Hi readers, Wednesday night my son was involved in an accident and is currently in Intensive Care so I may be out of action for a while. Hopefully there will be good news about his condition in the coming hours but for now we are just playing the waiting game. If anyone would like to write a guest post to fill in the empty days I would be grateful. Just send it to me through my Contact Colleen page. I will play catch up with the decluttering when things settle down, hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. Sorry I only got 2 out of 5 comments up before things got crazy around … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2010
Day 294 The wedding dress
A guest post by: Cindy Bogard Colleen asked me to write another guest post, and I was not filled with inspiration, so I polled my friends: What would you like to read about? Sentimental clutter was the most popular answer, and one that Colleen has tackled numerous times. But there was also a challenge, specifically the sentimental clutter of The Wedding Dress, big, bulky, and probably never to be worn again. What to do with The Dress? So I polled my friends again: What did you do with your dress? The unanimous answer - I still have it or once, my parent has it. I have mine, which I still … [Read more...]
Day 293 Decluttering the pantry again
I have a hankering to rearrange the pantry again. Fine tuning the kitchen seems to be an ongoing exercise for me. As I slowly declutter more and more items I am continually reshuffling things around to find the best set-up. One day I will be satisfied and call it quits but that time isn't here yet. Some of you may think that if I just took care of it in one fell swoop it would be done and I could leave well enough alone. But you all know by now that is just not the way I operate. As I become more and more ruthless or sensible as the case may be, I am finding more things I am now happy to be … [Read more...]
Day 292 The holiday season is upon us
I know I have touched on this subject many times before but Isabella's comment on Day 290 triggered a thought in my head that I wanted to share with you. This idea is related to Christmas but can easily apply to any other of the holiday season's celebrations such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa etc. Keep in mind back when I was a child in the sixties and seventies, Christmas and birthdays were the only times we received novelty items like toys, books and pretty bows for your hair. Not all year round like the kids of today. Do you remember as a child waiting with baited breath for Christmas to arrive? … [Read more...]
Day 291 Getting results
I can not stress enough times that no matter where you are on the journey of decluttering every little bit of progress counts. Whether you are just finding the floor or you have been downsizing for years every little piece of clutter gone is a step forward. Progress doesn't always have to be measured by how much stuff you have removed. It can also be measured by how well you have stemmed the tide of stuff coming in and by the valuable lessons you have learned along the way. So if you ever feel despondent about your progress remember to consider all aspects of what constitutes success and keep … [Read more...]
Day 290 Recreational shopping.
Recreational shopping, I wish it was an oxymoron like - unbiased opinion or seriously funny- but unfortunately it's not. As the title suggests, people do approach shopping as a form of recreation. Sadly, having disposable income isn't always considered a necessity in the pursuit of such entertainment. Hence the abysmal levels of credit card debt in the Western world. Although I can't claim to be innocent of taking part in the past, I can honestly say that I did not contribute to the credit card debt statistics. Never the less, it is something I am not proud of and I am glad I learnt to be a … [Read more...]
Day 289 On Laziness
My father always says there is sheer laziness and there is smart laziness. The first one is not an attractive trait while the other one is about finding the most efficient and effective way to cut down on your work load without neglecting anything. I am all for smart laziness and like Dad, I am pretty good at it. Utilising this ability makes staying organised a much simpler task. Sometimes the most efficient method is obvious to us while other times we need to be taught, and the best way to learn is to have an open mind. I tend to be the kind of person who having no desire to spend more time … [Read more...]
Day 288 Friday’s Favourite Five
My favourite five comments for this week Once again there were so many great comments this week that I had a hard time choosing but here are the five I had to restrict myself to. To everyone who isn't in the five this week I thank you all for the great input that you contributed to make my post more informative. Check out Sunday's post you may find yourself there. Bronwyn on Day 283 - I love the way you look at things…!!! And the way you have given me permission to let go... Read more Isabella on Day 284 - I have another benefit – a clearer mind... Read more. Karin on Day 285 - I … [Read more...]
Day 287 The future of 365lessthings
I have had the inevitable question posed to me a few times of late; what will happen to 365lessthings once the year is up? All I can say at this point is - you are not getting rid of me that easily. You will have to hit the unsubscribe button if you want to do that. I really haven't had much time to think about it but there are only 78 days left so I suppose now is a good to time start making plans. As you all know I have quit my day job and as of Thursday at 7pm I will have a lot more time on my hands to ponder the issue. I will continue to post next year but not everyday that is the one … [Read more...]
Day 286 Out of sight, out of mind
While answering a comment yesterday the old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" popped into my head. I have talked at times about how decluttering makes it easier to clean your home; having fewer items to clean and fewer things to move so you can clean under them certainly makes the job easier. This is the obvious clutter. What about those items that are hidden away out of sight. By the time I started my 365 Less Things challenge most of my clutter was out of sight because I am a bit of a neat freak. The hard work of making our belongings fit in to this smaller house was already done in the … [Read more...]