Sweatin' the Small Stuff.

There is almost no furniture left in the purple room. I have a mattress and lamp on the floor and a small coffee table tucked in the corner. The rest of the floor space is dedicated to The Great Sort.

Everything I'm going to keep or need to look through is in the closet on the left, and everything to donate/give away is in the corner on the right. Granted, there are still a few piles if miscellaneous "goods" scattered about the house, and front lawn (my apologies Courtney), but most of those already have a new place to go--if not only in my mind. I'm finding new homes for everything. every. last. thing.

Since just throwing stuff away is not something that I can do, this process has been a long and tedious one.You can call it being a bleeding heart environmentalist or someone with some sort of compulsive disorder, I really don't care. I just need to do it better this time around. In order to demonstrate my neurosis in full color, allow me to show you these, shall we say, "infographics". Here is the stuff to donate and/or give away:

..and this is the stuff that lives to see yet another day under the careful watch of my discerning eye: 

In full disclosure, I also have two bikes, a laundry basket & a back pack that are coming with me as well. There is at least one more round of downsizing before I am reduced to the epitome of material efficiency, so I think I can still take some extra supplies with me to the next house. The final sort is not far off though.  2012: The End is Near!

No no, scratch that. 2012: The Beginning is Nearer!

My most recent non-volunteer volunteer activity

This past weekend I signed up to "volunteer" at NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon's annual fundraising gala. I wanted to lend a hand, because I strongly believe in their cause, and I knew that they were very effective at what they do. Their staff of four managed to elect pro-choice candidates at every level of government. Their volunteer phone banks made more calls in the last election than any other organization in Oregon. Ensuring that Oregon remain one of the last three states in the nation that does not have any restrictions on a women's right to an abortion.

Pause for applause. It's well deserved.

I chose to bring my favorite volunteer with me to the gala. She was most recently hired at my work to admin for the IT & Fiscal Teams. Another pause for applause. It's definitely warranted.

A friend of mine is the volunteer cooridnator for them. She needed volunteers to fill tables, and help clean up at the end. She had plenty of volunteers there. They didn't necessarily need my help...and my ride came early.

I didn't actually end up helping them with anything, so gave them 50 bucks, and called it a day.

Moral of the story. Volunteering is great, but donating is important. People that work at non-profits spend much of their energy trying to get your money. Make it easy on them.