Recently I was let in on a strategy on how to state a case or perhaps even get another person to come around to your way of thinking without their sensibilities being offended. The idea is to get people to think rationally about a subject without them realising that you are leading them in a direction they may not have considered. The trick is to broach the topic in the form of a question that you quite likely have the same opinion on. Once you are in agreement you steer the conversation, maybe even in the form of another question, in the direction in which you want it to go. Successfully … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2012
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Reaching into the Archives
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I revisted the archives from September 1, 2010 for this post. It was titled "Cindy's Take on Avoiding Recluttering." This time I have published it with gift buying in mind. As appropriate, insert "the gift recipient" in place of "I" It’s bound to happen sometime; you’re going to have to break down and buy something. Before you do, consider these factors: Do I need it? Do I want it? Did I come into the store looking for this item, or did it just catch my eye? Would I be criticized if my spouse or family members knew that I had purchased this? Can I … [Read more...]
Mini Mission Monday ~ Similar thing roundup
Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and "fun" for you to achieve some quick decluttering. I think it is time again for a roundup of similar items that have somehow ended up all over the house. If you are a very organised person you may be able to take the week off. But if you or your family members tend not to put thing back where they belong then it is time for a little roundup. I … [Read more...]
Simple Saturday ~ Clutter with eyes update
Remember back in October one of our fellow 365ers needed our advice on getting go of her clutter with eyes. Read about it here. Well this week she sent us and update that she wanted me to share with you all. Here is what Chrissie had to say... This is some update on my efforts concerning things with eyes. Feel free to publish if you like to. I am progressing! Not as fast as I wish to but anyway progress is visible – Especially today! From all the comments of your readers I created little tutorial Helpful actions Involve trusted friend or family member (my hubby and my Mom … [Read more...]
Friday’s Favourites ~ Dec072012
On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did. Favourite Comments. Enjoy! In this comment Katharine tells us how she has built up emotional strength for decluttering. Christine share her progress with us in this comment Jane understands how her mind works. Read about it in this comment I loved Wendy B's explanation of one a day decluttering in this comment. Wendy also had a few good tips on repurposing items as gift wrap in … [Read more...]
From the Archives ~ Reassess what need is
I brought this blog post up from the archives to once again make the point of what need really is as that is the theme for today's mini mission. I mentioned many time how little we really do need as opposed to what we "think" we need. We really only need food, water, shelter and love, it is a little more complicated than that but not as complicated as we tend to make it for ourselves. You only have to look at the photos of all the things I have decluttered from my home to see how much stuff we had that we thought we needed or wanted, only to find that sooner or later we discovered we didn't … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Alternatives to Gift Wrap
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I am coming to the end of a multi-year Use It Up Challenge: To use up all the copious amounts of wrapping paper that I purchased on sale after Christmas like clockwork every December 27. TreeHugger has a great article on holiday waste and sites estimates of 4 million tons of wrapping paper and gift bags thrown away. My girl friend Corinna has made cloth bags that she reuses year after year. She does a lot of sewing and cloth crafts so my guess is that she was able to make these bags with remnants. Here are great step-by-step instructions; even a non-sewer can … [Read more...]
Deal with the easy stuff first
Declutter the easy stuff first. I can't stress this point enough. When I say easy stuff I mean the stuff you find the easiest to part with. The things you care the least about. The things that are easy to offload. The things that you can get at easily. The things you know you have too many of. The things that are rusting in the back garden. The broken, never to be repaired things. The outgrown things. Not... ...the things that hold lots of sentimental value. ...the things that you think you might like to post on ebay but don't think you can get your mind around that just … [Read more...]
Mini Mission Monday ~ Easy things to let go
Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and "fun" for you to achieve some quick decluttering. The main guiding principal behind 365 less things is to let go slowly, starting with the easy stuff. It can be daunting enough to get started on this journey so why scare yourself off by trying to get rid of the difficult things first. This principal applies even if you're a long way into your … [Read more...]