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

Favourite Comments. Enjoy!

Connie talks us through her ah ha moment on decluttering clothes in this comment.

Check out this comment from Ann she is about to get her 15 minutes of fame. Go Ann

Many of the readers including me already enjoyed and responded to what Gail had to say in this comment Josh’s guest post.

Spendwisemom makes a good point about moving your belongings in this comment.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Some of you may think this post from The Minimalists is a little harsh but I think they are right on target. I saddens me when people feel they can’t let an occasion go by without celebrating it with material gifts. What do you think? ~ The Minimalists.com - The Commodification of Love

Here is a great article that Cindy sent me the link to. It has some great decluttering tips. ~ www.houzz.com ~ Decorate with Intention: Clutter Clearing 101

I thought this post  from thechangeblog.com was going to annoy me after reading the first paragraph but then it realised what the message was and it only got better from there. ~ Theres no magic system to fix your life

Here’s one for all the garage sale lovers reading this ~ joshmartinink.net ~ The monster within confessions of a packrat

Today’s Declutter Item

Arm mounted iPod carriers are probably handy if you exercise at the gym or jog. We exercise by walking together and chatting. We really have no need for this so off to the thrift store it goes.

iPod Holder

Something I Am Grateful For Today

The meet & greet function that I have been organising is over. It was quite successful which I am happy about but I am also grateful the it is behind me. Why do I insist on getting myself involved in these things.

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

A guest post by Josh Martin of Josh Martin Ink

I’ve bounced around a lot in my youth, moving from one place to the next. While each move comes with its share of challenges, they are also great reminders of how much stuff we’ve accumulated and a wakeup call to the need to purge and declutter. I’m planning on moving again in the not too distant future. I just know I’m going to be shocked at how much stuff I own once I start emptying the closets and drawers.

I remember my first real move on my own. I left my family home and moved into residence as a first-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. That move required no more than the hatchback and back seat of my Mom’s tiny, bright yellow Geo Metro. My clothes, a few personal effects and a plant for my room in Willison Hall.

My next move was in second year when I moved out of residence and into a house with five other roommates. A bit more involved this time. My clothes, more of my personal effects now that I had a bit more space, a bed and a desk. My plant, owing to the fact that I don’t have any semblance of a green thumb, was long dead by this point.

The year after that I moved down the street to another house. I had to beg the help of a couple friends but even so we were able to move all my stuff without a van. Besides a few odd looks I got as I marched down Marshall Street carrying my mattress on my head, the move went smoothly.

After graduation I went to Taiwan to teach English. It was a great opportunity to declutter since I wasn’t going to bring furniture and the such with me to Asia. I was down to a backpack and it felt great.

Returning to Canada the following year, I moved into an apartment and my possessions slowly crept up on me. I moved to my next place – still in the same neighbourhood – with the help of a few shopping carts. The move after that I needed to borrow my friend’s truck. And the one after that I needed to rent a cargo van.

Getting my first well-paying job in Toronto, I found myself a nice, big apartment. And with the big apartment came the “need” to fill it with furniture. By the time I moved again I needed a giant U-Haul. It took two trips and I even managed to crash it into a display of windshield washer fluid when I tried to gas it up.

Naturally, the more stuff I had, the harder and more expensive the moves became. How did I go from a shopping cart to needing a 20 foot U-Haul? And when I reflect on it, am I any happier now in my large, 2-bedroom apartment than I was living in my cramped room in University? I may not have had much, but I also never laughed so hard or had so much fun as I did in those days.

So if you’re planning a move soon, take some time to really wrestle with the clutter question. Plan ahead and see it as a great opportunity to declutter. Reconsider buying that big house, knowing that it will mean filling it with more stuff you don’t need. And see your new home as a fresh start to be disciplined about stemming the flow of accumulation.

As my next move approaches (and I know, I do move a lot), I’m looking forward to getting back in touch with my 22-year-old self and his trusty shopping cart.

Josh Martin is a humourist and blogger about simple living and making the most out of life. You can find more of his work at www.joshmartinink.com.

Today’s Declutter Item

Finally I think this is the last of the Snoopy Collection. Now if only I could say that about the baseball souvenirs and the craft supplies, but I am working on that.

The Last of the Snoopy Collection

Something I Am Grateful For Today

A lovely sunny day but not too hot.

“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

Cindy

Are you hanging on to old boyfriend /old  girlfriend / ex-wife / ex-husband clutter? Breakin’ up is hard to do, and breaking’ up with the ex’s stuff can be even harder.

Some of the things you may have that remind you of him or her:

• fancy underclothes
• photos
• greeting cards and letters
• jewelry
• vacation souvenirs
• music (what do they call mix-tapes in the days of CDs and iTunes?)
• toiletries
• food that he/she preferred
• debt from outings or vacation that you took together or from his/her bad spending habits.
• a phone or texting bill that went way over your minutes
• a hobby you no longer enjoy

I once bought a card that said, “Your ex is like Thanksgiving leftovers. You’re better off when the turkey’s gone.” The same with the stuff that is physically or emotionally burdening you. When you encounter one of these emotional triggers, it may cause feelings of embarrassment, shame, longing or regret. Those are all emotions you don’t need in your life. As hard as it is, you need to tackle those things scattered throughout your home that cause disturbing feelings and firmly invite them to live somewhere else. If you have a whole box of items – or more than one box – that causes you to swerve away from it like a bag full of stink every time you get near, then throw the whole thing away without opening it, or get a friend to help you make your way through*. Negative emotional baggage is clutter that none of us need, and if it’s physically in your home as a reminder of true love gone wrong, it needs to go. The sooner, the better.

* “A bag full of stink” was my husband’s contribution to this post. I thought it exactly captured what I meant to say. Thanks Hon.

Today’s Declutter Item

I am finally getting to the bottom of the Snoopy clutter. I figured these are never going to sell on ebay and sent them packing to the thrift store. Goodbye McDonald’s toy clutter.

Snoopy Snoopy and more Snoopy

Something I Am Grateful For Today

This message that my daughter posted on facebook on the weekend. She is extremely gifted in writing lovely heartfelt messages. All true of course. 😉

Not a single woman in the world could ever hope to be as incredible as my beautiful mum! I could only hope to be half the woman she is. I love you mum! Happy birthday!!!

“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 have discovered a new way to invigorate the desire to declutter. It is unconventional but it sure got me taking another look in what I thought were my fairly decluttered cupboards.

I have mentioned before that when my husband retires we intend to downsize to a smaller townhouse or apartment. Just recently we have been toying with the idea of doing it sooner rather than later. In fact for some time now hubby has been constantly looking at on line real estate sites and showing me properties but we never actually do anything about it.

Well, last week we finally phoned an agent and arranged to inspect a property. A nice little two bedroom, 1 study, 1 bathroom apartment in a refurbished old building. We were pleasantly surprised at how spacious it seemed even though it was smaller than our existing dwelling.

It occurred to me partway through the viewing that the ample floor space had a lot to do with the reduction in storage space. Which got me thinking that I have a ways to go yet before I am decluttered enough to feel uncluttered in a smaller place. I am up for the challenge though and feel a sudden invigoration in my attitude to decluttering.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is one of those foolish stock up while they are cheap purchases. Having a son doing high school fine arts at the time it seemed like a sensible purchase. Once he entered uni and his major soon changed to photography canvases were no longer required. Luckily art students know other art student so I gave them to a friend of his. She was very happy with the windfall and I was glad to reclaim a huge chunk of closet space. One more step towards fitting into a smaller home.

Artist Canvases

Something to me grateful for

I was particularly tickled when my son came out the day after viewing the property mentioned above and said if we were to move into that place he would need to declutter more of his stuff. He than began to point out what he would be happy to let go of.  I feel grateful and pleased that he understands the point of all this. He even happily complies with my ways of reducing waste in our home. I feels good to think that I may be successfully raising a non-materialist young man.

“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

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.

As you can guess from the heading of today’s post we will be concentrating this week on things  households often have too many of. I will name the item of the day and you can check to see if you have too many on them and decide on which needs decluttering or what needs using up.

Monday – Glassware ~ Donate to the thrift store or set aside for a garage sale/flea-market stall.

Tuesday – Toiletries ~ Choose your least favourite and use it up. Remember you can use these up outside the box. Shampoo can be used as hand soap, mouthwash as drain cleaner or toothbrush soaker etc. Just google alternate use for _______ and see what you can learn.

Wednesday – Tools particularly multiples of the same one, 3 similar hammers, 2 of each size screw drivers and allen keys in every drawer in the house.

Thursday – Coffee or tea cups ~ Donate to the thrift store or set aside for a garage sale/flea-market stall.

Friday – Towels ~ Donate to the thrift store or a local pet shelter.

Saturday – Shoes ~ Sell, donate or toss depending on condition.

Sunday – Pens ~ Donate to local school or take to your place of work.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

As you all know I have too many craft supplies. So I filled this jar with my excess and donated it to the thrift store. It was sold very quickly.

Jar of beads

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Lightening & thunder. I love a good noisy storm. So long as I am not caught out in it of course.

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

Photo Credit ~ www.lifehappens.org

I almost wouldn’t not believe these stories of decluttering financial windfall if I had not been personally involved in every one of them.

Story One is my own. Last year I was tidying up my fireproof safe that contains my most important papers (birth certificates, wills, passports, etc.) and discovered an envelope containing $500. I was shocked for about 30 seconds before I remembered that I had put that money in there after Hurricane Rita, which affected the Gulf Coast, about five hours from where I live, and the giant city of Houston. In the mass exodus, many locations did not have electricity, so evacuees could not access cash machines, could not use their credit cards, and were completely handicapped by a lack of cash. I had completely forgotten that I had put this money aside. Theoretically I would have remembered or found this money in an emergency. . . . Right?

Stories Two and Three both happened within the past 30 days.

Story Two: A friend of mine became depressed and, as a result, allowed his mail to back up for months. To help him out, I went through an enormous stack of mail and papers he had squirreled away without processing. In total, I found six checks worth over $2500. Four of the checks he knew about; one he had opened but completely forgotten about; one was in an envelope that had never been opened.

Story Three: I have made reference several times to folks who live in California but have a storage unit here in Texas. In December when they were visiting, they cleaned out several boxes in their unit and found $5000 of U.S. Savings Bonds which had matured and were available to be cashed. (For those of you outside the U.S., Savings Bonds are a very safe, long-term investment, usually 20 or 30 years; the amount of interest earned is guaranteed by the U.S. government and is known at the time that the bonds are purchased.)

The sum of these three decluttering stories is $8000. Could you sitting on a windfall and not even know it too?

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

Favourite Comments. Enjoy!

Cat’sMeow left this comment on respecting her fewer possessions.

Willow’s also left a great comment on respecting fewer possessions.

Hooray for Ideealistin she is obviously being a good influence on her mother. Read about it here.

Deb J gives good reason not to hoard paper in this comment in response to Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

I particularly liked suggestion 5 in this list from The Change Blog ~ Make a change in your world

Calico ginger drew my attention to the Australian web site that give lots of great suggestions as there where donations of all sorts of things can be made. ~ www.givenow.com.au

Here is a good blog post about the stress of too much choice. tinybuddha.com ~ Why too much choice is stressful and 7 simple ways to limit it.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is my donation of foreign coins that I dropped off at the Commonwealth Bank today. You might be surprised at how much space they were taking up in my drawer. Each country was stored in its own separate pouch. See the coin with $1 written on it in blue marker. This is a US $1 coin. It is so rare to see them in circulation over there that I think someone wrote the $1 on it so they wouldn’t mistake it for a Quarter. I found that amusing.

Donation of foreign coins

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Coffee with a friend and successfully running several errands including dropping off my donation of foreign coins at the bank.

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

I got some great responses on Tuesday to my post on having more respect for one’s diminished possessions. There were several comments that really stood out but these words from Ideealistin related well to something I had put in the donation box just the day before.

Here are Ideealistins words –

Using your stuff gives it great value. But I think it is amazing how not storing the stuff you use next to unused stuff, throwing your mind into constant competition mode, adds almost even more value.

Now for how this relates to my decluttered item. I had two pair of white shorts in my drawer. One pair I really liked the cut, style and fabric of while the other pair although functional were a little bit grannyish because they have elastic in the back.

So which pair do you think gets used the most and which pair do you think found their way to the donation box.

Well here is the twist, the pair I like the cut, style and fabric of have really never fitted me properly. I bought them about six years ago and have probably worn then twice. I have, I suppose kept them all this time thinking that maybe one day they would fit me. Who aspires to getting fatter, not me so I figured it was time I faced reality and admitted these were not the shorts for me. They will no doubt be a great find for someone shopping the thrift store this week.

The other pair of shorts are being worn by me as I write this post. They are comfortable, they look nice enough and the granny elastic isn’t visible because my shirt covers it. Perhaps now I will wear this pair more often because they are no longer competing with the pair that I couldn’t really wear but preferred.

It seems my disappointment over my preferred pair of shorts was tainting my opinion of the other truly more useful-to-me pair. I am sure I will now choose to wear this pair more often.

I used to think being “Spoilt for choice” only meant having lots to choose from now I think this definition from The Free Dictionary by Farlex explains the situation better…

• be spoilt for choice  (mainly British) also be spoiled for choice (mainly American) ~ to have so many good possible choices that it is difficult to make a decision ~ With 51 flavours of ice-cream to choose from you are spoiled for choice.

And this is just one more reason why living life with less is simpler.

Today’s Declutter Item

You may wonder why the shorts mentioned above are not being featured as the item for today. I have added two dresses to my wardrobe this summer so I am considering one of those as a trade off for these shorts. This jacket however was just a piece of my old working wardrobe that really needed to go. It lasted about half an hour before someone bought it at the thrift store.

One black jacket excess to my needs

Something I Am Grateful For Today

The imagination my butcher shop puts into making sausages. We are having lamb, mustard and basil flavoured ones for dinner tonight. I hope they taste as good as they sound.

“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

According to a survey I saw recently, 67% of people said that paper clutter is their hardest area to deal with. Who knows if this is truly accurate, but I’m going to assume that it means that a lot of people, possibly including you, are having trouble dealing with paper.

I think there are a couple of fundamental mistakes that people make regarding paper:

1. Believing that every piece of paper is important or has the potential to be important
2. Believing that if a piece of paper was important at one time, it’s important forever
3. Not intentionally minimizing the amount of paper that enters your life, and
4. Leaving paper for another day

Let’s deal with these one by one.

1. Every piece of paper is not important. You do not have to read sale ads for shops where you do not shop. You don’t even have to read the sale ads for where you do shop. Bills, once paid, do not need to be kept. Magazine that have been sitting by your chair for six months are clutter, not a treasure. Newspapers more than one or two days old are recycling. Another one is coming today, I promise.

2. Just because a piece of paper was once important doesn’t mean that it continues to be important. I’ll confess, sometimes my desk backs up, just like everyone else’s. It amazes me how many of those once important papers are no longer important once I get around to sorting them: coupons are now invalid, a new bill has come to supplant this one, a receipt for a shirt you thought you might return but have now worn twice, an announcement for a talent show that occurred last month: none of these are important any more. Even papers related to buying a house can be shredded once you’ve refinanced the loan or purchased another house. Your tax papers only need to be kept for 7 years, at the longest. (You can get more specifics at the IRS website.) Every year, you can shred one more year’s worth of tax forms (in the U.S. only; I don’t know about other countries).

3. I’m sure there are more junk mail and more school papers floating around now than there were a dozen years ago. You need to do your very best to stem the tide before it reaches your home.

1. Aggressively take your name off mailing lists for catalogs and other regular mailings that you do not care to get. All catalogs contain an 800 number; call them. You will not hurt the feelings of the operator for asking to have your name taken off their mailing list.
2. You can return a charity solicitation in the envelope they send you after you write “please take my name off your mailing list” on the solicitation form. If you feel bad about doing this, put your own stamp on the envelope. I donate annually to two charities through my church. I will donate to them every year, and I know that I will not donate to them at any other time. Every year when I write my check, I write “Please do not add my name to your mailing list.” Why should they waste their time soliciting me when I know I’m not going to give? This helps both of us.
3. Stop receiving pre-approved credit card offers by using this free service, which was established under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (U.S. only).
4. The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Mail Preference Service (MPS) lets you opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial mail from many national companies for five years (U.S. only).
5. This  privacy website has more information on more specialized cases, such a the ValPak you may be getting weekly (Again, U.S. only).
6. To get off the mailing list of small local companies, like the real estate agent you met last week, you’ll have to email or snail mail them directly. Clip the label off the mailing and include it if you contact them by snail mail. Extra postcards you own are good for this type of correspondence.
7. Politely refuse business cards, fliers, and appointment cards that are offered to you. Write important information directly into your appointment book, address book, or smart phone, and bypass the paper all together.
8. Enter the relevant information for important announcements for work or school directly into the same locations (appointment book, smart phone, etc.) so you’re never searching your desk for a vital piece of information on an un-vital piece of paper.
9. Switch as many bills as possible over to email delivery. There’s no need for you to receive paper bills any more, and they’re easier to track on your computer anyway.
10. Really consider the mailings you willing let in your home. Do you want the newsletter from the national branch of your church even if you’re a faithful church attendee? How many magazines should you subscribe to? Is there an on-line version instead? If you never manage to read the newspaper, stop your subscription. You may love to shop at Ikea, but do you really need to get their monthly catalog? You know how to find them on-line if you want to see what they have.

4. The last mistake people make is leaving their papers to another day. When you bring in a stack of papers from the car or the mailbox, you should deal with it promptly. At a minimum, junk goes right into the recycling bin. (Yes, even after you do the above steps, there will still be some junk.) Bills are opened and appropriate reminders to pay noted. Personal letters are opened. Envelopes go into the recycling. There’s a place for everything and everything in it’s place, and that place is not a big heap on your entry table, kitchen counter or desk.

Paper is a tool for relaying information; manage it wisely, so it doesn’t manage you.

Today’s Declutter Item

Lena will be pleased to see I have found another craft item to declutter. There are still plenty of craft items to go but they are going, one day at a time.

Another crafting tool

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My husband and children. We may no always conform to the conventional family mould but that is what makes life fun for us. We are anything but boring.

“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

Bea at The Zero Waste Home lives by the principles of ~  Refuse, refuse, refuse. Then reduce, reuse and recycle. I agree wholehearted with this but I have another re to add to that list.

RESPECT

Respect the things you own treat them well and you will get many many years of use out of them. And if you lose your need for them they will also be in good condition to hand on to someone else.

One thing I have noticed since I have reduced my belongings is that even though I have always been one to take care of my things I am inclined to take particular care if I only have a limited number of certain things.

If you only have a couple of good sharp kitchen knives you will find you are more likely to care for them, keep them sharp and handwash them so they have a long life and serve you well. If you only have a limited wardrobe of clothing you are more likely to be mindful of laundering them well so they don’t get stained or damaged by to frequent and harsh washing.

I have about six hair ties bands. Yes that is right those little elastic rings to put hair in a ponytail. I keep one in my purse, one in a drawer downstairs to save me running up when I need one and there is often one in my hair. That doesn’t leave me a lot of spares so I am careful to keep a track of their whereabouts. In the past I bought these by packs of about 50 and as a result I didn’t bother to be precious with them. This doesn’t cause me extra work it just makes me mindful to put them back where they belong. It is not going to save me a fortune but it will help to reduce the number of them that go to waste.

Now that I have a limited number of kitchen gadgets and utensils I am conscious of how useful they are to me. I look after them and appreciate their worth. It gives me a certain amount of pleasure every time they serve me well.

The fact they I have weeded out the less useful items and sent them on their way contributes to this situation. Also I have no desire to be wasteful with my time or my money or resources buy having to replace things prematurely.

Have you found this to be true for you too? Now that you have weeded out the excess what is left behind is a little more precious and you are taking care of it better. Do you have any particular items that you treasure more. Tell us your stories.

Today’s Declutter Item

If I searched throw the archives of decluttered items I am sure I would find that we had at least 25 caps in this house at the start of my declutter mission. Now I think there is probably only about 10 and maybe not even that many. Being as there are only three heads even ten is too many. One day at a time though, one day at a time. I would like to point out that I personally have one.

One less cap

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Good neighbours that can help you out when needed even in the most obscure ways. Getting to know your neighbours can be very helpful to both of you.

“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