On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my five favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my five favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Fave Five Comments. Enjoy!

We have been graced with the presence of many new reader/commenters over the last week or so and I decided that today I would feature a selection of them in the favourite five. I am curious to know how you all found my blog but I am glad that you did. We have a great community going here and your shared wisdom is an asset to my blog. Thank you!

 Geeta tells us about the wonderful way she has found to donate her unneeded items in this comment. She really gets to savour the full joy of her generosity.

Gail had some good advice in her comment to discourage unnecessary purchaseds while out shopping.

Will everyone welcome Leah on her journey to declutter. She has a long road ahead but every journey begins at the starting line and Leah tells us about her’s in this comment.  Good luck Leah and bon voyage we are with are with you all the way.

Eileen found the perfect way to spend precious time with her siblings and to make the most out of and sorting old family photos. Read about it in her comment.

Sanna hasn’t been with us long either but it’s obvious she is a fast learner judging by the insight she gives in this comment regarding photos.

Fave Five Web Finds. Happy reading!

In keeping with the reader/commenter theme I am only including blogs this week from my readers. I hope you enjoy them.

 Low Income Lady

Minimalist in the Making  by Martha

Decluttering Diva  by Becky

Notes to Self  by Alliandre ~ You will have to translate this one because Alliandre is Italian but google should be able to take care of that for you. If this link doesn’t work cut and paste http://ippe.blogspot.com/ into your search line.

My Year(s) of Spending Less and Living More (Musings from a Midlife Mom)  by Sharon

Today’s Declutter Item

These three pillowcases (slips, shams whatever you want to call them) were excess to my needs. The pink one matches nothing and the others are king size and I don’t have king size pillows. Off to the thrift shop with all your other clutter buddies you go.

 

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Today my gratitude item is not a difficult one to remember. On this day last year at about 10:10 at night I received a phone call that I never will forget. The call was from the hospital telling me my son had been involved in an accident. When I asked if he was OK the response was “No, I’m sorry, he has sustained a serious brain injury and is in an induced coma and is undergoing test before we move him to ICU. I dropped that phone so fast, got dressed and was at the hospital before you could blink. My darling boy celebrates the first anniversary of the rest of his life today and my gratitude to God for his amazing recovering knows no bounds. My gratitude for the wonderful support not only from Cindy who stood in for me in my time of need but from all my wonderful readers whose prayers and well wishes buoyed my heart and gave me strength through the weeks that followed knows no bounds. I am also grateful that my husband was able to take a whole month of work so we could be together and give each other the strength to watch the scary recovery process. There were times when we thought our boy would never be the same but by the time my husband’s leave was up our boy was home and doing well. Every day I am grateful that we still have our darling boy to love and watch grow and hopefully this will be the one and only big scare we every have in our lives. 

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

In a comment this week Dizzy suggested I republish this post because she thought it was an oldie but a goodie. And since I seem to be having a hard time getting my act together this week after being away all weekend I thought I would comply to her suggestion. I actually enjoyed it when I reread it and thought you might all enjoy it too. So without further ado here it is.

Day 243 Memory clutter

Me & my Trophies

There is one thing or actually a big group of things in my home that are looking down the barrel of being decluttered before the 365 days are up. The group in question are my old sports trophies. I have mentioned these before and still haven’t done anything about them but the day of reckoning is coming.

Trophies come under the same banner as souvenirs and little trinkets that serve no other purpose but to remind you of days gone by. They scream “look what I did”, “look where I’ve been” and maybe even the sad cry of  “I’m living in the past”. Personally unless your future appears dull and you aren’t likely to create any new achievements or live any new adventures do you really need to live in the past.

No matter what your age or circumstance you always have the ability to make new memories, achieve something new and possibly visit new places. My bad shoulder may have put an end to my softball and indoor cricket days but there are plenty of interesting things to do with my time like reaching out to a world of people with my blog to name just one.

Sure these old adventures and  achievements are worth remembering but they weren’t so dull that you need clutter to constantly remind you of those days. I know I don’t need my trophies to remind me of the good times I had with old friends and the individual set of talents I had that contributed to our sporting achievements. I will always remember those days and the great lessons learned from some wonderful coaches and mentors. I just don’t need to dust those memories every week.

I will however get my husband to photograph the trophies and I may even save the little plaques from the front of each of them but even then I expect I will rarely look back at those photos but they will be there just in case.

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It wasn’t until May this year that I finally decluttered the trophies. Why did it take so long? Because with the 365 approach to decluttering I did it when I was good and ready. When a good method of disposal presented itself I grabbed it with both hands and sent them to be recycled by the trophy store near my house. I don’t know how much of them they used but it was a better option than just throwing them in the trash.

Today’s Declutter Item

And here is another piece of memory clutter from way back. This flower press holds some flowers that my husband gave me before we were married. Being as we have been married for almost 24 years I think we have created enough new memories that we don’t need to cling to these old ones. 

Flower Press

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I watched American Pickers tonight and saw the agony on one old guys face parting with two very special bikes. I am so grateful I am not attached to my stuff like that. These people must go to there grave with thousands of dollars worth of stuff left behind for someone else to deal with.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

My Grandfather passed almost exactly eight years ago, a few years after the passing of my Grandmother. They had lived on the same farm their whole married life – 64 years – although a few decades ago they built a new house steps from the old, drafty one, and knocked the old house down. Sixty-four years worth of living and six now adults kids’ worth of memories in that house. My cousins, who already had a houseful, were moving in. I helped my family try to organize the house and to make room for the cousins’ belongings.

At the end of my time in Iowa, I had a small pile of treasures – some useful items and some keepsakes – that I loaded into a picnic basket and shipped home to myself. Plus I had a wedding ring that belonged to my Great Grandmother. I put the wedding ring on my ring finger, and it’s stayed there ever since. (Ironically, I’ve learned since that she and her husband were hoarders, with the sort of house you had to weave a path through!) The rest of the stuff was waiting for me when I got home. Without opening it, I put the picnic basket in the bottom of my closet, and there it sat – noticed but unopened – for eight years. Why? I’m not sure. I can’t claim I forgot about it: My closet isn’t deep, and it’s sitting right there, in front. At first, I was sad about the passing of two of my favorite people. Then I guess habit just took over, and the picnic basket sat and sat, until last week when Audra wanted to see what was inside. I confess: It was as much of a treasure hunt for me as it was for the girls. It occurred to me that on a very small scale, this picnic basket was a lot like some of those storage units that we discussed last week.

I remembered that I had packed all the photos of my immediate family that I had come across, as well as letters from us that Grandma had saved. Here’s what else there was that I did not remember, at all: a pearl necklace, a plain woman’s watch that I do not remember my Grandmother wearing, a vinyl table cloth, a large piece of children’s fabric, a baby’s Baptism gown, two cafeteria style divided trays, a yellowed Yahtzee score pad, a bag of checkers, a piece of now molded embroidery, and a single plain cloth napkin. All I could think was: What in the world?

I put the tablecloth, the cafeteria trays, and the watch straight into the thrift store box. I can imagine that eight years ago I thought these items could be useful (mat for under the baby’s highchair, toddler dinner plates, utilitarian time piece). The embroidery went into the trash, and the napkin joined the others in the cabinet. I washed the fabric for a project that I plan to do with the girls, although I’m mystified as to what I had originally imagined I would do with it. Whose Baptism gown is this? The pearls I put into my jewelry box, the checkers pieces went upstairs because Clara thought she’d lost a piece from our set, and I put the Yahtzee pad in our game box, although we’re certainly am not in danger of running out of score sheets. But why, I have to ask myself, were these the things that I thought I needed or wanted from my Grandparent’s house? Except for the photos, letters and Baptism gown, these items obviously weren’t saved as keepsakes; I thought they were useful and valuable. Time passed, I didn’t use them, and now they’re garage sale fodder.

Next time you’re in a store, at a garage sale, or cleaning out a box that you’re struggling with, ask yourself, “If I’d not seen this item for 8 years, would I know the difference? Would I care? If I bought it today and put it away without using it, would I use it in a year or two when I got it back out?” They answer might be yes, but I think more likely, it will be no.

Today’s Declutter Item

I picked up this fishing tackle box at a garage sale years ago in Seattle. It got used to store nuts and bolts and the like. Last week my husband was bored so he had a little garage clean up, emptied all the nut and bolts out of it and I sent the box to the thrift shop. Now I just have to figure out what to put the nuts and bolts in so I can take them to the thrift shop. Perhaps we should have sent it as a job lot. Oh well, live and learn. 

Tackle Box

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Once again I am grateful to my parents for being the kind of handy folk who fixed things rather than through them away and purchase a new one. I am thankful because they handed those skills down to me. Today I had to once again do a repair on my son’s backpack. Theres is another $50 I didn’t have to spend and another item saved from landfill.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

I received a comment from Dizzy last week who is meticulously reading through my archives catching up on all that she has missed out on. She has only just discovered my blog recently and has already become very active in the comments. Thanks Dizzy for your enthusiasm, your shared wisdom and for suggesting I revisit this blog post.

Here is Dizzy’s comment

Hi Colleen, Day 194 Too Good To Use what a great blog topic, maybe you should revisit this point now and see how many of the commenters have actually came to grips with their good stuff. I personally love to use what I have and I have used everything I used to have. Sure they may get broken along the way but at least you will eventually leave this world having experienced the finer things in your life. As one beautiful thing fades into the background (as in crystal or china meeting a hard floor) then rejoice in the fact that you used it, it served it’s purpose and it has decided to move on. I use my long since departed Nanna’s cup & saucer everyday, as she did for about 25 years, I have had it for the past 19yrs, although it’s old it’s beautiful and if it gets broken then i’ll certainly hope it’s on it’s way back to my Nanna, I’m sure she’ll enjoy a good cuppa!
Enjoy the things you have, I believe the honour you show things is using them!
Dizzy raising my beautiful teacup to you all  

And here isDay 194 To good to use

I received an email from Cindy recently with a list of topics she thought would be good to address on my blog. The one I chose for today is an issue I am sure we have all come across during our decluttering efforts. This is one of those dilemma decluttering issues. Here is some examples Cindy had to share with us…

The trouble with owning something “too good to use”

1. One on my friends started using her “good” dishes after hearing this story: A woman who had married a widower was using the good dishes of the previous, now deceased wife. She (the first wife) had never used the dishes, died without using them, as they were “too good.” The second wife decided she wasn’t going to let that happen to her.
2. At our house, I have wine glasses that are too good to use. (All Gifts) I probably have 60 Waterford wine, champagne, water, sherry, even brandy crystal glasses. I HATE using them. They have to be hand washed and EVERY time we use them, one gets broken. At $75 each, I feel so angry at the person who broken them, which puts a damper on my party hosting. My solution? My Mom bought me a dozen plain, sturdy glasses from the restaurant supply store. The Waterford stays in the china cabinet where it looks pretty (I guess, if you’re into that kind of thing, and my husband is) and it’s behind glass doors, so it all stays clean. We look at the Waterford, and use the cheap glasses.

1. When I was a little girl my godmother used to send me a china teacup and saucer for my birthday. I thought she meant for me to use them so I did. Years later she asked me about them and I told her they had all been broken over the years. She was very disappointed as she had expected me to save them for when I was married I suppose. I made no apologies I liked them, I used them and they met their demise having been used for what they were intended. If I still had them now I may be sentimentally tied to them causing a decluttering dilemma.
2. Like Cindy I have a china cabinet cluttered with a selection of crystal glasses that very rarely get used. The wine glasses have been used over the years but the port glasses and decanter are just a waste of space really. We tend to use the less expensive glasses instead. Most of the crystal pieces were wedding presents but luckily not from anyone who would know if I got rid of them.

Unfortunately for Cindy not only does her second example fall into the “too good to be used” category but they were also a gift from someone who would notice if they suddenly were no longer in her possession.  If it were me I think I would enjoy using them for what they were intended and let fate do it’s own decluttering.

That being said I have decided to practice what I preach and put  all the cheaper glasses I have aside for my children for when they leave home and just use the good ones in future. Should they get broken then c’est la vie.

I received this comment from Calico Ginger this morning after she read this post and I thought it worth adding in case people don’t read the comments.

Well, I say use the “good” stuff for these reasons:
1. we all need as much beauty in our lives as possible
2. if you have kids, it teaches them to be careful – if you only use plastic/cheap stuff they never learn that
3. every breakage is an opportunity to a) make do with less or b) replace with something even more beautiful.

*********

An update on my too good to use items. I did get rid of the port decanter and packed up all the glasses I didn’t want and boxed them up in the garage for the kids. Whoever leaves first will get the stuff in the garage. I have not listed them in my declutter item of the day because they are still here. I look forward to the day that they are gone altogether. I have decluttered the china cabinet/hutch though back in May this year. What remains of my glasses fit easily into the empty spaces I had created in my kitchen.

The question now is ~ Have those of you who have read this post before got a handle on your too good to use items. I will especially be expecting to hear from Cindy on this subject.

 Today’s Declutter Item

I am pleased to have found a new home via eBay for these items because they would have been difficult to get rid of any other way. It was the second time I have listed them so I am especially pleased that they finally went.

iRobot Roomba Excessories

Something I Am Grateful For Today

We arrived home safe and sound for out weekend trip to melbourne. Aussie Casey Stoner won the Motorcycle GP race and is now World Champion. And I got to meet one of my long time faithful readers Loretta. I had a lovely time with my brother and sister-in-laws and their two sweet little children and they took my sightseeing. All in all a great weekend.

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 week Andréia was telling me what a mess her bedroom us so I set her the challenge to declutter and organise her it. I feel it is important that a bedroom should be a tranquil and restful space that is conducive to a good night sleep. There is no reason why an adult’s bedroom who has full access to the rest of the house to store their clutter should have an untidy bedroom. And since Andréia was getting first hand experience performing this task I also gave her an extra task of coming up with this weeks bedroom clean up mini missions while she was at it. So here is what she came up with.

Monday- Pick up all the shoes and put them in their proper place. Leave none scattered around because they get in the way (as you get up at night to go to the bathroom, you might trip). (I dislocated my toe on one on my kids shoes when we stayed in a motel once so don’t underestimate the pain a little shoe can inflict. Colleen)

Tuesday- Gather all the clothes that are out of place, say the ones that are just pilling up on that chair because you wore them once and instead of putting them in the closet or wardrobe decided to leave them there to wear a next time. Except “next time” you didn’t find them, because they were not in their place. So, just put them all away, either back in their places or in the humper of dirty laundry.

Wednesday- Pick up everything that is on the floor. It might be clothes, children’s toys, or whatever has found its way into your bedroom floor and should be somewhere else. Get a basket pick it all up, and if you have the time sort through it, otherwise, leave for the next day.

Thursday- You can sort through the basket and put everything away. If you managed to sort through your basket it is time to have a look at your closet, if you have one. If you have a hanger there, with clothes you wore once, and hung there to wear again, and the weather changed (like shorts and it got cold, or a heavy coat and it has been hot), put the piece of clothing in its proper place. Empty the hanger. Pick anything that is on the floor, like some dirty clothing that you just left there and would pick after. Have a look if your clothes are in their proper place and anything that is scattered in your closet should be put in its hanger/box/shelf.

Friday - Time to look at surfaces in the bedroom. If you have a chest of drawers/dresser have a look on its top. A quick look to access if there is anything there that doesn’t belong, and put it away or declutter it. Do the same with your nightstand. If you read before sleeping leave there only the book you are currently reading before sleep. Also put everything that you don’t use at night away. Only leave what has to be there (like medication you have to take/ anything else that you need within your reach immediately when you wake up).

Saturday - If you have a dressing table it is time for it. Look at it and do a quick clearing job taking everything from it that you are either not currently using or that it doesn’t belong there. As this is a mini mission don’t go deep in drawers or boxes, just sort through the surface so you get it reasonable uncluttered. If you have containers with things that you use most get it organized, so that your dressing table looks organized.

Sunday - Make the bed. Have a look around see if anything is out of place and it needs to be put away. Pronto! Now it is time to relax in your bedroom and enjoy all that you have accomplished this week. And tonight you will have a restful place to lay your weary head.

Well done Andréia, with both missions. I bet you now feel far more relaxed when you take one last look around your room before closing your eyes to sleep.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

Before I started decluttering I was happy to accept any free reusable shopping bags that came my way. As a result I ended up with far more than I needed. I have already decluttered some and here are two more that I felt were excess to my needs. Once again they went off to the thrift store.

Excess Bags

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I have had the weekend away visiting relatives while the men of the household went to the Motorbike GP on Phillip Island. We are not home yet but I am sure we are having a great time. The men folk made this pledge to get to the GP this year as for one reason or another it had to be put off the three years before. When we nearly lost our son last years we felt it was time to just do it. So if for nothing else we are grateful to still have our son to take. Hopefully by today we are also grateful that Casey Stoner (Our Aussie Champ) won the race and is now crowned this years world champion. Go Casey. 

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

Hi folks, for Simple Saturday this week Cindy suggested that we give you an up date on how we are going with our pledges to Buy Nothing New in October. i believe even Alice Cooper is on board with this initiative

Cindy’s Update

Besides groceries, household consumables such as laundry soap, and medicines, I have purchased two new books for the children that were preordered in August but not published until this month, as well as two other new books for myself. My daughters have been to the fabric store with their grandmother and purchased fabric for their Halloween costumes. I do not believe my husband has purchased anything. In addition, I have purchased two used books and four used shirts for myself.

Colleen’s Update

So far I have managed to buy nothing new. I did have to exchange a pack of socks for my son because the first set kept falling down. I don’t consider this buying something new because the original purchase was made in September. I am afraid that by the end of the month I am going to have to relent and buy him a new pair of skate shoes because the current pair have developed holes in the side. This is an inherent problem with skaters, they wear holes in the expensive shoes doing tricks. I will try to convince him to hold off for two weeks. Like Cindy the only things I have bought are grocery, everyday household items like washing powder and the like and of course the odd coffee and cake but that is within the rules. A girl’s got to stay sane somehow, right!

So how is everyone else doing who pledged to buy nothing new in October. Even if you haven’t been able to stick to the pledge buying a whole lot less in the attempt is a great for the environment also. Any attempt at turning down the volume of new products you consume is a step in the right direction.

* * * * * * * *

For Chelle and Raesha who wanted to know how my families CDs are stored. Keep in mind that we don’t use the actual CDs very much because everything is on iPod and computers.

On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my five favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my five favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Fave Five Comments. Enjoy!

I have been consistently having weeks lately where there are so many great comments that it is hard to keep up with them all never mind narrow them down to just five for Friday. I am loving all the great feedback and shared wisdom and I feel sorry for those readers who just don’t have the time to read them all. So here are five that I wouldn’t want you to forget or miss.

Not only did Sharron write us a great post last weekend and share photos of her lovely decluttered home but she also left this piece of great advice for Creative Me.

Everyone who has clutter at home and especially clutter in a paid storage unit needs to read this comment for Creative me.

Ideealistin also makes some great points about clutter stored too long in this comment

I know I am focsuing very much on the storage unit issue in my fave five this week but really people need to read this stuff and not all readers read these very important lesson learning comments. So here is another amazing story from Dizzy.

I have great respect for Chelle for leaving this comment. She put herself on the line to make a point and set an example of why overindulging our children is not wise. Good for you Chelle and thank you.

Fave Five Web Finds. Happy reading!

Here a two great links brought to my attention by Annie. Thank you Annie the more we drive the futility of this phenomonin the better. N Y Times.com ~ The Self-storage Self  &  Slate.com ~ Selfstorage Nation

Minimalist Lifestyle ~ A minimalist lifestyle has to start somewhere

This web item has nothing to do with decluttering I just like it. It does have a definite environmental message though so there we have a connection. abc.net.au ~ Confession: I’m one of those [expletive] cyclists  

And last but not least this post from one of my long time readers Cat’s Meow just goes to prove that the simple things in life are often the best. Life Should Be The Cat’s Meow ~ Birthdays and animal days and other simple joyful things I love right now

Today’s Declutter Item

We still have the CDs but they take up a lot less room when not in the cases so these will go to the thrift store for someone who feels the need to have the cases but may have broken a few.

CD Cases

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My very good friend just became a grandma for the third time today. This is her middle daughters first baby and bub and mum are doing well. Things didn’t go well with her first pregnancy so I am extra grateful that everything turned out well this time.

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

With the holiday season just around the corner I thought now would be as good a time as any to think about how the volume of acquisition of toys for our children has changed over the generations. Is this a good or bad thing and I think you can probably guess that I won’t have a lot of positive insight as to how this is affecting children in the modern age. I am however open minded should anyone wish to dispute my opinion. And I must add, it is just my opinion, I have no psychological training or data to back this up. I am therefore only speaking from experience. I also know that my examples of general and that not every family follows this pattern.

As I recall from my childhood my siblings and I had toys, not rooms of toys or cupboards full of toys but the odd smattering of toys with which we sometimes amused ourselves. I vaguely remember Christmases and birthdays and loving receiving gifts, what kid doesn’t but there are only certain toys I recall that seemed to be a permanent fixture in our home. We had some building toys similar to Lego, a Meccano set, another more juvenile construction set, some board games, jigsaw puzzles, lots of packs of playing cards, my eldest brothers adjustable tin roller skates, a set of electric trains, the odd tricycle, my sister and I had a doll each and some cubby house toys. Other toys must have come and gone over the years but none memorable. I am almost certain the we never received any toys at other times of the year between these two celebrations. We spent a lot of time making our own fun building cubby houses by the river, playing board games and cards, riding bikes and playing with the other neighbourhood kids.

My children however did have a cupboard and the odd basket full of toys plus the odd outside ride-on toy like tricycles and later bicycles. I recall my mother-in-law never arrived at my house without a bag of something for the kids. Sure they were often inexpensive items picked up at garage sales and thrift stores but there was always something. I don’t actually recall there being such things as garage sales when I was a child perhaps that was a sign of the emergence of the consumerist generation of which I willingly took part for a while. People had to get rid of their excess some how and I imagine that is how garage sales came into being. I don’t recall having bath toys when I was a child which was another thing the my children enjoyed but at home and at grandmas. My kids also had a nice set of art supplies such as paints, markers and colour pencils with which we would all enjoy being creative with together for long stretches of time . Oh and I almost forgot we also entered the age of home computers, hand held electronic games and full on video games at this point. It was very easy to justify that odd computer program in the name of education in between normal gift giving times in this generation. And I am not forgetting here that I was the parent during this period and I have been told more than once that I spoiled my children by giving them too much. My daughter, on the other had, could not at first believe there was not Santa when her two year younger brother told her this was the case. She couldn’t believe it primarily because she didn’t think there was any way the I had paid for all those presents. In her opinion that was completely beyond my generosity limits. So I have to wonder how much I really spoiled them and how much of the stuff they had came from elsewhere.

Now this generation or what I have seen of it, as most of my friends don’t have small children anymore nor grandchildren yet, tend to have toy rooms rather than cupboards or boxes in which their enormous collection of play things are stored and enjoyed. The outside of the houses are also often littered with trampolines, trikes, bikes, pavement chalk, every type of ball known to man, roll playing toys and sometimes even small inflatable jumping castles. Often these items aren’t bought in the name of fun during the holiday season or on birthdays but appear continuously throughout the year as well. Some are also thinly disguised as educational props in order to give child that creativity/imagination/literacy boost that they can’t grow up in the modern world without. I have noticed when I have experienced this situation that many toys end up broken due to the choas that the sheer volume of toys amounts to. I can only imagine the horror on these young kids faces when there parents say ~ It’s time to put your things away.

Here are what I think are the negatives in this situation

• The instant gratification of giving toys all year round does not teach a child to be patient , respectful or grateful for what they are given. Easy come easy go is a likely attitude outcome, which is priming the children to be future willing participants in the hamster wheel of rampant consumerism.
• The modern day attitude of forever wanting and getting the next best thing sets these children up to be even worse clutterers than current generation of adults.
• The reality shock when this generation reaches an age when they have to provide for themselves is bound to induce severe credit card debt. Realising it requires a lot of cold hard cash in order to live in the matter to which they have become accustomed will no doubt be hard to deal with at first.
• Sometimes kids can associate receiving these toy treats as there main symbol of love if they are continuously offered as compensation for the absence of a parent due to work or other commitments that separate them on a regular basis.
• Having worked in retail for many years I have witnessed many times the in-store tantrums of children who have got into the habit of being bought something every time they are taken shopping. Bribes for good behaviour are bad enough but giving in after one of these performances therefore rewarding the behaviour is a huge mistake.
• Robbing children of the joy of a special occasions. If they are getting stuff all the time wouldn’t special occasions because just another day. I know that the novelty of Christmas wore off for me a little bit once I could afford to buy things for myself and I imagine the same would be true for kids who get stuff all the time.
• Lets not forget  the negative effect that producing this magnitude of mostly plastic junk has on the environment.

Why do we fall prey to this behaviour of “spoiling” our children?

• One reason is to use toys to keep the children occupied so we don’t have to entertain them ourselves.
• We get fooled by the marketing hype that all these various toys boost there creativity, imagination and general intelligence in different and important ways. I have a counter theory to that in that perhaps too much variety actually stifles their imagination and creativity because they don’t need to find ways to play with each toy in many ways so that it remains interesting. Instead they have a toys for every situation with built in purpose and instructions for use. When I was a child, with one pack of cards, I could play solitaire 24 different ways, play numerous other games with my siblings and then when we got board with that we would build card houses.
• It is safer to keep the kids indoors or in the safety of our backyards rather than allow them out into the big scary world where they might get hurt or worse. Having plenty of indoor entertainment makes this bearably possible. As a parent I can understand and have willingly gone along with this behaviour because after all it is our job to protect our kids and keep them safe. As a child though I know that I had way more freedom to explore the outside world than I allowed my kids. Bicycles were a form of transportation for kids once, now they are mainly a recreation activity to enjoy in the company of parents on the weekends.
• We want our kids to feel special and loved, and what makes us adults feel special, shopping for new exciting stuff of course. So what better or easier way to show how much we care than a quick “new thing” fix.
• Just as we do as adults with stuff we don’t want our kids to suffer from not keeping up with the Jones’s kids. If Johny down the street has one my kid is going to look lame if he doesn’t have one too so we had better keep up appearances.

I am sure that people who have known me personally for a long time might read this and say ~ “What a hypocrite!” ~ and to a degree they would probably be right. But the thing is that just means that I am speaking from experience and don’t want others to make the same mistakes. Clearly over the last 30 years this habit of over-endowing our children with stuff has gotten somewhat out of control and it is time as a society we started turning it around. So please think rationally about what you are buying your children this holiday season and what you buy them in between occasions in the future. If they want something give them ways to earn the money to buy it for themselves so they at least learn how to strive for what they want rather than having it handed to them on a silver platter.

Today’s Declutter Item

This box was used as a charging station for cell phones and ipods. Now the whole family uses apple products so we just plug them into our computers or sit them on the iPod dock/player so we have no need for this box any more. It didn’t even make it off the counter where I was processing it at the thrift store before some one wanted to buy it.

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Tonight as I finish this post at 10:30 I will just be grateful to lay my weary head on my pillow and have a good night sleep. I have had a busy week and that situation isn’t going to change between now and next Tuesday so I need my rest. And will someone please remind me to phone my mother-in-law today as it is her birthday and in all my haste to do other stuff I just might forget.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

When Colleen wrote Have Storage Will Clutter, I assumed it would be about storage units, which exist all over the US, some row after row of garages, and others (literally) high rise buildings with full heating and air conditioning services. Some people’s junk in the US lives better than many citizens.

Recently I was  at a class with my eldest daughter and was telling one of the fathers about the blog. He immediately told me that his chore for that day was cleaning out the garage. The coach then approached and asked if we were talking about cleaning out a storage unit. The man said, “No, but we have one of those that needs to be emptied too.” Then the coach shared that she has three storage units. She is going on a trip to Europe soon and noted that the units cost about a European trip per year. She claimed that she intends to clean out one unit when she returns (although I have to say, her commitment to this seemed very half baked, like one of those things that you just get used to saying like “I’m going to start exercising”). I challenged her to empty all three units. Bizarrely, she then said, “Oh no, I’m a minimalist” but had to return to coaching before I could find out how in the world having three storage units and being a minimalist could possibly be related. (Ok, truthfully, I was too busy trying not to snort loudly and rudely to find out more.)

I asked the father why he had a storage unit. He said that they intend to turn half of their garage into an exercise room. In order to work toward this goal, they’d cleaned out part of the garage and put it in storage. At least some of the stuff in the storage unit are items that will be in the exercise room. He told me that the unit was about a cheap as they come at $110 per month (about the same AUD, 81 Euro) and that he’d spent over $1000 (741 Euro) on the unit so far. One thousand dollars and no exercise room yet. The gym closest to my house is $70 a month for a family membership. They could have been working out for the past 14 months for the money that’s gone into this storage unit.

The last example of Have Storage, Will Clutter is a couple I know. Their adult children live in Texas. The parents thought that they would move from California, more than 1000 miles away, to Texas. When one of the children got a long-term overseas assignment, the parents packed up their belongings, sold their condominium, and move into their son’s house. Because the son’s house was fully furnished, they kept some of their personal items, and the rest of their belongings went into storage. This makes sense to me. Having their items in storage was cheaper than continuing to pay for a whole condominium for them, and they knew that their living arrangements were temporary. Eighteen months later, their son returned, and the parents moved back to California, leaving their stored items behind. For a while it was unclear what would happen next, but now more than five years have passed. The parents definitely aren’t moving to Texas, and their belongings are still here, still in storage. They don’t seem to have any intention of repossessing their items, which include furniture, clothing, household items, and collectibles, nor do they seem to have any intention of paying to have these items moved to California. Every year when they visit Austin for two or three days, they visit the storage unit – presumably to get something out of it, but I really don’t know. (Maybe to put something in!!) If the average unit is $100 a month, five years of storage comes to $6600 (4890 Euros). In the meantime, they’ve purchased replacement furniture and electronics for their home in California. My estimate is that this folly has cost them at least $10,000. I don’t really know what to say about this story. It truly mystifies me, but I do know that if storage units weren’t so convenient, something else would have been done with these belongings, rather than just having them sit in climate-controlled comfort year after year.

If you have a storage unit, my first advice to you is to leave the house alone and declutter the storage. You’re throwing money away when what you need to do is make some hard choices and probably many easy choices and live within the space you have available to you. All those “valuable” items you may find hard to part with because “they cost good money” are getting more and more costly each day that you pay to store them. Have storage, will clutter, indeed!

Today’s Declutter Item

I bought this carry file about 15 years ago when working as a teacher’s aide in my children’s first school. That was seven schools ago and it has hardly been used for its intended purpose since. I think it is well past time I let it go.

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File Folder Bag

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I had a wonderful day today giving a friend a belated birthday treat. We had a coffee, went to the Hunter Valley Gardens (first time for both of us) and had our favour Tom Yum soup for lunch. Everything was perfect including the weather. See photos below.

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

I received an email last weekend which I will share with you now along with what was going to be my response but which turned into a post.

Hi Colleen, I’ve been going back over the archives and couldn’t find anything about the little notices you get at funeral homes. I have the one from when my mom died, but I also have several more I just don’t know what to do with. I notice that sometimes when I leave the funeral some people just leave them on the chair but I feel bad so I just take mine. I thought maybe you would have a good idea what to do with them. Right now I just throw them in the box with my yearbooks and other things my family can throw out when I’m gone. Any ideas would be great. Thanks.

My quick response to the emailer: My quick answer to this question is that you wouldn’t be asking if you really wanted to keep them so save the ones that really mean something to you (your mother’s for example) and recycle the rest. I sounds from your email that you are only keeping the others out of respect and obligation. Throwing away a piece of paper does not lessen your respect so don’t feel obliged to keep them.

I have found that my initial response to this question was becoming so long that I might as well make a post about it. Would you mind if I use your email in the body of this post?

Now for the post that resulted from this email

My advice to you is to only keep the ones you feel compelled to keep. By all means accept the ones offered on the occasion out of respect but feel free to dispose of them when you return home. Once someone is gone there is no forgetting they are gone and I am sure we don’t need reminding of that. If you do however feel compelled to keep all of these items I would suggest storing them as you would your photos, in an acid free environment. You could if you prefer scan the items and save them digitally. This takes up less physical space but can still be viewed if desired. I think though that if you find you are never unearthing these items to view but only stubble upon them periodically when adding to the collection you really need to ask yourself, how much do they really matter.

Last week I was asked, during a radio gig I did, what do I do with birthdays cards after the event. I said I leave them on display for that month (sometimes less) and then throw them in the recycling bin. I see no practical purpose in saving these things. Greeting cards are intended to show that someone cares for you once we are reminded of that do we really need to save them for future reference. I don’t think anyone is expecting you to save their cards year in year out. Think about when someone phones you on your birthday, they wish you a happy birthday, share that bit of time to show they care for you and then hang up, you can’t hold on the call forever but you can hold on to the memory. You can do the same with cards, enjoy them for what they are at the time and then let them go.

That being said I do save some birthday cards, usually only the ones my children give me that I feel are that bit special, due to the written personal sentiment. Though I must admit I rarely retrieve them from their hiding place and gaze upon them with loving eyes. To be quite honest I seem to have an unusally amazing memory for when my children say lovely things to or about me. I just keep the cards as proof just in case I have to use them as evidence against them ~ Just Kidding about that last bit!

I do much the same with Christmas cards, I leave them on display until the new year and then recycle them. I cut out the pictures on the front to use in producing my handmade cards for next year and put the remainder in the recycling bin. It is probably time I got to making this years cards as the holiday season will be here before we know it.

As usual with decluttering if you love all the greeting cards you receive and can’t bring yourself to part with any of them that is what is right for you. If however you have been keeping them out of obligation or tradition it really is OK not to. Try it with the next occasion, enjoy them for what they are at the time, a reminder that someone loves you, display them for a week or two and then let them go.

Today’s Declutter Item

The bag that is today’s clutter was used to carry home an item my mother-in-law kindly gave me some time back. I was please to receive a steam mop from her that she had received as a freebee when she bought a new vacuum cleaner. I have tiled floor and I thought it would be good for giving the grout a good once over every now and again. It proved to be pretty much ineffective so it went to the thrift store. The bag gto shuffled to the bottom of my daughters closet where I found it last week. I figured I would never remember to return it to my MIL so I sent it to the thrift store with a load of other stuff.

Hidden Clutter

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Every night that I hear my son’s motorbike roll up to the garage door after his late night work shifts I feel relieved and grateful that he is home safe and sound. I don’t mind that I am roused at 2:30 or 4:30 am I sleep more soundly in the knowledge that he is home.

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