There’s a cam phone photo I often use as my Treo wallpaper: a snapshot of the word SIMPLIFY painted on concrete, taken at the parking lot at The Camp in Costa Mesa. See, I consider myself a marketer’s wet dream. I’m the type of consumer that easily goes, “Oooh, shiny.” Because of this handicap, I’ve amassed A TON of things. The majority of these things are craft related supplies. I like crafts; I like working with my hands to create things. However, I know that I don’t need 50 packs of patterned paper. Or hundreds of stickers, spools of ribbon, buttons, brads, markers, etc. I wanted these things so I bought them, knowing full well that I’d never get through 3 garbage bags full of yarn. That’s me being a wasteful asshole.

SIMPLIFY.

This year I resolve to clean out my “room.” The closet is full of things, there are piles upon piles on my craft table, there are bins and other storage containers filled to the brim with other random supplies. I want 80% of these things out of my room and out of my house. I don’t want to store them in the garage because, let’s be honest here, even the cat knows I’ll never get to using them all. The easiest way to get rid of them is to throw them away. This solution, however, is heartbreaking in two ways. First, all those things cost me money to acquire. Lots of money. Dumping them in the trash would be like literally flushing money down the toilet. Second, all those things are still perfectly usable. As the child of parents who extended the life of just about everything from plastic utensils to clothes, it’s simply against my nature to just throw something away that still has life to it.

Enter my ideal solution: charitable donations. While I’m sure charities would rather get the cash equivalent of the things that are donated, I’d be surprised if the offer would be rejected. So who could use 50 packs of patterned paper? If we had kids I’m sure we would give everything our kid’s school, but since our only “child” is covered in fur and walks on all fours (despite being eight years old), we have no connection with any school in our city.

In my search I came across Camp Laurel, an organization based in Pasadena that supports children living with HIV and AIDS. While looking at their donations page, I saw that on their wishlist they’ve specifically listed “Arts & Crafts supplies.” PERFECT! I sent off a quick email explaining my situation and gave my cell phone number, after which I almost immediately got a call back from Suzy, the Program Director. Unfortunately, as usual, I’m unable to take calls on my cell, so Suzy left a message saying that they would be happy to accept the supplies. This is going to sound cheesy, but I honestly felt elated when I listened to her message. I was relieved and appreciative. Yeah, I had a lot of money tied up with those things, but that all becomes quite inconsequential if they could be put to good use.

Filed by Maria in charity