365 Less Things

My acceptance email

Thank you so much Tohami I am honoured. Maybe what I should have won was ~ Most Loyal Readers award. I will wear my badge with pride. My husband is redesigning my blog at the moment while I take a two week break. In the meantime I will post the badge with a thank you to all my wonderful loyal readers for their votes. Thanks you again.

A special thanks again to all of you, my wonderful loyal readers for your votes. I couldn’t have done it without you as I was certainly in good company among some blogs with much higher subscription counts and greater reputations than mine. The award really goes to the whole 365 Less Things community for making the blog a warm and fuzzy place to be.  Way to go 365ers!

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who have read and commented here at 365 Less Things over the year. Thank you also to those who have contributed by writing guest posts and of course to Cindy for her Weekly Wisdom. Together you have turned this blog into a community. May you all have a joyous holiday season and I hope 2013 will be a wonderful, happy and decluttered year for you all.

Sincerely Colleen

Taking a Christmas Break

Hi 365ers. For the first time ever I have decided to actually take a real break over the Holiday Season. The good news is that this means you get a break from me also. I know you have been craving this day that would happen for a long long time.

Instead of writing posts in advance during the holiday season and trying to find time to check in to comment I am going to cease posting from today until the 7th of January. This time of the year is meant for loving, cherishing and celebrating so my intention is to do just that, and only that. No posting, no commenting, no writing in advance for next year, no googling simplicity blogs not even any decluttering. That last one might be the biggest challenge. But considering how few gifts there are under the tree it shouldn’t be too hard.

So have a wonderful festive season and I look forward to chatting with you all again in the new year.

The Blue Print for 2013

There will be a couple of changes here at 365 in the new year.

• I will no longer be including a decluttered item of the day in each post. I may write my post about what it is I am decluttering at the time but the excess is now dwindling so to keep up the one a day pace may prove difficult so as of now it will cease. This is good new for sure. It doesn’t mean I am done decluttering of course as there are still some things that have to be reduce, photos for instance, but they are much fewer now.
• I will only be posting Monday to Friday unless I have a guest post to publish or something extra pops up for Saturday.
• Steve is working on a whole new look for the blog. Yay!
• I may include some sort of monthly challenge to help fire up your decluttering efforts.
• And the best news is that our long time reader, commenter and occasional guest writer, Deb J has agreed to contribute a post every forth Thursday of the month. Welcome aboard Deb.

I am lo0king forward to all the changes and it will be lovely to have a fresh new start in 2013. See you then.

For the last several years I knew that something was really wrong. I always felt overwhelmed. I developed a real dread of cleaning my house, although I always kept it clean and neat. But there was always that unsettling feeling inside of me because of the constant – move it here, put it there, dust it, pack it away, get it back out. Also – what am I going to do with these knickknacks, all these extra mixing bowls, all these extra pans (bundt pans, muffin pans, pie pans, bread pans), ornamental baskets, electric wok, blender, food processor, etc., etc., etc. Then, I came to the conclusion I HAD TOO MUCH STUFF!!! DUH!!!

So, I began to read about minimalism. I have read several e-books, some of which include…

•  The Minimalist Woman;
• Living in the Land of Enough;
• Basics of Minimalism: Living with Less;
• Miss Minimalist:Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify;
• Time to Simplify: Practical Minimalism for Living with Less; The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize and Simplify Your Life;

…and many, many more. The most recent was Dr. Robin Zasio’s book, The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life.

Two years ago this month (November) I put myself on a diet, began a program of exercise, and lost 45 pounds. It seemed like as soon as the weight began coming off I was also able to shed stuff. Along with boxes and boxes of clothing that was too large (I went from size 16 to size 8), I have given away boxes and boxes of stuff – kitchen items that I never used, shelves of books that I had read and would, no doubt, never read again, those dust-catching knickknacks and baskets, plastic garbage bags full of yarn that people gave me because they knew that I would take it. (I make prayer shawls, but prefer to buy my own yarn.), boxes of Christmas decorations, and JUST STUFF.

SometimesI wish I had kept a log of everything that went out the door, but I didn’t. And that’s probably good because keeping a log would have been a form of clutter. When I let it go, I let it go.

I found your web site approximately a year ago and have been a regular reader. Last week, I subscribed and now receive daily e-mails.

As with all who are trying to live a clutter-free life, I am a work in progress. I’m so glad that I found your web site. It has been an inspiration for me to not necessarily be a “minimalist” — I don’t like labels — but to just try one day at a time, one item at a time to keep clutter and over-consumption under control.

Thanks to you and all your wonderful readers who post comments. You are an inspiration, and I’m happy to be a part of your community.

The Weekend’s Mini Missions

Saturday – Get rid of something sentimental especially if you have a lot of it. Seriously you don’t have to own something to remind you of every event or period in your life. If it wasn’t significant enough to remember without a prompt then it probably isn’t worth remembering. And if you never look at these items anyway then what is the point. If you feel you need a visual prompt then take a digital photo of it and store that on your hard-drive.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

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!

Jen tells us a little about where she is at with her decluttering in this comment. Thanks Jen.

In this comment Jane shares how her target of being decluttering by her self-imposed deadline of the end of the year. 

Moni and her daughter Dayna had occasion to consider how much easier it would be to move house when one doesn’t own copious amounts of stuff. Read about their insights here.  But don’t stop there continue reading through this comment strand for more on the subject.

I also loved this comment from Moni on how she reserected her husband’s BBQ rather than buying a new one. Well done Moni!

Deb J‘s post certainly generated lots of comments. I found this one for Dez C particularly interesting. Although as she said, some may not like what she had to say, she does make some interesting points on how we complicate something that is really very simple in its raw form. One thing that struck me as I read along was that these days one can simply this even further in this digital world by not even printing photos but storing them digitally.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Here is a link to the simplicity blog ANNIENYGMA giving us some good reasons to rent rather than buy.

This link from Mens Health News gives us some tips on saving on household cleaners.

Here are a couple of links from Daily Lime. One about environmentally friendly gift ideas and this one with some really cute alternative gift wrapping ideas.

Loved this article from Mind Over Matter on the fear of letting go of clutter.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter old VHS tapes. If you haven’t already converted them to a modern digital form then the chances are you never will. Especially if you don’t watch them anyway or even own a VCR.

Today’s Declutter Item

Wet Weather Poncho

Eco Tip for the Today

 Fix leaky toilets. Those constantly running toilets aren’t just annoying they are a huge waste of water.

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

Deb J

On September 26^th I began helping my friend, S, declutter her home. Her first goal was to get everything out of the room she wanted to turn into her craft room. When we started the room was so full of bags and boxes and drawers of STUFF that you couldn’t get into the room and she had no idea what it contained. The first picture below shows the room after half of the mess had been cleaned out. The second picture is of the bed before it was uncovered. I didn’t even know there was a bed in there until we began to unload.

The Spare Room

As we began to carry out the bags and boxes we uncovered 6000 books, 40 bags of scrapbook supplies bought over the last 4 years and never taken out of the bags, Christmas decorations she forgot she had, 125 items of clothing, 20 throw pillows, 3 bedspreads/quilts, 4 old lamps (2 broken), a puffed valance, 2 pair of drapes, 3 baskets, 2 wreaths, and hoards of other items too numerous to count and describe. There were 7 plastic, wheeled storage units and over 100 containers collected over time to use to store scrapbook supplies in. There were also about 10,000 photos and 15 years worth of memorabilia all in grocery bags. Not included in this room was all of the paper and other scrapbook items that filled her dining room.

The first thing we did was move everything but the bed and dresser out of the new craft room. All scrapbook/craft supplies and storage containers were taken out into the family room to be sorted and placed into storage. Everything else was divided up into the two guest rooms. All the books went into one and all the other items into the other. Gradually S is going through all of these items in the two guest rooms to get them prepared for taking to the Women’s Shelter thrift store or Goodwill.

A picture of the dining room before we cleaned it up and the family room with all of the containers.

It took many days of working on all of this to be able to get it to where it all looks good and is organized and decluttered. We have taken 300 items of clothing, 2000 books, and numerous decorative items to the shelter thrift store and Goodwill. She gave 54 boxes to a friend who was moving. We put 200 bags in the recycle bin along with 25 plastic containers. What containers she has kept are for her to possibly use as we continue to declutter and organize the house.

Here are pictures of the new craft room—1. Shelving unit with albums and tools, 2. Closet with storage units, (18 of the “drawers” contain stickers) 3. Memorabilia in plastic envelope bags, 4. Some of the photos in photo boxes by year.

I will tell you that we are not completely done. Once we have been able to declutter more of the house there will be things that will be moved out of the closet and a few things reorganized to make finding items easier. There will be 3 shelves built to reduce piling some items.

While it has been a challenge, we are both pleased with what we have accomplished. We will move on to other areas of the house after the first of the year.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some items of clothing that no longer suit the climate you live in or just don’t fit anymore.

Today’s Declutter Item

There was a case of some natural progression decluttering that went on in my house this week. When I was about to take one of queen bed fitted sheets of the clothesline I discovered a big hole in it. Being as I already have one set too many I decided to use the damaged sheet as a weed mat in my garden and sent the remainder of the set to the thrift store. I could have keep these for spares but I had enough spares already.

1 Sheet & 2 Pillowcases

Eco Tip for the Day

When cooking on your stove top match your saucepan size to your hob size. A small saucepan on a large hob will waste gas or electricity.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

If you, or your children, are fans of the Harry Potter books, you are probably familiar with Mad Eye Moody and his admonishment – given freely to young and old wizards and witches – Constant Vigilance!

Constant Vigilance! is what I need when I manage to clear an area that has previously been a black hole. (You know those – places where all things seem to gather and nothing ever leaves.)

My desk has been giving me nothing but trouble for the longest time: Sometimes I can’t even use it because the surface is so cluttered. I hate it! I finally did The Big Sweep and cleaned everything off the top. My goodness it looks lovely, but it needs Constant Vigilance! Everyone – including me – thinks that it’s still the “Drop Your Junk Here” place. The “Don’t Know Where It Goes? Put It Here!” place.

I am patrolling my desk multiple times a day. Multiple times a day I am relocating things off my desk and to their rightful home. Multiple times a day I am wondering why in the world my desk attracts so much junk. But I am keeping at it with CONSTANT VIGILANCE! I want my desk to stay nice, and until everyone gets out of the habit of using it as a storage locker, I must patrol it repeatedly.

Do I feel discouraged about this Constant Vigilance? No, not really because I know that it’s like the training wheels on a kid’s bike. I need it now, but later, I’ll be able to set it free.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter an old piece of equipment, possibly work related from days gone by.

Today’s Declutter Item

Unfortunately the new Media Uploader for WordPress isn’t working so there is no photo for today.  Today’s decluttered item is another 30 photographs. I am making great progress with the photo decluttering.

Eco Tip for the Day

Do you throw away that last little piece of soap when it gets too hard to handle? No need to waste it just join it to the new bar. Every little thing saved from waste is a good thing.

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

In October, Courtney Carver at Be More with Less created the Reverse 100 Things Challenge; the aim is to reduce your personal objects by 100 items by December 15. An interesting challenge that I immediately forgot about until it reappeared in my Flipboard feed yesterday.

Do we have 100 things left to declutter?

Colleen started her one thing a day quest in January 2010, and almost a thousand things have left our lives over the last three years. Could I even find 100 more items to move on to a new home?

I grabbed a few items that had been earmarked for removal, rummaged through the cupboards and drawers, and found about forty things that had so far escaped Colleen’s decluttering zeal.

OK, that’s a start but were can I find another sixty things that we no longer love or need? Now I found myself on a mission to complete the challenge but I only had 24 hours to finish it.

An indecisive minimalist

Although I am 100 percent behind Colleen’s quest, I have procrastinated over every one of my personal items that left our home over the years. Some of that clutter had followed me all over the world for 33 years, and I felt comfortable with them sitting on shelves or more often in boxes. Sending them to new homes, or to my horror the trash, never came easy to me and I looked at each item a dozen times before it made the cut.

Why the indecision?

Some reminded me of past glories on the Rugby field. The shelves of books displayed in our living area showed the world I am well read and educated, and my collections reflected the diversity of my interests. To give up many or any of these items meant giving up a part of own psyche, my being and my raison d’être.

Turning indecision into action

Colleen has enjoyed the slow journey but I am more at home in the deadline crunch. My professional training enables me to analyse complex situations and continually adjust the variables to achieve our objectives; the response time to a problem is measured in minutes and often seconds. Give me a week to make a decision and I research, ponder and just plain old procrastinate until you demand the answer. With less than a day to complete the challenge I did not have time to worry and my process became ruthlessly efficient.

Every item passed through my hands once, and I quickly assessed it against three keys questions:

1. Have I used it this year?
2. Will I use it in the next three months?
3. Do I love it?

If I answered any answer with ‘no’ that item went into the donation pile. A couple of hours latter I had a small mountain of stuff sitting in the donation pile, over 100 items ready for a new home.

Two questions I did not ask myself:

1. Was this a present?
2. What did I pay for it?

Challenge met

A lot of these items should have gone a long time ago; Windows software (we are an all Apple house now), broken watch (a present) and numerous excess tools and knick knacks that have haunted my spaces for years. Most of them will go to the Thrift Store, a very few went into the bin and the easel will be offered to a young artist but none of them will be missed by me.

It felt good to met the Reverse 100 Things Challenge, and it has helped me to focus on the important parts of my life; my family, travel, motorcycles and work. Now if I can just convince Colleen to reduce everything to fit into one carry-on bag each then we can start vagabonding across the world.

The 100 Decluttered Items For Today

Eco Tip for the Day 

When the time comes to replace any of the appliances in your home choose energyefficient  and or water efficient models.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you got for free. In the photo above you can see a baseball park giveaway, a coffee mug from an aeroplane manufacturer, various toiletry items from a recent international flight and a souvenir from a foreign military establishment. Some of these have been around for quite a some time while others have infiltrated my clutter defences just recently. Hmmmmmm!!!

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.

In light of all the items that are laying in piles on my living room floor at the moment ~ clutter items that my husband has been collecting up over the weekend ~ I have decided this week’s mini missions will centre on the thoughts going through my head right now as I look at these items individually.

Monday – Declutter something that is intended to be on display but hasn’t seen the light of day in years. In our case this is a Chinese ink drawing of a tiger. My husband asked if we are ever likely to display it in the house. I said “We haven’t in the last 25 years so what are the chances that is going to change any time soon!”.

Tuesday – Declutter something you got for free. From my vantage point on the sofa I can see a baseball park giveaway, a coffee mug from an aeroplane manufacturer, various toiletry items from a recent international flight and a souvenir from a foreign military establishment. Some of these have been around for quite a some time while others have infiltrated my clutter defences just recently. Hmmmmmm!!!

Wednesday – Declutter an old piece of equipment, possibly work related from days gone by.

Thursday – Declutter some items of clothing that no longer suit the climate you live in or just don’t fit anymore.

Friday – Declutter old VHS tapes. If you haven’t already converted them to a modern digital form then the chances are you never will. Especially if you don’t watch them anyway or even own a VCR.

Saturday – Get rid of something sentimental especially if you have a lot of it. Seriously you don’t have to own something to remind you of every event or period in your life. If it wasn’t significant enough to remember without a prompt then it probably isn’t worth remembering. And if you never look at these items anyway then what is the point. If you feel you need a visual prompt then take a digital photo of it and store that on your hard-drive.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

More craft materials out the door in the form on another Etsy sale.

Eco Tip for the Day

Switch from using throwaway batteries to rechargeable ones. When purchasing battery operated items take the size and quantity of batteries into account when deciding which item to buy.

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

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!

Decluttering doesn’t always come naturally and easily. But knowing we really would like to get rid of things usually wins out in the end. Andréia tells us how she is starting to enjoy the benefits of a decluttering space in this comment.

In this first comment from Sassy she tells us about her clever parents giving gifts that will be very helpful in the long term to the grandchildren.

Low Income Lady has had some space making declutter success recently. Read about it here.

Choosing not to exchange gifts can be a serious relief for some people doing it tough. Read an example of this shared with us by Jen.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

This link share on 365’s Facebook page by Jenny Anderson just goes to show how much our sentimental clutter means to us ~ Wedding gown mix-up

Here is a great link that my hubby sent. If financial freedom is a good reason to stop buying stuff you don’t need then I don’t know what is.

Here is a link with a green/tech flavour ~ www.smh.com.au ~ Sustain a green lifestyle with these apps

Here is a link to Organised Home with some Decluttering 101 advice.

And hot off the press ~ Mohamed Tohami is running a Simplicity Blog of the Year Award and 365 has been nominated. Click on this link to cast your vote for your favourite nominee.

Today’s Mini Mission

Roundup all the grooming product and tools that are scattered throughout your home. Once together declutter any excess.

Today’s Declutter Item

Vintage Rhinestone Brooch

Eco Tip for the Day

 Digitise your bills and pay them online. This not only saves paper but also the delivery method is better on the environment also.

Have a great weekend everyone!