The night time declutter has been at it again. I woke up last Sunday to find seven magazines, pictured above, in the recycling bin. My immediate reaction was to retrive them and take a photo and include it as a daily decluttered item but then I noticed something. The dates on the magazines were all within the date range from when I started my decluttering mission. This ment that they were not part of my mission because they were just a maintenance clean up of things bought in the last 16 months. As you can see I took the photo anyway because they held a more important significance.
The thing that makes these magazine special is that my nineteen year old son has obviously been cleaning up in his bedroom again without me nagging him. He does this periodically, usually when he gets frustrated with the build up of things on his desk making it impossible to work there or find what he is looking for. I asked him what inspired this mini declutter and he said ~ The magazines were cluttering up the shelf in my cupboard and it was annoying me. Also my keepsake box was getting full and it had some stuff in it that I really didn’t care about so I tossed them. The box beside my bed was also overflowing so I cleaned some stuff out of it as well.
I have to say my boy is a bit of a sentimental collector but he obviously is prepared to keep a limit on it. Once it outgrows its confines it is time to thin out the not so special items. Perhaps the decluttering gene runs in the family or maybe he is learning from example, either way I am happy.
Today’s Declutter Item
I have been saving this photo for a day just like this. Some time back I asked Liam if he wanted this snare drum kit any more and he didn’t. I advertised to sell it on an online local selling site and waited. It took about a month to sell but sell it did. Liam had $130 to spend on another educational item should such a time arise that he needed something. He has since bought a SLR film camera for his photography class it takes up a whole lot less space than the drum kit.
Snare drum sold on eBay
My Gratitude List
- Something that makes me laugh ~ When my family get together and rehash old family jokes.
- Something Awesome ~ Salt and vinegar chips ~ I don’t know whose idea dear that was, probably the Brits God bless them.
- Something to be grateful for ~ That my mother taught me how to cook when I was growing up.
- Something that makes me happy ~ Mostly just the little things in life after all they are often the best.
- Something I find fascinating ~ Once my mother and I found a dead toad in the garden that had one end of a small dead snake in its mouth and the other end coming out its other end. I think the toad bit off more than it could chew.
Wow! That’s awesome that your son decluttered his room without the nagging and/or reminding. I think leading by example is one of the best teaching tools out there.
The important word here is ‘limits’. It looks like Liam knows his limits when it comes to keepsakes; I’m still teaching my children that limits are a good thing!
Here’s a little decluttering snippet that might interest you: yesterday my husband swapped a wool tuxedo (he’ll never wear it again) with a friend. In return he received 2 bottles of red wine, a bottle of preserved lemons and a jar of homemade tomato chutney. Win-win!
I love the toad story, nature is remarkable and sometimes shocking ! PS Trying to teach my daughter the same skills your son has 🙂
what a wonderful, inspiring story which shows the power of leading by example.
My DD is sometimes up at silly o’clock and I can hear her rummaging around tidying; she always looks so proud when she’s finished 🙂
I find the dead toad/dead snake story fascinating also. Almost quite as fascinating as Liam decluttering his room during the night. lol
Di,
we found that dead toad at least 13 years ago but it is one of those things that will stay in my memory forever I think.