Guess what folks, we are halfway there 183 things down 182 to go
Thanks to all of you for joining us on our journey to declutter one thing a day for a whole year. Your support has kept me going with my blog when at times it would have been easier to continue on in silence. We all know that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun though. Your comments have given food for thought on a number of subjects and have been a great help not only to me but your fellow readers as we all learn as we go. I hope you will stay with me as your company is greatly appreciated.
There are times when my husband has said we should be counting one book at a time or one cup at a time …because we might run out of things before the year is up. I don’t think that is going to happen. If anything there may still be some things left when we approach the end and we will have to extend the finish line. Either way I am happy with our progress and the world is a better place every time we recruit one more person to this way of thinking.
Buy LESS – Waste LESS – Produce LESS – Pollute LESS
I will leave you with this little gem from Tiny Buddha…
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.†-Lao Tzu
Somewhere along the lines, we’ve gotten it into our heads that a full life involves abundance. We’re told to visualise it, fixate on it, and open up to receiving it because we deserve it and we can have it.
The missing part of that equation is whether or not excess will actually make us happy. The answer is no–not if you weren’t already happy–because happiness is an inside job…Read more here
THANKS AGAIN MY FRIENDS
ITEM 183 OF 365 LESS THINGS
Just some old refillable pens that no longer get used so I will put them in the donation box. Hopefully someone may want them
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.†-Lao Tzu
Somewhere along the lines, we’ve gotten it into our heads that a full life involves abundance. We’re told to visualize it, fixate on it, and open up to receiving it because we deserve it and we can have it.
The missing part of that equation is whether or not excess will actually make us happy. The answer is no–not if you weren’t already happy–because happiness is an inside job.
Congratulations on making it halfway. I’m finding that after the big purge it then becomes a thing you find yourself doing on an ongoing basis. You never really get done.
Hi Deb,
Thank for the sentiment.
I hope I am going to be the exception to the rule when it comes to decluttering and reduce it down to natural progression decluttering only once the main job is done. I think if we are not down to the level we are satisfied with by the end of the 365 days I will just go ballistic and finish in a hurry. I am hoping the only clutter left after that belongs to the children and they had better take it once they are properly settled into their own lives away from home (not expecting miricals there).
congrats on what you have done so far….i just found this blog..so i will start half way with you!
Thanks Nikki,
Maybe you should do two things a day so we catch up at the end.
Hi Meg,
Thanks mate I’ll keep decluttering onwards and by 31 Dec this place should be pretty spacious.
Hi Cindy,
well done to you and the girls. It is good you have your family on board with the decluttering, many hands make light work. I just had my daughter here and we went through some stuff but I am not calling it delcuttered yet because I haven’t really processed it properly and I have to find where she put the camera card so I can download the photos she took. All her stuff is still in the garage.
Your comment has inspired me to go and do something in the way of decluttering right now. I am sure it won’t be hard to come up with something.
Here’s my FB post celebrating my first month of decluttering.
Decluttering Challenge Day 30: We never use coasters, so I got rid of five (foolishly keeping 6, which I’m sure will go later) and a coaster-making craft kit. Summary for my first month of decluttering: at least 132 items gone, plus plenty of papers recycled, and $320 earned. Wahoo!
In my count of 132 items, I counted like your husband. 21 stuffed animals that were decluttered on 1 day were tallyed as 21 items on the end-of-month count.
We’re really on a decluttering roll over here. The first thing the girls asked this morning was what we were going to clean today. It turned out to be a laundry box of tiny junk and a few good things that had been collecting dust in my eldest daughter’s closet. She called it her “Little Box of Horrors.”
happy half-birthday! onwards & upwards, colleen!
Congratulations on the 1/2 way mark. You are a daily inspiration to me, with your thoughtful posts and warm manner. Even when I think I’m ‘done’ decluttering, after I read your post, I can always find something else that needs to go.
(Another benefit of decluttering is that school holidays are a lot calmer. There is much less stuff for the kids to scatter around, they play with all of their things because everything is in it’s proper storage spot, and clean up time is so easy now there is a place for everything!)
Hi Loretta,
thank you so much for the kind words. I get great satisfaction out of being helpful to others and if this post helped but one person it is all worth it.
I have to confess here that my mother-in-law always used to say that I would tidy up the kids toys before they were finished playing with them. She is exaggerating of course but I have always been a bit of a neat freak. My son is nineteen now and his bedroom is not a place I have touched yet with the deluttering. He did however surprise me at the end of last year when he got in without prompting and cleared out all his old highschool stuff. He couldn’t get out of that school quick enough and probably didn’t want any reminders but whatever the reason I was glad he did it. All the stuff was soon replace with art supplies for uni though
Congrats Colleen on being halfway! You’re doing an awesome job. Your posts are very inspiring.
Hi Betty Jo,
thanks mate, I have come a long way from writing to myself for the first few weeks. I had a look at your Flickr site wow you do some great photos.
You seem to have thrown away the same boots twice. These boots were “gotten rid of” on day 152.
Hi Kelly,
Well spotted I am surprised this hasn’t happen more than once. Thank you for pointing it out. I am going on vacation to Italy for a month soon so I have been trying to get ahead of myself for a long time so I have enough stuff to cover the month I am away because clearly I can’t declutter when I am not here. I must have forgotten to date this picture when I used it the first time and when I have scrolled through my choices I have used it again. I will go back in now and put something else in it’s place. Thanks again you are very observant.