Doodle

I was at a wedding last weekend and I didn’t know anyone among the 170 others  there apart from the groom. But I tell you what at the reception, I only had to mention that I sometimes work as a professional de-clutterer and I had a whole host of new friends intrigued and plying questions, lol.

First up we had the familiar, groaning husband; “Please come and sort my wife out!” followed by the another woman silently pointing at her husband while mouthing the words ‘We need to down size, help!’ and pulling faces.

I would add that the groaning husband was standing next to his wife at the time, and rather than thwack him with her hand bag, she immediately agreed she really needed sorting out. Her self confessed downfall was her love of browsing charity shops and what could I suggest? I suggested the only cure was going cold turkey and no longer visiting them. She agreed this was probably the only answer. If I was working with her  a client I would help her explore a little what need the shopping was fulfilling how she could explore others activities to enjoy that may fill the void.

As for the ‘we need to downsize’ couple, they had a 25 year accumulation of stuff from family life and were now empty nesters looking to the future. My advice to them was ‘start sorting out now’, if you hope to move in 2-3 years. It’s much less stressful to do it gradually. Start with the easy stuff and the rules

Do I really love it/use it.

Do I want to pay someone else to pack this up and move it to our new home.

In this couples case, he is a researcher so has lots of papers. We talked a little about scanning services.

Someone else was stumped by her clothes mountain. She confessed she struggled to let anything go, as she always convinced herself could always use old outfits for house work/in the garden. I suggested she consider what was the realistic maximum number of ‘old clothes’ outfit she could use given that at present she had a wardrobe full of such clothes. I suggested charity shops were a good way to make a donation rather than money, but she didn’t like the idea of clothes being added to the rags pile if there was in her opinion any life left in them, even though charity shops in the UK make a lot of money this way. Whatever I came up with, she had a reason not to let anything go. Sometimes, people block change with all sorts of excuses. But with these sorts of conversations, you never know what seed you may have planted, or what part you played in what goes on to be a major reversal of habits.

I definitely came away thinking there may be  a smart business move to hold de-cluttering workshops at wedding receptions!

Do you talk to people you meet about de-cluttering and find it’s a subject many people have something to say about? It’s a great conversation opener I find and everyone here will have some excellent tips for others that seem simple once you get more experience but to a newbie are a revelation: share your growing expertise folks, with the community you live in.

Today’s Mini Mission

Obligation ~ Declutter something you don’t want that you feel you should keep for someone else’s sake outside of your home. If they really care for you I am sure they wouldn’t want to cause you this stress.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

If you make coffee or tea after a meal boil a little extra water to soak the baked on food from the bottoms of pans. This saves having to run the hot water until it is warm enough for soaking. Adding a little bicarb soda will also make clean up easier.

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

Life is, at the very least, punctuated with stressful periods. For some there are no end of stressors almost 24/7 365 days of the year. Mostly this is caused by the complications of life. Past history, current hassles, work obligations, financial issues, family, illness… Boy, this is making me feel depressed just writing about it and my life is quite sweet for the most part.

The one thing I have learned from my decluttering experience is that simplification is the key. The more you own the more you have to take care of. The more work the is required from you. And all that acquiring means less savings in the bank when needed. Add that to all the other stressors and things can get really ugly.

What could be worse than a sudden health issue just when your rent has gone up and you have to take unpaid time off work. I’ll tell you what could be worse, and that is being surrounded by a messy, cluttered home when you are in the thick of it. During times of stress it is a wonderful thing to have a welcoming haven to return to at the end of the day. A welcoming place to cocoon yourself in to recuperate.

Sometimes when life is going well for you it can go to hell for someone close to you and you need to step in to help. Once again it is nice to feel free to be able to do that because things are simplified in your life.

Either way it is best to live by the Boy Scout motto of be prepared. I have found myself in both situations in recent years on several occasions and I have been able to step up to the plate at the drop of a hat. When my son had his accident, when I was having health issues, when my father went into hospital, when my daughter came home at short notice, in the last couple of weeks when I dashed off to help my friend with her move.

So don’t leave it until life happens to realise that you should get your own nest into shape. Get started now so that when things hit the fan you at least can be sure of is a place or peace and serenity to recharge in.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item that brings you unnecessary feelings of sadness whenever you lay eyes on it.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t accept free promotional products that you have no use for. Accepting these just encourages the continuation of this practice while the environment would be healthier without the manufacture of cheap throwaway or needless items like these usually are.

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.

The missions this week are inspired by the idea that clutter trouble your mind. There are so many ways in which this happens. The question is why hang on to stuff that causes you mental unrest. Best to just let it go and free yourself of the stress. So this week we will be searching  our homes for items that cause as metal stress and getting rid of it. There is enough stuff we must do that causes us stress so why add to it unnecessarily.

Monday – Aspiration ~ Declutter an item the represents something you feel you should get around to do that isn’t necessary. Craft supplies, mending, long ignored recreational activities…

Tuesday – Unhappy Memories ~ Declutter an item that brings you unnecessary feelings of sadness whenever you lay eyes on it.

Wednesday – Obligation ~ Declutter something you don’t want that you feel you should keep for someone else’s sake outside of your home. If they really care for you I am sure they wouldn’t want to cause you this stress.

Thursday – Work ~ Declutter unnecessary items that cause you effort to maintain. Effort such as dusting, polishing, cleaning around and under.

Friday – Obstruction ~ Declutter excess items that get in the way of more important items. This is best represented in cluttered drawers, files, closets etc that cause you wasted time locating the useful among the redundant.

Saturday – Waste ~ Start a use it up challenge on an item that is likely to spoil if it doesn’t get used up soon.

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

Encourage family, friends and anyone who will listen to refuse, reuse, recycle and reduce.

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

This is a subject I have discussed here at 365 Less Things more than once. It was brought to my attention again while decluttering with my friend. Also boundaries was mentioned by Vicki K on Tuesday in a comment regarding the boundaries she has set for her cookbooks. You might remember the much reduced boundary I had set and achieved with my craft supplies some time ago. Not to mention my overall boundary of fitting into a two bedroom apartment, also achieved.

While decluttering with my friend we not only set boundaries but we also eliminated the extent of some. This took place all over her home as car loads of stuff were sent to the thrift shop. When it became apparent that items of furniture could be eliminated due to the amount of decluttering that had taken place, I explained the concept of setting boundaries for her stuff.

I explained that now we have chosen what furniture can stay a commitment had to be made that the category of items store in this furniture was not allowed to escape these boundaries from this point forward. If these items of furniture were full and something came in then something of equal or greater size must leave in order to make room for it.

In the previous address, not only were the boundaries full, they were themselves clutter and they were greatly overflowing. Now they have not only been reduced but I believe it is my friends intention to eliminate even more stuff so that the spaces within these boundaries are less cluttered.

I have many boundaries within my home. My closet must hold all my hanging clothes. My chest of drawers must contain all my husbands and my folder clothes. The small bathroom cabinets must house all our toiletries, medication, first aid items, styling tools and toilet paper. Only three shelves in the linen closet are allotted for store lines while the other hold other useful household items, our collection of photos and our paperwork file. The kitchen must contain all food related tools, serving pieces, cutlery, crockery, food etc with a shelf set aside for my frequently used craft tools. And the list goes on.

There is no room for overflow so these boundaries need to be adhered to.

One of the issues encountered when overstepping boundaries is money wasted on duplicate items due to the difficulty finding them amongst the overflow. This was something I definitely encountered in my friends home. In the kitchen, the linen closet, in the bedroom and particularly in the craft room. One example ~ I found three cans of spray adhesive among the craft supplies while setting up the new space. These things aren’t exactly small, so that fact that they could get lost amount the clutter was very telling. Packets and vials of glitter were another example as were pencils, staplers, hole punches, erasers, adhesive tape and glue sticks, just to name a few. Many of these items were donated while some of the more perishable items had done just that, perished. This was a very valuable lesson to my friend I think

As I set up the craft room I labelled much of the storage so all of these items could be easily located in the future and just as easily replace where they belong.

Do you set boundaries in your home or do you still have items overflowing to other spaces.

Today’s Mini Mission

Sort through your everyday household tools and declutter any duplicates. This means the array of tools you keep handy such as screwdrivers,  measuring tapes, sockets, spanners, pliers, hammers etc. Some may just need to be returned to the garage or shed while others are truly excess.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t accept free promotional products that you have no use for. Accepting these just encourages the continuation of this practice while the environment would be healthier without the manufacture of cheap throwaway or needless items like these usually are.

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

Well folks I have spent the last two days hectically decluttering and organising for my friend and I have to say it was hard yakka (Australian for hard work). Call me strange but I really enjoyed it and was a little sorry to have to drag myself away so soon when there were still things to be done. I am very happy to be home with my husband though. And extremely grateful for my wonderful apartment that, considering I haven’t done my weekly clean for the last two Mondays’, was there to welcome me home looking tidy and cleaner than I expected. It will be Monday before I bother to do much in the way of housework because it still looks so good.

But I digress.

I really enjoy decluttering because of the space it opens up and the reduction in general cleaning it results in. However I also love to organise. I love the flow of it and the results and spending two days doing that has revitalised me as much as exhausted me. The only thing I regret is not taking before and after picks as I felt that was too much of an invasion of privacy. It is enough that I am writing about it without naming names. But I can assure you the transformation was nothing short of amazing.

My friend has been so open to the process and cooperated wholeheartedly. Although I have to remember that the pace I do things at is not the pace that most normal human beings operate under. I can be a dynamo in the relentless pursuit of a finish line. Which is ironic considering my own slow approach to decluttering. However my home, when I started my declutter journey, mostly consisted of hidden clutter where as my friend’s, although not a hoarder case, was in an obvious state of too much in and not enough going out, to the point of dysfunctional.

I am please to say that my friend can now begin to take a slower approach. Although I think she is keen to tackle a few more obvious jobs before truly slowing down to the fine tuning. And there is plenty of fine tuning to do. As I am now intimate with contents of her home, I will be sending her weekly missions to achieve.

Now let me tell you about some of the tasks I have tackled over the last two and a bit days.

I arrived in Sydney at about 3:10pm on sunday and my friend picked me up from the train station to go to IKEA. Her closet had fallen apart in the move and she needed another to begin the reshuffle. Once that was achieved, not so simple because the boxes of parts weighed a ton and we had to not only get them into the SUV but out again and into the apartment. I am glad she lives on the ground floor.

Before unloading a space had to be cleared in the bedroom which required the take down a reassembly of her bed which had structural integrity issues after her attempt to assemble it earlier. I also changed her mind about where the best spot was to place it in the room. Once this task was complete it was off to dinner. Once home again we decided to tackle the new wardrobe because there would be no time in the morning as she had to go to work. Job complete we had a nice hot cup of tea before turning in for the night at around 10:30pm.

Then, for me, it was up at 6:30am on Monday to welcome the new day as my friend left for work. Alone to face the monumental task my first full day was spent doing some serious fitting in of stuff still packed in boxes and plastic crates. Every room was cluttered with hastily placed loads of stuff and too much furniture to comfortably fit the space. As a result my first day was spent following a cascade effect style of organising. This had to go there before this went there, so I was going from one room to another putting things away and shuffling things about. It was a whirlwind of continual improvement and I was in my element.

Tasks ranged from unpacking boxes to deconstructing furniture that we had, the previous night, decided weren’t going to fit. There was also the washing machine to set up before doing a few, much needed, loads of laundry. There were items that needed cleaning before putting into place and some serious dusting to continually do in order to begin the new uncluttering life in cleanliness. I was given carte blanche to make any decisions on placement, although I did run ideas by my friend via text messaging. By the time my friend returned home there was already much more visible floor space in every room than when she had left in the morning. We then went out to dinner, but on our return there was a shelf full of items that decluttering decisions were now to be made on. She performed admirably with that task and yet another crate full of stuff was ready to go out the door. By which time I was about ready to drop. Fortunately navigating my way to the bed was much easier now.

Day two dawned and I was itching to get started on the craft room, it was still piled high with stuff however there was plenty of furniture into which to organise it. That isn’t to say that I ignored the rest of the house. Oh no, as the floor cleared in there, other possibilities opened up elsewhere and although I focused most of my attention in the craft room I deviated off on other projects here and there.

I arranged, rearranged, labeled, repurposed furniture and piled up a massive quantity of stuff for my friend to adjudicate on once she returned home for the evening. Fortunately, as I have mentioned before, my friend and I do very similar crafts, so deciding what was useful and what wasn’t was a fairly simple task, so no time was wasted procrastinating over what I should fit in and what I thought she would be willing to part with. The only interruption to my hectic pace was the cat who had decided that she would like extra attention and kept climbing into my lap whenever I sat to work. And sitting there wasn’t enough, if I didn’t pet her she would nip at me and gently stick her claws into  me. In the end she found herself at the receiving end of a gentle tap on her nose with a sheet of Halloween stickers, when her attention seeking actions got somewhat out of hand. Needless to say, when she fell asleep in the chair I wanted to work in I let her have it and fetched a dining chair instead as I was just grateful for the chance to work in peace.

The changes were obvious to my friend the minute she walked in the door. However there was that massive pile of potential clutter, I had amassed during the day, to be sorted through before the day was done. A home cooked meal and a bottle of sparkling rosé later and we were ready to tackle the task. I joked that this would have to be complete even if it took till midnight. She quickly made choices while I listen to her reasoning and assisted where I could. At one point she was deciding whether to set aside some free grocery store cooking mags when I gently chimed in with all the logic of the, then upcoming, Tuesday post titled ~ Why keep cookbooks. She soon agreed to this logic and threw them onto the recycling pile without even glancing inside.

This task was finally complete as the clock ticked closely to 11:30 pm, by which time I could barely keep my eyes open and thinking was a struggle.  Two ibuprofen, some teeth brushing and goodnight wishes later I collapsed into bed, exhausted yet happy.

With much of what I needed doing done we had a more leisurely start to Wednesday morning. After much needed cups of coffee my friend cooked us a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and fried tomato. Then it was back to the task. Firstly I relocated a bookcase into the hall to be used as her transition point for future decluttering. She then packed another two boxes and two bags of clutter into the SUV to be later delivered to the thrift shop while I made a couple of trips to the recycling bin. This required climbing up onto the fence to compact the contents down with my foot in order to fit it all in. I was feeling a little guilty for taking up most of the precious little recycling space the apartment block was afforded. But it had to be done and I am sure no one else was in greater need of that space than we.

The next task was to rearrange some of the living room furniture in order to open up the space. Then while my friend unpacked yet another box into furniture in this space I helped buy wiping and dusting. And then the one box of kept items, from the previous nights sorting, had to be shuffled into the craft space before we called it quits for the morning in order for me to prepare for my journey home.

To be continued….

Today’s Mini Mission

Work on a collection of similar items so that you might be able to eliminate the excess and reduce the size container/piece of furniture they take are housed in. (I said I wouldn’t bring crafts into this weeks missions but craft is an area where I hope to achieve this this week. In fact I am hoping to eliminate one or even two small wheeled storage carts in the process.)

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

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

Are you one of those people who has a shelf full of cookbooks with the good intention of being experimental in the kitchen but tend to stick to the same tried and true recipes? Or perhaps you are someone who steps that up just a notch by trying a new recipe only once in a while. Then this post is for you.

In fact even if you are adventurous in the kitchen then this post may also be for you. Especially if you’d rather spread out your cooks gear than waste space on cookbooks that you don’t really need.

Or perhaps you are a want-to-be cook who buys foodie magazines and clips recipes that you never get around to using. And when you do remember a clipping, that you want to try, you can’t find it among the masses.

The solution is simple for those of you who own either a laptop computer, a tablet such as an iPad or a smart phone. Instead of hoarding shelves full of cookbooks that house only a few recipes that you like, try using the internet as your endless supply of recipes at the touch of a few buttons. Whatever you want you can just Google search either by recipe or by ingredients on hand. You can create a board on Pinterest of those recipes you want to try, bookmark them, or only look up a recipe when you need it and then only save it if it turns our well for you.

When you are ready to use a recipe all you have to do is place your mobile device on the countertop and have at it.

Now lets say you only have a dest top computer. This is a little harder to manage, however you can still save yourself all that shelf room by only printing the recipes you are going to use. Of course you can save paper and ink by only printing the ingredients and instructions on the back of already used paper. I suggest this because paper and ink cost money but then so do cookbooks and magazines. You can them limit your amount of wasted space by only keeping the printed recipes that you are likely to use again.

I decluttered all but my home printed family recipe file a long time ago and I have never regretted it. Sometime I print and add another often used recipe to it. I could even declutter this file and access the recipes via my laptop if I so wished.

So give it some thought. Could you make better use of that kitchen shelf to spread out your other kitchen items, making them easier to access.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter the messiest most cluttered drawer in your home. if you have one that is. If not perhaps you have some other small, messy, cluttered space you could attend to.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Only print out document that are absolutely necessary thus saving paper and ink.

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.

By the time this post goes to air I will be at my friends house continuing with the declutter and settling in process post her move the a new address. This weeks missions are fashioned on decluttering tasks I have in mind while I am with her. So buckle up and get your decluttering pants on. I will however leave the craft items out of this weeks mission although that will be my major task. I pick on them often enough.

Monday – Declutter the messiest most cluttered drawer in your home. if you have one that is. If not perhaps you have some other small, messy, cluttered space you could attend to.

Tuesday – Declutter excess notebooks and stationery to a local school even if they are used.

Wednesday - Go through your pens and markers to determine if there are any that no longer work. Declutter the useless ones.

Thursday – Work on a collection of similar items so that you might be able to eliminate the excess and reduce the size container/piece of furniture they take are housed in. (I said I wouldn’t bring crafts into this weeks missions but craft is an area where I hope to achieve this this week. In fact I am hoping to eliminate one or even two small wheeled storage carts in the process.)

Friday – Sort through your everyday household tools and declutter any duplicates. This means the array of tools you keep handy such as screwdrivers,  measuring tapes, sockets, spanners, pliers, hammers etc. Some may just need to be returned to the garage or shed while others are truly excess.

Saturday – Declutter some of those souvenirs or memorabilia items that really are excess to what you need to provoke memories of those precious or fun times. One or two per event is OK but boxes and boxes for the stuff is just space wasting.

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

Turn lights off unless you are in the room even if you are only leaving for a few minutes. There is very little effort involved.

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

Find Part I here if you haven’t already read it.

I forgot to mention that at the end of Saturday’s effort we were sitting together in the craft room talking a little about the progress of the day, and my friend was lamenting that she wished things had been different and this task could have been a lot easier. I don’t recall exactly what I said but I assured her that I was proud of the progress she had made and how well she was doing with the decluttering process. It is always best to look forward and not dwell on past mistakes, just make things better in the future.

Sunday dawned and I had only half a day left to help my friend with this feverishly fast pack and declutter. So we got right to it with me finishing up in the craft room while she continued to tackle the bedroom. I soon completed my task in the craft room and began packing up the back of the SUV with the first load of the day to go to the new address. Once that was full, delivered and the vehicle empty yet again we began filling it up with a load to go to the thrift shop.

As I bundled up stuff and transferred it to the SUV my friend continued in the bedroom. By this time she was getting more and more ruthless with her stuff. At one point she brought two items out to me stating that it took a big effort for her to part with them. These items had been the last things given to her by a dear friend who had passed away recently. They were things she knew she would never use and was keeping for the sentimental value. By this time, after listening to my logical reasonings about letting go of attachment to stuff she had come to the conclusion that she didn’t need to keep these items in order for her to remember and cherish the beautiful friendship she had shared with this lost loved one and had decided to let them go. I was very proud of her and not just a little surprised that she had already risen to this level of decluttering awareness.

Soon after, she brought out yet another two items that were a token of the progress she was making. She was, at that point, boxing up a collection of unicorn figurines. These had been amassed over a long period of time but she had decided to begin a trial separation on them by leaving them boxed up at the new apartment. The two items were the first items of the collection that she had decided she could live without and had brought them to me to add to the donation pile. I enquired if she was sure she was ready to part with them and she assured me she was. Of course I conveyed a genuine “Well done!” and we continued on with the task.

With the SUV filled again with the load for the thrift shop we drove off together to deliver them and to deliver her from that big burden of ownership. Oh what a relief it was to take such a huge chunk out of the mass off belongings that was to be unpacked at the new address.

We then picked up some lunch and went home for some much needed nourishment and a short rest from our labours. At this point it was time for me to freshen up for my bus and train journey home. I almost wished I could stay and continue to help but my darling husband was eager for my return and my wonderful daughter had invited us for a delicious roast chicken dinner.

But that is not the end of the saga.

To be continued…

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter kitchen gadgets that weren’t so useful.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

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.

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

When I first started helping people de-clutter their stuff, I hoped no one would ask for help with their wardrobe, because I am not a fashionista and felt ill qualified.

So when I got my first ‘clothes job’ I was a little unsure…until I started and then I took to it like a duck to water. Now it’s my favourite kind of job.

Because you don’t need to know anything about fashion, or what looks good other people. You just apply the same principles as you would to anything else they own and ask one simple question:

Does it make you feel great when you have it on? If yes keep, if no, throw.

My method is at follows

STAGE ONE: try and work quickly making simple gut decisions. If you find yourself dithering or agonising, put the item in the keep pile and move onto the next one.

Empty your wardrobe completely, creating piles on your bed and floor as you go:

Pile one: the ‘get rid  to charity shop’ pile.

* Hate it, never feel good in it

* Shabby/worn out

* Can’t fit in it and it’s nothing special and haven’t worn it for several years

Pile two

Can’t fit in it but really love it so much: putting these clothes to one side saves wasting energy agonising over them, so you can get on with the job in hand.

Try to keep these to a minimum, and then store them separately, with a diary note to re check them in one years time and see if you are ready to get rid of them then. It’s ok to keep things that feel precious even if you may not wear them again – be kind to yourself, just try and limit the number. Just remember, when you have lost weight, styles will have moved on and you may want to treat yourself to something new.

Six more piles: clothes that have passed the 1^st quick gut decision test:

*Trousers/skirts/dresses

*Blouses/tops/jumpers and cardigans.

STAGE TWO

Go though these six piles subdividing into smart/work/casual, assessing each one more carefully this time to see if it feels easy to let anything more go. Then subdivide the new piles by colours: reds/oranges, pinks/purples, blacks, neutrals and browns, blues, greens, yellows.

This should give you a good idea if you have 15 pairs of black trousers for work and you can really stop buying more now you can see what you’ve got.

More questions to ask yourself:

Does your wardrobe reflect your current life style? Do you still need those 6 work suits with matching blouses?

There are 7 days in a week and 14 maximum (probably) between wash days: how many outfits do you really need in your life?

Are you hanging on to stuff because you ‘should’ feel great in it because it’s gorgeous…but somehow you never actually wear it because the colour washes you out or it doesn’t flatter your body shape? Time to ramp up the ruthlessness!

Now  clean the inside of your wardrobe and then start hanging your clothes back up, keeping work, smart and casual in 3 separate sections. Hang them in colour order. As you handle each item, really be sure you really like the item and feel good in it before you re hang it up.

If you have items you are unsure if you look good in, now might be the time to invite a friend round whose clothes sense you like, to help you decide if you look good in something you are not sure of.

Some people love clothes and have loads – that’s fine, if they give you pleasure: de-cluttering isn’t about minimalism. This process will help you know what you have so you can wear all of what you have rather than just 20% of your wardrobe.

Other’s like me function much better with a capsule wardrobe, paring back to  as few clothes as possible but ones you love to wear. Since I created my own capsule wardrobe, I have found it so much simpler getting dressed in the morning!

If you come across things you love but never wear because you have nothing to go with it, start planning what you would need to buy to wear with it.

And some colours suit us better than others – it took me years to realise that I looked completely washed out in pastels, but now I never give them a second glance in a shop.

Three  excellent reasons to  face that spreading clothes mountain:

*Loving what you wear increases your sense of well being and confidence and other people pick up on this.

*An organised wardrobe saves a lot of time energy and angst.

*It contributes to a peaceful space to sleep in.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some items that are past their used by date. This could be make-up, lotions, perfume, medications, adhesives that have dried up, food items…

Eco Tip for the Day

The only thing you need to clean your car is a bucket of water a hose and a selection of microfibre clothes. One outdoor mitt for cleaning the car, one glass cloth for the windows and a multi purpose

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

 

Declutter some items that are past their used by date. This could be make-up, lotions, perfume, medications, adhesives that have dried up, food items…

The hurricane method of decluttering, as Moni dubbed it, is when one rips through the house decluttering a vast amount of stuff all at once. A person’s hand is often forced into this action due to a sudden change in circumstances which makes a big declutter necessary.

A hurricane declutter was exactly what I was helping a friend with on the weekend. She had been thinking of moving but found a new place quicker than expected, and just when her best friend was leaving for an overseas vacation. She phoned me in a panic on Wednesday last week begging for my help. I quickly agreed and took a three and a half hour train and bus trip to her home on Friday. I ended up staying until 1:30pm on Sunday. This was enough time to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

At first we tackled the kitchen together, me pulling things out of the cupboards for her to wrap and pack into boxes. We decluttered items along the way. We kept it simple with a choice of keep or go. One word choices that saved time. We did not add any in-between choices of maybe or trial separation. We didn’t have time for that. It was only easy choices of let it go or keep (at least for now).  Secondary choices would have to wait until she has moved in.

Once we had enough for a trip to the new place we loaded it up and went on our way. She then dropped her friend at the airport and returned with a nice SUV (loaned from this same friend), for us to load and transfer with. Meanwhile I stayed at the new place and unloaded the boxes. Boxes were expensive and limited so we decided it was prudent to unpack as we went rather than waste more money.

After the kitchen was done my friend started on her bedroom while I got going in the craft room. Now, just to give you some perspective here, she owns way more craft supplies than I ever have, so you can imagine the monumental size of the task I had ahead of me. Fortunately we do the same sort of craft so it was easy for me to recognise what was worth keeping (at least for now) and what I needed to ask her to make decisions on. This went amazingly smoothly and she was very good at the decision making process. She even gave me her excuses for her choices. As before, we had no time for ifs, buts and maybes so there was a vast amount of stuff that made its way to the new house. Several SUV loads in fact. Which is why I am going back next week to help sort it out and to assist in more decluttering.

Meanwhile my friend was being ruthless in her bedroom. She donated no less than eight garbage bags of clothes to the thrift shop. Keeping in mind that she had no idea what thrift shop to use or what sorts of things they would accept. Luckily she quickly found one quite nearby that would take anything she had to offer. She was also ruthless at tossing out old make-up, expired toiletries and even some sentimental items. She packed as she went, keeping aside only the things she would need for the next few days.

After numerous trips to the new place we began to see that light at the end of the tunnel. And at nightfall on the Saturday we called it quits for the day and went out for a a easy dinner and some much earned rest.

To be continued…

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something a loved one gave you that you don’t need and is just collection dust. This doesn’t mean you don’t love the person just not the item.

Eco Tip for the Day

Take public transport where possible. It is better for the environment and actually more relaxing than tackling the commute yourself.

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