I know this is getting a little off subject and I had my doubts whether I should go down this path but it was just a thought I had the other day and I decided to run it by you all. My thinking was that this slow and steady approach would probably work with changing a persons eating habits. The problem with most diets is the slap you in the face cold turkey approach where you change too much too soon and all you feel is deprivation. Couple this with the theory that it only takes two weeks of removing yourself from a certain temptation before the cravings start to disappear I believe a person … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2010
Day 150 Another helpful readers comment
A comment arrived from Donna just as I had finished writing yesterdays blog and it expanded on that subject so well that I got her permission to share it with you. Here is what Donna wrote... It really is liberating when you can go to the mall or elsewhere and browse around knowing you can like something without wanting to take it home with you. I had a baby 18 months ago, and my formerly organized and manageable house literally seemed to explode with stuff overnight. Since then I’ve been on a serious mission to declutter and streamline my life so I can spend more time with my … [Read more...]
Day 149 Quick clutter check list
Questions to ask yourself when you are deciding what stays and what goes when decluttering How long since I last used this:- If you are keeping an item just because maybe you might need it some day then it is probably clutter. Is it still useful to me:- Do I still use this item or even participate in the activity that this item is used for if not then it's clutter. Is it in working condition:- If an item is broken and you do not have the expertise to repair it or you are not prepared to pay the price to have it fixed then it is clutter. How many do I have and how many do I … [Read more...]
Day 148 I really am cured of shopping
My husband had a short business trip this week and I decided to go with him. We spent half a day travelling, enjoyed a leisurely lunch then spent the remainder of the day admiring the art at the National Galleries. It is nice to just wind down and enjoy each others company with no commitments or need for hurrying. On the second day while he was attending his business conference I spent the day in the town centre of Canberra. I met my sister-in-law for lunch which was lovely but the rest of the time I spent just brousing around the shops. I very soon discovered that I have very little or … [Read more...]
Day147 No use whining someone had to do it!
When we first returned to Australia after living overseas for some years there were a few household appliances that need replacing. As luck would have there was a Homemakers Expo on in our new location soon after we arrived so we attended hoping to get educated on what were the best appliances to suit our needs. To cut a long story short the only thing we came out of it with was a membership to the Wine Selectors Club. As a result every three months a dozen bottles of wine, six red and six white, would appear on our doorstep. this isn't a large quantity to keep up with but we don't drink … [Read more...]
Day 146 Perish the thought
Today I thought I would just make up a list of items that will likely perish when left unused for a long period of time. Elastic:- Found in webbing in sofas and chairs - Clothing items particularly underwear - Fitted Sheets - Bandages - Hair Bands Electrical Appliances:- Especially anything with a heating element Foam linings or filters:-As in Ski Goggles - Some Vacuum Cleaners Plastics:-Some soft plastics go sticky and some hard plastics go brittle. Rubber:- Seals on washing machines etc - Rubber Bands - erasers Leather Goods: Leather items need cleaning and conditioning on a … [Read more...]
Day 145 My Recipe for Cookbook decluttering
Ingredients: 1 Kitchen cupboard                                  40 Recipe Books 1 plastic crate                                              1 Pinch of Common Sense Method: Open the kitchen cupboard where you keep you recipe books. Take all of the recipe books out of the cupboard. Use your common sense to determine whether you actually ever use these books or are ever likely to. Keep in mind that you can Google any recipe you could possible want and or borrow recipe books from the … [Read more...]
Day 144 Learn to sew
From when I was quite a young child I was responsible for minor repairs to my own clothing even my school uniforms. This included mending tasks such as sewing on buttons and stitching up dropped hems. My mother was a private dress maker who worked from home and I will always be grateful that she taught me to sew. I don't use that skill to make clothes for myself or my family anymore but it is a skill that comes in very handy when an item of clothing needs repair. I read an article this week from a woman who works in a thrift store who was astounded by the amount of clothing that … [Read more...]
Day 143 Team Effort
Decluttering is a much easier task when it is a team effort. I can't imagine what it is like when the effort is one sided or worse sabotaged with one person doing all the work while the other is under-minding their efforts by bringing more clutter into the home. That said, I want to take the opportunity today to give credit to my husband for the way he has embraced my resolution to remove 365 items of clutter from our home this year. This would be a much more difficult quest if I had to do it alone and especially if he was not prepared to co-operate because the clutter is not all mine It … [Read more...]
Day 142 One inspired reader
Here is a section of an inspiring email I received from one of my readers last week. Deborah Hayden writes.... Your blog inspired me to start what I call a Rathole a Day. Every day I take one area - a drawer, a shelf, a box, the refrigerator—whatever pops up and I declutter it. The rule is I take everything out, clean the space and put everything back. In the process, I throw away (recycle, donate) what is obvious but I don't make myself crazy deciding about everything. This is a blitz first pass. When I have done everything once, I'll go into Phase 2 and make more refined decisions, but … [Read more...]