Ep. 593 — Book Club: 'Goodbye, Things' with Liz Gets Loaded | Ep 593

I love taking a photo of something sentimental. I got rid of my yearbooks a long time ago without a second thought 😊

I literally have 6 white mugs from Williams-Sonoma. The clutter of so many different mugs was driving me crazy so I donated them all a few years ago and now finally have peace and simplicity with my 6 plain white mugs.

I was not aware there is a book club or that this book existed. I downloaded it on my kindle and am enjoying it very much.

Also have me a chance to purge some.shirts, shoes, and books. :-)

What is the next book for the book club?

Ah, the signed book thing! I am down to 2 of them, one of which is a well-loved copy that I mailed to the author and he sent back autographed when I was in my teens. It's still in the bubble wrap from when we moved a few years ago. They don't take up a ton of space, but we move so frequently and have done so many minimalism passes… With others, I have cut out the autographed front page and kept only that. Technically it's a damaged book that I'm donating (otherwise in good condition), but the signed page is the really sentimental part.

For quilts and other handmade crafts: I visited a friend's home recently who makes quilts as a hobby, and she explained that if she didn't give them away, she'd either have to stop making quilts or just accept having tons of them in her house, so giving them away is a way to continue the hobby. For gifts in general, I don't think the giver intended to burden me with an obligation to keep the thing for life.

For formal wear, I'm reminded of the Marie Kondo idea of "wear your cosplay!" Can you wear the evening wear around the house once in a while or out on an occasion where it isn't called for, but not inappropriate? That could be a fun way to get more use out of them, if you especially like how they look / how you feel in them.

I cringed a bit when Liz gave the hypothetical about getting rid of original birth certificates haha. I get the point she was making, though.

A good way to manage all these documents (deeds, birth certificates, wedding registrations, etc.) is what in the military we call an “I love me” binder. Everything is stored and organized in one place, then kept neatly in a safe.

They’re called that because the military version is filled with your orders, awards, evaluation reports, and so on. You keep hard copies because it’s not if the Army loses something important, but it’s when.

Taking a Photo of something sentimental is my favorite hack to giving yourself permission to get rid of something! I actually have a folder on my computer called "virtual memory box" of things I thought were neat and would be fun to remember, but were hard to part with since I didn't want to 'forget' those things. Especially since many of these old items aren't ones you could easily go to the store and just replace. This trick has helped my dad get rid of a few things too!

Y’all: the footstool is on Marketplace as we speak

I also struggle with formalwear. I use it so rarely, yet it takes up space in the closet, usually in an obvious "in your face" place because they need to hang to be maintained. I have a friend who rents formalwear, which on the one hand is great, because she can change style and colours as needed, however it requires pre-planning: time to try them on, and availability of the piece(s) you want to rent, and REMEMBERING to do it in advance…. So that's why I keep my formalwear, because I have a terrible memory and a bit of a procastination mindset😅