14 No New Things
Today's focus is on offloading ethically. That is, getting rid of possessions no longer wanted in a responsible way, to someone who will use or want it, instead of simply throwing it in the trash. In her book, Ashlee Piper goes into some statistical details about what happens to the items donated to "big-box centers", which I can only assume she means places like Goodwill and Salvation Army, and it is bleak. I struggle with this.
She makes it sound easy, but I don't know... maybe it's my location? Maybe it's my lack of effort? Because I feel like I've tried to get rid of things responsibly, but I honestly can't feel responsible for what someone else does with the things they accept from me. I personally don't feel like it's easy to research, find, travel to, and package goods to each of the separate and proper places to offload each individual item I no longer want or need.
I don't want to sound like (or be!) a packrat, but it makes me a bit reluctant to even get rid of things. Early on in my minimalist journey, if I wasn't sure about getting rid of an item, I would err on the side of decluttering because I'd probably be fine without the item... and I have been! But now I think if something is not totally used up or worn out, I better hold on to it because maybe I could still use it. Or I don't want to have to replace it with something else (new?) later on.
I've only reached this point because I did declutter A LOT in the 10+ years I've been practicing minimalism. It WAS good that I was more likely to declutter things back then purely because of my overabundance of things. Now I have a better balance. But when it does come time to discard things, I usually drop them off at Goodwill. I don't have the patience for selling online. I don't want the clerical tasks that go along with free groups. I just want to let it go.
One thing I do regret discarding: my old iPod classic. It was a model from around 2011. It held a ton of songs, but the battery no longer held a charge. I found it annoying and restricting to always have to be plugged in. And besides, I have an iPhone now that can hold my music library - and I don't even need headphones or an external speaker to listen! So I placed my old iPod in my town's computer waste "recycling" bin. I don't know what actually happened to it, but now that Apple doesn't sell iPods anymore, I really regret getting rid of it. Why didn't I look into getting the battery fixed or replaced?! (I'm much more likely to try to fix things now than I did in my hardcore decluttering days years ago, like around the time I got rid of this iPod.) I'm not sure what my point is here. Fix before discarding? Oh, wait, I know my point. It's APPLE START SELLING STRAIGHT-UP IPODS AGAIN WHAT ARE YOU THINKING THEY WERE SUCH A GREAT INVENTION OTHER BRANDS JUST DON'T DO IT RIGHT COME ONE NOW BRING THEM BACK!!!
I do have a few other things in a pile beside my desk that I really could get rid of, but feel they are too valuable and/or nice to simply donate into the void. I really want them to go to good homes, to someone who is looking for them, even cheap. But I'm no good at selling things online... Perhaps I should look into a consignment place around me. But all the places I've looked up before no longer do consignment. Sigh. I don't know. Suppose the trick is really buying less in the first place. ^_^
Money spent today: groceries. I went off the list a little today, but I only bought consumables!
- butane camp stove....$18
TOTAL....$321