Reduce

If you have more than one shelf dedicated to trophies, it's probably too much unless you are very well-acquainted with a professional athlete. I'm not suggesting you throw away any Olympic medals, but there really doesn't seem to be a need for all the T-Ball, swim team and horseback riding awards to be taking up space long after the winner has forgotten about those once-loved sports.

Many inexpensive trophies have name plates that are glued on. If possible, remove those using a hair dryer to warm up the glue and a knife to remove the plate. Put the name plates in an album full of pictures of Susie and Johnny and their former favorite sports. That way you keep the memories but lose the junk.

Reuse

Charitable organizations such as the Arc of Central Virginia may be glad to take those old hunks of metal off your hands and put them to use for a good cause. Cherie Shallock of Lynchburg recently donated many of her children's old trophies, which the organization was able to use for its Olympics event held in mid-September. The Arc, which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, holds other events throughout the year and is always eager to collect prizes for the individuals who compete. For more information, call (434) 845-4071 or visit www.arcofcva.org.

Medals4Mettle (medals4mettle.com) accepts earned marathon, half-marathon and triathlon medals (but not trophies). They also accept medals earned by children who wish to donate them to other children. Recipients of the donated awards are people around the world who have demonstrated mettle or courage by dealing with disease, handicaps or any similar challenge.

Trophies and medals also make great prizes for backyard Olympics or other daily or weekly rewards for younger children. Perhaps a teacher or grandparent you know would be interested in your old medals.

Remix

Heavier trophies make great bookends, especially if you have several books on a certain topic. For example, if you have a large collection of baseball books, why not use your old baseball trophies to hold them in place?

Try using old medals as lamp or ceiling fan pulls. The avid sports fan (especially one who can't quite reach the chain on the ceiling fixture yet) will be excited to tug on a favorite medal every time the room gets a bit too muggy.

For the very crafty, trophies can be transformed into lamps, adding that perfect ambience to a den or child's room. You'll need a lamp kit (available at craft, hardware or home improvement stores), and the trophy you select should be large with a heavy base and hollow mannequin.

Your turn

Here's a summary of suggestions from our creative readers:

Cathy Jett of Fredericksburg wrote in to say that slumping really works. She said the man who slumped a bottle of champagne that her daughter and son-in-law had at their wedding even etched their names and the date of the wedding on the bottle for a great anniversary gift.

Neva Hart, an appraiser in Hardy, wanted to clarify some details on the proper way to store quilts, namely heirlooms and antiques made before 1950. She said it is a job for professionals -- even a dry cleaner is not ideal. She also mentioned that for very old quilts, cedar chests and plastic bags can be harmful. Instead, she recommends wrapping cherished quilts in old, well-washed sheets, placing them somewhere not directly touching wood, and taking them out about twice a year to refold. She also points out that display quilts should not face direct light, which causes fading.

Keep these great suggestions coming! Send us your ideas or questions throughout the series, and we'd love to hear about some clutter that may not be on this list for future columns. E-mail jennie.tal@roanoke.com, call 981-3269 or check out our online forum at roanoke.com/entertainment.