I shudder at the idea of going back to my old ways of having stuff, more stuff, stored stuff, collected stuff and yet more stuff…..and then being very surprised that the house is full of stuff!

But in spite of all that, I still keep the strangest of things. I don’t know why, there is no logic to it, but I have difficulties getting rid of empty cardboard boxes and shopping bags, especially if they are from particularly nice clothes store or from a surf wear shop.

There is a wee corner of my brain that insists cardboard boxes are useful. Maybe they are, maybe they’re not, but I can get as many as I want any time that I want from my local Pak’n’Save. I have no plans to store anything and no need to carry anything in the foreseeable future but I faithfully stack a small pile of them in the garage until finally the rational part of my brain turns up a few days later and breaks them down for recycling.

Shopping bags. I’m not talking about supermarket bags or ones from the mainstream stores, but the rather nice looking ones. I carefully fold them and place them inside a bag in my craft cupboard. There is only ever 5-10 sitting there and every so often I decide that today is the day I will declutter them, but it just doesn’t happen. The only reason I can think of is that when I was a girl my mum used to do the same thing.

At the time the economy was suffering under high inflation, extreme interest rates and a government introduced compulsary car-less day once a week to combat fuel costs. Our town was small and this was before the era of cheap ‘Made In China’ clothing, so mum sewed what she could of our clothing and we accepted and donated hand-me-down clothes, it didn’t bother us and was widely acceptable in our community.

So a pretty shopping bag represented luxury and they were probably still a new thing as I recall a drawer full of folded up paper bags used for everything from lining baking tins to art projects to lighting the fire to holding rubbish. Wherever possible, we passed on our hand-me-down clothes in a nice plastic carrier bag with a shop logo on it. Why I don’t know, as it was only being carried from house to car and car to house and wouldn’t actually be seen by the greater public, but it seemed to be the tradition.

I mentioned this story to a friend over the weekend and she got a smile on her face and told me that she keeps the paper flour sacks, to line baking tins for making fruit cake. The thing is that she has never made a fruit cake. Her mother and grandmother were fruit cake legends but the baking gene completely skipped her, but she still feels a need to keep these paper flour sacks.

Another friend religiously saves seeds from pumpkins and dries them on the kitchen window sill as her mother used to dry hers for planting, but my friend lives in an apartment block and has never had a garden.

So why do we carry on these little traditions from yester year? Who knows? Strangely I feel more of an attachment to these pretty plastic carrier bags than I do towards many other items that I haven’t thought twice about getting rid of.

So what is my strategy to deal with this? Well, the first step is to make sure that no more come into the house, although this is fairly easy as I am not the shopping fiend that I used to be but also to politely decline a plastic carrier bag or if on a shopping trip to utilise one bag for all purchases. Colleen will also advocate that this is good for the environment. I actually had to decline one yesterday – shopping for a school bag – yes, a bag for the bag!

And as for the existing bags? Well, I have a number of items on trademe (like ebay) at the moment, and I will honour my mum’s tradition of passing on clothes and use these for packaging rather than buying postal bags. Ironically this isn’t a cheaper option but it will save me from buying another plastic bag, while these hide in the cupboard.

So does anyone else out there find themselves keeping the strangest of things and if so do you know why?

Today’s Mini Mission

Stationery was another category that I once had a weakness for. I had cute paper, cute paper clips, cute pens, cute erasers, cute push pins and a selection of ordinary stuff so I could save the cute stuff for good.  When the children are in school one does need much more of this stuff but I found that I had so much that three years after they left I gave the excess away because it just wasn’t getting used up like I thought it would. Also as the tech age took over even a little bit of this was too much because we digitised most of our bills etc. Evaluate your stationery and your need for them and declutter the items you have too many of or have no use for at all.

Eco Tip for the Day

Decide what you need from the refrigerator before opening the door. Standing there with the door open while you think about what you want to eat just lets the cold air out. Then the fridge has to work harder and waste electricity to regain its optimal temperature level.

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

This comment by Jo H and the mention of Feng Shui last week got me thinking about the aesthetics of a home. We all have our own tastes when it comes to the kinds of things we like, fabric choices, art works, furniture styles, knick knacks etc etc. However as Jo pointed out in her comment the beauty of these objects have a better chance of shining out when they aren’t so plentiful that they get lost in the clutter.

Although I only have a vague understanding of Feng Shui, and  am sure some people think it is a lot of hocus pocus, I would suggest that it is worth investigating. I feel that some of the basic principals such as de-clutter every room, position furniture correctly, keep work and rest areas separate and make repairs promptly, will make any home more pleasant to live in. Homes have a feel about them whether you believe in chi (the flow of positive energy) or not. Have you ever had an area of your home that just doesn’t feel right to you and can’t put your finger on why. To another person the problem may be obvious but, because you have emotional attachment to the stuff in the room, your ability to see the problem is obscured.

I happened to visit a local antique shop this last weekend. This shop is large and jam packed with all manner of old and interesting things. So jam packed that you couldn’t possibly see even one tenth of what it has to offer in a single visit. I had come to show my husband one particular item which was right at the front door and took seconds to accomplish, however these places are so intriguing that it is fun to have a look around. The decision then had to be made whether to glance over the entire store or choose a couple of areas to look through closely. No matter what choice one makes in this situation one is always left with the feeling of missing out on something. What treasures could be hiding amongst all the clutter. Where do I look first, what might I be missing if I make the wrong choice of where to look. Even though I didn’t even wish to purchase anything I find this feeling oppressive.

Now imagine living in your home with a similar feeling every day. You believe you love and need every item in it, you wouldn’t want to part with anything because you might miss it or need it someday. However you know something about your home is making you feel on edge and you can’t put your finger on it. My guess is your need and love for all your stuff has your eyes closed to the fact that you can’t deal with it all. You spend so much time maintaining it. Or you feel guilty if you don’t. You encounter inconveniences everyday manoeuvring around and through your stuff. Be open to the idea convenience might just be worth parting with some stuff.

As always I would suggest you start decluttering the items, among the multitudes, that you love the least. But if you would like to immediately experience what it would be like with less stuff, why not do a trial separation. A practice run so to speak. You can test how much you really would miss some items when they are gone. At the same time experience how much easier maintenance can be with less stuff. Then weigh up what is really more important to you.

Find a place in your home where you can store some boxes of stuff for a while. Choose an area of your home that feels the most cluttered. Box up the items you least use and/or love and take a break from them. Leave the items in the boxes for at least a month, two or three would really give a good indication of whether you really miss them or not. At the end of the time you can either sort through the boxes to retrieve what you have decided you want or just send them as is straight to the thrift shop. If you do decide to go through the boxes don’t allow the novelty of seeing your items again cloud your judgement and have you forget the benefits of having less stuff to maintain and live with.

Today’s Mini Mission

If you have a bunch of fancy, rarely used utensils getting in the way of  the useful stuff why not pare down a little.

Eco Tip for the Day

Just like yesterdays eco tip on saving fuel not idling the car, you can also practice this with your vacuum cleaner. When you are vacuuming and get sidetracked by another task turn off the vacuum, even if the other task takes little more than a few seconds. Every little bit of electricity you save is good for the environment and your energy costs.

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.

I am basing today’s mini missions around one of my old clutter weaknesses and that is ~ useful items that make my life easier, more convenient or just added variety of choice.  While some of these items did simplify my workload many did more towards cluttering up my home than making it more functional. So below I will give you a list of the ones that have long since been decluttered and you can give some thought to the necessity of these items in your home, if you indeed even own such things.

Monday – At one point I owned four types of vacuum cleaners. Each one of them were used on a regular basis. A big upright vacuum for heavy cleaning, a stick vac for quick once overs on in-between days, a hand vacuum for small spills and my iRobot vacuum because who doesn’t love an appliance that does all the work for you. Although all these vacuums made clean up tasks slightly easier in their own way they also required storage space and were frankly a little in the way of overkill. I now have two, the heavy duty one and a hand vac, and the jury is still out on whether the hand vac is really useful enough to justify the amount of power it must use sitting on standby 24/7. If you have several vacuum cleaners, brooms or mops analyse what you really need and declutter what you don’t.

Tuesday – Kitchen utensils are another thing I had more of than was convenient to search through when I needed the everyday items. One would think the useful items would remain on top because they get used often but like keys in a handbag they had a habit of working their way to the bottom. Do you really need a melon baller, a garlic press, an apple corer, a julienne grater, a crinkle cutter… These are all items I used to own and amazingly enough the food I make without them now tastes just as good. So if you have a bunch of fancy utensils getting in the way of  the useful stuff why not pare down a little.

Wednesday – Stationery was another category that I once had a weakness for. I had cute paper, cute paper clips, cute pens, cute erasers, cute push pins and a selection of ordinary stuff so I could save the cute stuff for good. 🙄 When the children are in school one does need much more of this stuff but I found that I had so much that three years after they left I gave the excess away because it just wasn’t getting used up like I thought it would. Also as the tech age took over even a little bit of this was too much because we digitised most of our bills etc. Evaluate your stationery and your need for them and declutter the items you have too many of or have no use for at all.

Thursday - Like kitchen utensils I found that baking pans and trays were another thing that accumulated over the years. Cookie trays, loaf pans, muffin pans, cupcake pans, square tins, round tins, spring form pans… you name it I had usually more than one of them. These things came in much more handy when the kids were still at home but even then a cake tastes much the same whether it was round, square or made in a spring form pan. Yes, if you bake a lot or are particular about these things the thought of living with less of them would be unthinkable. However I am not Martha Stewart and at my age the less cake, cookies and tarts that are around my house the better. We tend to only indulge when we go out for a coffee. That is not to say I have gotten rid of them all but there are certainly fewer now than there once was. Do you have a greater quantity or more variety in the way of baking pans than you truly have aspirations to use? Then perhaps it is time to let go of a few.

Friday – I also used to own more mending items than were ever going to be used in a reasonable amount of time. As a result many elastic items perished, many reals of cotton sat unused, fabric remnants awaited their call up to patch items, and those unique spare buttons that come with new garments were stored in the sewing kit long after the garment has worn out or been passed on. Granted, back in the days when the children were young, I used to sew more but now I don’t. Now I buy just what I need when I need it, I have reduced the cottons and buttons to more generic colours and styles, and the fabric remnants have long been decluttered. If your mending kits has more stocked than it need be then give it a good declutter keeping only what really will come in handy in an emergency. Any other repairs can wait.

Saturday – This last item doesn’t really fit with the theme of the day although they are useful in there own way. They are also still plentiful in my home and I have devised a plan to declutter them as the current plan of wear them out throw them out isn’t working quickly enough. The item in question is socks. Some get worn a lot, some not so often. So here is my plan. I am going to put them all in a box in my closet, when they get used they will be laundered and put back in the drawer where they usually reside. Any that are still in the box at the end of the season will be either thrown out or donated depending on condition. If you have too many socks or perhaps scarves, ties or other clothing accessory now is as good a time as any to declutter the ones you don’t use or like so much.

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

Don’t leave you car idling for unnecessary periods of time such as when you pull over to use your cell phone. 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting your car.

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

Finding Colleen’s web site really was an eye-opener for me as I did feel overwhelmed by stuff at the time but didn’t really know where to start. I just moved in with my boyfriend and we both had lived in shared flats before, so we had a mixed jumble of furniture and household goods and got help and cast-offs from many relatives as well. So I was in that new apartment surrounded by lots of stuff that didn’t really match and didn’t really fit either. Moreover as he liked his stuff and I liked mine, of course we didn’t want to give away our own stuff but would have preferred the other’s to be sold, donated or trashed. You know how it’s always easier to point out other people’s trash, as you have no sentimental feelings about it and it might also not suit your taste as well as things chosen by you. As there was not much money to spend on this project and we both have a “no-waste”-mentality, so trashing wouldn’t have come easy anyway, I was so glad to find Colleen’s website and her slow-and-steady approach. From the first day, I stuck to it and it really wasn’t hard to find one thing a day to give away or recycle. I also tried to implement the “one place for everything”- strategy soon, which meant that we joined all our office supplies, tools etc. and started using them up instead of bringing new things in due to not knowing that we already owned something like that.

However over the time, mostly happily hauling small or big bags of stuff to the thrift store every other week, I hit frustration a couple of times. Even after months our apartment wasn’t near to a minimalistic state, we still own quite a lot which isn’t really necessary, just because we or one of us doesn’t want to let it go.

We didn’t drastically reduce our space or furniture and it still seems to be rather well filled. So I asked myself more than once: What did I do all this time? Is there progress at all?

Last september I took a few photos of parts of our apartment, namely shelving units etc.

Here you see our bookcase in the living room then and now. Can you spot the difference? (I can’t help that the after picture is darker, this is due to our winter weather)

Before and After

Oh yes, it is still full, but note that all that left this bookcase, left for good, while many other things that cluttered other parts of the apartment have found their way in: This suitcase (which holds our yarn stash and knitting needles) had no home before – it was somewhere underneath the sofa or somewhere else on the floor. Same goes for the basket which is now next to my sewing machine – it holds sewing/mending work in progress and was underneath the sofa as well. Also, our bookcase now holds the wrapping paper, my clarinet and three unused canvases that had no real home either.

Mostly books and CDs have been decluttered, but also a few other things, like two vases that went to the thrift store, the little black laquer tray I gave to a friend or the pin cushion which now fits in my sewing kit.

So, yes, although we still have a full bookcase, although there are still many purely sentimental items in it, I can spot a difference in the before and after photos and I know that this means one less moving box for books, which shows to me that I am, after all, making progress, as slow as it may be.

Since Sanna first sent me this post she has decluttered even more. Proof that, over time, one is prepared to relinquish more and more items that once they thought they never would. A job well done I’d say. Below is a very current photo of the decluttered shelves and below that a collage of the Before After and Now shots just so you can compare the difference. As Sanna said when she sent me the new photo this week….

“I just looked at the “before” picture myself for the first time in a couple of months. Wow. I’m amazed by the difference! Taking pictures really does help to see the progress. I wouldn’t have remembered how cluttered it was.”

The shelving unit now

Before                                                                                   After                                                                              Now

Today’s Mini Missions

 Last but not least I am once again going to harp on about those tchotchkes collecting dust around the home. They have to be cleaned, they have to be housed and they take up valuable space that could be used for something useful. I am not saying get rid of them all, I certainly won’t be. Just do yourself a favour and lighten your space and your work load. Declutter a few more this week.

“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

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!

In this comment Wendy B demonstrates that all kinds of circumstances initiate decluttering. Well done Ian and Wendy.

Wise words form Ideealistin in regards to buying to resell. I have encountered more than one person in my life who bought to resell then stopped reselling. There homes ended up full of clutter. The buying became like any other addiction.

Yesterday we had four previously silent readers come forward to make their first comments. I felt inclined to share them with you. Enjoy! I appreciate every reader contribution to the blog and encourage you all to join the conversation. So welcome to Katy, Nanette, Leah and Purplej. I hope I haven’t missed anyone.

In this comment Marianne gives her advice on how to enjoy books and magazines without the clutter.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

This link for Becoming Minimalist gives good advice on why fewer toys are better for your kids.

I enjoyed this link also from Becoming Minimalist. It matches so well with the theme of my mini missions this week.

Andréia sent me this link to an article about decluttering books After reading it I was a bit reluctant to share it here as the writer still had a vast collection. As it turned out she was a book reviewer. However I found the first few paragraphs too interesting to keep them to myself. And here is another one about making a household inventory.

Here is another great article about including kids in the chores and decluttering from The Other Side Of Complexity.

Today’s Mini Mission

Having too many items of clothing to choose from can lead to baskets of unwashed and/or unfolded washing laying around. This can also cause wasted time making choices on what to wear. Declutter some excess clothing. Think about whether the number of clothing items you own represents the amount you really need or how often you can be bothered washing and ironing them. I DO NOT mean for you to consider washing small loads more frequently (that would be bad for the environment). What I am saying is do you still have several weeks worth of this seasons clothes in your wardrobe at the time you are doing a full load of laundry. If that is the case perhaps you are overstocked.

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

I mostly talk about clutter in the form of items that are unused and unloved that could be permanently removed from our homes.  However the detritus of unfinished tasks also mounds up over a very short period of time when a short attention span, lack of planning or sheer laziness has us making a half hearted effort.

Below are some reasons why this sort of clutter accumulates and the possible consequences…

• Mail is opened but not attended too. ~ At the very least there should be a designated place for mail to be filed when needing later attention. Not doing this can end up in late fees for unpaid bills. Any mail that is just plain junk deposit it straight in the recycling bin. Do what you can to digitise bills and cease junk mail to make this task easier in the future.
• Dishes unwashed or washed but not put away. ~ This makes a kitchen look dirty, untidy and ,in the case of small kitchens, far less functional. Then there is the time wasted looking for, and possibly having to clean on the run, items you need for the task at hand. And also there is the possibility of attracting germ carrying bugs.
• Getting dressed but leaving discarded clothes left lying on the floor. ~ This is bad enough when the clothes are dirty and simply need the little effort it takes to put them in the dirty clothes basket. But should they be clean, nicely ironed clothes that have been tossed aside in an attempt to find just the right outfit for the occasion then you have not only left a mess but you have wasted all the time and effort that you used to launder these items in the first place. Once they are crinkled in a pile with all the other dirty discarded clothes then they are no longer clean and wearable.
• Performing ablutions and then leaving your toiletries everywhere. ~ Toothpaste and brush left open or not rinsed on the sink,  make-up everywhere on the vanity, shampoo in the floor of the shower with lids off…  What and eyesore and a mess for the next unfortunate bather to have to deal with.
• Mending started but not completed. ~ Now not only the item that requires mending is hanging around out of place but also the equipment needed is out of place with it.
• Random items used and left discarded all over the house. ~ Right now as I look to my right I can see on my living room side table a hair comb, a used and empty coffee cup, a bottle of nasal spray and a used tissue. That last items is particularly gross. Everyone of those items has a place and none of them are in it. The cup belongs in the dishwasher, the comb in the bathroom cabinet drawer, along with the nasal spray and the tissue in the bin. I have been past the kitchen several times since I finished the coffee, the bin also resides in the kitchen and I have also gone upstairs and into my bathroom more than once. I could easily have taken care of all of these items during anyone of those trips without it taking me but a few extra seconds. Ignore enough things during the day and ones house can become an awful mess. Especially if neglected in this way for days on end.

If you are guilty of any of these clutter producing habits why not try to change your ways. With a little extra attention to detail and putting in place new strategies I am sure you can turn things around. Maybe you will save yourself some time, stress or even money in the long run.

Today’s Mini Mission

Décor items can certainly warm up a room and make it feel homely but too many can have a detrimental effect. They can clutter the space, make it appear untidy and harbour dust mite among other things. Declutter one or two dust collecting décor items this week. Scatter cushions, rugs, throw rugs, wall hangings, drapes…

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t leave tasks linger for so long that you have to redo them such as drying the washing or folding it. This can cause you to have to waste more electricity rewashing and ironing. Need I also mention your wasted time and wear and tear on your appliances.

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

Cindy

My youngest, Audra, made me laugh recently by saying that a friend had gotten a new wardrobe from IKEA but preferred to continue using “the floordrobe.”

Personally, I hate the floor. How does so much stuff wind up there? I have four animals, and they each seem to shed their bodies’ weight in fur every week. I don’t have any carpet to trap the fur, and that’s a good thing, but it also means that I have the tumbling tumbleweeds of hair every time we open the windows and a breeze gets going. Yuck. I hate a hairy floor.

I also hate to walk barefoot and have stuff stick to the bottom of my feet. I suppose if I had carpet, the hair and dirty things would sink into the fibers, but that’s not such a pretty picture either. I have only wood and tile flooring and a single 8×10 rug. I’ve told Dan that when the vacuum cleaner dies, I’m going to get rid of the rug rather than buy another vacuum. The rug is the only thing I use it for.

But more than hair and dirt, which are supposed to get on the floor, how do so many other things end up there as well? Looking around, I see two boxes of uniforms that I got down from the attic and have yet to return, a plastic Easter egg (the cat was playing with it), a dog booty (thrown off by the dog and left there for several days), a wash cloth (why?), a bow from a package (what gift? when?), and an insulated bag that’s supposed to be in the back of my van.

All that on the floor in the living room and kitchen, and I don’t even use my floor as a floordrobe! What if those items (which I notice primarily belong to animals….hmm, there could be a lesson here) were joined by clothes, books, magazines, old newspapers, stacks of mail, CDs, shoes, toys, and a pile of laundry to be folded? How about bags of never-opened bags from the store, craft projects, extra pillows, a life-size paper mache giraffe? Some people’s house look like this. Mine has. Yours might.

I once worked with a man named Scott. Scott’s desk was a foot high in papers from right to left, front to back. Worse, he used his floor as an extension: his floor was literally covered with stacks of papers. No one could enter without playing tip toe. I did that for a while, but then I got so irritated with his mess that I just stomped straight over anything on the floor. I figured if he didn’t care enough to keep it off the floor, I didn’t care enough to avoid stepping on it. Probably not what he would have preferred, but it worked for the two of us. But think about it: He had papers so “valuable” that he had to keep them out and available, but it was okay that I walked on them. What does that say about their true value?

The floor is only for a few things: a bit of dust, a drift of pet hair, your feet, the furniture, some lamps. You should be able to walk freely through your home without worrying that you might step or crash into something. It shouldn’t be used as a storage room, trash can, dresser or closet. It’s not your storage unit, and it’s not a library. Get it decluttered if you can’t even see it.

Do you have a floordrobe, or have you overcome one?

Today’s Mini Mission

Aside from all the picking up and wasted storage space, indulging your children with too many toys teaches them the habit of excess and can also stifle their imagination. Have your children choose three toys each to donate to charity this week.

Eco Tip For The Day

Clothes remain new looking for longer when laundered with care. Wash lights with lights, colours with colours and dark with dark. Now that my household is down to just two I wash our lights with our sheets to save on wash loads. The spare bed sheets are red so when needed I wash them with red or even black clothes.

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

Never fear all you book lovers out there, I am not going to once again nag you into relinquishing books today. This post is about the accumulation of reading materials other than books.

Reading materials are another form of clutter that tends to accumulate around the house, in racks and on benches, tables and floors. Magazines, newspapers, sales catalogues… There is no reason why most of these can’t immediately go in the recycling bin once read. Particularly the newspapers and sales catalogues.

Quite frankly though in the age of modern technology there is no need to even acquire these reading materials in the first place. You can read the news on-line. Web sites like Pinterest or Taste.com have all the links to inspiration one needs in the way of helpful hints, home decorating and cooking. All other topics can also be found at numerous other web sites as can most retail outlets’ specials of the week. So there really is no need for trees to fall, ink to be wasted, money spent or clutter to build up in the pursuit of something to read.

That being said some people still like a good old fashioned hard copy of these articles in their hot little hands. However, even in that case, by the end of the day the newspaper is full of old news and can go in the recycling bin. And hopefully I have convinced most of you that sales catalogues are best put straight in the recycling bin if you can’t find a way to stop them coming in altogether.  Now that just leaves magazines.

Magazines are often the tricky periodicals that people tend to cling to. They come in every subject available from craft to fashion to hunting to smut and gossip. Personally I think that paper and ink is totally wasted on the smut and gossip mags, however I can understand people wanting to indulge in a little reading on other topics of interest.

The problem begins when we convince ourselves to keep our magazines with the intention of looking back at articles, recipes and the like. I have done this myself in the past. I found though that what happened was I ended up with so many magazines that the thought of ploughing through them all, for just the right project, information or article, was so much bother that I gave up before I began. I knew the information I wanted was in one of those magazines but what a task. Had I bothered to put a data base together with a list of all articles I am interested in the task would have been easier. But once again putting that data base together would be a job and a half itself.

Then there is the idea of clipping articles but once again my experience is that those clippings also have to be filled somehow and nine time out of ten I never bothered to look back at them. On reflection I think it is a much better choice to scan articles, recipes etc of interest, save it to your computer under a folder name of like subject with a file title making it easy to identify at a later date. Then recycle, donate or pass on your copy for someone else to enjoy. If you don’t have a scanner perhaps a photograph will suffice.

Personally I choose not to purchase magazines at all these days. My subject of interest was usually cooking or craft. These days I just use my search engine of choice to find what I want quickly and easily on the internet. At least then I don’t have a huge collection of aspirational clutter wasting space in my kitchen or craft room.

Today’s Mini Mission

Reading materials are another thing that end up accumulating around the house, in racks and on benches, tables and floors. Magazines, newspapers, specials catalogues… There is no reason why most of these can’t immediately go in the recycling bin once read.

Eco Tip for the Day

Consider subscribing to digital copies of newspapers and magazines so as to save on paper and publishing.

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.

There are definitely specific items that, in excess, make your home harder to keep tidy, organised and efficient. For today’s mini missions I will make some suggestions of items to declutter and why they can have a negative effect in your home when in over-abundance. Most of the items I mention can be cleaned up and donated to charity.

Monday – Having too many kitchen items makes it difficult to access items when you need them and you blasé about cleaning them quickly. Declutter a few items you don’t need or are in over abundance.

Tuesday – Reading materials are another thing that end up accumulating around the house, in racks and on benches, tables and floors. Magazines, newspapers, specials catalogues… There is no reason why most of these can’t immediately go in the recycling bin once read.

Wednesday – Aside from all the picking up and wasted storage space, indulging your children with too many toys teaches them the habit of excess and can also stifle their imagination. Have your children choose three toys each to donate to charity this week.

Thursday– Décor items can certainly warm up a room and make it feel homely but too many can have a detrimental effect. They can clutter the space, make it appear untidy and harbour dust mite among other things. Declutter one or two dust collecting décor items this week. Scatter cushions, rugs, throw rugs, wall hangings, drapes…

Friday - Having too many items of clothing to choose from can lead to baskets of unwashed and/or unfolded washing laying around. This can also cause wasted time making choices on what to wear. Declutter some excess clothing. Think about whether the number of clothing items you own represents the amount you really need or how often you can be bothered washing and ironing them. I DO NOT mean for you to consider washing small loads more frequently (that would be bad for the environment). What I am saying is do you still have several weeks worth of this seasons clothes in your wardrobe at the time you are doing a full load of laundry. If that is the case perhaps you are overstocked.

Saturday – Last but not least I am once again going to harp on about those tchotchkes collecting dust around the home. They have to be cleaned, they have to be housed and they take up valuable space that could be used for something useful. I am not saying get rid of them all, I certainly won’t be. Just do yourself a favour and lighten your space and your work load. Declutter a few more this week.

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

Next time you are in the shops and are tempted to buy some item that you just don’t need, stop and give some thought  to the mentality behind this compulsion. That moment of instant gratification comes at a cost to you, your home and the environment.

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

With Andréia’s permission I am sharing with you today an edited excerpt from an email she sent me last week. I know how you all love to read about your fellow declutterers successes. Last week Andréia had reason to appreciating what difference she had made in her home over the last three years. Since these improvements take place over time it sometimes isn’t so clearly obvious how much difference we have made until an event happens that brings things into clear perspective. So without further adieu here is Andréia’s story.

Last Saturday I had a party at my house. My two kids’ joint birthday party and I decided to do a small gathering of family and friends. It was tiresome, because, even though I had someone to help me clean, there is the cooking and last minute details that all parties entail. But that is not the point of my story.

As I was welcoming two friends, that arrived early to give me some help (putting up balloons putting some dishes away…), they said it was all great and were glad the bigger things were ready. I looked at them and said: “Oh girls where were you four years ago?”. They looked puzzled  and I said that four years ago, at my oldest’s first birthday party, I was overwhelmed with shuffling stuff around the house. This time around all I had to was make food with a lot of help from the family.  I had a very busy Friday but I was not so overwhelmed as I had been last time around when I did not cook (bought everything ready) but had three days dedicated to just cleaning and putting stuff away because my home was so cluttered and disorganised.

This time as I was walking around putting stuff away before the party I was so pleased to know that whatever I was putting away was staying away because it was in its proper place. No cramming, no hiding stuff that would flow right back into the house afterwards, just getting it tidied up like a NORMAL house. No rooms that were “No go zones”, “Forbidden entrance because this-is-where-I-threw-all-the-stuff-people-were-not-supposed-to-see”, “Clutter spaces”, nothing like this…

…All in all I am writing to you to say that I am a very happy with my progress so far.

Well done Andréia. I am so glad you have had this occasion to help you realise the fruits of your labour. How wonderful! And for any of you who feel like you are getting nowhere, you may be surprised at the slow but sure difference you are making.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some craft materials that you are unlikely to use. This will not only reduce your clutter but also make it easy to find the good stuff you intend to use.