Decluttering as a gift to others

[accountclosed15]

This time of year, I pick up a heavy duty wicker basket from the thrift store (You can ALWAYS find them in good condition) and I got about my home building a nice basket to donate at my church. This year I came up with (all items unused) a hot pink towel and washcloth, one bottle of body spray, a box of olive oil soap, red scarf, grey sweater that never fit but I couldn't return, 1 pair of red flip flops and a small stuff teddy bear. I received a big bow at work on a gift of fruit from my boss and it was too beautiful to throw out so I arranged it around the outside of the basket. Each year, our church encourages this for a women's shelter. We only give nice, clean items. It's so much fun and a way to declutter and simplify my life even more. Now that I have so much less, I just keep an empty bin in my closet and fill it with the nicer things I have to give away at Christmas time.

[mamarhu]

My family's tradition for the Friday after Thanksgiving (no, we don't participate in Black Friday) is to go through the house to collect things for donation. Clothes, toys, kitchen stuff - whatever. Part of the original motivation was to make room for the anticipated influx of new stuff at Xmas. But it has deeper connotations - a feeling of abundance, that we have enough to share. We enjoy this annual purge.