Cindy

Recently I did something that made me so happy – I took care of two really, really old things that were on my to-do list. These things were so small that it’s almost embarrassing to tell you what they were, but doing them made me so happy that I will. The first thing was taking the dogs’ beds to the laundromat and washing them. I wash the covers at home regularly, but I can’t put the whole bed into my washer, and they needed it. The other thing was taking two scented candles (same scent) that had burned down so far that neither would light any more, melting the wax, and pouring them together to make another, usable candle. I did this because I loved the scent of these candles so much, and it’s not available any more.

What does this have to do with clutter? Mental clutter! Aspirational clutter! I had these two ideas in my mind for months and taking care of them would randomly pop up and bother me. Including driving to the laundromat, washing and drying the dogs beds took and hour and 15 minutes. There’s a school with a great playground extremely close laundromat, and the girls and dogs went there and frolicked while the beds washed then dried. Melting the candles took virtually no time, because I was working in the kitchen anyway, and I already had the wick. (I’d purchased a package of wicks ages ago as aspirational clutter for the day I finally combined these candles; something else that weighed on my mind when I would open the cabinet where the wicks were stored and think, “Will I ever get around to doing that?”

Neither of these was a big project, neither took much time, but the happiness and satisfaction that I got from getting them off my to do list was amazing. Do you have any small, lingering to dos that will eliminate some mental  (or some other) clutter?

Today’s Mini Mission

Assess your cutlery drawer. Did you have more than enough knifes, folks, spoons etc to cope with a houseful of people. If so let some go. I had set aside a four person set of cutlery prior to Christmas to see if I really needed to keep them. We did run out of forks a couple of times but I could have easily washed some by hand so I think this spare set can go in a box for my daughter to take when she moves into her own place.

Eco Tip for the Day

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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

My girlfriend R stopped by my house two days before Christmas, looking mighty cross. She started spewing about how aggravated she was to be buying gifts for her many family members “just to be buying them something.” Her family is Jewish, and they celebrate Hanukkah as well. She’d tried to tell her brother that they shouldn’t exchange gifts, but his response was “Too late. I’ve already bought you something.” In addition, they don’t drawn names or limit giving to children, so everyone is giving a gift to everyone! R was definitely not feeling the holiday spirit. Here is the advice I gave to her:

First of all, you have to do what you’ve always done this year. Hanukkah is already over, and Christmas is in two days. You can’t change the rules now.

Beginning in January, though, you need to talk to your family about how you want to change your traditions. Maybe you should only do Christmas or only do Hanukkah. You could include Jews in Christmas or gentiles in Hanukkah – celebrate the holiday that works best, religiously and culturally, for your family.

Next you need to decide who you want to give to. R already gives charitable gifts to her parents. A donation to Heifer International for her dad and the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee for her mother. Maybe all her gifts should be charity; maybe she doesn’t want to continue with charitable gifts every year. In addition, she needs to think about the extended family that’s accustom to getting gifts from her: her brother, sister-in-law, their children, as well as her husband’s siblings, spouses, and their children, plus others who might be on “Santa’s” list. Does she want to eliminate all giving to adults? Draw names? Only donate to charity? Eliminate giving to everyone?

However, I also cautioned R that she can only control herself, her giving, her pocket book. She cannot force her siblings or in-laws to comply with her wishes. She can think through how she would like the gift-giving traditions in her families to evolve and make proposals. She can state firmly and clearly what she’s willing to do, but she can’t force others to bend to her will.

Today’s the day to begin this conversation: The holidays are fresh on everyone’s minds, and other people might be feeling the fiscal, temporal or environmental stress of having overbought, as well. Starting the conversation  well in advance, so no one is surprised by a sudden change in tradition, is the kindest gift of all.

Paper Free Grocery List

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you have way too many of than you really need. This could be cutlery, crockery, glassware, craft supplies, stationery items, tool, jewellery pieces, shoes etc.

Eco Tip for the Day

Here’s one way to save paper. Write your grocery list on the fridge with a whiteboard marker and then photograph it with your cell phone and take that with you when you go shopping.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

If you, or your children, are fans of the Harry Potter books, you are probably familiar with Mad Eye Moody and his admonishment – given freely to young and old wizards and witches – Constant Vigilance!

Constant Vigilance! is what I need when I manage to clear an area that has previously been a black hole. (You know those – places where all things seem to gather and nothing ever leaves.)

My desk has been giving me nothing but trouble for the longest time: Sometimes I can’t even use it because the surface is so cluttered. I hate it! I finally did The Big Sweep and cleaned everything off the top. My goodness it looks lovely, but it needs Constant Vigilance! Everyone – including me – thinks that it’s still the “Drop Your Junk Here” place. The “Don’t Know Where It Goes? Put It Here!” place.

I am patrolling my desk multiple times a day. Multiple times a day I am relocating things off my desk and to their rightful home. Multiple times a day I am wondering why in the world my desk attracts so much junk. But I am keeping at it with CONSTANT VIGILANCE! I want my desk to stay nice, and until everyone gets out of the habit of using it as a storage locker, I must patrol it repeatedly.

Do I feel discouraged about this Constant Vigilance? No, not really because I know that it’s like the training wheels on a kid’s bike. I need it now, but later, I’ll be able to set it free.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter an old piece of equipment, possibly work related from days gone by.

Today’s Declutter Item

Unfortunately the new Media Uploader for WordPress isn’t working so there is no photo for today.  Today’s decluttered item is another 30 photographs. I am making great progress with the photo decluttering.

Eco Tip for the Day

Do you throw away that last little piece of soap when it gets too hard to handle? No need to waste it just join it to the new bar. Every little thing saved from waste is a good thing.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I revisted the archives from September 1, 2010 for this post. It was titled “Cindy’s Take on Avoiding Recluttering.” This time I have published it with gift buying in mind. As appropriate, insert “the gift recipient” in place of “I”

It’s bound to happen sometime; you’re going to have to break down and buy something. Before you do, consider these factors:

1. Do I need it?
2. Do I want it?
3. Did I come into the store looking for this item, or did it just catch my eye?
4. Would I be criticized if my spouse or family members knew that I had purchased this?
5. Can I afford it? If I cannot pay for it now, should I buy it?
6. Can I wait a week and see if I still believe I need to buy this?
7. I am buying it “just to try it”? If I am, is there some other way that I could try it first?
8. Can I borrow it or rent it instead?
9. Can I buy it used?
10. Can I share the purchase of this item with someone else? (Lawn tools, exercise equipment, a bicycle, or magazine subscriptions all fall into this category.)
11. Have I researched this purchase? Is this item durable and does it do the things I want?
12. Will this item be easy use, maintain, and keep organized? Does this item perform more than one function?
13. Do I have something at home that will perform the same function? Will it replace one or more other things that I already have? Am I willing to move those other things along? Do I truly need to replace those things?
14. Do I have a place to store this item? Do I know that it fits?
15. Is it in a color or style that I will continue to enjoy? Does it fit with my décor or the other things in my wardrobe?
16. What is it made of? Where was it made? Are the components healthy for me and the environment? Is it labeled for recycling? Is it made of recycled parts?
17. Can I sell it when I no longer want it?

Today’s Mini Mission

Roundup all pens and pencils that are scattered throughout your home. Once together declutter any excess.

Today’s Declutter Item

One has to wonder why we still have a snowboard even though we have been back in Australia for over five years now and the person this was once the right size for is now no doubt too big for it.

Snowboard

Eco Tip for the Day

Consider donating excess pens and pencils in your home to a local school or take them to be used in your workplace. This will reduce the need for these places to purchase new ones while decluttering excess from your home. They are likely to dry up and become useless before they are ever used otherwise. I wonder how many pens succumb to this fate every year. Also try to remember not to accidentally acquire more. I almost walked off with a pen from the post office last week after address a parcel I was sending. I can assure you I didn’t need any more pens. In fact I will follow my own advice here and declutter yet more from my house. Perhaps I will take them to the post office. If you set aside a place in your house to store such items you won’t fall into the trap of buying more that you don’t need.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I am coming to the end of a multi-year Use It Up Challenge: To use up all the copious amounts of wrapping paper that I purchased on sale after Christmas like clockwork every December 27.

TreeHugger has a great article on holiday waste and sites estimates of 4 million tons of wrapping paper and gift bags thrown away.

My girl friend Corinna has made cloth bags that she reuses year after year. She does a lot of sewing and cloth crafts so my guess is that she was able to make these bags with remnants. Here are great step-by-step instructions; even a non-sewer can follow along.

My sister-in-law, who lived in Taiwan until fairly recently, sometimes wraps her gifts in cloth, using a Japanese technique called furoshiki. Apparently the origins of this art for were to carry one’s lunch or other personal items – basically a tote sack made from a piece of cloth. There are lots of instructions on the Internet as to how to wrap differently shaped objects.

The simplest recycling/wrapping project I know is something we call Map Wrap. Map Wrap is a variation on the once popular Sunday Comics wrapping, but it uses old maps. As part of my decluttering, I cleared out all maps that were more than 10 years old, which was a big handful. I’ve been using them to wrap and I love the intricate, cheerful designs and colors. Most people seem to think that they look pretty cool.

I have also heard of taking a chip bag, which usually has a shiny silver interior, wiping the oil away, and wrapping the gift silver side out. I’ve never done it, but the ladies who told me about it do it regularly – especially for kids gifts. They say that most kids tear off the wrapping so quickly, they never even notice that it says Lays Potato Chips on the inside!

Have you thought of ways to reduce your wrapping clutter?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that can be recycled or repurposed by someone else. (Newspapers, magazines, old sheets, old pillows, old towels, bicycle parts, pieces of timber or metal…)

Today’s Declutter Item

Bath Products

Eco Tip for the Day

Greening your workplace ~ If you use a printer in your workplace, only print what really needs printing and print double sided if you can.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Have you ever decluttered when you didn’t really mean to? I have, and I’m here to encourage you to embrace these accidental declutterings, no matter how annoying they are at the time.

What do I mean? Here are some times I got roped / fell into decluttering when I had absolutely no intention of doing so.

Audra recently opened the door to the craft closet, sat down right in the doorway, and started crafting. Eventually, she had every sticker that we own in a heap in front of her. I kept trying to ignore the mess, hoping that she’s just scoop it all back up and cram it back into the drawer from whence it came. But no. Eventually I heard, “Momma, will you help me pick up?” Of course, I had no interest in this project and felt a bit resentful that she’d made a big mess and wanted me to help clean it up. Eventually, I sat down next to her and started sorting the stickers: Ones I might use; ones no one will use; sheets with no stickers on them at all. In the end, there was a much smaller pile to go back into the drawer plus a smallish pile to take to school for the younger grades that have craft corners.

Another time I decluttered without intending to was about a month ago when I washed all the window screens on the enclosed porch and got water all over the porch as well. While I don’t have a lot of clutter on the porch, there were a few things. Things that are now elsewhere. As I sweep the porch clean of water, I decluttered too. Those two air mattress that I’ve been meaning to try (and try again) to find the leaks, they were aspirational clutter that was never going to happen and they went into the trash. The “box of fun” (outdoor toys) got reduced so that what was left actually fit into the box with the lid closed. I got the go ahead from Audra to sell the gymnastics mat that’s been living on the porch, and I pressed my mother about whether she really, truly was ever going to use the folding chairs on my porch. Since the answer was, “I guess not really,” off they went to the thrift store. Between the decluttering, the clean screens, and the scrubbed floor, it looks much better out there!

My last example is not my own. When you have friends coming for the holiday or weekend, I know you’re going to clean, I know you’re going to bake and cook, I know it’s likely that you’ll even take off work for a few days. Do yourself and your friends a favor, and declutter the space they’ll be using too. It’s so nice when you visit to be able to use the closet or drawers. Decluttering them now will help your friends feel more comfortable and welcome later. (A shout out here to my cousin Rilee who does an excellent job of prepping her guest room so that everyone is happy and has what they need. Hi Rilee!)

When you stumble into that quagmire that is an unexpected decluttering opportunity, don’t curse it! Embrace it!

Today’s Mini Mission

Have the, perhaps dreaded, conversation with the grandparents about giving gifts of experiences or at least not so many material gifts to your children so your home isn’t overrun with toys.

Today’s Declutter Item

Basketball Collectable

Eco Tip for the Day

Dress appropriately to lower or even avoid the need for artificial climate control. In the winter wear comfortable warm clothing inside and at least lower the thermostat. In the summer dress in light natural fibre clothes and at least raise the thermostat.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Please don’t call me Scrooge, but I hate decorating for Christmas. In fact, I hate decorating for all holidays. To me, it falls under the category “another darn thing I have to do.”

So last year, I decided it was time to change that.

I pulled everything out of the attic at one time. My hope was to get everything back into just the plastic bins and get rid of the boxes; that seemed like a reasonable level of reduction to me.

I started early in December, wanting to be sure that anything that went to the thrift store had time to be resold before the end of December arrived: I didn’t want my clutter to become their clutter too.

I got the family involved – very important when sentimental, seasonal, “that item means Christmas to me” things are involved – and we start opening boxes. One of my annoyances, as I’ve already said, is decorating the home – all the little seasonal do dads we’ve accumulated over the years. Most of those were the first to go. Turns out that no one cares very much about little Santas tucked away on the bookshelves or snowmen sitting on the coffee table.

When it was time to decorate the tree, I made this rule: we would all open the ornaments and put them on the tree as always. However, if we opened an ornament that we didn’t like, didn’t care about, thought was ugly, etc., we would put it on the sofa. Anyone else who saw an ornament that they liked or valued on the sofa could pick it up and put it on the tree – no questions, no anger - just pick it off the sofa and put it on the tree. There were a few squeals of outrage (“WHO put this on the sofa!!!??”) but everyone stayed calm when I repeated the rule: “No questions, no anger, just put it on the tree yourself.” We probably reduced our ornaments by about 2 dozen and also got rid of 4 or 5 strings of wooden “cranberry” beads.

It was a remarkably painless process that hugely reduced our supplies. Before, we had 10 boxes/bins, 2 tree stands, and 2 outdoor wreaths. After, we had 6 boxes/bins, 2 tree stands (the smaller of which I decluttered earlier this week), and 3 outdoor wreaths. (Yes, I gained a wreath, which I found at the thrift store. We all agreed that the upstairs balcony looked woefully undecorated, and this wreath was our solution.) My before and after photos are below.

If decorating for the holidays really doesn’t put you in a holiday mood, try my reduction techniques and see if that doens’t bring a smile to your face like it did mine.

The Before & After Pics

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter something you are only keeping because you feel obliged to because it was given to you by someone else.

Remember the November Keep it Tidy Challenge

Today’s Declutter Item

This nativity set took a while for me to decide to declutter for several reasons. It has sentimental value because my parents bought it for me. It is the most real Christmas symbol I own. And I like it because it is beautiful. The problem is though that it really doesn’t fit in this smaller home and will certainly not fit into one that is smaller. I took it to a garage sale I was involved in a few weeks ago and put a price tag of $50 on it. I figured if I must let it go I was at least going to get a good price for it. I set it up to look its best but feared that some overzealous garage sale shopper might accidentally break it. I was so glad when someone said they would like to buy it. I couldn’t get it packed up safe again quick enough. I actually knew the person who bought it and she was a secondhand dealer. I was amazed and very pleased that she didn’t haggle over the price and happily paid me the $50. I suppose it was just meant to be.

Nativity Set

Eco Tip for the Day

 Take care of the things you do own so that they may last and last and not have to be replaced prematurely.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. Mark 12:41–44

This Bible lesson has been instrumental in my decluttering process because it encourages me to be generous. In fact, my simple, and completely non-elegant interpretation of this passage is “It’s okay to be generous.” That, my readers, is a lesson I had to learn.

I don’t think that I was a selfish person or especially a greedy one, and I’ve always had a thrift store give away bag in my closet, but while I was okay giving fairly small, low-value items away, I definitely had trouble giving away things of larger monetary value.

It’s okay to be generous.

I confronted my reluctance head on when I was cleaning out Audra’s closet. I had a large box of out-grown clothes, and two sisters across the street who are two and four years younger than Audra, yet it was so hard for me to let go of that box of clothing to them. I thought about how their father, a lawyer, certainly made enough money to clothe them himself. I thought about how they weren’t good enough friends to deserve my largess. Then I thought It’s okay to be generous. I’m embarrassed to tell you how hard it was to let that first box go.

I would be lying if I told you that I no longer sell anything on Craiglist or Ebay and that I happily give everything away. I like to recoup some of my investment if I can. But I no longer have trouble giving things away – to friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, charity. Because it’s okay to be generous, sharing your blessings feel good, and there are countless non-tangible rewards for generosity.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a book or maybe two or more.

Remember the November Keep it Tidy Challenge

Today’s Declutter Item

I was hoping my daughter would relinquish more books from the childhood stash but this was all she was prepared to part with but that is OK. I am hoping all her ducks will fall into line by midyear and she will have a home of her own where I can happily transport all her stuff to the is cluttering up my house. Cross your fingers for me! Oh, and her of course.

An eclectic selection of books

Eco Tip for the Day

Give consumable gifts. Preferably one from sustainable sources.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I’m about half way through the book The Hoarder in You by Dr. Robin Zasio. Dr. Zasio is a psychologist who specializes in anxiety and compulsions with a sub-specialty in hoarding; she is a consultant on the TV program Hoarders.

Early in the book, there’s a box: Do You Have Hoarding Tendencies? Of course, I answered “no” before I read the checklist. In fact, according to Dr. Zasio, I do have some. Well that’s a disappointment. Here is her list along with the paragraph that follows and my answers in blue:

1. Do you have a hard time parting with items, even if you never use them or they’re broken? No.
2. Do you have many items around your house that don’t have a permanent home? No, but I did before I started decluttering.
3. Do you tend to make pile of things, to be dealt with at a future time, and these piles often linger for more than a few days? Hey, has she been looking at my desk? The rest of the house is okay.
4. Are there areas in your home (the dining room table, for instance) that must be cleared off before they can be sued for their intended purpose? Possibly yes, although generally those items are being actively used up until the time that the table needs to be cleaned.
5. Do you save things often because you are concerned about how you will feel if you need them in the future and no longer have them? Rarely.
6. Do you often save things without a clear idea of how you’ll use them in the future? Only art / craft type items.
7. Do you still have items that you once bought with the intention of giving them away as gifts? Yes, from the generic kid gift box that no longer gets used. Blue Santa, here they come!
8. Do you have boxes of possessions that have moved with you from home to home but you’ve never gone through? No.
9. Do you often buy multiples of the same items because you’ve forgotten you have it? Only very rarely.
10. Are you helpless when faced with a “good deal,” even if it’s a good deal on something you don’t need? No.
11. Do you take free things, like shampoos from hotels or packets of soup crackers, that you never wind up using? Yes, I sometimes take them, but yes I use them too.

The more questions you answered yes to, the stronger your hoarding tendencies, and your environment is likely cluttered accordingly. If you answered yes to all of them, it does not mean you are a hoarder; many of us have hoarding tendencies, but because they are kept in check, things don’t escalate to the point where your life is greatly affected. Still, the more you have, the more mindful you need to be of your habits so your environment does not cause you undue stress.

I wonder, how many of these tendencies do you have, and what are you doing to keep them at bay?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a canvas wall art piece that you don’t love.

Today’s Declutter Item

These multi-purpose tools can be mighty hand but keeping one in my handbag or pocket can become complicated when trying to board and aircraft. As a result it was constantly left at home where there are plenty of other individual tools to use. Hence it didn’t get used much.

Multi-Purpose Tool

Eco Tip for the Day

Loath as I am to bring attention to sales catalogues I find it my duty to inform you that you can probably access them online rather than receive them in your mailbox. In Australia catalogues can be accessed at www.lasoo.com.au . So to my Aussie readers who haven’t yet put a NO JUNK MAIL sign on their mailbox bookmark this site and go yet yourself that sign. If any readers know a web site in their country for this purpose please fell free to share. Personally I would prefer just not to read catalogues at all.

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

It’s time for the change over of seasonal clothes and an opportunity for the simplest decluttering of all: Decluttering without even trying. When you get your clothes out of storage (or, in my case, when I stop using the lower hanging bar [hot weather] and start using the upper hanging bar [cool weather]), turn all the hangers backwards. At the end of the season, anything that is still turned around the wrong way is something you no long wear. Congratulations! You just decluttered your closet without even trying.

The Weekends Mini Missions

Saturday - Declutter something from your basement, attic or garage.

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.

My Gratitude List for This Week

• I am grateful for the book I just finished reading. (The Shack by William P Young)
• That my daughter is home.
• That my daughter has been cooking for me all week.
• That I learn new things everyday and hopefully am becoming a better person for it.
• I am grateful to be free to explore my own possibilities.