I have discovered something about myself. I read too much. Yes, I really said that. I definitely read too much. I love to read and I am a very fast reader. I read 2-3 books in an evening depending upon the length of the book. I was pretty happy with the decluttering I have done over the years. I used to have an extensive library. I once sold enough books to pay for one semester of college. While I never accumulated that many books again, I did have a bunch of books that I decluttered over the last few years. Then I started using a Kindle and had over 1000 books on it. I decluttered Continue reading
When your hand is forced
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Sometimes when it comes to clutter it takes a major event to force you to deal with it. Sometimes we chip away at the clutter slower even than a thing a day, letting go of an item here and an item there. As we all know at that pace there is often just as much stuff coming in and all you are doing is marking time. Then something happens or you make a decision that finally forces your hand. We have at least two long time readers and their spouses who have found themselves in the position where they decided to downsize their homes. In both cases these couples have been reading and decluttering Continue reading
Quick purge or lifestyle change
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More than one person commented last week that they can't believe they are still finding things to declutter after years at the task. And what I say to that is ~ rejoice and be glad. Usually after most people do the usual kind of quick declutter they find they are back at square one a couple of years later. With a slow and deliberate declutter one gives a lot of thought to their habits of acquiring and holding on to stuff. Being aware of these habits makes it much easier not to make the same mistakes in the future. The reason why years later they are still finding things to declutter is Continue reading
Staying ahead of the clutter.
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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 are Continue reading
Growing
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"Either you're growing or you're decaying, there is no middle ground. If you're standing still you're decaying. "What do I know that is absolutely, incontrovertibly true?" I sat there for about an hour and a half and all I could come up with is that everything changes. That's all I know with any certainty. It's all going to change, and flowing within change keeps us flexible and helps to develop a sense of humour about everything." ~ Alen Arkin from Wisdom (Life) by Andrew Zuckerman. What Alen Arkin says here is true, and one thing that occurs with change are different needs/wants. In my Continue reading
Life moves on
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I received the following comment from Kimberley to one of last week's posts ~ Who Are You Now. Kinberley wrote: "Your post should be titled, “Isn’t this how clutter begins?” We move from one phase of our life to another. We don’t or won’t let go of what used to serve us while at the same time adding things that now do. It’s as simple as doing the math." This is so true. The reason much of our clutter builds up is because life moves on for us. The problem with that is that life moves on but we don't move on the resulting items that become clutter. We understandably hold on to things for a Continue reading
Clutter on a grand scale
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Recently my parents put a deposit on a property in a gated retirement community. I have to say I am very proud of them for taking this step. Mind you, it isn't a fait accompli until the home is built and they have moved in, but being open to the idea and making the first move is a wonderful thing. The home my parents are currently living in has become far more than people at their stage in life to should have to maintain ~ inside and out. In my opinion, the home itself has become their biggest item of clutter. Too many rooms to keep dusted, vacuumed and fresh, to much yard to mow and gardens Continue reading
Simple
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Way back in the early days of my decluttering mission I wrote a post about keeping it simple. I stand by those words to this day and have pasted them below for you to study again. Here they are... Do SIMPLE things to improve your way of life. Keep your spending SIMPLE .buy what you need not things that just clutter up your space. Eat a more SIMPLE diet choose fresh ingredients that aren’t enveloped in wasteful packaging. Choose recipes that are SIMPLE to create using ingredients that can be used in subsequent meals so nothing goes to waste. Enjoy SIMPLE pleasures like a walk in the Continue reading
