Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Backsliding. What a dreadful word! Are you a decluttering backslider? Recently I have been.

I discovered that if I’m not activitely moving forward in my decluttering, I can go into a holding pattern – for a while – but then I start sliding backwards. Dreadful! I came too far to go back now!

I’ve been decluttering for three years now. It’s a habit and a lifstyle, but just like with any other long-term habit or hobby, sometimes my interested wanes. I don’t go and buy out the store and start recluttering, thank goodness. My backsliding starts a bit more sneakily: the house slowly gets messier and less picked up, until it starts to look…well not all the way cluttered but a lot less lovely than it should.

Here are some examples (my own personal walk of shame)

• A gift bag from Audra’s birthday in August stayed on the coffee table until the end of September.
• I bought a shelving unit in August. I loaded it with books, then took some away to make it look a bit more decorative. The books that I removed from the shelves are still sitting on the coffee table.
• Also in August, we used a big decal from Home Depot to cover a clear window to make it look etched, thereby creating privacy. Half the roll wasn’t use and is still sitting right where I put it when we finished the job.
• I forgot to write my blog two weeks ago – decluttering isn’t on my mind.

What did I do to get myself out of my slide? I started by putting away the gift bag and picking up the tissue paper that the cats had spread around the living room. Then I decluttered the pantry. I know that wasn’t on my list above, but it was messy in there, and it had been bothering me. I only got rid of four things: one trashed, two given to a friend, and one intentionally used up that night. A couple days later I straightened the linen closet, which mostly involved refolding and tidying, but also involved taking four flat pillows, cutting them open, and making them into two. Wow! That felt good! By tackling some large but very easy projets, I was successful, felt energized, and it helped me to get back on track. No more backsliding for me!

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a domestic tool ~ Perhaps an item for working in the kitchen or the garage.

Today’s Declutter Item

Playing Cards

Eco Tip for the Day

Own less things. This way when something breaks you will be more inclined to fix it immediately because you need it rather than just utilising an alternative. Repairing things rather than just throwing them away is obviously better for the environment. (Thank you Sanna for the inspiration for this Eco Tip)

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I’ve started stocking up for Christmas. I’m not entirely sure this is a good idea. In the past, when my children were younger, I’d sometimes see something six months before Christmas that I thought would make a good gift. By the time Christmas came ’round, I’d realized that my child was too old / too young / no longer interested in X, so now my gift needed to be re-gifted. (Do you call it re-gifting when it’s never even been gifted once?)

My caution about stocking up is compounded by my once good idea that went bad on me: Having a gift box full of a choice of generic gifts, purchased on sale, for my children to select from when they were invited to parties. The reason this idea went bad wasn’t because I made poor choices. It’s because I had about 10 gifts to choose from, and around 3rd or 4th grade, my children were no longer invited to every party for every child in their classes. Instead, they were only invited to a few select parties a year, meaning two things – 1.) that they’d prefer to pick out a special gift for the special friend and 2.) that they aged out of the gifts I’d stored up because they weren’t using the box so frequently.  (If you have children in preschool and early elementary and a couple of children of mixed ages, I still recommend the gift box; just cut off your buying in 2nd grade or so.)

Buying gifts too far in advance can lead to clutter, incovenience, and an excess of spending, all things we’d like to avoid. So why have I bravely started stocking up this year? Well, for one thing, my children are older and their interests and abilities aren’t changing on a monthly basis. For another, it’s October: Christmas isn’t really that far away. (If you shop at Wal-Mart or Costco, you might think it was next week!) In addition, I’ve decided that the positive aspects of buying in advance outweigh my fear of going wrong.

• Buying in advance allows for slow and careful purchasing. I can shop for the best price or possibly find my items used (for example, a book).
• I can purchase when there’s a sale.
• I will avoid panic shopping at the last minute, which is good for my mental health and prevents rash “grab anything for Aunt Myrtle” gifts: Gifts that are doomed from the beginning to become clutter at Aunt Myrtle’s house.
• I have time to weigh the value of a gift against the cost or other factors without having to make quick decisions.
• When we buy all our gifts at once or in a short time, it’s easy to toss one more or two or ten more last minute items or stocking stuffers into our cart without thinking, wasting money and creating clutter.

The most important task you have to make this successful is to keep a list of what you’ve purchased and ideas for things you might want to purchase (or make).  A list will keep you from getting carried away, will make you aware of how many gifts you’ve already purchased  and prevent you from skewing your gifts too heavily in one direction (like the year Clara got about 10 pair of earrings. By the end, she was less than completely thrilled). Remember that gift cards, tickets to events, or promises to special outings make wonderful clutter-free gifts. (Also, Colleen has a list of un-clutter gifts under “Guides” at the top of the page. These list are definitely worth exploring and considering.)

I’ve started stocking up for Christmas, have you?

Today’s Mini Mission

Take action on something that you want to declutter but aren’t sure how best to move it on. Maybe it’s time you investigated the possibilities.

Today’s Declutter Item

This book was just one small thing my daughter had left behind.

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t use throw away cleaning wipes. They have them for cleaning wood, kitchen spills, television screens, make-up removal etc etc. You can do all these jobs with a little water and a microfibre cloth that can be washed and used over and over again.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I live in a neighborhood where the houses are all about 50 years old and are between 1500 and 2000 square feet. Most have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage or carport. Almost all are one-story houses. The house just around the corner was a bit smaller than most and had been poorly maintained. When the original owner decided to move last year, it wasn’t long before the new owners knocked the house down to the ground and scraped away the foundation.  A few months passed and contruction began on the new home. The architect left the house plans in the permit box, and being a curious person, of course I checked them out: 3700 square feet of heated/cooled space, plus 2000 more square feet of un-heated/cooled space including a three car garage plus a pool. Three stories; 5700 square feet of house.

As you can imagine, there was immediate chatter in amongst the neighbors. Those who thought is was a bad idea were concerned about its looming massiveness and its lack of appropriate style and balance with the rest of the neighborhood. Others thought it was a waste of resources – to build, to maintain, to fill. Other people though said, “If they can afford it, good for them.”

That last response gave me pause.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

Do four people (two adults, two children) need a 5,700 square foot home? What about the costs to build, maintain, heat, cool, and fill this home? The resources that will be used for all the lumber, furniture, appliance, etc. Can you imagine the dusting and vacuuming? The clutter?

When it comes to clutter, we all know how easy it is to do and how difficult it can be to un-do. While my future neighbors are providing a rather extreme example, we’ve all done things we should not: purchased more than is necessary, purchased a new thing when the old thing was perfectly functional still, bought new things to make ourselves feel good / be fashionable / because they were such a great bargain / because we felt we needed to keep up.  And, on the other hand, we’ve all failed to get rid of things when we should: things that were broken that we could not or would not repair, tools or craft supplies that might be useful someday, items that we received as gifts and stuck in a drawer, forgotten, clothing that will never again fit no matter how much we exercise, pieces of paper that became obsolete as time passed.

Before you buy or when you don’t feel like decluttering, remind yourself: Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something made from paper.

Today’s Declutter Item

I didn’t have any paper items to declutter today but here are some mechanical pencils and a fountain pen that Liam doesn’t want. They are all off to the thrift store.

3 Mechanical Pencils and a Fountain Pen

Eco Tip for the Day

When buying bars of soap, by ones without wrappers or multipacks that come in a simple cardboard box. Every little bit of plastic saved from landfill counts.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. That’s a saying we’ve all heard and probably have said. I first truly appreciated the saying at the first garage sale I ever held as an adult. As we raised the garage door at 8:00 am, shoppers began ducking under the rising door, eager to be the first inside. The very first thing that sold was a men’s electric razor for $5. The next thing to sell was a rusted kitchen knife for 10 cents. That’s when I first came to believe that you really can sell anything.

But, of course, decluttering doesn’t have to be about selling, as we have discussed many times on this blog.

I think there are two things you need in order to make any trash to treasure (T2T) work. 1) a place for your “trash” to go and 2) and more importantly, a willingness to find that place.

Let’s start with the easiest examples.

Have Trash: your old clothes. Make Treasure: donate them to the thrift store. That’s how you turn clothing T2T.

Okay, duh Cindy, that’s obvious, but no one would want my XX. You think not? Let’s recall some of the tougher items I’ve decluttered.

Have Trash: 3 pounds of sour cream with about 1/2 C missing and a bottle of salad dressing with one salad’s worth missing. To make this into treasure, you are probably the biggest obstacle. Your embarrassment about offering slightly used food to others is holding you back from making this into treasure. I took a deep breath and offered these two things on my neighborhood list serve. Both had multiple people willing to take them off my hands. The person who took the sour cream just happened to be having a party that weekend and was pleased to have a base for various dips. She made a sour cream cake with the rest.

Have trash: Things which can be recycled, but it’s inconvenient. To make treasure: It’s your responsibility to dispose to things responsibly and in the best way your community demands. Batteries can be saved up and returned to the battery store, Home Depot or Lowes, and probably your community recycling center. The same with Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (except they go back to the lightbulb store, not the battery store). Try this mindset: You were perfectly willing to drive all over town to acquire these items. You should put at least this much effort into recycling them. (Or you can make battery art, like this creative soul.)

Have trash: Sentimental item you dislike. Make treasure: Again, you’re the obstacle here. You have to know that it’s not your responsibility to hang onto other people’s memories, stuff from the dead, or gifts you hate. Make treasure: As we occasionally say in our house, You gotta put your big girl pants on. Be okay with the fact that you don’t want these things. Then ask among the relatives (and don’t listen to their silly attempts to guilt-trip you into keeping the item), donate to a historical society (if appropriate), give to the thrift store, sell on EBay, donate on Craigslist or Freecycle. Recently my cousin has had great luck selling on Facebook classified ads, which I don’t know anything about. She lives in the country. Her rural location does not stop her from selling and buying used, and it shouldn’t stop you either.

Have trash: A wierd, awkward, or very one-of-a-kind item. Make treasure: These things are perfect for Freecycle or the free column on Craigslist. I have Freecycled battered used wooden fencing – twice (once it was used to make a goat pen and once it was used to make rustic mailboxes), and we let people pick through our construction dumpster for a single piece of wood they needed. A broken antique mirror frame with no mirror went to a furniture refinisher. Either he’ll fix it when he’s got time or he’ll use the pieces to fix up something else. A huge box of old cassette tapes were happily snapped up by a fellow driving a really old pick up truck – no CD player in that thing. All of our pencils that had been used until they were really short, and all the pens that worked but we didn’t like for some reason went to our daughters’ school. “Pencils of shame” we call them, because they were saved for girls who forgot to bring their pencils to class.

Have trash: Dirty, torn or stained clothing. Make treasure: Call around to your local thrift stores; it is likely that at least one of them is also in the fiber business. I had a hard time finding this information in my community, but it turns out that both the Salvation Army and Goodwill take items for fiber. I just need to label the bag clearly with “For Fiber. Do Not Sort.” and drop at any Salvation Army or Goodwill location. How easy is that? Now in addition to the bag I always have for items to donate to the thrift store, I have a bag for fiber too. Make treasure, part 2: In addition, when I converted my entire lawn to garden, I smothered the grass with layers of old clothing, sheets, and blankets that I have saved over the years. It made as good of layer as the cardboard I also used. Occasionally I dig up a button or a string of elastic from the garden from the fibers that have now decomposed.

What’s your hardest thing that you think you can’t find a good second life for? Let’s work together and see what we can come up with.

For more great tips on recycling your stuff check out 365’s Recycle Guide

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter one dust collecting ornament.

Today’s Declutter Item

I performed only one task with this mug, a task that could be performed by something else that had multiple uses. Hence this item was just wasting space in my kitchen.

Enamel Mug

Eco Tip for the Day

When doing your weekly shop put a shopping basket in your shopping cart to put your fruit and vegetables in rather than bag everything up separately in plastic bags. I have been doing this for years and only once has the checkout person given me grief about having to weigh it this way.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I’ve been short of both time and inspiration this week, so I dug up a post from the archives. This one was written in early 2011, eight months after I began daily decluttering.

Perhaps if you’re like my mother – always organized, always together, the focused Energizer Bunny – you won’t understand this post, this post about why my house fell into complete disarray and stayed there for about 8 years. Well, perhaps not why it fell into disarray, but why it stayed that way, year after hateful year.

Our house was almost literally always under construction, with my husband and I as the main worker bees. I had two young children. I find housework boring. All those reasons are true. But plenty of people offered to dig me out of my hole, and I had a housekeeper every other week for several years. It would take me hours to “clean” before Ellie came to clean – mostly I was stacking things and tucking them away before her arrival so she could find the floor and the counters.

My reason, in part, why nothing stayed clean was anxiety, unease, discomfort. When I cleaned, I knew without a doubt, that the mess would come right back, right away. I felt uncomfortable and almost unhappy when the house surfaces were clean and the junk was piled up tidily. It was like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew, as sure as I know that water rolls downhill, that all that stuff was going to re-emerge, and sooner rather than later. It felt useless and hopeless to bother to tidy up – so why bother at all? I wasn’t working then, and once both of the kids were in school, I carried a secret fear that my husband might “fire” me as a homemaker and send me back to work because I was doing such a lousy job. Truth be told, I would have fired myself!

Besides my defeatist attitude, another thing that kept the house from being clean and staying clean was that I never organized or decluttered all the way. I would load the dishwasher but not wipe the counter. I would pay the bills but leave the stamps and envelopes out. We joked that no one in our house understood the word “away” as in “I’ll put that away.” 90% of the job done was 100% good enough for me. Why did I only go part of the way – laziness, habit, the feeling of wasted time I got from completing the job?

How did I overcome my cleaning anxiety? The kids getting older and the remodelling finally being finished both helped, that’s for sure. I became determined to know where everything was supposed to go. I decided that I wanted to be extremely familiar with the word “away.” And if I didn’t know where something’s “away” was, I would figure it out.

Although I was already on my way toward cleanliness and organization, I really started my decluttering on June 1, which is when I found 365lessthings. Since then, I have decluttered over 1,600 things. I could really see a difference after a couple of months, and so could the rest of the family. My husband, who had been secretly and not-so-secretly longing for a lovely home was praising. When one child’s room would look great, the other girl would ask for help with her room too. The ease of decluttering – and the reward – became exponential. Now when I look at the island (my black hole) and think, “That looks awful,” I know that it will take me 10 minutes to completely tidy it, and I remember that every surface in the house, plus half the furniture, used to look that way.

So remember there is hope for all of us no matter how deep in the quagmire of clutter we have sunk. You can claw your way out one item at a time, one day at a time one area at a time no matter how you got there. If I can do it so can you, you just have to get started. Good luck and happy decluttering.

Today’s Mini Mission

Choose and begin to use up an item that you have more than enough varieties of. This could be something in your pantry, your bathroom cabinet, your store of cleaning products…

Today’s Declutter Item

Here are some items that I discovered while doing a mini mission of clearing out items in my laundry cupboard. These leather care product were too dry to be useful and in the case of the shoe nugget already replaced by new product. How have I managed to miss this over the last 2+ years of decluttering.

Leather Care Products

Eco Tip of The Day,

Investigate product reviews before making purchases in an attempt to get it right the first time and not find yourself back at the store buying a similar but hopefully better alternative soon after. This isn’t foolproof of course but the more armed with information you are the better choice you are likely to make.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

At the end of every school year, I volunteer to take home all the lost and found from my daughters’ school. I look through it, sort it, wash it, fold it, and give it to charity. The amount of lost and found (or as the Head of School calls it, “Lost and Sometimes Found”) is absolutely amazing.  At the end of this school year, I had 20 expensive metal water bottles (one still had a clear $25 price tag on it), a dozen lunch bags in good condition, probably 50 items of clothing worthy of the thrift store, and 5 or 6 coats, including one very nice Columbia brand coat.

Such waste!

Colleen once wrote a post, which I cannot locate, about “What if I had just one?” Just one pencil, just one coat, just one pair of scissors, just one water bottle and one lunch sack?

Overbuying has to be part of the explanation for this phenomena. In my house, the girls have two water bottles each – one large and one small, and they each have one lunch bag. If the bag doesn’t come home, they take their lunch in a plastic sack, which in itself is a reminder to check the lost and found. But if you overbuy, then each item has less value and less chance of staying with its owner.

When my daughters first starting attending school where they had to provide their own supplies, I was absolutely horrified by the list: 2 boxes of 8 markers, 6 glue sticks, 4 packs of post-it notes, and my winner for most ridiculous: 48 pencils. 48 pencils times 15 girls equals 720 pencils per school year per classroom! How many third-world classrooms could be outfitted with 720 pencils? I thought it was because the girls went to private school, but my public school friends told me that their lists were similarly excessive.

Why would you value a single pencil when there are 719 more in your classroom?

It’s so easy to overbuy when things are “2 for 1” or “Buy 1, get 1 at half price”? I know I used to do it too. But it’s just not necessary. It’s bad for the environment, bad for your check book, and devalues each and every item, making each one more likely to be lost, discarded, or shoved to the back of the cabinet.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an aspirational item. Something you aspire to getting around to using or trying one day but you know one day is unlikely to come.

Today’s Declutter Item

I would like to say this is the last of the snow gear but there is still a snowboard out in the garage to list on ebay before that chapter of our lives is behind us. It is one step closer though and that is all that counts. I sold this jacket on ebay on the third attempt.

Ski/Snowboard Jacket

Eco Tip For The Day

Donate or sell under utilised items in your home in the hope that it will prevent someone else, who might have a use for them, from having to buy new.

* * * * * * *

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

In honor of my cousin Jenny’s wedding last Friday evening, I have pulled a post from the archives. I wrote this post after polling my friends about what they had done with their dresses.

What did you do with your dress? The unanimous answer – I still have it or once, my parent has it.

I have mine, which I still think is beautiful 15 years later. It’s hermetically sealed in a gigantic box and is in the top of one of the closets. This particular shelf is rather hard to reach, so the only things that would ever be placed on it are long-term storage items. I have enough storage room in the house, so it stays. Ironically, I do not enjoy looking at it. There is a big oval on the top of the box, and the dress is laid out beautifully, but something about it reminds me of looking into a coffin, so it kind of creeps me out. Weird, I know. However, since I told my daughters I was going to write this post, they’ve been clamoring to see my dress, so I am vowing here, before all of you, that I will pull it out and actually look at it soon.

While we like to think that our dress will be worn by a relative, most likely only a piece of it, such as the veil will make a second trip down the aisle. Accepting this notion, some women have cut up their dresses and given them new life as christening gowns or flower girl dresses. One woman I found on the Internet lets her children play dress up with it. I wouldn’t even let my children play dress up with the cocktail dress that I wore to my first wedding, so I know there’s no chance of them prancing around in the traditional gown I wore when I married their father.

In addition to keeping the dress, there are a couple of other possibilities for it. The first, of course, is to sell it. However, this needs to be done in the first couple of years, because no matter how classic we believe our dress is, styles change, and it likely won’t be sellable after 4 or 5 years.

The other option is to donate it. That I was able to discover, there is only one nation-wide charity in the U.S. that takes wedding dresses,  Brides Against Breast Cancer (www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org), but even they won’t take gowns older than 2009.

But back to keeping the dress. I thought my girlfriends had interesting things to say about their gowns and their choices:

One of my friends despises her dress, but she still won’t part with it. Here’s what she wrote: Anyway, I have dragged the dress across the country four times. But I never throw it out because it’s a piece of history, if you will: a tangible remnant of my past that the kids can explore or chuck. So far my daughter agrees with me that the dress is pretty putrid. But she always says that she’d like to use parts of it for her gown. So who knows? Maybe butt bows will come back in style — and if they do, I’m ready!

Initially, this friend’s dress was saved by her mother, who later mailed it to her. I think it speaks to the feeling of intrinsic importance that we place on our gowns: By “mailed” I’m being literal: She just slapped some stamps on the hermetically sealed boxes –no wrapping, no insurance, no anything!– and sent ‘em US Mail. When they arrived, our mail carrier –who was a woman– knocked on our door and proceeded to berate me for 15-minutes about the “irresponsibility of sending something as precious as a wedding gown” in such a manner.

Another friend said: My husband wanted to know why I was keeping it recently and I didn’t have a very good answer. It seemed like bad luck to get rid of it or something.

This friend’s husband is with the U.S. State Department, and they move around the world every two years. While she did not keep her dress, her father cannot part with it, and it lives at his house. (And, as you will read, she’s a natural declutterer): So interesting that everyone who answered has kept their wedding dresses! I’m surprised. Maybe because I move so often, I just can’t keep stuff. I cried the day we had to sell my grand piano, and I think that was the day I learned not to develop an emotional connection to “things.” I haven’t looked back since, and now I am queen of “get rid of.” The only things I would hate to lose are my scrapbooks. In contrast, everything my parents purchased was to last a lifetime (actually several generations’ lifetimes). I think it may be something about that  generation, or perhaps growing up in the Depression. I now can’t imagine living that way, with all that stuff piling up!

In the end, though, I think this friend said it best: Every so often I think I should sell it just to make space but you know, I’ve got SO MANY worthless things that could be gotten rid of, I am keeping the dress.

Well said! – Declutter what is not precious, so you have room to save what is.

Today’s Mini Mission

Refurbish something. Maybe something has become clutter because it needs a lick of paint to bring it back to life.  Even if you end up not using it after all at least if it will now be in better condition for whoever finds it at the thrift store or if you decide to sell it.

Today’s Declutter Item

While taking yet another sweep through his keepsake box my husband found yet more foreign coins that we have no use for or sentimental attachment to. I took them to the bank where they are donated to Unicef.

Foreign Coins

Eco Tip For The Day

Where possible replace disposable items with reusable one ~ coffee cups, batteries, food storage, coffee filters…

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

The girls and I are still on vacation, having traveled 1500 miles (2414 kilometers) thus far from Austin, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, by way of Memphis, Tennessee.  (Thank you Mom, for lending us your Prius.) Until today, besides postcards, which we purchased but also mailed, we had spent less than $10 on souvenirs. I bought a box of beignet mix at Cafe du Monde, and Clara purchased a pair of earrings, which she’s already worn several times. Today we went to one of our favorite places in the world, City Museum in St. Louis (boring name for an exciting place), and virtually broke the bank on souvenirs, spending almost $70. The only thing I can say in my defense is that every souvenir has a specific and well-thought-out purpose. Two pairs of earrings, made from recycled tin, will be under the Christmas tree for the girls. The post cards are for the scrapbook I will make when I get home. (I feel confident that I will make a book, because I have taken so few photos, and have culled while standing in  lines, that I feel confident that I won’t be overwhelmed with choices.) Last, I purchased a book of elaborate snow flake patterns. I know that sounds like the one that might sit fallow in the drawer, but Clara really likes that kind of precise work, so I think we will enjoy them over the winter holiday.

While I am not at all displeased with my purchases, I must point out that $70 would also buy admission for the three of us to nearly any museum or attraction we wanted to go to and would buy another two or even three meals on the road. In other words, souvenirs can also easily increase the cost of travels.

What didn’t I buy? Shot glasses with a local attraction on them. Beverages in big “souvenir” cups. Art that you purchase on impulse when you’re somewhere and then don’t know what to do with it when you get home. T-shirts (nice or junky) for myself or anyone else. Expensive “opportunity” photos that the folks at the St. Louis Arch or the ladies who work at the Aquarium are happy to take for you. Lastly, I didn’t buy a gift for anyone who is not on this trip with me.

I’ve never been a huge souvenir buyer, and neither are my parents, but I have been on the receiving end of a number of souvenirs, both junky and costly. What I’ve decided from that experience is that even if the item is nice, it immediately holds a lot less value to the recipient because he/she was not there to see 1) the cute little shop where it was sold, 2) the quaint village where this is the traditional handicraft, 3) the wonderful factory where the item was made, or 4) the whole darn country where the item came from.

So onward with our trip and may the souvenir “gimmes” stay away.

Like Colleen, I have little Internet access and will not be responding to comments. I hope everyone is having a great two weeks while I am away.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something from the bookcase again ~ I don’t just keep books in my bookcase so I have several item choices in this area. If that isn’t the case for you I am sure there is one of two books that could be culled.

Today’s Declutter Item

I haven’t used this item in years but I was still reluctant to declutter it. Why you may ask. Because I was afraid that if I did decide to try my hand at making rugs again I wouldn’t be able to buy such a gadget any more. I decided in the end I would take my chances because the item is for sure taking up space but the surety of it being used is next to nil.

Yarn Cutter for Latch Rugs

Eco Tip For The Day

If you can’t live without heating try turning down the thermostat a couple of degrees and put on warmer clothes. You would be surprised at how much better this is for the environment and on your energy bills.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Clutter and birthday parties, especially children’s birthday parties, fit together like a hand and glove, don’t they? They don’t have to. My youngest, Audra, turned 10 last week. Her birthday party cost less than $31 (less because there were food leftovers), generated virtually no trash, and was a great success.

First, let’s think about the things that create trash at a child’s birthday party.

• Disposable table cloth (cheap paper or plastic)
• Paper plates
• Paper napkins
• Paper cups
• Cheap themed decorations
• (Often all of the above are purchased at the same time from Wal-Mart, Target, or a party store on an aisle that’s designed to encourage you to buy all the matching this and that they’re selling)
• Plastic forks
• Juice Boxes
• Disposable water bottles
• Plastic cake decorations
• Ribbons, bows and package decorations
• Wrapping paper
• Junky little toys that are often given as prizes for games; they may not be trash today, but they will be soon
• More junky little toys given as party favors, often in throw-away bags
• Gifts that are quickly forgotten about or discarded

Audra had an Olympic-themed birthday party with just six guests. They girls did gymnastics routines (very small routines), the long jump, triple jump, shot put (bean bag throw), swimming races, and diving. (The last two activities took place in an accommodating neighbor’s pool.) None of these activities produced clutter. We also served a nutritious lunch of hummus, pita triangles, carrots, cherries, celery, and cucumbers followed by homemade cupcakes. We watched the some of the Olympics while we ate our lunches. Gift opening was last.

We avoided creating clutter by:

• Using all non-disposable cutlery, plates, and glasses from my kitchen
• Using cloth napkins
• Not using a table cloth (although if we had, it would have been one I already own)
• Getting ice and water from the refrigerator and not offering water bottles or juice boxes (again, if I had offered juice or milk, it would have been poured from a larger bottle, not offered individually)
• No prizes were given for success in the various games
• Decorations were kept to a minimum, which was Audra’s choice. Using some art supplies and the back of a foam core board that I brought home from work, she made an Olympic sign that she hung on the mailbox. She put up a few signs that she printed on the computer using paper that had already been used on one side that said things like “Olympians only after this point” and “Long jump starts here.”
• One friend gave her a sewing book, one friend gave her gift cards to a local ice cream shop (yum yum), and one friend gave her a gift card to a huge accessory store. Audra likes fashion and dressing up, and she will get twice the thrill first getting the gift certificate and then shopping for her item.
• At the end of the party, Audra gave each guest two Japanese erasers. These are hot items among her peers and have been for several years. (Rarely do they actually get used as erasers, although they can be.) What’s interesting is that Audra loves Japanese erasers, but she only wants animals ones. The first thing she did was sort through her own erasers and pulled out the non-animal ones. Right there, we almost had enough for party favors, and only a few more needed to be purchased. Next, she made little boxes from paper for each of the guests. They were only paper and tape and 100% recyclable.
• No gifts were wrapped in wrapping paper. The envelopes were recycled, and the bow and gift bag were put away to be reused.
• The last thing we did was remind our guests of anything that could be recycled. Audra pointed out that she recently went to a party where the hostess provided recyclable cups, but since she didn’t tell or remind anyone that they were recyclable, most of the cups got tossed in the trash.

It is 100% possible to have a fun, inexpensive, and clutter-free party. Do you belong to a circle of friends from whom even over-the-top is not enough? If you don’t want to get new friends, then throw your own decluttered party your own way. You don’t have to be a follower; you can be a leader. Just don’t act shocked when two of three of your friends express envy at the simplicity of your child’s party.

I am on vacation with the birthday girl and her older sister for two weeks, and will likely not be reading comments, let alone answering them. Until I am back in Austin, have a great two weeks.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter one of those once favourite outfits that you never wear any more. Chances are it is now out of fashion.

Today’s Declutter Item

Yet more of the craft items recently sold on ebay.

Foam Craft Stamps

Eco Tip For The Day

Don’t leave you car idling for unnecessary periods of time such as when you pull over to use your cell phone. 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting your car.

“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

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

I love lists. I used to love them more. And you know what? I used to be a lot more organized and a lot more efficient. Coincidence? I think not.

I cannot stress enough that you need a list – probably several of them. I don’t care if you keep them on paper or electronically. I do both, but for me nothing beats the satisfaction of crossing off a to-do item with paper and pen. (Great repurposing of half-used spiral notebooks that come home at the end of the school year every August.)

Especially is you tend to dilly-dally and procrastinate, you need a list. If you tend to wander the world of blogs, get hung up on Facebook, read your latest book all the way through in one sitting, or watch all 20 hours of the televised Olympic events – each day, you need a list.

Why? Because a list keeps you going. It keeps you focused. It reminds you of what you’ve done and what needs to be done. A list frees up part of your brain space – once it’s on the list, you don’t have to remember to do it, the list remembers for you. And if you do something productive that’s not on your list, be sure to add it so you can have the thrill of crossing it off.

Here are some lists you may need.

• A daily to-do
• Dreams and goals
• Areas that need to be decluttered
• Items that you have decided to sell (especially important as a reminder if you want to sell something seasonal or holiday-themed at the ideal time)
• Tasks that need to be done around the house – quick projects and the big ones
• Items that need to be returned to a certain person or a specific location (keeps your front or back door area from becoming a storage facility)
• Things that need research, including whether or not something is worth selling
• Books or movies you want to read / watch.
• Ares that need to be decluttered

I mentioned the last one already? Well let me mention it again. Even a person as decluttered as I am has areas that need a first, second, or even third swing. My areas include my desk, the art closet (which is becoming my personal nemesis), the shelves in Clara’s closet, the shelves in Audra’s closet, linen closet, storage area under the stairs (Dan’s domain, but it still needs decluttering so it’s on my list), and numerous areas in the garage.

Even though I declutter almost daily and have for more than two years, there are areas that need (or need again) concentrated attention. Some, like the linen closet, I may discover need more of a tidying than an actual decluttering. Other areas, like the cupboard under the stairs, need some serious attention. (Will we find Harry Potter in there?)

And I will get to them, all of them, one item at a time, because my list will make sure of it.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter unnecessary items on bedside cabinets, chests of drawers or dressing tables.

Today’s Declutter Item

Choosing which craft items to declutter was one thing actually getting them out of the house is a whole other ball game. I am working on it though. The best thing about these is I now have a little extra money in my paypal account.

Sizzix cutting dies sold on ebay

Something to be grateful for today

Getting more things done yesterday than I expected. I was exhausted but pleased.

“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

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