Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Another procrastination project is finished

I took my own advice from last week's Sunday Afternoon Tea post and filled four boxes of items for charity.  Two of them were full of vintage dishes I thought I would use one day.  I loved the way they reminded me of an earlier time in history and at about 99 cents a plate, they were inexpensive to collect over the years.

This is a project I've considered for a long time.  To be honest, most of the reason it wasn't accomplished sooner was the emotional pull of the objects.  It wasn't until I realized it was what they reminded me of and not the objects themselves that made me happy that I could get rid of them.

Someone is going to walk into the thrift store and be thrilled for they are exactly what they need.  I do not need them.  I have three complete sets of dishes to choose from when I have company... my collection of brown transferware, my Everyday Lenox, and Great Grandmother's china that was inherited.  Should my children want any of my dishes, it would be among those three sets, anyway.

I had already kept only the most loved teacups and teapots.  That process of getting rid of what I really liked was not easy, either.  However, I don't even think about those that I sent to charity and gave to other people.  If I see a teacup and saucer for a couple dollars at a thrift store or antique mall, I will buy it if it is one I would love for my collection.  But that happens rarely these days.

I don't have to actually use all my collections for some of them give me joy in looking at them!  So my criteria on keeping things is not necessarily if they are practical. I also have never gone by the rule one reads that if an item hasn't been used or worn in the past year, then get rid of it.  Attachment to objects has no "Use By" date in this house.

As is usually the case, when I start on a downsizing project, it tends to spill over into other parts of the house.  Perhaps because I know a trip to the thrift store or Goodwill is going to be made, anyway.  I'm not sure, I suspect it is simply while I'm in the mood to downsize there is a part of me that takes advantage of it.

So this past week also found me removing some collected items in the family room as well as changing wall art in that room to simplify what one sees when entering the room.  Every time I looked in one particular corner, it bothered me.  It had become... too much.  So another box was brought in from the garage and filled with items that had once been useful and now was ready for someone else to enjoy.

Of course, nothing that has great emotional attachment goes easily.  They seldom go at all.  No, it is when one does most of their decorating of accessories, artwork, etc. while thrifting that it is easy to enjoy them for awhile and then pass them on.  Only those which find a permanent place in my heart remain.

There is something about taking boxes of stuff to charity (or having a garage sale if you are so disposed) that provides a way of looking at our rooms differently.  Once the clutter is cleared out, when what we truly love and enjoy is left, then we can see if anything else is actually needed.  Most of the time we have... enough.

Photo:  Dishes getting packed for charity.  (The lovely wooden bowl with apples was a gift that is a permanent item on the coffee table, it stays!)