Cluttercast – Connecting through Clutter

Cluttercast enters its 6th month today!  Check out the Cluttercast confessions on my blog—and see how my son inspired Cluttercast.

Years ago he started collecting his outgrown clothes and cast-offs.   He has great taste, and when his friends come over,  they take whatever they want.  His “free clothes pile” has become a tradition (and another way to know we’re related.)

Before his friends came home from college this summer, I scouted the pile in advance, and rescued this new, never-worn jacket…. posted in homage to the free clothes pile.

(Nylon jacket by Blue Marlin, brand new, men’s size size XL)

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to have this item, please  let me know  in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

Peter Walsh book: Anita Burnham

I have been on a de-cluttering spree, but I’m not sure where to go from here! I have a small house and need to get rid of more (I think) but do not want to at the moment-maybe this book will let me know what to get rid of-hopefully!

Princess Power: Mary

I would love these for my almost 3 year old daughter, but not near as much as she would love them! She is our only girl and has three older brothers. Everything she owns is either pink or sparkly, and her favorite is dressing in a pink fluffy dress…If we won these toys, they would not only be a blessing, but they would not likely leave her purse.

Up-side down: Diane, Michelle

Diane:I would love the 52 relaxing rituals. I always say that it is important to take time for yourself and this would give me some more ideas how to. I work with special needs children and it a very rewarding job but many times can be really hard too.

Michelle: I would love these cards! I am the principal of an Adult Ed Corrections program in a SF Bay Area County Jail. This is sometimes a trying teaching position and to be able to uplift a tired teacher with a little card in their mailbox at the end of the day would be terrific!

Thank you to everyone who commented!! 

Winners: please send your mailing address to Cluttercast@gmail.com.

Darryle Pollack This Week's Catchers

It feels great giving clutter to people who are happy to get it .  It’s twice as good—-seeing pictures of Cluttercatchers  giving to someone else:

Mothers…

  Diane gave her mom the watch for Mother’s Day

 Teachers….

Barbara gave the apple pin to a very special teacher, Mrs. Lapin.

 And Soldiers….The women of the Knitting Circle in Palm Springs are knitting the yarn from my friend Lynne, making lap robes and helmet liners to give to soldiers.  

 THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SENT PICTURES!!

Darryle Pollack Cluttercatchers

I kept these around for a rainy day.   When times are hard,  and people are feeling down, sometimes even the smallest things can cheer them up.  There are 52 of those small things in each of these packs of cards—maybe they can help  turn the down-side up.

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to have this item, please  let me know  in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

I recently read a piece about Princess fever, how parents have mixed feelings about their daughters and princess paraphernalia, and how the princess message is particularly pervasive and powerful to little girls.

I’m glad to be past all that.   My daughter liked the Disney characters but  didn’t buy into the whole thing– I used say she was the “anti-princess”.   Although this article didn’t strike a chord for me personally, it did strike a chord— in the clutter.

(Set of four princesses, brand new, about 3 inches high)

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to have this item, please  let me know  in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

He’s Oprah’s guru when it comes to organizing.  But  Peter Walsh  and I are on different planets—and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

A few weeks ago,  I was sent free samples of his new office organizing system.   I didn’t even bother unpacking them—-I put them right on Cluttercast and sent it to someone else.   So I was safe.  Free of guilt.  Free to live without Peter Walsh on my own cluttered planet.  

Until this arrived.  I don’t know what Peter Walsh and his team were thinking when they sent me his latest book— but I do know what I’m thinking .  Just what the title says: Enough Already!

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

Thank you to everyone who commented!!

Choosing a winner a second time is as hard as the first.  So computerized random selection is the way to go.    It chose:

HP Printer: Amy P

“…oh my goodness I need a printer sooo bad…”

Anthropologie top: Loretta

 Yeah, congratulations! I am a 9 year survivor and have received positive reports about my cancer so far.
I would love to have your Brown Baby Doll top. It’s just my size too.

Creature feature: Akemi/SV twin Mom

I would love to include these creepy critters in the end-of-year basket I’m putting together for my twins’ preschool teacher. She’s always trolling garage sales for fun things to use in her cash strapped California classroom and would be most appreciative.

Thank you again for your comments and support of Cluttercast.  Winners please send your mailing address to : Cluttercast@gmail.com.

Darryle Pollack This Week's Catchers

These tiny rubbery creatures were my secret weapon.  My kids always looked forward to the times that I would take out my collection of tiny little toys.   This would only be in restaurants and on special occasions when  we were in a confined space and I needed them to behave.  The creepy collection worked like a charm.

Maybe too well.  Turns out these little critters could have traumatized my daughter for life.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

I wrote a post recently for the Huffington Post about National Cleavage Day– and how I  lost my own cleavage (and both breasts) to breast cancer.  I’ve learned not only how to laugh about this situation—but how to dress for it.

I hit the jackpot when loose fitting baby doll tops became stylish.   I didn’t know how long they’d stay in fashion so I grabbed them whenever I could find them.  Like this brown top that I found at Anthropologie. 

When I went through my closet recently, I discovered that apparently I liked it so much I accidentally bought the same exact top TWICE.   This one still has the tags on it.

It’s chocolate brown, , much darker than it looks in this photo.   I like this top because it artfully camoflages my missing breasts—but it looks even better if you’ve still got yours.

(Anthropologie top by Ric Rac, size L, BRAND NEW with tags)

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

The HP compact printer I found in the clutter by my desk was the most popular item ever on Cluttercast.  Everybody wanted it.   Except the person who won it, who never contacted me by a comment or a reply to my email.

So this is a first for Cluttercast:  a second chance for everyone else.  It’s now been over a month, and I’m cluttercasting the printer again.  This time, to be sure that the winner REALLY wants to win, I’m adapting the rules a little bit.  Please see below.   

(HP Photosmart A516 compact printer, value $273)

HOW TO WIN:   If you would like to win this item,  please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.  

You can increase your odds of winning by having friends subscribe to Cluttercast.  Each time you add a new subscriber,  your name will be entered again.  Your friends can also leave a comment to win themselves.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

Jewelry boxes: One to Minnie, one to Dee

 Minnie:  My sister has been a head start teacher for 20 plus years now.  Whenever our government makes cutbacks on the head start program, she takes a volunteer pay cut instead of leaving.  When the summer unemployment for teachers was taken away from the head start teachers in her area, she still volunteers her time at the center all summer….she has always bought and paid for art and craft materials out of her own pocket, so these children do not miss out…  

NOTE TO DEE: Special thanks for Cluttercasting on your own blog! 

Apple pin: Barbara

I’d like to give this as a gift to Mrs. Chanie Lapin from our synagogue in San Jose. She worked really hard to run our day school for 15 years, putting up with a lot of criticism & lack of funding.  She deserves way more than this, but it’s a start.

Darryle Pollack This Week's Catchers

I’ve gone with this idea of Teacher appreciation and jewelry all week.  Once I started, I had to continue with the theme.  Now that I went ahead and stuck my neck out.    Which can only mean one thing: a necklace.

The beads are beautiful and these are my favorite colors.  So it looks like something I would wear, or make myself.  Only I didn’t, and I didn’t. 

If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

Now that I’ve started on this path towards teacher appreciation,  I’m a woman on a mission—-trying to think what items in my clutter might make good teacher gifts.  Plus I’ve got a theme going with the jewelry box and jewelry.

So I came up with these bracelets that I bought at a craft fair.   They have different color schemes and different themes–one called  ”spring”; one called “Zen”.     They stretch—so they’ll fit any teacher as long as one of them fits the mood.         

If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

An apple for the teacher….Cute.  Corny.  And such a coincidence I couldn’t resist. 

I happened to come across this adorable apple pin right after I posted the jewelry boxes for the teachers.    The timing was too perfect—-I think this now officially becomes  Teacher Appreciation Week on Cluttercast.

(apple pin, approximately 1″ wide, 1 ” high, brand new)

HOW TO WIN: If you would like to have this item, please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

At the end of every school year,  I would always be in a last minute panic about what to do for my children’s teachers.   I think teachers are heroes– so anything we do to honor them is not even close to what they deserve.

One year I thought I’d be smart and avoid my usual procrastination.  Early in the year,  I saw these pretty silver-plated jewelry boxes lined in blue velvet.  My plan was to get them engraved for my kids’ teachers when the time came for teachers’ gifts. 

The time came.  And went.   I’m sure I panicked as usual and  bought something at the last minute, forgetting the jewelry boxes and my plan.   By the time I remembered —which is now—both of my kids are almost old enough to be teachers themselves.

(2 silver-plated jewelry boxes, brand new)

HOW TO WIN:  If you would like one of these boxes, please  leave a comment and let me know you are a teacher, or something special about a teacher.   If you know someone else who might like this item, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack New Cluttercast

There’s just one Catcher this week (and I’m in catch-up mode )

Wedgewood expresso set:  Ginger Lee

OMG! The cups would be just the thing for my friend and neighbor, Syd.  For his birthday, he received an espresso machine-and he has only one espresso cup to his name. These five cups would mean he can share coffee with guests, in style.

 Ginger:  I’m sending this on one condition: that you are the first guest Syd invites and that you send back a picture!

Bright and bold sweater:

I’m surprised no one asked for this—it is beautiful for someone bold enough to wear it. 

I’m adding it to UNCLAIMED CLUTTER, where it will show up sometime in the future. 

Below are some other things that fall into that category.  These items are still up for grabs; first comment,  first served. 

 Time Traveler:

  still ticking

 Rising crafts:

Still available: Nadera doll, handmade by widows in Afghanistan

Tiny beaded pig keychain: from Zimbabwe

 Mystery tool: 

Thanks to Cluttercast readers,  mystery is now solved.

  If you would like to have any of the unclaimed clutter,  please  let me know in a comment.   If you know someone else who might like it, I hope you’ll share this and let them know.

Darryle Pollack This Week's Catchers, Unclaimed Clutter