Tuesday, April 16, 2019 / by Jason Kirby
Others Benefit from a Little Spring Tidying
Before making Charlottesville our home, my family and I lived in the Boston area for about six years. Since then, we've been enjoying the warmer weather and most certainly the warmer people! However, one of the big differences between here and there are the sizes of homes.
Our house was about 120 years old and was a snug 1,000 square feet (people were smaller 120 years ago apparently). We managed perfectly fine in that small space-even as our family grew in size by two rowdy boys. One of the more interesting things about life in a smaller home is that acquiring things took on a new perspective. Before purchasing something, we had to ask ourselves, "Where will we put this when we aren't using it?" One of the great benefits of this is that you stop buying things you don't expect to use often.
Another habit we acquired is regularly donating things we no longer need. There are many charitable organizations who would love our old stuff. One of my favorites is just 4 miles from Carriage Hill, the SPCA Rummage Store on Hillsdale. They accept many items and aren't as pick as some others. They're also a wonderful organization. Not only is the SPCA where we take our things, but it's also where we found our amazing pets!
Until we found Maverick, Allie, and Boomer, they were in the care of this organization. Their dedication is just incredible. In order to further motivate you to donate your unused things, I will now shamelessly share pictures of the kind of creatures they care for through your generosity.
This is Maverick, with his favorite toy Green Dino. Maverick was given to the SPCA when he was around three years old. He is incredibly sweet and protective of those he loves.
This is his sister, Allie. She still believes she is a lap dog, much to the amusement of my son!
And this is Boomer. He was the only survivor of his litter. He's on the smaller side, so he considers any collection of stuffed animals to be good camouflage!
To learn more about the store and their hours of operation, visit here.
For those of you interested in learning more about tidying and organizing, I recommend this article from Forbes which summarizes an interesting approach recommended by Marie Kondo. There is a lot of mania surrounding her system at the moment, including a show, but I also recommend her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I wish you a very productive spring cleaning!
Our house was about 120 years old and was a snug 1,000 square feet (people were smaller 120 years ago apparently). We managed perfectly fine in that small space-even as our family grew in size by two rowdy boys. One of the more interesting things about life in a smaller home is that acquiring things took on a new perspective. Before purchasing something, we had to ask ourselves, "Where will we put this when we aren't using it?" One of the great benefits of this is that you stop buying things you don't expect to use often.
Another habit we acquired is regularly donating things we no longer need. There are many charitable organizations who would love our old stuff. One of my favorites is just 4 miles from Carriage Hill, the SPCA Rummage Store on Hillsdale. They accept many items and aren't as pick as some others. They're also a wonderful organization. Not only is the SPCA where we take our things, but it's also where we found our amazing pets!
Until we found Maverick, Allie, and Boomer, they were in the care of this organization. Their dedication is just incredible. In order to further motivate you to donate your unused things, I will now shamelessly share pictures of the kind of creatures they care for through your generosity.
This is Maverick, with his favorite toy Green Dino. Maverick was given to the SPCA when he was around three years old. He is incredibly sweet and protective of those he loves.
This is his sister, Allie. She still believes she is a lap dog, much to the amusement of my son!
And this is Boomer. He was the only survivor of his litter. He's on the smaller side, so he considers any collection of stuffed animals to be good camouflage!
To learn more about the store and their hours of operation, visit here.
For those of you interested in learning more about tidying and organizing, I recommend this article from Forbes which summarizes an interesting approach recommended by Marie Kondo. There is a lot of mania surrounding her system at the moment, including a show, but I also recommend her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I wish you a very productive spring cleaning!
