Okay, so it's me four times in a row.

I stopped by two garage sales this morning.

Garage sales! you're thinking? She's trying to declutter, not add to the mess.

You're right. But I only spent $2. A lot of clutter CAN come into the house $2 at a time, but I think I chose wisely. I've been looking for a six-muffin tin that will fit into my convection oven, but they don't seem to make them any more. I found one.

I also found a box of felt squares and one big chunk for my daughter the theater arts minor who says she will use it right away for a project that needs to be completed by the end of May.

And two books. One is a decluttering book (Aslett really is quite a philosopher) because it is one I haven't seen and might offer a little more encouragement, and will probably read and give away (I gave away another one last week). The other is a book that will start me on my research to my fibre recycling article. It's Kirk Douglas' autobiography The Ragman's Son. I won't necessarily read the whole thing, but I want his spin on that life at that time of the century as background for my article. I could check it out from the library and get rid of it later, or I could buy this copy (reuse) and then donate it somewhere when I finish.

Finally, a note about the garage sale from two weeks ago: I bought a shoe box of cookie cutters and a cookie press for $1. I sold the cookie press on eBay for $12.50 and the cookie cutters that end tomorrow have a couple of watchers at 89 cents.

This weekend I have plans to clear out some of the stuff that I accumulated in the front of the house (like clearing off my love seat again!) I think donation rather than garage sale is the easier way to go, as long as I am able to use the itemized deduction form for my income taxes. It means this stuff is just out of here, I don't have to advertise and sell it in the driveway over a whole day, after the work of cleaning and sorting and tagging. If I want to sell a few larger pieces later I'll go in with the ladies up the street who do a sale a couple of times a year.

Has anyone else been weighing the "donate vs. take it completely out of circulation" question? I look at a lot of this childish clutter an think no one could possibly use it, maybe I should send it to the landfill. I don't think a lot of these plastic toys are recyclable, they don't have any symbols. Does anyone know anything about that?

SRS