Last week my son went into the hall closet and grabbed a towel to take to school. It wasn't just any towel he was in search of, it was a "Finding Nemo" beach towel that has been in our family for, ohhhh, probably 10 years. This particular towel is a favorite towel not because of the adorable "Nemo," but because it is long and wide and SUPER thin. The "thin" factor translates to "easy to fit in a backpack" and "dries quickly." The towel went to school, came home and ended up in the laundry. You may think this isn't worth mentioning, but if you have teenage boys, you know that when something that was used for gym class makes it into the laundry before it becomes the source of eye-watering odor, it's nothing short of a miracle.
Fast forward to the towel getting washed, dried, folded and carried upstairs to be put away. When I opened the closet to return the "Nemo" towel to it's place on the shelf, I discovered that every towel in the closet had been disrupted, unfolded, wadded back up, and shoved into the closet. My initial reaction was to call forth my 15 year old son and task him with the job of returning the closet to it's normal order. However, as I looked into the closet I realized, I had towels that hadn't been used in the 3 years since we moved into this house. The idea for the Towel Toss was born!
When I moved into this house I started keeping all of the towels in a glass cabinet in the bathrooms - it easy to keep things neat when you have to "look" at them. I also started keeping all of the bed linens in the bedrooms where they would be used. This linen closet, was filled with things from the old house that I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to use in the new house. Well, 3 years later, I have the answer....and 3 garbage bags full of donations.
This week your goal is to visit the linen closets, towel cupboards, and drawers where your towels are stacked, stuffed, and stored - and throw away, donate, etc. at least 10 percent of your towel stash. If you haven't gone through all of your towels at the same time this goal will be easier than you think. Stained, Frayed, Ripped, Faded, Bleached.....these could all be reasons to move towels to your Goodwill box. It might help to decide how many towels you actually "Need" before you begin this process. I actually found that I had nearly 20 kitchen towels. Even during the Christmas baking season 20 is excessive for me. Another thing that might help you "purge" your excessive towels is to ask yourself - "Would I be embarrassed if a house guest used this towel?"
How to go about this Challenge:
Get a Garbage Bag and a Donate Bag
Set your purge goal.
Start at the towel storage area that is the "furthest out" in your home. (For some reason it's always easier to complete a task for me if I plan my route. At my house, I did - The Linen Closet, Kids Bathroom, Kitchen, then My Bathroom.)
Remove all of the towels from the closet, cupboard, drawer, etc.
Anything that doesn't meet your criteria for condition gets put into the Donation or Garbage bag depending on the condition.
If you find that you're "stuffing" towels into their assigned spaces, (as I was with kitchen towels), you may need to re-evaluate your purge plan/goal and increase it.
Refold, restack and then replace the towels where they belong.
Load the donate bag into your car.
Deliver it to the closest donation station.
Congratulate yourself on a job well done and celebrate with a treat on the way home - DQ Blizzard, Starbucks Salted Carmel Latte, maybe even a pedicure.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Please feel free to share your comments about this challenge. I'd love to hear from you!
Tif
