Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

When Colleen wrote Have Storage Will Clutter, I assumed it would be about storage units, which exist all over the US, some row after row of garages, and others (literally) high rise buildings with full heating and air conditioning services. Some people’s junk in the US lives better than many citizens.

Recently I was  at a class with my eldest daughter and was telling one of the fathers about the blog. He immediately told me that his chore for that day was cleaning out the garage. The coach then approached and asked if we were talking about cleaning out a storage unit. The man said, “No, but we have one of those that needs to be emptied too.” Then the coach shared that she has three storage units. She is going on a trip to Europe soon and noted that the units cost about a European trip per year. She claimed that she intends to clean out one unit when she returns (although I have to say, her commitment to this seemed very half baked, like one of those things that you just get used to saying like “I’m going to start exercising”). I challenged her to empty all three units. Bizarrely, she then said, “Oh no, I’m a minimalist” but had to return to coaching before I could find out how in the world having three storage units and being a minimalist could possibly be related. (Ok, truthfully, I was too busy trying not to snort loudly and rudely to find out more.)

I asked the father why he had a storage unit. He said that they intend to turn half of their garage into an exercise room. In order to work toward this goal, they’d cleaned out part of the garage and put it in storage. At least some of the stuff in the storage unit are items that will be in the exercise room. He told me that the unit was about a cheap as they come at $110 per month (about the same AUD, 81 Euro) and that he’d spent over $1000 (741 Euro) on the unit so far. One thousand dollars and no exercise room yet. The gym closest to my house is $70 a month for a family membership. They could have been working out for the past 14 months for the money that’s gone into this storage unit.

The last example of Have Storage, Will Clutter is a couple I know. Their adult children live in Texas. The parents thought that they would move from California, more than 1000 miles away, to Texas. When one of the children got a long-term overseas assignment, the parents packed up their belongings, sold their condominium, and move into their son’s house. Because the son’s house was fully furnished, they kept some of their personal items, and the rest of their belongings went into storage. This makes sense to me. Having their items in storage was cheaper than continuing to pay for a whole condominium for them, and they knew that their living arrangements were temporary. Eighteen months later, their son returned, and the parents moved back to California, leaving their stored items behind. For a while it was unclear what would happen next, but now more than five years have passed. The parents definitely aren’t moving to Texas, and their belongings are still here, still in storage. They don’t seem to have any intention of repossessing their items, which include furniture, clothing, household items, and collectibles, nor do they seem to have any intention of paying to have these items moved to California. Every year when they visit Austin for two or three days, they visit the storage unit – presumably to get something out of it, but I really don’t know. (Maybe to put something in!!) If the average unit is $100 a month, five years of storage comes to $6600 (4890 Euros). In the meantime, they’ve purchased replacement furniture and electronics for their home in California. My estimate is that this folly has cost them at least $10,000. I don’t really know what to say about this story. It truly mystifies me, but I do know that if storage units weren’t so convenient, something else would have been done with these belongings, rather than just having them sit in climate-controlled comfort year after year.

If you have a storage unit, my first advice to you is to leave the house alone and declutter the storage. You’re throwing money away when what you need to do is make some hard choices and probably many easy choices and live within the space you have available to you. All those “valuable” items you may find hard to part with because “they cost good money” are getting more and more costly each day that you pay to store them. Have storage, will clutter, indeed!

Today’s Declutter Item

I bought this carry file about 15 years ago when working as a teacher’s aide in my children’s first school. That was seven schools ago and it has hardly been used for its intended purpose since. I think it is well past time I let it go.

I

File Folder Bag

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I had a wonderful day today giving a friend a belated birthday treat. We had a coffee, went to the Hunter Valley Gardens (first time for both of us) and had our favour Tom Yum soup for lunch. Everything was perfect including the weather. See photos below.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I believe strongly in storing things where you use them. I think that failure to store things where they are used leads to clutter, and it’s certainly less convenient. While your first thought may be “Of course I store things where I use them,” I bet you will be able to find examples in your house where this isn’t true, especially after we walk through my morning.

Let’s think of how you begin your day. You get up, probably make your bed, use the toilet, brush your teeth, take a shower, get dressed, and everything you need for those tasks is probably close at hand. Then you head to the kitchen. Are the coffee cups stored by the coffee or tea maker? Is the sweetener or creamer in easy reach? Mine are. The coffee pot is next to the refrigerator, and the coffee and little containers of sweetener are kept in the cabinet above, next to the tea bags and coffee. The mugs are in the cabinet right next door. All these frequently used items are on the lowest shelves, so I don’t have to stand on tip-toe to access them every morning.

The next thing I do is make breakfast and, simultaneously, pack my daughters’ lunches. My daughters take some medications and vitamins with their breakfast, which I store in a drawer that I frequently access during this procedure. Like a lot of parents, I am better at remembering my children’s needs than my own, so I moved my medication from my bathroom to the same drawer. Now I remember it every day.

The Medicine Drawer

I keep everything I need for lunches, which either three or four people take every day, in one drawer: lunch boxes, small storage containers, and sandwich containers are stored together. (Same drawer as the medications and vitamins.) Larger plastic containers are stored in a separate drawer. Although it might seem logical to keep all the containers together, I use the larger sizes only for leftovers after meals. I use the little ones only for lunches. They aren’t used at the same time and don’t need to be stored together. To keep the drawer from getting out of control, all the small containers are confined in a box. I also try to only have matching containers. Almost all the tops match almost all the bottoms. Over time, I’ve gotten a couple different sorts, but I don’t really like that. It’s easier if I can reach right in and grab any lid, knowing it will match the bottom.

Handy drawer for many uses

Because Clara has diabetes, a lot of her food needs to be weighed and measured. I keep all the measuring cups and spoons in the same drawer along with her scale, the list of food codes for the scale, and the carbohydrate book for anything the scale doesn’t cover. I can use the scale without even taking it out of the drawer. How handy is that? Initially, I stored it by the stove, but that wasn’t where it was used, so I ended up dragging it around the kitchen and often not putting it back. Instant clutter. What else is in this drawer? A pizza cutter and ice cream scoop. You might be thinking that I’ve lost my mind. Don’t they belong in the drawer with the wooden spoons, spatulas, and other similar tools under the cooktop? Nope. We frequently have ice cream for dessert. I can stand at this drawer, pivot 180 degrees, and grab the ice cream from the freezer. The ice cream bowls are close by too. (We use little bitty bowls for our ice cream. A serving, which is 47 grams (1/2 cup), looks like plenty in a little bowl, but it looks oh-so sad and lonely in a big cereal bowl.) It makes sense to keep the scooper right by the ice cream and the bowls. The same with the pizza cutter. We have pizza once a week – Sunday night is pizza and movie night. The pizza comes out of the oven and lands right here to be cut, so why not keep the cutter here too?

Most mornings, Clara tests her blood sugar for the first time at the kitchen island. Her extra supplies are in a cabinet just a few steps from the island, not in the bathroom. When she tests, she can check her supplies. Anything that need replenishing is just behind her.

Then it’s time to go. We grab our lunches and head toward the door. Backpacks, jackets, and instruments are stored on a bench by the front door. I keep a schedule for each girl on the wall by the bench, so we can quickly check and make sure that instruments or tennis shoes for PE (physical education) classes leave with the girls. Nothing that goes to school is stored in their rooms. That way it doesn’t get scattered about, and no one has to run back to her room. We grab them and head out.

My friend Holly’s daughters check and brush their hair before leaving the house. Rather than going back to the bathroom, or dragging hair brushes and hair ties with them from the bathroom to the front door, Holly keeps a basket of hair things by a mirror by the front door. Having the hair things at their point of use makes leaving the house easier, and it prevents clutter. Another friend lives in a unique three story house on a sharp cliff. Rather than having kids climbing back down three flights of stairs, one set of children’s toothbrushes are kept  small upstairs bathroom by the kitchen (top floor). They have another set downstairs in their bathroom closest to their bedrooms (lowest floor).

Anything that is kept where it is used prevents you from scurrying around to find it and lessens the risk that it will be left out of place, abandoned where ever you used it. Sometimes this means that you may have duplicate items. A hairbrush by the front door and one in the bathroom may make perfect sense, and that’s okay. As you go through your days this week, I encourage you to think about your routines. Notice when you backtrack to get something or observe that certain items always seem to be left out. These are probably the items that need a new home, by their point of use.

Today’s Declutter Item

It has taken me a while to decide to let this cabinet go. It is a great piece of furniture but the truth is I don’t use it any more. I don’t sew often enough to warrant the amount of space it takes up. I sold it on eBay on the weekend for $200. It made another young lady very happy and I am sure she is going to get a lot more use out of than I have of late.

Horn Sewing Cabinet

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Yesterday I got to have afternoon tea with a friend I mine that I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with. It was unexpected but very pleasant. My son enjoyed talking photography with her too.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Imagine a big city, a huge, bustling city with no advertising, anywhere. The Brazilian city of São Paulo turned this imagining into reality in 2007. According to the Major:

“The Clean City Law came from a necessity to combat pollution … pollution of water, sound, air, and the visual. We decided that we should start combating pollution with the most conspicuous sector – visual pollution.”

Visual pollution, considered equal in importance to the physical pollutants of water and air. Amazing.

A Brazilian reporter noted that with the advertisements down, all sorts of ills in the city were being seen, virtually for the first time, since they were literally covered up with advertising before.

This got me thinking about my own house and my own life. I know if there are too many sounds around me, especially multiple conversations or a conversation and the TV, I get confused and feel irritable. Many odors such as air fresheners, scented candles, lotion and cologne are malodorous as far as I’m concerned. (An old boyfriend called perfume “stink” and I have to agree.) I’m probably not even aware of the impact that a big pile of clutter, or even being surrounded by stuff, has on my mood.

I was looking for photos of houses that had a bit of visual clutter, but were not really messy or deeply cluttered. Not easy to find. I did find this prize website, UglyHousePhotos.com. Let me tell you what, if your refrigerator is still covered with magnets and papers, this website will show you the error of your ways.

The first photo is a kitchen that most people would feel proud of. It is clean. It is functional. But it has a refrigerator that looks like a box of magnets was thrown on it and then the box and all its friends went to live on top. The counter on the left side is cluttered, as is the area between the microwave and the refrigerator. Just the stuff of everyday life makes a messy look.

Photo Credit ~ www.uglyhousephotos.com

The second photo is eye-popping child’s bedroom. Look how neat the closet is! Look how organized the shelves are! Yet do you feel like you drank six cups of coffee with extra sugar when you look at it? I do! Organized, not decluttered, and aggressively visually cluttered.

Photo Credit ~ www.uglyhousephotos.com

Looking at the photos of São Paulo and then the photos on the Ugly House website, I was struck by two things. The first is that visual clutter is disturbing, jarring, off putting and insidious. The second is, as Colleen and I have said before, a photograph is worth 1000 words. Think your home is peaceful and clutter free? A photo will tell you whether you’re right, or whether you’re deceiving yourself.

You can read a great article on São Paulo’s advertising ban and see photos here. Be sure to read through the interview with newspaper reporter Vinicius Galvao.

Today’s Declutter Item

Today’s mini mission was to declutter and item of clothing that no longer fits someone in your home. This is my offering, another item of clothing that no longer fits my thinner husband.

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Yesterday one of my readers, Snosie, had a scooter accident. I am grateful that she wasn’t seriously hurt. I hope your shoulder heals fast Snosie.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I received this email from my dear friend Natalie: So here is a decluttering task that I am tackling.  Computer clutter.   I went through my saved emails — deleted lots of obsolete ones – including whole folders (eg. Arkansas trip), made new folders for some.  Last night I rearranged my task bar — I took out all of automatic tabs I don’t use (most of them) and added in my own — the elementary school, middle school, middle school band, etc.  Next up I’m tackling my bookmark list.  Guess my desktop will be next — making sure my files are organized (I don’t have too many). 

When Natalie sent me this email, I’d been thinking a lot about electronic clutter myself. There are so many hiding places for e clutter, and it can bog you down as much as physical clutter. Here are some areas that may need improvement in your life:

Your computer desk top: Do you have shortcuts that you don’t use, old programs, or web “favorites” that you no longer access? Are your favorites in alphabetical order, or at least an order that makes sense to you? If appropriate, make use of folders, so you can keep like with like.

Your computer itself: What programs do you have that you don’t need or use? Have you run a spyware program recently to make sure that your computer isn’t full of cookies that you really don’t want tracking your every move? Do you have a cache of emails as long as your arm? Those need to go!

Digital photos: This could be a month’s project, I know, but there’s really no use in keeping multiple, nearly identical photos of the same event. Personally, I recommend deleting them off your camera before you even down load them and then, once they’re on the computer and you can see them more clearly, deleting more, if necessary. As for the ones on the computer already, sort and label, sort and label. I just downloaded all my photos onto Picasa. I was so amazed by its facial recognition abilities; it could tell the difference betwwen my daughers as babies faster than I could. I certainly don’t know all its capabilities, but I’m very impressed at the extra level or organization it’s afforded me so far.

Your iPod or smart phone: Again, what programs do you have that you no longer need or use? My girls and I went through my iPod and eliminated 6 games that no one is playing any more. No, they don’t really take up any room, but they’re still clutter, something that I have to flip through on my way to get to the app I want.

Any phone: Do you have phone numbers that you don’t need or want? Are your phone numbers synchronized between your different devices? When I looked through my phone, I realized that I had a bunch of phone numbers from our remodel that I no longer wanted. I have them stored elsewhere, and I don’t need the roofer, mason, or tile guy in my cell phone.  What about your speed dial numbers? Are these the people you want on speed dial? Should you shift them around?

While it’s true that electronic clutter doesn’t take up any physical room, we all use our computers and electronic devices so much that disorganization and excess that can slow our personal efficiency as well as the speed of our devices.

Today’s Declutter Item

This duvet/doona cover has languished in my linen closet since I replaced it years ago with another. On reflection I can’t imagine why I replaced it with one that was almost the same colour but a different fabric. I hope my memory is fading and that the reason was that I changed size, because that is the only thing that makes sense now. Otherwise it would seem like a waste of money and a resources. It is now going to the thrift shop where hopefully someone will get maximum use out of it.

Duvet / Doona Cover

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My little girl is home from America safe and sound and she never asked for money once. See miracles do happen. 😉

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about decluttering your pantry, and one of the things I discussed was keeping food for emergencies. I commented that I live in an area that is not affected by many sudden disaster such as being snowed in, flood water, hurricanes, or tornadoes. Well God and nature decided to prove me wrong in short order. Here’s one I had not considered and has suddenly been the only topic of conversation in our town: wildfires.

Texas had its hottest summer ever and, in fact, was the hottest state in the United States this year. It also hasn’t rained more than a tiny bit in months and months. Suddenly fires broke out all around Austin. Did I think I was immune from disaster? Ha! My friends the Jacksons and the Fosters surely didn’t think so as they were evacuated out of their neighborhood, and neither did my friend Jennifer as she watched the Bastrop fire, so close to her house, but always moving away from her. Several of her friends were not so fortunate, and their homes burn to the ground.

We live extremely close to the largest park in the city of Austin, which is intersected by a creek surrounded by a wide, unkempt natural area called the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Because this greenbelt is park of a public park and is located virtually in the center of Austin, it attracts hundreds of visitors every day. Many of these people smoke and some, unfortunately, toss their butts into the dry vegetation. In addition, there are a handful of (illegal) homeless encampments on the greenbelt. These folks often have (illegal) cooking fires. In other words, the fires have acutely reminded us that 1) we’re sitting right next to a tinder box and 2) that its been so dry and windy that a fire that starts on the greenbelt won’t stay on the greenbelt. This 50 second video shows how fast the fire moved through Bastrop State Park.

When we learned that the Fosters and Jacksons had to leave their homes, Dan and I talked about what we would need to take in an evacuation. What does this have to do with decluttering, you may be asking yourself? One: You have to know what you need. Two: You have to be able to find it. Three: You have to be able to pack it. Four: Decluttering and organizing can help you with this.

One: You have to know what you need. This is my own list. It did not come from a Red Cross or other emergency management source. It’s what my family needs to take and what’s important to us.

• All of Clara’s medications and diabetes paraphernalia, of which there is a lot. (The number one reason that evacuees return to their home is because they forgot medication.) In addition, I always have a month’s worth of supplies on hand. Without repeated daily injections of insulin, Clara will die. There’s no way I’d risk that by letting my supplies get too low. Ever.
• The dogs on leashes and wearing their identification
• The cats in their carrier and wearing their identification
• The guinea pig in a box
• All of our important papers in our fire proof safe. There is also $500 in small bills stored in here for emergencies. (And not for household-type “emergencies.” For real emergencies, such as an evacuation.) Our papers include passports, our marriage license and my divorce decree, and our wills. (While we obviously don’t need our martial or divorce papers while we’re fleeing a disaster, they are needed for lots of legal documents, and I certainly don’t want to have to come up with copies later.)
• My laptop
• My purse (with cell phone) and Dan’s wallet and cell phone
• A working vehicle that is not left with an empty gas tank

If we have more time

• Food and water for the animals
• Food and water for people
• Sleeping bags and pillows
• Toiletries
• Clothing

Two: You have to be able to find it.

Do you know where these important things are? Are your keys scattered around the house, not where they belong? Do you know where the cat carrier is? Are your animals properly tagged? You’ll be heartbroken if you get separated. What about those important papers? They really should be in one easily accessible place. The safe we have is a very small suitcase that’s fire proof, water proof, and portable. (Some people in Bastrop have been able to return to their charred homes, and there have been photos of people opening their fireproof safes. Nice to know that they work.)

Three: You have to be able to pack it.

Where are your suitcases or sturdy boxes? Can you access them? Some people were only given 15 minutes to get out of their homes. You don’t want to spend 10 minutes of your 15 digging through your storage shed looking for a suitcase. Clara’s medical supplies are kept in plastic storage drawers. I realized that a box would be the best way to carry these. I got a box from the garage and left it by her supply cabinet. I always keep one or two large moving boxes in my garage. I have room to store them, and they’re just too handy to get rid of.

Four: Decluttering and organizing can help you with this.

Obviously, if you don’t know where things are, if they’re heaped behind other things, if they’re dropped randomly around the house, valuable time will be lost.

You can check this link for a photolog of the drought in Texas and the fires that resulted from it.

If you feel motivated to make a charitable donation to help those affected by the fires, Lutheran Social Services, a wonderful non-profit where I worked for four years, has an active, on-the-ground response. www.lsss.org/disaster-response

Today’s Declutter Item

Better known as hubby’s fat jeans they no longer fit because he has lost about 15kgs since Christmas. He got to that weight several months ago and has managed to maintain it without any problems. Mind you he is not allowed to ever gain it back because clothes are expensive. 😉

Jeans too big for my husband

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Once again it was a glorious day here yesterday. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was just enough breeze to dry my linen on the clothesline. I had coffee and a chat with a good friend of mine and then took a walk around my neighbourhood. What’s not be be grateful for in that. 

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

As if for the first time, last week I noticed that there is a large bulletin board partially tucked between the wall and my dresser. What’s it doing there? Well, I think it’s been for for two years, since we remodeled and it needed a new “temporary” home. That made me wonder what other pockets of cluttered I had squirrel away. For your edification and mine, I grabbed my camera and wandered the house. I found two more areas, and what makes these pockets special is that I had no idea they were there until I went looking for them.

The first pocket, as I said, was my bulletin board. It has greeting cards and photos on it, not things like memos from my daughters’ school or important reminders. I no longer have my own office area and the laundry room doesn’t have wall space, so I don’t know where to put it. Do I really need it? It does have favorite pictures and greeting cards, but really only two of them are truly, truly dear to me. One is a card from my husband of two cats and the inscription “I will love you my whole life, times nine” and the other is a homemade card from a friend who took my full name and wrote a compliment for each letter: C is for Confident, I is for Inquisitive, etc.  (Julia, I’ve had the card for 8 years now, and I still love it. Thank you.) I’m still coming up with a plan for this pocket of clutter.

The next is an area on the front porch. Two cans of stain, a unusable fire extinguisher, a sample of soapstone (remodel remnant again), a piece of wood, a couple of bricks, and a whole lot of leaves. What are they doing there? How did they get there? Again, I bet they’ve been there for at least a year. This morning the weather was fine, rather than the same temperature as the surface of the sun, as it has been for the past two months. I swept the porch and sidewalk and  put everything that was cluttering that corner in its proper place.

The last area was a small pile of photos, a little picture in a frame, and a newspaper clipping that had come to rest half tucked behind the music player on the counter. Except to recycle the newspaper clipping (free summer movies for the kids – didn’t see one and the summer is over), that pile is still there. It’s a random collection of photos, the sort that is the hardest to deal with because the photos are not one theme or event.

How did these pockets of clutter come to be, and why did they stick around for so long? The most recent pocket, the random photo pile, has been there for 3 or 4 months. The other two are probably several years old. In each case, the clutter was “out of sight, out of mind.” The porch clutter was in the far corner, the bulletin board is wedged by my dresser, and the photo pile was half hidden by the music player. If I hadn’t gone looking for them, when would I have noticed them? Next week? Next year? Never?

My challenge for you today is to look through your house in search of pockets of clutter. Like dust bunnies, they’re hiding in the corners or under the furniture. I’ll be curious to know what you find on your search.

Today’s Declutter Item

This is not a pocket of clutter I had overlooked, it is something that has been on my possible declutter list for some time. I store my hand towels under the kitchen sink where they are most handy to where they are used. There are too many to really store there but I have been cramming them all in anyway. I have decided to let this half of them go to the thrift shop because at their rate of wear it could be another ten years before any of them wear out. Someone can buy them secondhand now to save them from buying new and I will just replace mine later when they are too old and shabby to use.

Seven Hand Towels

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Leftover lemon meringue pie. I made it for my husband because it was Father’s Day in Australia on Sunday and it is one of his favourites. My son doesn’t eat it and my husband doesn’t eat sweets during the week. It is not something that can be frozen well so to save it from going to waste I am just going to have to finish it off myself. Life is good!

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Except for the garage, my home is mostly decluttered. Well, except for the garage and those few scary areas too intimidating to attack. One of these areas consists of several boxes of photographs and memorabilia. Another is the picnic basket I brought back from my Grandparents’ house after my Grandfather’s death. It is filled with photos and mementos that I had to have but have conveniently stored on the floor of my closet for the past seven years. Last, I have a deep drawer full of art, most of it framed, and some of it quite expensive. It was taken off the wall for the remodel and never rehung.

What happens when I try to approach these areas? In the case of the photos and the basket from my Grandparents, I just swerve around that area like it’s not even there and keep going on my merry way. In the case of the art work, I have twice taken it all out, stacked it all around the room so I could see it all at once, got the feeling of jelly legs, stacked it all back up, and returned it to the drawer. Two other times I have opened the drawer with the sincere desire to tackle it once and for all, squeaked in panic, and slammed it back shut.

Clearly, I am intimidated.

Since it’s been well over 100 degrees (35 C) for more than 70 days, there is no way I am going to work on the garage. I’m going to have to tackle these intimidating areas if I’m going to continue making decluttering progress.

I know how to handle the photos and memorabilia. It’s really the same way I handle everything else: one thing at a time, one decision at a time. I think it can be too hard to make every decision the first time through. On my first pass, I’ll get rid of duplicates (triplicates) of the same event, the same child doing the same thing, people I can’t even remember. If that hasn’t winnowed down the photos enough, then I’ll make a second pass and reevaluate. After that I’ll have to decide how I’m going to store them. Everything doesn’t have to be in a coffee-table worthy scrapbook. Sometimes a well labeled envelope in a box is good enough.

For the artwork, I have decided to get the girls to help me. My plan is to pull out one piece of art per day and with their help, decide 1) if we’re going to keep it and 2) where we’re going to hang it. Having their help and the weight of their often-strong opinions should help bring the fear factor down to a manageable level.

What’s intimidating you, and how do you plan to tackle it?

Today’s Declutter Item

Some more fabric gone to the thrift shop. It is good to be honest with yourself that you aren’t likely to use something and just send it on it’s way. One less thing cluttering up  the place and your mind for that matter.

More Fabric (Aspiration Clutter)

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Some days it is just good to have a day that is just ordinary. Nothing spectacular happening just calm and simple. Yesterday was one of those days and I am grateful for that. It was also a good day for blog comments, that kept me busy most of the day. Lucky Cindy does today’s post or it may not have happened. 😉

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

We all have our favorites – favorite laundry soap, favorite hand lotion, favorite beverage, favorite brand of tool. We also all have our second favorites – second favorite lipstick, second favorite pair of black pants, second favorite brand of tea, second favorite bath soap.

How did we accumulate so many seconds? Perhaps the second favorite used to be the favorite, before it was replaced. Or maybe we shopped at a different store than usual, and our favorite item wasn’t available. Or perhaps you just thought that you should branch out some – not just stick to the same old, same old.

But, you always reach around it. You never remember that you have it. It’s pushed too far back in the cabinet to find without a stool. You’ve bought refills of your favorite item (more than once!) and still not used up the second favorite.

What to do?

Well, the most obvious choice is to declutter it – give it to someone else, donate it to the thrift store, throw it away.

Or you could intentionally use it up.

I wasn’t using a type of tea that I like just fine, because I like another kind better. I decided that I would use the second favorite brand when I make ice tea, which I drink in vast quantities in the summer. One more batch of iced tea, and my second favorite tea bags will be no more.

I had a lip gloss in my purse that had fallen out of favor. It goes on a bit sticky, but I’m not really sure why it got downgraded to second place. Instead, I prefer a lightly tinted lip balm. My eldest daughter was leaving on a trip and realized in the car to the airport that she hadn’t packed her lip balm. I gave her mine, and vowed that I wouldn’t replace it until I used all of the lip gloss I’d been carrying around. True, it’s a bit stickier than I would like, but it’s a pretty color on me.

I had a lovely tin of breath mints in my desk, which where given to my children as part of a thank you gift. Rather than the usual peppermint or cinnamon, they’re rose and violet flavored. Odd, I know, but not distasteful, simply not a favorite. I took the tin and put it in the car. There aren’t any other choices in the car. If someone wants a breath mint, rose or violet is what they’re going to get. We’ve been munching our way through them ever since. (As a bonus, the pretty tin looks, well, pretty sitting in the car.)

My friend Holly eats her pantry down to the bare bones once or twice a year. The first time I realized she was doing this, I thought it was odd and unnecessary. Now I see the value of it. There’s always a canned good or special spice that lingers in the cupboard long after everything around it has been eaten. Making sure to clean the cupboards out completely was Holly’s way of forcing herself not to waste food. Plenty of second favorite items, which probably should have stayed on the store shelves, got consumed this way. A similar declutter could easily be performed on the refrigerator or freezer.

In her book The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin talks about owning numerous pairs of blacks pants, only one or two of which she really likes. Every time she wants to wear black pants, she has to sort through her closet looking for the favored pair. Why keep multiples of durable goods (clothes, tools, kitchen appliances) when you have a favorite and someone else could use it? Move it along to a friend or to the thrift store, and relieve yourself of the burden of trying to find that favorite thing.

What can you find today that’s your second favorite, and how will you declutter it?

Today’s Declutter Item

This frame is quite cute but I don’t like frames that distract from the picture that is put in them. I am sure someone will love it though so like many other items this one will go with me to the thrift store.

Disney Frame

Something I Am Grateful For Today

You know some days are harder than others to come up with something to be grateful for and that is ridiculous. Everyday there is so much to be thankful for, a roof over my head, a cosy bed to sleep in, a wonderful family around me, food on my table, good friends and good health. And you know, that is all a person really needs to live a happy, comfortable life.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Last week, I discussed methods for cleaning and decluttering your refrigerator and freezer; this week we’re onto what is usually a larger repository of items that should have moved along long ago, the pantry. Because things in the pantry don’t usually spoil, they can sometimes hang around long enough to become honorary members of your household.

It will probably be helpful to have a pen and paper with you when you start excavating your pantry, especially if you know it’s… let’s politely call it “a goldmine of uneaten potential.”

What do you have, how many do you have, how long has it been in there? Check dates. Put like with like. Anything you have duplicates of may be excessive. I have a dozen little cans of olives, and I use them once a week, so a dozen is a reasonable supply, not an excess. But two cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas) is definitely an excess for me; frankly, one can probably is. Either make a list of what you have that needs to be used up, or put all the extras and duplicates on one shelf, and start using things without replacing them. Alternatively, you can choose to give the extras to the food pantry, rather than consume them yourself.

Some people buy a lot of groceries because they feel uncomfortable about the possibility of running out of food. But remember, it doesn’t all have to be stored at your house; allow the shops to store it for you. Then you can visit your “pantry” whenever you need for whatever you need.

If you live in an area where you might be cut off without access to shopping, for example, in an area that floods or where you get snowed in, I’m sure you need an emergency pantry. I don’t live in that environment, but I would think that having it completely separate from your regular food pantry, or in a specific area of your pantry, and rotating it once a year would be a safe policy. Mark the rotation date on your calendar so you don’t forget. Think carefully and logically about what you really need it in. Just having a bunch of extra canned goods on hand without true consideration to what they are isn’t going to be as helpful as a thought-out plan.

I think cleaning the pantry is a good time to think about healthy eating. Long ago, I talked about decluttering the pantry after my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes. We changed our family’s eating habits literally overnight. Everything that wasn’t part of her healthy, low-carbohydrate diet went directly out the door. I sometimes hear, “Oh I could never do what you do, that must be so hard.” I always say, “It is hard, and you would do it to give someone you love the healthiest and longest life-span possible.”

Don’t we love ourselves? Aren’t we responsible for making sure that we are living the healthiest and longest life-span possible? Then why do you have unhealthy food in your pantry? Get rid of it and don’t buy more. Unhealthy food is just another kind of clutter that you can live without.

How does unhealthy food enter your house? Probably in a grocery sack carried by your own hands. The purchasing of food needs to be a conscious decision like everything else you buy. Shop with a list; don’t vary from it; only buy what furthers your goal of a healthy lifestyle. If you feel you “must” have a treat, buy the smallest container possible (even though that’s likely to be less economical) and don’t buy more until your next shopping trip … or even later than that. Do you spend too much money on alcohol? Again, buy less and don’t buy more until your next shopping trip. For me, beer in the house turns into a beer a day then two beers a day and a couple of pounds a month. It works better for me to only have the occasional beer at a party, not keeping it on hand, is a better choice.

A decluttered pantry will let you have easier access to the foods that you want and will use, without it being cluttered by past mistake purchases, bad-for-you choices, and so much volume that things get lost in a sea of cans and jars.

Next week’s post “Your Second Favorite” addresses using up things that don’t really like … at least not that much.

Today’s Declutter Item

This jar of beads were another craft decluttering effort. The beauty is that I donated them to the thrift store and was there on the day to sell them to a lady for $5. She was happy with her purchase and I was happy to see the charity making money out of my donation.

A jar of beads

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I know that volunteering your time usually evoke gratitude from the organisation that you are giving up your time and energy for. But I am grateful for the opportunity to do my part for the community in which I live. There are a lot of people out there worse off than me and I feel good about helping to provide support for them.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Dan and I were sitting in the living room recently. He looked around with great satisfaction and said, “This is the new messy.” I wasn’t sure what he meant. I looked around too. There were a couple of things on the coffee table that didn’t belong, a stray pair of shoes, the dog beds were sort of tossed to the side, and a project of mine that I had basically abandoned but not put away was sitting on the floor. I said, “It is kind of messy in here. What do you mean?” He replied, “I mean, if we have company, we could have this room completely together in an hour, including dusting and cleaning the floor.”

The new messy. I like it. Believe me, I’d had more than my fill of the old messy, where we couldn’t have company because it would take too long to get the house together.

How did we get there, and more importantly, how can you get to the new messy in your own home?

One day at a time, one item at a time.

Your house didn’t start looking like a toy store, a book shop, a paper factory, or a junk shop in one day, and it won’t be remedied in one day. It’s taken me more than a year to get to the new messy. It may take you six months or three years, but once you get started, eliminate one or two items a day, and you keep after it day after day, your situation will improve.

What will the new messy look like to you? Will it be defined as being able to sit on the sofa without moving a pile of items? Finding something in a drawer the first time you look, in the first drawer you look in? Having company stop by and being able to say without flinching, “Won’t you please come in?” Or maybe it’s being able to downsize to a house half of your current size or being able to actually count the number of items that you own without running out of numbers? Whatever your goal, you can get there one day at a time, one item at a time.

Today’s Declutter Item

I seem to be finding that I need less and less kitchen storage containers these days. Or is it just that they actually haven’t been used for some time and I am only now coming to terms with letting them go. Getting some return on your items can make it a lot easier to part with them. I sold this Tupperware container for $10 on ebay. The lady who bought it lived locally so saved $10 in postage by picking it up. She ended up giving me a tip so I actually got $14.00 for it.(Thank Carmel)

Another Tupperware piece sold on ebay

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Last week and today I have been trying to figure out some link issues that two of my readers have been having. In the process these two lovely ladies have written such beautiful stories and thank yous to me about their declutter missions and how my blog has helped them along the way. It is gratifying to know how my unique approach to decluttering has worked for people that could not find the solution any other way. I have received many lovely stories and thank you messages over the last 18 months and I am grateful for each and every one of them. It is very time consuming to produce a post five days a week and respond to all the wonderful comments I receive. But let me tell you it is a labour of love that is well worth the effort. Thank you all for keeping me company on my journey.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow