Boring Tales of Summer: Going Into the Closet

I have been doing some school work and thinking this week, but mostly I'm pretty into home things. You know all those things you put off doing until summer so you have more time to dedicate to them?

I started small by tackling the linen closet. You know, I have lived in places that didn't have linen closets. Can you imagine? I would die if I had to do that again! My linen closet also serves as my craft closet, as well as storage to undisplayed collectibles, such as my tea cups, and some paintings (from my brother) that don't "fit" anywhere in my home at this time. As you can imagine, the towels and sheets get crowded out.

It's a daily struggle for me to live a simple life. I try, but I'm not that good at it. I keep at it though. I also try to be frugal. So, as I organized my closet, I found that there wasn't much that should have been thrown out. However, I did have several towels and a sheet set that had seen better days. Of course, everyone needs rags, which is what those towels became, but there were too many to fit into the assigned rag bin. I didn't know quite what to do. I don't need more than a bin (milk crate size) full of old rags. I don't have extra storage for rags. You can't really donate old dingy towels. I hate to say this, but I had to throw them away. I felt like such a fool hauling those things to the dumpster. I was actually looking around, hoping nobody would see me.

It just occurred to me that what I used to do with old rags and towels was to take them to the stage. We were always in need to drop cloths for painting, and a good scrub down of the props and dressing rooms was standard practice when we finished each production run. Now, that's a good use. Throw old towels and sheets away? I am totally ashamed of myself.

Tomorrow I'm going into the kids' closets. My son has been walking around with high waters for the last three months of school. My daughter has far too many clothes for one person--even a girl. She's on a hand-me-down circuit that has been quite active this spring. Don't worry, I'm not throwing away any kids clothes like I did the rags. It's my turn to box up and pass clothes down the circuit. Now THAT seems like a simple, frugal way to deal with my closet. No shame there.