I know I am getting slightly outrageous today but I just wanted to plant this thought.

Now that you have created space in your home do you really need it? That much space I mean. How many of us live in homes that are far to big for our needs.

Is your home just a status symbol with more rooms than you need that just cause you a whole lot of wasted time doing housework.

When I was a child with four siblings and a mum and dad, we all managed to live quite comfortably in a four bedroom house with one bathroom, a kitchen, a lounge room with a rumpus room under the house.  One of the bedrooms was actually used as a spare room and Mum’s sewing room as she did dress making from home for extra cash.

When I was 21 we moved into a house with four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a billiard room, a study, a kitchen and a formal dining room. At this stage three of my siblings had already left home. Now my parents have “downsized” to a house with four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a billiard room, a study, a lounge room, a kitchen and a dining area and they live together alone in this house.

I know my mum likes to think we can all fit into this house should we all come to visit at once but now that the grandchildren are growing up and starting to get married and have children of their own is she going to  buy a hotel to fit everyone in.

It was just a thought, please don’t thing I have gone completely off the rails with the whole decluttering thing.

ITEM NUMBER 110 OF 365LESS THINGS

Clearly this has nothing to do with the topic of  the day but it is however my contribution for day 110

When retrieving my vacuum cleaner from the linen closet this week on cleaning day I paid a little attention to the number of towels on the shelves that I really don’t ever use. They were sitting there taking up valuable space simply because they were still in reasonable condition or I thought they might come in handy one day for rags or if some incident happened where I would need to mop up a large spill that I wouldn’t want to put in my washing machine.

After giving it some rational thought I decided three things…

1. since I have discovered microfiber I would never use lint filled old towels for any cleaning job.
2. the likelihood of any incident occurring that required such a large mop up other than a pipe bursting (that only contained clean water) was highly unlikely.
3. I would rather be able to fit the useful towels easily on the shelf than have to cram them in with half a dozen towels that I never use.

So goodbye unused towels, hello to more cupboard space.

ITEM 109 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Sometimes when going through the home uncluttering we forget the pantry and the refrigerator which is one place that we should visit on a regular basis to make sure there aren’t foodstuffs that are past their used by date.

Now I do tend to do this fairly often because I have one of those not so well designed pantries that are so deep you can lose things in the back reaches that won’t be seen until it’s too late if I am not vigilant. But because I thought this was a good topic to write about I had a look anyway and found the items in my photo below that were in some cases waaaay out of date.

The puff pastry was overdue for eating in 2008 which is pretty outrageous but I kept thinking that I would eventually use it for something and since it was frozen it should keep. Now on reflection I am sure that the used by date on something that is meant to be stored in the freezer was probably designed to meet those conditions so 2008 meant 2008.

The desiccated coconut was more of an open and sniff test as I had put it in the Tupperware container without transferring the used by date so that I would know when it expired. I knew it had been there for some time though so I had a reasonable idea that it was time to go as coconut contains oils that can go rancid over time.

The apricots were a no-brainer as I only had to look at the colour of them through the bag to know they were well and truly past it.

As for the canneloni shells, pasta tends to last for just about ever without spoiling and there wasn’t a used by date on the box but I just knew I hadn’t used them in a long time so I decided they could go too.

There are two lessons I have learned while doing this little food purge…..

1. When putting ingredients into Tupperware containers make sure you transfer the used by date by either tearing it off the box/bag and putting it in or taping it to the outside of the container or make your own label and stick it on the container.
2. Don’t be temped to buy in bulk if you aren’t absolutely sure you will use enough of the ingredient to make it economical. The coconut was one of those items that was lets say $2.50 for 150g or $3.00 for 300g so it makes economical sense to buy the 300g unless you only end up using 100g before it is past it’s used by date in which case you have wasted 50c and 200g of coconut.

ITEM 107 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Now I know that uncluttering your ironing basket doesn’t actually remove anything from your house but it sure would lighten your To-Do List leaving more time for real de-cluttering. Speaking from someone who spent at least three hours slaving over a hot iron today, I am up for any suggestion as to how to reduce this workload.

It would certainly help if we bought clothes with less cotton content and more in the way of  poly/cotton blend.

I put fabric softener in all my loads to try to cut down on the wrinkles and I am sure that helps but not enough. I also hang the clothes on an airing rack inside the house so they aren’t out going stiff in the wicked heat of the sun. Drying them in the clothes dryer isn’t an option either because I have a washer dryer combo (all in one model) and I find it wrinkles the clothes even worse than hanging them. In a way this is a good thing because then I am not tempted to resort to this method because that would be a huge waste of electricity.

All I can hope for as that the current clothes will wear out and we can all buy replacements with a higher polyester content or that someone will leave home so there is one less person to iron for. The chances of that someone ironing their own clothes is about as likely as the clothes ironing themselves (now there’s a dream).

ITEM 107 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Since a photo of my pile of ironing is not an example of real de-cluttering you will find below today’s actual contribution. Yet another couple of toiletry items I unearthed when raiding the cupboards for the out of date medications from day 103

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

Denture cleaner in warm water makes a great silver and gold jewellery cleaner.

(Always test method first and never use this method on pearls)

Today’s item is a great example of giving back. My mother-in-law gave me this bead spinner because she knows I do a lot of beading and she thought I would find it useful. I think she may have purchased it at a garage sale or the like especially for me.

It seemed like a great little gadget and I was most appreciative of her kind gesture.  Unfortunately after experimenting with it a number of time I found it did not live up to the expectations I had of it to make threading beads quicker and easier.

This item could then have easily been relegated to the “well I can’t get rid of it because my mother-in-law gave it to me” status but I decided that since my mother-in-law is a reasonable person I would just tell her that I hadn’t found it all that useful and ask if she would like me to return it to her.

She was very accepting of the situation and said she would be happy to have it back as she could sell it at her stall at the next doll enthusiast show. Everyone was happy.

Now that wasn’t so hard and it just goes to prove that if you have a good relationship with a person trivial little matters like this will not spoil your rapport with each other.

Thanks Barb, if you are reading this, it’s good to know that after 23+ years we still get on as well as ever.

ITEM 106 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

To get pen marks out of clothing. Spray with hairspray before putting the the wash.

(Always test fabric in inconspicuous place before using this method)

What is worse than having sunscreen in your home that is past its expiry date? Yes that’s right, medications that are out of date.

I only found one item where I keep regular medications like ibuprofen but I obviously hadn’t checked my first-aid box for some time where I found two bottles of motion sickness tablets (one had expired in 2005) and a tube of antiseptic ointment.

ITEM 105 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The items I found today that are past their used by date

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

3m Command hooks, these things are the best things since sliced bread especially if you are a renter. We have about 50 pictures hanging on the walls in our house and nearly everyone of them is hung by these removeable adhesive hooks/strips. When we leave you will never know anything was every hanging on the walls.

How much un-necessary stuff do you keep in your car. My car isn’t to bad (I don’t think) but I will let you be the judge of that. Below is a list of the things that are currently in my car, I am literally sitting in it while typing this list.

In the trunk/boot

• Jumper Leads
• Blanket
• Recyclable shopping bags x 10 for grocery shopping
• Plastic crate to store the above items

Glove Compartment

• CDs x 8
• 1 pair of sunglasses
• Car size Yellow Pages
• An old rental car receipt
• Registration and Insurance papers
• Car warranty papers
• Tyre warranty plan
• Old shopping dockets x 6
• Car cell/mobile phone charger
• Pen
• Old sunglasses bags x 2 (empty)
• small snap lock bag
• Car log book

Centre Console

• Cell/mobile phone charger (different phone)
• Old shopping list
• Candy wrappers x 2
• i-Pod Jack cord

Front Passenger Door

• Pair of scissors

Driver’s Door

• Broken i-Pod jack cord
• Pizza specials flyer
• Spare reading glasses
• Whiteboard marker

Other

• Umbrella
• Windscreen sunshade

As I said “not too bad”. The items in red are items I removed while conducting this exercise. I could probably still remove a few more items but I am comfortable with things as they are.

Now go take a look at your car. How many un-necessary items can you find and while you are there remove them. If you have items that you often transport in you car such as  sporting gear, strollers, seasonal gear like snow chains  etc that aren’t always necessary try keeping them in an organised fashion near to where you park so you can quickly throw them in if you need them.

Now when you are unexpectedly required to pick up a few extra passengers or you have to rush your pet off for a emergency trip to the vet you won’t be wasting precious time trying to make space in the car.

ITEM NUMBER 104 OF THE 365LESS THINGS

Our little townhouse doesn’t have a lot of closet space so there won’t be room for this item anymore so off it goes to the donation box

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

Leather furniture needs tender loving care for it to last the test of time. Some leather particularly semi aniline needs to be cleaned every 6-8 weeks and conditioned every second time you clean it. The cleaner removes all those nasty things like sweat and dust and the conditioner replaces the polyurethane coating which protects the surface from stains etc. Different leathers need different care. A good web site to read up on this subject is http://www.texicote.com/

There are a lot of ways we go about trying to justify why we should keep the clutter that we have around out homes. Here are a selection:-

• I may use it some day.
• I am sure it will come back into fashion.
• So and so gave this to me.
• If I keep it long enough it may increase in value.
• I might loose weight and it will fit me again.
• It has sentimental value.
• Everyone has one of these.
• I paid a lot of money for it so I am not getting rid of it until I get my money’s worth out if it.
• Maybe the kids will want it when they grow up.
• Maybe the kids will want to give it to their kids when they grow up.
• I may want to read that again later on. (when I have owned it long enough that I can’t remember reading it in the first place).
• It is a piece of history.
• …and the list goes on.

You do need to remember to weigh these pros against the cons before making a rational decision. Here are some of the cons.

• I already have five of these.
• I have no-where to store this.
• I can no longer see the top of the dining room table.
• I may lose a few pounds but this will probably no longer be in fashion then anyway.
• I can always borrow this book from the library if I want to read it again.
• Maybe I could fetch a good price for this if I sell it since I don’t use it anymore.
• We can no longer have visitors because we can barely get through the door of the spare room because it is so full of clutter (not always a bad thing ha ha)
• If this does come back into fashion it will probably be inappropriate for my age by then.
• On the rare occasion I need one of these I could borrow one from so and so.
• It will deteriorate over time so someone might as well be using it now while it is still useful.
• The kids would have taken it when they left home if they wanted it.
• I am not going to forget the good times we had if I get rid of this.
• Everyone has one of these but I never use mine.
• and once again the list goes on…

So please consider both sides of the situation before you decide what stays and what goes and try to be neutral about it. You will never clear the clutter if you keep justifying keeping things.

The item making the trash bin today are two old magnetic photo albums. These things can be a killer of your precious photos and I am working on removing all of my old photos from this kind of album.

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

To save water when shaving. Part fill your bathroom basin with a little warm water. Use this water to wet your hands and wipe over your legs making them damp. Use a little body lotion or moisturiser and rub over damp legs. Now shave your legs, rinsing the razor occasionally in the basin of water. When you are done use a damp face cloth to wipe your legs and allow to air dry the rest of the way. Now you have nice smooth legs and they are moisurised as well.

If you are thinking about having a garage sale to off-load your clutter here are a few pointers you might find helpful.

Choose Wisely: Only include clean, usable items that don’t look like they should have gone in the dumpster. If you have some items that are still useful but a little neglected give them a bit of a clean up before putting them on display.

Pricing: Make sure you clearly mark the prices on all items you are selling. You can do that in many ways but here are a few suggestions

• Stickers: Write the price clearly on small stickers and place on each item.
• Colour coding: Sort you items into price groups. Using a pack of mutli-coloured stickers allot a value to each colour according to your groupings. Place the approcriate coloured sticker on each item according to the price you hope to fetch then make up a couple of charts depicting the colour code for the customers to read. You may need to resort to the first option for the odd items that won’t fit into a group for some reason eg. higher priced items.
• Group items according to price and make up signs to place at each price point. The problem with this method is if people move things around, and they will.

Note: I hate going to garage sales that don’t clearly mark prices. You then have to ask every time you want to know the price of an item.

Be Flexable: Be prepared to be flexable with your prices because people will haggle.

Convenience: Have some old shopping bags handy to make it easy for the customer to carry their purchases as they may be on foot or had to park a little way away. Maybe some newspaper of similar would be useful for wrapping breakable items.

Change: Make sure you have plenty of coins and small notes available as people don’t always have the correct money. It would be a shame to lose a sale because you couldn’t make change.

Set up: Have all items selected and priced ahead of the day. Park your cars on the street and set up the sale in your garage the night before. This way on the morning of the sale you will be able to quickly do your last minute prep work and be ready to sell almost immediately. There are usually a couple of vulrures out there ready to pounce the minute they see any sign of life. These early customers are often your best customers.

Start time: I alway think a nice early start is the best way to go. As early as 7am because keen garage sale addicts are often out early to get the bargains and quite often have had enough by midday because they have other things to do with their lives, as have you.

What Day: Saturday is usually the best day to have a garage sale. If you are keen and have a lot to sell have it over two days, Friday and SaturdayI feel are best for this strategy. You get the eager beavers on Friday and still a good batch of keen garage salers on the Saturday. Often people are over it by Sunday. If the first day of the two day sale is going well you can always raid the house overnight and add more items for the second day and clean up even more clutter.

Advertising: It usually pays to advertise. The local free paper that gets dumped on everyones lawn is often the best option but the most popluar local sold paper is also good. I have had garage sales where I haven’t advertised at all and done very well, all it takes is a few strategicly place signs on the streets near by to attract customers.

Signs: Clear bold print stating GARAGE SALE or YARD SALE with a hugh arrow pointing the way is realy all you need. People going by in cars only have time to register that much information before it’s too late to change direction.Make enough signs to reach out to the nearest busy road so you attract plenty of potential customers.  Keep in mind that in some places it is illegal to place these signs but I have always found that so long as you remove them as soon as you are done there usually isn’t a problem.

Note: As mentioned above please remove all signs you have posted as soon as the sale of over. You or your neighbours don’t want people prowling up and down your street for the next couple of weeks looking for a nonexistant garage sale. Not to mention that old signs just make the neighbourhood look untidy and no-one wants that.

Presentation: You don’t want the sale to look like a complete shambles making it diffiult for the customers to view your merchandise. Group like items together ie. gardening tool, glass & china etc, electronic items, toys, car parts… Items such as clothing are best sorted into groups of ladies, mens, children according to age/size and hang all large items. People often won’t bother sorting through  huge hampers of crumpled up clothing because 1. it looks like the clothing isn’t well looked after and 2.it’s just to much trouble.

Combined Sales

Get together with a friend to have your sale. This is a great idea for several reasons..

1. You can share the set up work and the cost of advertising.
2. You can take it in shifts to man the sale so you are still able to get the kids to their sporting events etc.
3. Also you will have more merchandise which gives the sale curb appeal, that is it looks more intresting from the street making potential customers more likely to stop in because of the large selection.
4. You will have good company in the quiet times between customers

Have a Neighbourhool Sale. This is an even better stategy, why …

1. Advertising costs shared with a large group gives you scope to afford more ads over a longer period giving customers prior warning so they can pan ahead to be there.
2. More interest to lure potential passing customers.
3. People will come from far and wide if it is worth there while due to multiple sales in one trip. This is where the extra advertising pays off.
4. You can still join with a friend under these cercumstances so you still have all the advantanges mentioned above.

I hope these tips have been helpful and good luck to anyone who decides to give the garage sale idea a go.

Today’s contriution to the 365 things are these gel pens. I have found gel pens do not shelve well and soon dry up when not being used which is the case here, so in the bin they go.

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

To clean ceiling fans I aways find that damp paper towel is the best option. Take a roll of paper towel and a spray bottle of water up the ladder with you and you don’t need to come down until the job is done. It eliminates the need to rinse clothes which causes several trips up and down the ladder and a huge waste of water. Buy recycled paper towel if it makes you better about your impact on the environment.

Here are some of the ways I go about looking for areas in my home that need some de-cluttering attention

1. I set aside one day a week, usually Tuesday, to do my general housecleaning. On that day I keep a watchful eye out while working and write down the trouble stops in my trusty notebook so I will remember to come back to them later on.
2. While puting away the clean laundry is a good time to have a glance around in the closets for any clothing items etc that haven’t seen the light of day for a while. Even if you pluck out just one thing every now and again it all makes a difference.
3. Sometimes when I am looking for other stuff I may stumble upon something. Like the other day when getting my large cutting mat out from under the spare bed I found some old posters  that aren’t ever going back up on any walls in my house if I have anything to do with it.
4. Sometimes everyday conversations, actions or things I see may trigger random thoughts  about something I had forgot that is hiding away in a box somewhere  so I will either take action immediately or jot it down in my notebook for later on.
5. Of course moving house is one of the greatest catalists for getting your butt into gear and really have a good clean up so the clutter doesn’t follow you to your new home.
6. It may sound odd but sometimes I also kill a few minutes while I wait for the kettle to boil by checking in the kitchen/dining area for item I no longer use.

All of these actions take up very little time in your day but can make such a diffenence. Give it a try.

Here are the posters I mentioned in sugestion no.3 of todat’s blog, my husband has granted me permition to dispense of these as I see fit. It will be my pleasure!