Big Journal Lot Part 2

Along with all the journals in my thrifted lot there was a photo album, an address book, a sketch book, a set of fun pens, and a to-do list with a magnet on the back. This matching pair of journals were still in their retail shrink wrap, and will be perfect as a purse/desk combo.

The photo album has laser-etched wood covers, and would be great to use for some pics I have of Yellowstone.

It amazes me what some people will just throw away. Thank goodness this person donated the album instead to Goodwill.

I think many young people are gifted journals by a well-meaning family member who wants them to have a place to write down their thoughts (I've done that; I even handed out journals to kids I didn't know.) I wish more of them would actually use the journals.

I might try to hand out some of these to young people I know. It's all about the presentation, and what you say, which can be tricky, but sometimes they appreciate it.

The pen set, which has fun motivational sayings stamped on each one.

The big sketch book in the center has beautiful paper in it. The to-do list (I burn through two or three of these every year) will also be helpful. The advertising journal made from vinyl and cork that came with a pen will likely end up being another of my desk journals.

I got two of the advertising journal in the center there, each with a beautiful pen. I would put a resale value of $5.00 per item on this lot, which would make it worth a total of $105.00. I paid $14.03 for it. Savings: $90.97.

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Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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