Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I hate to be a cynic, but I think I might be becoming one when it come to this oxymoron* ~ Useful gifts. More specifically, useful generic gifts. My mother gave me a drip irrigation system for Christmas. Let me tell you, that’s a useful gift, and I am so appreciative. (Thanks Mom!) But what about these “useful” gifts that have recently come into my home:

• water bottles and bandannas from a child’s birthday party.
• water bottles as a “finisher’s prize” for a book reading contest
• water bottles given to the kids when they went to camp for a day
• bandannas as a party favor at an adult party
• cheap backpacks given as a promotion for Lemonaid Day (a fundraising event for kids)
• expensive backpack given to my daughter when she was in the hospital
• expensive backpacks given to my husband annually when he attends a conference
• tote bags given at conferences and as promotions in stores
• soap, lotions and other toiletries
• and let’s not forget T-shirts for registering or participating in nearly any event

Sure, on their own, each one of these items can be useful. I’m not going to argue with that. A water bottle, a bandanna, a back pack, a tote bag, a t-shirt – all these items can be useful. But I went from having a just-right number of water bottles to having an explosion of them. My kids have backpacks, and each one lasts for two school years. I’ve already decluttered a half dozen bandannas; now I have more. As for t-shirts, let me just say that when I started decluttering, my husband had 100.

What’s a declutterer to do? First off, I try to leave these things behind when they are offered to me. Yes, you might have to step out of your comfort zone to say “no thanks” rather than just accepting what’s handed to you. This helps with clutter, but unfortunately, there is still the larger environmental impact of that item’s existence. We don’t need these things (or even want them), and the fact that they exist means that the raw materials have been gathered, and they have been manufactured, transported, etc. – a waste of perfectly good energy.

To make my small impact on these larger issues, I have resisted gifts more and more. (As Colleen once wrote, Don’t the very words “stocking stuffer” = “unnecessary item”.) If it’s not truly a want or need of someone in the family, we don’t buy it. We make gifts. I shop at the thrift stores, Craiglist, and Ebay first; local stores next; the mall last. This year I vowed to give no material gifts to my children’s friends. For my own friends, with whom I rarely exchange gifts anyway, I give something very practical, like a homemade frozen meal. (Way more appreciated at Christmas time than more candy or a Santa trinket, I guarantee you!) If there’s nothing I really want, I ask for a gift certificate to my favorite online store, Amazon.com, where I can buy practically anything when the need does arise.

When did “I love you and value your friendship” start to equal “so I’ll give you some cheap crap to show it”? Or “I’m so grateful that you came to my conference that I’ll load you up on items you can’t possibly use” become a standard business practice? Only by becoming conscious of choices in all areas of our lives can we start to change and to change the people around us. I know I’ve had an influence on my friends and on you, our readers, and I know you have too. Let’s be like water on a pond sending ripples of wisdom outward instead of thoughtless consumers of more, more, and more.

*For those of you who are not native English speakers, an oxymoron is a figure of speech where two apparently opposite ideas are paired.

Today’s Declutter Item

I have looked forward to this day from the very beginning of my declutter mission and it has finally arrived. This is the hutch section of an entertainment unit that is no longer suitable to fit the TV into. It is big and dark and bulky and held a lot of stuff I never really used or loved. By slowly decluttering spaces in the bottom section of this unit, in the kitchen cupboards and the bookcase it is finally empty and a man named Brian will be recycling it to create other pieces of furniture. It was picked up today by Brian and his brother Bob and I am glad to see it go.

Display Cabinet

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ My husband poking fun at our daughter because her favourite baseball team lost again today. It is an ongoing love hate relationship between them during the baseball season, mostly love though of course.
• Something Awesome ~ Learning to say no when you really don’t want to do something.
• Something to be grateful for ~ The three people who picked up Freecycle items from me today.
• Something that made me happy ~ How light and airy my living room looks without the big display cabinet.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Watching the big storm front build up to the north today. It is now rumbling overhead. Weather is interesting and so different here than it was in Seattle.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Words of Wisdom

Like last week, a comment by Ideealistin’s is the inspiration for this week’s blog. In reponse to Eliminate Clutter Without Even Trying, she spurred me to think of another category of clutter that should be eliminated – excess project purchases. I know this is a pitfall of a lot of 365 Less things readers.

Hobby and craft shops like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby would probably see their receipts decrease by half if it weren’t for Aspirational Clutter. That’s largely what hobby shops sell!  The dream of how beautifully this yarn, that fabric, these beads, or those scrapbook papers will look when used by our talented and creative selves is the drive behind nearly all craft purchases. The trouble comes when we buy far more than we can possibly use – today or even this year. It’s easy to buy in an hour what will take a year to use. If you go to one of these stores even four times a year, you’re probably way overstocked.

The problem is further compounded when you have a big stash, because you don’t really know what’s in there. And the stores offer so many lovely things, that each trip you just have to buy more for fear it won’t be available next trip. In the meantime, the craft supplies you had to have last trip are sitting in the cabinet, still awaiting use.

Besides an excess of craft supplies, a busy crafter can end up with an excess of finished goods too. One of our readers confessed to having 40 photo albums (good for you for putting them together and not just letting the photos and supplies sit around!); another likes to work with wool but lives in a moderate climate. A busy knitter or quilter can easily produce far more scarves and baby blankets than she could possibly use. It breaks my heart when I go to the thrift store and I see a beautifully made, hand crafted item, but even the most lovingly made gift can end up with a $5.00 tag on it.

I recently made the decision to let Audra use a gift baby blanket, a handsome quilt. Frankly, she didn’t use it as a baby: too big and too stiff to wrap around her. It’s just the right size now. The first time I saw it on the ground about to be stepped on, I cringed, but decided that if it wasn’t used, it really wasn’t of any use to anyone. Truthfully, though, if I had been the one to lovingly craft that quilt, I don’t think I’d be quite so quick to let it be used in a day-to-day life and probably many crafters feel this way about their goods.

What’s a declutterer to do? Well, I try very hard to only buy for the project I am going to work on next and will start within the next few weeks. If I don’t get started on the project in what seems like a reasonable amount of time, I return the materials. Also, I try to use what I have. My friend Allison, a scrapbooker, lived for two years in Macedonia. Macedonia doesn’t have craft stores, and she had to make due with what she had. She told me that if she were still here in the US, she would have made numerous trips to the store, but since she didn’t have that option, she cleverly used up what she did have. If Allison can do it, so can we. Be a creator, not a collector.

Today’s Declutter Item

The baseball clutter just keeps coming. It may seem like it will never end but it is a good thing that slowly but surely we are letting go of more and more of this stuff and I am satisfied with that. Freecycle has been wonderful at finding new homes for these items.

Yes, more baseball stuff and this won't be the end of it either!

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ In light of my craft supply sale I had to laugh when I say what Cindy was writing about today. Talk about hitting below the belt. Ow!
• Something Awesome ~ The beautiful weather we have been having this week. It has gotten suddenly colder but the sun is shining and warming up the house.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Finding time amidst my busy week to have a coffee with friends.
• Something that made me happy ~ All the great responses to yesterdays post ~ lots of food for thought.
• Something I found fascinating ~ The strange stuff that appears on television.

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

This week’s favorite five have been chosen by Cindy because Colleen is away on vacation

Favorite Five comments

From Cat’s Meow in response to Do You Shop to Fill a Void? She shares the control she’d taken over her money and her spending. http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=1208#comment-7633

Also from the same post, Delores talks about feeling out of synch with friends who still want to shop, shop, shop. http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=1208#comment-7624

Ornela loved my post on honesty, and encouraged me to let the girls go wild on my remaining scrapbook supplies. http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=1241#comment-7658

Deb J reflected on honesty and decided that she would change the way she manages her scrapbook materials. http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=1241#comment-7672

In response to He’s At It Again, Loretta praised Liam’s decluttering and told of a clever trade her husband made, exchanging what he did not value for things that he did. http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=1288#comment-7675

Favorite five blog post or  web sites I found this week : Many of you probably know that I don’t follow any blogs but this one, so Friday’s Favorite Five is an adventure on the Internet for me.

My first lucky winner is from Tanja at The Minimalist Packrat, who has written a lengthy and deeply honest history of her pack rat lifestyle, her motivation for reducing her belongings, and the painful process of letting go.

Next, I went to The Happiness Project to see what Gretchen Rubin had to say about decluttering myths. (Tip number 1: purchasing containers is not the first step to decluttering.)

I found this primer on Zen Habits. I think it’s particularly valuable for beginning declutterers or those who are stalled.

This guest post from Becoming Minimalist inspired me to think about the larger rewards of decluttering and simplifying. What will you do with your money, your free time? Author Richard Dahlstrom won me over when he suggested getting to know your neighbors better. I can name everyone on my (long) block except the renters, and I regularly host neighborhood pot lucks at my house: Neighborhood food for the soul.

The book Your Money or Your Life was important to me, and I am glad to see that it’s still in print and was interested that two commenters mentioned it this week after I had selected it to be a Friday Favorite. I love it when ideas converge. The books talks about trading your life for money and suggests how you can reduce your expenses based on your own values in order to increase your life satisfaction.

Today’s Declutter Item

I was keeping these in a futile attempt to use them up but I am making little headway so I am donating them to the school down the street instead. I dare say they will use them up much faster than I will.

My Gratitude List

• Something that makes me laugh ~ Watching a little of piglets squabbling for the best feeding position.
• Something Awesome ~ Fresh baked crusty bread still warm out of the oven.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Aeroplanes ~ I would happily never drive a car again in order to save the fuel for flight if I had to. Every other country is a long boat ride from Australia.
• Something that makes me happy ~ See how much my children love each other. It is obvious.
• Something I find fascinating ~ I watched a children’s educational program once abouts who seeds are spread. Some explode out of their pods, some act like helicopters, some attach them selves to animals, some are eaten by animals and them pooped somewhere else… Now if that isn’t fascinating I don’t know what is.

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

Today’s Declutter Item

Computer Game

My Gratitude List

• Something that makes me laugh ~ When you know what mischief is going on in your loved one’s head and you beat them to the punch line. My poor husband is starting to think I can read his mind.
• Something Awesome ~ The pretty dove or pigeon I that suns itself on the roof of my neighbours shed. I has a lovely speckled stripe around it’s neck.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Living in a position that is so handy to a lot of things especially since I don’t have the car most days.
• Something that makes me happy ~ Meeting people and learning about their lives.
• Something I find fascinating ~ How little we need when it all boils down to it.

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

These photos are the result of a 10 minute clean up under my bathroom sink. It took me longer to actually get all the items to their new homes, but the decluttering itself was a breeze and look at the difference. I removed and found new homes for:

The before shot

• 12 bottles of nail polish (neighbor)
• a foot scrub brush (this was broken apart – some recycled, some trashed)
• 2 Aveda Be Curly hair products (neighbor)
• Color Me Beautiful color guide (Anyone else remember Color Me Beautiful? trash)
• a large box of latex gloves (moved to the paint supplies, which is where they’re more useful)
• 4 boxes of hair dye (returned to store)
• hair gel (friend)
• bag of cosmetic sponges (my mother)
• 2 nail files moved to the top drawer where they’d be more accessible
• while rearranging the cabinet, I realized that one of the bottles of hairspray was almost empty. I made sure that we used it on Easter, and now it’s been decluttered too.

How much progress can you make in just 10 minutes today?

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Colleen has issued a Use It Up Challenge several times. The most recent one I can find is in September. I’ve been thinking a lot about this challenge recently because we are finally coming to the end of it here at the Bogard household. Along the way, I consumed all the multiday vitamins and calcium I had in the cabinet, and we used all the various extra bottles shampoos and conditioners along with several toothpaste tubes that the girls had not squeezed down tho their last drops.

Those items were quickly finished in comparison to the soap challenge. I had no idea we owned so much soap! I tried a couple of times to give away the Mr. Bubble then put it into the dispenser with the kitchen soap. (Not the best idea, according to my husband. He feels it lacks any grease cutting ability.)  The rest of it, we have been using up one shower, one bath at a time. We had soap the girls had made, soap their friends had made and given as gifts, chunks of soap left over from when we made soap, fruity smelling bath bars that had been given as gift, little soaps from hotels, and at least a dozen smallish bottles of bath gel that had been gifts. Obviously, the trouble with even a useful gift is that it’s clutter if you don’t use it, so using it is what we’ve been doing, apparently since September. That’s eight months ago!

As we’re approaching the end of the soap supplies, I’ve started thinking about other things that can be used up. The only thing I’ve really latched onto is plastic bags, specifically the sturdy plastic bags that mulch comes in. The last time I did a big mulching, I neatly cut open the tops of the bags and saved them, all stored inside of one bag. I found them when I was cleaning the shed. I decided that since I’d saved them, since they were still intact, and since they really can’t be recycled despite the recycling symbol on the side (too many bits of mulch still clinging to them), I would use them as kitchen trash bags.

I typically only use one kitchen-size trash bag a week, and it holds everything.  These mulch bags are quite a bit smaller than my kitchen trash can – not as wide nor as tall. I had to consciously decide to use them. Because they don’t hold as much, I’ve been using one and a half or two bags per week and am very gradually making my way through them. (I also reuse the large bags my toilet paper comes in as well as dog food and bird seed bags, but those I have much less frequently.) I am packing for a camping trip this weekend and decided to put a couple of the bags in with my kitchen things. They’ll make sturdy camp trash bags. (I am also taking a recycling bin.) If I hadn’t consciously chosen to use the bags, they’d have been wasted when I was dumping the mulch out – it’s a lot easier to get the mulch out if I split the bag down the center than it is to cut just the top – but I chose to Use It Up. (Or, to be more truthful, in the past I decided to Save It Up. In the present, I decided to Use It Up.)

What do you have that’s consumable and in excess to your needs? Food? Check the pantry and the freezer. Toiletries? Check under the sinks and in the bathroom drawers. Craft items? Check your supply drawers. Or is it something more creative like my reduce and reuse mulch/trash bags? Let me know what you’re using up.

Note from Cindy: I am driving the 5th graders on an overnight field trip Tues and Wed (US) or Wed and Thurs (Aus), and I likely will not be able to respond to comments. I have asked Colleen to try and keep up with them if she has time. If not, I’ll jump in when I return.

Today’s Declutter Item

Craft Adhesive (Use it up)

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ An amusing email response to my ki-ai story yesterday. I will not embarrase the author of the email by revealing her name or the details but needless to say her story was way more hilarious than mine and Ki-ai has forever had a special significance to her from that day onward. To be able to laugh at yourself is a good quality to have to give someone else permission to laugh at you is a special gift.
• Something Awesome ~ When you are late for an appointment but they were running late and you arrive just in time.
• Something to be grateful for ~ The opportunities that life continues to deal out to us whether we are expecting them or not.
• Something that made me happy ~A wonderful unplanned day of eating, chatting and laughing with old friends and new.
• Something I find fascinating ~ The things women talk about when we get together. I wonder what men talk about when we aren’t around. I bet they don’t have nearly as much fun or are as open as us females.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

…with help from Amy Brady, Owner, The Clutter Consultants

Sometimes you feel that you’ll never get finished if you just declutter one item a day, or you feel so desperate about your situation that you need a radical change, and you need it now. You might be overwhelmed and emotionally bogged down by your clutter, but a professional organizer is not. Getting an outsider to help you form a plan of action, motivate and lead you through the steps of the organizing process is an essential launching point for many people.

Back on day 206, Deb J wrote a post about her former business as a declutter. She was so thorough, and I’m sure that those she helped felt blessed by her assistance. I highly recommend that you check out her post in addition to reading this one. I too have used professional declutterers on several occasions, although none who work like Deb J.  I consider Amy Brady and Susan Stotesberry of The Clutter Consultants to be good friends and important helpers on my way to decluttering fame. These ladies have seen my dirty laundry, and I mean that literally!

Amy and Susan charge a flat rate for a minimum of three hours of work. One of the most common questions they get is “can you give me an estimate of the amount of time that this project will take?” This is difficult to do until they’ve seen the space and spent time working with the client, which is why most organizers charge by the hour. The size of space, time since it was last purged and organized, and how quickly a client makes decisions will all affect the time the project will take.

My experience says that if you go on past three hours, no matter how tempting that sounds at the beginning of the day, and you’ll be pooped. The way they generally work is that, side by side with their client and with great enthusiasm, they pull everything out, getting a “yeah” or “nay.”  The items to be kept are placed with their similar items, and the things to be discarded are sorted by trash, recycle, give away, and (possibly) sell. They keep their clients focused, and they forbid wandering around the house putting things away. Drifting = distraction. (For more on the pitfall of distractions, see this post).

An entire area is emptied and examined, and the drawers, shelves, or floor are wiped clean. This is when the need for containers or a storage system is discussed. Not every bit of decluttering requires a trip to the store! Drawers are measured, clutter is measured; there’s no point in buying the wrong things. They help you put your items neatly away, like with like at the point of usage. Amy and Susan also give homework to clients between appointments – small, manageable chunks of the overall project that the client can conquer in order to keep momentum going. Homework also helps keeps costs down. They’ll even drop your things off at the thrift store on their way home. I always found that a three hour session spurred me on for at least another three hours on my own. That’s nine hours of decluttering for the price of three!

Why would you pay good money for someone to help you do something you could do yourself? Well, first of all, you probably pay lots of people for services you could do yourself – fitness trainer, manicurist, house keeper, lawn care, pool cleaning, even grabbing fast food for dinner. Besides, if it was so easy to do, wouldn’t you have already done it yourself? Even though I consider myself an expert declutterer and organizer now, there were times when I wasn’t and there were times when the challenge seemed so insurmountable that I needed help. I did have girlfriends offer, but when the junk is too high and wide, it can feel too shameful or possibly annoying to have friends trying to help.

And just so we can all marvel at the pictures of my eight year old’s room before and after a three hour visit from Susan, follow this link. In this case, I feel sure a picture’s worth a thousand words.

If you live in the U.S., and you’re interested in hiring a professional organizer, visit the website for the National Association of Professional Organizers, where you can enter your zip code and pull up a list of professional organizers in your area.

Today’s Declutter Item

Two more books cleared from the bookcase. Polar opposites these books, futuristic on one hand and ancient on the other. Either way we don’t need them but someone else will love them I am sure.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ My daughter being silly and playing in her food. You think she would be past that stage by now since she is 22 in a couple of months.
• Something Awesome ~ Anthony Bourdain travel food show.
• Something to be grateful for ~ A relaxing day to recover from the long weekend.
• Something that made me happy ~ The good response to my questions today. I have been trying to get through as many as possible but with a house full of people and the cracking headache I have had all day I haven’t got far.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Sorry nothing to write here tonight.

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

Even a major clean up can be fairly easily managed if you don’t try to bite off too much at once. In this case, it was time (way past time) to clean our shed, which had not been attended to in the nine years we’ve lived in our house and which, in fact, contained items left behind by the previous owner. I spent a month working on it, once or twice a week, and never for more than an hour, except for the extremely pleasant afternoon I spent decluttering five bags of mulch and compost and some ground covers on a flower bed I enlarged.

Here’s how I approached this task. Unfortunately, we are in a drought, so there was virtually no chance of rain. As I pulled each item out of the shed, I made a decision about its fate.  Most everything went into these categories: metal recycling, trash, Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (a store that sells used and overstocked building supplies to support the charity Habitat for Humanity), sold on Craigslist, given to our eighth grade for their garage sale, or given to my mother. Before I stopped each day, everything was either in its future home or neatly piled waiting to go to its new home.

The shed had not been cleaned in any way in at least a decade and because it is somewhat poorly constructed, it is open the outside world in several places, so it was dirty and full of leaves, and rats had been using it as a shelter. Frankly, I’m just glad I didn’t find any rat carcasses! I swept the floor and the shelves as I went along and used old mulch bags as trash sacks. I did not put anything back into the shed until I was finished decluttering and cleaning. The reassembly probably only took 30 minutes. As I put things back, I gave them one more appraisal, knowing it might be a long time for the shed is decluttered again, but everything made this second cut. I took the advice of declutterers who recommend not going overboard: although I like things labeled, organized, and lined up in nice, straight rows, I remembered that this is a shed, not my kitchen and certainly not an operating room. It’s still a bit dusty, I didn’t clean behind the shelves (too heavy to move), and everything isn’t in a straight line. But, I have only things I will use, and like is stored with like. That’s good enough for this gal’s shed!

Here’s what I said good-bye to:

1. a metal flint spray gun (recycle)
2. edger  (garage sale)
3. rectangular trash can lid, no trash can (unfortunately not labeled for recycling, trash)
4. 4 mysterious flexible rubber hoses (trash)
5. large metal coupling (Habitat)
6. rusted metal pipe (recycling)
7. length of bent copper tubing (recyling)
8. role of wire (Habitat)
9. very old safety glasses (trash)
10. sheet rock tape (moved to the appropriate bin in the garage)
11. 2 pairs rusted pliers (recycled)
12. 2 screwdrivers (1 recycled, 1 clean up and added to the toolbox)
13. roll of copper (Habitat)
14. roll of plastic covered wire (Habitat)
15. flexible hoses for ?? (trash)
16. rat-chewed shower curtain (trash)
17. 3 stiff gloves (trash)
18. torn up extension cord (trash)
19. rat-chewed cardboard box (recycling)
20. 3′ circular blade (recycling)
21. 8 1′ circular blades (recycling)
22. grass flap for a lawnmower we no longer own (trash)
23. pole saw (garage sale)
24. 2 long electrical cords, no plugs (trash)
25. light fixture (disassembled – trash and recycling)
26. what looked like tiny jumper cables. My husband called them “widow makers” (disassembled – trash and recycling)
27. 2 galvanized pails (Craigslist)
28. worn out scrub brush (trash)
29. garden stakes (my mother)
30. large extra metal parts for a lawn canopy (recycling)
31. small plastic and metal parts for the same canopy (disassembled – trash and recycling)
32. weed wacker (given to neighbor)
33. hooks from a pegboard (a few reused, the rest to thrift store)
34. 2 plant hangers (thrift store)
35. hand-held fertilizer spreader (thrift store)
36. bottle of Safer Soap (the tiny bit left in the bottle was washed down the drain, the bottle was recycled)
37. 2 empty bottles of plant food (recycling)
38. bottle of hardened sunblock (trash)
39. hose-end sprayer (my mother)
40. 14 plant supports ranging from 3 to 7′ tall (my mother)
41. a roll and 4 folded pieces of landscape cloth ( my mother)
42. 2 gas cans and 1/2 quart of oil (put on the curb for free pick up)
43. 2 bags of older bird seed combined with my current bag (used up)
44. large bin that held the bird seed (put on the curb for free pick up)
45. 2 bags of last-year’s compost (used)
46. 3 bags of mulch so old that the bottoms of the bags had rotted and the roots of the ivy had started growing into it (used - These were outside the shed. It wasn’t that filthy inside!)
47. a bird feeder (washed, filled, and hung up)
48. a large box of sheets that I’d saved for wrapping plants, which I virtually never do. This was one time that I changed my mind. The sheets were too ratty (literally, sometimes) to donate to the thrift store, and I know of no fiber recycler in town. I put them in the trash but felt very unhappy about it. My mother encouraged me to get them back out and use them as a weed barrier under the mulch throughout the garden. I thought that was a fine idea and used five of them the day I enlarged the flower garden. The rest will go in the front yard when I next mulch.

I’m completely satisfied with my efforts. I would like to get some sturdy hooks to hang my garden tools, and I probably could have been more ruthless in a few cases, but it’s my shed, it’s clean, accessible, and organized, and that’s good enough for me.

The before shots of my Shed

(Brace yourselves it aint pretty)

The after shots of the shed

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

As I mentioned back in January, I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It’s full of rules, suggestions, tips, and research on making yourself, and by extension everyone around you, happier. In the very first month of her year-long undertaking, Ms. Rubin cleans and declutters, and she keeps it up throughout the year – helping out friends when she gets desperate for a tidying fix.

One tip I got from her was the One Minute Rule. I doubt this is something she made up; it sounds like something nearly everyone’s parent said to them as they were growing up in some way or another. Basically: if it only takes a minute to do it, then do it. (A couple variations I can think of are “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today” and “A stitch in time saves nine.”)

Here at 365lessthings, when we talk about clutter, we usually are referring to items in excess of your needs and desires. But clutter also can be the stuff that you use frequently but fail to put away. It’s always out, it’s where it doesn’t belong, and it creates visual clutter. Plus, anything left out draws other things to it. That’s how black holes develop.

Recently I walked into my bedroom and threw my sweater on the bed. As I turned to leave, the rule popped into my head. I walked back into the bedroom, picked up my sweater, and in far less than a minute, I had hung it where it belonged.  I prevented clutter.  One of them sitting on the bed will surely attract another one, likely my husband’s jacket perhaps or maybe his bags from work.

Here are some common clutter pitfalls that can be avoided with the use of the one-minute rule:

• Lost keys: They belong on your dresser, desk, in your purse, or hanging from a hook. Same place every time.
• Sweaters, jackets, and coats thrown on a chair or the floor: Hang up your items in the closet or buy a set of hook for near the door.
• Needed receipts lost, useless receipts found: If you’re going to keep them, find a home for them and put them there every time, as soon as you get home. (Right after you put your keys away, of course.)
• A messy bedroom: Make the bed in the morning as soon as you get out of bed. This might take 2 minutes, but it sure makes your bedroom look nicer.
• A visual mess and possibly smacked heads or knees: Close the cabinet doors behind you. It amazes me that there are people who leave the cabinets open and walk away, but I’ve heard it enough times to know it’s true.
• Mental clutter: Have a place for your notes and reminders, either on paper or electronically. Remembering that there’s something you have to do and what it is takes as much time and mental energy as doing the thing itself. Write it down and free your mind.

Decluttering and organization expert Peter Walsh gave this wise advice that dovetails nicely: Complete the cycle. “If you use it, put it away. If you dirty it, wash it, etc. When a family thinks this way, there no longer is a trail of clutter left throughout the house.”

If it only takes a minute, do it now, do it right.

Today’s Declutter Item

I am not really a flipflop kinda gal but I continued to wear these because it would have been wasteful not to. Now they are beyond repair and I feel quite justified in throwing them away.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ There is an advertisement on television here for a clothing store called Rivers. The lastest promotion is for women’s shoes and I swear the legs in the ad are hairy and I am not even sure they are a woman’s legs. I find this oddly amusing even though I wouldn’t want anyone to see my legs right now either. 😆
• Something Awesome ~ Homemade chocolate chip muffins warmed up and served with cream. Yumm!
• Something to be grateful for ~ The Liam’s motorbike only had an air bubble in the fuel line and decided to start after all. He was not a happy boy when it wouldn’t start.
• Something that made me happy ~ Even though it would be great to wave a magic wand and have the house clean itself I always feel satisfied with a job well done when I am finished the task. I love a clean house.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Chemistry, alchemy and the elements and the discovery there of.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

How can you eliminate clutter without even trying? Sound almost too good to be true, but it’s not. Here are some things I eliminated from my life:

Paper towels – Paper towels were a real source of irritation to me, as well as being an unnecessary product in general. My husband tended to reach for a paper towel even when a rag would have been a better choice, and he often left them wadded here and there, rather than throwing them away. I have lots of rags – kitchen towels that got too ratty to hang on the towel bar, decade-old baby washcloths, and cut up old shirts. There is no shortage of rags at the Bogard household. When the last of the paper towels ran out, I did not replace them. There was remarkably little adjustment needed. Because I sometimes cook bacon in the microwave, and I like to put a paper towel over the bacon to cut down on splatters, I eventually bought another roll of towels, but I did not put them out. Instead, they’re in the cabinet near the microwave. Paper towels are not a free-for-all item; they are a tool for cooking bacon. Decluttered: Paper towels, paper towel waste, paper towel holder. Probably decluttered: A sense of wastefulness.

Newspaper – Many (most?) newspapers can be read on-line. As far as I can tell, few people read the newspaper through every day. Reading it on-line allows you to just access the sections you want without having all that paper build up around your home.

To be completely honest, we have not gotten rid of the paper; however, we share a subscription with another family. They read the paper in the morning, and we read it at night. However, if this arrangement were to fall through, we would not get an individual subscription. Decluttered: newspapers. Possibly decluttered: the guilt of not keeping up with the newspaper the way you think you should.

Books – I love a good library, and I virtually never buy books. I do sometimes buy used books at the library (50 cents for paperbacks and $1.00 for hardbacks). When I am through with them, they either go directly back to the library or to a friend, who will read them before she donates them back. I have mixed feelings about Kindles and other eBook readers, but having one does eliminate the accumulation of physical books. Decluttered: books and possibly the shelving needed to hold the books. Probably decluttered: the guilt of having purchased books that are collecting dust, unread.

Magazine subscriptions: The same as books and newspapers. Decluttered: Magazines. Probably decluttered: The pressure to read the magazine all the way through, pull out the articles you want to save, and the need to find a way to store these articles that you will likely never reference again.

Cleaning supplies – My friend DeeDee remarked “my mother would be stunned to know that I have a cleaning product for every different surface of my house.” Yes I’m sure she would, and no one needs this either. Colleen wrote two posts praising microfiber cloths, which you can read here and here.

My own cleaning supplies include an abrasive cleanser, homemade glass cleaner (vinegar and water), Kaboom (a soap scum buster for the shower), vinegar, natural toilet bowl cleaner (when this product is done, I intend to fill the container, which has a handy “under the bowl” spout with vinegar and try that instead), microfiber cloths, a broom and dust pan, a mop, a microfiber push broom, and a box of Magic Erasers. I also own a vacuum cleaner, but only have one rug in the house. If the vacuum cleaner breaks, I may get rid of the rug, rather than replacing the vacuum. Decluttered: Multiple unnecessary product. Probably decluttered: Chemicals that you don’t need to be breathing or adding to the environment.

Beauty products – Do you really need a different lotion for your hands and face? A different shampoo for each member of the family in the same shower? We don’t. Eliminating duplicates simplifies your routines, saves money, and keeps you from developing a build up of “I tried it but I don’t like it” products. Decluttered: Multiple products that do the same thing. Probably decluttered: Some of your fantasies about having skin as perfect as the model in the ad. (Don’t worry – her skin’s not that perfect either. For those of you who don’t believe me, I highly recommend that you check out the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty video “Evolution” here. It’s a great learning tool for your children, as well.)

Tampons and pads – I have minipads and several different sizes and brands of tampons under my bathroom sink. I bought them at Costco, so not only do I have a variety, I have a lot of them. After reading posts about reuseable personal hygiene items at The Greenest Dollar and My Zero Waste, I decided to try a menstrual cup. I’ve used it for two months now. Like all things, a little practice makes perfect. My last cycle, I used three minipads and the Diva cup. If my next few cycles are as successful, I will be able to declutter my very large boxes of tampons by donating them to the local women’s shelter. Decluttered: Multiple disposable products. Probably decluttered: A non-reuseable habit and the possibility of developing toxic shock syndrome.

Can you think something that you can do to Eliminate Clutter Without Even Trying?

Today’s Declutter Item

The rest of those coat hanger I mentioned yesterday that I forgot to give to my mum and dad. My friend Amber was happy to take them from me

My Grateful List

• Something that made be laugh ~ Andréia can say Dog Poo in English but doesn’t know the words for other things in her back yard.
• Something Awesome ~ Two beautiful days in a row. Great days for washing linen.
• Something to be grateful for ~ That my friends and family no longer give me gifts.
• Something that made me happy ~ Discovering something by mistake. I won’t bore you with the details but I do love it when this happens.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Why the crickets that get into my house all seem to shed their back legs before they die. If anyone knows the answer to why this happens I would love to know.

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