First read this comment by Jane from last week in response to Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Mental Clutter

It is interesting how one simple transfer of focus can make such a big difference to someone’s life. Think about it for a minute ~ Jane has transferred her focus from avoiding unpleasant tasks to finding a reason to cross something off her to do list. She naturally got no joy from knowing there were unpleasant tasks awaiting to be done but she gets a great deal of pleasure eliminating things from her to do list. The pleasure can not be achieved without the task being done. Nothing has become more pleasant about the task she has simply found yourself a reward system. As minimal as the reward is it is still something to strive for.

I deploy a similar strategy for the items or categories that I find the most difficult to declutter.  In my craft room I have changed my focus from “I might want this one day” to the pleasure I get from eliminating one more storage item or piece of furniture from my craft space. This helps me to be far more ruthless with the culling process.

Being a very organised person I used to find it difficult to part with storage containers once I had emptied them of the clutter. Now I focus on the fact that if they aren’t around I can’t fill them back up again. I also focus on the square footage they no longer take up in my house.

Moni had this little snippet in one of her comments yesterday that fitted so well with this post I just had to include it:~

“I sew costumes for a ballet school – that is the ultimate generator of STUFF. But I enjoy it because it is very satisfying making something pretty or glamorous. And it is very hard to part with the left overs because we feel an emotional connection/affection to our projects because of the effort and skill and love we have put into the final product. Have since learnt that Kindergartens LOVE left over craft stuff. I find that if I feel left overs and surplus stuff is going to “a good home”, I don’t feel so bad about letting it go.”

So don’t focus on the size of the task or the “what ifs” or the “I might need this someday” just focus on the good feelings you get when…

• the space is liberated…
• when the obligation is lifted…
• when the aspiration has been expelled…
• when the guilt is no longer in your face…
• when you clean your home and it takes less effort to get a good result…
• when you no longer crave a shopping fix…
• when you can invite people to your home and not feel embarrassed…

You wouldn’t be decluttering if your overriding desire wasn’t to get your home in order. And you must be serious about it or you wouldn’t be visiting my blog. So do yourself a favour and change your focus to the positive side of decluttering. After all it really doesn’t take much effort to declutter one thing day knowing that the reward at the end is so worth it.

Today’s Declutter Item

This A3 drawing board, otherwise known as aspirational clutter or unwise purchase, has possibly more than recouped the lose made in the initial transaction. I sold it on eBay recently for $61. Being as we bought in in the US at Michaels with I imagine a 40% off coupon it may well have netted us a profit.

A3 Drawing Board

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My friend Amber who drove me to and from the thrift store today during the torrential downpours that is our crazy weather this year.

“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

A book, and its identical twin sister, have been both a clutter and a shame over the past half decade. When I purchased the pair, probably for a premium, since they came from a pricey, wooden-and-organic on-line toy store,  I thought they were pure genius, and I was a genius too. “Pocketful of Memories Book”: oversized pocket folders, one for each school year kindergarten through eighth, with room to fill in fun information such as “my autograph,” “my pets,” “my favorite places to visit.” How fun! How Simple! How never really used!

It seemed like a no-fail system. My idea was throughout the year, I would tuck special papers and report cards in the folder, tape the school picture to the front, and at the beginning of summer break, the girls could fill in the information. Clara did it a few times; Audra never did, and I stopped even trying when Clara whined that she didn’t really like filling in the little form, which must have been in third grade. She’s now in sixth.

Every time I tossed a picture, special paper, or a report card in a girl’s “memory drawer” (just the bottom two drawers of my scrapbooking supply tower), I would think, “I really should be putting this into that cute little book I bought,” and I would feel a bit ashamed and embarrassed at my own lack of follow through. Well, let me tell you, that’s heck of a lot of recrimination for two little memory books. As I used to say when I was a therapist, “Stop shoulding on yourself!”

I’ve decided enough is enough, and I am decluttering these things. Right now in fact. (A pause in writing while I got get the book and tear out the pages for recycling.) Wow! That felt good! Good bye burden, good-bye guilt! Good-bye “Pocketful of Memories Book.” Maybe you were a good idea, but not for me.

What do you have hanging around your house that causes feelings a shame, guilt or remorse – an incomplete project? memories from a person who’s no longer in your life? evidence of money ill spent?  Isn’t it time you got rid of that too?

Today’s Declutter Item

I don’t have any hats to declutter but I do have head related clutter. a hairband and two hair clips that never get used but kept just in case. Well I don’t have room for just in case so out they go to the thrift store.

Hair accessories

Something to be grateful for today

Cashing in a Christmas gift certificate. Sitting back and enjoying a pedicure was how I spent a little of my afternoon. I really should do that more often.

“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

The mini mission for today is plant related clutter. This could be potted plants that have seen better days, potting supplies and tools, gardening equipment, or even wild overgrown garden plants. But the thought behind the inclusion of this post was people receiving potted plants as gifts and not being able to part with them even when they have become straggly and unattractive as potted plants often do over time. This can happen if they are kept in the wrong environment with poor lighting or harsh conditions like in an air-conditioned office.

Let me create a scenario for you. Mary works in an office with no windows and thinks it needs a little sprucing up with a plant or two to add a little Mother Nature to the atmosphere. She generously gifts the office some lovely potted plants. Neither Mary nor her colleges have green thumbs but do remember to water the plants so they stay alive at least. The lighting is poor and the plants grow stringy trying to reach the light as plants do and they are never fertilised so they don’t thrive. Mary eventually moves on to a new position in another firm near by but drops in often to visit her old work friends. These friends realise that the plants are looking pretty sad and frankly detract form the otherwise cheery atmosphere of the office but are now reluctant to replace them because they were a gift to the office from Mary who drops in on a regular basis and would notice them gone. So it would be wrong to get rid of them right?

No! Mary probably thinks they look dreary too and is probably wondering why they are still there. My advice would be to give them a holiday from the office, take them home and see if a little tender loving care will revive their previous healthy condition. If that doesn’t work just replace them with similar plants using the old planter pots.

* * *

I gave my mother a plant for Mothers Day once, it was a golden cypress bush. I must have been about ten at the time. She planted it in the from yard at our house. My father later decided to put a driveway in down the side where the cypress was growing. Instead of just cutting it down he moved it to a new position. I don’t know if he did this under mum’s insistence because I had given it to her, until now I have never given it a thought. Anyway the cyress thrived in its new position and soon grew to about ten feet high. A couple of years later they sold the house and moved to another and the tree was left behind. So I bought my mum a new golden cyress for her next mothers day gift. She seemed to like the first one so why not. About three years later we moved from that house too but we never continued the tradition of the golden cypress plant and it didn’t matter to either off us. It never did matter, the original gift was just another gift the second one just seemed appropriate and by the third house I probably came up with better gift ideas or had more money to spend.

* * *

My daughter bought me an indoor plant for mothers day just after we moved into the house in which we currently reside. It had been in the same position for four years until this past Christmas. I used the planter I bought for it to hold the Christmas tree (twigs) and put the plant outside in a shady part of the garden for a little holiday. Alas its leaves got burnt by the sun and I had to trim it back so much that it no longer was big enough for the planter so I bought a new plant and left the other in another spot in the garden to see if it would recuperate. If my daughter noticed it gone when she visited last week she certainly didn’t mention it. I just went out to check and the plant has actually sprouted a new shoot, something it has never done indoors. Had it died so be it. I am sure my kids haven’t kept every gift I have given them either.

* * *

One last story. A friend gave me a blueberry bush as a thank you gift because she knows I don’t like clutter. I liked this gift simply because I like blueberries and hoped it would grow into a thriving bush and yeild a bountiful crop. I realise this could take a while and wasn’t expecting miracles in the first year. It took me a while to plant the bush but since then, probably thanks to the abundant rain this year, it has indeed thrived. Keep in mind it was only a tiny bush and now it is three times the size. My tiny bush yielded me only three delicious blueberries last year but I am hoping for a bigger crop next spring. If next year the rain is not so abundant and my blueberry bush dies from neglect because I am a lazy gardener it will be not big deal. If this was the case and my friend asked what became of it I would tell her it didn’t survive my brown thumb. I have a natural culling process in my garden, that is if it survives my neglect it must be a good hardy plant meant for the local conditions and belongs in my garden. She would understand, not that I think she would even ask or that it is going to die because I have actually taken particular care of this plant.

So the moral of these stories is a plant is just a plant. Like humans they live and die and sometimes it takes more expertise than you have to take care of them properly. So do your best and if it doesn’t work out don’t loose any sleep over it. And if you work in an office with sorry looking plants offer to take them home and give them some tender loving care and if that fails just replace them and either admit to your failing or pretend the replacements are the old plants that have thrived from your green thumb.

Today’s Declutter Item

What’s worse than real plant clutter? That’s right, fake plant clutter. This pathetic example  was “decorating” the top of my kitchen cupboards until I was up there cleaning them off a couple of weeks ago. It was so caked in kitchen grime and I didn’t like it anyway so I threw the plant in the bin and donated the pot and stand to the thrift store.

Fake Plant Clutter

Something I Am Grateful For Today

A break in the weather so I could walk to the post office to mail some ebay sales.

“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.

This week I think I will base the mini missions on things that are a little more obscure. Not everyone is going to have some of these things but you can always choose something unusual around your home that you have ignored up until now because they aren’t numerous. Others might think ~ What’s so obscure about that? So here goes.

Monday – Old parts to vehicles you no longer own. Perhaps a side mirror from a motorcycle, a wheel rim from a car or even an old licence plate. You might be able to sell or recycle this kind of item.

Tuesday – Plant related clutter. Old bedraggled potted plants that are no longer attractive. Tangled cluttered gardens that need thinning out. Empty plant pots that really aren’t likely to be used.

Wednesday – Hats. I actually don’t think I have ever mentioned hats before. Baseball caps yes, but not hats.

Thursday – Old photography equipment. Film cameras, big cumbersome old video cameras, superseded digital cameras whose photo quality is poor.

Friday – Musical instruments.

Saturday – Sporting equipment that you no longer use. That old bicycle seat you kept “just in case” when you replaced it with a more comfortable one.

Sunday – A small piece of furniture that is really just collecting dust and other clutter and has no actual function aside from that.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

Here is something a little obscure. How many of you have one of these lying around the house unused somewhere? As of tomorrow neither will I because it sold on ebay for $10 and will be posted in the morning.

Respirator

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My friend Liz whose mum has a fig tree. She gave me six ripe juicy figs last week and I have been slowly savouring them ever since.

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

You get a call that you need to go clean out Aunt Martha’s storage garage because she died.  And, you are told to bring a trailer.  Sounds like a pain in the rear but out of respect for your Aunt Martha, you comply.  Later you send the following letter to your boss.

Dear Boss,

I’m resigning effective immediately!

The reason for my resignation is that I cleaned my aunt’s garage this morning before coming to work, and realized I don’t feel like working anymore.

See for yourself…

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I only wish my readers had such happy stories of clearing out after losing a loved one. Perhaps one day.

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!

Here is a comment I wouldn’t want anyone to miss from Julia St. Charles. I particularly loved the last paragraph.

Lena gives some great advice in this comment about offloading CDs.

Becky has a tip for gardeners and using old tatty sheets in the comment.

Here is a clever tip from Anita that might be useful if you need a little help weeding out your unused linen.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Here is The Minimalists opinion of DVD collections ~ Letting go of your DVD collection

If you don’t meditate it is high time you started. Read up about it, the more you learn the more likely you will find the information that works for you. That might seem an odd thing to say but I have found personally that some explanations on meditation didn’t gel for me but the more I read the more I understood how to switch myself off. The practice is different for everyone I think. Now enjoy this link with good reasons to start. Jeff Munn Coaching ~ How-to-start-a-meditation-practice

This article from www.dailymail.co.uk ~ How-selfishness-ruining-society-turning-children-monsters is sad but true. The author (Sue Gerhardt) and book they mention is the one I am reading at the moment.

And just for a laugh to lighten things up after that last article here is the latest Unitasker offering from unclutterer.com ~ The Shirt Shuttle . Seriously!!

Here is a little credit card advice from Spendwisemom ~ Reduce the number of credit cards you have. And here is some extra free advice from me on the subject. If you can’t afford what you want don’t buy it.

Today’s Declutter Item

Is it any wonder my daughter decluttered all this stuff. At 22 she has surely matured past wanting any of it. Four years makes a big difference in the lives of the young.

More of the items my daughter decluttered

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Finding time to rest my mind. It has been a busy week for me and I needed a little brain space today. I sat and meditated for a while with some soothing music. Even a small rest can make a big difference when done properly.

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

Today’s Declutter Item

A big pile of empty boxes

Before you start scrolling to find today’s post or emailing me saying I forget to write something I will let you know I am doing things a little backwards today. It has been a crazy busy day and I didn’t leave much time to write a post so I decided to share with you a more visual post of what my daughter and I have been up to lately.

So above you will see my declutter item of the day. A big pile of empty boxes. Actually the top two are full of baseball cards but they are also being decluttered. These boxes are the result of my daughters decluttering efforts over the last nine days while she visited me.

Stuff she is keeping

As you can see from the caption of the photo above this is a box of stuff she is keeping for now. It will stay in the bottom of her closet until she is better placed to claim it for good.

Below are two photos both are of the upper shelf of her old bedroom closet. I think you can figure out for yourselves which is the before and which is the after shot but I have labeled them anyway. The after shot is of smaller boxes of stuff she is keeping for now. The other is what the shelf looked like before we began the big declutter. Quite a good effort  don’t you think. Please ignore the fact that the before shot shows empty boxes. I wasn’t planning on doing this post when we got started so had to put all the empty boxes back to get the visual effect.

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Clearly I am grateful for the great effort my darling girl made to declutter her stuff from my house. All the stuff that was in the boxes was taken to the thrift store today and I had the pleasure of seeing some of it walk out the door with new owners.

“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