Procrastination is a subject I have touched on probably more than once already as on Day 100 Procrastination-Clutter of the mind. It is a subject worth revisiting on a regular basis because it is a road block that often holds people back from getting things done.

One of the biggest problems with procrastination is that you feel like you have put a lot of effort into tackling a job when in actual fact all you have done in exhaust yourself with the mental stain of over thinking the situation and not actually physically doing anything about it.

It is a similar problem to taking a day out occasionally to just chill out and relax and then spend most of the day feeling guilty because you have indulged yourself and not done anything useful with your time. The day ends and you feel mentally drained from trying to justify the break you deserved and don’t feel like you have taken a day off at all.

Nothing crazy about either of these situations is there????

My solution to the procrastination problem is just get up and start doing something, anything about it.  For example there seems to be a lot of people with messy basements on the blogs I read. These basements seem to be cluttered with all kinds of things some being harder to decide about than others. To get moving I suggest just start on the easiest things and work your way along hopefully inspiration will strike as you progress and the job will start to flow and the next thing you know the job is done and you will feel so much better.

Break up the big task into smaller tasks for example there may be a pile of old clothes to go through in one corner, some boxes of paperwork in another, old toys the kids no longer use in another etc… tackle one area at a time and don’t think about it as one big tasks but a bunch of smaller tasks that aren’t so difficult. I like to leave the hardest task until last so I feel like I am making quick progress which raises my spirits and keeps me going.

And keeping in mind my 365lessthings approach you don’t have tackle the whole job in one go just do one task a day if that is all you feel up to. Each time you go back to the job it will be a bit smaller than the last and won’t seem so daunting. If your laundry is down in the basement you could choose an item to get rid of every time you go down to take care of a load of washing and eventually there will be nothing left.

The physical effort of getting the job done is much better for you than the metal stress of doing nothing about it. Just consider it one more day that you feel justified about not going to the gym. Exercise is exercise no matter what form it comes in.

As for my second problem, not being able to relax without feeling guilty about it, I have absolutely no expertise in this area so if you know the solution I would be glad to take your advice.

ITEM 141 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Pair of Jeans sold on eBay for $15.50

While going on my morning walk today I was outraged to see some of the stuff people have put out on the street for Bulk Waste Collection Day in our neighbourhood. I would rather not dwell on it at the moment because it put me in a rather negative frame of mind and I am trying to get something positive out of it. I will be sure to explain my outrage in an upcoming post just in case I have tweaked your interest.

Rather than be negative I decided to get on my computer and Google subjects to see how much information I could find on charities and recycling opportunies in my local area.

It was no challenge! Here are the [subjects] I searched for and how successful these searches were.

*I have substituted the name of the town I live in with [my town] because I don’t want to give away to much private information about myself. The links I have added are Australian but I am sure you will similar sites in your country.

• [my town charities] the list was extensive.

• [my town  recycle centre] and among the many options I found this little gem. Recycle Centre
• some well known charities eg. [salvation army] which gave me phone numbers for info and donation pick up hot line and also a search option for where a local drop off is nearest to me.
• [my town computer recycling] amoung others I found a web site Byteback who take care of these types of unwanted items.
• [my town green waste] and again a long list of option in my area for taking care of garden clean up.
• [my town city council] had a whole section dedicated to waste with this little gem, recyclingnearyou.

There is a charge for some of these services but it is better than the alternative of them just going to waste.

So really there is no excuse for throwing away perfectly good items or even broken items for that matter because there are all sorts of ways to re-use and recycle that  you may never have even thought was possible.If people are puting computer parts and desks on the street they obviously must know how to use one so I wish they would just Google their stuff away instead of leaving it out in the rain to be ruined.

I was amused by the irony of a sticker I saw stuck on the side of an old TV on the curbside, it read…

DON’T BE A TOSSER EVERY PIECE OF LITTER IS HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT

My Give Away-Thow Away-Sell count just goes to prove you don’t have to be wasteful.

ITEM 140 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The last of the eBay ski gear auctions this pair make $20.60

I may have mentioned before that I have a note book that I use to keep track of things to do. Whether that be decluttering and daily chores, subjects for my blog or duties I intend to get around to eventually. I find it handy to be able to jot down ideas as they come to me because I have a tendency to forget ten minutes later and that is very unproductive.

Lately I have had this back-up of eBay stuff to list, mail and await pick-up so I haven’t had to do much else to keep up with the one item a day approach so I have been exploring my home finding projects for the upcoming weeks and that is where my trusty note book has been very useful for storing ideas for the future.

Today I thought I would at least do one thing on the list and the item I picked was…

One less pair of shoes

This was an easy enough challenge and the aim was to fit all my shoe boxes on one shelf in my wardrobe. These boxes are clear plastic which made it easy to see what I had to choose from. The pair I chose turned out to be a prime example of if you don’t use it you can loose it because when I opened the box I noticed they were slightly mouldy and when I took them from the box  it became apparent that the glue holding them together had perished and the shoes felt crunchy in my hand . So instead donating them to charity they ended up in the trash can.

With that task accomplished I can move on to the next task on the list…Pare down the cookbooks again. With the ability to look up anything on the Internet these days there are so many recipes available on-line that I see no point in cluttering up one kitchen cupboard with cookbooks I rarely look at. I can borrow recipe books from the library as well if I want. But this is a job for another day.

ITEM 139 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The shoes mentioned above

Due to our  success on eBay recently you may have noticed that several of my blogs mention a tip or two about selling your clutter this way. I had an interesting question from Carmen which raised a subject I thought was worth  mentioning.

Carmen asked:- “Do you have any advice on shipping? The part I stress the most about is being able to find packaging (e.g. boxes) for the stuff I want to sell on eBay. Consequently, I haven’t sold much.”

What I say to this is       RECYCLE     RECYCLE     RECYCLE

Buy the time you have sold the item on eBay you have already paid insertion fees and possibly PayPal fees so you don’t want to have to part with any more of your hard earned profit on having to buy packaging.

I work in retail, selling furniture and decor accessories so I have access to an endless supple of boxes and packaging supplies that would otherwise end up in the recycling. So I would suggest go to a retail outlet near where you live and just ask if they would save you some boxes in various sizes. if you live in America and there is a Joanns craft store near you they are a perfect target as they get one shipment a week from the main warehouse find out what day that shipment comes in and you will have hundreds of boxes to choose from every week. I alter boxes to fit my needs and use old gift wrap (in side out) to wrap them in.

We also save boxes from items we buy if we think they will come in handy for this purpose although I wouldn’t encourage doing this too much as that will just make more clutter around your house. Where feasible we flatten the boxes so they take up minimal room.

If all else fails you might just have to visit the post office or a packaging store to find a box to suit your needs.

ITEM 138 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This ski mask made $56.00 on eBay

Keeping it simple today I thought I might just compile a list of the methods I have used to dispose of the items that I have decluttered.

• Donate to charity
• Give to friends
• Throw in the trash bin
• Bulk Waste Collection (Explained Yesterday)
• Curbside Donation (I will explain this one below)
• Regift
• Sell on eBay
• Re-assign (eg. turning gift wrap into eBay packaging)
• Use up (like excess toiletries products)

Curbside Donation explained: We live on a fairly busy road and I have been known to take large items that I no long require out to the footpath in the hope that someone will take them away. I place a sign saying FREE or PLEASE TAKE ME (being careful not to hold that on my person when walking out there in case they get the wrong idea) on the item and wait and see how long it takes for the item to disappear. My barbecue was a classic example of this method. Prior to 365 less thing I had used this method to get rid of a trampoline, a desk some wooden shelving and some large plastic tubs.

ITEM 126 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The nother Bulk Waste Collection Item

In Australia some local councils schedule Bulk Waste Collection days throughout the year so that people can get rid of those larger rubbish items around their homes that won’t fit in the garbage bins. This is a free service offered twice a year in each neighbourhood.

We receive a flyer in our mailboxes about a month in advance announcing which weekend has been allotted for our neighbourhood to put out our items for collection. This gives us enough time to choose and prepare the items we want to get rid of. Then on our allotted weekend we haul our rubbish out onto the curbbside to be collected the following week.

Quite often second hand dealers and other people will come by and take items they want from the curbside before the collection takes place. It is heartwarming to think that some of it will be recycled rather than trashed. I actually picked up a piano stool one day to use as a lamp table I was then able to donate a larger coffee table that I really didn’t have the space for.

We will be taking advantage of one of these collection services this weekend. I have an old broken garden umbrella and a rusted old porch swing that are ready for the trash. I am most grateful for this service as it is not easy to get items of this size to the rubbish tip and when you do they charge you to drop them off.

ITEM 126 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This is my dimantled porch swing,one of the two items being picked up on Bulk Waste Collection Day

One of the most important lessons I have learned since taking on this challenge of 365 less things is that resisting the temptation from retail assault is not a futile exercise, it can be done. As I have mentioned before I hardly ever go shopping anymore except to buy my groceries and I am fine with that in fact I feel that I have the upper hand in some kind of battle of wills.

I did have a little head start or incentive if you like before I made the conscious decision stop spending on things that might ultimately become clutter. After living in the United States for seven years, I just couldn’t bring myself to pay the prices that the same products command here in Australia so I had already cut back.

When we took on the decluttering challenge one of the rules we made for ourselves was that if something new came into the house something else had to leave.  Since we are already busy picking and choosing what stays and what goes we really don’t want to make any more work for ourselves.

We have however upgraded our computer (a half tower for a mac mini) replaced a big stereo system with a new iPod docking station and bought an iPod touch so we don’t have to lug a laptop around with us on our next vacation but that is about it for the shopping this year. Even though this sounds like a big outlay the purpose behind these purchases aside from keeping up with technology, was to downsize the amount of space the old items were taking up in our home or our backpacks.

I have not bought any clothes,  accessory items, books, useless knick knacks, craft supplies, even birthday cards (I am using up my stocks or making them myself) or numerous other things that I used to buy that I have already forgotten I ever wanted.  It is amazing to realize how easy the transition was and although my friends might all think I am a scrooge I am very happy with the situation and don’t plan on changing back (I will not be assimilated).

ITEM 135 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Another pair of ski pants sold on eBay for $19.50

Today I have been organizing some more items to put on eBay so I thought I would share with you what I do to prepare for this.

1. Decide what I want to sell
2. Check other completed auctions on eBay to see how similar products are performing.
3. Take photos of the items I am selling and download them to my computer- sometimes if it is a like new item I may just download a photo from the Internet or off another same item already selling on eBay.
4. If sizes or measurement are relevant I make a note of those while I am in the photo taking process.
5. I also make a note of any imperfection or other details I may need to mention when filling out the description section of the listing form. (colour, material, capacity, brand name, model info etc). To save having to use too much imagination you can also download descriptions from supplier web sites and other similar eBay auctions. Cutting and pasting is easier than typing.
6. I then decide what starting price I feel is appropriate and whether I want to use the auction format, Buy it now or both.
7. Once I am satisfied that I have all the details I need I log into eBay and start listing my items.
8. I usually double check that all the details are correct before hitting the accept button ei. location details, item description, price, PayPal details, payment address…
9. For large items I usually opt for Local Pick Up Only because I don’t want the hassle of estimating or arranging delivery of large items

I have to admit that once the auction is under way I do tend to obsess over how it is doing and go back to check several times a day but that is half the fun of using eBay in the first place.

ITEM 134 of 365 LESS THINGS

While we are on the subject of eBay here is another of my ski gear items this one sold for $22.50

Mothers Day has come and gone for another year and I am pleased to say that I received wonderful gifts from the heart and no clutter.

My son who is a Fine Arts student at university drew a self portrait in ink for me which I have framed and put on the wall beside the collage of photos and drawings her had done previously of his sister. He signed it and finger printed it so that when he is rich and famous I would be able to sell it and make my fortune (Just kidding sort of).

My daughter who is late with her gift as usual is putting a book together about me with photos and her feeling on what a wonderful person I am. At least that had better be the case or I could soon cut off her education allowance (Just kidding sort of). The book she made for her father was wonderful so I am looking forward to reading mine.

My husband made me a cup of tea in bed and then took me for coffee before I went to work (Yes, I know there should be a law against mothers having to work on Mothers Day). He also cooked a lovely roast dinner and cleaned everything up afterwards which was really quite a treat.

So as you see it is possible to spend next to nothing but a little bit of time and effort to make an occasion very special. I will treasure these gifts forever.

In case you are thinking that the book and drawing may be considered as clutter I have sacrificed one large book out of my bookcase to make way for these two pricious items. This book will not appear as one of my decluttering items because it is a trade off.

ITEM 133 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Today we have another installment of the snow gear eBay sales. These two items fetched $46.00.

Today I am giving you a tally of what has been thrown away, what has been given away and what has been sold on eBay since the beginning of my new years resolution of 365 less things. There is an upside and a downside to this count though.

The upside is that most of the items I have uncluttered from my home have either been donated to charity, given to friends or sold on eBay. As I have mentioned before the advantage to this is that they have gone to  new homes where they have the chance of being used to their true potential.

The downside is that the reason behind the fact that there has been so little thrown away is because we had a home full of clutter that had not been used to it’s full potential. Which means we should probably not have wasted our money on them in the first place.  I console myself  that some of the items were things my children had needed but grew out of and others were items that had become un-necessary due to the latest change of location but still there must be many things that were just a waste.

I am reasonably happy though that I didn’t have a home full of garbage and that the items that have been thrown away so far wouldn’t even fill a wheely bin.

This is the tally so far

• 21   have been thrown away
• 90  have been donated or given away
• 21   have been sold on eBay at the value of $553.25

In future I will keep a running tally of this break down under the heading Give away – Throw away – Sell under the Pages List in the right side collumn of my blog.

ITEM 132 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Some more scrapbook magazines I tried to sell two of these on eBay without success they have all been donated to charity