Making room for one more

Last year I vowed not to buy any new clothing, in an effort to be less consumptive and more frugal. My first purchase after my year of living frugally: a bunch of end-of-season maternity clothes from Target, which were so deeply discounted I could not have gotten the same number of outfits for less money at a thrift store or even if I made them myself.

But now with a baby on the way it's not enough just to stop adding to the things in our house. Our first baby's things will have to be kept for #2, so there's no downsizing potential there. But there's plenty of adult stuff that can go. So, new resolution: to get rid of one box of stuff each week until the baby arrives. 17 weeks to go. Here's my first box, which I posted on Freecycle last week:

A bunch of cookbooks and miscellaneous other books. It's irrationally hard for me to part with books, even ones I haven't cracked open in decades. When I was growing up, going the public library was the highlight of my week. Now as the mother to a little almost-reader, I really miss my beloved books that were passed onto my younger cousins when I outgrew them: all the Little Bear books for early readers, Harry the Dirty Dog, E.B. White's children's novels. I have a wonderful surrogate grandma who always gave the best, most thoughtful gifts (and still does).

One week later: the cookbooks were spoken for almost immediately. The rest are going to our local library for their book sale (if they'll take them) or to the Salvation Army which is just a few blocks down the street.