I think I posted, once before, about donating things to the thrift store and not posting it here, because I had done it enough that it had started to just feel normal instead of feeling like a little victory. Well, I don't know how many times I've taken things there without posting them here. I'm trying to remember - I think the last batch went three days ago, and it was a fairly big batch that had to be dealt with in stages.
Let's touch the guilt. There's a little voice squeaking away that's implying that I didn't post about it, not because it seems normal, now, but because I've been lazy about posting. No. That's not appropriate. Not for here. The rule for this blog is that it's here to help me, not to give me one more chore to do. If I don't feel like posting, I won't post. That's not being lazy, that's using the blog the way I planned to use it.
Too bad, little voice. You lose.
But let me think for a minute about what it took to make this last donation. Usually, a donation means I've sorted through a box or drawer or shelf and pulled out things no longer needed. They stay in a box or on a shelf near the front door until there are enough things to take to the van. If there's enough right after the sort, they're supposed to go to the van the next time I go out the door.
I allow things to stay in the van for up to a week before I allow myself to feel guilty about it. It saves gas if I drop off a donation while I'm driving nearby on another errand, so I tell myself I'm doing that. Occasionally I'll make a single run right away, but that's only if I feel like giving myself a little boost of accomplishment.
This load was in the van for two or three days. Not bad. But before that, some of it was sitting in the back yard. Why was that? Because two or three weekends ago, I sorted through all of the things in the room off of the garage. The little voice isn't even trying to make me feel guilty about not having posted about that. Do you know why? Because I completely sorted the room off the garage, which was an annoying mess, and however I may have dropped the ball afterwards, it was a big thing and doing a big thing is not lazy.
I know what's out there, now, and which plastic bins have which things in them. Most of it isn't mine, but I still sorted it. I convinced someone else to part with three or four boxes worth of stuff. That's a major thing for me. I have a real reluctance to poke at other people.
Half of it was tossed and half of it was set aside for donation. There were also nearly a dozen cardboard boxes liberated, more than the recycling bin could hold. Next week should see the last of them gone. And some odd-shaped plastic bins were released to donation.
There wasn't much of my stuff in there, but I decided to donate two old sewing machines that belonged to relatives, and probably tossed a few things. It's been long enough that the details are fading. The sewing machines were a big thing to let go of. There's at least one relative who would be unhappy to think that they were no longer "in the family".
So there was a pile of cardboard boxes and plastic donatables in the back yard for a couple of weeks. I can remember when things were put into the back yard temporarily and then stayed there for months. I'm a bit pleased that this particular set started to gall me by the next weekend and that I actually got them gone within two or three weeks because of that.
Another bright spot is that when it was obvious that I wasn't loading up whenever I noticed the stack and felt annoyed with it because I didn't want to do all that heavy lifting, I asked for help loading. Got it, too. With no complaints. I need to do that more often.
So there was a donation load delivered to the thrift store a few days ago. And it was the result of me asking for help. I asked for help because I was staying on top of no letting things just sit in the back yard. And the stuff was sitting in the back yard because I HAD TOTALLY CLEARED, SORTED, AND ORGANIZED THE ROOM OFF OF THE GARAGE!
OK. Now I can see that part of the reason the little voice was telling me that I was lazy with posting, here, is that it knew that I needed to acknowledge, not the load to the thrift store, but the bigger accomplishment behind it. Cool. Not bad, little voice.
And the trash and recycling got picked up yesterday, so if I go out back now and bin the last of the cardboard boxes, the adventure of the Great Sorting will be complete. I probably ought to get dressed first. Now would be good. (waves)
