Moving from house to house, changing cars, motorbikes and furniture results in the accumulation of redundant keys over time. The time has come again to purge those keys that we recognise but no longer need and some that we have no idea what they belong to. There is always that element of ~ I hope there isn’t a locked box somewhere that I am about to through away the key to ~ but if we haven’t discovered that locked box in the last three years I don’t suppose it is going to miraculously appear next week. And even if it does how important can it be.

Now that’s better! It may just be a few ounces off the weight of my clutter but as every dieter knows, every ounce counts.

There is so much to be learned from your fellow readers at 365lessthings. There are as many great tips and ideas and encouragement that goes on in the comments section as there is in the posts themselves. But if you don’t have the time to read them all every Friday I am happy to choose five that I would want you to miss. Here are this week’s five…

Andreia in response to Becky’s comment on My stumbling block ~  Hi Becky! Don’t save the clothes… Read more

Deb J ~ We recently had a craft and craft supply sale here in our community…Read more

Eve in response to Your responses to Tuesday’s post ~ Thanks for compressing the many responses into this post… Read more

Ideealistin in response to Hiring a professional ~ Thanks, Cindy, for making it so clear… Read more

Annabelle in response to  Hiring a professional and Mini Mission Monday and bringing her recently regular European weather report ~ How lucky we are to even have folks who would WANT to come in to our houses and help… Read more

My five post picks for the week. This week I have chosen five blogs at random via google search. I was quite impressed with what I found.

Rogue Priest ~ The-fallout-of-minimalism

Pearl ~ The Stuff Diaries-Moving-frugality-and minimalism

MiniMOMism ~ Eco-friendly minimalism

The Minimalists ~ Giving is living

Donation Town blog ~ Another good USA/Canadian source for having your donations picked up at your door.

Today’s Declutter Item

It’s déjà vu all over again. More baseball clutter out the door. This one had a run in with a three year old and the only place for it was in the bin

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ The silly things my friend Amber and I come out with at times.
• Something Awesome ~ Fast food coupons – I enjoyed a free coffee and a free sub today.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Feeling a whole lot better today than I did the two days before ~ headache all gone.
• Something that made me happy ~ Mariners 10 ~ Detroit 1
• Something I found fascinating ~ How as you get older time seems to pass quicker.

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

I know that many of you have been reading all the responses to the ten questions on Tuesday’s post but for those who don’t have that much time here are a selection of the responses that I really enjoyed or thought carried a good message to share with you all.

1. Q.  What do you think has been the main cause of clutter build up for you in the past? (This could be more than one thing)

A.  Jude ~ People died or moved away and left all their stuff here.

A. *pol ~ Time: the more time that goes by the more we have acquired. Kids, they are amazing at accumulating at an alarming rate especially with grandparents/uncles/aunts/etc. nearby.

2. Q.  Have you changed your purchasing habits since you have begun your latest decluttering mission?

A. Sharron ~ Yes, yes and yes, no more shopping for leisure!

A.  Katharine ~ Yes. While not previously a big spender, I have definitely started avoiding the shops – if there is nothing I know I need, why go to the shops because I’ll only find things I didn’t know I needed before. I learnt that idea here. I also think about what I need to get rid of when I bring something new into the house and where the new thing will live as it needs a home straight away.

A. Lesley ~ I’d stopped buying so much stuff before I started decluttering but now I really do think whether I want to have to move something to clean it/round it or whether I really love it enough to want to move it across a continent/ocean should that be relevant. Sometimes the answer is ‘yes’ for non-essentials but mostly it’s a ‘no’ these days.

3. Q.  Do you think you have learned enough about your clutter habits not to end up back at square one sometime in the future?

A.  Nurchamiel ~ Yes, I quite enjoy the minimalism in my life now, I don’t want to go back. I have found that I love empty spaces. And also, I can live in much smaller rooms now, because I have less stuff that needs to fit in.

A.  Liina ~ Yes, absolutely. I’m a much more thoughtful consumer, and I’m very aware when I don’t *need* something, and I don’t enjoy shopping any more. I’m also less reluctant to let go of sentimental stuff that’s really junk…unless my dad gave it to me, apparently (and he’s living and very present in my life! so it’s not that kind of thing). That’s something I’ve only become aware of recently, and am just beginning to explore.

4. Q.  What is something that you have realised recently that had never occurred to you before about your clutter?

A.  Cheryl ~ I have realised how much time clutter was stealing from me. I work about 50 hours a week and spent much of my weekend cleaning up. Now I can keep up with it during the week and can enjoy my weekends.

A. Andréia ~ It is time consuming. It always gives you the illusion that you are busy, when, in actual truth you are overwhelmed. It makes a five minute job turn into a five hour crusade, with no good results.

5. Q.  Is your clutter problem more about having too much or not being organised?

A.  Lisa ~ I never thought I had a clutter problem because I was ultra-organized. I even taught others how to organize. The great awakening occurred for me when I realized I DID have too much stuff and that it was suffocating me even if it was organized and neat.

A. Andréia ~ Having too much stuff. Once the stuff was gone, keeping the house in order has become a calm and fast job.

For Me

1. Q. Has my blog helped you with your clutter mission and if yes, in what way?

A.  Ruby ~ Yes, though I am very new to this blog. The daily ideas help me stay focused and break things down into do-able little steps, and the archives and links to other resources have helped too. And I’m counting things out of the house, 172 so far. This is a good thing for me, to count my positive progress, instead of counting endless undone tasks on a to-do list.

A. Cindy ~ Lord, yes, every step of the way. I got the idea to start a thing a day from you, and I’m almost at my year.

2. Q. My style of decluttering is “Slow & Steady” do you think that is a style that works for you and makes my blog unique?

A.  Katie ~ I definitely started out with a whirlwind, and that was great for me as I was itchy to make and see a difference. That has subsided but I still have a long way to go. From here on out it’s making lifestyle changes.

A.  Cindy ~ Yes, I think slow and steady for decluttering, like weight loss and love, is better than “fast and furious” which often doesn’t last. In terms of your blog being unique. It must be, because I’ve read every single post, and I don’t read any other blogs except for a very occasional peak.

3. Q.  Do you need more advice about organising the stuff you are keeping or getting rid of the stuff you aren’t?

A. Nurchamiel ~ Last. Less stuff organises itself (what also helps: empty spaces – love it!  ) and there are still a few items I should send to the thriftstore. That reminds me, I should take a bag and hang it up in my room. Every time I see something that needs to go to the thrift store, I can dump it in that bag. Works like magic to me!

A.  Cindy ~ I don’t fully agree with your premise that a decluttered house organizes itself. I think some organizing advice would not be out of line.

4. Q.  Do you think you need practical advice about decluttering or do you feel you benefit more by being awakened to what the problem might be in the first place?

A. Katie ~ I benefit more from the psychological aspect of clutter and why we feel the need to buy things which do not impact our ability to survive.

A. *pol ~ I think the best thing for me is being reminded WHY I’m doing this on a regular basis. Why do I purchase? Why do I keep stuff? Why do I want it all messy in front of me? How can I get over these causes and find peace with my space. There are tonnes of sites that cover closet cleaning, etc.

5. Q.  Is there something you would like included here at 365 less things that you feel is missing and would make my blog a better help to you?

A.  *pol ~ I know it sounds silly, but I find the typeface a little jarring to read. I like when it comes to my email better than coming to your site (talk about being picky, eh?!) I really think you are doing great keeping the content real, positive, inspiring and helpful!

A.  Judy ~ No. It’s a fine blog. I think I’ve read it for almost a year, so you must be doing something right.

Today’s Declutter Item

Will the baseball collection madness ever end? There will always be some in our home I should imagine but not anywhere near the number we started with. I challenge someone to go back and count how many days a baseball item has appeared as Today’s Declutter item.

More Baseball Stuff

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Liam being invited to moustache themed party ~ he is stoked about it because he not only has a moustache but he has his dad’s moustache tattooed on his chest. Now that is dedication to the moustache. Neither my children nor myself have seen their father without his it has become “The Symbol of Dad”.
• Something Awesome ~ Having a good butcher shop near my house. The staff are friendly and the product is hand chosen so it is always good quality and if sometimes that costs a little more I don’t mind.
• Something to be grateful for ~ A quiet day at home. After all the hustle and bustle of the long weekend it was nice to sit in silence for most of the day.
• Something that made me happy ~ Reading through all the great responses to my ten questions. I have been at it all day in between housework that is.
• Something I found fascinating ~ The conversations with my friend Lizzy are always fascinating to me. She has been a good influence on me over the last four years and I am pleased to have her as a friend.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

…with help from Amy Brady, Owner, The Clutter Consultants

Sometimes you feel that you’ll never get finished if you just declutter one item a day, or you feel so desperate about your situation that you need a radical change, and you need it now. You might be overwhelmed and emotionally bogged down by your clutter, but a professional organizer is not. Getting an outsider to help you form a plan of action, motivate and lead you through the steps of the organizing process is an essential launching point for many people.

Back on day 206, Deb J wrote a post about her former business as a declutter. She was so thorough, and I’m sure that those she helped felt blessed by her assistance. I highly recommend that you check out her post in addition to reading this one. I too have used professional declutterers on several occasions, although none who work like Deb J.  I consider Amy Brady and Susan Stotesberry of The Clutter Consultants to be good friends and important helpers on my way to decluttering fame. These ladies have seen my dirty laundry, and I mean that literally!

Amy and Susan charge a flat rate for a minimum of three hours of work. One of the most common questions they get is “can you give me an estimate of the amount of time that this project will take?” This is difficult to do until they’ve seen the space and spent time working with the client, which is why most organizers charge by the hour. The size of space, time since it was last purged and organized, and how quickly a client makes decisions will all affect the time the project will take.

My experience says that if you go on past three hours, no matter how tempting that sounds at the beginning of the day, and you’ll be pooped. The way they generally work is that, side by side with their client and with great enthusiasm, they pull everything out, getting a “yeah” or “nay.”  The items to be kept are placed with their similar items, and the things to be discarded are sorted by trash, recycle, give away, and (possibly) sell. They keep their clients focused, and they forbid wandering around the house putting things away. Drifting = distraction. (For more on the pitfall of distractions, see this post).

An entire area is emptied and examined, and the drawers, shelves, or floor are wiped clean. This is when the need for containers or a storage system is discussed. Not every bit of decluttering requires a trip to the store! Drawers are measured, clutter is measured; there’s no point in buying the wrong things. They help you put your items neatly away, like with like at the point of usage. Amy and Susan also give homework to clients between appointments – small, manageable chunks of the overall project that the client can conquer in order to keep momentum going. Homework also helps keeps costs down. They’ll even drop your things off at the thrift store on their way home. I always found that a three hour session spurred me on for at least another three hours on my own. That’s nine hours of decluttering for the price of three!

Why would you pay good money for someone to help you do something you could do yourself? Well, first of all, you probably pay lots of people for services you could do yourself – fitness trainer, manicurist, house keeper, lawn care, pool cleaning, even grabbing fast food for dinner. Besides, if it was so easy to do, wouldn’t you have already done it yourself? Even though I consider myself an expert declutterer and organizer now, there were times when I wasn’t and there were times when the challenge seemed so insurmountable that I needed help. I did have girlfriends offer, but when the junk is too high and wide, it can feel too shameful or possibly annoying to have friends trying to help.

And just so we can all marvel at the pictures of my eight year old’s room before and after a three hour visit from Susan, follow this link. In this case, I feel sure a picture’s worth a thousand words.

If you live in the U.S., and you’re interested in hiring a professional organizer, visit the website for the National Association of Professional Organizers, where you can enter your zip code and pull up a list of professional organizers in your area.

Today’s Declutter Item

Two more books cleared from the bookcase. Polar opposites these books, futuristic on one hand and ancient on the other. Either way we don’t need them but someone else will love them I am sure.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ My daughter being silly and playing in her food. You think she would be past that stage by now since she is 22 in a couple of months.
• Something Awesome ~ Anthony Bourdain travel food show.
• Something to be grateful for ~ A relaxing day to recover from the long weekend.
• Something that made me happy ~ The good response to my questions today. I have been trying to get through as many as possible but with a house full of people and the cracking headache I have had all day I haven’t got far.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Sorry nothing to write here tonight.

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

Today’s post is short and straight to the point. I have laid out ten questions, five about you and five about me. I would like you to read, think about then answer them either privately to ponder on or in the form of a comment so we can discuss them between us. Maybe we can learn a thing or two not only from the answers but from the discussion they generate. There are no correct answers to these questions and some may even be irrelevant to you so just  answer them honestly. Here are the questions.

For you

1. What do you think has been the main cause of clutter build up for you in the past? (This could be more than one thing)
2. Have you changed your purchasing habits since you have begun your latest decluttering mission?
3. Do you think you have learned enough about your clutter habits not to end up back at square one sometime in the future?
4. What is something that you have realised recently that had never occurred to you before about your clutter?
5. Is your clutter problem more about having too much or not being organised?

For me

1. Has my blog helped you with your clutter mission and if yes, in what way?
2. My style of decluttering is “Slow & Steady” do you think that is a style that works for you and makes my blog unique?
3. Do you need more advice about organising the stuff you are keeping or getting rid of the stuff you aren’t?
4. Do you think you need practical advice about decluttering or do you feel you benefit more by being awakened to what the problem might be in the first place?
5. Is there something you would like included here at 365 less things that you feel is missing and would make my blog a better help to you?

Today’s Declutter Item

Yay! Another use it up item done and dusted.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ Some of the antics of the diggers marching in the ANZAC day parade in Sydney yesterday. They were clearly proud and happy to be a part of the day.
• Something Awesome ~ Having the family all together for a few days.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Even though it rained for the parade yesterday we had such a great time honouring the service men and women that we hardly even noticed the weather.
• Something that made me happy ~ How much my two children are proud of their dad.
• Something I found fascinating ~ How complicated it was trying to put together what I thought were going to be ten “simple” questions. Even now I think they may have generated more questions than they might answer.

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

Today is ANZAC day, the anniversary of the landing of troops from Australia and New Zealand on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, in World War I on April 25, 1915.  ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Before we begin today I would like to ask you to devote one minute of silence in respect of the members of the Australian and New Zealand military who have served and died in in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations throughout our history.

For this week’s mini missions I am going to encourage you to declutter some of those items you have been clinging on to for toooooooo long. You know the items I am talking about here, things you just haven’t been able to press the reject button on even though they have been in your radar for a while. There is always something holding you back, some lame reason for hanging on, none of which are because you love the item and want to keep it. The reasons you still have these items will become apparent as you start to work through the list for the week but lets face it, you already know the reasons you just haven’t done anything about it. Yet!

Monday – One I might need it some day item. (If it makes you feel better find someone you know nearby who will take this item off you, then if you do need it you can borrow it back.)

Tuesday – One clothing item that you keep telling yourself…

• will fit you one day.
• will be great for the right occasion (that occasion hasn’t arisen for two years what makes you think it is going to).
• is too good to give away and besides it cost a lot (even though it went out of date years ago).
• I love it and I am sure it will come back into fashion soon.
• etc etc etc

Wednesday – Either repair or arrange a repair  on a brocken item you have been keeping because you intend to use it again . If it isn’t important to enough for you to fix quickly then perhaps you don’t need it as much as you think you do. If that is the case then just declutter it. Right now it is just wasting space and tormenting you.

Thursday – One expensive item you keep clinging to because you paid good money for it. (it will never realise its value if it never gets used. Learn from your mistake and move on. Sell it if it makes you feel somewhat better about the waste.

Friday – One item that you keep trying to use up but never seem to get anywhere with. I recently decluttered a bunch of scrap paper that I have been trying to use up for years and have hardly made a dent in it. I am going to donate it to the local school this week now that they are back from vacation.

Saturday -One sentimental item.

Sunday – If you have grown up children, choose a childhood item you have saved for them and ask them if they want it. Chances are you are saving a whole lot of stuff for people who just don’t care. If they do want it, give it to them and get it our of your house. If they don’t want it then you are free to do what you like with it.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

All of these cell phones have seen better days. I have taken them to the recycling box at my local Office Works store.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ My husband likes to spew forth what he tries to make sound like true and interesting facts but is really just pulling our legs. It makes me laugh to think that he keeps trying even though we never believe him. In fact we wouldn’t believe him if is was true anymore just because of his reputation.
• Something Awesome ~ Free herbs from my neighbours garden. I save so much money and he loves to share.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Dinner in the oven, a glass of wine in my hand and peace reigning in the house.
• Something that made me happy ~ Watching all the people enjoying an afternoon stroll along the breakwater at Bobby’s Beach.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Passionfruit flowers ~ how can there not be a higher being orchestrating life when there are things as amazing as this to be found in nature.

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

Even a major clean up can be fairly easily managed if you don’t try to bite off too much at once. In this case, it was time (way past time) to clean our shed, which had not been attended to in the nine years we’ve lived in our house and which, in fact, contained items left behind by the previous owner. I spent a month working on it, once or twice a week, and never for more than an hour, except for the extremely pleasant afternoon I spent decluttering five bags of mulch and compost and some ground covers on a flower bed I enlarged.

Here’s how I approached this task. Unfortunately, we are in a drought, so there was virtually no chance of rain. As I pulled each item out of the shed, I made a decision about its fate.  Most everything went into these categories: metal recycling, trash, Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (a store that sells used and overstocked building supplies to support the charity Habitat for Humanity), sold on Craigslist, given to our eighth grade for their garage sale, or given to my mother. Before I stopped each day, everything was either in its future home or neatly piled waiting to go to its new home.

The shed had not been cleaned in any way in at least a decade and because it is somewhat poorly constructed, it is open the outside world in several places, so it was dirty and full of leaves, and rats had been using it as a shelter. Frankly, I’m just glad I didn’t find any rat carcasses! I swept the floor and the shelves as I went along and used old mulch bags as trash sacks. I did not put anything back into the shed until I was finished decluttering and cleaning. The reassembly probably only took 30 minutes. As I put things back, I gave them one more appraisal, knowing it might be a long time for the shed is decluttered again, but everything made this second cut. I took the advice of declutterers who recommend not going overboard: although I like things labeled, organized, and lined up in nice, straight rows, I remembered that this is a shed, not my kitchen and certainly not an operating room. It’s still a bit dusty, I didn’t clean behind the shelves (too heavy to move), and everything isn’t in a straight line. But, I have only things I will use, and like is stored with like. That’s good enough for this gal’s shed!

Here’s what I said good-bye to:

1. a metal flint spray gun (recycle)
2. edger  (garage sale)
3. rectangular trash can lid, no trash can (unfortunately not labeled for recycling, trash)
4. 4 mysterious flexible rubber hoses (trash)
5. large metal coupling (Habitat)
6. rusted metal pipe (recycling)
7. length of bent copper tubing (recyling)
8. role of wire (Habitat)
9. very old safety glasses (trash)
10. sheet rock tape (moved to the appropriate bin in the garage)
11. 2 pairs rusted pliers (recycled)
12. 2 screwdrivers (1 recycled, 1 clean up and added to the toolbox)
13. roll of copper (Habitat)
14. roll of plastic covered wire (Habitat)
15. flexible hoses for ?? (trash)
16. rat-chewed shower curtain (trash)
17. 3 stiff gloves (trash)
18. torn up extension cord (trash)
19. rat-chewed cardboard box (recycling)
20. 3′ circular blade (recycling)
21. 8 1′ circular blades (recycling)
22. grass flap for a lawnmower we no longer own (trash)
23. pole saw (garage sale)
24. 2 long electrical cords, no plugs (trash)
25. light fixture (disassembled – trash and recycling)
26. what looked like tiny jumper cables. My husband called them “widow makers” (disassembled – trash and recycling)
27. 2 galvanized pails (Craigslist)
28. worn out scrub brush (trash)
29. garden stakes (my mother)
30. large extra metal parts for a lawn canopy (recycling)
31. small plastic and metal parts for the same canopy (disassembled – trash and recycling)
32. weed wacker (given to neighbor)
33. hooks from a pegboard (a few reused, the rest to thrift store)
34. 2 plant hangers (thrift store)
35. hand-held fertilizer spreader (thrift store)
36. bottle of Safer Soap (the tiny bit left in the bottle was washed down the drain, the bottle was recycled)
37. 2 empty bottles of plant food (recycling)
38. bottle of hardened sunblock (trash)
39. hose-end sprayer (my mother)
40. 14 plant supports ranging from 3 to 7′ tall (my mother)
41. a roll and 4 folded pieces of landscape cloth ( my mother)
42. 2 gas cans and 1/2 quart of oil (put on the curb for free pick up)
43. 2 bags of older bird seed combined with my current bag (used up)
44. large bin that held the bird seed (put on the curb for free pick up)
45. 2 bags of last-year’s compost (used)
46. 3 bags of mulch so old that the bottoms of the bags had rotted and the roots of the ivy had started growing into it (used - These were outside the shed. It wasn’t that filthy inside!)
47. a bird feeder (washed, filled, and hung up)
48. a large box of sheets that I’d saved for wrapping plants, which I virtually never do. This was one time that I changed my mind. The sheets were too ratty (literally, sometimes) to donate to the thrift store, and I know of no fiber recycler in town. I put them in the trash but felt very unhappy about it. My mother encouraged me to get them back out and use them as a weed barrier under the mulch throughout the garden. I thought that was a fine idea and used five of them the day I enlarged the flower garden. The rest will go in the front yard when I next mulch.

I’m completely satisfied with my efforts. I would like to get some sturdy hooks to hang my garden tools, and I probably could have been more ruthless in a few cases, but it’s my shed, it’s clean, accessible, and organized, and that’s good enough for me.

The before shots of my Shed

(Brace yourselves it aint pretty)

The after shots of the shed

Once again there were plenty of great comments to choose from this week I could easily have chosen ten or more but five it is…

okgirl in response to Repeating the same action… ~ Thanks for the kick in the pants! I love *reading* about decluttering…Read more

Di in response to The Mysterious Case of the Tottering Stalagmites ~ Katherine, what a great and timely post… Read more

Liina in reaponse to Mini Mission Monday – Give yourself permission ~ Great stuff this week! I had a lot of success last week… Read more

okgirl in response to Mini Mission Monday… ~ Overcast and cool here in Oklahoma, USA  Thanks so much for this… Read more

Andréia in response to The one minute rule ~ Hi Cindy! I am doing the one minute rule without noticing it… Read more

Wow! I had to cram in some serious blog reading over the last couple of days to come up with these five. It has been a busy week and I didn’t have much time for reading but here they are…

Zen Habits ~ How-to-simplify-your-filing-system-or-why-stacking-just-doesnt-work

A guy named dave ~ A-goal-of-simple-living

Life should be the cats meow ~ Tiny-homes

Defrag my life ~ Point-for-the-kid

Not easy to be green ~ The-impact-of-freebies-an-earth-day-post

I hope you enjoy today’s selection and have a great weekend

Today’s Declutter Item

Today’s mini mission was a gift item but the one I have in mind is also an ebay item I haven’t listed yet so that will have to wait for another day. Saturday’s item is make-up and I have that well under control to so instead I have Sunday’s item this old bra that sits weird on the edges. It has had its day and I have got my money’s worth out of it so in the bin it goes.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be smile ~ Watching adults let their guards down an get excited like little children.
• Something Awesome ~ Easter comes with a five day long weekend for my husband so we can relax and enjoy having the family around.
• Something to be grateful for ~ My life in general, I sometimes forget how good I have it or at least am oblivious to how tough others’ lives are. Even when my son was so ill last year things turned out better than we could possibly have dared hoped.
• Something that made me happy ~ The constant appearance of new commenters here at 365lessthings and also the faithful that keep coming back.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Sitting having a coffee and watching the world go by. There are so many folks of all sorts of ethnicity out there, the world surely is a melting pot these day and that is a good thing in my book. Maybe the more we mix the more we will start to get along.

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

Sixteen months into my declutter mission and thirteen months blogging about it and I still have the odd stumbling block when it comes to decluttering.

• It isn’t staying away from shopping I mastered that discipline very quickly but then again I was always a bit thrifty.
• It isn’t obligation clutter because I feel no compulsion to keep things just because someone else thinks I should.
• It isn’t bringing stuff back into the house that I had already decluttered to its departure point. I don’t think in all this time that I have ever done that.
• It isn’t I might need it some day clutter. I think I knew from the get go that this is often what gets most people into this mess in the first place so I don’t play that game any more.
• In isn’t guilt clutter because I have certainly gotten rid of plenty of that.

And yet in a way it is guilt clutter. Not clutter I can’t make a decision on because guilt makes me feel I should keep it. Or like obligation clutter I would feel guilty getting rid of something someone gave me. Not even straight ~ I can’t get rid of this because I paid good money for it and I haven’t used it to it’s full potential. What it is is this..

I spent good money on this item and I would like to recoup some of that money by selling it. Sounds easy and it is, that’s the point. All I have to do is retrive the item from its hiding place take a few photos, write a blurb, choose a selling price or starting bid depending on how I intend to sell it and leave it in the lap of the Gods to decide whether I am successful of not.

I have written similar posts about this at least twice already over the last fifteen months and I still can’t convince myself that this is as easy as it sounds. There are items in my house that have had every intension of decluttering right from the very start that I have done nothing about them simply because I don’t want to deal with the selling process and all that that entails. I think as much as anything else it is the fact that once I have dragged these items out of hiding I have to put up with having them in plain sight until the sales has reached completion and I can send the item on its merry way.

Here are some of the items in question

• Daughter’s ski jacket ~ I somehow missed this one when I sold all the other ski gear and now is the best selling time again because we are about to go into ski season in Australia. It is just a case of listing it on eBay and even though I am sure it will sell well I am still unenthused. I have actually taken it our of the cupboard and taken the photos already but haven’t listed it yet.
• Paper craft supplies ~ Granted this one is a little trickier because my intention is to have a sales table at the Air Force base craft group gathering. This happens once a month, I think, and I have never attended so it requires me to get in contact with the people running the group to get the OK to do this. I have to weed out all the items I want to sell, price it all, travel forty minutes to get there, have someone meet me to get me through base security… blah blah blah. But oh the benefits of having an interested captured audience and the freedom of getting rid of the over abundance of supplies cluttering up my office/craft space. I really do need to use the excitement of the end result to spur me on with this task.
• Daughter’s keyboard ~ I have only just asked her if she wants to keep this even though I have had my eye on it from the very beginning. She has now told me she no longer wants and is keen to reep the extra cash at my inconvenience. It is a bit inconvenient (shipping cost) to sell on eBay but I have other local options which I think would be successful. My only hold up here is the effort dragging it out of her bedroom cupboard and photographing it and come up with a selling price.
• Son’s Coka Cola collection. Awkward to list, lots of photos involved (already taken, mind you, but I still haven’t done anything about it). Awkward to ship (I think this is my actual stumbling block here) and not sure how well received it will be on eBay. Not sure whether to sell items separately or one job lot… What I really want out of this is a few dollars back in my boy’s pocket which is why this box of items haven’t just been given away already.

As you can see there is more to this than meets the eye but you know what, I have no shortage of stubborn determination. I have hit this wall before and I dare say I will hit it again but in the end my determination wins out and I sell sell sell. Just like when I sold my iRobot cleaners, shelf unit, Kiss dolls and much more. You are probably thinking why not just do yourself a favour and donate these things. Why not indeed? Because like I said every now and again an item comes along that I just want to recoup a little money back on or a want to make a few dollars for the kids and for that I find the will.

What is your decluttering stumbling block or Achilles’ heal when it comes to decluttering? Share it with us by leaving a comment maybe myself or someone out there will have the perfect solution for you or at least some much needed encouragement.

Today’s Declutter Item

If I could just work out why I keep getting holes in my t-shirts I wouldn’t be forced to declutter them. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were old but I only bought this one last August. Not happy. I think it is one of two things ~ my laptop or the seat belts in the car rubbing the t-shirt against the fly of my pants. Either way the solution is simple and I have to ask myself why I haven’t done anything to fix the situation. The think the word I am looking for is Apathy. 😳

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ My neighbour was telling me he has his chicken well trained but they only speak Macedonian. We laughed together.
• Something Awesome ~ Greek Yoghurt ~ there are so many ways you can use it. My hubby has it on his cereal, it is great in and along side a curry, it is delicious mixed with honey with a sprinkling of muesli (granola) on top, as a raising agent in Naan bread, for making tzatziki sauce to have with crumbled fetta and Greek fries…
• Something to be grateful for ~ That Liam’s motorbike started OK this morning. He had a slight problem in the morning yesterday then flattened the battery in the evening to end the day on a low note. He would have been a very cranky boy had the bike not started this morning as he has a lot on his plate at the moment.
• Something that made me happy ~ Oddly enough getting to the bottom of a box of tumble dryer sheets made me happy. I don’t believe they make a significant improvement to the softness of my towels and they are most likely bad for the environment on many levels so to me they were wasting space in my laundry cupboard. I am not counting them as a declutter item but I am nevertheless glad to see the back of them.
• Something I found fascinating ~ My neighbour left Macedonia when he was nineteen be must be in his sixties now but he still speaks Macedonian to the chickens. I thought that was cute. He also told me he has been tempted to put bells around a few of the chicken necks to remind him of the sounds of the home country when he used to herd sheep. He told me it was very hard for him to leave his country and come to Australia all alone so long ago. It makes me wonder about the affect leaving America has had on my children. Even though we moved as a family they still miss what to them had become their home country and I know they miss it greatly. If my neighbour can still feel the pain forty plus years later (though his situation was very different) I imagine the memories will never fade for my children either. Funny how something that made me laugh at first has now made me equally sad but it is fascinating to me to make this comparison which didn’t even occur to me at the time when I was speaking to Jack.

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