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!
This comment from Jen tells how she has embraced the slow decluttering approach and the benefits there of.
Loved this comment from Lena on how one small action caused a chain reaction resulting in only one thing decluttered but a whole lot of satisfaction gained.
GreyQueen left this comment in response the Cindy’s post this week ~ Makes me want to have another sort through of my scrapbooking paper. In fact today (Wednesday) I am going to an event to make Christmas cards for the troops to which I will be taking an offer of paper for others to use. It’s a win win situation.
It seem Lena has been having a particularly enthusiastic week when it comes to decluttering. Good for you Lena. I loved this comment she left on Tuesday’s post. Who needs sentimental clutter to conjure up thoughts of a loved one when their wise words are always lingering just below the surface of our memories.
Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!
This guest post form over at Miss Minimalist is more about being eco friendly than decluttering but that is important to me so I have included it.
Loved this episode of The Midway Simplicity Show with Tammy Stobel
Cindy sent through this link full of eco tips from oprah.com
Here is a great post from Cat’sMeow that was sent through to me by Sanna.
And even my husband was finding me links to share with you this week. This one for huffingtonpost.com reveals what many people waste their money on without even giving it a second thought and wonder why their credit card debt is so high.
Today’s Mini Mission
Declutter something made from glass
Today’s Declutter Item
This is the closest thing to glass that I have to declutter today. I had kept this bowl because my son preferred it to the other large bowls we use for serving pasta and curry. He hasn’t used it for some time so out it goes.
An Odd Bowl
Eco Tip for the Day
If you are one for ironing just about anything ~ sheets, underwear, pyjamas, tea towels etc ~ do yourself a favour and give it up for the sake of the environment. Electrical energy won’t be the only energy you will be saving.
Hear hear re the ironing! Haven’t used mine since I stopped working in an office 2 years ago. OH occasionally uses it which is why we still have it, otherwise it would have been served its jotters (sacked) a while ago.
Fruitcake ~ I still iron clothes but only the ones that I feel absolutely need it. I sure as heck don’t iron sheets, tea-towels, PJs, underwear etc though. Not because of the environment but because I am not that keen on ironing. 😉
Colleen, I will have no problem adhering to the eco tip of the day! My mum irons everything and taught me so, but I believe ironing should only occur under extreme necessity!
Thank goodness for you Moni that you revolted against something you were bought up with. That is what spurred this eco tip in the first place. My friend was telling me the other day that her mother irons all those things I mentioned. I think my friend does too but she knew what my reaction would be if she admitted it. As it is she does far too much washing and ironing. Once worn or, in the kids case, rifled through so looks worn it goes in the wash. Then of course comes the complaining about doing too much laundry. Dah!
Colleen – if that was the extent of my teenage revolution, then my mum got off lightly!
She also loves ornaments, no particular theme, just quantities. Whenever I think of ornaments I always think of this china mermaid sitting on a rock one that drove me batty because it had so many details that I couldn’t get the dust out of (yes dusting all her ornaments was my job). I refused to have ornaments for about 10 years after I left home.
Some great comments and links. I loved the 10 things list on the Huffington Post. I was able to read through them and be glad none of them pertained to me. I’m with you on ironing too. We seldom iron and when we do it is because something happened and we didn’t get the clothes out of the dryer fast enough or something like that where pieces are badly wrinkled. Even then we try the damp cloth in the dryer first. We can’t have a outside clothes line here so we have to use the dryer. I was very disappointed when I heard that. I like hanging things out.
Deb J – I was all excited expecting another update on S’s place then realised it is Friday here, but not quite yet in US.
Alas my fridge is empty at the moment but tomorrow is grocery day, but apart from that I was looking good on the Huffington Post list.
Hi Deb J, have you ever considered buying an airer and using that to dry on. I usually only do one load of washing at a time these days and most times I hang it on the airer, either outside in the shade on the patio or in the guest room on rainy days. It all dries nicely with less fading than on the clothesline out in the sun. I am sure that would work for you.
I was wondering about that option too. In NZ a dryer is a standard appliance but that is because we have so much rain in Winter. I have a friend who refuses to have a dryer and she uses airing racks thru Winter. She is something of a legend for this stand. I keep thinking I would like to follow that example but her garage (that she utilises) is on the sunny side of the house, whereas my garage is on the not-sunny side. It is on my list of things I’d like to adapt into my living-style but maybe when I’ve got a few other projects out of the way.
I have another friend who bought a fence-mount clothes line and had it installed inside her garage. The kind you can put up and down. I think it worked well, especially if she left the garage door up a little bit for breeze.
I’ve never had a tumble dryer. Like both my parents, I have a pulley (overhead clothes airer that you can lower to put stuff on then raise out of the way). I also have a pull up airier and a couple of clothes horses (or wintersdykes as my OH calls them – because you used to hang clothes on a wall (dyke) to dry in the summer). I feel very sorry for folks who are not allowed to hang their clothes outside because of bye laws etc, in fact I could get very angry about that indeed! Am liking the idea of the fold down one for the garage…
Fruitcake – I remember the pullery overhead clothes airer, mum had one in our garage when I was very young, I think I may have tried to undo the cord once. Then she got this cabinet dryer it didn’t tumble, things hung and they came out dried straight.
It isn’t a bylaws thing here re: clothes horses outside, just simple weather patterns as it rains a lot in NZ.
oh, I feel honored. thanks. I did indeed have a very good decluttering week and there are visible changes in my flat going on. Lately I feel an urge for rearranging (its been almost a year since I moved in) and I kind of hope to find more clutter to leave me. although my current ruthlessness is obviously working too…
thanks for the links – and the reminder that I have not used once the iron I own. its on the radar.
Hi Lena, thank you for commenting on a regular basis and sharing your successes, advice and perspectives with us all.
I am glad you had a good week
I liked the suggestion from Graham Hill to pick decor items on classic themes rather than current fashion – but I really liked that he said that it made better long term use to buy something that you really love and will be happy to keep for years, even if it isn’t the most eco of eco products. I thought that was a very balanced approach.
I agree Moni, not everything I buy is eco friendly but I do try to make up for it elsewhere. Hence where many of the eco tips are coming from that I have been adding to the posts. Most of them have been implemented in this house for some time or I am just beginning to.
Colleen – an example of fashions is my hubby saw this kettle that is very space age-y and bright purple (he’s a bit of a magpie) and he really wanted it, until youngest daughter pointed out that such a feature piece will be “so-last-year” really quickly.
Agh my mum irons pillow cases (or, it was a kid/dad chore) I always thought ‘when I move out, that will STOP!’ but alas last night I found myself ironing pillowcases.
But habit from home I did break (and LOVE) – never hanging up the bathmat to dry (it’s just me, and it dries on the floor, and there’s no added effort). I don’t set the table (stuff I don’t need, cause my stainless steel table top ain’t precious, and with lots of people, there’s not enough room as it is!) And I don’t have ‘clutter’ of placemats or table cloths (I do have serviettes though…)
Snosie – I never hang up the bathmat either.
One of my kids, she thought bathmats were for decorative purposes and would step over the bathmat to avoid putting wet feet on it. This was up until she was 12! I wondered why there was always wet puddles on the tiles.
I use my iron to iron quilt blocks and a few pairs of shorts that never come out of the dryer unwrinkled. I’ll be sure to never buy this brand again. A friend was here for a funeral and used the iron for his pants that had gotten messed up in his suitcase. He complained that the iron did not get hot enough to get the wrinkles out. Obviously, it has not been used often enough by me to even realize that. Perhaps, I need another. Perhaps, this one is good enough.