For more than 8 months I have been struggling with my office and my desk. It has been a mess and it has been impossible to solve. It seemed that no matter what kind of organizing system I used, nothing seemed to work on my desk or inside my home office. I asked Colleen for advice time and time again, but it appeared that no matter her suggestion, I could not make it work.

So what was wrong in my home office? Firstly I had a mild depression. I did not recognize it back them but I was depressed. My job is a very emotional one I deal with people’s emotions and their private lives. It can be gruesome and very tiresome. As I also depressed I got deep bone tired of my line of work. All that led me to avoid my office. Instead of solving the problems on my desk I chose to ignore them because I did not have the energy or the will to tackle them. However my working problems or my health problems did not go away because I ignored them. They just got bigger.

I was so tired and depressed that instead of solving the problem I considered just abandoning a profession I love. I did know that I had to take a different approach, not get so involved with the emotional problems of my clients, and be more detached and professional. But I was not doing that.

As I did not know what was wrong, I still could not solve my office’s problem. It was only when I was medicated, a few months ago that I finally understood my whole problem. And now I am tackling my desk one thing at a time.

So, as I discovered, sometimes clutter has a different source than keeping, buying or getting more stuff. Sometimes we are sick, sometimes we are just tired. I had to look really hard for the real source of my problem. So whenever we are struggling with a declutter problem we have to look hard for the real source of that.

Today’s Mini Mission

Return something that you have borrowed from someone else that you should possibly have returned some time ago.

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

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 is another good exercise to help you find extra things you may not have thought to get rid of. So this week we are once going to remove some clutter that might be bothering someone else in some way. If you decide to take on this weeks missions be prepared for it to be confronting at times. 

Monday – Ask your partner/husband/roommate if there is something of yours in your shared living space that they wish you would declutter because they don’t like it. It is up to you whether you comply of course.

Tuesday – Remove something from your yard that a neighbour might be able to see and think looks out of place or unsightly. Ask the neighbour if you aren’t sure and are game.

Wednesday – Ask a family member if they have anything you have given them that they really don’t want but keep because it was a gift from you. Give them permission to declutter it.

Thursday – Return something that you have borrowed from someone else that you should possibly have returned some time ago.

Friday – Declutter an area where your items may have spilled over into someones else’s space. For example ~ Your clothes in your husbands side of the closet.

Saturday – Ask a family member if there is an area of clutter in your home that you might have overlooked that they think needs attention. This might possibly be an area that is OK to you but annoying for them.

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

Not so long ago, Colleen wrote an excellent post about discovering who we really are when decluttering. The post was “Who are you”.

I thought that post was great. It encouraged me to think about whom I had been before decluttering and who I am now. It made me think about what I want out of life, work and my home environment. Throughout my decluttering journey many times I have struggled with stuff related to who I was a long time ago as opposed to whom I am now.

One example of that were my cassette tapes which I got rid of. While they were all important to my teenage self and listened and cared for back them, they had no importance in my adult life, and therefore became clutter and a burden. I remember my toys from my childhood. They are all gone, with one single exception. I remember most of my toys and even have pictures as a child with some of them. However if I still had them they would just be another collection of stuff to clutter up my home. I hold their memories dear to my heart. Not so sure I would be so found of the actual objects to this day. As for holding your toys for your kids, unless you get detached from them (i.e. you REALLY DON’T CARE if they are broken) you will never let them go and will never let your children touch them.

On the other hand I have DVDs of my favourite movies (Star Wars – original trilogy – and The Lord of the Rings) which I have watched over and over again and, therefore, is not clutter but a cherished collection which shows my nerdy side.

I also found stuff that I really like on the internet. I like comic strips from new artists. I follow four blogs which publish them daily. I went to a comic books fair and met one author, bought his book, got it autographed and took a picture with him. It was a very enjoyable moment and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But what does any of it have to do with decluttering? Well if I had never decluttered I would never had opened space to change, to discover who I am today. We change every day, but if we hang on to objects of the past, if we hold ourselves back we fail to enjoy today. I loved to play with my toys as a child, but no matter how many of them I had today that time has long gone. I had a great time as a teenager, but my memories cannot be held in objects. I enjoyed my young adult years, my college time, but no object from that time will capture those memories back. It was only by letting go of objects, stuff no longer used or cared for that I opened up space for new interests and new people in my life (a.k.a. my children – LOL).

So, think about your life. What do you enjoy today? What are your interests now? Apart from a few mementos, we must direct our lives and objects to be useful today and to our life as it is and not some distant memory from the past.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” it fits you again some day.

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

Do you have trouble with procrastination? Is “later” always the perfect time to do something? Are you stressed, missing deadlines, and constantly playing catch-up? Well…..hello! It’s so nice to meet a kindred spirit! Procrastination has always been one of my worst habits. But I recently finished an online course in “Learning How to Learn” (www.coursera.org) that has taught me something new about procrastination.
Brain researchers have discovered that when we dread doing an activity, the thought registers in the same physical area of our brain where pain registers. So naturally, we do the same thing we do when confronted with pain – we attempt to avoid it. However, the minute we refocus or re-frame our thinking by looking at the first step needed to successfully tackle a project — well, then the thought moves out of the area where pain registers and into an area I call the “getting things done” area. More focus – without the pain association! This has been such a tremendous help to me.
Now, instead of looking at years of files that need to be sorted and thinking, “I’ll get to that first thing tomorrow,” I focus on what my beginning step should be to get the job started. In this case, my beginning step included:
• using a filing crate and creating categories for the files I want to keep
• purchasing a shredder
• making a commitment to go through at least 5 files a day.
This has really jump-started my file de-cluttering process. I usually end up purging and sorting more than 5 files, but if not, I still pat myself on the back for the progress I am making.
Another helpful tip is to use a timer. Our brains tend to function better if we alternate 20-25 minutes of focused activity with a 5 minute break. The key is set your timer for both the activity time and the break time, so your breaks don’t end up getting you side tracked. (Can you tell I am speaking from experience?!) If possible, try to walk during some of your breaks, even if it is just walking in place for those few minutes. The process of moving first your right foot, and then your left (or left and then right!), activates the connection between your right and left brain sections. This helps you think more creatively and effectively.
Re-focusing my thinking on the process instead of the end result has helped me so much. I hope it helps someone else, too!
Jackie
P.S. The “Learning How to Learn” course is being offered again by Coursera. It is free and worth checking out. The course began on October 3, but you can jump in at any time during the four week course. Here is the link: https://www.coursera.org/course/learning

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 for our mini missions lets concentrate on “Just in case” clutter. There are several different clutter scenarios where “Just in case” comes in to play. I have come up with seven for this weeks missions. Let’s see if you can come up with seven matching items to declutter.

Monday – Declutter something that your are keeping “just in case” it becomes valuable some day.

Tuesday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” you have grandchildren some day.

Wednesday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” you eventually find a use for it.

Thursday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” it fits you again some day.

Friday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” the person who gave it to you notices it missing.

Saturday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” you finally might get around to reading it.

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

It seems funny to talk about emotions and feelings when talking about inanimate objects that can be replaced, but we place emotion and feelings on stuff all the time. It can be good or it can be really bad.

If you have a loving memory attached to a few chosen mementos in a little cardboard box or on a shelf, well cared for and displayed in your home it is all good and fun, because those things take you to a good place and make you feel good every time you look at them.

On the other hand, we, as human beings, tend to hold on to suffering and pain as well. Not only in thought but in objects that bring us sadness like 

• …an unwanted gift from someone who we know doesn’t really like us that we feel obliged to keep which is constant source of irritation.
• …a piece of jewellery from a broken romance or marriage.
• …something from a passed loved one that brings feeling of the sadness of loss.

We keep some stuff around out of guilt or obligation (because it was a “gift”) Out of anger ~ yes, even the most sane of us sometimes keep stuff to remind us to keep on disliking someone else!.  Out of remembrance even though it causes us pain. Out of fear that we might need it someday. And sometimes we don’t even know why we keep it. And many other reasons.

So, what to do? Well: get rid of it! Donate it, pass it on to someone else who might appreciate it. Or even trash it, burn it if you have strong need of a good purge. But get it away from you and your home along with the grief. In the case of a reminder of a passed loved one, learn to associate the object with happy memories of that person instead of the grief of losing them. 

I am saying this because our homes are our sanctuaries and should be treated as such.

Sanctuary, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is a “Refuge or safety from pursuit, persecution, or other danger”. We seek in our homes a place to be safe, to take a much needed break from the world outside. It is our refuge, our little piece of haven in this earth (or it should be it). Some of the readers even decluttered their tvs in order to have a more restful and calm environment at home. So, if we consider our homes our sanctuaries, why would we keep something attached with negative feelings for us in it? There is no logic in this choice and it can cause a deep hurt along the way.

So, if you have any object/stuff that brings out in you feelings of anger, angst, hate, deep hurt, unhappiness or anything really negative, think really hard if you should keep it, and consider getting rid of it as soon as possible, or better still now. 😀  That is especially true for things that came from people we don’t really care about or like.

So, do you have any objects that are bringing you hurt instead of being useful or reminding you of something good? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that has been sitting in a storage area for quite sometime but still isn’t being used.

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

Christine had been leaving lots of great comments so I asked her if she would like to write a post for me while I am on vacation. So here is her story. Enjoy!

Hello Fellow-365ers!

I am delighted to be here today to talk a little about my decluttering journey so far and the benefits that my family and I are enjoying as a result.

My husband and I moved to the US from the UK 27 years ago with just a few basic possessions, and over the years we acquired more stuff until our house was gradually getting filled up with books, collections, clothing, toys, school supplies, kitchenware, china, the endless household paraphernalia – and I was preparing to install more shelving, buy more cabinets, create more storage, buy more organizing solutions, when I quite literally came to a crashing halt in a road accident. My injuries left me without the full use of my hands for several weeks and it was during that time of enforced inactivity that I came across Colleen’s blog, and to say that I was inspired is an understatement. I realized that I was spending an inordinate amount of time, not to mention money, trying to organize excess possessions, when the answer was simply to eliminate all those unnecessary things. I also realized that our ability to do certain things can be abruptly stopped or changed and suddenly we can’t do all those things that we take for granted and do without thinking – the washing-up, the laundry, all those essential household tasks. Further, I learned that my possessions gave me little comfort and assistance in a difficult time, rather it was my friends who brought meals or drove my sons home from school who were the true treasures in my life.

During those weeks I read through the entire 365 Less Things blog and mentally prepared for my forthcoming declutter which began as soon as I regained the full use of my hands. I am very pleased that in the two years since then we have donated 1659 items to charity, and on top of that some things have been sold and many recycled. Perhaps surprisingly, I have not missed or regretted a single one of those things, in fact on the contrary I feel great relief and a sense of lightness every time I leave the donation center and re-energized to find more things to donate.

As for the benefits of decluttering, they are many. First, the housework has been greatly simplified now that I have fewer things around needing to be dusted. I have saved a noticeable amount of money by stopping indiscriminate purchases of extra, duplicate or unneeded stuff; these days before buying anything I ask myself how long it will be before that thing becomes one of my donation items. I enjoy having friends to visit and it is nice that the house is usually “company ready” and it doesn’t take forever to straighten up after they leave. My husband has a demanding job and works long days so I like having a peaceful home for him to return to, a place to relax rather than somewhere that is calling out for action or attention everywhere we look. I especially like knowing that “stuff” has lost its grip on me; I have lost the desire to keep acquiring, and with the help of this blog I have realized that inanimate objects do not need to have an emotional or sentimental hold over me, which has been very liberating. Thus I have been able to pass along gifts which I didn’t really like, and even things such as my wedding dress and certain items which belonged to my late mother.

There is still a long way to go! It is likely that we will try to downsize from this house in the next few years so I want to continue to thin out our possessions to pave the way for a simplified eventual move. There are some areas of the house which I have yet to start on and which will be quite challenging (10 years worth of Lego to start with) but with the support and encouragement of Colleen and the 365 community I know it can be done!

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.

There are all sorts of reasons why things become clutter. Here are some missions that might get you thinking and searching your home to find something that matches the description. You may also be surprised how quickly you will find that item.

Monday – Repair something that has become clutter because it is broken or declutter it to someone who has the skills to fix it.

Tuesday – Declutter an item that you only keep because it was once useful to you. If it isn’t useful to you anymore it is just clutter.

Wednesday – Scan your home for an item that has become so much a part of the scenery that you haven’t even realised it isn’t useful to you anymore.

Thursday – Declutter something that has been sitting in a storage area for quite sometime but still isn’t being used.

Friday – Give something that has become heirloom clutter to another family member who would be happy to become the caretaker of it.

Saturday -Declutter something that you have more of than you really need for the sake of convenience rather than necessity.

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

When procrastination is good and when it is awful

Note: I was inspired to write this by a very thorough post I read at Unclutterer .com, so if anything seems familiar, it may be because I picked something from there. I had no intention of plagiarise anything.

I have to admit it: procrastination is the bane of my existence. I do it on a daily basis and have been doing it for just about all of my 37 years (not from birth but certainly as soon as school started…well, you get the idea!). I am a serial procrastinator: from deadlines to dishes, from bills to making the bed, I always leave things to do later.

That tends to leave me in some very tight spots. I am the queen of excuses: I will do it next week! Oh, can you manage without that? I am doing it, as we speak, on my computer! It makes for awful business practice. I don’t think I ever lost a case because of it, because I am very lucky and I do look at stuff I have deadlines on. But I rely on the unreality of the big system – the system I work in is very slow, takes forever, so my not doing things so fast does not show. 

On the decluttering front, awful procrastination is when you set an urgent task, that you need to do NOW. A task of decluttering and organising bills, documents, birth certificates, passports, etc and a delay, a wrong declutter or a loss can be very bad and onerous on the money front. However you keep leaving that task until next weekend when you are free… BUT THE NEXT FREE WEEKEND NEVER COMES!!! 

My procrastination on getting my office in some order made me lose bills and lose a payment that left me with a debt I could already be done with. I kept putting this task off due to perfectionism, I felt it was all or nothing and the task was avoided. Unfortunately procrastination involving decluttering and dealing with urgent paperwork is awful, because it can mean losing money and paying interest when you shouldn’t have to. 

So when you are dealing with decluttering that involves deadlines, things to do in your job, bills, recipes, paying taxes, don’t procrastinate. At the very least do the task roughly, set priorities, but get the urgent done. Procrastination and time to think, can get you in trouble here.

There is also the good procrastination. I use it especially when dealing with sentimental items. Sometimes it is very easy to part with sentimental items. You stop, look at the thing and don’t know why you kept it up to that point. At other times it is particularly hard to declutter a sentimental item. I have been having these problems with my cassette tapes. Even though I told Colleen and everyone I would be decluttering them soon, I am procrastinating their decluttering. Yes, they are here, I could already be done with them, but it still does not feel right to do it. I am mulling over what kind of memory box I am putting them in, how many I am going to keep, how I am going to fashion such a memory box, so it is a procrastination. However it is not bad for me. True, the cassette tapes are in a temporary place and I keep looking at them day in and day out, but it is not hurting me. It will not be a problem if I do it today or in a months’ time. I decided I would do it and eventually I will. I

So, my point is, if it is not something urgent and that impacts on your daily living like I mentioned before, you can procrastinate on it for a while. It is good actually because you can decide more calmly and not regret whatever you do in the long run. And in the meantime declutter something else that is easy to deal with. Still making progress and you mull it over.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you have kept just because you have the room for it but don’t love it or use it.

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

I was fortunate to meet up and become friends with Colleen after starting reading her blog.   She has ‘enlightened ‘ me greatly and we laugh a lot. I will try and keep it simple, this is just my take on a bit of my declutter journey.

HABITS

The Habits I have changed over the last few years and the new ones I have embraced in my declutter journey.
No Junk Mail.
A simple sign that attached to my mailbox avoids my house being filled with free newspapers and catalogues from every store in town.
Result ~ massive clutter saver and removes any temptation to go and purchase items in catalogue.
I have extended this to my electronic mail box. Un subscribing from so many things like Cruise Lines, Ikea, Political blogs, Airlines, Blogs of any description and store newsletters. It takes a minute to check my email and I save on downloading potential time wasting junk mail and using up data that I pay for.

Not hitting the Like or Subscribe Button
Result ~ less reading of emails or posts.

Reducing the Number of Bath Towels
With five adults (plus their friends)in the house, the amount of towels to be washed exploded. The towel cupboard was always empty and the pile to be washed was huge. So I reduced the number of towels down to 15, I removed the extra large towels and only have similar size and thickness towels to make washing and drying easy. Giving everyone their own color or pattern towels works well.
Result ~ No large pile of towels to wash. Everyone is now aware that there is a limited supply of towels and they are responsible to wash their own.

Making my bed when I get up of a morning
Result ~ room looks tidy immediately.

Setting the trip meter on the car 
I can usually tell how many miles/kilometres I get on a tank of fuel. I Always fill the car up and reset the meter. I do this because I have a iffy fuel gauge and have been caught running out of fuel. I always fill the car up which saves time. Putting $60 of fuel in once a fortnight is simpler than $20 every few days ( or so it seems)
Result ~ I no longer have to carry a fuel can in car in case I run out of fuel.

Setting an alarm on my phone at the same each month or week helps remind me to do odd jobs around the house. I have terrible memory and usually think of doing things at the wrong time.

Putting things on a hooks
Never underestimate the usefulness of hooks. Behind the door in the bedroom for the clothes that don’t need washing but not going back in the wardrobe.
Behind the door in the bathroom for clothes.
In the kitchen for your bag and keys.
Hooks for the house/car keys. One placed in a convenient place in the kitchen saves time for you and anyone else that needs to use the key.  I have a cousin who refuses to use the hook set I gifted her and she still spends forever searching for her car keys.

Using a lanyard
I keep my house and car keys on a lanyard. I especially like this when I go grocery shopping. The car key is hanging around my neck and is easily used to unlock the car. A lanyard makes it easier to place keys on the hook as well.

Reducing my use of Loyalty Cards
I once had a wallet full of cards for collecting loyalty points. I used a hole punch and put a hole in the corner of them and had them on my car keys for easy access. Then I ended up discarding the rarely used ones and now I only use an actual discount card which is in my wallet. Loyalty statements and emails from these companies are just junk mail for me. Investigate wether the points you earn traveling can be combined with other family members or other cards.
When a credit card is paid off , close it. They have annual fees and are a temptation. I closed a store card five years ago , just before Christmas last year, they sent me a statement ??? showing I had credit on my card. Obviously to induce me to contact them and reinstate my account.

In summary the things that make my habits workable -Hooks, reminders on my phone, less towels, less junk/email/mail, no loyalty cards, a lanyard for my keys and setting the trip meter in my car.
What habits have you embraced?
Cheers.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a spare thing-a-me-jig that you have been keeping just in case.

“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

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