Day 3 of Minimalist Living: Donating with Purpose

Day 2 was quite unproductive, but today seems to be more productive in nature. Day 3, I have been setting up places that will take specific items as donations. I do not want to just take a large amount of stuff to a thrift store because you do not know if they will sell them and who they will go to eventually. I figure that a lot of the items that I own could go directly to non-profit organizations for their use. The first place that I contacted was Susquehanna Service Dogs. I will be donating office supplies, newspapers, and old towels to them. I also have old magazines and books to donate to some other locations. I was thinking about different elderly communities and shelters for my magazines, books, and/or board games.

I realize that some of these items might have a little bit of value, but I would rather donate them to a cause I believe in than a thrift store that I do not know where/who the profits benefit. (FYI, I am not a fan of Goodwill, but I strongly suggest the Salvation Army. My sister worked at one of their camps and I can say from experience that I have seen where there money is going.)

That being said, there are a lot of other items that need to be sorted through. I have a lot of unsealed makeup that I want to offer to the women's shelter. I had a bit of a couponing hoarding problem so I am going to donate these products and hopefully someone will benefit from them.

I feel like this type of purging/donating is cleansing in a deeper way than the trendy "just drop it off at a thrift store." I feel like I am serving a purpose and that I am in control of my life. I hope to continue this after "the life purge" through couponing and volunteer work. I know that I can help in some way or another.

After work, I plan to go through my clothing that is clean and put them away while sorting them between donation/trash/keep. Hopefully, I will be able to weed a lot of clothing out of my collection. I would like a very streamline wardrobe.

Pinterest is Only The Starting Line

When it comes to saving money and learning to live on a lower budget, Pinterest can give you a lot of great starting points, but it can also be a huge waste of money. What is most important? Figuring out your own lifestyle and what is most important for your lifestyle. For example, how much of your "stuff" do you actually use and what "stuff" could you utilize for their actual purpose or re-purpose for something else. I am on a one month journey to completely declutter my life and only own what is necessary. I want to not only do this for myself and my mental health, but to share with the world what minimizing my lifestyle can do.

During these steps, I will be sorting everything in my apartment, room by room, and sorting them between trash, donate, or sell. The following steps are separate from the above plan.


Step 1:
My first step is to list and sell books, DVDs, and CDs online. I have boxes that I will label numerically and I will then store them in my storage closet so when people buy the products, I will be able to find the product easily for shipping.

Step 2:
Any clothing, shoes, or accessories of worth, I plan to bring to local clothing buying boutiques to try to sell.

Step 3:
Collectibles are tricky. I will need to research their value and then find their appropriate pricing value (given their resale value for the buyer).

Step 4:
Organize my craft/sewing supplies into a separate office space.

Step 5:
Celebrate!

I realize there are more steps than these, but these are my basic steps that I plan to take to start the downsizing of my life.