Hi readers, as I may have mentioned I am about to embark on a six week vacation to Japan and America. In Japan I will be visiting Tokyo, Osaka & Kyoto. In the USA I will be visiting Hawaii, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and a brief period in Anaheim. If any readers in those areas would like to get together for a cuppa and a chat you can contact me via my contact page . I won’t post dates here but I will be happy to talk dates with you if you are interested.

Likewise I am sending a call to anyone who would like to write a guest post for me while I am away. I have been very busy of late and have not had a chance to write in advance. I will write when I can while I am away but I would love it if some/any of my readers would like to have their say for a change. Sharing your brand of decluttering wisdom with your fellow readers can be quite therapeutic for yourself and a refreshing new angle for your fellow readers. Not only that it would give me the opportunity for some much needed time off to revitalise and enjoy all the sights, sounds and cultures of the place I will be visiting along the way. You can write one or several posts as I have plenty of days to fill. You can even submit a set of mini mission if you like.

After writing that I feel quite excited to sit back and read what you have to say and see some different mini missions ideas. You may simply like to post a short help request post for advice on a particular decluttering issue you are having. So please get on board and make this a fun six weeks for us.

If you are interested in writing a guest post simply contact me through the contact page and I will send you an email address to send your submission through to.

Today’s Mini Mission

As mentioned above I am still decluttering for my kids. They drop it off to me and I take it to the thrift shop. You on the other hand may still have kids at home. Now, as the season begin to change, is a good time to start taking a look in their closets to see if there are clothing items that no longer fit. Doing a little tidying up in there at the same time would also be wise. Know what they have that still fits for the coming season will help you to no go out buying things they don’t need and recluttering all over again.

Eco Tip for the Day

Use the stairs rather than the elevator. This of course has the added bonus of a little impromptu exercise. My husband and I have made a habit of mostly using the stairs to go down from out 6th floor apartment and then riding the elevator when we go up.

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

“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 and rearrange the work bench and tool chest. ~ Most homes have a place to store the home maintenance gear. And typically when catering to home maintenance, hardware comes in multiples and these can mound up or not get put away properly when a task is complete. This area isn’t too messy in our home, even though we have been doing lots of little DIY tasks of late. But a little tidying and tweaking never goes astray.

This brings to light an area of our homes where we often cater for the “I might need it someday.” situation the most. Now I can’t give individual advice on what tools are most often used for all people. There are the obvious ones of course, screwdrivers, hammer, wrenches, pliers, basic drill and bits etc., but some people are handier than others so do much more home and vehicle maintenance.

What we as individuals have to figure out is what is useful often enough to us to justify the space taken up in our homes. Outside of that I would suggest hiring or borrowing to suit your needs. The problem with this is that many tools are so inexpensive that we would rather have them on hand than have to go to the expense and/or inconvenience to acquire them through hiring or borrowing.

Since moving into our new apartment my husband and I have been doing more DIY stuff then we ever have before. As a result my husband often laments having decluttered some of our tools in the past. When this occurs I remind him that we do not have the space to store them and this phase of extra DIY will likely pass and that there are always ways to improvise. And improvise we have. The issue with the endless variety of specialised tools out there, just like kitchen implements, is that owning them is very well and good if you are a handyman, chef or avid hobbyist, but for the average person all these specialist tools just end up being space wasters.

Similarly all those tiny bits and pieces that go along with home maintenance ~ screws, nails, dowels, washers, drill bits, drywall plugs, picture hooks… can begin to get out of hand very quickly. Even and especially if you only do a small amount of maintenance. This is because most hardware stores only carry these items in bulk. One of our readers mentioned last week how the Restore shop that she acquires these items from sells them individually ~ how great would that be? Unfortunately this uncommon so for most people all I can suggest is to buy the smallest quantity in the most general size that you can get away with. Don’t get lured by the more economical bulk buy. Investigate all the hardware stores in your area to see who caters to this the best for your needs. And as mentioned above, share between friends and family.

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 don’t talk much about organisation here at 365 Less Things. That is because I have found that once the clutter is gone things naturally end up in their logical position. However sometimes there are areas of our homes that need constant maintenance or even rearranging and/or decluttering to stay efficiently functional. This weeks mission will reflect areas of my home that I find I have to keep an eye on so they don’t get out of hand. And of course a little decluttering in these areas will make the job easier. Sometimes the decluttering is 90% of the task.

Monday – Declutter and organise the messiest drawer in your home. My craft drawers are the ones the get messed up because of all the experimenting I do craft wise. I keep the catering to these experiments limited but never the less I sometimes have to decide what is working for me and what isn’t and declutter and rearrange in the appropriate drawers on a regular basis.

Tuesday – Declutter and rearrange the work bench and tool chest. Most homes have a place to store the home maintenance gear. And typical when catering to home maintenance, hardware comes in multiples and these can mound up or not get put away when a task is done. This area isn’t too messing in our home, even though we have been doing lots of little home tasks of late. But a little tidying and tweaking never goes astray.

Wednesday – Declutter and reorganise the cupboard under the kitchen sink. This is one area of my home that I haven’t really sorted out properly since we moved in. It is about time I made a little more effort here, more in the organising than the decluttering but never-the-less it needs doing and I have what I need to get on with the task.

Thursday – If your transition point is getting a little cluttered like mine, perhaps it is time you make a trip to the thrift shop to unload all those decluttered items. I went on Wednesday as usual to do my shift and forgot to take my load of donation. Or should I say my kids donations which most of it is. I must remember it this week, along with all the upcycling I have been doing for the shop. That has been fun but I will be glad to clear it out of my spare bedroom.

Friday – As mentioned above I am still decluttering for my kids. They drop it off to me and I take it to the thrift shop. You on the other hand may still have kids at home. Now, as the season begin to change, is a good time to start taking a look in their closets to see if there are clothing items that no longer fit. Doing a little tidying up in there at the same time would also be wise. Know what they have that still fits for the coming season will help you to no go out buying things they don’t need and recluttering all over again.

Saturday – This next mission is a tip I refashioned from a kids holiday entertainment ideas helpful hint. Perhaps you can instigate it at your home today. Get yourself a jar, then when you encounter items not quite ready to be decluttered (clothes getting tatty, kids clothes almost outgrown, fabric décor items getting grubby or tattered, toys too young for your kids, something you don’t think is being used that you are keeping your eye on ~ that sort of thing) write down the thought on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. When you are struggling to find your thing a day to declutter, pull a note out of the jar and perhaps that will jog your memory of something that can now be eliminated. If this tip doesn’t appeal to you perhaps just declutter one of the items I just mentioned.

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

Drive smoothly and steadily rather than speeding up too quickly and braking erratically. One uses up petrol and the other wears out your brake pads. Both are wasteful and costly.

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

Friday again and another weeks almost gone by and also another month. It seems like just yesterday that we moved into our apartment, but in fact that was nearly nine months ago. And with every day that passes by we love living here even more.

One thing I have noticed about our new uncluttered, downsized life is that stuff tends to flow through our home now rather than come to rest, or stuff come to rest while something else flows out. I am pleased to say that much of that has been preloved, so there has been no buyers guilt attached.

I wouldn’t say that the apartment is fine tuned to the point that we can sit back and simply enjoy it. However that would probably be boring anyway. Life has a tendency to cause things to crop up that force you to make changes.

Anyway back to the point of this post, and that is the flow through. The something in something out strategy is working well for us. And I am still constantly on the lookout for items that are sitting idle that count for something out nothing in. Then there are the things that get used up and not replaced or at the very least only replaced when used up. Some items have been found not to work so well in our new space and have been changed out or eliminated. And my husband has semi retired so reduced the number of work uniforms he keeps. And although I sometimes acquire a new craft tool or materials there are more things going out in this area than coming in.

So as you see, because of this flow through of stuff,  it is unlikely that my home would become cluttered again.

Are you having the same success of stopping clutter from building up, or are you fighting a continuous battle.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you just haven’t used in a long time. Perhaps some sort of craft item that you imagined you could create something wonderful with but haven’t. Or perhaps a kitchen item that never was overly useful.

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

I am sure I have talked about this topic numerous times but it is worth repeating over and over again. Two situations in recent times have brought both sides of this subject to the fore again for me.

Situation 1 ~ Many times over the last few years I have given advice to my friend, who I just helped declutter, to slowly start getting rid of her stuff. She even reads my blog sometimes. One of the pieces of advice dished out was to have a plan for where to offload her unwanted stuff. However aside from giving me craft items and her friend, who is a teacher, craft and stationery items and she gave paper shredding to the vet., she still had no real plan in place until the crunch came and she had to move.

At this point she discovered a thrift store mere blocks away where she could drop off stuff. This made the bulk of her decluttering easy. Then we began decluttering toiletry items such as hand creams etc. I suggested investigating local women’s shelters, at which point she told me that a friend who lived in a flat upstairs works at such a shelter. My first thought was ~ “So, why oh why, had you not thought to utilise such a convenient way to shift this stuff.” But it occurred to me that many people just don’t think the same way I do.

I then also set an example of how you can give other stuff away right on your own doorstep, by hanging a bag of partly used notebooks on the apartment fence in clear view of passersby. They were gone within the hour. I put a free sign on them of course so people new they were meant to be taken.

Situation 2 ~ I was reading a comment from Wendy B. on Monday where she tells how she is giving away stuff. Here is what she wrote…

“I guess our reason is We Don’t Want To Move It. Ian is a man on a mission. The other day he called up the Boy Scouts and left a message — do they want camping gear? The reply was “Yes, we’ll even come and get it”. He is currently rounding up tents and backpacks and sleeping bags (definitely Thursday mission) Earlier this morning he pillaged the plumbing and electrical boxes and drawers and we have 2 boxes of stuff to offer to the Habitat ReStore. For my part, I’ve gone through the seed boxes and given away or thrown out all the flower and veggie seeds we will never plant. We are on a roll…”

As you can see, Ian and Wendy are both thinking ahead. And some pretty logical and clever thinking indeed. They are looking at their stuff, deciding what needs to go and then thinking who might best benefit from their donations. As you can see from her comment they found very good homes, very quickly for their stuff. And this is a very good example of using your imagination or, in my opinion, logic to work out places to offload your stuff.

Let me give you a few more examples.

• There are plenty of people less privileged than yourself. Whether in you own neighbourhood or in other countries. So naturally they would benefit greatly from your donation of all sorts of things. Things such as old eyeglasses which most optometrist will collect and send to charities who deal with this sort of donation. Thrift shops will send clothes that they can’t sell on the local market to companies that send overseas. Mobility aids such as crutches, wheel chairs and the like are also called for. And there are many more examples.
• There are charity craft groups who make clothing for premature babies and clothes, blankets and toys for underprivileged children.
• There are also sporting groups who will take equipment.
• Magazines can go to doctor and dentist surgeries or any waiting place where a little light reading would be enjoyed. Also mens and women’s shelters and schools would also benefit from these.
• Schools can save a lot of much needed funds through receiving donations of all sorts of stationary and equipment.
• Sheets, blankets, towels and pillows to animal shelters, vets and pet and wildlife rescue charities.
• Even stained clothing can be donated and accepted by charities to be sold as rag.

The list goes on and on but as you can see the options are logical and generally easily accessible.  Once you have an idea all you need then is your computer search engine or the phone book to find a perspective beneficiary in your area. You can see some more suggestions here.

All you need to do is identify an item you intend to declutter and consider who might best benefit from it and go from there. 80% if stuff will usually be accepted by a thrift shop but as you can see there are plenty of other options for that 80% as well as the other 20.

Today’s Mini Mission

  Return something that belongs to someone else.

“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

Be very selective about what you buy so that you are so satisfied with the product that you will use it until it wears out and not trade it in for something else soon after.

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’ll be the first to admit that I am no fashion expert. So I am not going to give you any advice on what clothes to shop for. However, what I am going to share with you today are tips that I think will help you to avoid a wardrobe cluttered with clothes that you don’t wear. So without further adieu I will give you my opinions on ways to avoid adding clothing clutter.

1. Don’t insist on keeping up with the trends. Trends are all about changing whats “in fashion” in a  ploy to keep you buying whether you need new clothes or not. So don’t be a sucker to consumerism and only buy clothes when you need them. Sure indulge in a few in trend items when needed but keep with the classics for 80% of your wardrobe because they never go out of fashion.
2. Don’t buy clothes just because you like the look of them on the rack, in advertising or on famous people. Do buy clothes that suit your body type and complexion.
3. Keeping with the suggestions in 1. and 2. also try on the clothes prior to purchase and only buy the ones that you look and feel great in.
4. Buy clothing items that or well designed, cut and constructed. That doesn’t necessarily mean the high price equals high quality because it often doesn’t.
5. Don’t overstock on wardrobe staples. A good laundering routine should make certain that you have clean items when needed. I have witnesses more than one in recent times how laziness and poor routine contribute to the necessity of an overstocked wardrobe.
6. When you do buy an item, to replace one that has gotten shabby, make sure you declutter the old one as soon as the new one enters the home. My experience is that if you don’t you will end up with the one new model that you now wear and several just-in-case versions of the same item. Then even if the new one isn’t available you will avoid the others because, lets face it, they haven’t gotten any less shabby over time.
7. Don’t window shop or browse. Temptation is easier to resist when it isn’t with in reach. Don’t be looking on-line either because an e-shop is only a click away. And to make that worse you could buy without trying only to find the items isn’t right for you in more ways than one. And we all know how slack we can be at returning items and before you know it the return period has lapsed and you are stuck with the item with no hope of a refund or exchange.

I am sure this post will generate some interesting comments where we will learn even more tips and suggestions. So please don’t hold back your input can be very helpful.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you keep as a backup for something else but isn’t expensive to replace.

“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

Keeping up with trends generally leads to waste. Waste environmentally, waste of our hard earned money and often leads to waste of space in our homes.

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 are unrelated, aside from all intended to achieve less clutter in your home. So use your imagination and see if you can find something for each mission.

Monday – Declutter something you only keep because you paid a lot for it.

Tuesday – Declutter something that you keep as a backup for something else but isn’t expensive to replace.

Wednesday –  Return something that belongs to someone else.

Thursday – Declutter something from your past that doesn’t add any value to your life now.

Friday – Declutter something that you just haven’t used in a long time. Perhaps some sort of craft item that you imagined you could create something wonderful with but haven’t. Or perhaps a kitchen item that never was overly useful.

Saturday – Declutter something you received for free that isn’t beautiful or useful to you.

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 leave lights on when rooms are unoccupied. It takes but a flick of a switch to achieve illumination and you’ll cope in the dark until that can be achieved.

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