Here are some questions to ask yourself if you have a lot of nicknacks adorning your home. Usually a home full of nicknacks also has additional furniture to house those nicknacks. Pedestals and little tables for them to sit on, china cabinets and bookshelves crammed with them, open 3D frames hanging on the wall containing more tiny bits and pieces. Just the thought of it all makes me wheeze and sneeze. So here are my questions…

• How important can each and every item possibly be to you when they are crammed onto shelves where you can’t even see half of them because they are hidden behind one another?
• How often do you actually take the time to look at each and every one of these items?
• How clean is your home on a daily basis when there are so many of these items that you can only bring yourself to dust them once a year?
• How much time and energy do you even have to devote to maintaining your home in this state?
• How easy is your home to clean properly when so much wall and floor space is covered with the furniture or props holding these items?
• How much money has been spent acquiring these items while renovations and repairs have gone begging on the structure you live in?
• How much more could you enjoy and appreciate your favourites among these items if the overall quantity were fewer and less crowded?
• If you died tomorrow would you really want your loved ones to have to deal with all your stuff in their time of grief?

If you do have a desire to reduce your collection in order to make cleaning day easier but you are having a hard time letting go it is possible to desensitise yourself from this anxiety. All you have to do is choose an item that you care the least about among the collection and let it go. If you feel any pangs after parting with an item remind yourself of your goal of easing your cleaning burden. Give yourself a day or two to establish the fact that you have barely noticed an item’s absence and then choose another least loved item and again let it go. Continue on with this method and I am sure you will end up letting go of more items than you ever thought you would.

Rearrange and spruce up your collection as you progress so as to have it looking the best it can. Bringing all your favourites to the fore.

Hopefully you will advance so far with this task that you start to empty furniture items and can also remove them to create open spaces which are easy to clean. Just thinking about all the balls of fluff, dust mites and possibly even mould and roaches that can hide in all these nooks and crannies makes me cringe. And although that may sound a little melodramatic it is entirely possible. In Australia these are also places where venomous spiders (Redbacks and Whitetails) can lurk.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any old manuals or warranty papers that are out of date or you no longer have the items for. This is one of those areas of paperwork that builds up over time. Be vigilant because paperwork can be very daunting to deal with when allowed to accumulate.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This Monday’s mini missions are centred around the idea of making your home more user friendly. Or more to the point easier for you to clean and work in. You might be surprised how a few tweaks here and there can make tasks less painful. The target is to have less to dust, drawers and cupboards that are easier to access and find things in, and horizontal surfaces easy to clean.

Monday – Declutter a knick knack or two from around your home. Housework is easier with less to dust.

Tuesday – Declutter and reshuffle a drawer that is such a shambles you can never find what you need in it. Junk drawers are not a necessity, in fact they can be a nuisance.

Wednesday – Declutter some items from a closet that is over full, making it difficult to keep organised.

Thursday – Find a home for something that seems to have made the floor its permanent resting place. Perhaps a pile of magazines, a large pot, someone’s shoes… It is much easier to clean the floor when you can get to it easily.

Friday – Declutter a kitchen cupboard that is so full it is too much bother to retrieve what you need from it.

Saturday – Clear the clutter from your kitchen workspace and keep it that way. Cooking is a big enough job without having to clear away before you can get started.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice, that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Rather than encourage your older children to do their own washing, choose a day each week for each of them to do a load of the  family’s washing. A load of towels here, a dark load there and load of whites another day.

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

I read this quote last week when it arrived with my latest update to Gretchen Ruben’s ~ The Happiness Project ~ newsletter.

   “Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.” ~ Gertrude Stein

The part that struck me mostly about the quote was this “Anything one does every day is important …” which said to me ~ Whatever you do today make it something good because it is important either way. Important because no matter what you do it will have either a positive or negative effect on either you, those around you, the planet you live on and all that inhabit it or possibly all three. I am sure you have all heard of the butterfly effect.

So, today,  with that thought in mind would you rather…

• Buy something new today that you really don’t need ~ or ~ donate something today that you already have and barely use to someone who might have a use for it. (This choice will affect you, others and the planet)
• Today would you rather continue holding on to stuff, that you don’t need, that your family will have to deal with someday when you are gone ~ or ~ start getting rid of the excess stuff today so you family don’t have to in their time of grief. (This choice will affect you and your loved ones, those benefitting from your purging and untimately the planet)
• Add to your debt today by buying something new that you want but don’t need ~ or ~ sell something of your excesses and pay a little off your debt. (This choice will affect you, your loved ones, others and the planet)
• Continue to live in a cluttered, oppressive and possibly unhealthy environment ~ or ~ start purging items that are violating your space, depressing you, collecting dust and possibly hindering your cleaning process. (This choice will affect you, your loved ones and anyone living with you.)

This list could go on and on but I think you get the idea.

So what are you going to do today?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a shirt, pair of trousers or jacket that you no longer fit or like to wear.

Remember the November keep it tidy challenge

Today’s Declutter Item

With two people eating mostly a low-carb diet one set of measuring cups for baking is enough these days as there is very little baking done.

Measuring Cups

Eco Tip for the Day

Remember that every little thing you can do today to lessen your carbon footprint will have a positive effect on the environment.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

So how is everyone going with the November keep it tidy challenge. There have been a couple of mentions in the comments from readers about how they are getting on. Here are a two excerpts I wanted to share with you.

From Lena ~ …my november challenge is seriously successful. I found that whenever I have a big cooking session, that it helps immensly to clean right after the meal. for small things like glasses, cups and cans, its ok for me to leave it there. since two weeks, my kitchen is cleaner and easier to maintain and I find I am using not as much stuff anymore. my kitchen might be ready for the next round of decluttering.

From Moni ~ …my November challenge is a bit challenging today as I’ve just got back yesterday from being away. One thing I am taking note of, is some items are more effort than others to pack away quickly and easily, so I’m asking myself to try and figure out what makes some things more tricky, is the shelf too full (if so what can needs to go?) is there something that gets in the way? would somewhere else be a better location? that sort of thing.

Lena’s comment my convey a greater success story than Moni’s but in my opinion both ladies have been as successful as one another and here is why I say that…

Lena had one particular challenge that she was concentrating on and that was to make an effort to leave the kitchen clean and tidy before turning in for the night. She rose to the challenge made some observations and even discovered that there may be thing in her kitchen that she really could declutter.

While Moni, has a higher degree of difficulty in the first place. It is a busy time of year for her with three teenage children and it is the end of the school year. She also sews dance costumes on her dining room table and with end of year performances to supply for it is a busy time for that as well. Her mission to keep that area tidy was bound to be challenging. She didn’t say whether or not she has made any improvement but she has certainly put some thought into it and is trying to devise ways to make the tidy up task simpler and more likely to be performed. This is a very important step when it comes to keeping a house tidy. The simpler we make the task the more likely it is to get done. So good luck Moni I hope you figure it out and increase your chanced of success.

Ooooh! I didn’t put my dressing gown away immediately!

My mission was similar to that of Lena, trying to leave my kitchen sink free of dirty pots and pans before going to bed at night. I have to say that some nights have been more successful than others but there has definitely been an improvement.

I have also been doing a bit of crafting lately and I have been diligent at leaving my work space tidy before turning in at night. And most mornings, prior to setting this challenge, I would usually wake up, go down stairs and have my cuppa and breakfast before making the bed. This month however I have been making the bed most mornings as soon as I get out of it. It is nice to come up for my shower later and not have to deal with it them.

I have to say that just setting this mission has made me more aware of things left in places they don’t belong. With one extra person in the house for almost two weeks I have found that this happens more often than I thought. My sweet darling daughter was clearly amused enough by this “out of character” behaviour that she decided to post a photo on Facebook of my dressing gown that I had left on the sofa one morning. Of course my wise ass family had to get in on the act with comments such as this…

Blake ~ Auntie Col is so reckless!!  Bridget ~  She’s really living on the edge these days! Next thing we know she’ll stop using coasters! Blake ~ A sure sign the world is ending this year! Jo ~ Quick declutter it while she is not looking…

The fact that they all found this amusing could be construed as either good or bad. Good because they think I am usually more tidy than this or bad because they think I am a little too tidy the rest of the time. I am now tempted to throw caution to the wind and leave the pots and pans in the sink for the rest of the month just to prove what a rebel I can be. 😉

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an electronic gadget or parts there of.

Today’s Declutter Item

Yes, another storage unit empty and gone.

Another Storage Unit

Eco Tip for the Day

 Buy local when possible or affordable. It is a good habit to break into even if only a little at a time. Because as I always say here at 365 Less Things “Every little bit counts.”

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

Cindy’s simple solution to cords and chargers out of control and either tangled on the desk top or snarled in the drawer. A great use for the over-abundance of plastic containers wasting space in your kitchen.

Cindy's Cord Control

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

As I mentioned back in January, I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It’s full of rules, suggestions, tips, and research on making yourself, and by extension everyone around you, happier. In the very first month of her year-long undertaking, Ms. Rubin cleans and declutters, and she keeps it up throughout the year – helping out friends when she gets desperate for a tidying fix.

One tip I got from her was the One Minute Rule. I doubt this is something she made up; it sounds like something nearly everyone’s parent said to them as they were growing up in some way or another. Basically: if it only takes a minute to do it, then do it. (A couple variations I can think of are “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today” and “A stitch in time saves nine.”)

Here at 365lessthings, when we talk about clutter, we usually are referring to items in excess of your needs and desires. But clutter also can be the stuff that you use frequently but fail to put away. It’s always out, it’s where it doesn’t belong, and it creates visual clutter. Plus, anything left out draws other things to it. That’s how black holes develop.

Recently I walked into my bedroom and threw my sweater on the bed. As I turned to leave, the rule popped into my head. I walked back into the bedroom, picked up my sweater, and in far less than a minute, I had hung it where it belonged.  I prevented clutter.  One of them sitting on the bed will surely attract another one, likely my husband’s jacket perhaps or maybe his bags from work.

Here are some common clutter pitfalls that can be avoided with the use of the one-minute rule:

• Lost keys: They belong on your dresser, desk, in your purse, or hanging from a hook. Same place every time.
• Sweaters, jackets, and coats thrown on a chair or the floor: Hang up your items in the closet or buy a set of hook for near the door.
• Needed receipts lost, useless receipts found: If you’re going to keep them, find a home for them and put them there every time, as soon as you get home. (Right after you put your keys away, of course.)
• A messy bedroom: Make the bed in the morning as soon as you get out of bed. This might take 2 minutes, but it sure makes your bedroom look nicer.
• A visual mess and possibly smacked heads or knees: Close the cabinet doors behind you. It amazes me that there are people who leave the cabinets open and walk away, but I’ve heard it enough times to know it’s true.
• Mental clutter: Have a place for your notes and reminders, either on paper or electronically. Remembering that there’s something you have to do and what it is takes as much time and mental energy as doing the thing itself. Write it down and free your mind.

Decluttering and organization expert Peter Walsh gave this wise advice that dovetails nicely: Complete the cycle. “If you use it, put it away. If you dirty it, wash it, etc. When a family thinks this way, there no longer is a trail of clutter left throughout the house.”

If it only takes a minute, do it now, do it right.

Today’s Declutter Item

I am not really a flipflop kinda gal but I continued to wear these because it would have been wasteful not to. Now they are beyond repair and I feel quite justified in throwing them away.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ There is an advertisement on television here for a clothing store called Rivers. The lastest promotion is for women’s shoes and I swear the legs in the ad are hairy and I am not even sure they are a woman’s legs. I find this oddly amusing even though I wouldn’t want anyone to see my legs right now either. 😆
• Something Awesome ~ Homemade chocolate chip muffins warmed up and served with cream. Yumm!
• Something to be grateful for ~ The Liam’s motorbike only had an air bubble in the fuel line and decided to start after all. He was not a happy boy when it wouldn’t start.
• Something that made me happy ~ Even though it would be great to wave a magic wand and have the house clean itself I always feel satisfied with a job well done when I am finished the task. I love a clean house.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Chemistry, alchemy and the elements and the discovery there of.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I was in church one Sunday, sitting behind K. When I stood and bowed my head to pray, I could see right into K’s large, open purse, and what I saw in there shocked me. K had six items in her purse. It was as clean as a whistle besides those six items. Her bag contained a pen, wallet, glasses case, full size tape measure, box of mints, and a folded piece of paper. There was one pocket on the side of the bag with looked like it had her keys zipped into it. That’s it. K has three children in elementary and middle school and a husband. How does she do it?

I think that I have a tidy and organized purse, but here’s what I have in it: cell phone, iPod touch, 2 pens, a nail file, keys, reading glasses, sun glasses, a package of baby wipes, my file of coupons (you can read about my system here), wallet, package of gum, glucogan (for diabetic emergencies), glucose tabs (same), and a reusable bag for trips to the store. In addition, I have a zippered pocket in the middle of my purse that contains lip gloss, lip balm, a pocket knife, a miniature tape measure and a small bag with medicines and personal items.

You purse goes with you everywhere, every day.  It’s your portable life! Take a look at it. Does it look nice? Is it clean on the outside? What about the inside? Is your wallet clear of receipts, unnecessary credit cards, and frequent shopper cards to stores you do not frequent? Do you have duplicates of useful items? Two lip balms is one too many; four pens is surely an excess. Are there things in your bag that aren’t even yours? Legos and your husband’s sunglasses need to be stored elsewhere. And what about trash? Are there candy or gun wrappers, phone number to who knows what, and long-lost dry cleaner receipts? Get rid of them too.  If you load it up for an extended day out with the kids, unload it when you come home. Clean out the receipts when you get home, just like you put away your purchases.

Your purse should be an attractive and functional item.  It’s not a moving van, and it’s not a trash receptacle. It’s an extension of your fabulously decluttered life. If it’s not, I have a mini-mission for you!

Today’s Declutter Item

At one point we were running to screens from the one computer. A little excessive I know. We have gotten past that craziness so we no longer need this support arm.

I am grateful from anything that brings me joy. Below are five things that gave me joy today.

• I found out today that my mum and dad are coming to visit me next week.
• Taste.com.au – now that I have found this site I don’t need recipe books.
• Cindy’s weekly wisdom – It is nice to hand the reins to someone else for one day a week.
• Hearing the children having fun in the pool over my back fence – even though they can be loud and obnoxious at times it is good to hear their joy. Sometimes back yard pools can become useless clutter but not this one they use it from the first warm day of the year to the last.
• Being left alone to watch a nature show on TV – Like my dad I love nature shows.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

In Honor of Tuesday’s Mini Mission

Imagine your freezer, nice and tidy, not too empty and not too full. Now imagine dumping it all out on the floor, scrambling it around, and shoving the frozen food back in willy-nilly. Whew! That’s a mess. Now double the amount of food and really cram it in there. That’s what my freezer looked like last year.

I decided to do something about it. Just like with any other major decluttering and organizing project, before I began, I got boxes and my label maker. I was ready. I did this cleaning in winter in the garage, so there was no worry about defrosting. I started removing the food and sorting it by category: vegetables, chicken, ice cream, beef, and leftovers all went into separate boxes. Not surprisingly, I unearthed a Ziploc bag of soup that was 2 years old and some frozen tidbits that I couldn’t identify, but the thing that did surprise me was the broccoli. I buy broccoli in four pound bags from Costco. There were two full bags and one half bag jammed into the freezer. Nine pounds of broccoli!

While all the food was out, I wiped down the freezer and cleaned up all the sticky blobs. Then I reloaded, keeping like with like. Certain shelves were dedicated to certain things. I left the meat and bags of veggies (except my truck load of broccoli) in low-sided boxes and labelled the outside of the boxes: chicken, pork, beef, veggies, potatoes. Of course, I had to juggle things around until I could find a pattern that worked best. Once everything was back in, I labelled the shelves, as well.

Before I ran out of steam, I hit the refrigerator freezer, too. I removed everything that wasn’t used frequently and sorted it into the big freezer. (Quick to do, since I’d just finished out there.) Leaving in the house only the items that are frequently used, I organized what remained and labelled the shelves.

We ate and ate, and I did see a lowering of my grocery bill for the first two months. I had my own grocery store in my garage and hadn’t even realized it! This system has been in place for months now, and it works wonderfully for me. I buy less; I can find everything. Your freezer and its contents represent a major investment; shouldn’t it be as organized, useful and free of UFOs (Unidentified Frozen Objects) as any other space in your home?

Today’s Declutter Item

Reams of binder paper that I should have donated in America before we left. It has been lingering here for over three years and I am over it. I sent it to the thrift store in the hope that it might be immediately useful to someone else. I still have enough scratch paper to keep me going for a very long time. It is amazing how little paper one really uses in this age of computer technology.

Things I am grateful for today

• A cooler overcast day – It has been very hot here lately and I could do with the reprieve.
• Being reminded how lucky I am – Thanks Amber
• Fresh Juicy Apples – One of these at lunch after a big fat scone with jam and cream for morning-tea is a balanced diet, right?
  
• No more visits for Liam to the Maxillofacial Specialist – His jaw is in good shape all things considered and he doesn’t need any more check ups. That’s one down now just the 6 month dental, the physiotherapy, the speech therapist, the neuropsychologist and the clearance from the neurologist to go. Hopefully the last  4 will be done in the next week. Then that will just leave the dentist. Yay!
• My darling husband– Who goes to work five days a week to keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed. Lets face it he is good at it and I deserve it!
  

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

From that heading you are probably wondering what is Colleen going to be on about today. Well, exactly as the title says movement is exercise – every movement you make is exercise it doesn’t matter if it is a morning jog, an hour at the gym, walking around the grocery store or picking up around the house – movement is exercise.

So why waste all your exercise time in the gym while at the same time feel deflated because your house is always a mess or at least not in the shape you would like it to be in. The good news is that you and your house can get in shape together with the movement is exercise approach to housecleaning. And maybe you could save money on expensive gym fees at the same time.

Consider the amount of exercise you will receive doing any of the following

• Bending up and down picking things up around your home. (Squatting and lifting)
• Vacuum the floors (cardio workout)
• Sweeping (cardio workout)
• Dusting furniture (great arm exercise)
• Dusting baseboards  (great for lunges & squats)
• Climbing a ladder to clean fans or cobwebs. (great for legs and reach)
• Cleaning mirrors and windows (great for arms)
• Polishing the furniture (arms & cardio)
• Emptying out and cleaning a cupboard and decluttering its contents. (an all over workout)
• Mowing the lawn (definitely cardio and leg workout)
• Gardening (another all round workout)
• Cleaning and treating the leather furniture ( arms and legs get a good workout)
• A thorough floor clean moving the furniture out of the way. (Got to be good weight baring and cardio exercise)
• Cleaning and re-organising a bookcase (once again squats, arms and weight baring)
• Washing the car (arms, legs and stretch)
• Cleaning and rearranging the pantry (once again squats, arms and weight baring)
• Raking leaves (cardio workout)
• Cleaning the bath, shower and basins (if you are like me there will be cardio, arm and leg excise involved)
• Beating out the door mats (cardio and arm exercise)
• Tidying and sweeping the garage (cardio and arms again)
• Cleaning out the pots and pan cupboard (definitely lifting and squatting involved here)
• Changing the sheets and turning the mattresses (cardio and weight lifting)

I could go on and on as I am sure there are many more areas that I haven’t even mentioned here. Every one of these chores involves movement and like I said movement is exercise. Depending on how vigorously you approach these tasks will determine how much of a cardio workout you will get and how much you will achieve in the allotted time. Add in a game of wiffle ball with the kids and a walk to the store rather than taking the car, and you will be well on the way to a higher level of fitness and maybe even loose a little weight if that is your goal and most definitely a clean and tidy house.

Item 324 of 365 less things

We gave this towel to my father-in-law to use on his golf cart.

5 things I am grateful for today

1. Liam survived the night in our care so we are allowed to keep him – Well it was something like that.
2. Hair Salons – I had my hair cut, dried and straightened and my eyebrows waxed and tinted today and I feel human again. I haven’t been near my salon since August which isn’t that unusual for me as I am more miserly than vain.
3. Google Calendar – Between trip planning, keeping track of all my 365 things and now Liam’s appointments we have given our google calendar a good workout this year.
4. My Bamix stab blender – It is coming in mighty handy for pureeing Liam’s meals. He is going to be very glad when his broken jaw is healed.
5. Having in internal staircase – It adds an extra bit of exercise to my house cleaning routine especially when I go up then get sidetracked then remember what I went up there for once I get downstairs again.

A Guest Post by Cindy Bogard

Recently, we were carving pumpkins on the screen porch, and during a lull in the action, I thought I would be efficient and put away the clothes on the little drying rack I keep out there. Now, if you knew what was on that rack and how long it had been there, you’d be laughing like a crazy person at my use of the word “efficient.” That’s because the things on the rack, swimsuits and swim shirts for all four of us plus three towels, had been there since the last time we went swimming, at least 2 months ago. Um, yeah. I think they’re dry.

Once clutter becomes familiar to us, it’s easy to overlook. Right now, I am sitting at my kitchen island. Looking around with a slow and critical eye, but without getting up from my chair, I can see the following things that aren’t where they should be, but have been there for at least (at least) a week: a book on the kitchen bar, a standing fan that needs to be put away until next summer, several “important” and now yellowed notices on the fridge, a large box of packing materials in the living room, quite a few pieces of framed art and a bolt of fabric partially tucked behind a chair. (Same chair. I guess its role is to hide clutter, although it’s doing a poor job!)  Sure, I can rationalize why these things are out of place, but that doesn’t stop them from being clutter.

How does this happen? Why does it happen? I don’t have the answer to either of these questions, but I do have some ideas as how to overcome this phenomena.

• First, and most efficient: When you get it out, put it away. (Sometimes easier said than done, I know.)
• After shopping, put things away promptly. If you don’t know where it belongs or can’t bother to take it out of the wrapping, should you really have purchased it in the first place?
• As you’re cleaning, especially in an area that holds misplaced objects, put them all in one corner while you clean. Know that putting these items away is part of the cleaning process, but do not put them away as you go. That’s a trap that leads to meandering around and losing focus (see day 306).
• If you have trouble seeing out-of-place items, look at or even touch everything on the coffee table or counters. Say the name of the object in your head or out loud. Experiencing your clutter through one of your senses besides visual will help you to notice what does not belong.
• Take a picture of your room or just look at the room through the view finder of the camera. A new way of seeing things will help you see through to the clutter.
• Ask someone you know, preferably someone who does not live with you and can offer a fresh and honest perspective, about your clutter.

As for me, I put away the swimwear and sat down to type this blog. I managed to continue to overlook the other items, but not for much longer. What did you see in a new light today?

ITEM 322 OF 365 LESS THINGS

A couple more books that are either out of date or no longer wanted.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Sunshine after the rain – just the right ratio of both is nice.
2. Self check out at the supermarket – Always much faster than waiting at a normal register.
3. When you wake up and realise you were just dreaming – This is only in the case of bad dreams of course.
4. Summer fruit – Big fat juicy mangoes, yellow and white peaches, strawberries, watermelon and all those other yummy delights are starting to hit the shelves of the grocery stores.
5. Liam had his interview for the brain injury unit today – Hopefully he will be able to do outpatient therapy and be home from hospital very soon.