Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – I’m Stocking Up For Christmas, Are You?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Treasure
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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, … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ From the Archives Cindy’s Story
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Don’t Over Buy
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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")Â is absolutely amazing. Â 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ The Wedding Dress
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Souvenirs
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Decluttered Kids’ Parties
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Why You Need a List
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom 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 … [Read more...]