Today I am going to keep my post short and simple if it brings up questions for you please feel free to leave a comment and I will attempt to answer it for you but for now I wish to be uncomplicated.

I received a comment from Chelle yesterday and the following words were amongst what she wrote:-

“This is so overwhelming, but I am slowly going through things and chucking stuff that is just taking up space, donating, and getting rid of. It feels good, but I keep realizing how much I still need to do!”

* * * * * *

Before I came up my brilliant plan to declutter one thing a day for 365days I am sure the thoughts conveyed here by Chelle had run through my head more than once. Especially when we first moved back to Australia from the USA and lived among packing cases for weeks because there was simply nowhere to put all the stuff. My advice to this attitude is…

Don’t worry be happy!

Don’t worry about how much stuff you still have to declutter just be happy you are making progress.

Do the easy stuff first and let momentum carry you on to the next thing and be satisfied with that. I am sure I wasn’t worrying about how the stuff was accumulating when I was buying it so now I am not worrying about how slowly I am eliminating it. I have to say that although there were items I procrastinated about along my declutter journey it did not trouble me simply because I was true to my goal of one thing a day and everyday was an improvement on the last. Sure I need to go through the photograph albums and the keepsake boxes and my scrapbook supplies and the bookcase and the garage again and probably other areas too but so what everyday I become one thing lighter and that is all that matters. I don’t bring unnecessary stuff into the house so I am not going backwards as I go forwards and I will reach my ultimate goal of a decluttered home in the end. I am happy today with how great my house looks and I will be even happier tomorrow. I am satisfied and I hope you can be too.

Today’s Declutter Item

At some point in the distant past my husband bought this duffle bag to bring shopping home from a business trip. Those were the days when shopping was a pastime and there were lots of things we just couldn’t live without but not anymore.

Duffle Bag

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Listening to the staff in a department store today trying to convince a male customer that he would benefit from their loyalty scheme. I couldn’t help but put in my 10c worth.
• Something Awesome ~ Having ten different places to be in a day but never having to backtrack.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Being satisfied with my progress.
• Something that made me happy ~ Someone whose opinion I trust confirming my choice.
• Something I find satisfying ~ Lately, every time I feel resistance within myself to tackle a certain task I resist the urge and through myself straight into it. I am never sorry that I have the task over and done with and doing it is never as painful as procrastination over it.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This week for our mini missions we are going to visit little nooks and crannies around the house which may have, up until now, remained untouched by human hand or the vacuum cleaner for that matter during our decluttering efforts. I will list seven places I have thought of below but if you have already taken care of these areas or you don’t have them in your home make some up for yourself. Don’t just declutter these areas give them a clean up as well.

Monday – The bottom of your linen closet.

Tuesday – A corner of your garage or basement.

Wednesday – The cupboard under the stairs.

Thursday – Under your bed or any other bed in the house.

Friday – The cupboard/space under your laundry or kitchen sink.

Saturday – The top shelf of the pantry.

Sunday – A blanket box, shoe box, toy box or tool box.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

This old transistor radio has been keep for emergencies for a long as I remember, so long in fact that it has died of old age.

Transistor Radio

My Gratitude List

• Something that inspired me to go above and beyond ~ My annual house inspection, there is never any fear of not passing with flying colours but it is good motivation to give attention to every area of my home. My house is pristine right now and it feels good.
• Something Awesome ~ Chilli, cinnamon hot chocolate.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Sleeping in, I have had some interupted nights the last couple of days so it was nice to make up for it by sleeping in until 9am on Sunday.
• Something that was fun ~ Riding on the back of a motorbike for the first time in nineteen years.
• Something I found satisfying ~ Getting the ironing out of the way so I don’t have to do it later in the week.

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

The Dreaded Office Project

A guest post by Andréia

My home office is also my working office as I work from home. But I don’t work for a company, I work independently and my clients come to my office to talk and to hire me. Some time back I began to notice my office was always a mess, I started to find it necessary to begin my client sessions with an apology saying: “Sorry about the mess, I am doing a cleanup…” But that was a lie! I was not doing a cleanup I was trying desperately to keep my office under control.

I felt bad that my clients’ first impression was not of me or my words, or how well I could or would do the job, but of my disgusting messy office. This is not a good way to present myself or my business and things had to change. Then, in October 2010 I decided I have had it with this place. The desk, which is very long (about 2 meters = 6.5 feet) and wide (about 1 meter = 3.2 feet) was FULLY PACKED WITH STUFF!

I had piles of paper, folders piled high, hanging files, lose papers, stationary, magazines, you name it. Most of it it belonged in the office, some of it needed filing some of it needed to be placed somewhere orderly to be dealt with, none of it should be lying disorganised all over my desk. Well, it was a whole lot worse than the before pictures I have included here show, believe me.

Before Photo 1

Before Photo 2

Before Photo 3

So when I started to declutter the office my first thoughts were: It is hopeless! I will ever keep it clean, it will just get messy all over again…But I had to give it a try. So I got all my dead files from their hiding place and put them on the desk. I would scan it all. I had more than 6.000 (yes, you read right it is SIX THOUSAND) individual papers to deal with. The first folder I scanned I kept its contents in the desk until I had a backup copy and a CD copy and I kept at it. By the end of my first 700MB disc I started throwing paper away. Oh, what a liberation! All those papers that had been occupying folders and space in my house were gone.That first good feeling pushed me forward, but as my scanner is not exactly state of the art, the work was long and tedious. It would take me five to six hours every day to scan 100, 200 pages of archives. Then I had to transfer it to the proper folder in the computer, name it, and finally back it up in a CD.

Every night I sat in my computer and kept at it. My work was getting behind because I could not concentrate in doing anything with all that mess I had to sort out. By January my progress had slowed considerably because my computer was overloaded, had a tilt and had to be fixed. I couldn’t work and couldn’t declutter. I spent a few days in full stop. Then, by the end of January I finished with all the old files. But I still had the new clients, files and things to file away properly. I had a hectic couple of weeks in the beginning of February, and by middle February I was sick. So nothing got done for a whole of three weeks or more.

Then March arrived and I was determined to finish the cleaning of the office but was tired and unmotivated. So I took on some other projects around the house, and kept stalling finishing cleaning my desk. Finally, after reading Colleen’s post on April 14, as you can check out for yourself here, I asked for help. Colleen put the fear of her Jedi powers into me and I gave myself a deadline. I would post the before and after pictures to her the following Friday. On April 21, just before Easter I finished cleaning my office. The desk was cleared out and everything had a proper place.

The yellow box on the desk is now an inbox, where I keep stuff that has to be sorted out during the week. This system has been working for an entire month, as I continue to work, paper has come in and it has not been thrown on the desk without a proper place. I have not misplaced a single sheet of paper. They are all in their designated files, and when I have to work or find something, I take the file out do what I have to do and put it back again in its proper place. As a paper comes in I place it in the inbox, and at any given ten minutes I organize, put away and do whatever has to be done with that paper, and clear the inbox.

I am very proud to say I have been using my office normally, I have been working, and the office is pristine clean as it was the day I took the after pictures. A clean surface has inspired me to keep my deadlines under very strict care, and they have been accomplished more easily, as I know exactly where everything is. I can find any file in two minutes, give or take 30 seconds. I can find stationary, office supplies just opening a little box or a drawer that is in order. My staplers, which were always under something before and never in sight, are now, neatly beside my box of supplies. To keep control of stray paper I verify if I need to keep the original or just a digital copy will do. Originals have to be stored in specific folders (usually the one I have opened for that client), until I give them back to the clients. Copies are scanned and the paper shredded and recycled on a regular basis. So, there is no danger of being swallowed by paper again. It feels good to come into this office, I feel at peace working in it and I am sure the image I portray to my clients is a far more professional one.

After Photo 1

After Photo 2

After Photo 3

Well done Andréia, what a huge improvement.

So much great wisdom always surfacing from our readers. Once again it was hard to narrow it down to only five.

1. Natalie in response to The pervasive effect or clutter on peace of mind ~  “There is the burden of guilt for spending money on the now unused stuff.” That is me… Read more.
2. Jess @ miniMum had this suggestion in response to  Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? ~ This problem is why some minimalists recommend the tabula rasa method of decluttering… Read more.
3. I had to add this one to today’s favourite five as it was a big achievement fro Andréia although in the end not that much effort ~ Hi! I cleaned my wardrobe yesterday. I spent about 1 hour and 30 minutes doing it, at most… Read more.
4. Bethany from Type A minimalist had these words of personal experience wisdom to share with us ~ I completely agree with your assessment that your stuff just weighs you down… Read more.
5. Sarah had this to say about “Useful Gifts” ~ In a year I visited about 3-4 medical congresses… Read more.

My five blog picks for the week ~ I didn’t have time to read many more than these five because I was so busy. Luckily I found five good ones quickly

1. Get off this wheel ~ The new term – Mediumism
2. Type A Minimalist ~ What we’re watching – Waste-land
3. Make it Happen ~ Born to win
4. Unclutterer ~ Collections trash or treasure
5. Exconsumer ~ Cheap minimalist birthday party for kids

Today’s Declutter Item

I think I have mentioned before that I wasn’t going to declutter my bread maker even though I don’t use it all the often unless it died on me. Well it died on me so out it goes. I put it on the footpath hoping someone would claim it for parts but I am not sure if that happend because the pick up happened so fast I didn’t get a chance to see of the bread maker was claimed or not.

Bread Maker

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ My friend Amber telling me I didn’t need stuff at the antique store today. I think she was echoing back to me what I am always telling her. (Mrs Pot)
• Something Awesome ~ Checking out all the stuff at the antique shop and then happily leaving with nothing
• Something to be grateful for ~ Friends who do nice things for one another that don’t generate clutter.
• Something that made me happy ~ Enjoying a day with few commitments.
• Something I found fascinating ~ The stuff at the antique shop, it brings back happy memories of my childhood and reminds me loved ones long gone. I could look around in there all day.

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

We bring all this stuff into our lives little by little, bit by bit. It all seemed like a good idea at the time but then you need somewhere to keep it, some of it may require regular maintenance and most of it will require cleaning at least occasionally. Seasons come and seasons go, life changes and the next thing you know those things you once “couldn’t live without” are just wasting space or worse still perishing from lack of use.

It may seem like that stuff is doing you no harm and, you never know, you might need it someday. But someday never seems to come unlike now which is ever-present. Now everything you own is a responsibility whether big or small, used or unused, add all your stuff together and you have one big burden weighing down on you whether you recognise it for what it is is not.

There is the burden of guilt for spending money on the now unused stuff.  There can be a burden of obligation to keep things you don’t want just because someone gave it to you or there are memories attached. There is the financial burden, if your dwelling has expanded in size over time in order to house this excess of stuff or maybe you have rented a storage unit to house your stuff or maybe you are still paying off the credit card debt. There is the burden of waste when knowing perfectly good items are being neglected and possibly wasting away unused. And although these are just objects there can be a burden of loyalty to the object simply because it served you well at some time. And lets not forget the burden of disorganisation due to things being crammed into every nook and cranny. There are many more subtle burdens that almost go unnoticed but they are still there lurking.

Whether you have just started to minimise your possessions or have been at it a while, take a close look at everything you own because there are a lot of potential burdens hidden among your possessions that you are better off without.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is another one my procrastination clutter items that I have finally gotten around to getting rid of. They don’t fit anymore although I only weigh 3kg heavier than I did when they used to fit. I kid myself that the leather shrunk but I don’t kid myself that I am ever going to weigh 54kg again.Bob who came with Brian to pick up the hutch yesterday also took these motorcycle leather for his wife.

Motorcycle Leathers

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ When the icy cold water trickled under my bear foot when I got into the bath tub to clean it today. It tickled. (It is a large corner bath, hence why I have to climb in to clean it.
• Something Awesome ~ When you remembered to press the save button on your computer just before the weather takes the power out.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Getting all of my outside work done before the rain set in.
• Something that made me happy ~ Knowing that tomorrow I can finally take it easy for the day. It has been a busy week.
• Something I found fascinating ~ How after months of hip pain I finally get a referral from my doctor to get an xray tomorrow and this week my hip hasn’t given me any trouble.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I hate to be a cynic, but I think I might be becoming one when it come to this oxymoron* ~ Useful gifts. More specifically, useful generic gifts. My mother gave me a drip irrigation system for Christmas. Let me tell you, that’s a useful gift, and I am so appreciative. (Thanks Mom!) But what about these “useful” gifts that have recently come into my home:

• water bottles and bandannas from a child’s birthday party.
• water bottles as a “finisher’s prize” for a book reading contest
• water bottles given to the kids when they went to camp for a day
• bandannas as a party favor at an adult party
• cheap backpacks given as a promotion for Lemonaid Day (a fundraising event for kids)
• expensive backpack given to my daughter when she was in the hospital
• expensive backpacks given to my husband annually when he attends a conference
• tote bags given at conferences and as promotions in stores
• soap, lotions and other toiletries
• and let’s not forget T-shirts for registering or participating in nearly any event

Sure, on their own, each one of these items can be useful. I’m not going to argue with that. A water bottle, a bandanna, a back pack, a tote bag, a t-shirt – all these items can be useful. But I went from having a just-right number of water bottles to having an explosion of them. My kids have backpacks, and each one lasts for two school years. I’ve already decluttered a half dozen bandannas; now I have more. As for t-shirts, let me just say that when I started decluttering, my husband had 100.

What’s a declutterer to do? First off, I try to leave these things behind when they are offered to me. Yes, you might have to step out of your comfort zone to say “no thanks” rather than just accepting what’s handed to you. This helps with clutter, but unfortunately, there is still the larger environmental impact of that item’s existence. We don’t need these things (or even want them), and the fact that they exist means that the raw materials have been gathered, and they have been manufactured, transported, etc. – a waste of perfectly good energy.

To make my small impact on these larger issues, I have resisted gifts more and more. (As Colleen once wrote, Don’t the very words “stocking stuffer” = “unnecessary item”.) If it’s not truly a want or need of someone in the family, we don’t buy it. We make gifts. I shop at the thrift stores, Craiglist, and Ebay first; local stores next; the mall last. This year I vowed to give no material gifts to my children’s friends. For my own friends, with whom I rarely exchange gifts anyway, I give something very practical, like a homemade frozen meal. (Way more appreciated at Christmas time than more candy or a Santa trinket, I guarantee you!) If there’s nothing I really want, I ask for a gift certificate to my favorite online store, Amazon.com, where I can buy practically anything when the need does arise.

When did “I love you and value your friendship” start to equal “so I’ll give you some cheap crap to show it”? Or “I’m so grateful that you came to my conference that I’ll load you up on items you can’t possibly use” become a standard business practice? Only by becoming conscious of choices in all areas of our lives can we start to change and to change the people around us. I know I’ve had an influence on my friends and on you, our readers, and I know you have too. Let’s be like water on a pond sending ripples of wisdom outward instead of thoughtless consumers of more, more, and more.

*For those of you who are not native English speakers, an oxymoron is a figure of speech where two apparently opposite ideas are paired.

Today’s Declutter Item

I have looked forward to this day from the very beginning of my declutter mission and it has finally arrived. This is the hutch section of an entertainment unit that is no longer suitable to fit the TV into. It is big and dark and bulky and held a lot of stuff I never really used or loved. By slowly decluttering spaces in the bottom section of this unit, in the kitchen cupboards and the bookcase it is finally empty and a man named Brian will be recycling it to create other pieces of furniture. It was picked up today by Brian and his brother Bob and I am glad to see it go.

Display Cabinet

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ My husband poking fun at our daughter because her favourite baseball team lost again today. It is an ongoing love hate relationship between them during the baseball season, mostly love though of course.
• Something Awesome ~ Learning to say no when you really don’t want to do something.
• Something to be grateful for ~ The three people who picked up Freecycle items from me today.
• Something that made me happy ~ How light and airy my living room looks without the big display cabinet.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Watching the big storm front build up to the north today. It is now rumbling overhead. Weather is interesting and so different here than it was in Seattle.

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

On Sunday I received the following email from one of 365’s regular readers asking a question I am sure we all wonder about at times.

Dear Colleen

Tell me,  does this decluttering task ever come to an end?  I attacked my clothes cupboard this morning – shoes to go, shoes to demould and then decide, shoes to keep – a jacket for my daughter, two blouses to the hospice shop, a pair of trousers to try on (some time), and the rest to face another day. During six weeks of convalescing I have tidied away a mountain of papers, and organised the rest, read many books, and sent most on their way, and still I can hardly see a lot of change (except in my outlook).  Do we ever get to a stage where we can say “There’s nothing else to get rid of”? I’d really like to know.

Cheers

I must admit after decluttering non-stop for the last, almost, 17 months I have often wondered the very same thing. That being said I am not getting impatient to see the last of my clutter leave the house in fact I am very happy to still be plodding along. I have noticed lately thought that I have gotten to the stage where I know I am now dealing with items I have been ignoring almost since the beginning. Items I have known that I intended to get rid of but for one reason or another kept putting off. I suppose this is a sign that I am getting to the bottom of the heap and will soon be entering the maintenance stage.

Back to the question at hand and why decluttering can feel like an endless task at times. First of all we have to face the fact that the clutter didn’t appear over-night so it isn’t going to disappear over-night either. There are lots of memories tied up in some of the clutter that makes it difficult to part with quickly. There are phases we have to accept we are done with before getting rid of the related clutter. There is some clutter that requires a lot of time to deal with like the mountains of paper the e-mailer mentioned above. There are many items that when removed don’t even seem to make a dent in the collection. And if you are like me and most of your clutter was well hidden throughout the house you really won’t notice it is gone unless you open a cupboard or two.

The e-mailer actually hit the nail on the head when they wrote this line ~ “I can hardly see a lot of change (except in my outlook)” ~ this is key to the situation. Even though it isn’t always visually obvious that we have reduced our clutter so long we know in our head we have and feel the relief from this burden lifted from our shoulders then we are winning the battle.

Decluttering can be a bit like weight loss ~ if you go on a quick loss diet you will likely loose a lot of weight fast and then put it back on again soon enough because you haven’t changed your lifestyle. If you educate yourself about better eating habits and change your diet to suit, then you are likely to have a gradual weight loss and the wisdom to know how to keep that weight off.  Similarly if you declutter in a rush only focusing on making room for the next thing to come along then you will be back to square one in no time. If you learn from your clutter, understand the tendencies that cause the clutter to accumulate and break those habits you are more likely to reach your declutter goal and never find yourself in such a cluttered mess again. This can take some time but it is well worth it in the long term.

I have decluttered my home quickly several times over the last twenty three years, getting rid of lots of stuff I didn’t want to take with me to my next location. In essence that was twenty three years of decluttering to end back at square one, actually worse than square one, with more stuff than when I started. In the last seventeen months or slow and steady decluttering I have learned so many lessons will have given me the wisdom never to get into that situation ever again.

So don’t be discouraged if your decluttering mission is taking a while just enjoy the process and soak up the lessons you are learning along the way. You and your home will be better for it in the long run.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is the craft clutter that I sold last week. I did bring home about half the paper I took to sell and the box of foam stamps at the RH bottom of the lower photo. I intend to drop the paper off at the school down the street before the week is up. The foam stamps I am not too sure about. I made $230 and donated quite a bit of stuff to the craft group who were so kind as to allow me to have the sale.

My Gratitude List

• Something that makes me laugh ~ When comedy shows reflect the silly goings on in your own life.
• Something Awesome ~ Freecycle
• Something to be grateful for ~ The 9pm cup of tea my husband makes me each night.
• Something that makes me happy ~ Doing little favours for people. That always feels good.
• Something I found fascinating ~ How sometimes your comfort zone is actually a case of “better the devil you know” when actually the grass can be a whole lot greener on the other side.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

Last Tuesday’s post inspired the idea behind this weeks mini missions which isn’t really a set of mini missions at all. Let me explain… This week we are going to tackle one declutter mission by breaking it down into seven small steps. Now the catch is ~ I want you to choose a mission that you have been avoiding because you think it is a bothersome task you don’t wish to deal with. Chances are it isn’t as big as your mind has convinced you it is. Be brave my precious declutterers and remember even if you don’t get the task completed you will have a least made it smaller and more manageable.

Monday – Choose the area you wish to work on (Or don’t wish to work on as the case may be). It may be a room, a cupboard a category like craft supplies or even just one single item that requires some effort to deal with like Cindy’s tent. Decide on your plan of attack ~ Take some time to consider the steps involved in tackling this task. Make a list in sequential order if that helps.

Tuesday – Start with step one. Each steps will be different for everyone because no doubt we will all be working on something different. Try to keep each step to a minimum so as not to get overwhelmed. It may be setting up the item/s, like Cindy and the tent, so you can determine the best method of disposal. It maybe dragging the item out of the basement or, like my trophy declutter, making a few phone calls to check on whether you can recycle this item in some way. Or it may be, in the case of clearing out a closet, pulling out the obvious items that you don’t want in order to make room to better tackle the rest of the task.

Wednesday – Naturally we go on to step two today, this might be ~Cleaning up the item/s, picking out a few more things from the closet and dividing them into keep, donate and sell piles, taking photos of the item/s for keepsake purposes or to list it/them on Freecycle or eBay….

Thursday – Now for step three on your list ~ remember this is a task unique to you so the steps are what is logical for your situation.

Friday – Hopefully by now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel or for some you may already be finished the task and wondering what all the fuss about.

Saturday – Today’s step may be cleaning up or rearranging the area that you have decluttered.

Sunday – The final task will be expelling the item all together which may be a little difficult to do on a Sunday so maybe it will have to wait for an appropriate day. The main thing is the task is complete and it is only a matter of disposal.

My trophy task, although stagnating, was only one step in an even bigger task of clearing out the large display cabinet that we want to get rid of. Getting the trophies sorted has catapulted us into clearing out the rest of the cabinet and now we are finally ready to get rid of that as well. So don’t be discouraged by the big picture just complete one small mission at a time and before you know it you will have achieved great things.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

No matter how big or small, clutter is clutter and every little bit you get rid of is one small step to the intoxicating freedom of a decluttered home.

Some little bits of clutter from my jewelry box

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Anthony Bourdain’s interview at the Sydney Writers Festival on Saturday.
• Something Awesome ~ When things turn out to be easier than you expected.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Some unexpected good advice.
• Something that made me happy ~ Achieving more than I expected in the way of outside work yesterday.
• Something I found fascinating ~ How good advice sometimes comes along just when you need it even though you weren’t even looking for it.

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

I think the modern age of computer technology is slowly reducing the need for stationery supplies in the home. I had every intention of using up my stationery supplies ~ a bit of the old natural progression decluttering ~ but here I am years later with just as much as when I started. This indicates to me that I would probably go to my grave with all this stationery if I don’t find another way to declutter it. So I packed it up and donated it to the school down the street. I kept just enough to fit into one small container.

Gone

Gone

And Gone

Stationery Drawer After

You can see the enormous difference it made to the state of the drawer once all the unnecessary stuff was removed. No more rummaging around looking for what I need as it is all nicely arranged in one small box. Not bad for ten minutes work.

It seems Jo and Deb J have been monopolising the favourite five comments this week. It was a difficult week again to settle for only five.

Jo in response to Mini Mission Monday – Itty Bitty Bits ~ Your question got me thinking, Colleen – as usual, I might add… Read the whole conversation from here.

Deb J in response to Don’t confuse overwhelmed with busy ~ If I look at it in smaller steps it’s easier. Still takes awhile. But isn’t that what slow and thoughful decluttering is about? This is my favourite part of the comment but if you wish to read the whole comment you will find it here.

Deb J in response to Is Buying Hobby Clutter Your Hobby ~ In reading over all of the responses one thing that has really struck me is that “hobbies” can take over our lives… Read more

Jo in response to Is Buying Hobby Clutter Your Hobby ~ Cindy, it’s amazing how so many of us think alike when it comes to crafting of any kind… Read More

I loved these words from Katharine in a response she wrote to a chain of comments ~ I just love the experiences of understanding what is behind some of my clutter habits as then I know how to change them. It’s all very empowering & positive I find. Link to the conversation here.

* * * * * * *

Now for the favour five post / web finds

Zero Waste Home ~ Why I have let go of non functional

This is a great little Aussie blog that is inspirational and radiates hope and joy in the everyday wonderful things that life is really about. ~ 365 Grateful

Umair Haque speaks about Harvard Business Review ~ Is a well lived life worth anything?

Minimalism Defined ~ Death life the legacy of clutter guest post from  Robert Wall

The Unblogger ~ The shocking truth about perfectionism

Today’s Declutter Item

Now that my son  has weeded out the hoodies that don’t fit any more he is starting to wear out the ones that do. I can see my bank account taking a hit in the near future.

Another one of Liam's old hoodies

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Steve making fun of me because I needed his help to fix something on the computer that only required me to click on one button. Did I mention he is a wise ass. 🙂
• Something Awesome ~ When the chain of kindness works ~ when you do a random act of kindness for someone not expecting anything in return and then someone randomly does something nice for you. I hope the chain kept going after my turn.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Getting rid of lots and lots of scrapbook supplies yesterday.
• Something that made me happy ~ Crossing two huge procrastination jobs of my list of decluttering this week.
• Something I found fascinating ~Going back to a place you haven’t been for a long time a seeing how much it has changed. Apparently 12 years is a long time.

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