Day 14 - 30-Day Declutter Challenge . . .

The suggestions for today are:

• Go through old shoes
• Linen Closet:  Donate any linens you no longer use that are still good.

I'm kinda glad of the overlap again today.  I did my shoes when I did my closet back on Day 2.  That left the linen closet(s).  I've been thinking about this for a while now:  How many sets of sheets and towels does one person really need?  I used to do a lot of entertaining and had a lot of overnight guests - mainly friends from Missouri coming to stay and attend fiber events up here.  In the past four years that has dropped off dramatically (and if you notice the correlation between 2016 and the dropoff, you got the picture . . . :-S).  

Anyway - even with J here regularly (before the pandemic), I have been wondering about linens.  And pillows.  Remember, I ended up with all my mom's stuff as well as my own.  I have divested things over the years, but there still seems to be a lot of linen-related stuff in this house. Here are the top shelves of the main linen closet, which is where the linens hang out.

Here is one of the closets in the guest room.

And here is the other guestroom closet.

Here is all the stuff from just the main linen closet spread out on my bed.  Really Dude?  It's like another fricking clown car . . .

Interestingly, it didn't take as long as I thought it would, and neither closet was as dusty as my clothes closet was.  

Here are the after photos!  

The main linen closet.  This is pretty startling  :-D

Here's the first guest room closet.  The floral sheets on the top right fit the queen size hide-a-bed in my sunroom, so I'm keeping them, and I'm keeping two green towels, one of which you see here, that I use when I block handknits.

And here is the second guest room closet.

I also have a drawer in the kitchen for dish towels and dish rags.  I prefer linen dish towels and I use them until they fall to shreds.  I also prefer dishrags that I have woven myself.  I used to like the knitted ones, but they are just too thick, and the woven ones are easier to use.

I went this morning and donated food and the plasticware to the local food pantry.  I also made a monetary donation.  They help a lot of people there.  I'm waiting to hear back from the local animal shelter to find out if they want and can use the old linens and towels.  

I'm considering keeping one of the pillows, but this is what I have to donate.  Yes.  All this.  Like I said, I used to have large numbers of houseguests multiple times a year, and I have two sofabeds, one of which I'm giving to a cousin (she was supposed to get it in February but circumstances and then COVID intervened).  I'm keeping the one set of sheets that fits the other sofabed, and that's why I'm considering keeping one of the pillows. 

And . . . 

I was sitting here writing this post this afternoon when I remembered that there are old duvets and pillows in Space Bags in the basement.  Geez.  I have varying degrees of success with Space Bags.

So, I toddled on down there and looked everything over.  This is a full size mattress pad that I'm considering using again on my bed.  The one I have now has a protective layer and I find that I wake up in the night sweaty from it.  At least I think that's what it's from.  I'll know soon enough  :-D

This is a down pillow and a comforter that is from the original bed set I purchased almost 17 years ago.  I think it got used maybe twice.  I prefer German-style bedding and have used it for more than 30-odd years.  There was construction dust on these.  Construction happened almost six years ago . . .

The floral comforter was kept even though it's ugly, because it fits the queensize sofabed.  The two old duvets under it will be donated and there was another bag under those two duvets with duvet covers that I don't like.  

Seriously.  SEVEN more bags of linen-type stuff, some of which has been down there for more than a DECADE.  How does this stuff happen?!  I got the six in question upstairs.  

And, you guys, they are resting in the kitchen and I will deal with them tomorrow . . . because I got caught up in watching the electoral college cast its votes, and you would think that would be about as exciting as watching paint dry, but it was thrilling to see what the Founding Fathers working exactly as it should.  It really was, and CNN kept showing people getting the first COVID vaccines, and that was pretty thrilling, too.  So, as often happens with me, time got away from me and now it's 8:30 and I'm not going to fool around with Space Bags and linens now.  They can rest on the floor in the kitchen and I will deal with them tomorrow  :-) 

I think it's time to laugh a little and this cracks me up every single time . . .  ;-)