Hi folks, it looks like I have accidentally decluttered 365lessthings today. I spent so much time answering comments yesterday that I didn’t realise that I hadn’t written a post. I woke up just before the alarm this morning and it suddenly occurred to me I had forgotten. I must apologize. Unfortunately we have a federal election here in Australia today so I have to go vote (it’s compulsory here) before work so I don’t have time to throw something together. I promise I will be back tomorrow.

ITEM 233 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Thsi vase was a gift for my mother (She loves giraffes) but it is so fragile that I have always had some excuse never to get it to her. I may give up on the idea and donate it, it’s a bit gaudy anyway. It has been in my possession for at least five years. That brings this weeks year tally to 69.5.

My five favourite comments of the week

• Kerri on Day 225:- Just wanted to say that I am enjoying the favourite five posts. Last week I read a few of the articles and signed up for some new email newsletters. And this week I looked at some of the comments… Read More
• Willow on Day 227:- So many people I know just keep their adult kids’ stuff at home in bedrooms or the garage. I took a different approach. I told the kids… Read More
• Ginger on Day 226:- I manage a soft pretzel business and actually find that giving away the leftovers at the end of the night aids in MORE sales in the future. Sometimes I’ll shove an extra free one with… Read More
• Loretta on Day 228:- Thanks for the prompt! My ‘third drawer’ is in my living room and I throw in everything that doesn’t have a home. Went through it yesterday and put everything in its proper place…Read More
• Cindy K on Day 198:- a potential solution for books is http://www.bookmooch.com. You list your books, people request them…Read More

My five favourite posts I read this week

• Regards From The Balcony – Lessons from the llama guy
• So Much More Life – Why $7 deserves the same care as $7000
• The sound of my own wheels – Free range thinking emotional shopping
• The Minimalist Path – Goal Setting Simplified
• Simple Savvy – Excuses reasons and as always a little food

ITEM 232 OF 365 LESS THINGS

It has been a long time since we sipped any port through this little pipe maybe someone else will get more use out of it. I think maybe it was ten years at least since it was used last which brings the Declutter Year count to 64.5 years for the week so far.

In case you are wondering what I am talking about perhaps you should first read Day 227 – Have you ever watched paint dry…

Now that we are on the same page you will know what I mean by “the paint finally dried” yes it really happened my son finally went through his clothes and we have eliminated several items.

I wheeled the portable clothes hanger into his room last night asked him nicely to make his choices. I could hear a lot of groaning as I left him to it for about an hour. He is nineteen so these things don’t just happen instantly it’s prudent to make a hasty retreat and hope for the best.

I don’t think anything went back into his closet. Two “treasured” shirts went into his collection in his storage container in the garage. The rest will be going to charity. I know it is just one small step forward in my decluttering efforts but I think I deserve extra points for the degree of difficulty.

ITEM 231 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Here is one of the items that The Boy (as we affectionately call him)  was happy to part with. I chose this item for today’s post because it fits in so nicely with the Clutter Years Tally for the week. He last used this Karate Gi when he was 7 1/2  he is now 19 so that is another 11.5 years making a total so far of 54.5 years and we are only 3 days in.

ONE

Yes that’s right ONE. That is all you really need. Having said that, I own more than one handbag myself. I actually have three but I only ever use one. Maybe it is time I decluttered the other two. I used the other two bags more often before I needed prescription glasses but they are not big enough to hold the case. One of the reasons why I stick with just one bag is because I just can’t be bothered moving the items I keep in there all the time from one bag to another.

I don’t like to carry a big bag because like every other space the bigger it is the more you fill it up with needless stuff. The one I use all the time is actually ready for the bin. Its handle fell off some months back and I have been holding it on with a safety spring hook (You know, like a climber would use. You never know I might find myself in a “MacGyver” situation one day and that hook will save my life. LOL). That said, this old bag suits my needs really well and that isn’t easy to find so I will continue to use it for as long as it will hold together.

I know some of you lovely readers are probably thinking “you must be mad, get a life”, but the question was “how many handbags does one woman need” and the answer is one. All extra bags are just an extravagant fashion statement really. We are all allowed our one little weaknesses though I suppose.

Thank you to Angelina for sending in that question and inspiring this post.

For more on handbags check out Day 97 Handbag Clutter.

ITEM 230 OF 365LESSTHINGS

I believe these shot glasses have been in my possession since my grandmother died so that is 29 years to add to the weeks clutter years tally which is now 43 years.

After a rather hard day I wasn’t feeling very inspired to write a post today but that would just not be good enough. So I decided to annoy my son again with his clothing clutter and I quickly got the short shift there. So then I had to move to plan B. There wasn’t actually a plan B in place but I have a method that doesn’t usually fail me. I just picked a room and opened a cupboard and a couple of drawers and sure enough I found something I had passed over before.

As it turned out it was a couple of pieces of sentimental clutter hidden away in a drawer in my daughters bedroom. Funnily enough it was actually the third drawer down but I promise it isn’t a junk drawer. When I pulled these items out a thought suddenly struck me and that was how long had each of these items been cluttering up my home. Then I thought how much fun would it be if for a week I add together the clutter years of each item together and see how many years I come up with.

Today’s item has been in my possession for fourteen years. It was a gift from a job I left once and was bought for me by a very lovely lady that I was sad to leave behind.  I have never really used this for anything it has just sat in the china cabinet looking pretty for all these years. So technically it has been clutter for all that time. So that makes fourteen years to start the tally for the week.

ITEM 228 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This item has moved from one end of Australia to the other then to the USA then back to Australia again. It is in good shape considering how fragile the fluted edge is.

Ah ha! Yes that’s right now we are getting amongst it. Who is familiar with the third drawer down? You know the one. It could be in the buffet, the kitchen cabinets, a desk or maybe the bathroom cabinet but nevertheless it is the same situation regardless of the location.

The first/top drawer is always the prime drawer with the important everyday/most used items. In the kitchen and the buffet it will likely be the cutlery drawer, in your desk it will be your pens, pencil, stapler etc and in the bathroom it usually has your hair brush, hair pins and the like.

Now the second drawer down is also a well used drawer with things you use fairly often. In the kitchen that will likely be cooking utensils, in the buffet it will be linen napkins and napkin rings, in the desk most likely larger tools like hole punch etc, and in the bathroom feminine hygiene items, spare razor cartridges etc.

Now the third drawer down that is everyone’s dirty little secret it is the hold-all area for every piece of crap that you really don’t know where to keep. Little bits of this and that that you keep “just in case you need it some day”, weird parts that you don’t remember what they belong to, keys that unlock mysterious places that you have long ago forgotten, a couple of Allen keys from Ikea, various nuts and bolts, torn off bits of paper with phone numbers or addresses that were important once, things you just stuffed in there because you couldn’t be bothered putting them back where they really belonged…

I am painting a picture here of a drawer full of clutter but alas it also houses that warranty paper you needed last September when the clothes dryer broke down. It would have been fixed for free but it cost you $120 because you couldn’t find this important little piece of paper.  Are you getting the idea here? We all have or had one of these drawers in our homes. If you had one, please share your horror stories of this drawer with us. If you still have one, get in there and clean it out today. Find a proper home for all those important “lost items”, discard the rest and share with us the oddest item you found in there.

ITEM 228 OF 365 LESS THINGS

No this wasn’t in my third drawer down, it just doesn’t get used any more.

…well that’s what it is like waiting for my son to get around to clearing out the unwanted clothes from his closet. So today while he was out of town I pulled out everything I haven’t seen him wear in a long time and put it on our portable clothes hanger. When he gets home he can take five minutes to decide what stays and what goes and put me out of my misery.

Decluttering your own stuff is one thing, waiting patiently for someone who doesn’t give a hoot to do their part in this process is quite another. Sometimes one just has to expedite things a little bit. It’s not all bad though every now and again he will clear out a certain area of his room but it is usually only when he can’t fit something else he has accumulated. At least he isn’t just stashing things under his bed like I used to do at his age. Boy have I come a long way since then and that gives me hope.

Needless to say my only advice here is that if there is someone in your household that is not motivated to declutter make it as easy as possible for them to achieve an end result. It will be less painful for all involved. I will let you know on Monday how this worked out.

ITEM 227 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I did manage to make an executive decision on these holey socks though which are now at the bottom of the garbage bin. I just wish someone could explain why these have accumulated at the bottom of his sock drawer when his trash can is right next to it.

While out walking today I went by the fruit shop and noticed a box of over ripe bananas  on the footpath by the door. I did a double take when I remembered I needed a couple of onions and picked up two of the old bananas as well thinking I could use them to make a cake. When I took them to the counter to pay there was no charge for the bananas which was what I was half expecting. I was happy with that and thanked the man and went on my way.

Later on when I was making my banana cake with my free bananas I got to thinking…there is more to this than just a couple of free bananas. This greengrocer could have thrown those bananas straight in the trash for fear that people would take them rather than purchase his less ripe bananas but he didn’t, he gave them away so they wouldn’t go to waste.

I have worked in retail off and on my whole life and I have seen some terrible waste due to the fact the companies choose to destroy product rather than donate it to charity or give it away to their customers or even staff members. They are afraid it will lose them a potential sale of a similar item if they do so, instead perfectly good products end up in land fill. One day I watched as about forty wheeled craft organizers (similar to carry on luggage bags) got thrashed with box knifes and thrown in the dumpster. What a waste.

Any wonder people resort to dumpster diving for their weekly grocery haul. Not only does it make economical sense but it is good food but not perfect enough to sell on the shelves. Makes me feel good about my two bananas and the reduced price cheese I often buy on Fridays just because the expiry date is looming.

Anyway good for the green grocer I will buy more of my produce there in future.

ITEM 226 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This is an old sleeping bag of my daughters. We gave it to the son of a friend and he has had a wonderful time camping out in the lounge room of his home on weekends.

This week’s favourite five comments

• Cindy on Day 218:- Overheard at a furniture consignment store today, 3 ladies NOT on the decluttering band wagon: “You don’t understand the way I shop; I buy and figure out where it will fit later.” … Read More

• Hope on Day 223:- I used to be one of those book collectors who had many more books than I could read in a lifetime (even though I’m an avid reader). My husband challenged me to read 100 of the books I already owned… Read More
• Jo on Day 222:- This is actually an important concept to remember – if your storage space can accommodate the extras, and if you’ll use them eventually… Read More
• Meg on Day 221:- You are definitely a woman after my own heart. What a nice, solid week. We do much the same here, avoiding plastic bags like crazy… Read More

• Deb J on day 22o:- Not having kids myself I don’t have to worry about the kid closet thing. BUT, I used to help my friend buy for her grandkids and let me tell you the thing we learned… Read More

The links/posts I discovered this week that I really enjoyed

• So much more life – Top 5 lessons for you from half a year decluttering my house
• Step 1 Minimalism – 10 Minimal lessons from Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Becoming Minimalist – Breaking The Sentimental Attachment to books
• Simple Savvy – A house the size of a wagon
• Minimalist Woman – Minimalism and how it’s shaping my life

ITEM 225 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This wire jig is one of the many craft tools I have owned. I think I have used this twice so out it goes.

Stationery is another one of those items I am leaving up to natural progression decluttering. It is a very slow process though. This evening I made a very small dent in our supplies and fulfilled a request from my daughter at the same time.

Last week, she asked me to print her a copy of the family cookbook that I had painstakingly digitised about 10 years ago.  I have added new recipes as I have tested and deemed them good enough to add to the regular rotation.

In printing the recipe book for my little girl I managed to use up…

• 68 pieces of coloured paper
• 34 plastic sleeves
• 13 stick-on divider tabs
• 1  ring binder

…the coloured paper was bought for another project some years ago. The sticky tabs are just spares. I am happy to say that the plastic sleeves and binder are from papers we decluttered a while back so are being reused. That’s only a drop in the bucket when it comes to the using up the abundance of stationary in our house but it’s a start.

ITEM 224 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The cookbook in question. I know it is very 1990’s in layout but that is when I originally digitised it and I am not about to go to the bother of updating. It isn’t quite finished yet but it is close enough to photograph for today’s post.