There were so many comments this week it was hard to keep up with them but I had to choose five and I did for various reasons.

Victoria -  …I tend to be a very Spartan person in general, but have to constantly fight the battle to keep my lifestyle as zen as possible… Read More

Grace from Brazil – …You have challenged me to think about the decluttering as an ongoing journey…Read more.

Lynne – Ahhh! I would absolutely NOT ask the artist if you could swap it…Read More

OBC – I had a huge problem with letting go of things…Read More

Pamela – This is the first time I’ve commented on your (wonderful and inspirational and challenging) blog…Read More

Blog posts I really enjoyed reading this week. Some for fun, some for inspiration and some for their useful advice.

Movers Edge – Packing-Tips This is a little off the subject of decluttering but there are some great tips for moving which include one decluttering tip for the process.

Be more with less – How-to-live-in-the-land-of-enough-gratitude

Finding me in france – Holiday-survival-tips I have been a little busy over the Christmas period so I have been a bit behind on reading my favourite blogs. This one from Bobbi was so funny I had to share it with you even thought the festive season is over.

Marc and Angel hack life – 40-extraordinary-things-happening-right-now

Stop work place drama.com – Eeleven-questions-to-ask-in-2011 Thanks to Cindy for finding this one.

Today’s Declutter Item

Liam is on a declutter binge at the moment and he has quite a collection of Coke items that are on their way out. These two are now in the recycling bin. There will be more to come so stay turned.

Things I am grateful for today

• Liam going gang busters with the decluttering – I don’t know what brought this on but I don’t care either so long as he is doing it. Go Liam!
• Finally some decent rain today – Even though I think it was chasing me and I got caught in it three time no less I am still grateful for it.
• Leftovers for dinner – Two nights of no cooking, gotta love that.
• Liam had his teeth fixed today – It is nice to see him smile with a full set of whole teeth again.
• A cool breeze a white wine and some peace and quiet as I finish up this post.
  

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

I received a comment from Willow on Day 365 which really got me thinking. Her comment read…

Congratulations, Colleen! Your perseverance has been an inspiration to me. What is the biggest, most important lesson you learned this past year?

And my response was…

Hi Willow,
it is really a combo of all the lessons but I suppose the biggest one was to stop shopping and don’t replace the stuff with something else. Hardly a thing has entered my house all year and what has replaced something old and worn, which wasn’t included in the 365 things because it was being replaced. Learning to let go of the bindings to things is key too. We hold on to things for all sorts of reasons and none of those reasons are good enough to make you live in a situation you no longer wish to tolerate.

My response could have been more long winded because there was so much going through my head at the time. Mostly the crazy reasons why we keep things when we know that not so deep down we would rather let them go. We wouldn’t have been considering decluttering them in the first place had we not become at least partly detached from them. My thoughts went kind of like this…

💡 If you don’t love it set it free – This one speaks for itself, if you are just tolerating certain stuff then you really need to consider why it is still in your home.

💡 If you love it let it show if you don’t then let it go – If it is worth keeping it is worth using or displaying so don’t hide it away somewhere that you can’t enjoy it properly and regularly.

💡 Do you have a bad relationship with your stuff – are you keeping certain stuff out or guilt, obligation or fear, that you would really rather part with. Like a boyfriend who you fell out of love with over time but you don’t seem to be able to end the relationship for fear of hurting his feelings or regretting the decision later on. Or Like that visitor that came for a short time but twelve months later is still sleeping on your sofa and you just can’t tell them to leave. Reasons for keeping stuff that come under this category might be…

• So and so gave it to me.
• It belonged to (insert loved one) who has now passed.
• I got it while I was on vacation in (Insert place).
• I might need it someday.
• The children may want it when they grow up.
• It’s been in our family for generations. (There is always another family member)

Sure there are going to be certain things that you will keep regardless of what your relationship with them are but they should be things of real importance or use to you. If you have a whole house full of these items you really have to question your decision making process. If you are miserable being surrounded by and shackled to your stuff then you need to get past whatever less important reason you are clinging on to it. Just imagine the freedom you could enjoy.

Today’s Declutter Item

This item used to hang in the kitchen of my grandmother’s house. It was there for as long as I remember. She and I shared our middle name and I gave my daughter the same name. The saint in the picture is where we got the name from so the picture came to me when my grandmother died. I don’t think it has ever adorned a wall in my house. Her name is not even spelled the same as ours. I have never had any real loving relationship with this item and I will always have my name tie with my grandmother so I don’t need this hidden in a box in my house any longer.

Things I am grateful for today

• Getting off my butt and framing some art that has needed doing for some time – Especially since they were items of Steve’s and it is his birthday today.
• Also finding the time and inclination to run some other errands I have been putting off.
  
• Refreshing afternoon showers.
• Enthusiasm – It sure makes doing otherwise unpleasant things a lot more tolerable.
• Know I don’t have to cook dinner tonight because we are going out with friends – I love birthdays even when they aren’t mine. 😉
  

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

The shopping is done. The wrapping paper is all recycled. You may have even packed away the ornaments until next year. (Were there any you decided to declutter?) But I bet there’s still one task you haven’t tackled, one that goes on all year long: Returns. Returns are a vital part of a well-organized and decluttered home.

You can return practically anything to practically anywhere. Even if you’re outside the store’s stated time limits for returns, you can still request a return. Speak to the manager. Really and truly, it doesn’t hurt to ask. (This is more applicable to the United States than it may be to other countries. Australia for one is much less flexible)

Surely you’ve looked on Craigslist or Ebay and seen a listing like these: “Bought for daughter but did not fit. Lost receipt, my loss your gain.” Or, “My loss is your gain. These are easily $70 at a store. If I had a receipt I would take it back, but I don’t.”

The first ad was for five pairs of Target brand jeans. I know that Target will take items back for 90 days, and that you don’t have to have your receipt to get a store credit, so why isn’t this mother returning the jeans? Placing an ad for clothing on Craigslist is way more inconvenient than any trip to Target could be and you will unlikely get the full cost you paid.

In the second case, why doesn’t this fellow ask where his $70 item came from? Even if we assume that he’s not asking because he fears hurting the feelings of the gift-giver, he can still try a return. While I don’t advocate intentionally returning something to the wrong store, many stores sell exactly the same merchandise, and especially after Christmas, will take back something that you’re not 100% sure came from there. Don’t feel bad; they stock ones exactly like it, and they’re going to resell it. If you feel uncomfortable, you can even say, “I got this from my sister. I don’t know if it came from here.” If it didn’t, they’ll tell you.

Buying online is a very popular option, but I am careful not to have something shipped to me if I’m not certain that I want it, particularly if return shipping is not included. Postage costs are very high, and I feel cheated if I pay for something to be shipped to me, then pay for it to be shipped back, and the only thing I have to show for my efforts is less money.

Big ticket items are the hardest to return but the most deserving of being returned. You’re only going to buy one TV this decade. If you get it home and don’t like it, it needs to go back. My girlfriend returned a gas stove once! Can you image how inconvenient that was? The thing was hooked up in her house and functioning, but she hated it and knew she did not want to live with it for the next 20 years. Any time you buy a big ticket item, make sure you understand the store’s return policy before you purchase. Sometimes furniture and art can be taken out “on approval” where the store charges your card but allows you to take it home for a day or two. The store won’t volunteer this; you have to ask.

When I buy something I’m not quite sure about, or something that won’t get used right away (which could translate to won’t get used … ever), I tape the receipt directly onto the item. Recently I was able to return house numbers that I’d had for almost 12 months because I still had the receipt. The store’s policy is that returns are only accepted within 90 days. First I called to assess if there might be a problem, but the clerk sounded pretty sure “we can work something out.” When I walked into the store, I checked to be sure that they still stocked the house numbers. They did, and as predicted, there was no problem getting a store credit, which I immediately used. (See Day 294 for my tips on managing your gift cards and merchandise credits.)

Especially as you’re decluttering, you will find brand new items that you could have, should have returned. Don’t fret! You probably still can.

Colleen – There is some good advice in this article and I like Cindy keep all receipts for items other than food for a certain length of time just in case. I keep my receipts in a coupon folder or in my file with warranty papers. I have had to retrieve such receipts many times over the years when…

• Things break during normal use within a short length of time or within the warranty period.
• When clothing shrinks, fades, goes out of shape/seams undo/ etc within the first few times of wearing and washing.
• When something doesn’t live up to what the advertising suggests it is capable of.
• When I have chosen and item because the sales person insists it is the right product for what I require and it turns out  it isn’t.

Just remember to clean out old receipts on a regular basis. And like Cindy says be reasonable about what you expect to the retailer to accept. It never hurts to try though because the only stupid request is the one you are to shy to ask for. Please try to investigate big ticket products where possible before making your purchase and remember to be open minded. Investigating doesn’t mean to only try to justify the exact item you thought you wanted in the first place and not having an open mind that the trendy/cutest/smaller/larger/ faster… product may not the one that best suits your needs.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is the sweater Liam was wearing when he had his accident needless to say they had to get it off him quickly. It went in the trash today but we kept what once was his favourite T-shirt that is in much the same condition.

Things I am grateful for today

1. Lunch with a friend again – I have been a bit spoiled the last couple of days.
2. Listening to other peoples troubles and realising how lucky I am.
3. More cherry tomatoes ripening on the plant in my garden that just popped up from one of last years seeds.
4. Liam happily co-operating with me when I asked him to help declutter a couple of drawers in his bedroom today- eBay here we come.
   
5. Friends that feel they can always be honest with me.
   

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

I received a comment from one of my readers last week who found herself in a tricky situation in regards to decluttering a certain object.  Read the comment below to understand the dilemma. I have edited it so that the artist involved wouldn’t recognise it is about them if by some weird twist of fate they should happen to read it.

I have a tricky one for you and your readers! A very good friend who comes to my house regularly  created a painting AT MY REQUEST for my birthday. That was 4 years ago, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really love the painting then, and I like it less now. It’s just too dark for my house, which I like to be light and airy. I’ve moved the painting from a prominent position to a sort of hidden spot in the another room, but I KNOW she would notice if it was gone, as it isn’t a big house. Maybe I could say one of the kids put their foot through the canvas?

The question is what should she do about the painting…

1. Should she donate it and hope the friend never asks where it went.
2. Should she be up-front and explain to the friend that the shade of it no longer suits her tastes and offer the painting back to her friend or perhaps ask if she can swap it for another piece that she likes better.
3. Should she persevere with it in another room where she looks at it less and then if the person asks at least she can say she still has it but felt like she needed a change.
4. Or is it alright to tell a little white lie (if the friend should ask about it’s whereabouts) that it somehow met its demise by way of a freak accident. Or perhaps say that another acquaintance simply loved it so much you re-gifted it to them because you were intending to buy a new one from her.

I asked my son the art student what he would feel/do as the artist who noticed it missing…

He said he would probably asked where it went out of curiosity but wouldn’t be upset if it had been passed on to someone else. He felt that four years was a reasonable amount of time to have had it displayed and would understand that a person may have changed taste and it no longer suited them. He said he would not be happy had it just been thrown away.

My husband tended to agree with my son but said he would prefer to have been offered the painting back.

Cindy suggested saying  “I love this painting, but the longer I live with it, the more I wish it reflected me/my lifestyle/ my beliefs / something, and I am wondering if you might warm it up / lightening it up for me.”

Not knowing the artist makes it hard for a third party to come up with the best possible solution but it also gives a more detached logical twist as to how to resolve the problem. I personally like the idea of offering it back to the artist and asking if you can swap it for one that matches your new shade preference.  That way the request in no way insults the painting or her/him as an artist but suggests that it is you the owner that has changed but would still love to own one of their pieces.

A true friend would understand and consider your feelings to be important so if this breaks the relationship then you have to ask yourself how strong was it in the first place. I know that I have given things to people and then have never seen them using the gift or displaying it, and I just chalk it up to me not choosing wisely in the first place. Unfortunately, not every one is this insensitive when it comes to giving.

I hope this has been a help to my commenter (who shall remain nameless) and to anyone facing the same situation.

Today’s Declutter Item

This was one of those foolish bargains too good to resist purchases before testing the product to see how well it worked. My guess is that they were a faulty batch and that was why they were selling them off cheap. Because they were crap and I am not sure why I thought 8 years was going to make a difference to their performance. Needless to say they went in the bin.

Things I am grateful for today

• Those odd little things you come across during your normal daily meandering that make you go “Interesting”. Everyday should be different in its own unique way.
• Lunch with a friend
• Cute moments when your kids say things that are quite wise for their age.
• Having a joke with my boy.
• My little girl is taking action instead of just sitting back waiting for life to happen.
  


Below are photos of the Christmas pudding that intrigued some of my readers during the lead up to Christmas. The first picture shows the pudding hanging after being boiled wrapped in cloth for 3 hours. The 2nd picture was taken right after the pudding was removed from the cloth after another 2 hours of boiling on Christmas day a week later (You can hang it for much longer than that). The 3rd picture is of my slice of pudding with custard and cream MMMM Yum. And the last one is of the pudding after everyone had a slice. If you would like a better look just click on one of the photos and it will take you the Steve’s Flickr photo stream.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

Welcome to the first Mini Mission Monday at 365lessthings. Since I have already given you a list of mini missions to work on this week I have decided to give you one mission to think about while you are carrying our you those other tasks.

Your mission is to find something in your house that you no longer really want/use but something is holding you back from getting rid of it. I am sure you all have something that will come to mind immediately. There are several reasons that cause us to keep avoiding these items…

1. Something that you want to sell rather than give away but you haven’t done anything about it.
2. An item that you aren’t too sure about how to dispose of responsibly.
3. Items that requires a series of tasks in order for you to part with them happily like digitising papers for instance. This will require sorting, copying, saving and shredding.
4. Someone else’s sentimental value.
5. A family heirloom that is more of a looming object.
6. Perhaps something that is big and cumbersome that you need to have collected rather than drop off.
7. It might be one of those “I may need it some day” items that you know you really don’t want taking up space but can’t bring yourself to part with it.
8. Maybe your troubling item is a set of tools required for a hobby that you no longer do but the old “I spent good money on this” monster keeps making you cling to them.
9. Maybe it is something from your childhood that you are clinging to for all the wrong reasons.

I want you to give some serious thought to this item and come up with an action plan. This might require some soul searching if this item has some psychological attachment for you. You may need to weigh up what is more important to you, the item itself or being free of its grasp on you. You may not be ready to part with this item yet but if it came to mind there must be something about it that troubles you to have it around.

Write down your thoughts about the item and ask a friend or family member to give you guidance about it. A third party can sometimes be more rational about things because of the history attached to us.

My item is going to be my trophy collection. My intention is to photograph them, remove the plaques and put it all together in a scrapbook page or two. I also intend to go to the trophy shop not far from my home and see if they have a suggestion as to how to dispose of them. I would like to think that they may be able to use the parts or know of some organisation like a drama society who might be able to use them as props. I have put this off for months now but the day of reckoning is nigh. As you can see this involves both the #2 and #3 degrees of difficulty mentioned above.

Well good luck and don’t forget you can always ask the community here at 365lessthings for our opinion, we are always happy to help.

Today’s Declutter Item

Another pair of shoes, mine this time. Every time I wear them I feel a rather uncomfortable lump under my right foot. Like yesterday’s pair I will donate them to charity and hope they are more suited to someone else. They are a cute pair of shoes after all.

Things I am grateful for today

• A lovely long walk at the beach – The weather was closing in but that just made it more interesting.
• Crafting – I have been doing quite a bit of that lately and I am enjoying it.
• The weather being a little cooler today and now there is a thunder storm rumbling in the not to o far away. I love thunder storms.
• Getting some good post ideas from some comments I received today.
• Taking time to stop and smell the roses – and having a neighbour who doesn’t mind you stealing them while he is away.
  

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

The outline for 365lessthings 2011

Monday = Mini Mission Monday

Tuesday = My usual rantings that you all love so much

Wednesday = Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Thursday = More of my usual rantings that you all love so much

Friday = Favourite Five

Saturday & Sunday – I plan on taking the weekends off in future. There will only be a weekend posting if something comes up that I want to add in for the week.

2010 was a big year and posting everyday is harder than it sounds, which is why I am taking the weekends off at this point. With Cindy also taking care of the bulk of Wednesday’s post sas well I will have time to pursue other interests. I still have to work on what I want to be when I grow up which was why I quit my job  last October.  Then as you all know fate stepped in and the aftermath of that has kept me preoccupied for a while. Now that Liam is well and Christmas is over, it is time to get on with things.  I am approaching this year with the same system I used last year – on step at a time – making it up as I go along. Why not keep with a system that seems to be working for me. I have read a lot about aim high and you don’t gain if you don’t take risks but you know I think that is all hype and that I prefer the tortoise approach – Slow and steady wins the race. I will keep you updated on that too as the year wears on and hopefully things will start coming together.

Today’s Declutter Item

A pair of shoe that for some reason or other Hubby was not happy with. One’s feet have to be comfortable or life can get pretty miserable so out they go.

Things I am grateful for today

• The freedom to choose
• Eggs – they are full of all sorts of good stuff and can be made into all sorts of great dishes.
• Digital Photography – Gone are the days when you actually had to pay to get your photos developed. Now I take a photo one minute and can share it with the next via my computer. Now that’s progress.
  
• Enjoying the differences from one place to another – While many of you shiver in the cold of winter I am taking pretty flower pictures to share with you like the ones at the top of this post.
• Still being enthusiastic about decluttering even thought the 365 days are up – I am getting ruthless about things that I skipped over in the past.
  

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow.

I received a comment yesterday and wanted to share it with you because it is a great decluttering success story and has some very useful tricks that we all could utilise when it comes to decluttering. Not everyone reads all the comments and I didn’t want you to miss it.

OBC wrote…

Well done Colleen! Fantastic!

I have read every single one of your posts over the past month and it has been a fabulous journey for you.

I actually spent 6 years decluttering way back 2000-2006 paving the way for me to be able to completely change my life by giving up work and moving across the seas to sun and warmth and experienced everything you have said – how the decluttering muscle gets stronger the more you use it – some things I couldn’t bear to part with in 2000 went out the door with ease in 2006.

I played games with myself – eg. the 16 week challenge of 1 book per day, 10 papers per day, 1 cloth item (eg. clothing or household linen), total amount of stuff had to remain the same or diminish – eg 1 new thing in = 1 thing out (even if it was a broken old pen!)

Another game, I packed as much as I could into 20 collapsible crates and the challenge each week was to reduce the number of crates by 1. Some weeks it could be achieved by repacking, and other weeks I actually had to throw stuff out. Psychologically, the act of repacking was allowing my sub-conscious to begin working on the letting go.

As the pack-rat nature is buried deep within, I constantly have to review and declutter to avoid build up and right now, I just completed ’1000 things’ – I have set aside a table in my office to use for going through things (keep or throw) and am circulating round my home a drawer or shelf at a time. I drew up a grid on my whiteboard and each box = 10 things gone through. Tick. (I am motivated by ticks!)

One key decision I made years ago is to not judge the ‘value’ of the items i.e. one old sweet wrapper or till receipt = a thing just as much as an old chair = a thing. Makes decision making much easier!

One of the most thrilling moments I experienced is the day I suddenly realised I could hear echoes in my home as shelves and walls gradually became clear!

Anyway, congratulations again and a Happy New Year to you!

I love the idea of small missions within a mission. Whether they be mini missions or like OBC’s  16 week challenge. Smaller missions give you a shorter goal date to work towards. In honour of the small mission concept I am going to add one here that I would like everyone to take up for this week. I will give you a mission a day for the week and we shall see how you went in the end. Which reminds me I didn’t get much feedback on the last set of mini missions I set for you so here is the link to Day 350 if anyone chose to participate at such a hectic time of year I would love to know how did you do?

Week 1 of 2011 Mini Mission

1. Saturday – Find something that can be used up but has been hanging about in your home for too long and start using it up. This could be moisturiser, something from the pantry, a note pad etc.
2. Sunday – Time to visit your book stash again there must be two books that are out of date or unlikely to be read again. Put them in the donation box.
3. Monday – Evaluate your plastic storage containers are there some you could declutter? Tupperware sells on ebay you know. There are probably some that have seen better days to or ones with missing lids these are seldom used and are probably ready for the recycling bin.
4. Tuesday – Go to a storage area of your home (the garage, a closet or drawer for instance) that you rarely use things from there must be one item of clutter you can delete.
5. Wednesday – Now that Christmas is over and birthdays are on the way gather all of your greeting cards, gift wrap etc. together in one place. Weed out what you will never use and discard.
6. Thursday – Go and find 1 “I might need it one day” item that you haven’t “needed” for years and put it in your donations box.
7. Friday – Declutter one item from your closet that you know you didn’t use last season.

I might just start mini mission Monday as a fixture after this week just to give everyone some easy decluttering ideas for the week. If you like that idea just let me know.

Today’s declutter item

Some boxes I eliminated over the Christmas period

Things I was grateful for today

• All the kind wishes for my first anniversary here at 365lessthings.
• A cool breeze on an otherwise hot day.
• The free produce out of my neighbours garden while they are away.
• Something simple for dinner that includes some of the produce mentioned above.
• A new year to do with whatever I want.