Stuff is not people. Stuff is not places we have been, experiences we have had or the happy times in our lives. When all is said and done it is our memories that are important. All the significant loves and moments remain in our minds without  stuff so represent them. Yes stuff can remind us of those people, places and times, but any of significance will come to mind regardless of whether we have mementos or not.

In my experience the tendency to attach too much sentiment to inanimate objects comes hand in hand with a need to acquire and save objects to commemorate every little event in life. This can perpetuate a significant clutter problem. Since decluttering most of the sentimental items in my home I do not feel any less attached to the memories and loves of my life. They come to mind a on very regular, if somewhat random, basis. I am sure your experience would be the same minus all the storage issues, dusting and waste of money.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you feel ambivalent about. Something you have been sitting on the fence about decluttering for a while. Perhaps it is time to let it go.

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

Cindy I. posed a three part question in a comment two weeks ago. It went something like this…

Question. What makes you feel at home? Which little things do you need in order for you to feel good about yourself and your surroundings?  Do you think they may be things that other people take for granted?

This is a very good series of questions that make you think about what means most to you. Once you have formulated your answer ask yourself ~ “So why do I need all this other stuff?” Let this questions guide you in making easier decisions on whether to keep things or let them go.

If you feel inclined share your thoughts on this below. My answer is this…

The people I love is what makes my house a home but on the “stuff” side of things ~ I appreciate items that I find constantly useful. I appreciate art and like to have pieces I really enjoy in my home. I like to have items on hand that I can exercise my creativity with. I like to have a minimal amount of sentimental items. Aside from these things I really have no space to waste on anything else.

Today’s Mini Mission

It seems I have gotten this weeks missions mixed up and posted todays on Tuesday so I will post Tuesday’s today.

Declutter something that evokes a feeling of dissatisfaction. Perhaps an item of clothing that never quite suited you.

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

In the mail last week I received, from my mother-in-law, an article cut from a newspaper. The story was about a Brisbane family who set themselves a resolution to buy nothing new for 365 Days. Before I even got past the first sentence of the second paragraph I was inspired to write this blog post.

The first sentence of the article read ~ “A hair band was nearly her undoing.” ~ and right then and there I knew exactly where they were going with this story. You see I had the same epiphany one day when considering the purchase of a packet of hair bands. I have mentioned it before in this post which read…

I have about six hair ties bands. Yes that is right those little elastic rings to put hair in a ponytail. I keep one in my purse, one in a drawer downstairs to save me running up when I need one and there is often one in my hair. That doesn’t leave me a lot of spares so I am careful to keep a track of their whereabouts. In the past I bought these by packs of about 50 and as a result I didn’t bother to be precious with them. This doesn’t cause me extra work it just makes me mindful to put them back where they belong. It is not going to save me a fortune but it will help to reduce the number of them that go to waste.

The more we take things for granted the more careless we are with them. And that is another reason why decluttering and not having excessive backups on hand is advantageous. We take more care and don’t waste what we have, which is better for us financially, liberates space,  and is better for the environment.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that although it brings you happiness you really would rather the liberated space.

Eco Tip for the Day

Waste not, want not. ~ Don’t waste even the most trivial little things. Every little bit of waste eventually adds up.

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 let our feeling help us to declutter. I will name an emotion and you will find something in your home that evokes this feeling. I will of course be focusing on negative emotions because after all who wouldn’t want to get that sort of clutter out of their homes. I will how ever through at least one positive emotion, one neutral one and one undecided. So here goes

Monday – Declutter something that brings you sadness whenever you see it. Perhaps something that reminds you of a lost love.

Tuesday – Declutter something that evokes a feeling of dissatisfaction. Perhaps an item of clothing that never quite suited you.

Wednesday – Declutter something that causes you anger. Perhaps something that you bought but has never worked properly.

Thursday – Declutter something that although it brings you happiness you really would rather the liberated space.

Friday – Declutter something that you feel ambivalent about. Something you have been sitting on the fence about decluttering for a while. Perhaps it is time to let it go.

Saturday – Declutter something that evokes no other feeling except sheer boredom. This could be anything.

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

Good luck and happy decluttering

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

Last week one of our readers, Bea, asked for advice in this comment on how to avoid feelings of regret when it comes to decluttering sentimental objects. My advice, and one of the principles of my slow and steady decluttering style, is to work on the easy stuff to let go of first. Tackle the harder stuff later on when you are better at disassociating yourself from stuff.

Sanna then posted the following advice which gives a perfect example of this…

“We often tend to focus on the hardest decisions. I was really having problems with my difficulties of letting go some of my pottery and vase collection. I KNEW I had too much, but it was all there because I couldn’t bear parting with it and I let that drive me mad. However one day I finally realized, I needn’t worry about them, if I didn’t feel ready to part with them. After all, if I had no other clutter at all, that collection could easily fit in my home. So I went about other things I didn’t feel as attached to and – believe it or not – in letting go of that thought that I “must” declutter some of the pottery, I also let go of my inner child’s reaction to stubbornly cling onto it and I realized that I wasn’t actually that attached to ALL of the collection. It’s always best to just go with what you really feel good about.“ Read Sanna’s entire comment here.

What a great example of how this principle works. Thank you Sanna.

When I started out on my decluttering journey I had no idea what would stay and what would go. I am sure there were things I thought I would never declutter. However from the beginning my intention was to make my journey a smooth one and deliberately charted the easiest course. I started with the easy stuff, bypassing the difficult decisions and soon enough the harder stuff became the easy stuff. Practice hones your skills so that actions become second nature.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter items adorning benches that just make cleaning more of a chore. Kitchen benches and bathroom cabinets are  areas prone to this nuisance clutter. In bathrooms particularly there is not need to keep everything you use, once or at best twice a day, sitting on the bench top. It takes a fraction of a second to open a door or a drawer.

Eco Tip for the Day

Prolong turning on lights until you really need them and turn them off the moment you no longer do. Every second counts and there is the added bonus of a lower power bill.

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 don’t remember exactly why I started decluttering. All I recall is that I was overwhelmed. I told about this here. However that story is over two years old. So why have I continued decluttering, even though I had reduced to a “manageable’ amount of stuff and a big house where I could fit all the storage units my heart could ever desire? I was not sure about the answer. I wanted more space, but more so, I did not want my children to deal with my clutter should something happen to me. There is always going to be some stuff they would have to deal with but less is better right. But why should that matter to me, I would be gone and they would be left with a lot of useful stuff among the clutter too.So there would be no harm, right? Wrong!

Well, yesterday I was watching “Hoarders: Buried alive” and it was a heart breaking episode. The actual hoarder had died, but she had left her hoarded house to her three grown offspring to clean up and return to the bank, as she had mortgaged her house to finance her acquisition of stuff. Sadly her son had been living with her and now has nowhere to live. It had gotten to the point that, had she lived, she would have nowhere to live either as the bank was already planning to foreclose on her mortgage. All caused by her clutter issues, her hoarding that she did not deal with. I know she had a mental illness, but it was a warning for the ones of us who are not sick.

As they started looking for important papers, heirlooms and documents amidst the trash, it was plane to see how lost and angry they were at their mother. As the show progressed and the cleanup team arrived it was so sad that instead of being able to cherish her memory they had to deal with this mess and humiliation. One of the daughters was so furious that she smashed a chair that had been her grandmother’s. I had been ruined amidst the grime caused by the hoarding. All the love was buried beneath the junk and the rats nests (plenty of those, yuck!!!). I felt sorry for them. They had not had the chance to grieve her properly. They could not walk through the house their mother had been living in and sit at her bed and just think about her. They could not gather one last time around her table to remember the good times. Clutter had robbed all that from them.

That was when I thought: “that is why I am clearing my house”. That is why I declutter. I declutter so that I live a full life, so that stuff is just the things that I use. So that my house will have breathing space for me and my family. Space in my bedroom where I teach my five year old to dance. Freedom to make clean up a quick chore, so that I have time to enjoy the good things in life.

And when I go, when I am no longer here, my loved ones will walk into my house, look at those empty spaces, remember me and all the good things that we shared together. Then they can quickly dispose of the physical stuff we all need to live in this world, but, in the end, is just stuff.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter parts of sets that aren’t being utilised. It isn’t compulsory to keep sets together. In the past I have sold or donated attachments to kitchen gadgets, a strainer from a pasta pot, saucers from a dinner set…

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

…you feel obliged to respond in kind.

Have you ever been excited to receive an email and enthusiastically respond. Then in return the original sender follows through with another email and you are happy to carry on the conversation. In response you receive a reply and you feel obligated to reply in turn. Once you hit the send button you wonder could this banter carry on indefinitely, will the person at the receiving end feel obliged to respond yet again whether they want to or not.

To me this situation sounds a lot like gift giving. A new friend initiates the birthday gift giving process then the receiver thinks that when that person’s birthday comes around that it would be the done thing to return in kind. Next thing they know they both have another person on their Christmas list as well.

There are two ways to avoid this madness. One ~ Don’t tell people when you are celebrating a birthday. Two ~ Make it perfectly clear that you do not wish to celebrate occasions with the exchanging of gifts. There are plenty of ways to enjoy an occasion without lavishing gifts on people. One is quality time.

It is also possible to stop the madness once it has begun. Simply let people know that you are in the process of decluttering your home with the intent to keep it permanently that way, and would prefer not to exchange gifts in the future. This is not and unreasonable request. I have never lost a friend over making such a request and I dare say neither will you.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any saucepans or frying pans you simply don’t use. These are bulky items that waste a lot of space if they are kept for those just-in-case moments. They are also items that can easily be borrowed from a friend, relative or neighbour in the rare case they are necessary.

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 I have tried to put together six missions involving items that you may not of thought to declutter as yet. They, like last week are items that I don’t mention very often or perhaps, in some cases, not at all. As usual, if you have already decluttered these items or never had them in the first place, perhaps they will jog ideas of similar items you haven’t dealt with yet.

Monday – Declutter any too large suitcases you avoid using because of their bulk. Firstly there is rarely a need to pack so much stuff. Want maybe, but need, not so likely. Secondly, once these cases are packed they are too heavy to manoeuvre.

Tuesday – Declutter any saucepans or frying pans you simply don’t use. These are bulky items that waste a lot of space if they are kept for those just-in-case moments. They are also items that can easily be borrowed from a friend, relative or neighbour in the rare case they are necessary.

Wednesday – Declutter disposable items from your home and your shopping list. For example ~ Cling film, aluminium foil, paper napkins, paper towel, dryer sheets, wet wipes. Utilise other items in your home that can easily take their place. The environment and your bank account will be all the healthier for it. I haven’t eliminated all of these things from my home but I use so little of the ones I do still keep (paper towel and aluminium foil) that I buy them in small quantities and only replace them when they totally run out. And before anyone tells me that these things are cheaper in large quantities, think for a minute about how easy it is to be wasteful with stuff when there is plenty on hand.

Thursday – Declutter parts of sets that aren’t being utilised. It isn’t compulsory to keep sets together. In the past I have sold or donated attachments to kitchen gadgets, a strainer from a pasta pot, saucers from a dinner set…

Friday – Declutter items adorning benches that just make cleaning more of a chore. Kitchen benches and bathroom cabinets are  areas prone to this nuisance clutter. In bathrooms particularly there is not need to keep everything you use, once or at best twice a day, sitting on the bench top. It takes a fraction of a second to open a door or a drawer.

Saturday – Declutter an item that you keep as a backup for something similar. One reader last week said she had a backup electric kettle. If she disliked it so much there is a good chance she isn’t going to revert back to it should the better one stop working. Cell phones are another item that people tend to have several of. One is fine, more than that is just excessive. These are both cases of buying something when the current one was perfectly fine. We are all guilty of this I am sure.

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

Good luck and happy decluttering

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

Living with less frees me up to explore the world.

For quite some time now I have been putting together the Friday’s Favourite post. However it is one of the most time consuming posts of the week as it require surfing the web for other good posts relating to the subject of decluttering and minimalism. And although there are lots of great blogs out there on this subject I don’t always have time to search for and read them. I also love all the comments I receive here at 365 and have never been comfortable with the idea of singling out favourites. It suggests that the others are less important when they most certainly are not. For that reason, as of today, Friday’s Favourites will be no more. For now what I intend to do instead is to write a post on Friday that is inspired by a comment that a reader has posted. Over the Christmas break I will reassess the weekly format and make decisions on what the new plan will be for 2014.

Likewise, if I am inspired to write a post due to something I have read on the web I will be sure to link to it in the body of the post. So feel free to send me links to web reads that you have enjoyed or found inspiring. I can always do with a little inspiration.

Also I know that my readers love a good before and after post. So if, at any time, you feel inspired to photograph and write a short blurb on a particular decluttering project you are working on, we would love you to share it here at 365 Less Things. If you create such a post just let me know via my contact page and I will send you the email details to send it to.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a few excess picnic items that you keep for those rare occasions when you actually do eat outdoors. Or ones that are completely unnecessary even if you do picnic often.

Eco Tip for the Day

If you find the need to use aluminium foil when cooking, give it a clean up and put it in your recycling bin rather than throwing it in the trash.

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

…but then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption. I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.” ~ Frank Sinatra*

People often ask me if I have any regrets about things I have decluttered. The answer is a few, but none that I would lose any sleep over.

There has been the odd thing that later I realised I could have saved for one of my children. But one can never predict at what point ones children will leave home and I was not about to hoard those things for ever. So I am glad I got rid of them. Besides, I have managed to acquire the things they need, either bought secondhand or acquired secondhand for free via Freecycle.

I also decluttered all the cheap reading glasses I had prior to my beginning to wear prescription glasses. I should have saved one pair for long haul flights, as the in-flight entertainment screens are hard to look at through progressive lenses. But since my eyesight gets poorer over time, the ones I owned would probably not be suitable anymore anyway.

So, as you can see from those two examples, my regrets are easily brushed aside. Right now I can’t think of anything else I have regretted decluttering, although I am sure there are a few I have long ago overcome and forgotten about.

However, what I do have more regrets over, and larger regret at that, is having acquired certain items in the first place. Sometimes this can’t be helped because the decision and choice seemed right at the time but in hindsight were not so good. Circumstances and options change and with that needs change and an item can become unsuitable.  At other times the decision was just wrong from go to woe. I have plenty of these regrets that I could rattle off here but I won’t for my own sanity.

When I decided to write this post I was trying to come up with a title when the song lyrics of “I did it my way” came to mind. “Regrets, I’ve have a few, but then again, too few to mention…” matched very nicely with what I had on my mind. But then I realised how appropriate the line “…I did it my way” also was to my decluttering journey. I did do it my way, I kept what was useful, beautiful and important to me. Often going against convention, but in my opinion convention can be quite flawed so I had few qualms about that. Anyhow, I like to be different. 😉

So just remember, declutter fearlessly and individually.

• Don’t be overly concerned about the possibility of future regret.
• Forgive yourself those unwise purchases of the past and just promise yourself to be more discerning in the future.
• And declutter to suit yourself, not what other people think is the done thing.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter excess cushions and throw rugs. The ones you sit or drape on furniture as a decor item. They are a pain when you want to sit down and are just in your way. Perhaps a few of those six cushions/pillows on your bed that you pull off and put back on every night and morning.

Eco Tip for the Day

Rather than opting for the easy choice of wrapping cling film over food, utilise that overabundance of empty plastic containers in your kitchen cupboard.

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