“…the answer is invariably in the question.”  This is part of a quote from a wise man. That man is Billy Connolly and the quote is from the same book I mentioned yesterday. So, how does this relate to decluttering? Well I am about to give my thoughts on that.

In the Guides section of my blog you will find my Declutter Decision Making Guide. It is packed with questions to ask of yourself when deciding whether you should declutter an item. However this quote from Billy Connolly got me thinking ~ (Wise words from worldly people often have me applying their wisdom to the subject of decluttering). My thought was this, that the answer is indeed in the question, that is, if you are even bothering to ask the question you already have the answer.

Let me give you an example. Lets say that my utensils drawer is over full and I decide some things have to go. Do I take out my spatula and ask “Do I use this often enough to justify keeping it?”. No I don’t, I know without question that I use it all the time and have no intension to declutter it. However as I scan the drawer I can see several items that do raise this very question. Inevitably the answer is in asking the question in the first place and the answer is no.

The same result can be found found when asking…

• Do I love this enough to spend time dusting it every week?
• Is the sentimental attachment to this item strong enough…?
• Have I used this in the last three months?
• Am I ever likely to make something from this fabric?

… and the list could go on. If you are asking the question then the answer, at best, is borderline, but in a quest for simplicity, space and downsizing the answer is usually no.

A good circumstance to apply this theory is when you have too much/many of something. Say you want to downsize a collection, reduce hobby supplies, limit the space your books are to fit into…

First set aside all the items there is absolutely no question of you decluttering. Then separate the remainder into two piles. Pile one for the maybes that you feel the need to ask the question of. And one for the can-goes for the items there really isn’t any need of asking the question. Then you can make your choices of the remaining selection depending on what space you have left to fit them into.

So next time you find yourself asking the question, do I need, treasure, care to maintain or love this thing, and the answer is probably at least “not really”. Then allow your space goal to assist you to the final answer to keep it or let it go.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter five small long time unused items in your mending kit.

Eco Tip for the Day

Schedule at least an hour of family time each night. That way you will all be in the one room using one light source instead of scattered all of the house using electricity like it’s going out of fashion.

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

“Either you’re growing or you’re decaying, there is no middle ground. If you’re standing still you’re decaying.

“What do I know that is absolutely, incontrovertibly true?” I sat there for about an hour and a half and all I could come up with is that everything changes. That’s all I know with any certainty. It’s all going to change, and flowing within change keeps us flexible and helps to develop a sense of humour about everything.” ~ Alen Arkin from Wisdom (Life) by Andrew Zuckerman.

What Alen Arkin says here is true, and one thing that occurs with change are different needs/wants. In my case change has caused me to want less things but in times past it had the opposite effect. And I am sure all you, my readers, have experienced something similar. That is why I write my blog and that is why you are here reading it.

As I have said in many ways before, that in order to remain uncluttered after these times of change we need to declutter those items that become redundant.

And as for that sense of humour he mentions ~ During these times of change we sometimes need to utilise our sense of humour in order to forgive ourselves for unwise purchases that we encounter during the decluttering process. Items we rushed into acquiring during a previous time of change that ended up not being used very much. Laugh at yourself, learn from the situation so you don’t fall into this trap again, declutter the offending item and move on.

Also, decluttering in order to reduce permanently and not just to make room for new stuff, is a major change in itself. Embrace this change with enthusiasm and pride. Living with less isn’t just about letting go, it is about simplifying and, as a result, is kind on the environment. And who can’t do with a little simplification in their lives while at the same time creating a cleaner world.

So don’t view this process as a chore, consider it a path to a better you and enjoy the journey.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter five small long time unused items in your kitchen.

Eco Tip for the Day

Return hangers back to the dry cleaners. Every little thing helps!

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 I thought you might like to have some mini missions that fit with Sanna’s mission of getting rid of 20 little items a day. Getting rid of these may seem not to make much of a visual difference to your home, but you might be surprised how getting rid of small things can make a big difference. Getting rid of lots of little stuff can make finding more important stuff much easier. Drawers, shelves, handbags, cabinets, boxes and baskets are all designed to keep little things together, but when they are jam packed things can get messy. And then there is the overflow. Anyway, lets see if we can find at least five little things per day to declutter this week. And if you don’t have any of the items I mention then see if you can come up with some categories of your own that you

Monday – Declutter five small excess stationary items.

Tuesday – Declutter five small long time unused items in your kitchen.

Wednesday - Declutter five small long time unused items in your mending kit.

Thursday – Declutter five small makeup items that you don’t really like.

Friday – Declutter five “I might need” items from your handbag. This makes finding your keys, mallet wallet and cell phone a lot easier.

Saturday – Declutter five pieces of jewellery that you often pass over.

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

Buy local produce where possible as this cuts down on fuel required to transport products from further away.

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

Hello everyone!

Colleen asked me to write a little update, so here it is. My challenge was to declutter 20 things a day for three weeks and possibly longer if I realized that there was still a lot more to go.

As I started a few days early compared to most of you, when this post will be scheduled I will be almost two weeks in. I have by now decluttered more than 200 things around my home! I can’t really tell whether it makes a difference for the home staying tidy yet. We had to reshuffle quite a bit as we now have a guest staying here and she brought some things of her own as well.

Having her over brought on some more motivation even. She is guest at our house at the end of a year-long stay before she moves back to her home country, so she has all her momentary belongings with her. She decluttered most of her household supplies etc before coming over and really has “little” stuff, just clothes (but for all seasons), cosmetics and a couple of “beautiful things” she wants to keep. When seeing her stuff all cumulated the day she arrived, I was shocked how much she had to carry, although it was really just clothes and a couple of other things. I had to think of a comment on 365lessthings a few weeks back where someone mentioned his goal to reduce his possessions to two boxes per room. After seeing how much space so few possessions take up, I think that we do tend to underestimate the volume and amount of stuff we own. I certainly do: I didn’t count all my thread, but I got rid of 50 spools in the last days and guess that wasn’t even half of it!

When I set up this challenge, I feared that 20 things a day would be a little too much maybe and that I would run out of things to get rid of after three to four weeks. Well, I definitely know better now. Some days I had a little more time and got rid of individual items like kitchen items, empty files or greeting cards I don’t intend to send anymore, other days I was in a rush and just opened some drawer, counted up to 20 pens, spools of thread, pencils, paints, paint brushes or small hardware bits and removed them from our home. I did count most things individually, apart from a little container full of beads and sequins which I used to round up one day’s 17 items to the full 20.

The 240 things I got rid of so far really didn’t take up much space. It’s merely about a shopping bag full. However, when I think that there were 240 completely random unnecessary things around that could be decluttered in the blink of an eye, I am rather happy I took up this challenge.

So I will continue and definitely keep at it for the whole month of July! There are still random things in the hardware and craft areas and I didn’t even start going through photos, reusable shopping bags or cleaning supplies.

In the comments to last week’s post, Tracy linked to her blog where she keeps count of what she decluttered during here challenge. For some visual inspiration I share it here: http://minimalmouse.wordpress.com/

I think, she’s doing great: there’s so much that left the house already!

How are your challenges going?

Today’s Mini Mission

I will ~ Declutter something your have been telling yourself for sometime that you will declutter. Now is the time to let it go if you think that way.

Eco Tip for the Day

Decide what you need from the refrigerator before opening the door. Standing there with the door open while you think about what you want to eat just lets the cold air out. Then the fridge has to work harder and waste electricity to regain its optimal temperature level.

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

Doodle

This post is based on  a reply I gave to Moni a few months ago, but I think we all get overwhelmed by paperwork so it is  a subject worth revisiting.

The best way to handle paperwork is to have a system that means you touch that piece of paper a minimum number of times. Don’t have a complicated system: keep it simple.

I open post straight away, standing by the recycled box in the kitchen. Empty envelopes and bumpf goes straight in it. The rest then gets taken upstairs to our study on the next trip. One of 3 things then happens:

1) Anything that doesn’t need action gets dropped into its designated labelled filing box:

a)Income and tax related

b)Household maintenance & Household utilities and bills

c)Car related: taxing/repairs/ resident parking/insurance

d)Medical stuff

e)Receipts

f)Instruction manuals

Most paperwork comes in category a and b and these are just boxes I can drop things into really easily – no need to get a file out and hole punch etc.

This isn’t  an actual photo of my box file but something I found on Pinterest – but it shows a simple easy to file and retrieve system.

2) If it needs action I try and do it straight away. If I don’t have time then or it doesn’t need doing until a specific date, I make a note of it in my diary to do and then drop it into its relevant filing box. This includes any phone calls.

3) It gets shredded. We have an attractive basket for stuff that needs shredding: stuff gets chucked in to there until it reaches the top and then I have a mass shredding session every 2 months or so.

To cut down on paperwork I pay all regular bills by ddm and have gone paperless with banking statements and utility bills. When a new invoice arrives that replaces a previous one, the old one gets thrown out.

At the end of each financial year, once I have made my tax return, all related paperwork goes into a large envelope with the year written on it and it gets stored in the attic. In the UK we have to keep this info for 7 years, so when a new one goes in, an old one from 7 years previously can get chucked.

Some people store all  paperwork on an online storage facility; I don’t, but the option is there.

This system works for me and I feel in control and easy to stay that way.

What are your difficult paper work areas and how do you think you could improve them? Have you developed any systems that work well for you you’d like to share?

Today’s Mini Mission

 I should ~ Declutter something you think you should own just because most people do. If you aren’t using it there is no reason why you should have it.

 

 

The hardest part of decluttering happen in you mind. The clutter itself isn’t really the problem it is the preconceived ideas we have about what we should, could and must keep and what we think we can’t live without. If these thoughts are hindering your decluttering perhaps it is time to declutter your mind.

Question every thought about what you should, must and have room to keep even though you don’t really need or want them. And rethink what is really important to you when it comes to those items you feel you can’t let go. We are often in a tug of war over wishing we had the space or that our space was less complicated with stuff, but at the same time want to hang on to things out of habits of a lifetime.

Set your priorities, make your choice, trade off, call it what you will but your life will be enriched, not deprived, by creating a simpler, more serene living environment. Who wants to come home to a cluttered untidy home each day? Who wants to constantly feel that there are endless arduous tasks to be completed, within the home, due to the volume of stuff to maintain? Who wants to sit in permanent limbo procrastinating over what needs doing and getting nothing done?

There is nothing I hate more than reaching the end of a tiring day and seeing mess all around me, either begging to be done now or having to be dealt with tomorrow. It is a tormenting situation to be constantly feeling under pressure like this. It isn’t conducive to relaxing downtime and especially not to a good nights sleep.

So decide what is truly important to you and what isn’t. If the stuff in more important than happily live with it. But if your subconscious is constantly nagging you do simplify your possessions then perhaps it is time to do something about it. Like I told a friend this weekend ~ “Once you feel you are making progress, working on it doesn’t seem like such a chore.”. And the joy of accomplishing something is always good for one’s psychological health.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter something you keep telling yourself you must keep even though you don’t want to.

Eco Tip for the Day

When boiling dried pasta, bring to the boil then turn the temperature down to low and once settled put a lid on. It will boil quicker and at a lower temperature this way thus saving electricity. When you think it is almost done turn off the heat and allow the residual heat to complete the cooking process. The same method works for rice. Rice will usually take 12 minutes to cook this way.

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’s missions have a new twist on some old themes. You may have to get your thinking caps on to come up with what to declutter for each one. The mission revolve around helpful and unhelpful notions that we have concerning stuff. So take a look and see if you can come up with some ideas for items you can declutter using these as a guide.

Monday – I need ~ Declutter something you think you need just in case but rarely ever use and could realistically do without.

Tuesday – I must ~ Declutter something you keep telling yourself you must keep even though you don’t want to.

Wednesday – I should ~ Declutter something you think you should own just because most people do. If you aren’t using it there is no reason why you should have it.

Thursday – I will ~ Declutter something your have been telling yourself for sometime that you will declutter. Now is the time to let it go if you think that way.

Friday – I used to ~ Declutter something you used to use but don’t anymore and is wasting space in your home.

Saturday – I haven’t ~ Declutter something you know you haven’t used in quite a while and are hanging on to for no good reason.

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

Over eating causes waste. Waste of good food and inches on your waist. Do yourself and the environment a favour by cutting back.

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

I received the following email from Sanna on the weekend and decided, on her request, to share it with you word for word. Hopefully Sanna will find some other 365ers who might like to join her in her quest.

Sanna: I just got so fed up with my still cluttery home and set myself a challenge for the next weeks. It would be lovely, if you would share it with your readers, as I’m secretly hoping that someone will (at least in part) join me! 😉

I’ve been busier than usual during the last few months and at the moment it’s an extremely busy time – in job, volunteer activity and home (we’re having a guest for a month soon). It’s a time that is prone to make my home look messy.

I have been decluttering for quite some time now and probably got rid of half my possessions – maybe even more. Our home looks neat and spacious when it’s all cleaned and orderly, but in busy times, it’s still a mess. In trying to conquer that problem, I lately thought a bit about my experiences during the decluttering process and stressful times. I find, there is a direct proportion of clutter and mess in my home – in that clutter will turn into mess as soon as there is lack of spare time for just sorting and cleaning for the sake of it.

So, what is clutter? I tried to find set numbers that help me define what is necessary and searched for definitions of categories of things that are per se clutter. It would have been so nice to have a definition and just declutter accordingly. Alas, to no avail. People are different from one another and so, what is clutter and what’s not is also a very personal thing. However I think, there is one component that indicates clearly if something is clutter: it’s randomness. Clutter is random, while valued possessions have their defined purpose. Whenever you don’t know for sure, how many of something you own, what the specific items look like exactly, why you have it in the first place or when you will use it next, it’s most certainly clutter in your home. All these things tend to not get put away on time, because they’re not really needed in their assigned space or maybe don’t even have one. They clutter up drawers and cupboards taking up space, so the things you actually use don’t fit back in. They prevent you from knowing where things are and have you waste your time searching (and maybe making mess when doing so). Overall, they put an uncertainty to your possessions, for you don’t know really whether you have a certain type of screw/tool/whatever at home nor where it would be.

Over the years, I got rid of lots of things I use regularly and had an overabundance of. Also I decluttered all decorative items that hadn’t been on display. However, there are still these huge, random assortments of buttons, zippers, stickers, rags, thread, screws, pens, … I did go through them from time to time as well, but many of these little things don’t take up much space, even if there are hundreds of them. That is, if you’re putting them in their space regularly. However in busy times, they are what turns my home into a mess, by cluttering tabletops and worse my mind by being out of place all the
time!

So now, I set myself a goal for the next weeks, which is to declutter 20 things a day, every day, for at least three weeks, maybe more,
until there are no more random assortments in my home, just a few selected items of each of these categories. I’m really counting every single little thing, ’cause it’s exactly those little things that drive me crazy.

I already started yesterday and here’s what I got rid of in two days:
4 greeting cards I got for my birthday 3 months back
5 CDs
1 gift bag
2 hair clips
3 brushes
18 zippers
1 piece of ribbon
1 emery board
1 jacket
1 file
2 containers
1 rag

Not that one would see the difference yet, but I’m sure it will show in a few weeks!

So who would like to join Sanna in your quest. choose your own number of things to declutter each day to kick start your decluttering in an effort to simplify the maintenance of your home. I might even give it a try myself at a 10 item per day target. My targeted area will be my craft supplies but may spread throughout the house.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter as many items as possible cluttering up your shower recess. Only keep in there what you use very regularly, as excess items get mouldy and soap scummed which can cause odours and harbour germs.

Eco Tip for the Day

Send you clutter out into the world that it may be of use to someone else. Someone who won’t have to resort to buying new.

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

I have two telescopic tension rods, the kind you wedge between two hard surfaces to hang curtains from. The reason I still have them, even though I haven’t used them since returning to Australia from the USA, is that they might come in handy one day. The excuse for falling into this old trap is that I don’t think they are sold here in Australia which would make them nigh on impossible if not too expensive to replace should I find a use for them.

Now how is that for a lot of rubbish. Oh, I admit to both that I do have these things for such a ridiculous reason.  I don’t even like curtains, they harbour dust and look so old fashioned. So you know what I did today? I took them down and put them in the trunk of my car to donate to a white elephant fundraising sale for a worthy charity.

So what was behind my sudden grip on reality? Living in our smaller home bring everything in it into question ~ Are they clutter or are they loved or useful to me. Yes I love their clever design and yes they are useful, but to me no. Since moving in to our new home old interests, never gone, have come back to the fore and I need space to arrange the ingredients for them. Therefore any excess is getting in the way of that. Even some of the less used tools on my craft are heading out the door to make the space more functional.

I guess what I am saying here is that one of the keys to decluttering is deciding what is more important ~ Making the space for the life you want to live or dwelling on past useful and/or loved objects. I have no room for such objects and even if I did I find my space more functional when all the excess is out of the way.

Are you clinging on to things because you are somehow attached to them even though you don’t love them or use them. If so, they are clutter and it is about time you let them go. No reasons no excuses.

Today’s Mini Mission

If you have more towels than necessary declutter a few. They take years to wear out so you won’t be leaving yourself short. Donate good ones to a thrift shop and shabby ones to an animal shelter or the like.

Eco Tip for the Day

Use the dishwasher and washing machine during off-peak hours in order to cut down the strain on power infrastructure. This will delay the necessity for expensive polluting upgrades and will save you money to boot. 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

I received the following comment from Kimberley to one of last week’s posts ~ Who Are You Now.

Kinberley wrote: “Your post should be titled, “Isn’t this how clutter begins?” 
We move from one phase of our life to another. We don’t or won’t let go of what used to serve us while at the same time adding things that now do. It’s as simple as doing the math.”

This is so true. The reason much of our clutter builds up is because life moves on for us. The problem with that is that life moves on but we don’t move on the resulting items that become clutter. We understandably hold on to things for a while just in case we revert to our previous life and then after a while we neglect to let go. Sometimes we pass through several stages of life not cleaning up after the last, and in the end we have a house full of unused stuff.

The key to avoiding this is maintenance decluttering. That is, letting go of our stuff from past lives within a reasonable time frame from when we stopped needing the items. I make that sound easy because physically it is. All it takes is identifying this stuff and using whatever means necessary and appropriate for us to pass it on.

The problem for many these days is that, in this fast paced world, we don’t have or don’t take the time to look back and clean up after ourselves. In essence, we complicate our lives so much trying to keep pace with a world gone mad, with earning, consuming, temptation and keeping up with ridiculous ideals, that something has to give. That something is often our time, our families, our friends and of course the state of our homes.

And yet we always seem to find the time to go out and acquire the new potential clutter. So why is it that we can find that time, which, due to comparison shopping, generally takes more time yet we can’t find the time to move the old stuff on. I would like to give you some sort of easy fix solution to this issue but, as you can probably guess, there isn’t one. The reality is that if you can find the time to shop for stuff but don’t find the time to declutter stuff then you are going to end up with a cluttered home. Once you come to terms with this and begin to practice maintenance decluttering then your problem of clutter build up will be gone.

The tips I can give to manage this are…

• …to stay informed about methods of disposal ~ Thrift shops, Sharing sites like Freecycle etc, other charity donation opportunities, garage sales, auction/selling sites like ebay, recycling collection days… ~ and take advantage of them when necessary.
• …sell donate of giveaway your children’s items as they grow out of them.
• …pay attention of your stuff and notice when items are no longer being used. These are the items you shuffle to the back of cupboards, garages, attics and basements.
• …when you find yourself out shopping for something new ask yourself, what is it replacing and let the other similar item go.

Personally I prefer to only replace things when they wear out not just because I feel like something new. This tip will not only helps avoid clutter but also help accumulate savings. And financial security gives as much piece of mind as un uncluttered home.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any toiletry products you aren’t likely to use because you tried them but didn’t like them. Shampoos, conditioners, bady wash, moisturisers etc. Perhaps donate them to a women’s or men’s shelter.

Eco Tip

Don’t waste that lovely picking liquid that comes in jars of peppers etc. Use it to add a little extra zing to your next DIY salad dressing.

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