On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my five favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my five favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
Fave Five Comments. Enjoy!
This comment form Spendwisemom just goes to prove that Christmas can have a different format to drowning your children in gifts and still be great for both you and the kids.
This week Sara added her voice to the group and wow is she doing her bit for the environment. You can read about it here if you missed her comment on Wednesday.
Perhaps we have a Kindle convert in Martha @ minimalistinthemaking.blogspot.com. although I don’t think we will wean her off real books altogether I think she is finding that digital isn’t so bad after all. Read her comment here.
In this comment Debbie tells us about what great declutter buddies her and Sabine have been for each other.
I enjoyed this comment from Jessiejack because she seems to have found the balance between her love of reading and the need to own the books themselves.Â
Fave Five Web Finds. Happy reading!
www.dailymail.co.uk ~Â Clutter-makes-fat-If-house-mess-chances-eating-habits-says-new-book
It is hard to avoid extra shopping during the holiday season but it really isn’t that hard to avoid plastic bags. I found this website this week dedicated to going bagless ~ baglessnu.wordpress.com ~ check it out.
If you love to give gifts from the heart but feel the need for there to be a tangible item passed from the giver to the recipient then here is a wonderful solution.  It is a better option to buying gifts that end up as clutter in peoples home and can also then be passed on from one recipient to the another creating a history as it goes. In fact the tangible part of this gift could be returned to the giver when the actual kindness has been carried out and then passed on to another. I know I would like someone to wash my car, cook a meal or take me out for a treat instead of giving me a gift I most likely didn’t even want. “What am I talking about?”, you ask, well check this out and see for yourself ~ me-do-dat.com
Here is a simple little blog post that says a lot from ~ simplesavvy.wordpress.com ~Most Valuable Possession, or A Load of ClaptrapÂ
This link highlights some basic pre-holiday organising tips ~ kijiji.com ~ Holiday decluttering tips
Today’s Declutter Item
At long last the end of the Coca Cola collection. Sometimes it takes a little perseverance to sell things on ebay. Luckily I have no shortage of determination and finally I sold these off to once again make a little pocket money for my son. I am just glad to see the back of them.
The last of my son's Coca Cola collection sold on eBay
Something I Am Grateful For Today
Just sitting around chatting. It is good to be able to spend hours in the company of others and do nothing but chat about whatever subject comes up.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Some good stuff here. You all know that I do not like clutter. Right now I am going nuts with the clutter caused by all the stuff I have to store until the Ladies Tea on the 3rd. Ladies, clutter is not fun. I feel like I am drowning in it.
Thanks for the mention today. Did you do well with the Coke collectables? My husband has a large collection that he has finally agreed to sell! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Hi Martha (MM) for some reason Coke isn’t that popular in Australia. And they prefer Australiana Coke rather than the Americana items I had.
Oh how I love Fridays (esp Fridays I work, and you list all these great links!)
Hi Colleen.
I loved the baglessnu.wordpress.com website!! Could spend a whole day reading that one! Will be showing it to my friend who works at the council.
I also love everyone’s comments on Christmas, it can be an extremely stressful time , but , everyone sharing their ways of coping and simple suggestions have helped me so much! I even went to a Christmas party at my local Chemist , champagne , lemonade, nibbles and the wonderful staff to assist with purchases. Being a de clutter disciple I went for the useful items only which were beautifully wrapped as well. It was a lovely social event and so much nicer than than the impersonal affair at the discount chemist in Westfiled. I feel for you Deb J, my son is camped in the lounge room until the conversion of the garage is completed for him to move into, I think the other web site mentioned. “Clutter makes you fat! If your house is a mess, the chances are your eating habits are too, says a new book ” is so true! I am looking forward to a trim and tidy new year!! Cheers to all.
Hi Wendy,
I am looking forward to having a bit of spare time to have a really good look at the baglessnu website as well.
My son would love being camped out in the lounge room. They (he and his sister and sometimes the odd friend or two) used to do that every weekend and school holidays when we lived in America. It used to drive my husband nuts.
Hi all, where is everyone today…….only 4 comments so far.
Good work to spendwisemom on your comment re: spending on Christmas.
Hi Felicity,
maybe everyone knows my parents are visiting and I have been a little quiet on the comment responses for a few day. No reason why you can’t all talk among yourselves though. Although I think that maybe all our American friends are busy celebrating Thanksgiving.
Thanks Colleen, out of interest what is the ratio of Aussies to the rest of the world posters on here? Seems to be quite a few from overseas.
I don’t have demographics of where my readers are from so I can’t tell you the answer to your question, sorry!
Hi Colleen,
Went back to the supermarket today. Election Day tomorrow, John and I both working for it, lunches and teas needed. I bought ham slices, salmon piece, surimi, quiche slice, pie – and no problems at all! And they tell me: someone ELSE is doing the same, who heard me discussing it the other day with the supervisor. How do they say it? WOOHOOO.
Woo Hoo alright. Woolworths here have a new online thing called Shoppers Corner. The lastest thing is a Christmas wish competition. You have to right in 50 words or less what your Christmas wish is. I wrote that I wish they would stop supplying plastic bags and that I could use my own container to buy stuff at the deli counter. I finished it of with “This selfless wish could help save the planet”. I wish my entry would win, not so I could win the $250 hamper but so everyone else would see it and Woolworths might think about actually making it come true.
And I hope you win:-
a. so they do what you ask,
b. to advertise your views, and also
c. so you enjoy the Christmas hamper!
Thanks Ann, I will be happy with A & B. I imagine the hamper comes with far too much packaging.
I hope you are having a lovely time with your parents Colleen.
I am fighting the strong urge to buy a wooden advent calender of my husband: I am going to resist at £35 but the desire is strong. So I think I need to pour that energy into making my own. See…never did Christmas stuff before last year but can’t wait to do a little bit more,lol.Still very minmalist though.
I’ve really got to resist it now I have written it up here.
ah, friday it is: thanks colleen, again good links today. I think I am taking the challenge from bagless, I dont know what it is about points, but they work for me…
speaking of challenge: the nothing new in november challenge is coming slowly to an end. I managed to stay clean except for 2 items. I would love to hear how well the others did? so people, what happenend with you and your november resolution?
The me.do.dat.com site has such a great idea there! Not only does it promote clutter-free and from-the-heart giving, it also promotes paying it forward – I love this!
Thanks for coming up with such good links week after week, Colleen.
I liked this idea too. The fact that you can keep using the token over and over again is nice too.
Thank you on your vote of confidence on my link choices. They tend to come to me these days. Now that my blog is getting more well known the more I receive emails from people trying to promote their products/causes.
Thank you guys! Please back the project if you can, or share the http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1771548918/me-do-dat-analog-giving link on Facebook, so more people get to see it. Kickstarter projects are an all-or-nothing proposition. (If the project does not get fully funded it does not succeed and all backers get their money back.) I am really hoping to be able to make these cards, and need the help from people like you. Thanks again for your support!
Jeannet
The clutter makes you fat theory is interesting. I have lost a lot of weight this year. I have been reading minimalist/organizing/decluttering blogs and stories for a while now, and I am finally doing something about it. Your blog has really been a huge encouragement and much more motivating than others to me, but there may be something to the clutter & weight loss. I am perhaps finally ready to do the hard work to get out from under all this clutter. Like you I am a neat person with hidden clutter; so it was easy to ignore for a while. Now I wonder what took me so long! It is NOT harder to clean it up than to maintain it.
Angela,
I am glad you have discovered the connection. Ounce you start to see the light in one aspect of your life it is there a natural progression to use the same lessons to work on others. Good for you.