Nancy's attempts to declutter

Hi Nancy, I've seen your wonderful photo thread,
Nearly GAMCOD on the Isle of Skye
where you write,

I am preparing some beds in my tree field, which certainly comes under the heading of 'dirt' rather than soil. I'm intending to grow berries there longer term, but having a go at growing some food this year seems like a worthy ambition. … The new beds will be mini hugels using trimmings from my coppice trees and spruce branches.

Since hugelkultur is a living composting process, how about offering your carbon and microbe rich cotton, wool, linen, paper, wood and other natural fibers (that are temporarily in the form of sox, underwear, T-shirts, sweaters, financial records, paper-backs and other objects) to your “mini hugels”? The decomposition process could be accelerated by then adding some extra “green waste”: green plant matter, manure, kitchen waste and other nitrogen rich material.
Instead of giving away your old stuff, give away (or sell) your fresh berries grown from buried things that are way past their expiration date. When I imagine the cycle moving along like this, decluttering is really about repurposing stuff to feed the soil microbiome so a garden will grow.
In my experience, reframing the problem from home-care to gardening can make decluttering way more fun. Now more than ever before, I avoid buying or accepting "gifts" like used electronics, DVDs, and toxic craft supplies that cannot someday be put in the berms. Offering used stuff on a "free stuff" table at the end of my driveway has been a big help with moving things along.
Good luck with this difficult decluttering process, Nancy. Happy composting!

Mari Vega wrote: Of course, it makes sense to have this issue as a permie!  Want to say that at the outset.

Thank you for that Mari! It's nice to know I'm not alone. Thanks also for the great suggestions.

This discussion hasn't even mentioned digital stuff yet!

Luckily I don't have much in the way of electronic stuff. I've never been one for gadgets, never had a mobile phone for example - the one that plugs in the wall is fine for me! I do have a very old tape/CD player, but I quite like to have music or talking books going while I'm sewing, so I think (assuming it still works) I'll hang on to that. Somewhere I should have a pair of tiny speakers, which I'm wondering will plug into my tablet to improve listening to that. They date from about 35 years ago! I had (or possibly still have?) the cutest little radio/cassette player where the speakers could slot into the ends like a mini getto blaster, or be set on cables to give a spread of sound.
My husband is the techie with drawers of cables and circuit boards. I touch that not!
I also have an old kindle, which I did quite like for reading on the move, but, well I don't need that many books for a short journey, and I don't travel much so it just sits there. I never liked the fact that you don't actually own the book (and that the Harry Potter books are the American versions). However I gather that my kindle is so old that you can't get books for it anymore, so I don't think anyone would want it now. I think it is just a bit of tech junk to anyone else. It's pretty compact and I think the batteries still work so I think it can stay in a drawer.

Catherine Guzovich wrote: I cut off that tightly woven border at the very top, then I cut off the ribbing section and use it as ribbing for cuffs when I sew sweatshirts using polar fleece.

It sounds like your sewing skills are way beyond mine Catherine! I'd love to do more with knitted fabrics. It just seems to go baggy or tight in the wrong places when I try. This probably isn't the right place for that discussion however, but if you could share some of your secrets, probably in the sewing forum, I for one would be so grateful <3

William Wallace wrote:Are you tossing the socks and undies, or using them for gardening things?  These would make quick filters or small strips of fabric for tying plants.

Mostly binning them I'm afraid William. I don't do much plant tying and when I do (grape vine) I tend to use a bit of bicycle inner tube or pond liner rubber, which I also have plenty of and is a bit more durable, yet still soft.
I remember using a stocking as a grease trap at Guide camp for the washing up water. But don't have much use for filters now. I have set one up in my water terrace water intake, but have used a bit of windbreak fabric there. A sock might be an alternative there if it were fairly coarse knit.

Ellen Lewis wrote: I'd rather use my limited mending time for garments I love rather than disassembling old stuff.

I'm actually finding, on sorting my mending pile, that some of the garments I'm putting to one side I have already mended in the past. Somehow this act of caring for them before, makes them more precious to me now.

I'm hoping that by cutting the good fabric out of the worn clothes, I can compact the pile down so it doesn't become so intimidating again! I'm also going to segregate the pile by the type of mending required: sewing a button on will be relatively quick and need no special tools. Mending a crotch in trousers much more involved hand sewing there, and replacing a zip almost impossible, but it will be good for me to achieve a new skill. I also have several of my husbands work shirts that have torn sleeves. He says he can use short sleeved workshirts, so I can probably get 4 or 5 shirts done in a couple hours if I set up the sewing machine.

Amy Gardener wrote: how about offering your carbon and microbe rich cotton, wool, linen, paper, wood and other natural fibers (that are temporarily in the form of sox, underwear, T-shirts, sweaters, financial records, paper-backs and other objects) to your “mini hugels”? The decomposition process could be accelerated by then adding some extra “green waste”: green plant matter, manure, kitchen waste and other nitrogen rich material.

Thank you for this inspired suggestion Amy! I will try to put the debris I know is biodegradable to one side to be used is this way (so far it is all just mixed in a bin bag). Much of it is mixed fibres though, since i have been keeping any panels I think may be useful for patching or other future projects. The seams are almost all sewn with synthetic thread :( so I have already stripped those out.
I do like the idea of closing the organic circle this way, returning the soil carbon (and nitrogen)!

Nancy, I would be delighted to share what I know about sewing. See you in the sewing forum.

Tina Wolf wrote:Paper stuff: my son has a chimenea and he burns my private paper stuff for me...when we don't have a burn ban.

Socks: My mom was the Queen of losing socks but she wouldn't throw away the ones without a mate. Even more strange,I went over to her place one day to find a mound (3' circumference, 1' tall) of single socks...that she had all dyed pink. Truth is stranger than fiction! She was an artist...maybe she was working on a creation...lol.

I save burnable paper to use as woodstove fire starter in winter. The confidential parts of all mail (including junk mail) gets quickly torn off the envelope or back of magazine or whatever and added to the bag of fire starter. It helps minimize the amount of what needs to be recycled or put in trash- such as glossy paper and other non-burnable material.
As for single socks - I've turned mine into dust mittens. Easy to slip hands into and do the job quickly, then simply toss into the wash with other things. They can be made quickly identifiable by sewing a bright colored thread/string loop on them or piece of ribbon if desired. Seems the washing machine just eats a sock occasionally for a snack!!  Other than that if you dare, tell no one and just use odd matching socks for working outdoors. Hard to see them in work boots and who cares if they get worn out and muddy anyway!  When they wear out, they'll go into the "dusting mitten" bin too.

Denise Cares wrote:

Tina Wolf wrote:Paper stuff: my son has a chimenea and he burns my private paper stuff for me...when we don't have a burn ban.

Socks: My mom was the Queen of losing socks but she wouldn't throw away the ones without a mate. Even more strange,I went over to her place one day to find a mound (3' circumference, 1' tall) of single socks...that she had all dyed pink. Truth is stranger than fiction! She was an artist...maybe she was working on a creation...lol.

I save burnable paper to use as woodstove fire starter in winter. The confidential parts of all mail (including junk mail) gets quickly torn off the envelope or back of magazine or whatever and added to the bag of fire starter. It helps minimize the amount of what needs to be recycled or put in trash- such as glossy paper and other non-burnable material.
As for single socks - I've turned mine into dust mittens. Easy to slip hands into and do the job quickly, then simply toss into the wash with other things. They can be made quickly identifiable by sewing a bright colored thread/string loop on them or piece of ribbon if desired. Seems the washing machine just eats a sock occasionally for a snack!!  Other than that if you dare, tell no one and just use odd matching socks for working outdoors. Hard to see them in work boots and who cares if they get worn out and muddy anyway!  When they wear out, they'll go into the "dusting mitten" bin too.

Denise, in my book...you are brilliant! My son takes after my mother in the sock department so I anticipate plenty of "dust mittens"! Thank you for the idea!

YouTube algorithm was quite right to show me this the other day: "The #1 Problem With Minimalism No One Talks About"

Thinking it might just help you, also, Nancy.

I've heard it some, and probably need to remind myself more-- to not judge my insides by comparing myself to someone else's outsides.