Deb J

One of the rules of engagement we have learned from Colleen is to constantly be weeding out the things we no longer need. That’s what we are doing when we “declutter one thing a day.” With her Monday Mini-Missions she has been good to give us items to consider decluttering so that we don’t even have to really think about it if we follow them. Our work is already planned for us.

I began to think about this when a friend from church asked me to help her with decluttering. Her husband was just placed in an Alzheimer’s group home and she is well aware that many of the items in her home will no longer be used. The house is cluttered due to taking care of her husband and trying to deal with his disease. She may move to a smaller house and closer to her husband’s group home. She wants to begin the weeding process. She especially wants to be rid of the clutter that accumulated while having the day to day care of her husband. I tried to come up with a list of mini-missions that would help her without overwhelming her.

After explaining to her the idea of decluttering one item a day and looking for things that are broken, soiled, the wrong size, no longer used, or seldom used, this is what I came up with. Oh, I also explained the idea of having boxes where she could accumulate things to toss, sell, repair, or give away. I explained these could be dealt with along the way as time permitted.

1. Start with storage areas first. It took me a great amount of thought to decide to have her tackle this first. But I realized that all the clutter on all of the surfaces in the various rooms had to go somewhere and if it needed to be kept it couldn’t go into a storage area if it was already full. I know that Mom & I used to be guilty of the habit of just stuffing something in a storage area when people were coming to visit or the mess got too overwhelming. How many times have you cleaned up the house by putting it all in one room and closing the door? Her first week’s worth of mini-missions was to go through her garage storage cupboards one cupboard a day. The second week’s missions were to go through her pantry, the guest closet, the huge linen closet, the guest room closet, and the large set of storage cupboards in her laundry room. Like most of us, when we open a drawer or cupboard we tend to declutter whatever is there not just one item. I told her that was fine but it really was okay to do one item a day. She was to repeat these mini-missions until she felt the storage areas were ready and she could move on. This would give her some working area where she could store her decluttering boxes until it was time to move them out.
2. Next she was to go through each room, one room a day, and start putting the clutter in the room where it belonged. She didn’t have to put it away yet. She just needed to have it in the right room. Again I thought about this long and hard. I realized that getting the clutter to the room where it belonged helped me to know if I had too much of that item and helped me to know how to put things away in that room when the time came. I again told her to do this until all the clutter was properly distributed.
3. By this time the clutter would have been transferred to the proper room. The storage areas should be decluttered of everything that needed to go and she should be ready to start doing the nitty gritty item at a time decision making. Her first room to declutter completely was the living room. For her it would be the easiest, would give her a good handle on how to go about the process of really decluttering and would give her a public room in good shape. I told her that for each room she tackled there was a formula to follow. Again I told her to do this as many weeks as it took to get things decluttered.

1. Day 1 – declutter the surfaces of furniture (magazines, books, nicknacks, etc.)
2. Day 2 – declutter the floor (rugs, storage items, piles)
3. Day 3 – declutter the storage areas (drawers, shelves, closets, etc.)
4. Day 4 – declutter the walls
5. Day 5 – declutter the furniture (do you really need it all?)
6. Day 6 – declutter anything else that might be specific to that room

4. By this time the house should be in pretty good shape for the time being. She should be able to go through each day and find one thing more to get rid of but the house would be in visiting condition and she would not feel the weight of the mess on her shoulders.

I am hoping that this will give my friend an easy way to declutter without being overwhelming and yet with results she can see. She is being slow and careful about making any decisions about moving so she doesn’t have to go too fast until she decided whether she will move or not.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that has been sitting in a storage area for quite sometime but still isn’t being used.

Eco Tip for the Day

Choose water based latex paints over solvent based paints when painting your home. Never use lead-based paints. (Tip curtesy of Greenpeace USA)

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 received an email from Jane  a couple of weeks ago requesting me to write a post about getting ones act together and fixing things rather than have them sitting around as useless clutter. Both Cindy and I have written posts about similar topics not all that long ago. Cindy’s post was about addressing old but easy tasks on your to-do list . Mine about fixing something that had annoyed me for much longer than it took to fix ~ much much longer. I also wrote a post way back called Learn To Sew which also is worth a read. However  Jane’s email gave a very good example of this so have quoted it below.

“…for the last 6+ months the hood on my coat has been missing the fur edging because two of the buttons, which it was attached with, had come off (I actually can’t remember when they WERE attached anymore!). So I pulled the fur edging out of my drawer (which incidentally, frequently gets jammed due to all the rubbish in there) and decided to stitch the buttons back on…I then realised I’d decluttered all my buttons a while back, but decided to proceed anyway, and just stitched the fur edging to the hood where the buttons would have been. The coat only has to last me a few more weeks until it’s warm enough to wear lighter clothing, so I didn’t want to waste money buying expensive buttons (or put the job off for even longer by having to wait until I made a trip to the craft store, and then never end up doing it!). Voila – no piece of fur lying in my draw anymore and one fixed, and hopefully, warmer coat!

We keep these little items for months, claiming we’ll fix them when we get time…but soon the weeks disappear and they’re still lying there unfixed, cluttering up our home. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has heaps of things which are broken or need sewing but lie around unused for months or even years.” ~ Jane

Google is a great tool for finding tutorials on fixing all sorts of things. So before throwing things away see if you can figure out how to repair them. Do this sooner rather than later because there are fewer things more annoying than a long to-do list of easy chores left undone causing more irritation than necessary. Should you decide you don’t have the skill to fix things, Freecycle is a great way to declutter these items. There are plenty of other people out there who do have the expertise you might be lacking. Advertise the item as-is describing its stare of disrepair and I am sure you will still find someone out there willing to take it off your hands. I have done this a couple of times myself with great success.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item that you only keep because it was once useful to you. If it isn’t useful to you anymore it is just clutter.

Eco Tip for the Day

Save on heating and cooling by fixing air leaks in your home (around windows and under doors)  with weather-stripping and/or caulking.

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.

Monday – Repair something that has become clutter because it is broken or declutter it to someone who has the skills to fix it.

Tuesday – Declutter an item that you only keep because it was once useful to you. If it isn’t useful to you anymore it is just clutter.

Wednesday – Scan your home for an item that has become so much a part of the scenery that you haven’t even realised it isn’t useful to you anymore.

Thursday – Declutter something that has been sitting in a storage area for quite sometime but still isn’t being used.

Friday – We all have clutter we would be happier to give to a family member or friend rather then sell or donate. Do this with such an item today.

Saturday -Declutter something that you have more of than you really need for the sake of convenience rather than necessity.

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

Avoid anything battery operated or use rechargables or solar rechargables if batteries are unavoidable. Tip curtesy of Greenpeace USA

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

On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Favourite Comments. Enjoy!

Andréia’s comment

Cat’sMeow’s comment

Jane comment

Calico ginger comment-

Moni comment

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

News.com - Downsizing your life sell everything and move on

Found via Becoming Minimalist ~ Mark’s Daily Apple - How simplifying your life can help you refocus on whats important

Raptitude - How to make hard things easy

Cindy sent this link through~ Small Notebook – Resisting the desire to acquire

Jo H. found the link Cindy referred to last week and her it is ~ Small Notebook- Loosen the grip of more stuff

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a piece of excess furniture such as bedside cabinet or a dressing table in a spare room. Guests don’t bring that much stuff that they require whole pieces of furniture to store it in. It is just something else you have to dust and vacuum around.

Eco Tip For The Day

 Investigate if things can be repaired before throwing them away.

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

How much clutter do you have in your home that’s purpose is convenience. There is no doubt that much of the clutter that enters our homes does so under the guise of adding convenience to our daily lives. Items that supposedly save us time, and in some cases actually do, but end up taking up a lot of space and possibly just making us a little lazy.

Here are a list of things that I came up with. Some of which I happily live without, others I soon will and others I won’t be parting with.

• Laundry trolley:~ I don’t have one of these. I decluttered mine in preference for the extra exercise of lifting and bending. Also I chose a folding bag to take my clothes to the clothes line because a plastic basket was too bulky in my small laundry.
• A Clothes Dryer:~ Some folks couldn’t do without one of these because of climactic conditions or housing style. While for many people, who live in the sort of climate I live in, these really are just a convenience. Either to save them hanging out the washing or for when wet weather does set in. In times of extended wet weather a quick trip to a laundromat occasionally would suffice. Neither my mother, mother-in-law or sister have one. I have a washer dryer combo machine so I have the best of both worlds ~ a dryer when I need it and no wasted space.
• Stepping stool:~ I have two of these from when I lived in America. One was for upstairs and one down. Now I keep one inside and one in the garage. Handy for getting into, not too, high places. I have offered one to my son, which I will remind him to take the next time he is at my house. Having just one will mean I get a little extra exercise taking it from one place to the other.
• Dishes:~ I have enough dishes so that I can have plenty to fill the dishwasher but have leftovers to use while it is operating. Right now the dishwasher is on the fritz and I am finding I require fewer dishes because the dirty ones end up back in the cupboard sooner. Standing at the sink doing the dishes by hand is once again a little more movement in my day. However I am still pretty keen for the dishwasher to be repaired.
• Dishwasher:~ Despite my last statement this is definitely a convenience item. Out of 26 years of marriage I have had a dishwasher for twelve. I managed quite well without it in those other years. And needed less dishes.
• Vehicles:~ My husband and I have two vehicles. One motorbike that he rides to work most days (big fuel saving there) and one small car which generally doesn’t get driven much except on the weekends. Do we need both vehicles, no, not really. However it would make the most sense to keep the car because the motorbike is not a good choice for my husband to commute 30kms to work on the rainy days. The reality is that having both isn’t just a convenience but also saves fuel and therefore money. Even taking into account the extra insurance and licensing. With one less vehicle I would have to walk just a little more and or take the bus occasionally.
• Extra Supplies:~ It used to seem convenient for me to have spares of some things waiting in the wings for the moment they were needed. Shampoo, conditioner, other toiletries, pantry items, craft items, paper towel… It occurred to me at one point that all of this was unnecessary. The shops are close enough and running out of any of them was not going to cause life as we know it to come to an end. So I stopped stocking them and allowed the stores to do it for me.
• Tools:~ I used to have in indoor tool kit so I didn’t need to go out to the garage to collect tools to do quick little jobs around the house. When my son moved out recently I gave him the indoor set to take with him. And you guessed it, the extra exercise to go out to the garage is good for me.
• Trash cans in all rooms:~ One again how hard is it to take trash from a bedroom and into a nearby bathroom or the kitchen. Not hard at all.
• Stuff on benches:~ If your cupboards and drawers aren’t full of spares and excess there will be room in them to store your everyday things within easy reach. Make-up, toiletries, hair brushes, kitchen gadgets, stationery items… This will clear the horizontal surfaces of clutter making them much sweeter on the eyes. A tiny bit of extra effort opening a door and maybe bending a little won’t do you any harm.

These are just a few examples of convenience clutter that I could come up with on a quick walk around my house and a little memory searching. With so much already gone from my home I dare say I have missed mentioning many “convenience” items that were once cluttering up my home. If you are concerned with all the extra exercise I mentioned against many of the examples above then consider this ~ A little extra exercise can only be good for you, but may be equaled or even surpassed by the reduction in effort required to clean your home with all that clutter out of the way.

Give this concept some thought the next time you are deciding should something stay or should it go. Can you think of anything in your home that might be convenience clutter that you could happy live without.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you only keep in your home for those rare visitors that drop by maybe once or twice a year. They can always bring their own or do without. ~ Hair dryer, spare toothbrush, a variety of soap, talcum powder, more linen and towels than necessary…

Eco Tip for the Day

Spend a week only driving your car when necessary. Plan your trips to cover more than one task. See how much fuel you save. You might be surprised how often you go out in your car for quick trips that you really shouldn’t need to. Perhaps this will be inspiration to continue with this was of driving.

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

Since I have brought us back to the subject of being open minded, now seems as good a time as any to write a post about our state of mind when it comes to stuff. I was reading a post this morning, which I will link to on Friday, and one quote really stood out for me…

“Most of us have so much – much more than the majority of the world at least (and more than our primal ancestors ever dreamed of), yet we live with a misplaced sense of deprivation.” ~ MARK SISSON

This statement puts into words something I wonder about often. I think about it from all aspects. There is the “Have” side where, as Mark mentions, people seemingly have much more than they need but are forever wanting more, so feel deprived. And then there is the “Less Privileged” side where people can’t afford all the trappings of life and naturally feel deprived. Then there is the minimalist who chooses and is happy to live a life like the less privileged and doesn’t feel deprived at all. What is different about his state of mind.

It is understandable to feel deprived when one works hard but struggles to provide the necessities in life ~ food, clothing, shelter and medical care. But when one feels deprived when they can afford this an more, then perhaps something else is wrong.  Or perhaps we are simply duped about what it is we should be striving for. When one comes to terms with the idea that what they give and what they have in life is enough, then stuff no longer matters.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a kitchen item that you have simply because everyone else does. If you don’t find it helpful on a regular basis then it isn’t necessary to you. ~ Examples:- Garlic press, potato peeler, cake pans, blender, turkey baster, meat thermometer, deep fryer…

Eco Tip for the Day

Be conservative about how many dishes you use when cooking and eating. The less there are to wash the less water and electricity is wasted. And in my case ~ my dishwasher is out of service at the moment ~ this tip saves on dishpan hands. I realised, while preparing ingredients for dinner last night, that it would save me on washing up if I just left all the chopped veggies on the cutting board rather than putting them in bowls. I have also discovered that washing plastic bowls, that have had greasy leftovers in, is a real pain. Which for me is another good reason to declutter more plastic.

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.

Last week I wrote a post called Be Open Minded. This post was about being open to changing your mindset about what you keep. We keep so many things because it is conventionally normal to do so. This week lets see if we can get rid of some things that we have because it is the norm whether we actually need them of not.

Monday – Declutter anything you have several of for no reason other than that variety is the spice of life. Is it, is it really? ~ crockery, towels, sheets, trinkets, jewellery, toiletry products…

Tuesday – Declutter a kitchen item that you have simply because everyone else does. If you don’t find it helpful on a regular basis then it isn’t necessary to you. ~ Garlic press, potato peeler, cake pans, blender, turkey baster, meat thermometer, deep fryer…

Wednesday – Declutter something from your pantry that isn’t healthy for you even though most people stock it. The best way to avoid unhealthy food is to not keep it in your home. ~ White sugar, pasta, sweet sauces, white rice, white flours, candy…

Thursday – Declutter something you only keep in your home for those rare visitors that drop by maybe once or twice a year. They can always bring their own or do without. ~ Hair dryer, spare toothbrush, a variety of soap, talcum powder, more linen and towels than necessary…

Friday – Declutter a piece of excess furniture such as bedside cabinet or a dressing table in a spare room. Guests don’t bring that much stuff that they require whole pieces of furniture to store it in. It is just something else you have to dust and vacuum around.

Saturday – Take a look at your cleaning products. Perhaps you could find some multipurpose ones so that you don’t need to carry such variety. I use vinegar and bicarb soda for so many things these days along with a little lemon juice and dish liquid. These three ingredients with or without water makes up my surface cleaner, shower cleaner, jewellery cleaner, fabric softener and drain cleaner. Also three of these ingredients were things I already carried in the pantry for cooking.

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

Switch to 100% recycled printer paper.

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

On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Favourite Comments. Enjoy!

Here is a great comment from over at the 365 Facebook page from Jenny Adamson. Giving things away can bring more joy than keeping them.

Here is a thought about the shopping high from Idealistin.

Cat’sMeow has some great advice about treating yourself without causing clutter in this comment.

Brenda sent us this comment with a great quote to live by.

And while we are on the subject of quotes here is a message Cindy sent me this week that I wanted to share with you all. If you can identify who the quote was made by we would appreciate it.

Does this quote ring any bells with you? “I never dreamed that when I grew up I’d have so much crap that all I did was take care of it?” I know that’s not exactly right, but it came from this blog post that I loved and cannot re-locate. The author, who is a woman, is imagining sitting with her idealist college friends and never saying things like “I hope I have so much junk when I grow up that I have debts.” and “I hope I have to buy a bigger and bigger house to store all my belongings.”

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Here is a link sent in by Sanna for your enjoyment and mine ~ Just a little less ~ Making Room ~ The junk-room

And  Cindy sent in this link that is good for parents or even grandparents to read ~ www.parents.com ~ The to-do gift

I enjoyed this post from Tohami at Midway Simplicity ~ 25-simplicity-quotes-to-live-by-illustrated-with-pictures

Willow sent us in this link ~ www.nytimes.com ~ Living-with-less-a-lot-less

The Minimalists ~ 3 REASONS PEOPLE SEEK OUT OTHER POVS

Here is a link to a post by one of your fellow 365ers, Mard Adam Douglas.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter some odd little thing that, up until now, has escaped your notice because it isn’t outstanding in any way. Yesterday I checked my bra drawer and in the bottom I found four little plastic baggies of extra bra straps that had come with bras that have long since worn out.

Eco Tip For The Day

If you use a cleaning service ask them about switching to using eco friendly cleaning products or consider switching to one that does.

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

This week’s mini missions ought to really get you thinking about the way you see the items in your home. Today’s mission ~ Declutter something you have kept out of habit because it used to be useful but now isn’t necessary ~ suggests that you should be open minded about everything in your home not just the things you know for sure are clutter. Moni made a point yesterday that she liked that there were no bedside tables in what was my son’s bedroom, even though she is a bedside table kind of girl. As I said to moni, when visitors come I can always bring down a side table from my bedroom or from the living room, for the short period of time they are here. The other 11 months of the year that room will be easy to keep clean.

Convention has us thinking that things should be done just so. My daughter’s opinion of my son’s room was that it looks like a jail cell. No personality. I understand where she is coming from and even I may relocate a little wall decor from another room to jazz things up a little bit. But, since for the most part no one is going to be in there, there is no point in cluttering it up.

Do you have things cluttering up corners, closets, cupboards, drawers and walls in your home that are simply there out of habit or because convention dictates that it is appropriate to own such things? Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t like being dictated to so I will do and own just what pleases me. To heck with convention, I love space, fresh air, ease and spare time.

So take a long hard look at everything you have in your home with an open mind and ask yourself, do I need this, do I love this, do I want to continuously take care of this item.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you have kept out of habit because it used to be useful but now isn’t necessary. Maybe old pet equipment, outgrown kids toys, kitchen gadgets, reading glasses that are no longer strong enough…

Eco Tip for the Day

My daughter says, choose two meals you would like to cook in the week and then plan the rest of the week around the leftover ingredients so that nothing goes to waste.

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

Today’s mini mission is to declutter something because it requires dusting and you don’t like it all that much anyway. Have you ever considered how much time you spend cleaning things in your home that aren’t even necessary to your happiness or survival. Or perhaps you avoid this task until the dust is causing hay-fever, someone is coming to visit and it looks embarrassing or the humidity is turning that seemingly innocent dust into a breeding ground for mould or mildew. Or perhaps you don’t even realise that this dust could be causing health problems.

My son’s bedroom used to be a huge dust collector. Needless to say I often made a lackadaisical effort of cleaning this space. I didn’t want to deal with the difficulty factor of cleaning it properly. There were various reasons why this job kept getting relegated to the too hard basket.

Firstly he had a large desk in his room which caused bad placement of his other furniture. His bed was placed in a corner and over a window. Making it difficult to change the sheets and flip the mattress. And also the window sill was half covered by the bed head making it difficult to dust. Also only about two metres of his skirting boards were exposed for dusting and only about one third of his carpet was accessible to vacuum.

My Son’s Room

This large desk, intended for him to execute his university art assignments, was mostly covered with numerous dust collecting sentimental items making it an enormous task to keep it dust free and tidy.

Then there were the two guitars resting on their stands in the corner and a small ottoman he had a habit of “hanging’ his half soiled clothing on.

All and all this was an uninspiring room to entice me to keep clean. As a result quite often I would  wipe down the skirting boards I could see, change the sheets, run the vacuum over the carpet I could get at, and walk away. I would perhaps once a month make a bigger effort but only out of sufferance. Less often I would insist the desk be cleared off so I could give everything a good dusting. Usually at the end of a school term.

My difficulties with this room were somewhat unavoidable simply because he needed the furniture that was in it. Also it is his room, his domain, and I felt that he was entitled to adorn it with what ever personal items he liked. A mother often doesn’t get much say in how tidy a 21 year old keeps his room either. One can merely guide not force. Well my son has moved out now and you should see his room. In fact you can in the photo below. It is vacant except for a bed.

My Son’s Room Now

Do you have a room in your home that is too hard to keep clean because of the clutter collecting dust, resting on dust collecting furniture that isn’t necessary, which covers walls, floor and skirting boards that rarely see the light of day that could do with a good clean. Do you really need or want all this stuff getting in the way of a clean and tidy home or is it just there out of habit. Give it some serious thought because as I mentioned above it may be less harmless than it appears.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something because it requires dusting and you don’t like it all that much anyway

Eco Tip for the Day

Embrace your real hair colour, even if it’s grey. The environment could do without all those nasty chemicals and wasted water going down the drain in an attempt for you to be something other than the beautiful creature nature made you.

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