Cindy's Weekly Wisdom If you, or your children, are fans of the Harry Potter books, you are probably familiar with Mad Eye Moody and his admonishment - given freely to young and old wizards and witches - Constant Vigilance! Constant Vigilance! is what I need when I manage to clear an area that has previously been a black hole. (You know those - places where all things seem to gather and nothing ever leaves.) My desk has been giving me nothing but trouble for the longest time: Sometimes I can't even use it because the surface is so cluttered. I hate it! I finally did The Big Sweep and … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Reaching into the Archives
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I revisted the archives from September 1, 2010 for this post. It was titled "Cindy's Take on Avoiding Recluttering." This time I have published it with gift buying in mind. As appropriate, insert "the gift recipient" in place of "I" It’s bound to happen sometime; you’re going to have to break down and buy something. Before you do, consider these factors: Do I need it? Do I want it? Did I come into the store looking for this item, or did it just catch my eye? Would I be criticized if my spouse or family members knew that I had purchased this? Can I … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Alternatives to Gift Wrap
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I am coming to the end of a multi-year Use It Up Challenge: To use up all the copious amounts of wrapping paper that I purchased on sale after Christmas like clockwork every December 27. TreeHugger has a great article on holiday waste and sites estimates of 4 million tons of wrapping paper and gift bags thrown away. My girl friend Corinna has made cloth bags that she reuses year after year. She does a lot of sewing and cloth crafts so my guess is that she was able to make these bags with remnants. Here are great step-by-step instructions; even a non-sewer can … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Decluttering When You Didn’t Really Mean To
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Have you ever decluttered when you didn't really mean to? I have, and I'm here to encourage you to embrace these accidental declutterings, no matter how annoying they are at the time. What do I mean? Here are some times I got roped / fell into decluttering when I had absolutely no intention of doing so. Audra recently opened the door to the craft closet, sat down right in the doorway, and started crafting. Eventually, she had every sticker that we own in a heap in front of her. I kept trying to ignore the mess, hoping that she's just scoop it all back up and cram it … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Decluttering Christmas
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Please don't call me Scrooge, but I hate decorating for Christmas. In fact, I hate decorating for all holidays. To me, it falls under the category "another darn thing I have to do." So last year, I decided it was time to change that. I pulled everything out of the attic at one time. My hope was to get everything back into just the plastic bins and get rid of the boxes; that seemed like a reasonable level of reduction to me. I started early in December, wanting to be sure that anything that went to the thrift store had time to be resold before the end of December … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – The Lesson of the Widow’s Mite
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. Mark 12:41–44 This Bible lesson has been instrumental in my decluttering … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Do You Have Hoarding Tendencies?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I'm about half way through the book The Hoarder in You by Dr. Robin Zasio. Dr. Zasio is a psychologist who specializes in anxiety and compulsions with a sub-specialty in hoarding; she is a consultant on the TV program Hoarders. Early in the book, there's a box: Do You Have Hoarding Tendencies? Of course, I answered "no" before I read the checklist. In fact, according to Dr. Zasio, I do have some. Well that's a disappointment. Here is her list along with the paragraph that follows and my answers in blue: Do you have a hard time parting with items, even if you … [Read more...]
Simple Saturday – Decluttering Without Even Trying
It's time for the change over of seasonal clothes and an opportunity for the simplest decluttering of all: Decluttering without even trying. When you get your clothes out of storage (or, in my case, when I stop using the lower hanging bar [hot weather] and start using the upper hanging bar [cool weather]), turn all the hangers backwards. At the end of the season, anything that is still turned around the wrong way is something you no long wear. Congratulations! You just decluttered your closet without even trying. The Weekends Mini Missions Saturday - Declutter something from your … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Procrastination
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom My mother is a famous procrastinator, at least according to my father. He once bought her a t-shirt with a letter printed on it that said, "Ken, I promise to stop procrastinating. Later. -Rosalie." Considering that I think my mother never stops moving and doing, I'm not really sure what he was talking about. Maybe's she's changed over time. I know that in terms of procrastination, I can change from week to week. What I find is that procrastination doesn't save time; it creates work, clutter, and distraction. Obviously we can't do every single thing we think needs to … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Perfectionism
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Perfectionism. Can you be too perfect? Oh yeah. Ironically, many cluttered people are perfectionists. Certainly perfectionism was one of the anchors that used to hold me back. Wanting everything to be perfect can keep you from making progress in a number of ways: You don't have the perfect organization system, so you have no system. You can't get rid of something because you need to determine the perfect person / perfect place for that item to go next. You know the perfect person - the exact perfect person - and the fact that you only see them once every two … [Read more...]