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 these comments from…

Wendy F 

Janetta

Tammy R

EcoCatLady

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-rubin/myths-about-clutter

Here is a Facebook page you may be interested in ~ Daily Possession Purge Challenge

www.oprah.com/home/Clean-Sweep-Peter-Walsh-Wants-To-De-Clutter-Your-Life

Mark Adam Douglass ~ Box-Bottle-Bag Index . Mark has also recently relieced and eBook ~ The Original Minimalists Consumed.

Angel suggested this post from The Minimalist Mom on Decision Fatigue. And in case you missed it while reading the article here is the New York Times article she referred to in her post. This was also suggested by Sanna.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some motor vehicle related stuff. There is a wide range of stuff that accumulates relating to motor vehicles ~ accessories, oils, jerry cans, parts … and simply the stuff that accumulates in them. Last week I decluttered some motorcycle oils and brake fluid to my friend Wendy F. My husband no longer owns a bike that needs these fluids topped up, while the men in Wendy’s family service their own motorbikes.

Eco Tip For The Day

Don’t leave the TV on during the day just for company. You may laugh but I have known of plenty of cases of people doing this.

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

I know the old saying is waste not want not, which basically means ~ Do not waste anything and you will always have enough. Unfortunately that can also mean ~ Save every little scrap so that you can use it in the future. This is how we end up with a house full of “I might be able to use that one day” kind of clutter.

What I am suggesting instead is don’t want for anything you don’t really need and you won’t be wasting your hard earned money which would be better spent on something else. That something else could be the mortgage that Cindy was talking about yesterday. When I think of some of the things I wasted my money on, that I later sold on ebay, I am reminded that instead of paying that little bit of money off the mortgage I could have paid the larger amount that I wasted on the item in the first place.

This may not seem necessary if you can easily meet your mortgage repayments but I can attest to the fact that not wanting for stuff is the best side effect I have discovered as a result of my decluttering mission. And why pay more interest on your mortgage than you really need to. That is just throwing money away.

You might be amazed at how much money you can save on a mortgage just buy paying half your monthly repayment every two weeks rather than paying monthly. In effect you end up paying one extra monthly payment a year which makes a big difference over the thirty year loan. Now imagine if instead of leaving enough in the coffers for buying stuff you don’t really need you set those bimonthly payment to be even slightly larger still.

Mortgages aside, I just want to say again that it really is possible to wean yourself off from the want of stuff. That isn’t to say you will never encounter again the desire to buy things or that you won’t buy the odd thing that you want but it is entirely possible to loose the desire for recreational shopping. It is also possible to strengthen your ability to make better decisions on the things you do consider purchasing.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some eWaste. I have a compact fluorescent light globe, some used batteries ~ including some AAs, a D, a motorcycle battery and one from a laptop computer ~ and a DVD player that no longer works. I looked up my local government web site to find where to drop all these items off. They have very detailed information as to where all sorts of waste can be recycled that should not go to landfill. I will be taking care of that this week.

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t leave tasks linger for so long that you have to redo them such as drying the washing or folding it. This can cause you to have to waste more electricity rewashing and ironing. Need I also mention your wasted time and wear and tear on your appliances.

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

We’ve had many discussions on 365 Less Things about Selling v. Giving Away. At various times, I’ve come down on both sides of the argument.  I’ve agreed that selling recoups some of your investments. I’ve argued that giving away shares your blessings with others and relieves you of your clutter with less work and fuss. In general, I sell my larger or more costly items and give away my smaller or less costly ones. However, I’ve sold things on Craigslist as cheaply as $5, and given away things I could get $50 or more for.

In general, I don’t consider selling to be too much of a hassle, and now I have verification. Since 2011, I started putting all the money I made from Craigslist and Ebay directly to my mortgage. In that time, I have paid down almost $2000; $1000 a year. That’s not an insignificant amount of money!

Having a specific goal for my extra cash definitely adds motivation. Experience helps too. I’ve been Ebaying since 1999, when I bought a Baby Bjorn baby carrier for my now 13 year old. Back then, there was no Paypal, and you sent a check (!) to the seller then waited for the merchandise. Today, you can “buy it now,” transfer the money via Paypal, and request overnight shipping. How things have changed.

What hasn’t changed is the eagerness of the marketplace to buy and exchange goods. If you haven’t given Ebay or Craigslist a try, use these previous posts to help you on your way.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something plastic in your home. Last week I gave to my daughter two measuring jugs and a large Tupperware container which I no longer use. She was happy to take them and I was happy to be rid of them. I have also emptied and set aside a three tiered set of plastic drawers which she specifically asked if I had any of that I wanted to declutter. I rearranged a few things under my kitchen sink to free up one and she will pick it up this week.

Eco Tip For The Day

Try growing plants from seeds or clippings rather than buying seedling in plastic pots at the nursery.

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

I mentioned yesterday that I have been doing some more decluttering in my garage. I had gathered, in one corner, a pile of stuff that belonged to my son. There was his battered old bicycle frame from his accident when he was nineteen, various bicycle parts, a pile of 24 used skateboard decks, a box with spray paint cans, a pile of used core-board for mounting photos from his university days, a sports bag (all shown in the photo below) along with a couple of small tables and a large sheet of chipboard ~ all out of shot.

Some of my son’s stuff in the corner of the garage.

He came over last week and together we went through the items and he decided what he wanted to keep and what I could donate or Freecycle.

Keep in mind that the skateboard decks (some visible in the photo, some in the black bag) are every one that he has used since he first began skating at about the age of thirteen. Being an artist he had aspirations of using them for an art project one day. Well one day has not yet come and he and his partner have been doing a little decluttering at their home lately so he decided to let them go. I put them up on Freecycle, six went to a man wanting them for an art project. Ten more are awaiting pickup by a woman who wants to use them to decorate her autistic son’s bedroom. While the last six have, appropriately, been claimed by a woman for her nineteen year old son to use for an art project while he recovers from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. (Mothers of nineteen year old boys, let this be a warning for you.)

He has, for now, decided to keep the bent bike frame with ideas of either using it in an art project or displaying it as a reminder of his lucky escape from what could easily have been a debilitating brain injury. He kept the bicycle parts that belong to his replacement bike but allowed me to donate, to the local bicycle rescue project, the undamaged wheel, seat and handlebars from the damaged bike.

He is also going to take the two tables and sheet of chipboard to use as work surfaces for artistic purposes in the future. He also kept the sports bag and the spray paint cans, but the core-board will be offered to the thrift store for merchandising purposes.

Skateboard decks awaiting pick-up.

Sixteen of the skateboard decks are awaiting pick-up with plenty of other Freecyclers happy to claim them if this round of claimers don’t turn up. The bike parts have already been delivered to The Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre and all the things my son wanted to keep, bar the chipboard, has already been taken to his home. The core-board will be offered to the thrift shop this week (weather pending).

Both my children have been very good about being responsible for taking all their stuff once they settled into their own homes. I guess I made it clear that leaving it behind wasn’t an option. Which  proves that parents don’t have to hold on to their kids stuff forever. In fact I was talking to a friend of a friend last week who gave her son a ultimatum of pick up your stuff or I’m getting rid of it. She wasn’t popular at first but he got over it and she is no longer housing his clutter.

Today’s Mini Mission

Reassess and possibly declutter a little more stuff from a storage space in your home. I have been working on my garage again, which is my launching place for everything that leaves my home. This time around I have been focused on clearing it of items that belong to my son, who has left home. We achieved a lot in that area this week which I will tell you more about in a post tomorrow.

Eco Tip for the Day

Just like my decluttering approach you can gradually improve your carbon footprint by implementing a new environmentally friendly routine into your life on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be a chore but a fun challenge to not only help the planet but quite often it turns out will also save you money.

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 wouldn’t say I am amazed that I keep finding things to declutter but it pleases me that I continue to be more choosy about what I keep. As a result I keep going over the same areas again and again. My mini missions reflect my current decluttering efforts from all over the house.

Monday – Declutter a desk drawer or, if you still have one, a junk drawer. I don’t have either but I do have a spice chest with twelve drawers in which I keep everything from pens to light globes. Last week I decluttered more pens, a pencil, a business card folder & the cards within, a pair of swimming goggles with no strap, a pair of shoe laces that we have no shoes for and some clips from these drawers. The chest has seven empty drawers now, which begs the question ~ Do I need to keep the chest? .

Tuesday – Reassess and possibly declutter a little more stuff from a storage space in your home. I have been working on my garage again, which is my launching place for everything that leaves my home. This time around I have been focused on clearing it of items that belong to my son, who has left home. We achieved a lot in that area this week which I will tell you more about in a post tomorrow.

Wednesday – Declutter something plastic in your home. Last week I gave to my daughter two measuring jugs and a large Tupperware container which I no longer use. She was happy to take them and I was happy to be rid of them. I have also emptied and set aside a three tiered set of plastic drawers which she specifically asked if I had any of that I wanted to declutter. I rearranged a few things under my kitchen sink to free up one and she will pick it up this week.

Thursday – Declutter some eWaste. I have a compact fluorescent light globe, some used batteries ~ including some AAs, a D, a motorcycle battery and one from a laptop computer ~ and a DVD player that no longer works. I looked up my local government web site to find where to drop all these items off. They have very detailed information as to where all sorts of waste can be recycled that should not go to landfill. I will be taking care of that this week.

Friday – Declutter some motor vehicle related stuff. There is a wide range of stuff that accumulates relating to motor vehicles ~ accessories, oils, jerry cans, parts … and simply the stuff that accumulates in them. Last week I decluttered some motorcycle oils and brake fluid to my friend Wendy F. My husband no longer owns a bike that needs these fluids topped up, while the men in Wendy’s family service their own motorbikes.

Saturday – Give your medicine cabinet another once over. Declutter any out of date medications. Last week I managed to declutter of few non-prescription medications that were in danger of going out of date, by passing them on to someone who was in immediate need of them. Keep this idea in mind if ever you get into a conversation with friends or relatives that are feeling a little under the weather in one way or another.

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

Don’t buy things, with a used by date, in large quantities just because they are cheaper per unit, unless you are likely to use them up or can share the excess with someone else.

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!

I haven’t had much time to be involved in the conversations going on at 365 this week as I have been giving my undivided attention to my parents while they were visiting. So I haven’t been able to choose my favourite comments. Thank you everyone for all of your comments, they are always appreciated whether I have the time to read them or not.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

The links this week are a little random because I also haven’t had much time for reading. Two I haven’t actually read but were recommended by others so I am sure they are good. The Inside Hook link was bought to my attention by my husband who knew I would be appalled. And I did read The Change Blog post and enjoyed it although it isn’t really about clutter. However getting rid of clutter sometimes requires strength of character which is what the post is all about.

http://www.hoombah.com/knowing-when-to-pop-the-bubbly/

http://www.raptitude.com/2013/06/what-do-you-do-now/

Here is a fine example on how enterprising people can make money out of encouraging you store your clutter. How much money are you prepared to allow your clutter to cost you? Don’t be a sucker!~  http://www.insidehook.com/san-francisco/boxbee/

http://www.thechangeblog.com/changes-you-refuse-to-accept/

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item that you are sorry you ever bought but have held on to in the hope that it might finally realise its cost.

Eco Tip For The Day

Don’t throw away that old electric kettle or use harsh cleaners on it because it is all stained inside. Fill it with cold water, add a lemon wedge and bring to the boil, that stain will miraculously disappear.

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

I was digging in the archives of 365 yesterday looking for another post when I came upon this little gem. I decided to share it with you again because this strategy has proven useful, at times, in convincing my loved ones to declutter some things. I hope it will work for you.

Recently I was let in on a strategy on how to state a case or perhaps even get another person to come around to your way of thinking without their sensibilities being offended. The idea is to get people to think rationally about a subject without them realising that you are leading them in a direction they may not have considered.

The trick is to broach the topic in the form of a question that you quite likely have the same opinion on. Once you are in agreement you steer the conversation, maybe even in the form of another question, in the direction in which you want it to go. Successfully bypassing any undesirable emotional response while leading them hopefully to conforms to your way of thinking.

Making a request to grandparents that they don’t overindulge your children with excessive gifts of toys at Christmas and birthdays is a good example of how this ploy might work. Please see below for the scenario I have created to demonstrate this strategy.

While enjoying a normal conversation you bring up your topic by asking ~ “Did you have many toys to play with when you were growing up?”Hopefully they will say “Oh no!…” And they will regale you with some stories of the toys they do remember and how excited they were to receive them at the time.

Then comes the next question ~ “Did you feel deprived because you didn’t receive many or did you have fun regardless?” In this case you will hope the answer is “No we made our own fun. Children these days have no imagination…”

Then comes the $100 question “Do you think children these days have far too many toys?” I have never encountered an adult of my generation or above who ever answered no to this. They all think the current generation is spoiled rotten.

At this point you go in for the kill or should I say you come to the point of your conversation, while you have the upper hand, by saying “I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Don’t you think it would be a good idea if perhaps instead of giving lots of things to the children we all limit ourselves to giving one material gift and perhaps put some money in a bank account for them….”

What has occurred here is that the parent has extracted a true and logical opinion from the grandparent about how overindulged children are these days. Once they have showed their hand you then play your trump card by suggesting your idea of reducing this overindulgence for your own children (their grandchildren). By this point how could they not think that this is a good idea. And even if they do realise that they have been lead to this point, what can they do without losing face but agree your idea is sound.

I have to say I have been at the receiving end of this strategy more than once. Lead there by a certain person in particular who shall remain nameless. I nearly always twig as to what he is up to, but by then he has me caught hook line and sinker. I have to tell you that I am usually glad to be caught. Why, you might ask. Because I have a tendency to allow my emotions to rule my head far too much and his logic is much easier to swallow. With his clever manoeuvring I can then justify what for me may otherwise be a difficult emotional decision. I know my weakness well enough to be grateful to him for steering me away from that frightening abyss.

The beauty of this approach is that if the answers to the questions you are posing are not the ones that cement your case you can abort the mission at any time. No one ever need be the wiser that you were attempting to achieve an objective in the first place.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you have been procrastinating about getting rid of for a while.

Eco Tip of the Day

Turn off lights when leaving the room no matter how long you are gone for. It really doesn’t take much effort but in the long term all the energy savings do add up.

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

Cindy

This post first appeared in September 2012. Since I am in the thick of plowing through the Lost and Found and checking the cleanliness of all the uniforms from the uniform exchange closet, it seemed like a good time to reprint it.

At the end of every school year, I volunteer to take home all the lost and found from my daughters’ school. I look through it, sort it, wash it, fold it, and give it to charity. The amount of lost and found (or as the Head of School calls it, “Lost and Sometimes Found”) is absolutely amazing.  At the end of this school year, I had 20 expensive metal water bottles (one still had a clear $25 price tag on it), a dozen lunch bags in good condition, probably 50 items of clothing worthy of the thrift store, and 5 or 6 coats, including one very nice Columbia brand coat.

Such waste!

Colleen once wrote a post, which I cannot locate, about “What if I had just one?” Just one pencil, just one coat, just one pair of scissors, just one water bottle and one lunch sack?

Overbuying has to be part of the explanation for this phenomena. In my house, the girls have two water bottles each – one large and one small, and they each have one lunch bag. If the bag doesn’t come home, they take their lunch in a plastic sack, which in itself is a reminder to check the lost and found. But if you overbuy, then each item has less value and less chance of staying with its owner.

When my daughters first starting attending school where they had to provide their own supplies, I was absolutely horrified by the list: 2 boxes of 8 markers, 6 glue sticks, 4 packs of post-it notes, and my winner for most ridiculous: 48 pencils. 48 pencils times 15 girls equals 720 pencils per school year per classroom! How many third-world classrooms could be outfitted with 720 pencils? I thought it was because the girls went to private school, but my public school friends told me that their lists were similarly excessive.

Why would you value a single pencil when there are 719 more in your classroom?

It’s so easy to overbuy when things are “2 for 1″ or “Buy 1, get 1 at half price”? I know I used to do it too. But it’s just not necessary. It’s bad for the environment, bad for your check book, and devalues each and every item, making each one more likely to be lost, discarded, or shoved to the back of the cabinet.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter something in an area that is overcrowded to the point of causing disfunction.

Eco Tip For The Day

As adults it is our job to teach our children to conserve power and water. If you raise your children with good habits now conservation will come naturally to them when they become the adults themselves.

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

Succeeding at living with less isn’t always just about getting rid of things. Sometimes it is about sharing, borrowing and repurposing. I shall give you an example from recent events in my life.

I found out six days prior that my parents would be arriving for a short visit this Saturday just gone. As you know my children have both recently left home so space certainly wasn’t an issue. The issue was that both children had taken the duvets (doonas) and pillows from their beds when, or shortly after, they left. I didn’t mind because they are young and not so financially established as their parents and if they weren’t returned I am better able to afford to replace them. Which I hadn’t done for various reasons which I will explain.

We intend to give our daughter her queen size bed, as her spare, and my son is undecided as to whether or not he and his partner wish to swap his newish double bed, with scrumptiously comfortable mattress at our house, for the queen one she owned prior to his moving in. This means that some bedding doesn’t need replacing while at the same time I don’t know what size bedding I will need for the spare bed we end up with. So back to the story…

My parents were coming for a week and along with them and old family friend would also be staying for the night and I didn’t have enough warm blankets, pillows and bed covers to accommodate them. But never fear, being the frugal and environmentally friendly person I am, I decided not to rush out and buy stuff in a big panic, possibly ending up with items that might later become excess to my needs or not what I really need. Instead I improvised.

First off I took a look in my camphor wood chest to see what bedding items I had left after all my ruthless decluttering. I had a single bed duvet and several spare throw rugs. As there was only one person sleeping in the double bed this was enough to make up that bed and have some throw rugs spare for sitting about chatting or watching TV.

Then I asked my daughter, now that she is fully unpacked and settled into her new home, if she had enough blankets etc. that I could briefly borrow back the ones she took from me. She had a duvet and a blanket spare to loan me.  This was enough to kit out the second bed minus a couple of pillows.

Since pillows need replacing on a reasonably regular basis my first instinct was, since the kids had taken the pick of the bunch, that I would by two new ones. Then possibly donate the oldest ones to an animal shelter when the guests had gone. However, in my travels throughout the house preparing the beds I spied something that had somehow, so far, escaped my decluttering efforts. I am not sure how, because this thing was taking up an enormous amount of space in one of the spare room closets. It was a body pillow. Same width as a regular pillow but twice as long. In an instant a clever idea popped into my head. I would cut this pillow in half and make two regular pillows and solve the pillow shortage crisis. Which I did. Bedding problem solved.

So not only did I manage to save my children from wasting money initially by sharing my stuff, I then was able to borrow stuff back from one to save me buying new. While at the same time I used a little ingenuity to repurpose something, effectively decluttering it buy changing it into something more useful to me.

When I know what my long term needs on the bedding front are, I will then address that problem but for now my extended family and I can work as a team.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you have too many spares of.

Eco Tip for the Day

Challenge yourself to put every piece of recyclable material in the recycling bin no matter how small.. It is easy to be blasé about small pieces of paper or plastic but so long as they can be recycled they are best kept out of 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

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.

You may have to put your thinking caps on for this weeks missions. However I am sure you will come up with something. Good luck and happy decluttering.

Monday – Declutter something you have had stored away for that someday that never seems to come.

Tuesday – Declutter something that you have too many spares of.

Wednesday – Declutter something in an area that is overcrowded to the point of causing disfunction.

Thursday – Declutter something you have been procrastinating about getting rid of for a while.

Friday – Declutter an item that you are sorry you ever bought but have held on to in the hope that it might finally realise its cost.

Saturday – Declutter bargain or something you get free that really you never had much of a use for.

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

Donate or sell under utilised items in your home in the hope that it will prevent someone else, who might have a use for them, from having to buy new.

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