Unless I've lost track, which is possible, this article from Wired magazine on the need to fix things, rather than just tossing them out, has not been included in a Friday post. I'll wait while you read it. One of the things that I love and appreciate about my husband is that he can fix almost anything. Sometimes his care in fixing an item makes it better than when it started out. Recently, he fixed a bag dryer that we've used for a decade. (See a photo of a bag dryer here.) Years of use had finally caused the glue to completely give up and the base to fall off, so I was using it balanced in Continue reading
The disharmony of clutter
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Do you ever think about how your clutter affects the other members of your household? Do you think they don't mind because they don't complain about it? Have you ever considered that they don't complain because they have simply weighed up the risk of upsetting you over it and decided you are more important? How unfair and ultimately heartbreaking is that. Would you do the same for them? Would you grant them the same loyalty if they said, it's your clutter or me, make a choice? Would you let them go easier than your clutter? Or do the other members of your household complain about the clutter Continue reading
Staging your home for you
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In Cindy's post yesterday she talked a little about staging a home for selling purposes. This got me thinking two things ~ 1.) Why wait until you are about to sell before making your home look good. 2.) A home can look good without being impersonal such as they suggest in this staging process. How nice would it be were your home in a state where it looks good enough to show people through at the drop of a hat while still having those personal touches that make it feel like home? Keeping in mind that people viewing a home, with the intent to buy, will look in your storage areas to see how they Continue reading
Logical thinking on ownership
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I was travelling on a train last week when two middle aged men boarded and sat down quite near to me. They began chatting to each other in a familiar way and as the conversation progressed one man asked the other about the status of his fishing boat. In reply the other man said that his boat had barely been used since his children had come along. Its lack of use and position in his front yard had caused it to be the target of break-and-enter more than once and was being ravaged by the elements of sun and weather. For all these reasons he had come to a sensible decision and sold the boat before Continue reading
Fourth Thursdays with Deb J ~ Does Your Home Match Your Lifestyle
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How do you live your life? Are you a person like me who used to have an active, busy life with work and other outside interests but now you spend the majority of your time at home? Do you have children at home or did you recently become an “empty nester”? What is your life like today? It took my mother and me awhile to realize that our home no longer matched our lifestyle. I think it took longer for Mom than it did me but it was true. We had changed. Our lives had changed. Mom was always a very active person who entertained people in her home, was very involved in activities at our church, Continue reading
Happiness Is My Declutter Goal
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As you all know I dole out a lot of suggestions about what to declutter. I even put forward formulas on how many is enough of anything to keep. It is no secret that I'm not a lover of gadgets that are only useful if you perform a task in large quantities and/or frequently. Dusting is certainly not my favourite pastime so nicknacks are no longer my thing. For one thing they require somewhere to be displayed which means excess furniture which takes up space and requires more dusting. Practicality is important to me while status symbols aren't, so I don't need fancy things on show to prove Continue reading
These are only so many hours in the day
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We all know there are only so many hours in the day. How many of them do you want to spend… ...looking for things you need but can't find among your excess stuff. ...looking for things you didn't put away where they belong. ...choosing what to use or wear among an overabundance of stuff. ...moving things in order to clean your home. ...running around like a mad thing cleaning up every time someone is coming to your home for a brief or long visit. ...dusting trinkets that aren't even really that special to you. ...struggling to make things fit into, what ought to be, your more Continue reading
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Backsliding
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Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Backsliding. What a dreadful word! Are you a decluttering backslider? Recently I have been. I discovered that if I'm not activitely moving forward in my decluttering, I can go into a holding pattern - for a while - but then I start sliding backwards. Dreadful! I came too far to go back now! I've been decluttering for three years now. It's a habit and a lifstyle, but just like with any other long-term habit or hobby, sometimes my interested wanes. I don't go and buy out the store and start recluttering, thank goodness. My backsliding starts a bit more sneakily: the Continue reading
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should
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Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I live in a neighborhood where the houses are all about 50 years old and are between 1500 and 2000 square feet. Most have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage or carport. Almost all are one-story houses. The house just around the corner was a bit smaller than most and had been poorly maintained. When the original owner decided to move last year, it wasn't long before the new owners knocked the house down to the ground and scraped away the foundation. A few months passed and contruction began on the new home. The architect left the house plans in the permit Continue reading
