over? I don't know. But seriously, how many CDs do I need?


I've given away a few dozen books, but they hardly made a difference to the gazillions here and all the papers. And I must say that probably under 1% of the books are mine. So, I don't have the authority to get rid of them.

But I'm very proud and excited to say that this week I did get rid of some stuff that had been inhabiting a nice bag for years. I transferred it to a bag that we really didn't need, killing two birds with one stone! Call it "double riddance," for sure.

Yes, I got rid of lots of yarns from my hat crocheting days. OK, I'm keeping the crochet hooks. I brought them to the senior citizen center when the weaving teacher was there. My plan is to do a very different weaving project next which will incorporate the yarns I've donated. 

Granted it's a small step, but that's how we start. Step by step, nothing traumatic, nothing drastic. Isn't that what Fly Lady tells us?

Trying to Eliminate the Clutter

What can I say?
Clutter is my middle name.
I've always had trouble throwing things out. 
I have lots of stuff I really don't need and I'm an awful housekeeper.
It's hard to clean when you can't find the floor and everything is so full of former treasures. 
I have tried to improve things and stopped buying books.  My husband buys enough for both of us. But I do receive books to review...  Since I haven't paid for them, they are easier to give away.

Last night I actually got rid of a very valuable sweatshirt.  It's from my past; I wore it in high school.  That was almost fifty years ago.  Yep!  I'm that old, and so is that sweatshirt.

In recent years I've been sleeping in my old heavy cotton sweatshirts in the winter. They are finally falling apart. The one I threw out was missing its neckline and didn't provide any warmth and protection for my shoulders, so it wasn't quite doing its job.  I loved that sweatshirt.  It brought back memories.  It was from NCSY the youth movement that changed my life.  It introduced me to true Torah Judaism. I'd wear my NCSY sweatshirts in my fancy GNN high school, where others wore their expensive clothes from Lord & Taylor, bought full price, with genuine Pappagallo shoes.

Here I am in a YU Youth Bureau TL Seminar sweatshirt of the same sort of ambience, when I was in high school.

The pins are SSJ Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.

I must admit that I laundered the sweatshirt before throwing it in the garbage, not quite sure I'd have the guts to do it.  Also, I felt that I had to show it some respect...  Being an active part of NCSY and going to Seminars were crucial in helping me become the person I am today.

I may no longer have that sweatshirt, but I still have yiddishkeit,  Shabbat, Jewish Holidays and all that Torah True Judaism includes.  Thank G-d, Baruch Hashem.