Ahhh, procrastination how that can clutter up your mind and paralyze you into ineffectiveness. I can spend days on procrastinating about something that will probably physically only take ten minutes to deal with. How crazy is that.

At this moment there are four little white dishes on my craft table with unfinished projects, repair jobs and samples that await my attention or for the artistic inspiration to create something with. I look at them quite regularly and they annoy me no end yet I leave them sitting there taunting me day in day out while I find “better” things to do with my time.

At lease one of these projects is something that will be leaving my house once it is completed therefore designated to the title of  clutter while sitting there. I think today is the day to do something about it.

I challenge you to find some clutter in your house today that you have been procrastinating over and do something about it.

This is the necklace I created from one of the dishes on my craft table. I am sure my friend will love it and I am glad the procrastination is over and there is a little less stuff cluttering up my craft room. I also repaired one pair of earings, finished making a second pair, completed a necklace I had started months ago and packaged up some beads of my mum’s that I will start on today (hopefully).

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

I find the easy way to clean metal window frame channels is to use a stiff bristle artist brush and a vacuum cleaner. Scrub the channel with the brush and suck up the dust with the vacuum cleaner as you go.

You are probably wondering what Photo Deterrent means. It is a idea that just popped into my head yesterday while commenting to Anna at www.whoopsadaisy-anna.blogspot.com/ about her lovely shoes. I am sure this probably isn’t an original plan but I thought I was clever anyway.

Here is the plan…

• Choose an item you have that torments you because you never use it even though you spent quite a bit of your hard earned cash in it.
• It would be best if the item is one you are having a difficult time parting with because it is addictively appealing to you on some level but you know you probably won’t ever use.
• Now take a photo of it
• Print the photo in a wallet size format
• Put it in your purse/wallet in a very prominent position where you can see it every time you go to pay for things (even if you have to cover the photo of your sweetheart/children/husband etc).

At this point I think you clearly understand what Photo Deterrent means. Every time you go to make an ill advised purchase you will see that picture and at least think twice about what you are doing and hopefully put the item back and walk away.

If you find this photo is just causing you a lot of unneeded stress try this approach instead…

• Take a photo depicting a goal you intend saving for. Maybe an overseas trip, starting your own business, paying off your home loan.
• Put that in your wallet in a prominent position
• Hopefully that will inspire you to stop spending and  start saving.

The possibilities are endless. You could use a photo of the last “bargain” you bought that you still haven’t used yet or of  something you have multiples of that are completely un-necessary…

Any one of  these strategies could potentially deter you from acquiring any more un-necessary clutter. If however it is having the opposite effect for goodness sakes get rid of the photo.

Since I can’t for the life of me think of anything to get rid of today that has any relevance to the subject at hand I shall make today’s item this scary looking knife that my husband sold on eBay

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

To easily clean your microwave oven place a damp microfibre cloth on the plate, heat in microwave on high for about 30 seconds. When timer goes wait a couple of minutes for the steam that is generated from the heated cloth to soften any soiling on the inside of the oven then just wipe away.

I live in a townhouse so I don’t have much to care for in the way of garden or lawn but for what I do have I am endevouring to minimalise the amout of equipment and time required to maintain it.

I only purchase/aquire plants that can survive my neglect, requiring little watering or pampering in any way and hardy enough to cope with the varying climate we can get here at times.

When we first moved into the property we owned a lawn mower and an edge trimmer which seemed a little overkill for a lawn 5m long by 1.5m wide so my husband bought a rotory hand mower and gave the other items to charity.

After using the hand mower a couple of times I decided that was hard work so the next time the gardener that maintains the common areas of the property came to do his work I asked him what he would charge me to trim the edges and cut the lawn in the back of my home. He said he would do it for a carton/slab of beer at Christmas each year. “BARGAIN” deal done.

As a result of exploring options and choosing wisely when adding plants I now have a garden that requires little maintenance or equipment. Today I will send the last of the redundant gardening equipment that has been lurking in the garage to the give-away pile.

I might add we have no intention of ever again living in a propery that has big lawns and gardens so I don’t expect ever to have to replace the gardening equipment that we have purged over that last couple of years

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

If you should accidently write on a whiteboard with perminent marker just scribble over it with the whiteboard marker and it should rub right off.

When out picking up a few groceries the other day, I noticed a woman getting her handbag checked as she exited the shop. Nothing unusual about that except the lady had to rest this bag on a nearby store display in order to open all three compartments that were so crammed with God knows what that she could barely get the zippers open.

There was no chance she was about to steal anything because quite frankly she couldn’t possibly have fit another thing in. Although she quite possibly had already stolen 3 paperbacks, half a dozen DVDs, a flat pack bookcase and 2 bags of potting mix  the way that thing was heaving at the sides. Honestly her bag was like a filing cabinet with handles.

Seriously ladies, how much do we really need to carry with us for a couple of hours out at the shops. Depending on what she was carrying in that thing I am sure this Lady could have parachuted into Siberia with that handbag and survived for a month on the contents. MacGyver eat your heart out.

Ok, so I am getting a little carried away with myself but really, aside from your purse, cell phone, maybe a note pad and a pen, your keys, a few feminine heigine products and a little lipstick what else do you feel you need for one short trip that you simply can’t do without. Men manage to leave the house with a wallet in their back pocket for heaven’s sake.

After seeing this woman I went home and cleaned out my handbag and aside from several old grocery lists and some old shopping dockets my bag was looking OK.

So if you haven’t started de-cluttering yet maybe this is a good place to start.

Today’s give-away

Colleen’s Helpful Hint for the Day

To clean your washing machine just run it through a cycle with 2 cups of white vinegar. Why not throw your shower curtain in the machine at the same time and it should come out clean and mildew free.

Although my toiletries are one of those things I have well and truly under control, sometimes certain items do seem to multiply and then reach their expiry date while I’m not looking.

Sunscreen is one of those items that tends to do this due to a number of reasons like…

• An unplanned trip to the beach where a “pink pelt” like me has to lather on the sunscreen or that pink soon turns to blistered red so you duck to the nearest convenience store to buy a bottle.
• A planned trip to the beach where you forget the sunscreen and rather than go all the home you are forced to buy another bottle.
• A family picnic to the park where you forget the sunscreen and you borrow someone Else’s bottle, forget to give it back and can’t remember which family member owed it.

Needless to say now you have four bottles of sunscreen, two of which have passed their used by dates, taking up space in the bathroom cabinet.

This is only one small item but the same story applies to lots of different things. For example…

• The extra suitcase you bought while on holidays in America to bring home all the stuff you bought because things are so cheap over there
• The extra esky (Cooler) you bought last Christmas because you had a big family BBQ at your house and didn’t have enough room in the fridge
• The snow chains you had to buy because of unseasonal weather when visiting the mountains last April.

Need I go on.

The next thing you know you think you have outgrown the house you live in and start looking for another “dump site” with a bigger garage. It used to amuse me when I lived in the USA how many cars in our neighbourhood were parked on the street or in the driveway because the garage was full of other “stuff”.

Check around your house today and find one of these things and relegate it to the “get rid of” pile. Just remember you always have the option of borrowing things when in need, then you just give them back when you are done.

Two bottles of sunscreen past their used by date

Colleen’s Helpful Hint for the Day

A slightly damp microfibre cloth is great for removing deoderant stains, dust and other accidental marks from your clothes. I keep one handy in my bathroom cabinet just for this purpose.

While cruising the Internet looking for inspiration on the topic of decluttering I found a few interesting articles that take downsizing and minimalism to greater extremes. I am not prepared to go to that extent, not at this point anyway, but they were inspiring and made me feel that what I am attempting seems like a walk in the park.

When I say “a walk in the park” I don’t mean it demeans my efforts in any way, it just helps me see the bigger picture and I now feel very comfortable that the small sacrifices I am making are not such a big deal.

Some of the topics to google when looking for such articles and websites are:

• Simpler Lifestyle
• Downshifting
• Minimalist Lifestyle
• Voluntary Simplicity

Have a look at some of the links I have attached to these topics and you will see what I mean. Giving away a DVD is chicken feed compared to giving away the DVD player or the electricity for that matter. It puts things into a whole new perspective.

Today’s giveaway is a water flask that I haven’t used since I stopped playing softball in 1999.

Colleen’s Helpful Hint for the Day
Use an over-the-door multi hook hanger to organise long necklaces. It will keep them from tangling and you will easily be able to see and choose which to wear.

How many of you have things lingering in your home that were bargains too good to pass on.
You know…

• that pair of shoes that really are a size to big but they were only $10 (you wore them once and they gave you such terrible blisters that you will never wear them again)

• the set of cutlery “they were just about giving away” that will come in handy when you have a dinner party for 12 even though your dining suite won’t accommodate more than 8.

• the tent that was half price at the camp shop (when you actually went there to buy a travel jacket) that you had to have for when you go camping one weekend soon (that was 4 years ago)

• that DVD you got for $5 on the clearance heap that you barely managed to tolerate the first ten minutes of which has been relegated to the deepest depths of the DVD drawer

Need I go on? There are no end of stories like these that I have heard or fallen prey to. There is a lesson to be learned here.

A bargain isn’t a bargain if you get little or no use out of it.

These things become like a house guest that won’t leave who’s just taking up space and not paying rent. You know they are there but you can’t bring yourself to tell them to leave but you feel guilty about letting them stay every time you come across them.

A couple of ways to avoid this trap are:-

• Don’t read the special catalogues
• Don’t check out the clearance bins in the shops
• Only go to the shop if there is something specific you are shopping for and stick to the plan.
• Never stop at garage sales
• Avoid seasonal sales

Sorry to all you shopaholics out their but admitting you have a problem is half the cure.

This is the DVD I mentioned above. Sorry Adam I really am a fan but not of this one. I love Mr Deeds though.

Today I just wanted to point out that just below the photo for each days Post there is a tiny word “comments”, if you click on that you have the opportunity to leave feedback,  share your stories or even mention an area of decluttering you might like help with.

I would love to hear from you and appreciate your tips and views.

Yesterday I had a comment from Janetta who has been inspired to start decluttering again. She is even reducing by  a bag of things some days because they are only small items.  As I have said before “Every Little Thing Counts” whether alone or by the bag.

Below is a list of small thing that I used today to make a Reusable Car Bingo Game for my niece and nephews.

• 2 Laptop Screen Protectors
• 2 sheets of chipboard
• 3 Sheets of coloured paper
• 4 whiteboard markers
• Screen clean sachet
• Plastic Box

These were all excess items and resources taking up space in our office/craft room. The screen protectors were from a laptop we no longer have. The whiteboard markers were from a stockpile no doubt at risk of going dry and useless in the drawer waiting to be used.

I am sure the kids will be thrilled with the result and I am happy to have purged yet a few more things.

Here is the photo of the Bingo Game I made for the kids.

Forgive me for being a little deep and meaningful with today’s topic but there is plenty of truth in the message I am trying to convey.

Clutter is often the physical manifestation of something Psychological.

Three examples of the psychological motivation behind accumulating stuff

• Vanity : “Showing off” stuff because you think it makes you look somehow better to others.
• Insecurity : “Keeping” stuff to make you feel like you are prepared for any situation that may arise.
• Unhappiness : “Substituting” stuff, to make up for, something else missing in your life.

I am sure we have all fallen prey to at least one if not all of these weaknesses at one time or another.

Take a look at the stuff you are having trouble parting with. Consider for a minute why you acquired these items in the first place and what is stopping you from parting with them. Acknowledge the emotions at play here and free yourself of the burden that binds you to the object. You are better than that and you don’t need it so let it go.

But in the case of this drill, we just have more than one so this one has to go.

I once came across and article in a scrapbook magazine with a survey to determine whether the reader was a scrapbooker or a collector of scrapbook supplies. This may seem amusing to some but there is an fine edge that one can easily slip over when at the height of a crafting obsession.

This  applies to all crafts and hobbies, woodworking, quilting, knitting, beading, model making… the list goes on.  So beware and try to put a limit on the amount of supplies you allow yourself to amass. It is very easy to get carried away.

Tastes change, trends change and life changes and one day you may get board with the current hobby, become unable to continue the craft for physical reasons or change your lifestyle and be unable to accommodate your hobby. Then you are left with a huge collection of supplies to get rid of and the guilt trip that goes along with that because of the amount of  money you have spent on something you no longer obsess over.

For Example, I used to do a lot of scrapbooking and papercrafting and although I still use my supplies I don’t use them nearly as much as I once did and they take up a lot of  space in my craft room and I am now more interested in beaded jewellery making.

I am slowly using up my supplies but if you think you won’t, don’t despair, try selling them on eBay, or to a friend who still enjoys the hobby or there is sure to be a craft group around who would be happy to take them off you hands.

Today’s item is a old set of drill bits that belonged to my husband’s grandfather. He sold them on eBay to someone who will get new joy out of them I hope.