Another load of books gone

46/49 went

I'm up to 138 books taken from outside the door:-). I had thought we reached saturation point last week, bit was apparently because the sign said only "Bücher Zu Verschenken", not "Englische Zu Verschenken" and no Anglophones stopped to look.

 The coffe maker was left at a "Leave and Take" kiosk and went in 5 minutes (as we watched from the cafe across the street).

Books

32 books and some DVDs, set outside to give away. The DVDs went and about 15 books: thi first Zu Verschenken failure so far. Perhaps there aren't enough English speakers in our German neighborhood?

We pulled them in when the weather turned grey—I'll try again next weekend, and add about 10 more that I have culled so far.

Kinderfahrrad

I don't know know why people need to use Freecycle in Berlin: this bicycle was gone within 30 seconds of our putting it outside.

Still Decluttering

While life has been crazy and we have been continent hopping, I haven't forgotten the "clutter reduction" goal.

These items are all damaged, stained or worn-out: to the Orange bin for recycling. (12+ items)

These are just out-grown and I placed them in a bag and dropped them in the local Kleiderspende (donation bin). Note that I wire the shoes together so they won't be separated. (8+ items)

Recycling clothes

All to recycling in the Orange bin

I blacked the shoes up a bit and then they
all went to the Kleidespende (clothing donation bin).

Giving away

It was very funny that immediately after I put these sneakers out to give away (as the note said- they just didn't fit right:-(), there was a sneaker swap and clothing exchange at the Markthalle in my neighborhood. Berlin is a pretty cool place.
As is usual for things we put outside, they disappeared.
The clothes on the left went to recycling, the ones on the right (childrens') to donation.

Still going.

Even though this blog has been quiet, the decluttering has been continuing.

1. Childrens' tchotchkes in the trash
2. Clothes in the donation bin.
3. Clothing to be recycled
4. Papers in the paper recycling
5. More donated clothing
6. and a broken kite in the trash.
   

More Clothes

These clothes are all in good enough condition to donate (but not appropriately sized to give to friends).

And I just can't get the stains out of the below, so off to the orange bin it goes.

On the street where I live

No pictures (unless I google some) but a lovely chrome garbage pail that would stick, annoyingly, and a vacuum cleaner that has been replaced by my (adored) Dyson stopped cluttering my hallway and were placed outside (with a note saying free to anyone) when the German went downstairs to grab a box of winter clothes from the Kellar.

15 minutes later when we went to the car (on the way to the Bauernhof)they were gone. It's great to pass functioning items along so easily and to aviod increasing the refuse stream.

It's not the Bode, but it needs to be done.

A friend dropped a date to hit a museum with me today, so I took some Sudafed and went through some piles that had been hanging about.
1. Plastics recycling



2.A few dingy ones to the orange bin and the others added to the clothing donation bag.
3. Went through a pile of papers and winnowed.
4. Took some of the girls' magazines to Kita for crafts.
5. Clothes for the donation bin.

The Orange Bin

Things to be donated and things for the new orange bin in the cellar: the one which takes not only small electric appliances, but also used clothing. Cool. I really like that my waste stream is diverted.

I was fond of these, but they are now too small for T2, while still in good condition, so on to the donation box they go.

Sammeln

The girls' school is collecting clothing and shoes: I wish they had given us some notice, because then I wouldn't have handed bags worth over to Humana. These are what I was able to winnow out in a day and are all in good enough condition that I feel they are worth donating as opposed to discarding. A few of my shirts that I find too scratchy to enjoy wearing and some clothes that my girls have outgrown or don't like.

And back

I couldn't stand the clutter on my regular blog, so I am moving these posts back here.-- If T1 doesn't like it and I don't like it, in the donation bag it goes.

Accumulating Declutter

It's been a while since I've posted here, but that's because I have been accumulating my declutter.

Today I dropped off 54 books that accumulated in my to-be-donate/given away box, while on Monday I dropped off two overflowing bags of clothing at the local charity shop.

And yesterday, these hit the trash. Strangely enough, I had put them in the trash on Wednesday, but my youngest saw them and took them out (even though they are too small and have been replaced), so when I put them back, I made certain that they were thoroughly covered and no longer visible.

Clothes make the man

And these are some very nice dress shirts that no longer make the cut (slight nicks on the collars and cuffs that are visible when seated with clients). The German generally checks every year when Brooks Bros has its big sale: ah, the trauma of requiring athletic cut:-).

Into the bag to be accumulated for clothing donation they go.

Hand me downs

Going through another bag of hand me downs (for which I am always grateful), washing them all and examining them: T1 doesn't like these and they move along to the Kleiderspende.

An odd assortment

I've been hanging on to this dress since it was given to T1 as a hand-me-down. When it was given to me, it had already had the damage you see that shifted the blue to pink. I'm not certain if it was light exposure or chemicals, but the dress had actually never been worn. It was so cute that both girls have actually used it as dress up material. But now that they are growing to the point where it would have actually been wearable, it clearly isn't. So out it goes.
A hand-me-down bikini that T1 isn't comfortable wearing. It's a little plasticky. Into the donation bag it went.