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 we are going to remove some clutter that might be bothering someone else in some way. If you decide to take on this weeks missions be prepared for it to be confronting at times. 

Monday – Ask your partner/husband/roommate if there is something of yours in your shared living space that they wish you would declutter because they don’t like it. It is up to you whether you comply of course.

Tuesday – Remove something from your yard that a neighbour might be able to see and think looks out of place or unsightly. Ask the neighbour if you aren’t sure and are game.

Wednesday – Ask a family member if they have anything you have given them that they really don’t want but keep because it was a gift from you. Give them permission to declutter it.

Thursday – Return something that you have borrowed from someone else that you should possibly have returned some time ago.

Friday – Declutter an area where your items may have spilled over into someones else’s space. For example ~ Your clothes in your husbands side of the closet.

Saturday – Ask a family member if there is an area of clutter in your home that you might have overlooked that they think needs attention. This might possibly be an area that is OK to you but annoying for them.

Sunday – I think you have earned a rest today so take it easy and rest up for another week of decluttering to start tomorrow.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

This bottle opener was one of those “I shouldn’t have bothered” ebay sales. It sold from 99c but cost the person $3 in postage. Nothing ventured nothing gained though. At least it is out of my house. It is also the answer to the What Is It puzzle from Simple Saturday.

There were lots of readers who got it right this time but the first was Marilyn who is a new reader and this was her first time commenting. Well done Marilyn and welcome to 365 Less Things. This was her guess ~ At first I thought ice scraper, but metal on glass is probably a bad idea. Extreme close-up of part of a bottle opener?

But Di was the one with the most complete answer which was this ~ I really think it’s a bottle opener with a red handle embossed with a Coca-Cola bottle…..a novelty item. Gibson also made sets of flatware with the Coke handles also. I am impressed Di that was so exact. Do you have one of these among your clutter by any chance?

Coca Cola Bottle Opener

Something I Am Grateful For Today

This may seem a little unusual in the way of gratitude items but it stuck me and I appreciated it. My husband, son and I went out for a coffee yesterday afternoon before doing the grocery shopping. The young girl who took our order looked me right in the eye and smiled when done. She did the same when she asked if we wanted an extra fork for our sweet. So often staff are overworked and rushed or just doing their duty but this girl made me feel special and I like it. She was not around when we left so I didn’t get a chance to thank her but I will if I see her again.

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

This What AM I has something to do with a very famous brand.

Can you guess what it is.

Send in your guesses and we shall see who is the clever one.

The answer will be the Item of the Day on Monday.

What Am I?

Oh my! This weeks comments had me hitting highs and lows and I am kind of glad it’s over. Here are my favourite five, they are an eclectic batch, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

I received this comment from Paul (his first) which contained a link about perfectionism in business that was quite interesting. Check out the link as well because much of what it says could apply to decluttering or any walk of life.

I loved reading about Snosie’s attempt to declutter the leftovers in her fridge in this comment. It had such a multi-national theme.

This comment is Jo’s response to all the kind responses to her post on Saturday. We have such a supportive community here at 365lessthings.

Jo@simplybeingmum shared some great tips on grocery shopping and pantry control in this comment in response to this weeks Mini Missions.

I liked this comment from Di because it shows she understands how complicated we make our lives by placing too many expectations on all sorts of things. The goal of physical decluttering is to simply our homes, lighten our work load and be happy with less, decluttering our minds can simply of lives even further.

I didn’t have to look to hard to find my favourite five internet reads and views this week. They just about fell into my lap all week long. Enjoy!

www.sciencedaily.com ~ Buying Experiences, Not Possessions, Leads To Greater Happiness

This article and particularly the accompanying TED video is brilliant. While you watch the video think how you can relate it to decision making while decluttering.  www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2011/09/12//3315374.htm 

This link was tweeted by Peter Walsh on Monday and I just had to share it with you all. It gives hope to people with hoarding issues. ~ au.news.yahoo.com ~ Cluttered lives of hoarders

This link is a real eye opener when it comes to the cost of consuming oil based products. Onedressprotest.com ~ Finding-freedom-in-prison

I have added this link as a follow on from the previous one  just to give you an idea of how many products are oil based. This is why we need to cut back on consumption. This is why we need to free our unused clutter back to the community to save someone else from buying new. www.anwr.org ~ oil uses

Today’s Declutter Item

Half used note book are almost as prevalent as baseball souvenirs in this house. I wonder if they will just keep coming out of the woodwork forever.

Half Used Notebooks

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I took a walk at the beach today and I really enjoyed watching folks go buy laughing and talking to each other. There was one lady on her own that was smiling and I thought that must be what I look like, smiling as I walk for seemingly no apparent reason. It’s not a bad way to be even if people might think I am a little strange. 🙂

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

My box of lingering clutter

Jo’s story from Saturday’s post brought my attention to this box of clutter sitting awaiting decision in my craft room. It has been there for a while in the ebay staging area awaiting action. Action had been taken on a couple of items and they did not sell. Some items I am not sure what to do with while others had no business being there in the first place and ought just to have been donated already.

Scanner

This scanner has been superseded by an all in one printer, copier, canner, fax model some time back. It had been hidden away in my son’s room until we did a reshuffle in there when his new bed arrived. It then moved upstairs to the staging area and has been lingering there for a few months. It will now be donated to charity.

Dressing Gown

This dressing gown, believe it or not, has gone back into my closet awaiting further contemplating. See even I postpone decisions sometimes. I did try to sell it on ebay without success and am now undecided as to what my next approach will be . I know I want to declutter it but I have that old “recoupe some lost money demon” breathing down my neck. I am sure I will get over it soon and decide I would rather have it our of here, but for the time being I am just going to set it aside.

Disney Lithographs

I have no idea what to do with these Disney collector lithographs. They really aren’t suitable for the thrift shop and I haven’t made a decision whether I will list them on ebay. I have once again put them back where they came from awaiting further investigation of the best disposal method. And you guys thought I had to all so worked out. Sometimes even I am at a loss as to what to do with things.

Craft Magazine

This Craft magazine however is quite simple, it will go to the thrift shop. It is something we thought about selling on ebay because its counterpart Make Magazine sells quite well. We have however decided that we just can’t be bothered with the faffing around involved. It has however been lingering there for months while we made that decision.

Barry Bonds Bobble Heads

These Barry Bonds bobble heads would probably sell OK on ebay in America but not so much in Australia. I could advertise them on ebay internationally but once again I can’t be bothered faffing around with them. Finding out shipping costs blah blah blah. I could freecycle them but just our of curiosity I will take them to the thrift shop and see if they generate any interest.

Denim Jacket

I think my husband had the idea to sell this denim jacket on ebay some time ago but yet again it got put into the “too hard basket”. There seems to be a theme going here about ebay being too much bother doesn’t there. The jacket will go with me to the thrift shop today with the other items I have mentioned. Oh my! It has just occurred to me that this jacket has featured as a declutter item on my blog already. How did it get back into the house. Outrageous!!!!

Satchel

This satchel was one of the insidious freebies that are so hard to resist. I have deliberately photographed it from the back so its origin as not advertised. It has to do with my husbands work which can in some cases cause sentimentality attachment but in this case he has given me permission to declutter it. Once again I will take it to the thrift store.

The object of this post is to prove to you that decisions don’t have to be made hastily. Each of these items were and, in some cases, are still here for reasons that only make sense to me. I have now dealt with some while others I am still undecided on. You will note that in the meantime I have continued decluttering other items as is evident by there being a photo on each weekday post I publish.

So if you are having trouble detaching from certain items don’t let that deter you just move on to something simpler and easier to let go of. I’m supposed to be the expert here and yet I do it so why shouldn’t you. Just so long as you are making progress be satisfied with that and come back to the difficult things when you are ready. Sometimes the solution just falls into your lap one day when you least expect it. And sometimes the attachment just disintegrates as your will to simply grows stronger.

Today’s Declutter Item

Of course today’s declutter items are the items mentioned in the post above. These items are off to the thrift store with me today and I will be glad to see the back of them.

Clutter no longer lingering

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I took the items mentioned above to the thrift shop today (now yesterday) and the bobble heads fetched $10 each for the store. The girl who bought them is very interested in baseball items so I might be able to sell her any other items that we still have lingering about the house. Also I have been taking jewellery home from the store that needs repairs and my ability to perform those repairs has rescued $23 worth of merchandise for them to sell. I love seeing the items I donate, repair and process being snapped up by their customers. This is far more job satisfaction than I got from my last paid job that’s for sure.

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

Cindy

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about decluttering your pantry, and one of the things I discussed was keeping food for emergencies. I commented that I live in an area that is not affected by many sudden disaster such as being snowed in, flood water, hurricanes, or tornadoes. Well God and nature decided to prove me wrong in short order. Here’s one I had not considered and has suddenly been the only topic of conversation in our town: wildfires.

Texas had its hottest summer ever and, in fact, was the hottest state in the United States this year. It also hasn’t rained more than a tiny bit in months and months. Suddenly fires broke out all around Austin. Did I think I was immune from disaster? Ha! My friends the Jacksons and the Fosters surely didn’t think so as they were evacuated out of their neighborhood, and neither did my friend Jennifer as she watched the Bastrop fire, so close to her house, but always moving away from her. Several of her friends were not so fortunate, and their homes burn to the ground.

We live extremely close to the largest park in the city of Austin, which is intersected by a creek surrounded by a wide, unkempt natural area called the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Because this greenbelt is park of a public park and is located virtually in the center of Austin, it attracts hundreds of visitors every day. Many of these people smoke and some, unfortunately, toss their butts into the dry vegetation. In addition, there are a handful of (illegal) homeless encampments on the greenbelt. These folks often have (illegal) cooking fires. In other words, the fires have acutely reminded us that 1) we’re sitting right next to a tinder box and 2) that its been so dry and windy that a fire that starts on the greenbelt won’t stay on the greenbelt. This 50 second video shows how fast the fire moved through Bastrop State Park.

When we learned that the Fosters and Jacksons had to leave their homes, Dan and I talked about what we would need to take in an evacuation. What does this have to do with decluttering, you may be asking yourself? One: You have to know what you need. Two: You have to be able to find it. Three: You have to be able to pack it. Four: Decluttering and organizing can help you with this.

One: You have to know what you need. This is my own list. It did not come from a Red Cross or other emergency management source. It’s what my family needs to take and what’s important to us.

• All of Clara’s medications and diabetes paraphernalia, of which there is a lot. (The number one reason that evacuees return to their home is because they forgot medication.) In addition, I always have a month’s worth of supplies on hand. Without repeated daily injections of insulin, Clara will die. There’s no way I’d risk that by letting my supplies get too low. Ever.
• The dogs on leashes and wearing their identification
• The cats in their carrier and wearing their identification
• The guinea pig in a box
• All of our important papers in our fire proof safe. There is also $500 in small bills stored in here for emergencies. (And not for household-type “emergencies.” For real emergencies, such as an evacuation.) Our papers include passports, our marriage license and my divorce decree, and our wills. (While we obviously don’t need our martial or divorce papers while we’re fleeing a disaster, they are needed for lots of legal documents, and I certainly don’t want to have to come up with copies later.)
• My laptop
• My purse (with cell phone) and Dan’s wallet and cell phone
• A working vehicle that is not left with an empty gas tank

If we have more time

• Food and water for the animals
• Food and water for people
• Sleeping bags and pillows
• Toiletries
• Clothing

Two: You have to be able to find it.

Do you know where these important things are? Are your keys scattered around the house, not where they belong? Do you know where the cat carrier is? Are your animals properly tagged? You’ll be heartbroken if you get separated. What about those important papers? They really should be in one easily accessible place. The safe we have is a very small suitcase that’s fire proof, water proof, and portable. (Some people in Bastrop have been able to return to their charred homes, and there have been photos of people opening their fireproof safes. Nice to know that they work.)

Three: You have to be able to pack it.

Where are your suitcases or sturdy boxes? Can you access them? Some people were only given 15 minutes to get out of their homes. You don’t want to spend 10 minutes of your 15 digging through your storage shed looking for a suitcase. Clara’s medical supplies are kept in plastic storage drawers. I realized that a box would be the best way to carry these. I got a box from the garage and left it by her supply cabinet. I always keep one or two large moving boxes in my garage. I have room to store them, and they’re just too handy to get rid of.

Four: Decluttering and organizing can help you with this.

Obviously, if you don’t know where things are, if they’re heaped behind other things, if they’re dropped randomly around the house, valuable time will be lost.

You can check this link for a photolog of the drought in Texas and the fires that resulted from it.

If you feel motivated to make a charitable donation to help those affected by the fires, Lutheran Social Services, a wonderful non-profit where I worked for four years, has an active, on-the-ground response. www.lsss.org/disaster-response

Today’s Declutter Item

Better known as hubby’s fat jeans they no longer fit because he has lost about 15kgs since Christmas. He got to that weight several months ago and has managed to maintain it without any problems. Mind you he is not allowed to ever gain it back because clothes are expensive. 😉

Jeans too big for my husband

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Once again it was a glorious day here yesterday. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was just enough breeze to dry my linen on the clothesline. I had coffee and a chat with a good friend of mine and then took a walk around my neighbourhood. What’s not be be grateful for in that. 

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

I personally feel that anticipating regrets, especially attached to objects, is a waste of time. It’s like clinging to old routines or traditions just because of their history, we put aside the fact that they are inconvenient or obsolete just because they are familiar.

To give you an example of that ~ Lets talk about Christmas. My mother loves for all of her children to come home and be together at Christmas and is disappointed nearly every year by the fact that this rarely happens. Two of us live no less than 900km away, one of which due to spouse’s work commitments only gets four weeks vacation time a year. While the other has the same situation as does their spouse and also have their children’s obligations to consider. Two others have their own businesses to run, which affords them even less flexibility with vacation time. Add the fact that the worse time to travel is during Christmas which carries the highest road toll (deaths by car accident) of any other time of the year and commercial travel is at its most expensive.  Meanwhile my parents have been retired for over 25 years and can pick up and travel whenever they please. Yet just because it is Christmas and a beautiful time to spend with family we should just ignore all the other issues and make the effort to get together.

What has this got to do with clutter you ask. Some people use the same kinds of self defeating reasoning when they look at their belongings. Regardless of how much they hate the clutter, no matter how impractical it is to store, clean, work around, move… they still find some kind of sentimental reasoning to keep it. So continuously they live with all these inconveniences in the unlikely event that some time in the future they may need to use this item or regard it fondly because of the memories it evokes.

I am not saying that everyone should get rid of everything impractical in their lives just for convenience sake. I am saying that if you are feeling suffocated by your clutter and that feeling is permanently invading you life then there is only two things to do…

1. Put up with that feeling and all the inconvenience due to the clutter.
2. Do something about it. Start eliminating the things that are not of real significance to you or are not being used.

I have not regretted a single thing I have gotten rid of yet. Every now and again a situation has arisen where I could have used an item I got rid of but those occasions are so rare and of no consequence. Having an uncluttered easy to care for home however is a treat that I get to enjoy every day and I am loving it.

Today’s Declutter Item

I took another look in my kitchen cupboard and came up with these two little pie plates. I can’t remember the last time I used them so I figured I didn’t really need them. They will accompany me to the thrift store next week.

Two Little Pie Plates

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My sleep was interrupted last night so I decided to sleep in this morning. Even with the extra hour lie in and a lazy start I still got all my housework done by 1pm. I love a small decluttered house. And now in the spirit of this weeks mini missions I am using up all of my leftover vegetables by making vegetable curry for dinner.

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

Photo Credit layoutsparks.com

Although it is September twelve in Australia today it is September 11 in the USA, a date that will forever remain a day of tragedy and grief. I remember that day, getting up in the morning to see the horror unfold on my television screen in Seattle. I also remember not being able to drag myself of the couch in the hope that I would see the rescuers bring people alive from the wreckage of the twin towers. Alas I hoped in vain. When I finally did leave the house I remember feeling the urge to wrap my arms around every American I saw and tell them how sorry I was for what had just happened to their country.

I am thinking of you again today my American friends and my arms still want to hold you  and make your pain lessen. I hope that time will heal your grief . God bless America.

Mini Mission Monday

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.

Something Cindy said in a comment last week has triggered the topic of this week’s mini missions. Even though we have talked about and worked on the Fridge and freezer recently they are just one of those areas that need constant upkeep. And sometimes we only focus on the inside. This week we are going to take care of every side. So lets get started.

Monday – If you keep stuff on top of your Fridge/freezer clean it off and leave it empty for a while and see how you like it.

Tuesday – Not too many people I know have an empty fridge/freezer front. There are usually photos and kids drawings, invitations and a notice board. Clear off everything that isn’t essential and try living with a clear fridge for a while.

Wednesday – Perhaps what is on the front spills over to the sides of the fridge. Time to clear that off as well.

Thursday – The inside of the fridge always is in need of a little decluttering no matter how soon ago you did it last. Have a dig around and see if there is any out of date items or just items that you keep thinking you will use up one day but never do.

Friday – Today is the day to declutter the inside of the freezer. Maybe it would be a good idea to plan tonights meal around using up bits and pieces in there.

Saturday – Since everything is clean on the inside and out why not move the fridge out of it’s position today and clean underneath it. Perhaps if it is an old fridge it might be an idea to give the element on the back a bit of a vacuum.

Sunday - Sundays are a good day for leftovers. Whip up lunch today using up some more bits and pieces out of the fridge.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

This cheese board is another one of those items being decluttered due to poor design. It only has three legs and tips over when being used. Any flat plate with no legs will do the job more efficiently. I really dislike poor design, it is almost as though manufacturers do it deliberately to force people to buy more product.

Cheese Board

Something I Am Grateful For Today

A pleasant weekend. There was nothing extraordinary about it, it was just well balanced. A couple of outings, progress on my sewing project, pleasant weather, relaxation time, a walk with my hubby, a chat with my parents and a nice Sunday roast. The simple things in life are often the best.

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

For Simple Saturday this week I just wanted to share a comment that we received last week-end in response to Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ What’s intimidating you. Jo had been struggling with some items and finally came up with the solution. She wanted to share her story with us in case it might help someone else. Thank you Jo for sharing with and caring for your fellow readers.

Jo’s story

Can you believe it, I’ve been thinking about this post all this time and trying to decide what my most intimidating items are. And realized today that my absolute worst items have been right in front of me for the last month – the leftovers from my last yard sale, sitting in my living room because I refused to box them up and once more put them in the basement. These are items that have been through several yard sales and didn’t sell, they didn’t even go when I put them in a giveaway pile.

I decided I had to look at things from a different angle. I keep seeing these objects through my own eyes and that means I still somehow see them the way they were when they were new and useful. I had to ask myself, if I was in the market for this item and I saw this very item, in this condition, at a yard sale or thrift shop or even on a giveaway pile, would I want to take it home? If not, out it goes. IF it could be cleaned or repaired, and IF I am both ABLE and WILLING to clean/repair it, it gets kept and dealt with. (All items are subject to throwing out if I don’t actually get around to doing that very shortly.) I decluttered 15 of 18 items that I’ve been struggling with for a long time. Three items made it back into my household, one “as is”, and two for re-purposing. These are also subject to donation if not used shortly.

This process or something similar to it has been written about before. But for me, I discovered I had to do one more things to make it work. I have tried to process these items before, numerous times over the years, including in the last few weeks, but every single time I felt defeated just looking at the pile and gave up. So today I physically took one item at a time into a different room, and wrote down the question and answer (above) because it forced me to focus on one question at a time. As I went through the questions, the fate of the item became clear quite easily. As I decided on each item, I immediately took it to the garbage or the donate box or clean/repair pile, before getting another item. I am embarrassed to admit how hard this process was for me, that I had to break it down into such small parts. But it worked, and that is a huge relief, and if this helps someone else, it was worth putting it out there for them to see. I was starting to think I was not capable of making the decisions I needed to make, and getting quite desperate. Now I realize that despite reading about decluttering one thing at a time, I STILL wasn’t able to put it into practice for my intimidating things because their very presence in the same room all together made it impossible for me to focus on one thing at a time.

Thank you Colleen – and other commenters – because I don’t think I could have figured this out without the ideas here, AND also the gentle nudging to focus on the “why”, when dealing with problem areas. It took a long time, but I am so happy to have arrived at the answer to my particular problem. It may not work for anyone else, but it works for me 

Lots of great comments again this week and here are the five I have highlighted for your reading pleasure

This comment thread starts here by Brenda (Her first comment) but it was the wisdom in Cindy’s response about what she does with her clutter sales procedes that I wanted to share with you the most.

Read this comment from Loretta on how she is using her declutter talent to make a workplace more efficient.

This comment from Wendy B show real dedication to decluttering. She may be away from home and not able to declutter but it is still on her mind.

Judy has found inspiration from an external source to get her to do a little extra decluttering. Read about it here.

This comment from Wendy  was timely because it is a preview of what you can look forward to for next week’s mini missions.

Here are the five posts/online wisdom, I have chosen to share with you this week ~

One of my readers, Donna Marie Ryan, has an online radio spot where she often talks about decluttering. Here is her talk from last week on Blogtalkradio.com ~ Use it sell it give it away throw it away

Zen Habits ~ Simple living manifesto-72 ideas to simplify your life :- This post was brought back to my attention by Christa from 72 ideas in 72 days who is blogging about attempting to following Leo Baboutas list.

I love a good “doing it green” story and this one from The Zero Waste Home ~ The French Way shows what people and countries can learn from one another.

I liked this post from miniMum ~ Outsmarting your inner hoarder

We can all do with an extra dose of this advice at time when we are struggling with getting rid of stuff. Minimalist Packrat ~ How-to-get-rid-of-stuff-when-it-terrifies-you

Today’s Declutter Item

I have three other peelers so I definitely don’t need this one. Removing it isn’t going to make much difference to the volume of stuff in my house but it all adds up in the end.

Peeler

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Spring has sprung at last and the weather is getting warmer and I am soooo grateful for that. I have dusted off the old walkin’ shoes and I am getting out there. I love my neighbourhood it is constantly changing and when I haven’t been out in it for a while the changes are plentiful. A new house here, a renovation there, some new landscaping, the odd lick of paint, new puppies in yards and the odd bit of road and gutter work completed. What is it they say ~ A change is as good as a holiday. I don’t know about that but if you can’t have one the other will suffice.

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

I have just started reading a book called ~ A complaint Free World by Will Bowen ~ How to stop complaining and start enjoying the life you always wanted. I haven’t got far in to the book but the story goes something like this. Will Bowen is a church minister who has started a movement to get people to stop complaining, criticising and gossiping. The idea is to use the 21 days to a better habit principal to stop yourself from participating in these futile negative behaviours.  He offers free purple bracelets to people who want to participate and whenever you find yourself complaining… you must move the bracelet from one wrist to the other and start the twenty-one day period all over again.

Of course this has got me thinking about other negative habits not the least of all being ~ Forever desiring things you don’t have and clinging to physical possessions that in the end is really just stuff. After reading the comments that came on last Saturday from people sharing their stories about letting go of these habits I think we have proof that this is possible. The only thing holding you back is your own mindset. Over time and with a little practice mindsets can be changed.

In the first few months of my declutter mission I very quickly figured out the the mistake I had made in the past was to declutter then reclutter with new items whose novelty or tenuous usefulness would eventually wear off. Then of course it is back to square one, a house full of clutter and the arduous task ahead for me to unclutter it again. Although blissfully ignorant for some time I am however not stupid. So once my mind was focused on permanently decluttering or minimising it didn’t take rocket science to figure out the solution to ending this cycle.

I was amazed how quickly I changed my mindset from shopping for what I wanted to mostly only shopping for what I needed. The thought of not adding any more clutter to my house was enough to convince me to change my ways. The fact that I was decluttering slowly this time had the unintended side effect of making me continuously aware of staying uncluttered. Had I decluttered quickly like I had in the past I dare say that old vicious cycle would still be in place.

If I can do it you can do it too.  If any of my readers out there are having trouble getting their head around this idea here is your chance to give it a go. Why no pledge to Buy Nothing New in October.

Buy Nothing New…

…is not about going without, nor is it Buy Nothing New Never. It’s about taking October to reassess what we really need, think about where the stuff we buy comes from (finite resources), where it goes (landfill), and what our alternatives are. It is about conscientious consumption and by not spending on stuff we don’t need, increasing our savings for the things we do need. Pledge to Buy Nothing New during October and challenge over consumption. You’ll have more time on your hands and money in your pockets.

There is also a competition to win $5k see details at this link www.buynothingnew.com.au/competition/

It is only 31 days and as they say it only takes 21 days to form a new habit. So give it a go and you might find you will break the cycle of recreational shopping for good. How much easier will it be to keep your home decluttered then?

Today’s Declutter Item

I have a set of boring brown glass mugs that were given to me as an engagement present form an appreciative customer 25 years ago. My mother-in-law hates these ugly cups (sorry Barb) but I like them. She has bought me “nicer cups” over the years that have come and gone but the ugly brown ones still remain. My declutter item today is one of the mugs she bought me that now is a loaner because it’s partner got broken. It only ever gets used when all the others are either dirty or in the dishwasher waiting to be put away. My dominant tidy side thinks that it just makes the cupboard look untidy so off to the thrift shop it goes. I will continue to use my trusty brown cups of which I still have five of the six I began my marriage with over 24 years ago now. Thank you Margaret Muller if you are still out there I am still using your cups.

One cup too many

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I love that I can find silly ways to amuse myself. I was walking home from a friends house yesterday and saw a magpie in the grass with a big juicy law grub in its mouth. Meanwhile this bird is still singing away and I couldn’t help but thinking, “Stop talking with your mouth full you naughty bird!” and went off chuckling to myself up the street.

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