Way back on the 5th of March when we got this blog up and running I wrote the “about” page to introduce my new adventure to anyone who cared to read it. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and I thought it was about time that I updated the “about” page to better reflect the current personality of the blog. Here is what I have come up with…

About 365lessthings Part II

At the start of this journey my intention was to journal about the physical and psychological aspects of my daily decluttering efforts.  I immediately starting reading other decluttering blogs for inspiration and these sites and forums alerted me to the existence of the minimalist movement. One link lead to another and the next thing you know I realised there is more to this than just cleaning out my house.

First there was learning to resist the temptation of the materialistic desire to go out and buy more “stuff”. Although I knew shopping was a big no no if I wanted to actually achieve anything with my decluttering efforts it is another thing to act upon it. Or not act upon it as the case may be. I am happy to say that I was amazed at how quickly I adapted to this key law of decluttering. Minimalist blogs soon alerted me to how much pollution and waste is produced by adding to the supply and demand of unnecessary items purchased day in day in by consumers just like me. If that doesn’t put you of shopping nothing will.

Then there was the mental ties that had to be broken to objects around my home that I thought meant something to me on a personal level. Very soon I realised that it was the memories these object provoked that were of importance to me and that I didn’t need “stuff” in order to keep these memories alive.

One thing you may have noticed that I don’t write about is organisation. Even though I am a bit of a natural at this (even if I say so myself) and a neat freak to boot I soon came to the conclusion that I don’t want to encourage people to keep stuff because I gave them a good storage solution. I figure that if we all do this job properly there should be so little left that their position in the home should be logical so no organization skills would be required.

I have also become interested in the idea of less stuff requires a smaller space to keep it in therefore a smaller home should be enough to satisfy our needs in the future. We had actually downsized before all this started which was the catalyst for the decluttering in the first place but I am sure that once both our children have left home we will be keen to downsize once again. This concept also has great advantages for the environment.

So as you can see I have learned a lot so far on this journey I am on and I dare say there are many more lessons to come before it is finished but I am very open to the experience.

I will cut and paste this to my About 365lessthings page the next time I have access to the internet.

ITEM 263 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Some bits and pieces I found in my camphor wood chest that are pretty much useless to anyone

Motivating your Children to Declutter

A guest post by – Cindy Bogard

On day 261, I shared how I got ready for my decluttering journey and the ways in which I had readied my children. So how did I actually get them involved? You’re going to laugh at the irony of this: stopping and tiny rewards. Yes, quitting and stuff!! How funny is that? Let me explain…

We clean and declutter for a predetermined number of minutes or complete a predetermined drawer or shelf and then stop. Stopping is important. Your children need to know that it’s not going to go on and on and on. Even if it’s going dandy, stop. Tomorrow will get here soon enough, and you can do another shelf or work another 20 minutes then.

Praise throughout. Discuss how much you like their cleaner room. Use positive phrases, not negative ones. (“I love how tidy your books look.” Not, “Thank goodness I can finally walk through here without killing myself.”)

1. Prompts to help them declutter include:
2. Do you still like this?
3. Do you still want this?
4. Does it still fit?
5. Do we have all the parts?

Who else would enjoy this? Sibling? Cousins? Younger neighbors? Thrift store? Sell on Craigslist or Ebay? (Perhaps the child would get money from the sale, although mine don’t.)

If they don’t want to give something up, don’t fight. Any decluttering is better than no decluttering, and it’s all part of a larger process. Just discussing why they still want it will bring reflection.

Then they get their reward. My kids get an actual reward, although another type of reward system could be set up around privileges or special activities. What I have for my children is small, well chosen, and desirable stuff, not things grabbed willy nilly in the “little plastic junk” aisle; things I might have purchased anyway or an upgrade of something I would have purchased (a snazzier folder for school instead of a plain one, for example). I have given them pretty colored pens (just 2, not the whole pack), sticky notes (my youngest loves them), quarters, Bella Sara collecting cards, a package of gum, and once even a package of cuter-than-normal panties. (Yes, the kid needed underwear, and I managed to turn it into a reward.) If your child has bigger dreams (a Wii game, for example), I’m sure you could work on a points system for earning it a little at a time.

As the summer has progressed, I have stopped giving rewards for every single decluttering and now use them for motivation when interest is low or when they do an additional chore above what I have asked.

When I ask, “Who wants their room worked on today?” I can bet that I’ll hear a duet of “mmmeeee.”

ITEM 262 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just one more thing that has been hidden away since they kept dropping off the wall.

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

This summer in May, I discovered Colleen’s blog and committed to a 365 decluttering on June 1. I keep myself honest (and hopefully inspire others) by writing about my journey daily on Facebook. I was already partly on my way when I discovered the 365 day challenge: I’d been doing some heavy organizing and decluttering on my own, and when my girls (8 and 10) got out of school at the end of May, I told them that we would be cleaning one area a day.

At first we were just cleaning and tidying. Perhaps one girl’s room, perhaps one of the areas they use often like the living room or their bathroom. We would certainly “move things along” if we encountered something we no longer needed, but we were neither diligent nor focused on decluttering until I took the challenge.

Since my eldest daughter’s birth, our house has been pretty shamefully messy at times – long stretches at a time. I had not always set a great example for them. Nonetheless, in beginning decluttering with them, I did start out with a few advantages:

1)   My children do not watch commercial TV, which keeps the “want its” at bay. When we do see a commercial or a toy that looks cool at the store, we discuss: 1.)What is the purpose of advertising? 2.)Are those kids really going to enjoy that as much as it seems like they are? 3.)Is this a good price for this item? 4.)Do we know anyone who has this item so that we could try it out first?

2)    We primarily shop for durable goods (clothing, furniture, accessories, etc.) at thrift and consignment stores.

3)   I do not particularly enjoy shopping, so neither of my girls considers shopping a hobby.

4)    As part of our faith, we talk about the need to give to and care for those who have less than us, and I often emphasize how fortunate we are because we have everything that we need and many, many of things that we want.

5)   I realized one day that I tell the girls (and my husband) “no” and they probably didn’t realize that I tell myself “no” too. So I got in the habit of discussing my purchases out loud with my children. Now they see that I sometimes see things that I desire and tell myself no and walk away.

If you want to get your children involved in a journey that will be lighter on your wallet, lighter on the planet and will leave more than just a path through the living room, what advantages do you bring to the table? None? Of course not!  At a minimum, I know that you bring two important things with you, things that you can build from:

1)   a desire to make do with less and

2)   a supportive community here on 365lessthings

ITEM 257 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This light glode was faulty when I recieved it I am not sure why I didn’t throw it away then but it is gone now.

My favourite five comment for this week are…

• I can’t promise I will get to do the favourite fives while I am on vacation so if this area is blank please forgive me I will be back soon
  

Five links/posts I enjoyed from the archives this week are…

• The sound of my own wheels – Personal development-change
• Step 1 minimalist – 7 simple ways minimalists can help the environment
• Zen Habits – The wastefulness of decluttering: or how to make less count for more
• Upcycled Love – 101 Rays of Gratitude
• The Everyday Minimalist – 5 Lies you tell yourself that keep you spending

ITEM 260 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I am not ever sure how these came to be in my possession but I do know I don’t used them or want them

Don’t you just hate products that don’t live up to your expectation. Products that you bought for a specific purpose that didn’t perform as suggested on the label, as advertised or live up to first appearance. These items often end up cluttering up your home because you just wasted good money on them and you hope that through some miracle they will actually come in useful at some point and you will finally get value for money.

There are some products that come very quickly to mind for me…

• Cleaning products that just aren’t as effective or simple to use as the advertising suggests. I can just see some of those ads running through my head as I type. You know the ones that show this disgustingly filthy bath tub that has clearly just been sprayed with a substance that even a damp sponge would easily clean off. What they don’t mention is that once you have “easily” wiped the “real set in” grime away you have to rinse this caustic substance off with fresh running water which is sometimes more difficult to achieve than the scrubbing itself.
• Glues that according to the label achieve a bond that even Superman couldn’t break. Often they don’t achieve anything more than a weak bond to even half the substance they profess they can. Leaving you with not only a useless tube of glue but a pile of useless pieces of something that you are reluctant to waste more money on by buying yet another glue that might or might not manage to actually stick them together.
• Food items that look good on the surface but are barely fit for human consumption. I remember years ago a company brought a cheese alternative onto the market and advertised it as tasting just like a mild cheddar. Maybe there is another meaning for cheddar that I was not aware of  because this substance bared no resemblance to any cheddar I had ever tasted.
• Clothing that seemed to fit just fine when you tried it on but after one wash could only hope to fit your ten year old daughter. Why is it that they don’t preshrink the fabric before they make the clothing out of it. At least with clothing items you can return then and get an exchange or your money back.
• Shampoos and conditioners need I say more. My favourite advertisement for this one is the when the Jamaican guy goes into the store with his afro hair to buy a bottle of shampoo and comes back later for a refund because his hair is now silky and straight. If only that add was true it would save me a lot of time with the hair straightener. At least it is blatantly deceptive a lot of other manufactures of similar products use the same trick but in a far more convincing manner.

That is just a small sample of the kinds of products that we are seduced into buying with no hope of being anything but disappointed. Sometime I think this is bordering on false advertising but I am sure there are guidelines to this that have very sketchy boundaries. All I can suggest is return them to the retailer if you can, write and complain to the companies that manufacture them and if all else fails use them up as quickly as possible in as many outside the box ways that you can so they are gone from your home and not taunting you with their shortcomings.

ITEM 259 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I am glad to see the back of these heavy cotton shorts. They are a pain to iron.

Amongst all this decluttering there are always those old faithfuls that I will never declutter unless they finally die. Today I honor five of those wonderful  items.

• My old peg bag that I made about 12 years ago its in its last legs but I will remain faithful to it until the end
• The old flour sieve that was my grandmothers with has been in my possession since 1981
• The old flat skillet that my mother-in-law bought for me secondhand about 13 years ago. It is the best for pikelets and pancakes.
• The trusty old can opener that has outlasted the electric one and a couple of other ones I thought would be better but weren’t. Not sure how long I have had that but probably for the 23 years I have been married.
• My trusty old laptop. The one that I write my post on everyday. It may have a few issues but it has served me well for about 6 years.

ITEM 258 OF 365 LESS THINGS

A notch and dye set that I sold on ebay for $5.00. One of those ebay sales that wasn’t very lucrative I’m afraid.

Decluttering Kid Birthday Parties

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

Last week on Day 252 I covered family birthday parties without clutter, but what about the crazy excess that comes from a big bash with a bunch of kids? There are so many gifts and so much waste generated by the average party. Most seem to end with a big Santa sack of gifts and an equally big one of trash.

The quickest way to cut down on waste is by restricting the number of kids. In my experience, though, the kids want to invite everyone in their class until second or third grade. (My parents restricted me to one guest per year of age, but I have not continued with this rule in my own parenting.)

My next idea requires buy-in from your kids, but I know it can be done because it’s common in my younger daughter’s class. Gifts are gathered at the birthday party for a charity, not for the birthday child. The animal shelter has been popular, but we’ve also collected gifts for the women’s and children’s shelters.

You could also have a wishing well where a gift of cash is put by each child and the money could be donated to the charity of their choice or kept to put in the child’s college fund. I have been to weddings where they have wishing wells and it is very convenient for both the giver and the receiver.

And what about those (often) junky, plastic-filled goodie bags that somehow have become a requirement at all parties? If your party involves a craft, decorate paper bags too, and let the craft go into the bag and be the party favor. Otherwise, I encourage you to either give something functional (we’ve given marker sets and pool noodles and have received socks) or skip this step completely. I honestly don’t think the kids will notice, and I think the parents will be grateful you haven’t added to their junk load.

As for the party trash itself, in many cities, gift wrap and tissue can be recycled. Gift bags, cute decorations and bows can always be saved for another go around.

I encourage the use of non-disposables at the party. I have two dozen glass plates I bought at thrift stores and another two dozen reusable plastic plates. I use my real silverware, and if I need more, I use the plasticware that will be washed and reused. I serve the kids’ beverages out of a large container and do not use bottled water or juice boxes. I use my own glasses, and if I need more, I use the sturdy plastic ones that restaurants give out with their kids’ meals. I put a piece of tape on the cup and write the child’s name with Sharpie. When I have to use paper plates or cups, I write the kids’ names on both the plate and cup.

Even if you’re having your party at a park or special venue, bringing your own reusable party wear and taking it away afterwards are not hard. An extra box or picnic basket will help you tote the load.

The first time my Mom saw me setting up a party like this she asked, “Is this what your friends do?” I replied, “I don’t have to follow my friends, Mom. I can lead them.”

From Colleen

One the subject of Children’s parties I have a little Aussie treat that has always been popular at kids parties in Australia since way back when. This treat is called Fairy Bread and all it is is pieces of bread butters with sprinkles on top. (the sprinkles you would put on a cake) so simple but always well received. Give it a try.

ITEM 257 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just one more odd item that never finds it’s way to the top of the utensil drawer

I see so many comments and forums out there from people who are struggling to clean out their basements. I thank my lucky stars I don’t have a basement because from what I read they are just clutter collection areas. One of the common basement curses are rolls of carpet. They often get put in the basement in good condition but after years down there waiting for their new lease on life they end up rotten from the damp.

I found a link with some great uses for old carpet that I felt compelled to share with you just in case you are suffering from this very problem. My Zero waste is a fantastic blog with some wonderful idea on recycling all sorts of things in varying ways and if you have any love for the environment you will subscribe to this blog. The link I found is Four ways to carpet your garden go over and have a read and check out some of their other great posts while you are at it.

ITEM 256 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I need to find a karate dojo near here who might be able to use these belts.

Following on from Betty Jo’s guest post from yesterday I simply googled “alternative cleaning products” and below I have included some of the interesting sites I found. I have also included a site seemingly from an opponent of the home formulated cleaning products movement just to balance things out.

Sites with recipes & tips for alternative household cleaners

• http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm
• http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
• http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/4672/Cleaning-Products–A-healthy-alternative-for-self-and-planet/
• http://environmentallysafecleaningproducts.net/

The alternative view to alternative household cleaners

• http://www.aboutcleaningproducts.com/alternatives.php

That will be quite enough reading for you for one day so I will sign off right here and leave you to it.

ITEM 254 OF 365 LESS THINGS

An example of how things perish when left unused for a long time. Elastic is particularly susceptible to this.

Minimalizing Chemical Clutter

Guest Post by Betty Jo Martin – joy with less

Over twenty years ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS). In broad terms MCS means an unusually severe sensitivity or allergy-like reaction to many different kinds of pollutants including solvents, VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds), perfumes, petroleum, diesel, smoke, mercury, lead,  “chemicals” in  general. The list of toxic chemicals used today in our homes, yards, and offices/studios are too numerous for me to list.

My physical decline began in my thirties when the first ever fillings were placed in five of my teeth. The dentist used dental amalgam fillings, sometimes called “silver amalgams,” which are actually half mercury. Within two days of having the dental work, I experienced severe pain in my limbs and along my spine. It was so painful I couldn’t hold a teacup, or climb the stairs to our bedroom. I sat up at night due to the excruciating pain in my back. I spent many days and weeks bedridden. Periodically, and for several days at a time, the pain would lessen somewhat and I could actually make it up and down stairs without crawling or being carried.

We were living in England at the time, serving with a benevolent organization as hospitality couple to families passing through the UK from around the world. We maintained a huge, rented, centuries old stone house in the country. It was similar to running a bed and breakfast. My husband also traveled five days into London working with book, and humanitarian aid distribution. I took care of school activities with our boys, the daily running of the house, and handled many of the hundreds of inquiry letters received by the organization. We also traveled many weekends with the ministries outreach programs.

After hospital tests I was diagnosed with a viral infection in my spinal column and told there was no treatment except bed rest. We never accepted that diagnoses and decided to continue our search for answers and hopefully a cure. Of course it was basically impossible to handle the vigorous work schedule, which took the two of us working together as a team, so we decided to take a less strenuous position in the US.  My husband would continue his work with the organization in one of their book distribution warehouses, traveling often. I would stay home, coping with my disabilities, and starting a very long trek through the maze of doctors and further medical tests. It was extremely difficult, and some days it took all I could do simply to get from my bed to our living room couch due to the horrific pain in joints, back, and head, much less face specialists and tests. At the time, we, nor any of the doctors I consulted, connected the amalgam fillings to my becoming basically an invalid within a couple of days of having them. That knowledge came years later.

Once back in the US the viral infection in my spinal column was ruled out as being nonexistent, as I suspected it would be. I was tested for MS, which one doctor was totally convinced I had. There were also tests for other immune mediated diseases. But, to everyone’s amazement, all of my diagnostic tests proved negative to any disease!

To make a long story shorter, I’ll now jump ahead three or four years.

My husband decided to take another “job” with less traveling, giving him more time to help me. We relocated to Chicago, IL where my husband was employed by a book company. A board member of the company rented a house to us only minutes from where my husband worked. This gave him opportunity to check in with me several times a day. It was an older home and my husband painted rooms, put up wallpaper, and made many repairs. We were only there for a short time when my health took a nose dive, the pain grew worse than ever, and again I was bedridden for long periods of time. I experienced relentless “brain fog”. Fighting depression was a daily affair.

When a new friend I met at church heard of my plight she began to educate me about chemical toxins and how they can affect our health, especially the immune system. My hubby and I began to read everything we could get our hands on about the subject. We read incredible information by Theron Randolf, Debra Lynn Dadd, Lynn Lawson, Doris J. Rapp. Light bulbs came on! It didn’t take us long to piece together that the toxic mercury in the dental fillings I received in England was the beginning of the damage to my immune system. I was later tested for mercury and I registered extremely high with mercury toxicity. We then realized that other toxins in our environment continued to add to the load, affecting my immune system even further.

We began to hunt down the toxins in our environment and rid our lives of the chemical clutter. We were forced to leave the home we occupied, due to new paint and repairs, a gas heat system and cook stove, as well as the volatile gasoline toxins from the myriad of cars passing our home daily in the congested Chicago area where we lived. We relocated to rural North Carolina, my hubby taking a job managing a pizza parlor, and to continue our cleansing process surrounded by cleaner air and natural beauty.

We learned that as consumers we were spending a lot of money on products containing toxic materials that were adding to my physical digression, and possibly harming our children in ways that might not be detected until they were older. We also began to realize the impact toxic products have on the environment at large.

I saw immediate relief from a lot of the physical problems as we began to replace household toxins with natural products. Although to this day I still have severe sensitivities to many, many chemicals I am now able to live a limited, but somewhat normal life, without daily pain. It is basically impossible to live in a chemical free environment, but I can and will, continue to minimize my exposure as much as possible.

Since reading much in the minimalist online community I’ve come to realize that clearing the chemical clutter from my home was the actual beginning steps to a more simple lifestyle and minimalism. Another reason I chose joy with less as the name of my blog.

Here are a few of the products we purged years ago, and perhaps something on the list will inspire you to clear away chemical clutter in your environment. For more in-depth information do a computer search of individual chemical names found on a product’s packaging. One of the best online sources for further info I’ve found is ATSDR (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp).

• Gas heat, cook stove, and hot water heater (Switched to electric. Solar power is even better.)
• Chemically filled household cleansers
• Oven cleaner
• Synthetic materials in clothing
• New furniture
• New cars
• New carpet
• Pesticides: I use an electric (ultrasonic) device, and haven’t had any household pests in years.
• Deodorizers, air fresheners
• Nail polish and nail polish remover
• Shoe polish
• Paint, paint strippers
• Dry cleaning
• Perfume/cologne or perfumed personal grooming products
• Chemically laced: shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and lotions
• Prepackaged products sold as food with long chemical lists of ingredients
• Canned foods
• Most plastics: food containers, plastic wrap, bottles, cups, place mats, shower curtains, toys, just to name a few
• Dryer sheets
• Newspapers and magazines

Symptoms of exposure to the chemicals found in these items can include headache, backache, stiff and painful joints, nausea, diarrhea, asthma or allergy attacks, dizziness, memory loss, stuttering, premature puberty, low sperm count, reduced motor skills, sudden mood swings, dyslexia, ADHD, anti-social behavior/autism and birth defects, depression, among others. Pound for pound, children’s exposure levels are higher than adults because, although the amount of chemicals in an exposure remains equal, children’s bodies are smaller so the concentration is stronger. Also, their immune systems are still developing. Children are probably the highest risk population for chemical exposures. For many of these same reasons, pets may also be at risk. Other populations with a pronounced risk are breast cancer victims, the elderly, asthma and allergy sufferers and those with compromised immune systems.

Thank you Colleen for the invitation to share my story on your wonderful blog.

ITEM 253 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I hope some one will find these bits and pieces useful they are remnants from days when I used to sew more.