Comments aren’t as plentiful as they used to be but there are still some great ones among them and here are five of those that we received this week.
Wendy B has left two great comments that I didn’t want you to miss. She shared a couple of good donating tips with us last Thursday in this comment and gives some good advice about moving on in this comment. Great advice Wendy B, thank you.
This comment from a new contributor jbc puts a whole new slant on how to disassociate from hidden clutter. I hadn’t even considered this possibility before. Thanks jbc and welcome to 365 Less Things.
It is clear from this comment that Sharron grasps the concept of Cost v Value and she has learned the error of her ways.
The thing I liked about this comment from NatalieinCA is that she is happy to go against convention to do the right thing by the environment. I only wish I had the same range of opportunity here where I live.
There are an endless supply of informative posts in all corners of the internet and here are the five I wish to bring to your attention this week.
Lovefoodhatewaste.com Thanks to Ideealistin for pointing this website out to us in a comment she left a week or so ago.
You may think this post from How to be Amazing.com has nothing to do with clutter but it has more to do with it than you can imagine. Clutter often builds up due to insecurity and unhappiness and this post ~ How to be happy 7 tips increase joy ~ could well be the key to avoiding clutter in the future and letting go of the stuff you already have.
I stumbled upon this link while looking for something else and I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too. Paul Graham ~ Stuff
Simply Being Mum ~ No-waste-tastes-great-5-august-2011
This next link was a gem found by Cindy. Motherhood Your Way ~ How-to-have-a-simple-organized-school-year
Today’s Declutter Item
I am not sure whether to chalk this up as aspiration clutter or I might need it one day clutter but either way it is out of here. I am sure a thrift store customer will think they have hit the jackpot when they find this on the shelf.
Aida Cloth for Cross-stitch
Something I Am Grateful For Today
I enjoyed the chance to catch up with a friend that I see far too infrequently even though we live quite close. I love these encounters with old friends because it is always as though we have never been appart. Except that we have so much to say that the conversation runs all over the place and that isn’t a bad thing.
I always enjoy checking the comments and links. Often I miss the comments especially if they are made a few days after the post and I don’t keep going back to check for new ones. It’s good to have them highlighted and easy to find!
Hi Jo,
I am going to get my darling tech guy to add a plugin to the blog where you can subscribe to comments on post if it is of particular interest to you. That will make it easier to not miss out on something good.
Excellent – thank you!
Hi Jo,
I have since discovered that you can already subscribe to follow up emails at my blog. So if you ever want to keep up with the responses to a certain post just hit the subscribe button at the bottom of the leave a comment text box.
Now why have I never noticed that before? I’ll start today! Thanks for pointing it out, Colleen.
Hi Colleen! I absolutely loved the link about stuff!!! I have just came back from a visit in my dad´s house and he keeps lots of things he will never use again. It made me rethink (again!) my possessions and I am looking foward to a clutter free moment. As for comments I had no time to comment this week, but the posts have been very inspiring, especially the one “Cost v Value”. It is good to keep in mind the real value of whatever you buy.
Hi Andréia,
I have been busy myself so I know where you are coming from. I hope you are doing well with your exercising and feeling better this week. I liked the Cost v Value aspect to clutter myself it is a good way to decide what is worth keeping and what isn’t and also what should come in in the first place.
Thanks for the mention of my How to be Happy post, Colleen. I have to say, letting stuff go is very freeing, and being happy is a great way to prepare yourself to let stuff go.
Hi Mike,
you are right about that. When we are down in spirit it is easy to cling to stuff because we mistakingly think it is meaningful to us. Being in good spirits however lets us see that there is more to like than just stuff.
phew, it’s good I am so far away. I’d be too tempted to snatch up your cross stitch cloth and add it to my enormous amounts of aspiration clutter 😉
Hi Ideealistin,
it sounds like you are still easily tempted by either a good bargain or the “that could come in useful on day” syndrome. On the rare occasion when I am in the shops I still see things that look very useful too but I find it much easier to turn away these days. It does still take a little convincing myself to get rid of some of the inspirational clutter around here though. I am getting there but.
Fortunately it’s not that. I am getting more resistant to good bargains the more things I have thrown out (turning some of them into good bargains for others).
I think it is more the longing to be more creative, more crafty again that makes me struggle the most. And the solution actually is easy: I just have to start knitting, painting, sewing, (re)using things – and see what I like most as I go. At the moment it just is too hard to decide what of the “possibilities” I collected I want to take. And what are ideas and dreams of the past.
Craft and DIY really are my weak spot but I think I am getting there to be able to at least start tackling the supplies. But I have no illusions about it: It’ll be a long-term-project because on the way I have to try out and learn how to do different things to be able to decide what kind of crafter I am.
Hi Ideealistim,
I can relate well to what you say here. I too have always been a crafter and couldn’t imagine not having craft in my life of one sort or another. Sometimes I find I have less time to participate in these much loved pastimes but that doesn’t mean I want to eliminate the possibility to take it up again in the future. I have been quite selective so far about what I keep and what I don’t and the cull will continue in my own good time. In the end there will be still enough supplies to keep me entertained and get the creative juices whenever it pleases me to do so.
Hi Colleen,
Thanks for picking my comments (must have been a really slow week…)
I know it’s against the “get it out of the house” principle but my thrifty side insists I try to re-purpose things before I dispose of them. That said, though, is there ANY use for Aida Cloth other than cross-stitch?!?! I think the only thing I ever bought that is less useful is perforated paper for cross-stitch. What was I thinking? I guess my Aida Cloth will follow yours to a thrift store.
Well, Colleen, you started something with that Aida Cloth. I went downstairs and got that box out of storage and dumped its contents on my craft room floor. I regret to say that the Aida Cloth won’t leave YET, but I did get rid of my deceased aunt’s unfinished embroidery projects, patterns for things I never intended to stitch and five of the TWELVE embroidery hoops I have accumulated. Gee, inherited aspiration clutter – double whammy!
Thanks for the push…
Hi Wendy B,
well done. I love it when my ramblings inspire someone to check out their stash of something and they end up getting rid of more than they intended. Or in your case something more other than what they intended.
Hi Wendy,
don’t sell yourself short you submit some really good comments. Please keep it up. Decluttering something like that aida cloth feels like no guilt to me. At least it is out there for someone to enjoy while at my house it was in the bottom of my camphor wood chest unused. I can always buy some more should I decide to do cross-stitch again in the future.
Colleen, I enjoyed the Paul Graham essay on Stuff. (I also enjoyed the opportunity of reading it in French!) I would have liked to have read more from him on this subject, but it seems as if it was just a random article. Too bad, but the article was good. Thanks!
Hi Di,
all I did was google stuff the day I found that, but it was a good find. I will keep an eye on him and see if he comes up with anything else relevant to my blog.
I went through a very messy divorce 7 years ago. I was not able to
gain access to the house to pack up possessions that at the time
seemed so important. Through lawyers, I had to provide a list of what
I wanted and had to negotiate each object and so consequently lost
many items that I would have loved to have kept. Even now, things
spring to mind, like the sewing box my grandmother gave me for my 10th
birthday. What I have learned is that “stuff” does not have the same
importance as it once did. Since that time, I have been lucky enough
to do a lot of travel and have seen how much “stuff” people in many
parts of the world don’t have!
It has been fantastic to start from scratch and accumulate only
objects that are useful, necessary or hold significance from my
travels and that I don’t associate with from my first marriage.
But here is my most useful tip! Every new years day, my first job is
to go through the phone directory on my mobile and declutter! People
who are not true friends or who weigh you down with their negativity
are deleted. The family and friends who are left are those that you
want to spend time with and with whom you have mutually satisfying
relationships. Give it a go!
Hi Colleen,
No, don’t get more aida cloth, try the finer cottons, or linen – you’ll like the end result much more. And no, I didn’t go and get rid of mine; they are still aspirational – I’m just “taking a break” from cross-stitch (a two year break, so far). However, decluttering wools from my wool box (way bigger than a wool bag) – I feel very virtuous (or something); I’m turning out beanies for Kidscan and premmy knitting for the the local NICU unit. That is thinning down the collection nicely. Then I can use up the leftovers in a couple of afghan rugs for the hospice. Well, that is the current programme anyway. Early days yet.
And I am STILL reading my way through the bookshelves …..
Hi Ann,
you never cease to amaze me with your progress. And what a lovely way to use up your wool. That must be so rewarding for you knowing that you are decluttering but helping sweet little babes at the same time. Well done as usual.
I haven’t commented here in a very long time but I wanted to let you know that I sold my old band clarinet (30+ years old) in a yard sale this summer for $5. I had been hanging onto it for far too long and it needed several hundred dollars worth of repair to be usable. Because of your website, I was able to let that instrument go with no strings attached. I have many other things that need to go but I can do it one day at a time, one item at a time.
Just wanted you to know I do read your blog and appreciate the effort that goes into it!
Hi Susan,
thank you for dropping in to say hello and to let me know you are still out there listening. I am so glad you managed to let go of your old clarinet and that you are enjoying the freedom from that particular aspiration clutter. The loss of value in it just goes to show how things become perished from lack of use, even something as solid in nature as a clarinet.
Thank you for your support and encouragement. You are right, there is a lot of effort that goes into up-keeping my blog, effort I love to make but effort never the less. I just went over to read your lastest post and left you a comment.
Yes, Colleen, before you ask, I’ve been out traveling again; this time we were camping along the CA coast. I love having the comments and links on Friday to help catch me up here at 365 less things.
BTW, camping with just what is in your car is a great way to remind yourself what exactly is important and what exactly you really need (very little!). We met several full time RVers who owned (in their motorhomes) more than we have in our little cottage. Interesting that people keep so much stuff and lug it along with them everywhere.
Hi Willow,
you must live the fullest life and I am glad for you. That is why you don’t need stuff to make you happy because you make your own happiness by experiencing life. I don’t understand people loading their motor homes with stuff, isn’t the idea of that kind of travel to get away from it all, not take it all with you.
I was away last weekend myself. Hubby and I went to Tasmania just because it is there. We visited the new Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and spend several hours enjoying the interesting and sometimes controversial art works. The half hour ferry ride there and back provided a great opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the harbour and Derwent River.