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!
Well done to Dizzy, she and her family have finally eaten through a freezer full of food clutter. Read here for the full details.
I love it when our posts here at 365 evoke ah ha moments for readers. Shirls tells us in this comment about how Tuesday’s post provided her with the ah ha moment she needed to move forward with some closet clutter she had been hanging on to.
I received this comment from Melissa, on Thursday and was amused by her label for single use gadgets. Check it out. This was Melissa’s first comment, the first of many I hope.
I know there were probably lots more great comments this week but my week has been derailed by a small family crisis so I haven’t been as attentive to my blog as I would have liked. Thank you everyone who has shared there opinions, tips and stories with us. I always appreciate them even when I can’t get to respond. If my darling son would stop getting involved in accidents my life would run more smoothly. He is fine, no major injury this time except he managed to break just the wrong bone in his wrist which required surgery.
Favourite Links
Betty Jo of Living Real shares her tips on Christmas gift wrapping the sustainable way in this blog post ~ bjlivingreal – Thats a wrap
In case you missed it on my 365 Facebook page last week here is a wonderful link I just had to share with you. ~ http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxSF-Louie-Schwartzberg-GratitudeÂ
I discovered this site via my twitter account and, although it isn’t the usual kind of site I link to, I felt compelled to share it with you all. It isn’t so much the limited information within the body of the site but, oddly enough, the ads in the margins that is imporatant. All these ads point you to organisations who recycle computers or resell refurbished computers. Therefore, for its sustainability function I have linked to it here. ~ www.recycle-computers.com
Cindy sent me this link to share with you this week. It is an interesting and thought provoking read, enjoy! ~ www.guardian.co.uk ~Â The path to happiness: it is better to give than receive
This next link is to an online store that specialises in reusable products to reduce waste. I don’t usually link to retail sites but this one had some interesting products. Thank you Snosie for suggesting it. She bought some of the produce bags to help her avoid plastic bags at the supermarket. I believe Ann uses the same bags and has made her own version. I also altered some bags I already had at home made of thin gauzy material to make my own bags. Here is the link ~ www.reuseit.com
Today’s Declutter Item
This is another of those things I had too many off. I have kept a few in case the power goes out but this one didn’t make the cut.
Tea-light candle holder
Something I Am Grateful For Today
I finally got to eat two of my homegrown strawberries today. It’s not that I haven’t grown more but the slugs usually get to them before I do. I really only planted them as a ground cover so I don’t begrudge the slugs for having a feed. I am just grateful they finally left me a couple. Yes I could put slug pellets down but I don’t like stuff like that in my garden.
I always look forward to your Friday Favorites Colleen. Thanks for the mention of my post. Hope the small family crisis is resolved now and everyone is safe and well. Now I’m off to check out these comments and links. ♥
I missed the first time around that your son had another accident. Glad he’s okay!
Thank you Betty Jo, he is. Much more so than last time that’s for sure. I think he is sick of me fussing like a mother hen already though. Enjoy the links Betty Jo and happy holidays to you and yours and all those beautiful people you take care of.
I suppose the best way to get rid of slugs is by the use of a Slug Bar: deep-ish container buried in earth, part fill container with beer, come back next morning to find drowned slugs. Dead, but died happy! Or be nice to your local hedgehogs…
Happy Holidays!
Hi Lynda,
that sounds like a safer tip I might have to give it a try although I am reluctant to kill the otherwise harmless little creatures. The hedgehogs are safe though as we don’t have any in Australia, the lizards and birds on the other hand might have a problem with slug pellets though.
Happy holidays to you to Lynda, I hope yours are peaceful and merry.
my dad used those beer traps as well, he made them out of old plastic cups from cottage or cream cheese. and the good beer of course.
If I lose my patients with the slugs I might have to give it a try. I will tell my neighbour too, he will be interested. I know he uses pellets.
Thank you for the link to this awe-inspiring TED video. I don’t do Facebook so I appreciate your posting it as a Friday Favorite.
I think your son must be related to my dog. He had an uncanny knack for landing in the hospital right at Christmas. 🙂
Hi Wendy B, that Ted Video was great wasn’t it. It makes you look at things in a much different light. Why is it though that we so quickly go back to moaning and groaning about the negatives in life instead of everyday thinking how lucky we are if we have it so good. I thing after the last few days I need to watch it again.
The one thing about your dog though wendy is that at least you could chain him up if necessary to keep him out of mischief. Unfortunately I can’t do that with Liam although some days I think it might be better for his chances of survival. Funny enough when he was younger I hardly wasted even a bandaid on him. He rarely ever got into a scrape. He sure is making up for lost time. Boys they are really a danger to themselves between the ages of 17 and 30.
I have a spare collar and leash around here somewhere that we haven’t decluttered yet. Would you like to borrow it for the next ten years?
That sound great Wendy B but unfortunately I think there are laws against that sort of thing. Maybe I could get away with it on the grounds of insanity. One more accident and I think the insanity might just be a very strong possibility. 😆
Hi Colleen,
I’m so glad your son limited the damage to a wrist, wish him well with the healing (hope it was the non-dominant side!). I know what your best Christmas present this year is – an intact family!
The bags you mention are a different brand to what I found (Onyaweigh bags, by Onya) but the idea looks the same. “Santa” has made a number of these to tuck into presents for (those who liked and wanted) friends and family. I wouldn’t be without them, now I’m used to them.
Have a happy Christmas, to you and yours, and to Cindy likewise – our everyday “Santas”!
No such luck Ann. He did manage to break the dominent wrist so the operation was the best option to ensure the best healing outcome. Being a fine arts student majoring in photography full movement in his dominent wrist is essential.
I am thinking that I will make some of those bags too to five to friends and family. They only have to keep them with their other reusable bags in order to remember them when they go shopping. I keep my two in my handbag so I am sure to have them when I am out. I used mine to buy cherries just yesterday.
I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas also Ann. I hope you and hubby continue to recover and that the outcome is the best it can be. Perhaps 2012 will be a happier and healthier one for you both ( fingers crossed here).
And here 🙂 !!
Ach, those tealight candleholders … one of those things I totally bought into once and which now is merely a good example for me how brainwashed we all are by good marketing. Is it tealight holders that I crave when I flip through the pages of an IKEA-catalogue? No, it’s the big picture. The nice home. The beautifully organized home. And the relaxed vibe with which people cook and cuddle, eat, read and play in these homes. And within all this glory: tealight holders and other knickknacks we end up buying because they are inexpensive, they are useful (meaning: they CAN be used – though there often is no necessity to use them), they don’t take up too much space … I could go on but to stick to the point: Nobody NEEDs them. If you LIKE them and therefore WANT them that’s fine. Decluttering and even (aspired) minimalism should in my opinion never be about the same standards for everyone but about happiness and satisfaction for each individual. (I know I repeat others here but it’s such an important point especially when dealing with others but also when dealing with the pressure we put on ourselves) Concerning need: tealights can be held by saucers, coasters or cups, by drinking or other glasses, by mason jars, plates, trays, cupcake molds … really by a lot of things.
Hi Idealistin,
you are so right. Clutter is usually just optional extras and excesses that we have been suckered into acquiring due to clever marketing and peer pressure. At the end of the day they are just pure indulgences that end up complicating life. At the same time it is not up to anyone else to dictate what is clutter in your home and what isn’t, that is entirely up to you. And yes there are many items in the home that can hold a tealight candle should the power go out and you need a little illumination.
Hope your son’s wrist heals quickly. So very glad that it wasn’t worse.
So sorry to hear about your son – it’s Liam isn’t it (or am I just making up my own little dialogue?!) Surgery’s a pain, and I’m sure it’ll take ages to heal (the smaller it is, the longer and more fiddly it is), but I’m sure it’ll be better soon enough! I’ve been told I have another 12 months before I have ‘normal’ shoulder movement, but no more specialist appointments, which my bank account will be thankful for, now that there’s a house to pay off!
I hope you have a restful Christmas! Don’t worry too much about us, if other things in life are more important, we’ll understand!
Thanks snosie,
if Liam’s previous healing properties are anything to go by he will be back to 100% in no time. He has never once complained of even a twinge from his broken back and his broken jaw healed fairly well considering they had to leave it and hope it healed well on it’s own because the little blighter kept picking all the braces off that held it straight. Although I have to say he was a much more compliant patient when he had the brain injury. Wednesday he was in more danger that I might do him in he was so intolerable. He is ok now he has his freedom back. The operation he had should make the injury heal much quicker and successfully so fingers crossed.
I hope your shoulder is healing nicely and will be better quicker than the doctors expect. You have a house to organise and don’t need restrictions.
My 10 yo son can be reckless and I naively thought it would get better as he get older… I hope your son will feel better soon and recover his hand dexterity shortly. He is young, that should help.
I hardly wasted a bandaid on my son during his entire childhood. He was a gentle boy who was fairly self-preserving while at the same time getting out there and enjoying life. But the last 14 months he has made up for it 100 fold. A near death experience and now this. I hate to think what a reckless 10 year old is going to turn out like. Good luck is all I can say. 😉 😆
So sorry to hear about Liam’s accident but thankful it isn’t worse! A friend’s daughter was recently involved in a car accident and while she is fine, their car is a write off so just before Christmas they are borrowing cars, and trying to get insurance sorted to get a replacement car. Don’t get me wrong, they are grateful their daughter is okay, but it’s just another hassle no one needs! Colleen, thank you for your fabulous blog that keeps us all on the straight and narrow (although looking at my desk at the moment I’m sure it doesn’t look like it!) and I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and here’s to more decluttering in 2012! Judy xx
Oh Judy, I understand only too well the insurance hassel. We were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital trying to sort out who was going to be responsable for the payment for the operation on Liam’s wrist at 2:30 Wednesday. The poor boy had been fasting since 6am and had lost his sense of humour. He didn’t get operated on until 6pm.
Have a merry Christmas and a happy and decluttered 2012.
The correct link to the Guardian article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/21/medicalresearch.usa
Hi Cindy,
I didn’t know there was a problem with this link. It is fixed now.
Whenever I hear the saying, “It is better to give, than to receive,” I remember that in order for someone to be a giver, someone else needs to be a recipient. Colleen, how about a post on how to be a good ‘receiver’ when you don’t really want the item? I know you have written on ways to pass along,etc, but I am thinking about more of a mental post: how to enjoy the gratitude without the physical item. Got any ideas for us?