Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Black hole – In astronomy- an object so massive that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravitation.  In modern usage – a place where things get lost; a place or thing into which objects disappear and are not expected to be seen again.

Do you have a black hole in your house? I bet you do. Maybe it’s the kitchen or dining room table, the chair in your bedroom, your desk, or the bench by the front door. It’s the place in your home that attracts everything that comes into your house and once there is difficult, if not impossible, to re-home.

I have a friend who believes that every single counter or shelf in a house is a black hole, waiting to happen. His ideal house (so he thinks) includes no horizontal surfaces. I guess he’s going to store his underwear in a pile on the floor. For the rest of us, we have counters and shelves and probably appreciate their utility, even if we don’t always appreciate their tendency to attract clutter.

We have a bench by the front door that is the first line of defence against clutter. It stays remarkably clear, holding only the girls’ backpacks and string instruments. I think it doesn’t get cluttered because once the backpacks and instruments are on the bench, there’s not even room for a dust bunny to hide.

But what makes it past the bench to the island in the kitchen, well cue the scary music. We have a big island, a beautiful island, a cluttered island. When I wrote this post it contained the following items, only a few of which actually belong on it: folder, ball of yarn, small pile of papers, clean wine glass that belongs to my Mom, jar of cat treats, watch with broken wrist band, bowl of fruit, bowl of decorative little pumpkins, spray bottle of water (neatly labeled “hair drawer”), two bags of Halloween candy, hair brush, diabetes kit, laptop and power cord (in use), 3 prizes from Halloween party, 4 pieces of mail received today, a bracelet. Yikes! (Note: This column was written in October. The Halloween stuff isn’t still there in February; there’s new clutter instead.)

At our house, we combat the black hole that is the kitchen island by re-homing objects once or twice a week. I quickly pile everything up according to owner and in a scramble, it’s all whisked away, although I would prefer it didn’t land on the island in the first place.

How can we avoid black holes? The bench seems to offer one clue. If the surface is just the right size for our purposes, then extra doesn’t have a place to hide. But since our goals and desires change frequently, and we can’t buy a new piece of furniture to exactly accommodate each change, right-sizing is probably not a realistic solution to most clutter problems. However, if a new furniture purchase is in your future, consider your needs when selecting the new table or shelf. Bigger may not be better.

My friend Julia suggests putting a large plant or other object on the problematic surface. I think this would only work if the black hole was small enough to be mostly covered by the plant; otherwise, I fear you’d just be adding a plant to all your other clutter. But if your black hole is a small one, a large decorative item might help.

I think the solution with the greatest likelihood of success is this one: A place for everything and everything in its place. You walk in and drop the mail, your purse, keys, and sunglasses on the table because that’s their home, even if you don’t want it to be. Find another home. Get a key hook for the door, reassign your purse to your bedroom and put your sunglasses inside. The mail needs a place on your desk. When you shop, put your purchases away, promptly. If they don’t have a home, should you have bought them? If yes, then make a home. Now, before the table becomes their home.

Still feeling the pull of the black hole? Desperate times call for desperate measures: Can you cover the table with a cloth or crumpled newspapers – anything to remind yourself “Danger! Black Hole Ahead!” Perhaps you could lay the table on its side until the gravitational force dies out? If the black hole is a chair, can you get rid of it or move it to another room until your break your black hole habit? And if the black hole is a table in the dining room that you don’t use except to store clutter, is this the best use for this room? Maybe you should get rid of the table all together and add something to the room that you really will use and enjoy. It’s your house. Just because the real estate brochure said it was a dining room doesn’t mean you have to use it that way.

Where is your black hole, and how will you be fixing it?

Written by:- Cindy Bogard

Today’s decluttered Item

And the items just keep on coming. This socket set is excess to our needs and was sold on ebay for $10.50.

5 Things I am grateful for today

• Google Calendar – Life can get very organised with this little internet tool.
• I am finally getting ahead with my blog posts – hopefully I will need to scramble less in future and not make so many typos etc.
• That none of my readers point out my bad spelling, typos, grammar, and bad sentence structure – Thank you lovely readers.
• That I am not employed outdoors – The temperature reached 43°C today that is 109.4°F my friends. Youch!
• T-Bone roast for dinner – This is a T-Bone  steak cut at about 2 inches thick and roasted for one hour on 200°C with potatoes, sweat potato, pumpkin, carrot and onion in the same pan. Yum! How outrageous Sunday dinner on Tuesday night. 😆

Saturday Quick Post – by Cindy

I fought the art closet, and I won. What was removed…

• A velvet art book
• 2 Idea books
• Some origami paper & instruction book
• 2 Set of glitter glue pens
• A package of horse stencils.

All these were donated. I also gathered a bunch of little tidbits for the craft corner of the 2nd grade classroom and threw away a huge number of little bits of dry, dusty and yarn-wrapped junk.

Before we begin reading today’s wonderful post by Cindy I just wanted to wish all my fellow Aussies a Happy Australia Day

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I just started reading Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project. I was attracted to it because, well, who wouldn’t want to be happier, and also because I read that Ms. Rubin’s first task in pursuit of happiness was decluttering her closet. Now there’s an idea I can get behind!

Here’s how she describes her first adventure: “When I had finished…I could see huge patches of the back of my closet. I no longer felt drained; instead, I felt exhilarated. No more being confronted with my mistakes! No more searching in frustration for a particular white button-down shirt!” Doesn’t that make you want to run straight to your own closet?

In thinking about her own clutter, Ms. Rubin breaks it apart into categories, and I like her divisions. They are

1. Nostalgic clutter – “Relics I clung to from my earlier life.” Sports trophies and my husband’s college lecture notes fall into this category.
2. Conservation clutter – Things which have been hung onto to because they’re useful, even though they are not (or are no longer) useful to you. Winter coats and sweaters when you no longer live in a cold climate or a bunch of bud vases that have built up over time are conservation clutter.
3. Bargain clutter and its twin Freebie clutter – Deal too good to be true? Or, better yet, free? That’s where bargain and freebie clutter come from.  (You can read a post on freebies here http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=597.)
4. Crutch clutter – Items that are worn out and should have been replaced, possibly years ago, but you continue on with them. You love them! You need them! . . . No, really, you don’t.
5. Aspirational clutter – I love this category. This is the things that you own that you aspire to use, but don’t. Craft and hobby clutter or a fabulous evening gown could fall into this category.
6. Outgrown clutter – Ms. Rubin sees this as the flip side of aspirational clutter. This is the stuff that you aspired to use, then did use, and now no longer use, but still have.
7. Buyer’s remorse clutter – I think this is a tough category for a lot of people. It’s hard to admit that you made a bad purchase but hanging onto it is not going to improve the situation.

When you declutter today, ask yourself, What category of clutter is this?

Today’s Declutter Item

It was my stupid idea to buy this video camera years ago. I soon realised I didn’t want to see every event in our lives through a camera lens. Needless to say it hardly got used but now it has a new home thanks to the wonders of eBay. It sold be a mere $51.00. That’s one more piece of guilt clutter eliminated from my life.

Things I am grateful for today

• Bridget (my daughter) made it to the next round of interviews with the defence recruiters today – She is hoping to follow in her fathers footsteps.
• Realising a task was easier than I expected it to be – I thought it was going to be a pain making a pavlova for Australia Day was going to be more of a bother than it turned out to be.
• Living in a country full of opportunity, abundance and freedom of choice – Not everyone can enjoy such liberty.
  
• Lots of good responses to yesterday’s post
• Receiving an invitation – Even if I couldn’t make it, it is still nice to be asked.
  

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

In Honor of Tuesday’s Mini Mission

Imagine your freezer, nice and tidy, not too empty and not too full. Now imagine dumping it all out on the floor, scrambling it around, and shoving the frozen food back in willy-nilly. Whew! That’s a mess. Now double the amount of food and really cram it in there. That’s what my freezer looked like last year.

I decided to do something about it. Just like with any other major decluttering and organizing project, before I began, I got boxes and my label maker. I was ready. I did this cleaning in winter in the garage, so there was no worry about defrosting. I started removing the food and sorting it by category: vegetables, chicken, ice cream, beef, and leftovers all went into separate boxes. Not surprisingly, I unearthed a Ziploc bag of soup that was 2 years old and some frozen tidbits that I couldn’t identify, but the thing that did surprise me was the broccoli. I buy broccoli in four pound bags from Costco. There were two full bags and one half bag jammed into the freezer. Nine pounds of broccoli!

While all the food was out, I wiped down the freezer and cleaned up all the sticky blobs. Then I reloaded, keeping like with like. Certain shelves were dedicated to certain things. I left the meat and bags of veggies (except my truck load of broccoli) in low-sided boxes and labelled the outside of the boxes: chicken, pork, beef, veggies, potatoes. Of course, I had to juggle things around until I could find a pattern that worked best. Once everything was back in, I labelled the shelves, as well.

Before I ran out of steam, I hit the refrigerator freezer, too. I removed everything that wasn’t used frequently and sorted it into the big freezer. (Quick to do, since I’d just finished out there.) Leaving in the house only the items that are frequently used, I organized what remained and labelled the shelves.

We ate and ate, and I did see a lowering of my grocery bill for the first two months. I had my own grocery store in my garage and hadn’t even realized it! This system has been in place for months now, and it works wonderfully for me. I buy less; I can find everything. Your freezer and its contents represent a major investment; shouldn’t it be as organized, useful and free of UFOs (Unidentified Frozen Objects) as any other space in your home?

Today’s Declutter Item

Reams of binder paper that I should have donated in America before we left. It has been lingering here for over three years and I am over it. I sent it to the thrift store in the hope that it might be immediately useful to someone else. I still have enough scratch paper to keep me going for a very long time. It is amazing how little paper one really uses in this age of computer technology.

Things I am grateful for today

• A cooler overcast day – It has been very hot here lately and I could do with the reprieve.
• Being reminded how lucky I am – Thanks Amber
• Fresh Juicy Apples – One of these at lunch after a big fat scone with jam and cream for morning-tea is a balanced diet, right?
  
• No more visits for Liam to the Maxillofacial Specialist – His jaw is in good shape all things considered and he doesn’t need any more check ups. That’s one down now just the 6 month dental, the physiotherapy, the speech therapist, the neuropsychologist and the clearance from the neurologist to go. Hopefully the last  4 will be done in the next week. Then that will just leave the dentist. Yay!
• My darling husband– Who goes to work five days a week to keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed. Lets face it he is good at it and I deserve it!
  

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

True confessions time: I can’t get rid of part of something. I can get rid of all of it, but not part.

What in the heck do I mean? For years, I had a matching coffee and side table set. At some point, I stopped using the side table, but I couldn’t part with it. After all, I still had the other piece and was using it. What if I changed things around again and wanted to use it again? Even after years? It could happen.

Well maybe a piece of furniture does seem reasonable to keep. After all, I would not have been able to replace the table should I have want it again. But what about these things? Years ago, I was given a food processor. It came with four blades. I have only used two of them. Ever. But I keep all four of them because I still have the other part.  I bought the guinea pig a new cage, and it came with a ramp and a small second floor platform. Although guineas do enjoy climbing things, we feel it takes up too much room in the cage, but because I have the cage, I still have the ramp and platform. I still have the other part. I’ve had the same comforter set for years. When I purchased it, I also got a shower curtain with the idea that I could turn it into valances. At least eight years have gone by, and I still have the shower curtain. Why? Because I have the other part.

Why do I do this? I’m perfectly comfortable completely getting rid of something. I suspect that it’s because I sell many things when I’m finished with them. Even things I give away, I realize may be more valuable to the next owner if they have the complete set. But also, I think it’s because I fear changing my mind and not having the other pieces. Often, one can buy the whole but not the part. While I can buy a new guinea pig cage, I cannot buy a new ramp and platform, and I’ll certainly never be able to purchase additional pieces for an eight-year-old comforter set. (Even Ebay can’t help you with some things.)

Is this sensible or is it foolish? I don’t know, but you can bet I have the other part.

Today’s Declutter Item

This was a DVD that Liam had from a subject he did in school. I doubt he even looked at it.

Things I am grateful for today

• Remembering to take a book back to the library- it was due on the 5th of January, my bad.
• Chancing the rain to take a walk – I didn’t get wet but i wouldn’t have minded (I think I have a case of cabin fever meets PMS).
• Bridget (my daughter) managed to evacuate from down town Brisbane and arrive home safely- the flooding in Queensland is spreading over a wider area every hour.
• Liam co-operating with a little more decluttering
• The good response to the mini missions – Thanks readers you make blogging fun.
  

Clink on this link of you are interested in nominating 365lessthings for a weblog award. Appropriate categories include Best-Kept Secret Blog, Australian or New Zealand Blog, Best New in 2010 and Best Topical.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

The shopping is done. The wrapping paper is all recycled. You may have even packed away the ornaments until next year. (Were there any you decided to declutter?) But I bet there’s still one task you haven’t tackled, one that goes on all year long: Returns. Returns are a vital part of a well-organized and decluttered home.

You can return practically anything to practically anywhere. Even if you’re outside the store’s stated time limits for returns, you can still request a return. Speak to the manager. Really and truly, it doesn’t hurt to ask. (This is more applicable to the United States than it may be to other countries. Australia for one is much less flexible)

Surely you’ve looked on Craigslist or Ebay and seen a listing like these: “Bought for daughter but did not fit. Lost receipt, my loss your gain.” Or, “My loss is your gain. These are easily $70 at a store. If I had a receipt I would take it back, but I don’t.”

The first ad was for five pairs of Target brand jeans. I know that Target will take items back for 90 days, and that you don’t have to have your receipt to get a store credit, so why isn’t this mother returning the jeans? Placing an ad for clothing on Craigslist is way more inconvenient than any trip to Target could be and you will unlikely get the full cost you paid.

In the second case, why doesn’t this fellow ask where his $70 item came from? Even if we assume that he’s not asking because he fears hurting the feelings of the gift-giver, he can still try a return. While I don’t advocate intentionally returning something to the wrong store, many stores sell exactly the same merchandise, and especially after Christmas, will take back something that you’re not 100% sure came from there. Don’t feel bad; they stock ones exactly like it, and they’re going to resell it. If you feel uncomfortable, you can even say, “I got this from my sister. I don’t know if it came from here.” If it didn’t, they’ll tell you.

Buying online is a very popular option, but I am careful not to have something shipped to me if I’m not certain that I want it, particularly if return shipping is not included. Postage costs are very high, and I feel cheated if I pay for something to be shipped to me, then pay for it to be shipped back, and the only thing I have to show for my efforts is less money.

Big ticket items are the hardest to return but the most deserving of being returned. You’re only going to buy one TV this decade. If you get it home and don’t like it, it needs to go back. My girlfriend returned a gas stove once! Can you image how inconvenient that was? The thing was hooked up in her house and functioning, but she hated it and knew she did not want to live with it for the next 20 years. Any time you buy a big ticket item, make sure you understand the store’s return policy before you purchase. Sometimes furniture and art can be taken out “on approval” where the store charges your card but allows you to take it home for a day or two. The store won’t volunteer this; you have to ask.

When I buy something I’m not quite sure about, or something that won’t get used right away (which could translate to won’t get used … ever), I tape the receipt directly onto the item. Recently I was able to return house numbers that I’d had for almost 12 months because I still had the receipt. The store’s policy is that returns are only accepted within 90 days. First I called to assess if there might be a problem, but the clerk sounded pretty sure “we can work something out.” When I walked into the store, I checked to be sure that they still stocked the house numbers. They did, and as predicted, there was no problem getting a store credit, which I immediately used. (See Day 294 for my tips on managing your gift cards and merchandise credits.)

Especially as you’re decluttering, you will find brand new items that you could have, should have returned. Don’t fret! You probably still can.

Colleen – There is some good advice in this article and I like Cindy keep all receipts for items other than food for a certain length of time just in case. I keep my receipts in a coupon folder or in my file with warranty papers. I have had to retrieve such receipts many times over the years when…

• Things break during normal use within a short length of time or within the warranty period.
• When clothing shrinks, fades, goes out of shape/seams undo/ etc within the first few times of wearing and washing.
• When something doesn’t live up to what the advertising suggests it is capable of.
• When I have chosen and item because the sales person insists it is the right product for what I require and it turns out  it isn’t.

Just remember to clean out old receipts on a regular basis. And like Cindy says be reasonable about what you expect to the retailer to accept. It never hurts to try though because the only stupid request is the one you are to shy to ask for. Please try to investigate big ticket products where possible before making your purchase and remember to be open minded. Investigating doesn’t mean to only try to justify the exact item you thought you wanted in the first place and not having an open mind that the trendy/cutest/smaller/larger/ faster… product may not the one that best suits your needs.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is the sweater Liam was wearing when he had his accident needless to say they had to get it off him quickly. It went in the trash today but we kept what once was his favourite T-shirt that is in much the same condition.

Things I am grateful for today

1. Lunch with a friend again – I have been a bit spoiled the last couple of days.
2. Listening to other peoples troubles and realising how lucky I am.
3. More cherry tomatoes ripening on the plant in my garden that just popped up from one of last years seeds.
4. Liam happily co-operating with me when I asked him to help declutter a couple of drawers in his bedroom today- eBay here we come.
   
5. Friends that feel they can always be honest with me.
   

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

The Fear: What if I need it? What if I want it? What if I use it more than I think I do?

It’s real. I know it is. If you can’t jump in, at least stick your toe in the water. It’s fine. You’ll see.

My kitchen is pretty lean and mean, but one day something got cock-eyed in the measuring cup drawer, and I had to jerk with all my might. That made me take another look at what was in the drawer. I had two full sets of measuring cups, plus a couple of unmatched cups and the same with the measuring spoons. As I said, I consider my kitchen to be lean and mean, “just right” if you will, so I wasn’t sure I could part with anything in there. On the other hand, that did seem like a lot of measuring tools. I took out all the duplicates and put them on a pretty tray by the toaster oven – still in the kitchen, not looking too cluttery, and right at hand if I wanted them back. A couple of weeks passed, and I took a good look at what was on the tray. I took back one little measuring cup and put the rest in the thrift store bag. At first I was only able to stick my toe in the water, but a few weeks later, I was able to jump.

When I decluttered the pantry (which I discussed back on day 349), I moved the broom and mops to the laundry room. I planned to hang them on the back wall, so initially I just leaned them there, as I had no hooks. I quickly realized that I would rather hang them where the ironing board hangs. This is a full-size ironing board; we have a smaller one built into our bathroom wall, and my husband uses it daily. I hadn’t planned on decluttering the ironing board. It hangs neatly in an out-of-the-way location, and I use it occasionally. (Very occasionally.) I leaned the broom and mops by the ironing board and confirmed that I liked this location for them much better, but there wasn’t room for them and the ironing board. This was my moment of putting my toe in the water. I left them leaning there, and every time I went into the laundry room I wondered if I would regret getting rid of the ironing board. The fact that I didn’t consider moving the board to a different location was my first clue that I could live without it. A few more weeks passed, I got hooks for the broom and mops, and I very much like them in their new location. The ironing board, I realized, I could live without.

My give-away bag acts as a bit of a safety net too. While most of the time, it’s a one-way ticket to the thrift store, very occasionally, I’ve pulled something back out of the bag. You can give yourself permission to do this too, so long are you’re not undermining your efforts with a frequent in-then-out. If magazines and newspapers are your clutter downfalls, you can use your recycling bin as a safety net. Go ahead and “store” your problem paper items in the basket. When it’s time to empty it, well, you obviously didn’t really need those things anyway.

It’s ok to try before you purge, so come on it; the water’s fine!

Item 363 of 365 less things

I rather like these boots but they are coming apart in the from seam and repairing them isn’t an option. I will donate them though because maybe someone won’t be as fussy as me.

5 Things I am grateful for today

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Audra is eight years old and a fashionista. The lucky girl gets hand-me-downs from her sister and her sister’s friend, plus she occasionally gets new clothes of her own, typically from the thrift store. Audra changes clothes many times a day (thank goodness she wears a uniform to school!) and makes some really wonderful outfits.

I have been of several different minds about Audra and her clothes. Initially I would tell everyone, “Don’t buy her clothes. She doesn’t need any clothes,” etc. Then, as I started decluttering and reflecting on our choices, I realized that Audra enjoys a good shirt far more than any other toy, game, or art supply she could receive. If you’re going to buy a gift, it should be one that the person really loves, so then I thought, “Good, clothes it is.” Unfortunately, I quickly regretted my choice. Why? Audra never cleans up after herself. Her clothes were thrown over the bar instead of hung, or they were dropped on the floor barely worn but would quickly become dirty after being stepped on. I got mad, ridiculously mad. I resented the mess; I resented the extra laundry; I started resenting her.

One of Audra’s excuses was that she didn’t know how to hang her clothes properly. I spend several hours teaching her how to hang the clothes and rewarding her a nickel an item. This strategy was only mildly successful, but I used it to justified my anger. Now I knew she was just being careless. Time passed, and I wasted precious time and energy steaming.

Then one day, I had a calm moment when I realized that I was handling the situation backwards. I realized that Audra didn’t have a problem; she didn’t care that her clothes were on the ground or that I was intermittently angry at her. (She’s got a temper too and a very resilient personality.) It was me who had a problem, and it is my job is to solve my problems. I got a big trash bag and picked up everything from her floor and everything that was not hung properly, except stray uniforms, which went into the laundry, and I put the trash bag in the bottom of my closet. To my stunned surprise, Audra didn’t notice. About a week later, I made the same sweep. Audra started to notice that she was having a bit more trouble matching outfits, but she didn’t see the bigger picture.

The third time I made the floor sweep, Audra walked in while I was stuffing my plastic bag, which now bulged like Santa’s sack. She was shocked, but we had a calm discussion. She rightly pointed out that she has more clothes than anyone else in the family but less hanging space. We brought in a rolling rack from the spare room. She helped me figure out how the clothes should be organized, and we started unpacking the bag of confiscated goods. She was surprisingly merciless, weeding out everything that she thought she no longer wanted. After a while, she got tired, we stopped hanging things up, and she has never asked for the remaining items. Her clothes have really not been an issue since, and we finished this project at least six weeks ago.

I realized that I let this problem – my problem – go on and on because I was too chicken to diminish her clothing pile. I really thought it would break her heart and that I would win the Mean Mom of the Year Award. How wrong I was. Audra still loves her clothes, but we both realized that in the land of plenty, it’s easy to have plenty too much.

Item 356 of 365 less things

Yet another thing that I have been passing over during the year. I don’t think this has been used in 3 years. Out it goes.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. A roof over my head and a bed to sleep in – That is more than some people have.
2. The good times together with family.
3. Being organised for Christmas – The gift is bought, the pudding is ready and the house is clean.
4. Stone fruit – Peaches, cherries, plums, apricots etc they are one of the best things about a summer Christmas.
5. My little car – It’s compact, easy to park and cheap on the gas.
   

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I used to be an editor, which invariably involves reading and rereading the same material. As far as I can tell, the process I used was similar to what most editors use. First I would read through the material, changing any obvious mistakes, but my larger goal was simply to familiarize myself with the material. Next, I would read it through looking for content discrepancies and sentences, or even whole paragraphs, that should be moved around or removed. The next time through, I would search out formatting errors, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. Last, I would print the document and read it on paper, giving it a final check. If I found more than one or two mistakes, I would print it again, and keep at it until I found no errors.

Decluttering is no different than editing. You begin by getting rid of the really obvious stuff – a huge, uncomfortable, and ugly chair that you’ve always hated, the big mixer you don’t like, the vacuum cleaner your honey said he would fix but never did. But you have to keep going round and round to find everything that should be winnowed. Perhaps we become more ruthless the more we declutter, but perhaps it’s just that when the really obvious things are gone, you can now truly see what else might also be unnecessary.

Recently, I was struggling with a kitchen closet. It holds my small appliances, Dan’s “secret” stash of chips and hot sauce, any extra cases of soda or beer, the step stool, a broom and dust pan, a dust mop and microfiber covers, a mop, and a large plastic bag for plastic recycling. (I don’t accept plastic bags at the store but still accumulate bread wrappers, shrink wrap, etc.)

There’s enough room in the closet for all of these things, but it’s not working. The brooms and mop tend to fall out on me, and the appliances are more jumbled than I would like.

First I looked at the big picture. Was there anything in here that simply did not belong? Yes, the extra batteries that my husband had stored on an upper shelf. Then I thought about each of the small appliances. Any that could go? Yes, an ice cream ball, a box of rock salt, an ice shaver, and 3 bottles of snow cone syrup. I took those out and tidied up what was left. That helped with the organization, but the mops and brooms were still in the way. I left them there to think about.

Today I realized that although the idea of storing them in this closet is a good one, the space and ease of access is not good. I’m going to put a couple of hooks on the back wall of the laundry room and move them. Even though I don’t have the hooks, I went ahead and moved the brooms and mop, so I can confirm that this really will be a benefit. Then,  in a couple of days, I will stand back from the kitchen closet, look again, and ask, is there anything else in here that needs editing?

Item 349 of 365 less things

This tool caddy was a lot less useful than I expected it to be and I haven’t used it for a long while so out it goes.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Scones – They are so nice with jam and cream and so easy to make. There is a batch in the oven right now and I am going to have one soon with a cup of coffee while they are still piping hot.
   
2. Laughter – You know the tears rolling down your cheeks kind. Liam and I are looking at some funny web sites and trying to relate what we are seeing and we are having trouble with talking between the laughter. Check out failblog.
3. When I receive a cute Christmas card that has a great design I can reproduce myself next year.
4. Good design – I have a coffee grinder whose grinding bowl comes off so it can be easily be washed. If that isn’t smart enough – The designer had the foresight to make drain holes where the mechanism is on the underside so that when it goes in the dishwasher the water drains out. Brilliant!
5. Actually having my blog post ready to publish before dinner.
   

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

Cindy Bogard’s Weekly Post

There is a group of Canadian Mennonites who, along with AdBusters, promotes a Buy Nothing Christmas www.buynothingChristmas.org. While my family will not be having a Buy Nothing Christmas, we will be having a Buy Not A Lot Christmas. Each year, I’ve tried to cut back, usually with only moderate success. One memorable year, the kids got so overwhelmed by the number of gifts that we had to take a break from opening them. Good grief! Can you say “enough already!”

This year Christmas comes very close to my half-year of decluttering anniversary. Having looked so carefully at each and every one of the more than 1,200 things I’ve decluttered, I can say for sure that I have very little interest in purchasing.

The girls, too, have been decluttering with me every step of the way. They very much acknowledge that most of the gifts they’ve received have really not been as fun, interesting, or welcomed as anticipated. The amount of books, craft kits, and art supplies that have been shifted out of their rooms and into other homes is remarkable.

In addition to Christmas gift-giving, Clara’s birthday and her first diabetes diagnosis anniversary are the week before Christmas. While I try to look on her diagnosis day as “the day her life was saved” not “the day the wheels came off the bus,” there’s no denying that it has been earthshaking and deserves some sort of special acknowledgement.

So what will we be giving and getting this year?

Audra wants a kitten and, shhhhh, Santa is going to bring her one. Her other gifts will be cat-related items. However, in the true one-item-in, one-item-out tradition, one of the guinea pigs has found a new home at the girls’ school, and I’m trying to find a home for the other one. (Yahoo! This could be a two-for-one!)

Clara desperately wants her ears pierced. She will turn 11 in December, and she’s always been told that she could not get her ears pierced until she turned 13. As I said before, her birthday and diagnosis day are close together, and I figure that since she pokes herself to test her blood sugar at least 10 times a day, she can handle two more pokes.  I’ve invited her three closest friends and their mothers to meet us at the mall on the anniversary of her diabetes diagnosis, and we will all go to the earring store to watch her get her ears pierced. Then I’ll treat everyone to lunch. I think this will truly be a memory for a lifetime, just like Audra’s kitten. For Christmas, I’ll get her some earrings and let someone else get her the books and calligraphy set she’s asked for.

With my parents, we have a completely practical gift-giving strategy. Everyone is encouraged to say exactly what they’d like for Christmas, and if you describe its precise location in the store, that’s not going too far. (“Home Depot, aisle 14, bottom shelf, left hand side. It’s $34.99 on sale for the next week” is not too much detail.)

My husband’s family (four adults and one toddler) is a bit more of a wild card. I have finally realized that I can’t control them, I can only control myself. (It only took me a dozen years of trying to manage their gift giving for me to come to this fairly obvious conclusion.) All of us are blessed with plenty of income and the ability to buy everything we need and most things we want. What that means is that I will be informing them what sort of gifts we’ll be giving by sending an email that finalizes our visiting plans and states, “As in years past, the girls will be buying a gift for (the baby), and we will be making charitable donations for the adults.” (Hmm, I think that might need a little work, but you get the idea.) In return, I will ask for a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (www.jdrf.org) or a gift certificate to my favorite store Amazon.com.  What they do with that information has to be up to them.

Will you be having a Buy Nothing Holiday?

Item 342 of 365 less things

A cable that we received free with one of those fancy schmancy calculators that the kids required in high school. The calculator was used but the cable never was.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Not only remembering to go to the supermarket on the way home from the airport but getting everything I went there for – I have been a bit of an airhead lately.
2. Steve remembering to get the lawn mowing man his Christmas carton of beer while he was at our house today.
3. An afternoon nap – I had a headache all day and needed some relief. Those new cushions came in really handy.
   
4. A great response to today’s (yesterday’s now) post – I had a amusing time reading about the odd things people have as clutter/precious possessions.
5. Lovely soft fresh bread
   

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