So today I was out and about with Wendy F and we had a wonderful time shopping and checking out the stuff on the sidewalks ready for bulk waste pickup. And yes I know what you are thinking ~ "What is someone, who writes about decluttering and being environmentally friendly, doing shopping and picking up junk off the sidewalks?" First of all let me tell you that I bought nothing new and of course the stuff on the sidewalk wasn't new either. So that is the environmentally friendly side taken care of. The items I purchased at the thrift shop were two reels of thread for a friend, some wooden … [Read more...]
Don’t agonise over getting rid of clutter
I had a reader back in the early days of my blog who seemed to have trouble letting go of her clutter. It wasn't that she wanted to keep the stuff, or found it difficult to make the choices as to what to let go however she balked at getting on with the task. To me it was obvious that her problem was that she didn't like seeing anything go to waste. You see she was very eco friendly, to the point where it was a mission to throw nothing in the trash. And I think this noble goal interfered with her goal to rid her home of clutter. As you all know I am not a lover of waste myself and do what … [Read more...]
Clutter Calamity! by Claire
I received this story from Claire at the bottom of a long list of comments to Wednesday's post. It is a cautionary tale of a near catastrophe all in the attempt to save some meaningless stuff. She learned more than one lesson through this experience. One is don't risk your neck to save something far less important, and the other, sometimes you must make a choice of what is more important in your life. In her case the choice was pets or stuff likely to be damaged by said pets. Here is what Claire wrote. "Colleen, I have a decluttering story I don't know where to post but knew someone here … [Read more...]
Freeing up space
I talk a lot about freeing up space in cupboards, closets, shelves and floors. No one ever seems to have questioned me as to what all this space is being freed up for. What is the point in having empty spaces on shelves or floor space that could hold furniture to store or organise all your stuff. Given that you don't need to declutter anything if you don't want to then I could understand why this would come into question. However you wouldn't even be entertaining the thought of decluttering if being cluttered was working for you. One thing for sure, that I have mentioned before, is that … [Read more...]
Unclutter your travels
First of all, HELLO my faithful readers, I have missed you all and am glad to be back at the keyboard. We have had a wonderful vacation and are back in the land down under, although I am not exactly home. But that is another story. I look forward to interacting with my readers again and actually write some new posts. I have had a few experiences during my travels that have given me fodder for articles. Oh my! One thing that was very apparent during my travels was how much people clutter up their mobility. To me being freely mobile is key to efficient and carefree travel and it just blows my … [Read more...]
Guest post by Moni ~ Photos
A few years ago I began the task of digitising our family photos. I used a service to digitise our negatives and was making great inroads arranging our photos in year and month folders, when I ran into two problems. One, my external hard drive was knocked off the desk by the cat and all was lost. Fortunately my brother-in-law had copied about 3/4 onto his computer while preparing a digital photo frame for the grandparents but I have the tedious task of working out just what is missing. The second problem is that around that time my decluttering unearthed two shoe boxes worth of photos that … [Read more...]
Flowing through
Friday again and another weeks almost gone by and also another month. It seems like just yesterday that we moved into our apartment, but in fact that was nearly nine months ago. And with every day that passes by we love living here even more. One thing I have noticed about our new uncluttered, downsized life is that stuff tends to flow through our home now rather than come to rest, or stuff come to rest while something else flows out. I am pleased to say that much of that has been preloved, so there has been no buyers guilt attached. I wouldn't say that the apartment is fine tuned to the … [Read more...]
Simplify
Life is, at the very least, punctuated with stressful periods. For some there are no end of stressors almost 24/7 365 days of the year. Mostly this is caused by the complications of life. Past history, current hassles, work obligations, financial issues, family, illness... Boy, this is making me feel depressed just writing about it and my life is quite sweet for the most part. The one thing I have learned from my decluttering experience is that simplification is the key. The more you own the more you have to take care of. The more work the is required from you. And all that acquiring means … [Read more...]
Staying ahead of the clutter.
Of late I have been getting the felling that maybe there is more stuff coming into my home than there is going out or being used up. Typically craft supplies is my biggest area of concern. Stuff regularly goes out in this area but some stuff does come in, through generous friends and because I am continually experimenting with new ideas, and then there are the supplies that have to be restocked (adhesives, white card stock etc). But there are also other areas of the house where items have also come in, perfume from a good friend, new glass spice container to replace the plastic ones (which … [Read more...]
Sanna’s lastest 20 thing challenge update
Hello everyone! How are your challenges going? My original 3-week's challenge has ended, but I will keep going for another week as it has only now begun to get a little harder and I'd like to find some more hidden clutter to get rid of. The pace is getting a little challenging meanwhile, but I will do it for the rest of July! For me, it has been a success so far. I kept decluttering my 20 things a day and even got rid of some more (all together another week's worth). Mostly sewing supplies, photos, paper and office supplies had to go, but I also got rid of the odd item of clothing, dishware … [Read more...]