We have a BIG Box O’ Clutter ready for our next drive-by pick-up.
At the top are our still-pretty-new, still-fit, still-in-good-shape uniforms from the basketball season that ended a little over a month ago.
I used to save these perfectly good uniforms. In my mind, the basketball shorts and shirts should have been perfect for wearing in the summer.
The cheerleading uniform for my daughter? Well, she might want to dress up in it sometime.
Except that no one ever wore them. My boys, at 9 and 11, have outgrown wearing basketball uniforms to the grocery store on a non-basketball-game day.
And the way our Upward league works is that all the uniforms are the same colors but reversible. This means the non-breathable fabric is actually two layers thick. So even when it’s time to wear grubbies at the lake or outside, two layers of polyester is too hot for our Texas summer heat. Cotton, single-layered shorts and tees are the only way to go.
I guess that wearing the not-as-cute-as-some cheer uniform every week for two months is more than enough for my girl. She NEVER once has dressed up in one that I kept.
So, this year, after their final wash . . . I decided I wasn’t even going to bother pretending we should keep them.
I even decluttered the pom poms and hair ribbon for good measure!
Total, that’s . . . like . . . two cubic feet of space freed up in my home!
(Not that I measured, or have more than a vague understanding of what a cubic foot is. It just sounds good!)
Hmmm. Perhaps I should go gather up all of the older Upwards uniforms around here to donate. My two 10-year-olds never wear them after the season is over. They just always seem so new, still, but you are right about the double-layer hotness.
I enjoy yor site!
I want you to know I had two “Nony inspired” moments this morning. The first was I actually put away my pile of clean laundry my husband left on top of our dresser last night (I am blessed with a husband the does the laundry!). My normal instinct was to just grab the clean pair of underwear I needed and leave the rest for 2 or 3 days until the pile was small enough to jam back in my overstuffed drawer. The other incident was I actually took the empty box from the new tube of toothpaste I opened last night to the recycling bin downstairs. My normal instinct is to leave it on the bathroom counter for 2 or 3 days until I mustered up the ambition to walk downstairs with it.
In both cases I remembered your blog and recognized my own slob vision. You really are an inspiration!
I love this post! I am getting better about this. When I know the item will be unwanted clutter in just a few months, let’s just get rid of it now! Imagining how I will feel about the item in the future helps me to better judge how to deal with it now.
my old uniforms go in a tupperware and when i have enough of them they get made into memory blankets for the kids dorm rooms (I love the ones my aunt made for me) or for our tv room to cozy up with on cold winter nights!
Good job! I know as I get older I get more ruthless with tossing stuff like that.
But wait! I can’t get rid of the Upwards uniforms, they embody MEMORIES! And all memories must be accompanied by a physical manifestation, right? Right??
I have the same issue every year with our Upwards uniforms. Only for me, I think, these are perfectly good clothes that someone could wear, I just know that my children won’t. AND, I highly doubt that anyone shopping at the Salvation Army will buy it either. Such a dilemma. What to do, what to do.
Let em go. The thrift stores can sell clothes by the pound!
Old Upward uniforms are my nemesis. My church takes old Upward donations to a ministry down in Mexico. But they do it according to when they travel down for the short-term mission and not when the league ends (although that’s tough with basketball/cheerleading and soccer ending at two different times). So if I wait indefinitely, they will go to a place that’s very useful. But it’s a long, long wait.