I received this story from Claire at the bottom of a long list of comments to Wednesday’s post. It is a cautionary tale of a near catastrophe all in the attempt to save some meaningless stuff. She learned more than one lesson through this experience. One is don’t risk your neck to save something far less important, and the other, sometimes you must make a choice of what is more important in your life. In her case the choice was pets or stuff likely to be damaged by said pets. Here is what Claire wrote.

“Colleen, I have a decluttering story I don’t know where to post but knew someone here would appreciate!  It goes along with a recent comment where we were discussing how many vases we all have in a different post.  I remarked that we have five vases that I could think of and could probably get rid of one or two of those.  

Well, last night at 11 pm my cats decided to chase each other onto the dining room table which they have done several times since I have been letting them play together (one is 2 years old and one is 6 months).  I have two matching vases on the dining room table – I used to have three but the 2 year old knocked one off when he was 6 months old…..and then there were two.

Well, as you can guess the cats knocked over both vases last night and I spun around from the kitchen sink to see this and ran into the dining room, about a distance of only 10 ft.  The vases were rolling across the dining table – when I bit the dust and slipped on our polished concrete floors.  I landed on my leg, rear and bad arm.  Thankfully my husband was running in from the other room and caught both vases before they hit the concrete.  I sat on the floor another 5 minutes laughing and crying.  It was pretty comical – if it hadn’t hurt so much!  I’m lucky to be just a bit sore today but I cringe at how close I came to hitting my head on the stone countertop or corner of the glass dining table.  

Here’s the decluttering part – I KNEW this would happen!  I knew someday the cats would knock over one or more of those vases again and just assumed that at most I would lose another vase and would have to clean up 1,000 pieces of pottery from the concrete floor. That would have been bad enough.  But I didn’t calculate that one or two of us would be risking our neck to run to catch them.  Something told me when the first one broke that the others were an accident waiting to happen, I should have gotten rid of them then.  So last night, when I finally got up off the floor, I put both of those vases in a box in the give away pile!  Bummer is, I still think they are pretty and really like them!  They are just too unstable for a house with cats.  Lesson is, I guess, what you think might happen probably will, and might even come with a consequence or two that you didn’t imagine!  Stuff isn’t worth a broken bone or worse……”

Have you ever encountered a clash between lifestyle choices and your home setup ~ pets and breakables on display, kids and pale carpet, allergies and furnishings, furniture and floorspace, kitchen gadgets and cupboard space, fashion and closet size, husband and decor choices (ha ha), laziness and tidiness, convenience and order… .  No matter what the situation there are choices to be made. We need to decide what is more important to us and then take the necessary steps to act of those choices. For Claire it was the cats, the vases or be prepared to clean up the mess rather than risk life and limb the next time the cats are up to mischief. I sure, she loves the cats, and it is hard not to act on impulse in the face of calamity so the safest thing to do was to declutter the vases. Yes she could store them in a cupboard somewhere, but for what? To bring them out when there are flowers to display and add extra potential mess to the inevitable. I don’t think so.

So be realistic about what is most important to you. There are always compromised to be made. Consider all those compromises when choosing what to keep in your home. I know I would choose piece of mind over stuff any day.

Today’s Mini Mission

If you have stuff stored under beds in your home take a look and see if you can find something there to declutter.

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

More than one person commented last week that they can’t believe they are still finding things to declutter after years at the task. And what I say to that is ~ rejoice and be glad. Usually after most people do the usual kind of quick declutter they find they are back at square one a couple of years later. With a slow and deliberate declutter one gives a lot of thought to their habits of acquiring and holding on to stuff. Being aware of these habits makes it much easier not to make the same mistakes in the future.

The reason why years later they are still finding things to declutter is because they grow more and more willing to part with more and more stuff. It isn’t  because they have recluttered their homes, instead their homes are getting less and less cluttered all the time. Usually less cluttered than they ever thought they would. And having well entrenched systems to offload the clutter makes the task simple.

For example ~One reader (Peggy) last week commented on how she decluttered some extra hand lotion by putting it in the bathroom at her favourite coffee shop. On later inspection she found that it was indeed getting well used. That is just one example of some clever thinking on how to dispose of stuff. But I digress.

I am glad to be still finding things to let go of in my home. I am also happy to be vigilant about decluttering something in place of any new thing coming in. I don’t waste my energy worrying about the clutter I simply stay ahead of it by loosely following that one in-one out rule we talked of last week. When I say loosely, I don’t rigidly remove something immediately that something else comes in, but I am intuitively aware of any small build up and rectify the situation fairly speedily.

So don’t be concerned if you are still finding clutter after a long time. Also don’t have any expectation of an end date to your decluttering journey. This isn’t really a finite task anyway it is a change of lifestyle. And positive change in something worth sticking with.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something hiding, and rarely if ever used, in the back of a kitchen cupboard.

Eco Tip for the Day

It takes but a second to flip off a switch, so don’t leave lights on when you leave the room.

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

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This week some out of sight our of mind items have been decluttered from my home. Actually in my case they were out of sight but there isn’t much I own that is out of mind, but you get the idea. My husband reassessed our storage cage in the garage and threw out lots of boxes. On my quest to answer Moni’s question about how many vases do we all own, I found some utensil stands I am sure now that I will never use again, and more empty jars than I realised I had, up in the deepest depth of the highest kitchen cupboard. So what do you have lurking in those out of the way places that you rarely look in? This week’s mini mission will help you find out.

Monday – Declutter an item lurking in your attic, basement or garage space.

Tuesday – Check if there is something in your keepsake box that you are willing to let go of.

Wednesday – Declutter something hiding, and rarely if ever used, in the back of a kitchen cupboard.

Thursday – Declutter something other than clothing on the floor or high shelf your closet.

Friday – If you have stuff stored under beds in your home take a look and see if you can find something there to declutter.

Saturday – Find something to declutter in your laundry or linen cupboard.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Learn some simple mending techniques so you can get the most our of your clothing.

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

I don’t think I have ever dedicated a post to the practice of one in one out. That is, to maintain a decluttered status of your home,  for every item that comes into your home something else should go out in turn. Of course this has been mentioned time and time again here mostly in the context of when you buy something let something go. Buts lets not forget the when you receive something from someone else the same needs to happen or the clutter will begin to build up again.

And of course if your home is already cluttered one-in-one-out is only going to maintain the status quo so other decluttering needs to be going on at the same time in order to attain a less cluttered level of living. You might be surprised at how mindful you need be about this because I hear it said often that people thought they were making progress but then realised that they were really just marking time. Or at best two steps forward one step back.

The result of this can be that people then give up on decluttering because they think it is a futile endeavour instead of giving up on acquiring. Because lets face it, for most people acquiring is much more enjoyable.

The one in item does not need to match the one out item, although to make a difference it would need to be of a least equal size or, better still, bigger. Although it generally works out that they are similar items because it is usually that you are replacing one item with another.

Often my readers mention clutter creep. This title amuses me because  it makes it sound like something that happens independently of them, like a cockroach invasion. So long as we don’t detach ourselves from the responsibility of it and be vigilant with the one in one out system this problem will be eliminated.

Today’s Mini Mission

Start a use it up challenge on a throw away convenience item that is not so environmentally friendly, and vow not to replace it. Paper towel, cling wrap, any sort of wet wipes, bottled water…

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Limit your purchases to good quality items the truly suit your needs. This will be better for you, will ensure the continuation of quality manufacturing and hopefully help eliminate rubbish products through lack of demand.

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

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

Can you name one item in your home that adds a very high monetary cost for convenience? I can, and am happy to share with you what that item is.

MY INJET PRINTER

Or more to the point – the cartridges in it. And it is about to be decluttered. That’s not to say that we are going to manage without a printer at all, although I like the sound of that, but we are going to switch to a laser printer. Although the cartridges in a laser printer are much the same rip-off price, they at least don’t waste the majority of their cartridges contents on jet cleaning. Granted the new printer will only print in shades of grey and black but that is all we really need. Of late when we want anything colour printed we go to the local print shop because it is so much cheaper.

There was more to this post but technical difficulties caused it to wipe the second draft. Still swearing in my head about that right now. I will add the rest that I wanted to say tomorrow. After I rewrite it to the best of my memory. However thank you all for the spirited comments regardless of my publishing issues. Perhaps this minimalist version make the point except to say ~ Question every item in your homes, not just the obvious ones, because you just may not realise what is truly just clutter in disguise. 

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter or start a use it up challenge on gift wrapping items. Usually one needs to leave the home to acquire a gift so why not acquire a gift bag at the same time in future. There is really no need to keep a large assortment of these items in your home.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

If you only took a stocktake of everything in your home that is only there out of convenience rather than necessity you would shocked. And if only you could convince yourself as to how inconvenient, and sometimes costly, those convenience items really are then you would probably be able to find a lot more stuff in your homes to declutter. I am going to be keeping and eye out for such conveniences in my home this week. And today’s mini mission will drawer your attention as to what some of those items may be in yours. So, happy decluttering.

Monday – Declutter a small single use gadget in your kitchen. Really consider how much time it saves you, on what sort of frequency and whether the time saved is then wasted on the awkwardness to clean the item or in finding it among the plethora of other equally not-so-convenient items.

Tuesday – Declutter or start a use-it-up challenge on consumable items that you have multiples of. Toiletries and cleaners are always a good example of this. Because they generally last a while so there is no need to have a replacement on hand until these items are in imminent likelihood of running out. Anything beyond that is a waste of space in your cupboards.

Wednesday – Declutter or start a use it up challenge on gift wrapping items. Usually one needs to leave the home to acquire a gift so why not acquire a gift bag at the same time in future. There is really no need to keep a large assortment of these items in your home.

Thursday – Declutter some excess crockery items. If you have layers of crockery that you never get to the bottom of then you have more than you need. Toppling layers of plates, variations of items that perform the same task, rows of coffee mugs that you never get to the back of… . Yes it is convenient to have lots so you don’t have to clean them too often but that just makes for a cluttered, messy and unhygienic kitchen.

Friday – Start a use it up challenge on a throw away convenience item that is not so environmentally friendly, and vow not to replace it. Paper towel, cling wrap, any sort of wet wipes, bottled water…

Saturday – Declutter a number of small items that you have dispersed throughout your home to save the small effort of walking from one room to another. Multiple trash cans, pens, notebooks, nail files, hand lotion, reading glasses, hair ties, charging cables…

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

There are many convenience items that are less than environmentally friendly yet are quite easy to live without. Cling wrap, paper towel, wet wipes, throw away shopping bags. Consider learning to live without them. Remember REFUSE, reuse, reduce, recycle.

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

I received the following comment from creativeme on Wednesday and thought it would be a shame if anyone missed it so had to make a post of it. Also I wanted to add my 10c worth, of course! It was meant to publish yesterday but it wasn’t finished and I was sick. So here it is, better late than never.

“I’m getting better at this.
Especially with the food! I have found that I go through this journey of letting go of stuff, what I am really letting go of is FEAR. I think I was afraid that I might not have enough in the future or it would never go on sale again or that I might not be able to afford it later or it might be taken away somehow. Lots of latent fears that kept me wanting to cram MORE into my pantries and any other space that could fit cans or boxes (garage, basement, under the bed). I have finally got to the point that I trust there is enough money around for food, enough food around to buy, the sales ALWAYS come around again and even if it is taken away (really, who would take it?), it can ALL be replaced.
Every canned and dry good in the house now fits in the kitchen! I still have enough to make pretty much any recipe I can think of at a moment’s notice, but not crazy amounts of each thing. In this part of the world (west coast Canada) we are encouraged to have 3 days emergency supplies in case of earthquake. No problem here! But at least I am no longer a sweet target for looters like I was before! LOL
And with the newly found spaces where food used to live, I let it simply be S P A C E, sigh, it’s nice to have breathing room!”~ creativeme

The one thing I most want to add to what creativeme had to say was this ~ Simply fear of changing old habits seems to paralyse people as well. So many of us don’t adapt to the present when phases of our lives pass by. For example ~ I swear that, out of habit, many parents continue to cater for a home full of children once the kids have all left home.

Crafters have a fear of letting go of materials in case sometime in the future they will somehow conjure up the enthusiasm and creativeness to use them. I know I am guilty of this at times. I am much more ruthless these days though.

And let us look a the futility of that fear. If an item isn’t necessary to comfort and survival how much emotion should we waste on worrying about its place in our lives anyway.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item from the laundry of your home.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Release items in your home so that they are available to others who truly have a use for them. Butter, for the environment, that others use your used stuff than go out and buy new.

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

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

I have experienced examples lately on how clutter can lead to disorganisation which in turn causes more clutter. Actually, in the cases I am thinking of, the clutter is useful and used stuff but in such abundance that it ends up scattered making items hard to find. This can then lead to acquiring more of the same because of the mistaken idea that things have run out.

Of course this isn’t something new to me, I have written about it more than once already. However it is worth a repeat mention on a regular basis. My own craft supplies can get like this at times. Usually due to the fact that I like to use up every square inch of paper or cardstock that I have, so I punch shapes from the little leftovers which build up if I don’t make a concerted effort to incorporate them into a card design. Also sharing supplies between friends can lead to the organisation of lots of little bits of this and that getting out of control. I am making that concerted effort to use up or consolidate such items at them moment.

But enough about my own example as I have encountered far worse in my travels. When it comes to supplies of any kind I have found it best to allocate a space for such things and be determined to confine my supplies to always fit within that space. As soon as there is an overflow, storage of like items become scattered. When required the first place to look is the usual location, and then it gets tricky, because you then have to remember where else you stashed the stuff. Inevitably the conclusion is arrived at that you are indeed out of a supply and a replacement is acquired. Then as sure as snow is white, the others shows up when searching for something else soon after.

In the case of large pantries things get lost behind other stuff. I find this is especially so if you are inclined to stock up on sale items of frequently used food stuffs. Inevitably these items end up at the forefront while less used items get shuffled back. Then on the rare occasion when the less used stuff is required it is so hard to find that a replacement is acquired. Thus cluttering up the pantry even more with things going out of date before ever getting used up. This is especially so if more than just grocery items are stored in a large pantry. Add paper towel, food wraps, medications, appliances, utensils, shopping bags etc and things can get really out of control. Being disorganised has its own cost on your time and sanity, so weigh up the pros and cons of whether cost savings are really worth it.

Then there is wardrobe overflow. Too many clothes equals not enough space in your closet, then items get stored in whatever spare space is available. When there is an abundance of clothing one can also get rather blasé about the necessity of regular laundering. Then when an item is needed, especially a work related item, it isn’t unusual for it not to be in immediate wearable condition. This is bad enough when the item needs ironing when you need to be out the door in ten minutes, but imagine the panic that sets in when an item is soiled beyond use in this situation. My experience is that a limited, organised assortment of clothing forces more attention on to the care of them, which generally results in keeping better control of their rotation through your wardrobe.

So think twice about overstocking. It really can add complication to your life that you may not even notice until you feel the relief when it is gone. If you don’t believe me try reducing in a small area ~perhaps your stationery supplies or your bathroom cabinet ~ and just see how much easier it is to keep the area tidy, find what you need and not waste time choosing when less variety is available.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item from a bedroom of your home.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Save on waste by not allow perishable supplies to go out of date in your home. The best way to achieve this is by not stocking an overabundance.

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

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This week we are going to go from one room in the house to another to find random things to declutter. Each day will be a different room. If you haven’t got that room substitute it with another area of your home that isn’t already on the list of mini missions.

Monday – Declutter an item from the living room of your home.

Tuesday - Declutter an item from a bedroom of your home.

Wednesday - Declutter an item from a bathroom of your home.

Thursday - Declutter an item from the kitchen of your home.

Friday - Declutter an item from the garage, attic or basement space of your home.

Saturday - Declutter an item from the laundry of your home.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Experiment to see how little washing detergent/powder your washing machine really needs to get a load of washing clean. It is usually much less than the manufacturers suggestion. Just reduce it a little at a time. So long as the loads are cleaning then you need no more.

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

Just for the fun of it today I am just going to write a long list of some of the things that you could probably find to declutter. Things that I am sure you no longer want and, in some cases, never even wanted or needed in the first place. So without further adieu here it is ~ use it or lose it.

Anything you received free that you never needed ~ pens, coffee mugs, samples, badges, shopping bags, toys… , unwanted gifts, clothes that don’t fit, gadgets that aren’t useful, excess of anything, old make-up, books you’ll never read again, dust collectors, poor quality photos, old magazines (any topic in these can be easily sourced on the internet, old ~ and way out of date ~ university/collage papers, unwanted heirlooms, ugly houseplants, smelly plastic containers, old unfinished projects, outdated computer equipment, stuff the kids left behind when they moved out, shoes that hurt your feet, anything in your bedroom that isn’t conducive to a good night sleep, clothes that make you feel frumpy, sporting equipment you no longer use, bargains you wasted your hard earned cash on, project supplies that haven’t been used in a long time, unwanted hand-me-downs, I might need it some day items, uncomfortable anything.

Well that ought to be enough to get you thinking.

Y’all ave a nice weekend.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter kitschy Christmas items like hand towels, oven mitts, socks etc. This mission is simply for my own amusement. I used to have all of these things and haven’t missed any of them.

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