365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Day 172 Less

by

This week here at 365lessthings I going to focus my posts on A Word A Day. Each day I will bring to you one word and I will give you my take on how the word relates to decluttering. The word for today is…

Less

  • LESS stuff, this is clearly the main object of decluttering
  • The LESS stuff you have the LESS time spent maintaining them, cleaning, organising etc.
  • LESS possessions to be concerned about being lost of stolen or insured.
  • Once you learn to stop accumulating unnecessary items the LESS money you will be wasting and the LESS impact you will make on the environment.
  • Once you have let go of those items you no longer use you will experience LESS guilt knowing they have gone to someone who has more use for them. Plus you will no longer be reminded of how much cash you wasted on them in the first place.
  • The more you declutter the LESS desire you have to ever accumulate unnecessary items again.
  • The LESS clutter you have when you die the LESS of a burden it is for those left behind to deal with.
  • The LESS stuff you have the LESS space you will require to accommodate it then you will need a dwelling with LESS of a environmental footprint on the earth which creates LESS waste on many levels. (Check out Slow Home)
  • The LESS clutter there is the LESS time I spend looking for lost items.
  • The LESS time I waste being distracted by the clutter. (Thanks Willow for these last two)

If this list isn’t reason enough to pare down your belongings then I don’t know what is!

ITEM 172 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just another thing we don’t need
Passport Folders

Comments

  2. All are excellent points Colleen, and I’m so enjoying these benefits from the decluttering I’ve done so far.

  3. To be grammatically correct (which is less annoying), it should be “fewer” possessions.

    • Under the circumstances, it seems a very valid and appropriate stylistic choice, even though it technically breaks the rules. Substituting “fewer” for “less” in the one or two places where it is technically more correct would break the artistic impact.

      • Yes Alison, being as 365 Less Things is a title there are no real rules governing it. It is like saying the name Allison should only have one L. It could be spelt Allyson and still be correct. I could have called the blog 3 Sixty 5 Less Thangs if I wanted to because as you suggest it is a stylistic choice. But the truth is though that I was not aware of the fact the fewer was better grammar at the time. Thanks for your support though I think I will refer back to it the next time someone finds in necessary to point this out to me.

        • That’s why I said it — I didn’t think the person who wrote it would read my comment (or care about my point if they did), but I knew you would read it and probably appreciate someone sticking up for you, even though it was a long time ago.

          I personally like using “fewer” (most of the time — when I remember), but I know that language changes with usage, and there’s no denying that “less” is now a substitute for “fewer” in common, everyday speech. Just go read Shakespeare and the Canterbury Tales if you think languages are (or can ever be) static!

          Just think — you’re shaping the future of the English language (and thus, someday, literature and grammar as well) when you use a non-standard, “common language” usage. 😀

          Funny, isn’t it?

          • Oh God Allison, now there is a scary thought allowing me to shape the language of the future. It is just as well you can’t hear my accent on top of my grammar mistakes. I had better be more careful in future. 😆 😉

  5. Great list and great blog! I just discovered it!

    You know, I once worked with a woman who actually bought a new house because she needed more room for all of her stuff. She was a single woman living alone in a 3 bedroom house with a full basement, but that apparently wasn’t big enough for her. Oh, it just makes me sad…

    • Hi Rebecca,
      welcome to my blog and thankyou for your comment. Please join in any time. It makes me sad too, once upon a time though it was me who wanted that bigger house but I have learned a lot over the last few years.

    • Hi Slow Home,
      It is my pleasure. I love what you are doing. Due to my husbands nomadic job I have lived in rental homes for 23 years and I know only too well how poorly designed some of them are. Even little things like badly placed light switches, power outlets and TV cables can be so annoying. Keep up the good work.