Deb J

I have never been very sentimental toward things. I have had a few collections over the years and they kept mostly because I didn’t want to hurt the feelings of those who had given them to me. I found myself attaching to people. I never wanted to let go of anyone once they had been in my life. I wrote letters for years to many of the people who had come and gone in my life. When email came along I switched to emailing them and then later to Facebook (FB) if they had an account.

In mid May someone made a comment on 365 Less Things that set me to thinking. I wish I could remember who and could quote the comment. I just know I suddenly realized that I had a clutter area that I needed to work on. It was my email list and FB list. I realized that I had a lot of people on both and that I was spending a lot of time reading status reports and sending emails. I also realized that I had a pretty long list of people I sent homemade birthday or anniversary cards to. With some of the other changes I am making in my life I had to examine these areas to see why I was so dutifully engaged in this.

One of the first things I realized was that many of the people I emailed or send cards to never responded back. Oh, they seemed to like reading my messages but I never heard anything about their lives. I had the same thing going on when it came to FB. Many of them would have all of these pictures, jokes, etc. they posted but little about themselves and their actual lives. I sat down with these lists and began to set some priorities and guidelines. I began to delete friends and addresses.

On FB I had 93 friends when I started this process. I now have about 40. I am part of a FB group for our church so anyone who is in that group is no longer a FB friend in the regular friend area. I don’t need them in two places. It’s the important stuff they put on the church group page that is what I want not the games, likes, jokes, political stuff, etc. In the regular area I have kept my few family members who have FB accounts, some close friends who I hear from all the time, and a few friends who only post on a occasional basis but who are very important to me. I read FB once a day now.

In my address book I removed everyone who I have not heard from in a long time. As I went through that book I realized I had 20+ names of people who I had been sending a Christmas card to plus quarterly emails and not once had I received more than maybe a Christmas card with nothing but their name signed. Hmmm! I don’t seem to be important to them. That’s okay. Things change in our lives and that means we even lose some friends we cared about and were close to at one time. I took those names out of my Outlook address book. I also went through and deleted a number of email addresses for this same reason.

The last thing I went through was my list of birthdays and anniversaries. I realized that only a few of them really cared about receiving a homemade card (or any card). These were mostly family. So I took all those names and listed most of them either FB or email birthday/anniversary greetings. Less postage was a bonus benefit, and better for the environment

Does this sound unfriendly to you? Do you have the same dilemma? Have you even considered this as a place to declutter? I have to tell you that it was a huge change for me. It took lots of consideration. I was so used to making the effort to keep up with people. I had all of this done near the beginning of June. It’s been quite feeling of freedom since then. I expected guilt or something to overtake me. It hasn’t. I feel like this was long overdue. I don’t think anyone will notice.

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

Deb J

First I have to tell you that I am not fond of the word sensible. It strikes me as an inhibitive word. It’s something I have to do because someone said so. Ah, my rebel heart shudders at words like this. BUT!! Sensible is a word we need to attach to our vocabulary way up there at the top of the list. Let’s see, this brings to mind words like wisdom, prudence, of benefit to. So okay! Maybe it’s not so bad of a word. I guess. Maybe?!

Wisdom in buying. Well, okay, I know better than to buy a Lamborghini when I can only afford a Focus or not to buy a Versace but a White Stag. But is that really using wisdom or is it using common sense because $20 in the old bank account means White Stag is the only thing to do.

What about when you actually HAVE the money to buy something? What about when you can have a choice that will bring you into the “this is the thing to have” state? What if you can afford to have that name brand? Oh, heah heah. Gulp. You mean THAT kind of sensible?! Yep! You got it. That’s what I want to talk about because I hope we all have already come to where we realize that we can only buy what we can afford. Haven’t we? HAVEN’T WE??!!

Sensible Buying looks like:

1. Not buying that dress just because it is on sale and I like it when I don’t need it and already have more than I wear.

2. Not buying that name brand outfit when there is one almost identical that I actually like better but doesn’t have “A NAME.”

3. Not buying that item for the kitchen because I saw it in a magazine or on a TV show and it looks like fun—even though I KNOW I will never make _______ more than once or twice if that.

4. Not buying that vacation package just because the neighbor is always talking about her vacations.

5. Not getting my 7 year old child (or myself) an iPhone just because all of the people in my clique have given their child one.

6. Not going to that expensive restaurant just because my business peers say it’s the place to be seen.

I see you are getting my drift. You know, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these scenarios. It’s why you do it and whether it’s really a priority for you and your family. It’s the attitude and mind set behind the buying. It’s the buying for buying’s sake or for the sake of your reputation or some such thing.

I’m not saying we are all like this. I know it is easy to be swayed by many things that bombard us on a daily basis. That’s why Sensible is a good word. It keeps us out of trouble (like debt). It keeps us aware of what we are doing. It keeps us from having clutter we don’t need, like or want. It keeps us accountable. Oh dear! There’s another one of those words we don’t like. Sigh.

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

Deb J

I know we have talked about the subject of books many times. I told you before how one time I sold enough books to pay for a year’s tuition at college. I have told you about how we have given away book after book until I am down to only books by my three favorite authors. So why am I bringing this subject up again?

How many of you have some type of eReader? I have a Kindle. Did you know that there are many places where you can obtain free books for eReaders? Did you know there are three email lists you can receive each day listing free and low cost books for these devices? Well I found that out quickly and began to use these emails to the hilt.  I love to read and I read very fast. I read one or two books an evening. Does that give you an idea of the amount of books I go through? Guess what? I looked at my Amazon account one day and saw that I had over 1000 books in my “cloud.” WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!

Here we go again. Yes, it’s me having to declutter books again. Let me tell you it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Amazon has not made it easy to remove books from my list. First I have to find the book I want to remove. Then I remove it. I had 40+ pages of books and had to start over with page one after deleting each book or know the name of it and type it in. I have made it about half way through the books I HAVE READ which means I have about ¾ of the full list to go. Argh!!

The moral of the story? Don’t think you can’t get back into a clutter rut if you aren’t careful. After all, these are FREE books!! I have to remind myself that I didn’t like them all, that they in fact are not all even ones I would recommend, and that the library has them all on their ebook checkout list. Sheesh! I need to spank myself.

Be careful to not do the same thing I did. Keep that declutter bug close at hand.

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

Deb J

In the year 2000 I created my first scrapbook project ever. I had no supplies so I went to the store and bought a few sheets of paper and some embellishments in order to create a small, soft bound encouragement album for my boss who was going through chemo. I made the pages, decorated two as the intro and my page and then passed it among our co-workers so they could decorate a page according to their tastes. When it was done I had nothing left of the supplies. That was good.

Not long after that I was invited to a scrapbook supply selling party. It was fun. I enjoyed what we made. My boss showed me some of her scrapbook pages she had made and I was given the gift of a scrapbook magazine. Suddenly this became a new hobby. Looking back I realize that the shopping for and buying of supplies was more the hobby than making the pages. I was hooked. I took lots of classes online, subscribed to four magazines, and bought hundreds of dollars worth of supplies. They piled up and piled up. I bought things to organize them in and furniture to put the organizing containers in. Even when money was tight I was easily swayed by the sight of new products. It had become an obsession.

I did make a number of albums and many, many cards. I gave away scrapbooked style items to friends and enjoyed it all. Yet I still had this plethora of supplies. Stickers for every occasion. Brads, eyelets, buttons, punches, embossing plates, stamps and ink pads, special scissors, and on and on. Some things I never used. Some things that came in packages saw a few things used and then the rest stored for the duration. I didn’t want the things I did to become too much the same. I liked variety. But I didn’t have that much variety in my life, was single with no children, and came from a small family.

One day, thanks to 365 Less Things, I realized that I had way more than I needed. In fact, I realized that I was actually OVER scrapbooking. So began the decluttering of hundreds of scrapbooking supplies. I sold some but soon came to realize that I just wanted rid of them. I gave them away—to a new mother who didn’t have the money to buy a lot but wanted to scrapbook her baby son’s life. To a friend who scrapbooks what has happened in the life of her huge extended family. To the friend who makes greeting cards and sells them for spending money. Now the supplies are gone and so is much of the furniture needed to store them. Do you have a hobby/craft that is out of control and you need to re-examine?

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

Deb J

All of us have varying comfort zones. There are just some items, people, ideas, and/or places that mean home to us. That doesn’t mean that home can’t be moved but when that happens there are certain accoutrements to making up “home.” This is our comfort zone. The things we fight to not change. If this is going to happen then this has to happen too. We tend to set those Comfort Zone (CZ) items in concrete. Unfortunately, many times this hinders us rather than helping us. In fact, it tends to keep us rooted in the past.

Along comes change. Someone/something wants to take us out of our CZ. We fight it. We drag our feet, wail, throw a fit, or just plant ourselves in one spot. Our CZ is just that. The things/people that bring us comfort. They give us a feeling of safety. But what if that safety is all a hoax? What if you were to find that the best time of your life was on the other side of the change you are fighting? What if you were to find that your present CZ was actually stunting your growth as a person, couple or family, was weighing you down so you couldn’t soar in your job, hobby or life, was preventing you from having the money for those bucket list items, or was just keeping you from something you never dreamed of?

I learned a lesson about this several times. Once big time was when my father died and I suddenly had a mother and her bills to take care of. It meant moving, keeping jobs I was not fond of at the beginning because I had to have a job and having less money than I would have liked. But it also led to living in places we loved, making friends we still have, and having 3 jobs that used my talents to the fullest and made me very happy.

The second time was when I went from having an upper middle class income, a challenging and interesting job, and fairly good health to a poverty level income, no job and diseases that make every day a challenge. I quickly lost many things that had been part of my life for a long time—season tickets at the symphony, enjoying a night out with friends, having a new car every two-three years, having whatever furniture or clothes I wanted. Not that I was into things that much but your lifestyle tends to follow along with the income you make.

Suddenly I no longer had any of those. In fact, I had way too much that no longer fit my life. So I started to declutter it all. Some of it was easy. Why have fancy work clothes when I didn’t need them? Some of it I fought. Why do I have to give up the symphony? Why do we have to move? Why can’t I have the doctors I want instead of having a small list to choose from? On and on it went. It has been 8 years since I was blasted out of my last CZ. It has not been easy and some of the changes have been very hard. Yet, here I am living in a new CZ. Things in my life are much different. Yes I am content. I have found I don’t need all those things I no longer have. I have found that little is much and enough. My CZ is different. It is no longer based on the things I have or how much of them, where I live, who is there. It is based on knowing I have enough to live. Oh, sure, there are some things I miss and would do again if I could but they are not so important that I get upset without them. I have a happy life because I have chosen it. All of those things I had were a way of keeping me from a path that is much more satisfying. I know that sounds odd but it is true. With fewer things to drag me down I am able to fly. It’s wonderful.

Perhaps your stuff has clipping your wings, think about it. Is your comfort zone smaller than you realise?

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

Deb J

We moved here to Arizona 5 years ago. We had very benevolent former owners. They just knew we could use a number of things so left them here for us. Along with a yard containing 6 fruit trees, two rosemary bushes, two grapevines, a jasmine, a honey suckle, 5 Texas Sage bushes, 3 western petunias, 8 rose bushes and a bougainvillea. They also left a couch, two garden chairs, a metal patio sink, and bunches of “construction/building” materials. Now, mind you, they had done a wonderful job of updating the house. The kitchen was “to die for” and the pantry and laundry area were very handy. They had screened the porch and then put lattice work around the patio so it was private with an arbor holding up the grapevines as the entrance to the patio from the yard. They had put in an irrigation system for all of the trees, bushes and flowers. It is a beautiful place that we bought for a song. BUT!!!! Why did they think we wanted their cast offs? Have you ever had this happen to you? You start moving into a house you think has been vacated only to find all sorts of detritus laying around. You aren’t sure what you might need and what is just junk. You don’t know the house that well yet. So what do you do?

I suggest you do what we did. We asked a couple of male friends to come over and gather all of the stuff from wherever it had been dropped. It was in the house, in the back yard, in the two sheds, and under the house in the crawl space. What was all of this stuff? Why did they leave it? Did we need it? The smart thing was to ask people to help us who knew construction and repair. They were able to decide what was important to keep and what was just junk lying around that the former owners didn’t want to take the time to dump. After a few hours the guys were able to haul off a pickup truck load of junk. One of them kept a good bit of supplies that weren’t even for our house but things that were used by the former owner who played neighborhood handyman. We still had a few things left that we didn’t need but we hung onto them for the next neighborhood rummage sale. These were things like lamps, a rug shampooer, two chairs, a side table, some indoor carpeting, some outdoor carpeting and some paint. When we were finished, the back shed was empty except for one piece of carpeting, some fencing and some replacement lattice pieces. The front shed was also empty of everything but some nails, screws, and special light bulbs. Under the house only held some extra piping for the irrigation system. The house, porch and patio were free of anything they had left behind. We found the couch to be so nicely made and comfortable that we gave our couch away and brought it in to use in our living room. It took awhile but it was soon all the detritus was cleared away and we had a nice decluttered house to move into. The next time I move I will make sure to tell the owners to take all their junk with them unless they explain why I might need something they want to leave.

Have you ever found yourself in this situation and what did you do to sort the wheat from the chaff.

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

Deb J

So you are ready to declutter but you have some issues. There are problems with decluttering some things in your home. What would you do in the following cases?

You have over one hundred rolls or pieces of ribbon. They are black, white, reds, yellow, greens, blues, pinks, purples, gold and silver. They are of various types but all are for sewing or crafts. They hang on the wall in a well made, wood cassette tape holder with room for 100 tapes. You haven’t used any of this ribbon in almost a year. Much of it has never been opened. You want to get rid of it. Someone in the family doesn’t want you to.

Someone in your family at one time collected stamps from all over the world. Now you have a package of about 1000 and no one has done anything with them but collect them. They aren’t in an album. They aren’t properly mounted. You don’t know if they are worth anything. The collector no longer wants them.

Your father collected coins. Not the kind that came all nicely packaged but just circulated coins received in change at the store. Do you spend them, try to sell them or pass them to someone in the family?

Your grandparent died 20 years ago and left you a beautiful antique dresser with a marble inset. You have kept this dresser and carried it with you through several moves. It doesn’t go with your “style” so it is always kept back in a room where it seldom is seen. What do you do with it?

All of these scenarios are real. All of them have potential problems attached to them. Give us some input on how you would handle one to all of them.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter a clothing or footwear item.

Eco Tip for the Day

As adults it is our job to teach our children to conserve power and water. If you raise your children with good habits now conservation will come naturally to them when they become the adults themselves.

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

Deb J

It has been almost 5 years since we moved to Arizona. I have been putting off the hassle of updating all the legal paperwork like the wills, etc. I know I should have done it sooner but can admit that what we have would work in a pinch. I also have to admit that it would be more of a hassle for those left to deal with it if I had left things as they were.

I have been updating everything and creating a set of instructions for those who will be our executors if both of us go together or at such time as the other is gone when one dies. It’s much more of a hassle than any of us want to deal with but deal with it we must.

What does this have to do with decluttering? Believe it or not decluttering really makes a difference. Here are some of those differences:

1. The less you have left the less the survivor(s) has to deal with.
2. If more than one person inherits you have to indicate what each is to receive.
3. The majority of your estate may go to one survivor but there may be individual items or small groups of things you want to go to a special friend or group.
4. If there are no survivors, your executor will have to know how to distribute your estate.

As you all know, Mom and I have been slowly decluttering. Something that really opened Mom’s eyes to a good reason for decluttering was my delving into updating all of the legal paperwork. She suddenly began to look at all of those things we had stashed away in the cupboards and closets and sheds with a new outlook. If we were gone, did this item mean enough to pass along? If so, who should get it? What did my only sibling really want and what would just be a burden to him? Did any of the items have real worth as far as selling them? If so, did we want the money to use now or should we let the item sit so the survivor would have it? Did we have anything that other relatives would want if my brother didn’t? There were many questions we asked.

We went through my late father’s items that had been in a box for these 20 years since he passed on and just mailed my brother two small boxes of items. Now we are waiting to hear if there is anything he wants of my mother’s when she is gone.

Maybe you are young and you think you don’t need to really consider these questions. Yesterday a 26 year old man we know had a massive heart attack and is in a coma. Two weeks ago a 32 year old man we know was killed in a car accident. We never know when we will be gone. Everyone not only needs a will but we need to have only those things that are important and needful in our home because we never know when someone else will have to clean up after us.

When I talked to two people about being Executors for our wills I showed them what I have as instructions for them. They were shocked I had covered everything so well. They were also excited that there was not much for them to do because we had it all done for them, especially after I explained all the decluttering we had done.

Today’s Mini Mission

Like kitchen utensils I found that baking pans and trays were another thing that accumulated over the years. Cookie trays, loaf pans, muffin pans, cupcake pans, square tins, round tins, spring form pans… you name it I had usually more than one of them. These things came in much more handy when the kids were still at home but even then a cake tastes much the same whether it was round, square or made in a spring form pan. Yes, if you bake a lot or are particular about these things the thought of living with less of them would be unthinkable. However I am not Martha Stewart and at my age the less cake, cookies and tarts that are around my house the better. We tend to only indulge when we go out for a coffee. That is not to say I have gotten rid of them all but there are certainly fewer now than there once was. Do you have a greater quantity or more variety in the way of baking pans than you truly have aspirations to use? Then perhaps it is time to let go of a few.

Eco Tip for the Day

Use the stairs rather than the elevator. This of course has the added bonus of a little impromptu exercise.

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

Deb J

You have decided to declutter and then get organized so living life is easier. You then ask, “Help, how am I supposed to go about this? “

Sorting is the answer. Sorting by how you use something, how often you use it, and whether you use it at all. So many times we start with a jumble of items in a drawer or on a shelf. How often does this jumble have no rhyme nor reason? It’s just stuff that has been thrown there as we are hurrying through life. How can we know if we have enough or too much if we have no organization of what we have?

The mother of a friend of mine was not very organized so tended to buy things when she needed them because she couldn’t find something she thought she had. This went on for years. The house became filled with clutter of all kinds. You would find things in the oddest places and living there was very trying for the family. One day my friend decided to tackle the issue. She asked me how to go about it because she had a limited time frame. She couldn’t even stand to visit her parents any more. While her parents were gone on a 2 week vacation with their two teenagers who still lived at home, my friend got permission to go in and clean things up. She promised to not get rid of anything. She would pack it all up and leave it for her Mom to go through on her return.

What did she do?

1. She went through each room and removed everything that was on a surface. It was all placed in boxes marked for various rooms. Many things didn’t belong in the room she found them in. This included clothes.
2. She went back through each room and looked in the drawers and closets she had permission to investigate. She removed everything from the drawers and closets that didn’t belong and put in the boxes. She then put the rest of the contents on the bed.
3. She went through the contents on each bed looking for & boxing up soiled, worn or torn/broken items. These were set aside. She also looked for duplicates of those things you only need one of or those things that were the wrong size and set them aside. She made sure that each room only contained those items that belonged in that room based on the function of the room and the how the item was used.
4. With the rooms now in fairly good order as far as appropriateness of contents she began to go through all of the boxes of items that had been set aside. If something was broken it was moved to a discard box. If the item was usable but there was a duplicate the most used item was put in a thrift/sell box. If there was no duplicate and the item was usable it was placed in a Decision box. The soiled clothes were washed and the torn but mendable ones set aside to be mended.

When the family returned from their trip every room was cleaned, organized and free of clutter. Each family member was to check their room for anything they considered no longer needed and this was also boxed according to probable distribution. The mother was then to spend time going through the boxes to decide what she thought needed to be done with the contents. Being a busy woman, the Mom found herself with little time to look at the boxes and make decisions. After several months, she decided that they must not need anything in those boxes because they were still unopened. She decided to give it all to the local thrift store. The mother is so happy that she can find everything and is still keeping things clutter free. She has also stopped buying duplicates. The entire family is happier in their home and has begun to entertain and enjoy it.

This is the story of how one woman helped her family make order out of chaos and get rid of the many things that had accumulated over the years. While she had a hard deadline that cause her work to go fast, this same set of steps can be done in a slower, more deliberate manner. Every day you can look for one clutter item and make a decision about it. Once you have made a decision about the surface clutter you can start on those things hidden in drawers and closets. Sorting through your possessions causes you to make decisions and helps you become more organized with what you have because you have put like items together in the area where they are used the most.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an Obligation item ~ Something you only keep because you feel you should. Often something someone else gave you.

Eco Tip for the Day

Put a container outside on a rainy day to collect water for your indoor plants.

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

Deb J

How do you live your life? Are you a person like me who used to have an active, busy life with work and other outside interests but now you spend the majority of your time at home? Do you have children at home or did you recently become an “empty nester”? What is your life like today?

It took my mother and me awhile to realize that our home no longer matched our lifestyle. I think it took longer for Mom than it did me but it was true. We had changed. Our lives had changed. Mom was always a very active person who entertained people in her home, was very involved in activities at our church, had numerous social activities and loved to cook and bake to give away. I was also involved in my church, had a very stressful job, and was also socially active. The first major change was when I was diagnosed with three incurable but not life threatening diseases, chronic illnesses. My active lifestyle and stressful job had exacerbated my conditions and I eventually had to go on disability. It took a couple of years for me to realize that not only had my health changed but so had my lifestyle and my finances. Then Mom started to have some new health issues and started to slow down. When you are very active people and you have always been socially inclined toward entertaining and doing, the need to change to a more at home lifestyle not only means having to accept this emotionally and mentally but learning to let go of things related to that old life.

To put this in perspective means taking a new and unbiased look at your life and how you live it. I found that everything from what we had in our kitchen to the furniture we had to the crafts we did were affected. I have always been one who was very organized and kept little above what I needed so for me this change only meant taking the time to declutter what I no longer needed. For my mother this was a major issue. Not only has she struggled with the changes in her energy and abilities but she has struggled with the decluttering of no longer needed items. Coming from a generation that learned to store things “they might need” and have more than one of an item, Mom really did struggle and is still struggling.

Here are some things that I have come to realize during this time.

1. If your lifestyle changes your need for “stuff” changes. My mother no longer does any craft making. She had drawers and boxes of craft supplies to declutter. She also has been decluttering many kitchen items as we no longer entertain much and when we do it is very casual.
2. Your lifestyle changes affect more than stuff they also affect how you use rooms and even how big a home you may need. As Mom has gotten older we have moved more things up to counter level or above so she doesn’t have to bend over as much.
3. Each person will struggle with these changes and for different lengths of time. Like my mother is doing.
4. If more than one person is affected by the changes then the person who first instigates any decluttering needs to express why and how they have come to their decisions with any others affected. Mom was very agitated by my decluttering until I realized that talking about why I was doing something took that problem away. It also helped her to make similar decisions.
5. Don’t push anyone else involved but keep communicating about the changes YOU are making. This is what I did with Mom.
6. It doesn’t have to be done today or even tomorrow. One item a day or less is fine.
7. Don’t declutter something on a whim or because you haven’t done any decluttering lately. Think things through. We have an immersion blender and a regular blender. We kept both because of how we use them for different things.
8. Don’t get depressed if it takes a while to get others on board. Do what you can with what you can.
9. Remember that when organizing what is left to fit the storage placement to how it is used by the one who uses it most.
10. Remember to take a Strangers View every once in a while.

Today’s Mini Mission

In the inimitable words from Peter Walsh ~ “If you bought it over the phone after 8:00pm , chances are you don’t need it.” Declutter it.

Eco Tip For The Day

Got flies ~ Break out the old fashioned fly swatter rather than the spray. Propellent, insecticide, the can, manufacturing… ~  none good for 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