Throw Out Thursday

In our house, we play the "Stay or Go" game on Thursday nights. For about a year, we have gone through our home targeting one small space at a time each week. Little by little, drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf, closet by closet, we have asked the hard questions of our possessions:

• Why in the world are we keeping this?

• When was the last time we used it?

• If this is so important to keep, why is it in the back of this drawer?

• Do we really need five of these?

• I don't even remember having this, what is it?

After Thursday night's dinner, we examine a few items from our target space and decide if they stay or go. Any member of the family can make a case for or against keeping an item. If it stays, it needs to be used or if it is so sentimentally loved, it needs to find a place to be appreciated and not forgotten. We have all been grateful to get out from under the clutter, finding lost treasures, and having a better grasp of what we own and where it is.

No one's heart gets broken. If one family member wants to keep something when no one else does, they have the next couple weeks to prove its usefulness or take responsibility for finding an appropriate place for it (preferably in their own space). One week, the breadmaker was nominated for the Stay or Go game. It had been sitting in the garage untouched for 7 years. You might guess that it was an automatic "go" since we hardly remembered we had it - but someone took responsibility for its usefulness and now we enjoy the smell of fresh bread filling our house almost once a week! Even better than having a breadmaker turns out to be using it. Thanks to the Stay or Go game, we now also have a hall closet that actually works as a hall closet and not an avalanche trap for the next person who opens it.

Little by Little

We picked Thursday night to play "Stay or Go" because that is garbage night for us. Hardly any items are actually thrown away. We give most things to local charities and have sold a few items. Only when it isn't useful to anyone else nor recyclable do we actually throw it away. But "Throw Out Thursday" sure has a ring to it. Gotta go, I smell fresh bread.