 |
| June 17 Declutterings |
Here it is, at last! My picture of the June 17 declutterings. It hadn't loaded to the computer from my cell phone until a few minutes past 7:00 a.m. today!
So, as I said in my post yesterday, 10 partially used note books and 7 highlighter pens. The notebooks are mostly from when daughter was in high school. Even though the smaller, 70 page note books go on sale for as little as 25 cents each, or, occasionally, even less, during "back to school" sales, it felt like a waste to the frugalite in me to toss (recycle) the unused portions.
Partly because, I remember that when I was a little girl, we used to sell the old, used note books, including pages that had been written on, to the rag and bottle man. He'd make his rounds every month or so, collecting old clothes, bottles, and paper, which he sold to the various businesses that recycled or reused them. Back then, and in that place, small store keepers would twist a page of note book paper into a cone to sell a few cents worth of candy, salty/spicy snacks, etc. from the bigger bottles or bins in which they were kept. The size of the cone depended on the amount bought. Larger amounts of stuff, including items like sugar, used to be sold by weight, in bigger cones made from newspaper, etc., and tied with string (the bottom of the cone would be bent to hold stuff in). Very few things came individually packaged, back then. I don't know how it is now; I haven't been back to my country of birth in nearly 26 years.
So I kept the partially used note books for my use - to write my daily or weekly to do lists, to write grocery lists, to write pantry and freezer inventory lists, to write down a recipe when watching cooking shows, to make menus, to write holiday gift lists, to write knitting directions, etc., etc., etc. I kept one at my bedside table to write those "I should do"s that come to mind when I'm trying to go to sleep. I kept one on the family room coffee table to jot down various other stuff. The rest were stored in desk drawers.
They are useful items, and, as I said before, it seems a waste to toss them in the recycle bin. However, I guess I don't really need to keep so many half used note books.
I will donate the highlighters since they still work (I tried them out).
Off to find 18 items to declutter, today!
I always had a hard time getting rid of notebooks, always felt like I was wasting the paper. I took all my old ones to the daycare, the kids there go through A LOT of paper.
ReplyDeleteJess, that's a great re-use of the paper! :)
DeleteI have so many of those half used notebooks! I'm going to hang on to mine a little longer. Probably until Youngest Son is out of high school. That's just 4 more years. LOL. I do reuse them on occasion to make lists, as you do, or to take notes when I go to seminars or lectures.
ReplyDeleteGood job on the decluttering, as always!
They are useful things to have on hand, aren't they? I am almost regretting my decision to declutter them!
DeleteI am still in awe about the notebooks. I daren't think how many we have. I keep hoping that bear will mop up the excess, but he does so much on the computer. x
ReplyDeleteYes, computers have eliminated much of the need to write things in notebooks, haven't they? Maybe you can introduce bear to the joy of origami and use some of the notebook paper that way?
DeleteI have the same attachment to partially used notebooks. You might want to check with your local library's children's department. We would collect scrap paper to give to students who didn't bring anything to write on while doing their homework. But of course this wasn't a part of our regular budget, so we had to rely on donations and the occasional appropriation of a left behind and never claimed notebook. They might use them for drawing paper, too, as someone else mentioned!
ReplyDeleteLaura, thank you! That is an excellent suggestion! When my daughter was little, I used to donate a lot of her old story books to the library. I might also check with the library staff if I can leave the partially used notebooks in the lobby, with a Free sign, if they don't need them. :)
DeleteI'm another one with lots of notebooks hanging around! Bit by bit, I'm getting through them. I can't possibly bin/recycle unused paper! As to the cones of paper, I can confirm I saw these in India in the early 2000s, if that helps. (Not exactly up-to-the-minute information, though, is it? ☺)
ReplyDeleteWell, it's good to know that the paper cones are still being used as recently as a decade or so ago! :D
Delete