Seven Things Spring/ Summer 2008 Week 1: And they're off!

For those of you who may not remember the beginning of Seven Things last year I thought I'd reprint Taph's original manifesto (can you believe she's been going for just over a year now?!):

"In the spirit of the Seven Things Project, items will be thoughtfully dealt with. Just throwing stuff out isn't part of the deal. Mindful consumption and thoughtful disposal are tenets of this particular faith.

We will report each Sunday (most likely with photos and rationales) in three categories : In, Out and Shake It All About. The aim is that "Out" minus "In" will be greater than or equal to 7.

In
The stuff we bring in to our homes. This includes:

Stash items of ANY kind

Other forms of entertainment such as books, magazines, cds etc.

Items received by subscription, for example, magazines are to be counted.

Clothes and accessories are to be counted.

Homewares are to be counted.

Gifts received are to be counted.

Exempt are consumables such as food and other groceries and items borrowed from the library (but not items borrowed from the library and copied for keeping because that is (a) illegal and (b) not in the spirit of the challenge).

Out
Items deliberately weeded from the house. Consumables do not count. Completely worn out and non-fixable/transformable clothing, household items etc do.

Shake-it-All-About
This category is about transformation. Having taken on this challenge before, I thought it important to acknowledge the creative transformation of items already in the home. This might be as simple as the use of stash buttons on an old blouse to revamp it instead of buying a new blouse or other transformation of clothes. It might be the creation of something new for ourselves or others from stash. Some items from this category will become "outs" which is perfectly fine."
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This week's results:

In:

* 4 items of dolls house furniture, bought off eBay (and a free wardrobe included as a gift): * Diary insert for 2009 (I'm still not sure if this should be considered a consumable and therefore not needing to be counted...) plus free Poco Profile leather and suede coaster (which, when turned upside down makes the perfect dolls house rug!)
* 1 Marie Claire magazine (subscription)
* 1 Real Simple magazine (newsagents)
* 1 spare Tomy dolls house front, eleven lots of Tomy furniture (butchers block, bar, stool, oven set, desk and chair, stereo cabinet and stereo, rocking chair, 2 sets of books) and 1 pair Lundby wall lamps: gift from Diva.
* Powerhouse Museum Powerlines magazine
* 1939 Dressmaking Made Easy book.
* 1 black ringbinder

Total In this week: 25

Out:

* 1 Floriade catalogue: posted to The Parental Units so they can get some idea of what they might like to do while they're here next month.
* 1 roll of Smiggle contact paper, a freebie which I have no use for: gift to a colleague for her daughter.
* 1 Polyester/cotton waffleweave bathrobe, returned from Princess B's spare room and not needed as I have lovely pure cotton ones (and spares in the top cupboard, coutesy of Natio's excellent Christmas gift packs bought in the sales). 1 odd chicken ornament, 1 plastic black rose and 1 plastic white rose (all part of the last Black and White Swap parcel I received). 4 bobbins from the vintage sewing tin which don't fit my machine. 2 toys and a 1 children's book from Little E's toybox under my coffee table (all outgrown). 1 Mickey Mouse globe shaped money box (cute but I never use it). 1 scarf (ditto). 1 set of pink double pointed needles. 3 sheets of stickers that I'll never use. 10 cork heat mats (which I've replaced recently with much nicer ones). 1 2001 edition of Dawson's Unique Places to Stay Australia & New Zealand which I've never used and is now rather out of date. 1 large white plastic bowl which has been living under the stairs for the last 18 months. 2 coffee plungers (replaced last month) and a very bendy white spatula replaced at the same time by a sexy black silicone one. 2 small metal strainers bought in a set of three last weekend for $2. I only wanted the smallest to use as a tea strainer and know I'll never use the other two. 1 old tea strainer: donated to Salvos.
* 1 nail file (also from the vintage sewing tin) 2 balls of dead wool: bin.
* 1 very ancient Wellington map book which I used to keep thinking I could use it when I visit. But I always forget to take it and now we have Google maps who needs it anyway?: Recycling bin.
* 2 recent magazines: donated to the lunch room reading pile at work.
* 2 bag handles: given to a friend who said she needed some for a project.
* 1 avocado coloured Lundby bidet: gift to Diva.

Total Out this week: 46

Shake-it-all-about:

* I helped knit one of Taph's Time Thief Watch Caps: does that count?

Net items out so far during Seven Things Spring/ Summer 2008: 21