Twice a year or so I get this kind of telephone call.
We’ll be in your neighborhood next week. Do you have any donations of used clothing or household goods?
And right away I say yes. Without even knowing what the donations might be I say yes.
The outfit that comes by is called Rescue Mission.
There are things that you and I probably don’t want to know about the used clothing business. There is re-marketing and profiteering. I’m never sure how much of what I pack up will be used, or used by someone who really needs my shredded sneakers and faded khakis.
There is more to this than meets the eye, I’m sure. But I don’t need to know. I always say yes because the time is always right and the need is always great. Because the call has come and the closets are full. Because children grow and parents do too. Because I use my clothing well but I never quite use it up. Because when you have more than you need things grow heavy and dull, dusty, dark, airless and dead. I say yes because it’s a Rescue Mission, and the one being rescued is me.
So, so true! Decluttering is a very freeing experience.
Comment by Shalet — March 13, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Saying yes rescues us all, I think.
Comment by marta — March 13, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
i agree with you. i have stopped thinking about what the organization does, who they support, where they go…and i just say yes. it becomes about *me* and not about them and sometimes that’s just okay.
Comment by Phyllis Sommer — March 14, 2008 @ 2:51 am
Aak. Somehow deleted my comment. De-cluttering, I guess! š
Comment by denise — March 14, 2008 @ 4:14 am
I maintain an on-going donation bag, so that I’m always ready to say yes!
Comment by Mama Zen — March 14, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
I live two blocks from our Rescue Mission, both the shelter and their economy store. Back when we could take walks that far by using a stroller, I bought a bunch of used toys there. But, now in the Great Purge to move, we have taken so much to our Mission. You’re right … it’s a total rescue for us!
Comment by Shawn — March 14, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
If I could only get my husband to see your point of view.
Comment by Shelli — March 14, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
If you can get your husband to see it, then you can go to work on my husband. I didn’t say we shared a point of view. Yin and yang.
Comment by Karen — March 14, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
i say yes too…and in so, i say yes to so much more than i thought.
Comment by jessamyn — March 15, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
I make my family fill up trash bags, every few months, to take to the Rescue Mission. First, I give them to the children I work with, in the inner city schools, and what is left over goes to the Rescue Mission. The kids at my school get so excited, and my kids love to give. It feels good to declutter. We have too much stuff, it is almost a shame.
Comment by Eileen — March 15, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
I teach a class called “You Are Not Your Stuff” . . . Living the clutter-free life.
Moving things into your life and out of your life keeps you in the “flow”.
Comment by Fran Scoville — October 21, 2010 @ 2:21 pm