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Post by skatters on Jan 1, 2009 13:38:21 GMT -5
I have a clothing dilemma. I am not sure what I hope to gain by posting about it, as I am pretty sure I know what my options are. But maybe something new? Maybe some insight? Maybe a kick in the rump?
My walk-in closet is filled knee deep with clothes. Most of which were dumped there when we moved 5 years ago. Of course, that was the dirty clothes pile I moved.
I am frozen at the thought of going through this. Maybe, maybe the top layer is useful. I have no idea what may be in the bottom layer - but I know that my daughter is no longer 3 (8 now) and that my son is no longer 13 (17 now) and that I am no longer that same weight.
I want to put a blindfold on, and go in and stuff it in garbage sacks. But I am terrified that I will miss something 'good'. I am also terrified to go through it all, because I will end up keeping alot of it. And most of it, I wouldn't be able to throw away - since it is probably 'good enough' for donation. Which sounds nice in theory... but I have been waiting 5 years to wash it all and donate it. And I have the current clothing's mt. washmore to deal with.
So I figure my options are this:
1. Do it blindfolded. Not sure how practical this is - but I won't ask anyone unattached to go through it.
2. Go through it, and properly sort the items for washing, then donation. And then pray that I follow through with it.
3. Set a number... perhaps 25. I can keep 25 items from there. Maybe enlist a child to keep me accountable to 25. Bag up the rest, and to the dump.
Maybe I am just looking for permission to dump, rather than wash/donate all of this. Without exaggerating, there are probably 25 loads in there. Alone. (Probably 50 throughout the house.)
Help!!
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Post by puzzleqt on Jan 1, 2009 14:58:02 GMT -5
I'd grab a laundry basket, fill it with darks, wash/dry, then sort into keep/give, put give into bag, get rid of it, use freecycle or whatever, but get it out!
By doing one load from the floor it's permenently done. once clean it's not so bad to sort, and the stuff out is gone forever.
I like doing tasks that have impact and wont have to be redone so often (dishes are not my thing)
Puzzleqt
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Post by DJ on Jan 1, 2009 15:13:30 GMT -5
if it's absolutely soiled and scary i'd huck it. if it's just been on the floor and needs a wash i'd donate it. at least around here when i asked the homeless shelter about it they said they wash everything before they give it away so not to bother washing it myself because it was a waste of time.
why wash something you're just going to give away?
do you really need something that's been buried for 5 years and you've survived without?
no real helpful cohesive answer just.. get it off the floor and dealt with.. however you can however you want to.. it laid there imperfectly for 5 years. deal with it imperfectly and ya won't be any worse off and you'll have your floor back. sorry. there's a thought i wish i could articulate better and i'm failing at it. but the underlying motivation to respond is to cheer you on to just do whatever you feel like with it, however you feel like doing it, and improve your home and life:>
happy new year:>
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Post by Script on Jan 1, 2009 15:18:05 GMT -5
Maybe I am just looking for permission to dump, rather than wash/donate all of this. Without exaggerating, there are probably 25 loads in there. Alone. Please allow Script the Bookkeeper to put her two cents in here..... * 25 loads of laundry might cost around $2.00 a load to wash and dry, considering water, soap, electricity, wear-and-tear on the machines. Maybe even more, as the stuff may be quite dirty and could need soaking and pre-staining. SO.....worst case scenario: let's assume that the actual wash-drying costs $4.00 per load. This equals approximately $100.00 *it takes time to wash-dry-fold that amount of laundry. Time too is worth money. Let's assume that each load of laundry takes about 2 hours total: factoring in the sorting, soaking, washing, folding, drying. So our 25 loads of laundry take about 50 hours to complete. Here in Canada, the actual minimim wage is about $10 an hour. Since the work you are doing requires quite a bit of judgement and planning, not just grunt labour, I think this is a fair figure, maybe even on the low side. This equals about $250 of labour. *Now let's say you want to donate the 25 loads of laundry, which are now completely washed, dried, folded. This would translate into at least 25 bags (large garbage size). This would probably mean at least two trips to GoodWill. I don't know where you live, or your car situation. But at the very least, you are talking about another few hours of time, plus gas, plus wear-and-tear on the car. Let's add in another $100.00 *Now, you still have your home to maintain, kids to mind, food to cook, laundry to do. If you decided to forge ahead single-mindedly and do these 25 loads of laundry NOW, you would probably end up spening additional money, in order to facilitate this work. Fast food delivery or pick-up for meals? Maybe getting in a babysitter to watch the kids? Or renting movies to amuse them? This might cost another $50. *In my books, therefore, it might cost quite a lot to donate these clothes to GoodWill: maybe as much as $500 (real money and donated time). Do you in fact have this kind of money and time to donate? Would you look at ANOTHER woman in your exact situation and expect her to do this good deed? Is now the time to declare Amnesty in your home: tossing now to start over afresh? Only you can answer this question. If you have in truth been collecting these un-usable clothes for 5 years, can you realistically ask yourself to start on what is OBVIOUSLY in your mind an impossible project? PS: I had exactly the same issue in my home, with regards to stored unsorted un-usable and unwanted sheet music. An accumulation of 25 years. I tried to give some away: no takers. I was LUCKY: paper can go in our recycle bin. BUT I KNOW that it would have taken me many hours to sort, file, organize, label this unwieldy pile (2 file cabinets plus 2 laundry baskets: everything I had played for 25 years...................). I could NOT do it, and not for want of wishing, planning and trying. |
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Calico
New Member
Joined: October 2011
Posts: 59
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Post by Calico on Jan 1, 2009 15:51:26 GMT -5
I think there's another option you're missing, in between "throw everything away without looking at it" and "sort everything out to wash and donate".
How about taking a quick look at each item, just to make sure it's not an old favorite that you've forgotten about, checking the pockets, and then bagging it to throw out?
I know you'd like to donate the clothes, but if that keeps you from reclaiming your walk-in closet (and your peace of mind), give yourself amnesty this time. If you want to, after you reclaim that space, you can put a box or basket on the floor for giveaways, and donate things in the future.
Right now I think you just need to get un-frozen. Remember that you don't need to do this all at once. How about picking up the first ten pieces of clothing you see, taking them to another room (somewhere relatively tidy if that's an option), and then looking at them and dealing with them. If you do this, maybe set up two or three boxes first: wash and keep, wash and donate, throw away (anything that is stained or torn can be thrown away). If you do five or ten items at a time, it will be much less overwhelming. Don't worry about the size of the project, just eat one bite of elephant at a time.
Another idea, in case you get stuck over the issue of donating. Call a few charities to see if you can find one that will take items that aren't washed. If so, that makes your job a lot easier! If not, you know what your choices are.
And remember, there's no shortage of used clothing available. I know my second-hand stores always have plenty, and I'm sure they regularly dispose of things that don't sell.
Calico
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Post by wind on Jan 1, 2009 16:03:04 GMT -5
I'd just throw most of it away. Maybe make a second, smaller bag of the best stuff to wash and donate. And a third bag of stuff to keep if you're thinking you might want to wear it tomorrow.
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Post by Arid on Jan 1, 2009 16:11:28 GMT -5
OK; here's a variation on what puzzleqt suggested: Every time that you do a load of laundry for the family, grab two or three pieces from that pile in the closet to go with it. If you are doing a load of darks; grab something(s) dark. If you are doing a load of whites, pull out something white.
If it isn't worth saving, throw in into the trash RIGHT THEN! If it is something that you want to keep or to donate--WASH IT with the load of laundry that you are doing for the family anyway. Then, after the load is washed and dried, put anything that you wish to donate into a labeled "donate" bag. Whenever that bag is full or if you happen to be going past the thrift store, Salvation Army, etc., GET THAT BAG OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! Put away any of the items that you choose to keep. Don't be surprised if, in order to keep them, you have to "purge" something else to make room for them. If you really want to keep them, it will be worth it.
Yes, this isn't a "magic" clean-up that will give you a cleaned-out closet in a couple of hours. Then again, if the closet has been this way for FIVE YEARS, what's another few months?!!! You will have the satisfaction of sorting through everything that is in there. You won't be bothered by the "what if I threw out something good?" scenario. It also will prove to you that if you keep at something a little bit at a time, the job STILL will get done! (I have worked through backlogs of dirty dishes this way more than once! I wash all the "new" ones, and I wash a few of the "old" ones every day until I get "caught up." Unfortunately, I don't always *stay* caught up, but I'm working on it. . .)
Having said all that, I do agree with the others that if you decide just to chuck it all--so be it. I don't have a problem with that. I'm just trying to provide you with another option that hadn't been mentioned, and as I interpreted your original post, that was the sort of thing that you wanted.
Good luck and blessings to you.
Arid
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Post by Arid on Jan 1, 2009 16:16:31 GMT -5
I now see that Calico posted a similar idea while I was typing up mine! "Great minds" and all that--  !!! Arid |
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Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
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Post by Blackswan on Jan 1, 2009 17:10:58 GMT -5
Hmmm...You can just throw it all into bags, and then donate it unclean. I did it (would never admit, but I have, and so has my sister) Salvation Army will pick it up from your front porch too. They send most of the things out to other countries and rag factories anyway, so I have heard. And I am sure they have a washing machine for these things too, I know we aren't the only people to donate unwashed items. You can also just throw it away if you want to. Its not doing anybody any good on your closet floor, in fact it is upsetting you! Its a bunch of fabric, really, who cares? Just get it out of your life! Don't feel guilty. Just fabric. Just go, and pick up one item right now. That is all. You can even put it back down. But go pick up that first item. Don't get out any bags or boxes yet, don't make any decisions, just get one item in your hand. Watch, and you will see what happens.  |
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Post by wind on Jan 1, 2009 17:37:31 GMT -5
I have heard from people that worked at charity thrift stores that they don't wash the the clothes before selling, and they throw dirty stuff away. And they get irritated with people who donate dirty clothes.
How dirty are they? Like, "saturated with doghair" type dirty, or just "worn once and laying around for 5 years but otherwise clean" type dirty?
It might be worth bagging them up and posting a freecycle "curb alert". I'm pretty sure resellers and for-profit thrift store owners watch freecycle for stuff like that, and it would be worth it to them to spend $2 a load washing it all. And that way you're not contributing to landfills, yadayadayada.
Or...and I mean this...it's ok to just throw them away.
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Post by moggyfan on Jan 1, 2009 18:04:02 GMT -5
I vote for bag-it-up-and-toss-it-fast-without-evaluating-each-thing. You have lived without all these things for five years; your life will be much improved without the sea of stuff you must wade through to use your closet. Don't feel bad about not recycling/donating/washing etc. etc. You have total amnesty right now. You need to reclaim your space!
Also, you will probably make much better use of your closet once it's all gone, thus reducing other clutter in your home.
With huge, unwieldy piles like this, I think the best thing to do is just get rid of them in the fastest and least troublesome way possible.
It's OKAY to dump it all. It is not, after all, toxic waste.
NOTE: If you live in a busy urban area as I do, you could also leave some bags on the sidewalk--I do it all the time. Most often, whatever it is is gone in less than 30 minutes.
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Post by dayeanu on Jan 1, 2009 22:47:54 GMT -5
I think I'd at least shake the things out and make sure a piece of jewelry or something important to you wasn't mixed in with it.
Also, Good Will, Salvation Army and other major charities here say don't wash things, they do it.
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Post by messyinmetropolis on Jan 2, 2009 5:26:40 GMT -5
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Post by notsomessyshell on Jan 2, 2009 6:29:13 GMT -5
You have permission to toss everything! I have done it. Just get rid of it. Or bag it up and put it in the donation bins. Let them decide what to do with it.  |
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Sunrise
New Member
Joined: August 2008
Posts: 75
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Post by Sunrise on Jan 2, 2009 9:42:04 GMT -5
I have just desqualored my youngest daughters room and there were heaps and heaps of clothes in there, mostly hers, plus a few things of mine. I did go through it as some of it still fitted her but I threw out everything that didn't fit or was at all "yucky" I didn't keep any of it to donate and I know that some of it was in really good hardly worn condition, but I also knew that if I tried to bag it up to donate it it would end up all over the floor again, or the bag would just sit there for ages. I vote for throw it all, just scoop it all up into trashbags, don't even look at it. lf you haven't touched it for that long then you don't need it. Dump it and forget about it and move on Hugs |
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