Cindy

I have been thinking a lot about efficiency recently. We are constantly told by ourselves, our friends, and the media that we don’t have enough time. Is this true, or are we just deeply inefficient and distracted?

In my house, during down times, I have notices that all four of us have our “go to” strategies, none of which are very productive: I check my email and Facebook for the millionth time; Clara listens to music and plays solitaire; Audra watches TV; Dan fools around on his computer.

All electronic, all non-productive.

My girlfriend Sherri addressed this on Facebook recently. (Okay, I realize that does seem a bit ironic.)  “No thank you “Yammer” I do not need an app to help me get things done FASTER. I need an app to slow things down. Oh wait, I have that! It’s called my frontal lobe! I can use it to make decisions about what is important, decide to turn off the gadgets, and tune in to my family, friends, God and nature! All with no monthly fees or penalties! Count me in!”

I have been trying, very consciously, to do two things: Sit around less and fill the small gaps in time.

Sitting around fooling around on the computer – what a waste of my life’s most valuable resource – time. Now when I truly have business to do that involves the computer, I sit at the dining room table. It turns out that our dining room chairs, which have rattan seats, really aren’t that comfortable for extended sitting and having that rattan pattern pressing uncomfortably into my thighs keeps me focused on plowing through the business that I need to attend to, rather than drifting off into the No Man’s Land that the Internet can be.

The other thing I’ve been trying to do is to fill small amounts of time. It’s like me to pace around feeling aggravated while waiting for someone to brush their teeth before we can leave. Now, I try to fill that time by doing something: wiping the kitchen counter, putting away some laundry, loading the dishwasher. I’m still by the door ready to leave, but I’m not just pacing and feeling irritable.

Yesterday it was ridiculously hot. Even in the house, I felt hot. I was sitting (just sitting) in my favorite chair feeling hot. After 15 minutes, I consciously decided that I was wasting my time, and that I could be hot and get something accomplished, or I could just be hot. I got up and got some things done. In fact, I probably cooled myself a bit because part of what I did involved wiping the kitchen counters, and the cool water felt nice.

Consciously trying to be more efficient can apply to any task you want to accomplish. Often we wait for a big block of time before we tackle a project. As Colleen has often said, decluttering a thing a day only takes 10 minutes, although frankly, I think it only has to take about 2.

What could you get done if you decided to be more efficient today?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter electric kitchen tools that aren’t that useful to you. Suggestions ~ Grater,food processor, blender, mixer, juicer, coffee machine, coffee grinder, can opener, pepper grinder, bread machine, ice-cream maker, donut cooker, popcorn machine, panini press… this list could go on forever. After going through my kitchen last week I have found that I have the usual suspects ~ toaster and kettle ~ plus I also have a hand blender with one accessory, a coffee grinder and a panini press. All these items are used regularly enough to be safe from decluttering for now. 

Eco Tip For The Day

When buying bars of soap, by ones without wrappers or multipacks that come in a simple cardboard box. Every little bit of plastic saved from landfill counts.

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

Recall for a moment an event where you received a gift that you really wanted. The perfect give that you used and enjoyed for some time. Remember the delight at the sight of such a gift when you opened the wrapping. Can you recall how wonderful you felt in that moment? Can you also recall the gratitude you felt for the giver? That positive energy returned each time you used and enjoyed this gift, right?

Now remember receiving a gift you didn’t particularly want. Not necessarily something you hated, just something you didn’t care about or have a use for. You were thankful that someone cared enough to give you the gift but didn’t really want to keep it. Do you still have that gift simply because you feel you can’t get rid of it for fear of offending that person? Now consider the negative energy that holding on to this item causes you.

Which of these two energies do you really want to surround yourself with. Be grateful for what you receive but let go of items in your home that do not exude positive energy for you.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter electric cleaning tools that haven’t proved all that effective, are an indulgence or are simply unnecessary. Suggestions ~ Steam mop, jewellery cleaner, home scrubbing tool, steam cleaner, floor buffer, leaf blower, high pressure water cleaner, dust buster, robot vacuum cleaneretc. . I currently own only the usual items, a washing machine, one vacuum cleaner, a dryer and a dishwasher. Aside from the robot vacuum cleaner that I did love and the dustbuster, both of which I now happily manage without, I did not find any of the other gadgets highlighted all that useful and some not effective at all. I did try a steam cleaner to determine how effective it was but found it wanting.

Eco Tip for the Day

If you are one for ironing just about anything ~ sheets, underwear, pyjamas, tea towels etc ~ do yourself a favour and give it up for the sake of the environment. Electrical energy won’t be the only energy you will be saving.

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.

This week the mini missions have an eco friendly twist to them. A combination of events lead to this weeks missions ~ 1.) Reading Karen Kingston’s Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, 2.) Doing an inventory of the contents of my kitchen cupboards, 3.) Filing my toe nails and 4.) Making an apple pie. So this week’s missions centre around assessing the electric items (whether mains or battery) in our homes that may, or may not, be the time savers we expected they would be, or even simplify the tasks they are intended for. I am not suggesting all these things are useless, I own several that I am unlikely to part with. I have also parted with several in the past the proved not so useful to me. Just for fun I will highlight in bold the items I once but no longer own and tell you what I do own in each category.

Monday – Declutter electric grooming items that aren’t that useful to you. Suggestions ~ Manicure tools, hair removal tools, lighted make-up mirror, foot soaking bath, electric toothbrush, teeth water pick, face scrubbing brushes, hair straightener, curling wand or crimper, blow dryer, heated curlers etc.. In my home there currently is, an hair trimmer that may be on its way out, a make-up mirror as mentioned here but with the cord cut off because I never did like the lamp, a hair straightener which I do use, a blow dryer which I rarely use, and my husband has an electric razor that he uses daily.

Tuesday -Declutter electric cleaning tools that haven’t proved all that effective, are an indulgence or are simply unnecessary. Suggestions ~ Steam mop, jewellery cleaner, home scrubbing tool, steam cleaner, floor buffer, leaf blower, high pressure water cleaner, dust buster, robot vacuum cleaner etc. . I currently own only the usual items, a washing machine, one vacuum cleaner, a dryer and a dishwasher. Aside from the robot vacuum cleaner that I did love and the dustbuster, both of which I now happily manage without, I did not find any of the other gadgets highlighted all that useful and some not effective at all. I did try a steam cleaner to determine how effective it was but found it wanting.

Wednesday - Declutter electric kitchen tools that aren’t that useful to you. Suggestions ~ Grater, food processor, blender, mixer, juicer, coffee machine, coffee grinder, can opener, pepper grinder, bread machine, ice-cream maker, donut cooker, popcorn machine, panini press… this list could go on forever. After going through my kitchen last week I have found that I have the usual suspects ~ toaster and kettle ~ plus I also have a hand blender with one accessory, a coffee grinder and a panini press. All these items are used regularly enough to be safe from decluttering for now. 

Thursday - Declutter electric garage or craft tools that aren’t useful enough to warrant keeping. I won’t make a list of these as they are so many and varied. 

Friday - Declutter electric entertainment devices that aren’t that useful to you. Suggestions ~ Outdated games consoles, old stereo equipment, superseded iPods, old computer equipment, electronic photo frames, slide projector, video player, second, third or forth TV… . We now own one TV, an iPod dock, computers that are all in use ( a laptop, a desktop and an iPad) 

Saturday - Declutter exercise equipment, that has an electronic component, that isn’t being used. Treadmill, exercise bike, rowing machine, heart rate monitors, pedometers… What do I have in the way of exercise equipment now? The footpath, a pair of walking shoes and forgetfulness combined with an internal staircase. :lol: 

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

Do everything you can to evaluate seemingly useful powered gadgets before buying them. Sometimes they are better at wasting electricity than they are at living up to the hype of their marketing.

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