There is one thing or actually a big group of things in my home that are looking down the barrel of being decluttered before the 365 days are up. The group in question are my old sports trophies. I have mentioned these before and still haven't done anything about them but the day of reckoning is coming. Trophies come under the same banner as souvenirs and little trinkets that serve no other purpose but to remind you of days gone by. They scream "look what I did", "look where I've been" and maybe even the sad cry of "I'm living in the past". Personally unless your future appears dull and you Continue reading
Day 243 Memory clutter
posted by Colleen Madsen
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: memories, personal attachment, status symbols, unclutter
Day 238 Children’s art projects
posted by Colleen Madsen
Today I received an email from Barb who had a question about children's' art projects. Here is what she wrote... How have you handled children's art projects, etc. I have a whole box of them and just not sure what to do!!!! My response was this... I have made of point of revisiting my stash several times and been more ruthless with each visit. I am now considering digitising what is left and making a disc for each child. My son was quite prolific with writing "wild" stories when he first started school and they are a classic to read over and over again so I would never part with them but I Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: memories, personal attachment, reduce, simplify
Day 204 Diaries and Journals
posted by Colleen Madsen
Today I received a comment from Hannah asking for help with a decision on what to do with old diaries/journals. Here is what Hannah wrote... I have just found a box full of the journals/diaries I have kept over the years! What to do! I don't think I’ll ever read them again, and I don't know if I want anyone else reading them either, although if I’m dead, who cares?! I think I actually know the answer for me as much as I don"t want to face it, but would be interested in your thoughts, and those of your readers. Well Hannah, there are a couple of things you might want to take into Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: memories, personal attachment
Day 191 One area of doom half sorted
posted by Colleen Madsen
I think I mentioned some time back that one of the areas of doom when it comes to decluttering my house is my daughters bedroom. It is mostly awkward because for now she is living elsewhere while going to university so that adds a degree of difficulty I didn't really want to deal with. It is not for me to decide what she wants to keep and I cannot be bothered sending long convoluted emails or wasting precious phone minutes to have her decide long distance. Luckily for me she came to visit the week before last and I warned her ahead of time that she was going to have to help me do some Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: accumulate, don't use, donate, magazines, memories, recycle, unclutter
Day 180 Sentimental clutter
posted by Colleen Madsen
The item that is being donated today is a sentimental item that is kind of sad to see go. As you know our mission at the moment is to declutter any items in our home that are not being used and are unlikely to be used in the future. The fact that this item has been unused and hidden away in my camphor wood chest for several years deems it clutter. It is the last hand crocheted item left in our home that was made by my husbands grandma. Our linen closet used to overflow with all the crocheted hand towels and face clothes that she made for us throughout our married life. She has been gone Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: don't use, donate, memories, personal attachment, unclutter
Day 168 What is the strangest item among your clutter
posted by Colleen Madsen
I sit here with my hands poised above the keyboard drawing a complete blank today. I have been a little side-tracked as my son had all four of his wisdom teeth extracted this morning. So due to my lack of sleep last night, sitting in hospital waiting rooms for half a day, swapping ice packs, warming soup and serving ice-cream to him I have been a little distracted. So I am going to keep it light today and just admit to you the strangest item of clutter lurking in my home. Being as we have discussed this week about childhood clutter and in keeping with the above paragraph I think this is an Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: memories, personal attachment, unclutter
Day 167 Take your time, learn as you go.
posted by Colleen Madsen
If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know that my take on decluttering is " slow and steady wins the race". One of the advantages to this approach is that you can start with the easy stuff and as time goes on you become more ruthless and eager to reduce your clutter more and more. The job gets easier as you go because what seemed like hard decisions at first become simpler and comfortable for you. Betty Jo from Joy With Less has discovered this and she recently wrote about it in her post The Little Things. Here is an excerpt of what Betty Jo wrote.. ...I have one room and Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: comfort zone, little by little, memories, personal attachment, unclutter
Day 166 Childhood Keepsakes
posted by Colleen Madsen
I received a comment from Loretta yesterday and here is what she wrote... I’ve got a question for you: since your children are now grown, what advice do you have for those of us with younger kids with regard to keepsakes and clutter? Is there anything you regret not keeping for your kids, or did you (and they) keep ‘too much’ childhood stuff? I recently went through a big box full of cards my mother kept for me from the time I was born: birthday, Christmas, invitations. I had 40 years worth! Tossed most of them, but realised I was doing the same thing for my kids. It is quite Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: accumulate, memories, personal attachment, unclutter
Day 65 Nike Skate Shoes
posted by Colleen Madsen
Today, three pair of holey Nike Skate shoes that languished in the shoe cupboard for nearly three years head to the garbage bin. We can sometimes make personal attachments to the strangest things. I suppose this is so because they remind us of a happier time in a place we would much rather still be, a common mistake we fall into that causes a lot of clutter in our lives. Purging ourselves of these useless items will not make us forget the good times, the places we've been or the people we've met along the way so don't be afraid to let go. It is just "stuff" after all, the memories remain. The Continue reading
Filed Under: 365 Less Things Tagged With: comfort zone, memories, minimalism, personal attachment, reduce, simplify, unclutter
