I have written, more than once, about clutter categories on my blog. Categories such as obligation clutter, sentimental clutter, lazy clutter, guilt clutter… One category I have written about before but am not sure I have ever labelled is Life Circle Clutter.

I have been reminded by recent events that people usually have their own particular clutter weakness or weaknesses. I have also noticed that these weaknesses may involve not accepting that a certain phase of ones life is now in the past.

For example, are you reluctance to let go of the fact that there are no longer young children permanently in your life. Does your home have enough kiddy items ~ toys particularly ~ to cater to more than one small child living there permanently. While in fact children only visit their once or twice a year with the occasional half hour visit from neighbours’ children.

Do you have enough kitchen items, linen, and rooms to cater for a large family while there is only two of you left in the home. Do you know someone who is reluctant to part with a shed full of tools that even they admit are rarely, if ever, used.

This is not simply a case of “I might need it someday.” but more of a reluctance to let go of the past and be realistic about who and what one is in the here and now.

I am not talking about being reluctant to part with items of past interest that one is still able and likely to return to. This is a case of being resistant to the circle of life. There comes a time when we simply pass through phases that are never to return and it can be very sad if we can’t accept that. Life is all about change. Change isn’t a bad thing it is simply inevitable. That doesn’t mean that you can’t still enjoy these things it just means you don’t have to cater to them 24/7. A bucket of toys for visiting children, a realistic number of items to cater for the occasional guest and enough tools for the odd jobs you still perform around the home…

Enjoy the happy memories, revel in your new circumstances and make the most of life no matter what phase of it you are in. And, of course, let go of those excess things that are now of little or no use to you.

Today’s Mini Mission

Let go of some grown children clutter ~ This is something long ago left behind by your grown child. Your home is not a storage unit, ask them to collect it and let them know you are going to get rid of it otherwise. With a little diplomacy this is possible without alienating them.

Eco Tip for the Day

Check the water flow of your shower (litres per minute). If it uses more than 9 litres per minute I would suggest you buy a new water saving shower head. Some go as low as 7.5 litres per minute.

To test the shower run it on full blast for 10 seconds. It should use no more than 1.5 litres in that time.

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

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.

Sorry folks I thought I had set a post up for today but alas I did not. Fortunately there are plenty in the archives to rehash. I thought this one was a good one as it is a category of clutter that most people struggle with to some degree. I hope you find it helpful.

I think it is time to take care of some more obligation clutter. That would be those things that you keep not because you want to but because you feel obligated to keep for one reason or another. This is not a good reason to keep anything because these items weigh you down emotionally. I will give you an example of a different kind of obligation clutter each day and you see if you can identify something in your home that matches and declutter it.

Monday – A family heirloom that you don’t appreciate.  Do your best to find someone else in the family to take it on otherwise it may be time to sell or donate it or perhaps loan it to a museum. Just remember heirlooms can be tricky as they may not technically be yours to give away. Do your research first to make sure they don’t actually belong to someone else in the family.

Tuesday – Grown children clutter ~ This is something long ago left behind by your grown child. Your home is not a storage unit, ask them to collect it and let them know you are going to get rid of it otherwise. With a little diplomacy this is possible without alienating them.

Wednesday - A guilt item ~ Don’t feel obliged to keep something just because you shouldn’t have wasted the money on it in the first place. Try to sell it to recoup some money or just find a way to pass it on. Forgive yourself and move on.

Thursday – An unwanted gift ~ No explanation necessary, sell, donate or regift it.

Friday – Anything that was given to you by someone else. If you no longer want or need it offer it back to the person who gave it to you, sell or donate it. You don’t have to keep things just because they came from someone else. I might seem a little repetitive on this advice but that is because people get very stuck on keeping this kind of stuff.

Saturday – Something you keep for another’s benefit. This often happens with grown children. For example Dad has a bunch of useful tools that he no longer uses but his three sons often come over to borrow them ~ In this case divvy them up between the sons and let them borrow from one another. If they don’t want to do that then feel free to sell them or give them to someone who does want them. Once again your home isn’t a storage unit or a free hiring service.

Sunday – An item you keep out of tradition that you never care to use. This might be the usual stuff like the good china and crystal but it could be like my old BBQ ~ It is almost an Aussie tradition to cook lots of BBQ meals but if you don’t you don’t need to have a BBQ just because everyone else in the neighbourhood does. This also goes for a collection of tools when you really aren’t much of an handyman or a sewing machine when you send all your clothes out to be altered or mended. (Personally, judging from the price my friend was recently quoted to have the hem sewn up on an apron, I would suggest you learn to use it and save your money but that is just my opinion.) Some of these items actually seem to double up as aspiration clutter.

Good luck and happy decluttering

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

Colleen’s visiting her mother, so I’m putting together the Friday Favorites, which are skimpier than when Colleen does it.

The first thing I wanted to link to is an article from the magazine Real Simple, which I subscribe to. I think steam was coming out my ears by the time I got to the end of “What Can You Really Afford?” The author spends the entire article outlining the various causes of overspending, which of course leads to clutter along with other negative outcomes, and then she justifies it all away in the last paragraph by stating that her purchase “makes her happy.” Unfortunately, this article is no where on the web or on Real Simple’s site. If you see the May 2013 issue at the library, it’s worth a read, just to see if you get as steamed up as I did.

This next link is from a friend who referred to it as a “throw down” (a challenge to a fight, for you non-native speaker). The author claims that she is against decluttering and purging, but I couldn’t help but notice that she brags that she reduced her storage bins from 18 to 12.

I love Rachel’s blog Small Notebook. For those of you holding onto sentimental items, this might be a help. For everyone else, the doctored photo alone is worth a look. (Don’t worry, you’ll know which one I mean when you see it.)

I thought this post on the process of becoming a minimalist was interesting. The author credits minimalism with getting her out of debt by reducing spending and also with allowing her to work a normal work week, and not the 15 hour days she had been working.

And to show Real Simple that I forgive them for their terrible transgression with the article not posted here first, I offer this primer on overcoming specific obstacles to decluttering, such as becoming overwhelmed or getting distracted.

Have a great weekend!

Deb J

You have decided to declutter and then get organized so living life is easier. You then ask, “Help, how am I supposed to go about this? “

Sorting is the answer. Sorting by how you use something, how often you use it, and whether you use it at all. So many times we start with a jumble of items in a drawer or on a shelf. How often does this jumble have no rhyme nor reason? It’s just stuff that has been thrown there as we are hurrying through life. How can we know if we have enough or too much if we have no organization of what we have?

The mother of a friend of mine was not very organized so tended to buy things when she needed them because she couldn’t find something she thought she had. This went on for years. The house became filled with clutter of all kinds. You would find things in the oddest places and living there was very trying for the family. One day my friend decided to tackle the issue. She asked me how to go about it because she had a limited time frame. She couldn’t even stand to visit her parents any more. While her parents were gone on a 2 week vacation with their two teenagers who still lived at home, my friend got permission to go in and clean things up. She promised to not get rid of anything. She would pack it all up and leave it for her Mom to go through on her return.

What did she do?

1. She went through each room and removed everything that was on a surface. It was all placed in boxes marked for various rooms. Many things didn’t belong in the room she found them in. This included clothes.
2. She went back through each room and looked in the drawers and closets she had permission to investigate. She removed everything from the drawers and closets that didn’t belong and put in the boxes. She then put the rest of the contents on the bed.
3. She went through the contents on each bed looking for & boxing up soiled, worn or torn/broken items. These were set aside. She also looked for duplicates of those things you only need one of or those things that were the wrong size and set them aside. She made sure that each room only contained those items that belonged in that room based on the function of the room and the how the item was used.
4. With the rooms now in fairly good order as far as appropriateness of contents she began to go through all of the boxes of items that had been set aside. If something was broken it was moved to a discard box. If the item was usable but there was a duplicate the most used item was put in a thrift/sell box. If there was no duplicate and the item was usable it was placed in a Decision box. The soiled clothes were washed and the torn but mendable ones set aside to be mended.

When the family returned from their trip every room was cleaned, organized and free of clutter. Each family member was to check their room for anything they considered no longer needed and this was also boxed according to probable distribution. The mother was then to spend time going through the boxes to decide what she thought needed to be done with the contents. Being a busy woman, the Mom found herself with little time to look at the boxes and make decisions. After several months, she decided that they must not need anything in those boxes because they were still unopened. She decided to give it all to the local thrift store. The mother is so happy that she can find everything and is still keeping things clutter free. She has also stopped buying duplicates. The entire family is happier in their home and has begun to entertain and enjoy it.

This is the story of how one woman helped her family make order out of chaos and get rid of the many things that had accumulated over the years. While she had a hard deadline that cause her work to go fast, this same set of steps can be done in a slower, more deliberate manner. Every day you can look for one clutter item and make a decision about it. Once you have made a decision about the surface clutter you can start on those things hidden in drawers and closets. Sorting through your possessions causes you to make decisions and helps you become more organized with what you have because you have put like items together in the area where they are used the most.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an Obligation item ~ Something you only keep because you feel you should. Often something someone else gave you.

Eco Tip for the Day

Put a container outside on a rainy day to collect water for your indoor plants.

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

Even for me, some jobs are just too daunting. There is something about the art closet, for example, that terrifies and mocks me. My own desk is another source of terror. (How ironic is that?) My children’s closets are rooms of mystery and wonder. The garage is, well, really big and definitely not all mine.

How do I manage? Just like the Beatles sang in 1967, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

The art closet is used primarily by Audra and me. Clara keeps her art supplies in her room (smart girl). Because the job is daunting to both of us, I set the timer for the 15 minutes, and we slammed the door behind us the moment that timer rings. Nonetheless, a few 15 minute sessions later, and a couple of “I’ll just decide about one item” later, and the closet, while not complete, is in much better shape.

When we remodeled, I packed everything from my desk into a laundry basket. Now that I have a desk, I have unpacked the crucial items, but the basket still seems full. What else could possibly be in there? Every time I look, I see a mixture of unneeded items and good stuff, but some how I just can’t bring myself to deal with it. Again, Audra to the rescue. She’s perfectly willing to help me out, and she loves to arrange and organize the drawers. All I have to do is ask.

The girls’ closets not only hold their clothes but also all manner of both treasurers and junk. How am I to know which is which? Fortunately for me, both of the girls seem to think that cleaning out their closets with my help is fun and not a chore at all. They look forward to moving their too-small clothes along to some other girl, knowing that they can’t ever get anything new (actually, typically used) until the closet is purged. While we’re in there, I generally pull out a few old art projects or other memorabilia for them to “nay or yea” as well.

As for the garage, I’m eager to get it decluttered. We have what is quite possibly the ugliest and most decrepit shed imaginable, and I have finally persuaded Dan that we need to shift all shed stuff into the garage and pull the shed down. He thinks it’s not all going to fit, but I know that it can. (The wheelbarrow and lawnmower would present a fit challenge if we had more than one car, but since we don’t, it should all be fine.) I promised that we could build another shed if we find we must have one, but I’m betting that after the adjustment period, we won’t miss it at all, and I can use the slab that it’s sitting on for something much more interesting. I have a raised fish pond in mind.

In every case, I am tackling my hard challenges with the help of someone else. While I’m using family members, I’ve also paid for help from Amy and Susan at The Clutter Consultants and gotten assistance my friend Holly, whom I, in turn, helped out. Not everyone is the right candidate to help, but many people are happy to assist. After all, cleaning and rooting through someone else’s stuff isn’t ever as daunting as cleaning your own. If you’ll repay the favor, that’s even better!

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an Aspirational item. Something you aspire to getting around to using or trying one day.

Eco Tip For The Day

Buying a new pair of shoes and decluttering two pair in their place will reduce your clutter. However being satisfied with the shoes you own and wearing them until they are worn out is better for the environment.

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

Some of the first items I decluttered

In order to write this post today I took a look back to Day 64 of my declutter mission. This was the day that I first began to blog about my resolution to declutter 365 things. Since then I have often written that the simplest way to begin decluttering is to start with the easy things. Looking back on the photos and list of items I had decluttered prior to blogging proves that this is exactly what I did.

Many of these items had never been used, hadn’t been used for a long time, I didn’t like for one reason or another or I had too many of. The items came from places all over the house, from drawers, closets, cupboards, cabinets, open shelves and even the garage. I dare say to begin with I would not have been able to tell by looking around that I had even decluttered much, but that did not deter me. I knew the stuff was gone and that was all that mattered.

I then looked a little further along in my photo archives and found that I continued on in this way for quite a while until I added a degree of difficulty by beginning to sell on ebay. Then it seems I began my first use-it-up challenges with toiletries, pantry and craft items. Next larger items, from outside, that required dismantling began to appear in the photo archives. Then obligation items began to show up, things given to us by friends and family that we no longer wanted. And by now my husband was well and truly involved in the decluttering effort.

By this point furniture began to be decluttered, furniture that was finally emptied and no longer required. This was all before day 200. It was easy to see from the following photos that I was really becoming ruthless. Sentimental items were heading out the door, as were useful items from my kitchen that I had decided I had too many of. Items that at the start I wouldn’t have thought I would declutter were also now fair game.

I won’t bore you with over two more years of my decluttered inventory. However I do hope that you can see the point of this post by now. Choosing the easy things first really is the less painful way to enter into this hopefully life changing mission. No matter how many things you have or how attached you are to some of them, if you begin with the easy stuff you will make a difference. You may not notice the difference at first but it will become obvious soon enough. Just be grateful that you are making progress and that it isn’t so hard.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter A Guilt item. Something you feel guilty about acquiring in the first place.

Eco Tip for the Day

Think twice about buying anything that you don’t need. Whether your use for it will last, whether it is just a novelty or whether it even adds anything to your life.

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

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.

I love to throw in a good old clutter category set of  missions every now an again to get you thinking about what sort of clutter you have. So this week we will declutter something from each of the clutter categories I refer to on a regular. Declutter at least one item per category.

Monday – A Sentimental item. This is self explanatory really it is an item you feel personally attached to or at least once did.

Tuesday – A Guilt item. Something you feel guilty about acquiring in the first place.

Wednesday – An Aspirational item. Something you aspire to getting around to using or trying one day.

Thursday – An Obligation item ~ Something you only keep because you feel you should. Often something someone else gave you.

Friday – A Lazy clutter item ~ No attachment you just haven’t got around to getting rid of it.

Saturday – A Natural Progression item ~ Something that no longer fits, physically or intelectually or has simply been used up or worn out.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

 On rainy days park your car outside and let nature wash it for you.

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!

This comment from Ideealistin came in too separate parts. Here and here. Don’t miss the part where she is telling us that she has a beautiful new baby daughter. 50 isn’t such and old age but I feel like I am watching some of my younger readers growing up. Congratulation Ideealistin, life will be very different from this point forward.

Rebecca B. A. R. has a great suggestion as to where to donate unwanted suitcases in this comment. Great idea Rebecca. Those precious children can do with whatever moral boost they can be given. A suitcase isn’t just a place to store clothes in this situation.

Moni shares with us a good tip for keeping kitchen drawers tidy in this comment.

I loved this comment from Grace from Brazil. She was good enough to set herself as an example of “this is what you should not do” to emphasise the message in Cindy’s post. Good on you Grace!

I don’t know how I missed this comment from Moni the first time around but I was lucky to find it when writing up todays post. Another Moni classic.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Wendy F sent through this link. It is a little out of season but gift giving happens all year round so a little reminder to be sensible with it never hurts ~ www.guardian.co.uk – On-12th-day-christmas-present-junk.

Here is a link that Steve flicked over to me last week ~ lifehacker.com – Declutter-in-your-life-and-embrace-minimalism-this-weekend

Nana enjoyed this post and wanted to share it with you all.~aslobcomesclean.com ~ Drawing on past clutter experience

Fruitcake also sent a link this week ~ www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2013/apr/12/escalating-consumption.

And here is a post for those book lovers out there that are trying to reduce their collections. The Other  side of complexity – Things to remember when getting rid of books .

Today’s Mini Mission

Round up, declutter and organise hair accessories ~ These tend to end up scattered all over the place making them impossible to find when you need them. They end up in school bags, handbags, bathroom drawers, bedside cabinets, in the little nooks and crannies in the car, sports/gym bags, coat pockets and even under the sofa cushions.

Eco Tip For The Day

Use lists to save fuel. As you think of errands you need to run during your week jot them down. Then arrange them in sequential order for economy of time and driving.

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

I am visiting my parents at the moment and since I didn’t get posts written before leaving home I am having to do them on the run. Things could get real interesting next week when I have limited access to the internet. 😉

Anyhow, I asked my mother was there anything she would like me to declutter so I have something to write about. The first thing she suggested was the second drawer down in her kitchen. With a huge sigh of relieve, that it wasn’t a closet or dads back shed, I dived in without hesitation.

Keep in mind that my mother is, always has been and most likely always will be someone who likes to serve up a good feed and sweet treats. It is her utensils drawer that we are attacking today so be ready for an extensive variety of bits and bobs among the stuff. Also don’t be expecting too many items to be decluttered because she still uses most of what is in there on a regular basis.

This first photo shows all the items spread out for perusal during the decision making process. All items have been sorted into categories so it is obvious what quantity or variety of each thing there are. The items with the yellow dots were the items that were not returned to the draw. Three were returned to the shed where they belong while the rest were decluttered. Some to the trash, some in a bag to go to the thrift shop and a few to be handed on to other family members.

All the items from the utensils drawer

Some of the items that were decluttered just weren’t being used, some there were just too many of a good thing, others were all but worn out. Although some items appear to have been cheaper by the dozen like the shape cutters and small strainers, only a couple of each were decluttered. This is simply because my mother still has a use for them. If it were me I would choose my absolute favourites and ditch the rest.

I asked my mother what was the most useless to her item on the table and she chose the Tupperware ice block moulds. For me the choice would have been the silicone cupcake pans. I find them to be too much bother to clean. I have to say that there are a few items among them that have been around, and still being used often, since I was a child and probably longer. The rolling pin, the metal scone cutters, some of the egg rings and the hair thinning scissors.

These next two photos are of the bags of items that were decluttered.

Click on photo to enlarge

The next set of photos are the before and after shots. Although the drawer is still quite full it is a vast improvement on what it first looked like. It would benefit from a good drawer divider but that is a task for another day.

Click on photo to enlarge

Today’s Mini Mission

Round-up, declutter and organise small kitchen appliances ~ Choose one cupboard or shelf in the kitchen for all of these appliances. I have done this in my kitchen with the exception of the toaster and kettle which are located on the bench top because they are used very regularly.

Eco Tip for the Day

Minor accidents can cause expensive repairs with large parts having to be replaced. So drive mindfully because those broken parts end up in landfill.

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

Friday was mine and Dan’s 16th wedding anniversary. Sixteen years of relatively smooth sailing. Not bad. We’ve gone from two working adults with two dogs and two cars in a 1000 square foot home with a beautiful garden to one full-time and one part-time job with two children (13 and 10), five animals (too many), one car and a 2600 square foot home with a beautiful garden.

A couple weeks ago, Colleen reprinted this post from The Happiness Project.  I’ll wait while you review it.

Certainly it got me thinking about Dan and me. When we were first married, I remember quarreling about “who did more” and it made me crazy that on Saturday – housecleaning day – Dan didn’t necessarily feel like cleaning at the same time I did. I was deeply annoyed to be bustling around while he was reading the newspaper and enjoying coffee.

Now those quarrels make me laugh. I could do all that work with my eyes closed and still have time to take a 5 mile hike with the dogs, get an hour-long massage, and go to the movies. I hardly knew what was coming my way!

As Gretchen says, it’s easy to think that your work is more and harder and to undervalue the contributions of others. I do appreciate that Dan is good at his job and makes a salary that allows us to live very comfortably. But I think I do more – work part time, take care of the kids, manage the household finances, make appointments, grocery shop and prepare food. But what do I have that Dan doesn’t have? Freedom and flexibility is a big one. A condition of my employment was that I would take off whenever necessary and that I would only work three days a week. If Dan and I switched places, we’d both be in trouble: he’s no good at the stuff I do and would dreadfully miss his work, and we’d be living a radically different lifestyle based on the salary I made while working. So is my work “better” “more” or “more important”? Or is it just different and part of an overall picture that makes our family and our marriage successful? Even if my work was better and more important, does it benefit me or my family to think that way, or will it just create resentment and a feeling of self-entitlement? I can tell you that if Dan started strutting around thinking that his contributions were so much more important than mine, I’d slap that notion down in a heartbeat.

Decluttering can be about so much more than just your stuff. It can be about attitudes that don’t help you and don’t move you closer to your goals. Decluttering animosity, anger, and resentment so that you can be your best self and do your best work will free you to accomplish so much. If decluttering is your goal, sure it would be lovely if your spouse got on board, but it’s your goal. Act on it. Change your attitude and you can change your life.

Today’s Mini Mission

Round-up and declutter stationery ~ Keep a pen in each room of the house if that makes your life easy but the bulk of your stationary items will be more easily found if they are all stored together. If you don’t have a desk or set of drawers for this task why not use that spare shelf you have cleared in the linen closet during your last towel and sheet declutter.

Eco Tip For The Day

Aluminium can be recycled so be sure to recycle all items made from it including aluminium foil when cooking.

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