If you have any doubts that you can change your habits of acquiring and keep stuff this link will set your mind at ease. It is always possible to retrain your mind to a new way of doing things no matter how old or set in yours ways you think you are. The desire to change is all it takes to get started.
Here is the link from Creative Affirmations.
The Weekend’s Mini Missions
Saturday – Declutter a Natural Progression item ~ Something that no longer fits, physically or intelectually or has simply been used up or worn out.
Sunday – Declutter a Location Inappropriate item ~ That is something the no longer suits your lifestyle since a location change. Perhaps snow gear if you have moved to warmer climes.
“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast
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About Colleen Madsen
I suppose those shoes are more appropriately a natural progression declutter, with the lazy clutter being some more of the bf’s things that don’t belong at our house. In terms of location inappropriate, I’ll really have to think… I’ve lived in the same climate my whole life. Perhaps I’ll take a day off to reorganize after the plethora of trips I’ve been on these last few weeks.
I am just glad Amanda that when you don’t have something to match the daily mini mission you use your initiative to find something else to declutter. Well done you!
I find that as I get older, I see things more clearly. I wish I had a better vision when I was younger instead of hopping on the treadmill of materialism like everyone else. I could have saved myself a lot of time, work, and money if I had.
I am with you on that Spendwisemom. Even though I was fairly frugal about it I was still on the treadmill.
I often think the same: Oh, had I only known earlier … but believe me Colleen , it’s great that some people around here have noticed later in life and still get it done. It’s a great motivation that shows that there are really no excuses and there isn’t a “too late”. I am in my mid-30s, some things of life still lie ahead of me (family, house) and some are behind me (college, first apartment, suddenly having some money for “nice things” …). Some days I feel glad I am still learning quite early, on other days I could almost cry over the lost years/money/energy/peace of mind.
I hope everybody around here knows how much of a motivation and an example they are! (Especially Deb Js mum, though she is not even really around herself 😉 )
Amen to that. Deb Js mum makes me smile a lot too 😉
You came to this ten years before I did Ideealistin so good for you. Don’t bother to look back and lament the mistakes of the past just keep moving in the right direction.
And I am with you re Deb J’s mom, what a champion.
Natural progression items can be tricky to declutter because we get so used to them being around, and once upon a time DID use them a lot! I love this area though because once you’ve figured out you’ve moved on from something, it’s often easy to move along a whole category of stuff. I’ve done this with formal corporate-style clothing and baby equipment. Will look around for other areas. Thanks for the inspiration!
One of my preferences is the I might need/use it one day because I think that is what most of my clutter consisted of. I just extracted two things from our “useful box” this morning that are still in the packaging I bought them in at six years ago.
Colleen this is good. Change really is good for us but we are so set in our ways. Many times we are not willing to take the time and effort to change even though the result would be better for us and we know it.
Spendwisemom, I know what you mean. I look back on how I was raised and how our culture taught us to spend and wish I would have been much smarter. I’m just glad I figured it out soon enough that I’ve had a number of years where I am living with less.
Hi Deb J, having watched Liam recover from his brain injury I was amazed at how the brain can heal. And if it can heal like that imagine how it can also be retrained.
Colleen and Deb J, I agree with Ideealistin, your mom, Deb J, really is proof that it’s never too late to change. Colleen, I think maybe Deb J should do a guest post with her mom talking about all of the changes that they’ve both made. Good idea?
Jennifer L, funny you should say that about a post. Colleen has already asked me to do that and I am working on it.
Deb J, Nice! I look forward to reading it.
Hi Deb J – I too would love to read a guest post on your mum, she sounds quite a character.
You are right, Colleen. I used to work in the rehab unit for those with brain injuries. It was amazing to see what could be done to retrain the brains of these patients. We are capable of much more than we know and we are many times too lazy to do what it takes. Many times we don’t realize that it doesn’t take as much time as it sometimes takes to stay the way we are.
Just got finished ripping the sleeve off my shirt… the one I wore to volunteer in my son’s classroom for the first time. Apparently, I put it on this morning with a huge rip in it and just now noticed. Great impression with the teacher… a natural progression item going in the recycling bag!
And not a moment too soon I would say Lynn. I am sure you made more of an impression with your helpfulness in the classroom than you did with the ripped sleeve so don’t worry.
I didn’t have anything like that but I did try on some shirts that were in my closet. I had thought I would wear them when my cousin recently gave me her “hand me downs” (“hand me overs”?) and had just the occasion to wear that “style”. Pfft, no! Didn’t work. So instead of saving them to try later, I dropped them in my donation box. I’m counting that as a day’s work. 🙂
I think this fits quite well with today’s mini mission. You decided they didn’t suit your lifestyle, you donated them and moved on. Well done.
This weekend I have been working on my bookcase and Balinese dresser (of my mammoth mission) as everything had to go up a gear speedwise this week and the project has taken a bit of an unexpected tangent, however I have had some lightbulb moments and have seen progress. At a stretch this project could meet the criteria of Saturday and Sunday’s mission. I would have liked to go thru my wardrobe but alas not today.