Friday again and another weeks almost gone by and also another month. It seems like just yesterday that we moved into our apartment, but in fact that was nearly nine months ago. And with every day that passes by we love living here even more.

One thing I have noticed about our new uncluttered, downsized life is that stuff tends to flow through our home now rather than come to rest, or stuff come to rest while something else flows out. I am pleased to say that much of that has been preloved, so there has been no buyers guilt attached.

I wouldn’t say that the apartment is fine tuned to the point that we can sit back and simply enjoy it. However that would probably be boring anyway. Life has a tendency to cause things to crop up that force you to make changes.

Anyway back to the point of this post, and that is the flow through. The something in something out strategy is working well for us. And I am still constantly on the lookout for items that are sitting idle that count for something out nothing in. Then there are the things that get used up and not replaced or at the very least only replaced when used up. Some items have been found not to work so well in our new space and have been changed out or eliminated. And my husband has semi retired so reduced the number of work uniforms he keeps. And although I sometimes acquire a new craft tool or materials there are more things going out in this area than coming in.

So as you see, because of this flow through of stuff,  it is unlikely that my home would become cluttered again.

Are you having the same success of stopping clutter from building up, or are you fighting a continuous battle.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you just haven’t used in a long time. Perhaps some sort of craft item that you imagined you could create something wonderful with but haven’t. Or perhaps a kitchen item that never was overly useful.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

I am sure I have talked about this topic numerous times but it is worth repeating over and over again. Two situations in recent times have brought both sides of this subject to the fore again for me.

Situation 1 ~ Many times over the last few years I have given advice to my friend, who I just helped declutter, to slowly start getting rid of her stuff. She even reads my blog sometimes. One of the pieces of advice dished out was to have a plan for where to offload her unwanted stuff. However aside from giving me craft items and her friend, who is a teacher, craft and stationery items and she gave paper shredding to the vet., she still had no real plan in place until the crunch came and she had to move.

At this point she discovered a thrift store mere blocks away where she could drop off stuff. This made the bulk of her decluttering easy. Then we began decluttering toiletry items such as hand creams etc. I suggested investigating local women’s shelters, at which point she told me that a friend who lived in a flat upstairs works at such a shelter. My first thought was ~ “So, why oh why, had you not thought to utilise such a convenient way to shift this stuff.” But it occurred to me that many people just don’t think the same way I do.

I then also set an example of how you can give other stuff away right on your own doorstep, by hanging a bag of partly used notebooks on the apartment fence in clear view of passersby. They were gone within the hour. I put a free sign on them of course so people new they were meant to be taken.

Situation 2 ~ I was reading a comment from Wendy B. on Monday where she tells how she is giving away stuff. Here is what she wrote…

“I guess our reason is We Don’t Want To Move It. Ian is a man on a mission. The other day he called up the Boy Scouts and left a message — do they want camping gear? The reply was “Yes, we’ll even come and get it”. He is currently rounding up tents and backpacks and sleeping bags (definitely Thursday mission) Earlier this morning he pillaged the plumbing and electrical boxes and drawers and we have 2 boxes of stuff to offer to the Habitat ReStore. For my part, I’ve gone through the seed boxes and given away or thrown out all the flower and veggie seeds we will never plant. We are on a roll…”

As you can see, Ian and Wendy are both thinking ahead. And some pretty logical and clever thinking indeed. They are looking at their stuff, deciding what needs to go and then thinking who might best benefit from their donations. As you can see from her comment they found very good homes, very quickly for their stuff. And this is a very good example of using your imagination or, in my opinion, logic to work out places to offload your stuff.

Let me give you a few more examples.

• There are plenty of people less privileged than yourself. Whether in you own neighbourhood or in other countries. So naturally they would benefit greatly from your donation of all sorts of things. Things such as old eyeglasses which most optometrist will collect and send to charities who deal with this sort of donation. Thrift shops will send clothes that they can’t sell on the local market to companies that send overseas. Mobility aids such as crutches, wheel chairs and the like are also called for. And there are many more examples.
• There are charity craft groups who make clothing for premature babies and clothes, blankets and toys for underprivileged children.
• There are also sporting groups who will take equipment.
• Magazines can go to doctor and dentist surgeries or any waiting place where a little light reading would be enjoyed. Also mens and women’s shelters and schools would also benefit from these.
• Schools can save a lot of much needed funds through receiving donations of all sorts of stationary and equipment.
• Sheets, blankets, towels and pillows to animal shelters, vets and pet and wildlife rescue charities.
• Even stained clothing can be donated and accepted by charities to be sold as rag.

The list goes on and on but as you can see the options are logical and generally easily accessible.  Once you have an idea all you need then is your computer search engine or the phone book to find a perspective beneficiary in your area. You can see some more suggestions here.

All you need to do is identify an item you intend to declutter and consider who might best benefit from it and go from there. 80% if stuff will usually be accepted by a thrift shop but as you can see there are plenty of other options for that 80% as well as the other 20.

Today’s Mini Mission

  Return something that belongs to someone else.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Be very selective about what you buy so that you are so satisfied with the product that you will use it until it wears out and not trade it in for something else soon after.

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

I’ll be the first to admit that I am no fashion expert. So I am not going to give you any advice on what clothes to shop for. However, what I am going to share with you today are tips that I think will help you to avoid a wardrobe cluttered with clothes that you don’t wear. So without further adieu I will give you my opinions on ways to avoid adding clothing clutter.

1. Don’t insist on keeping up with the trends. Trends are all about changing whats “in fashion” in a  ploy to keep you buying whether you need new clothes or not. So don’t be a sucker to consumerism and only buy clothes when you need them. Sure indulge in a few in trend items when needed but keep with the classics for 80% of your wardrobe because they never go out of fashion.
2. Don’t buy clothes just because you like the look of them on the rack, in advertising or on famous people. Do buy clothes that suit your body type and complexion.
3. Keeping with the suggestions in 1. and 2. also try on the clothes prior to purchase and only buy the ones that you look and feel great in.
4. Buy clothing items that or well designed, cut and constructed. That doesn’t necessarily mean the high price equals high quality because it often doesn’t.
5. Don’t overstock on wardrobe staples. A good laundering routine should make certain that you have clean items when needed. I have witnesses more than one in recent times how laziness and poor routine contribute to the necessity of an overstocked wardrobe.
6. When you do buy an item, to replace one that has gotten shabby, make sure you declutter the old one as soon as the new one enters the home. My experience is that if you don’t you will end up with the one new model that you now wear and several just-in-case versions of the same item. Then even if the new one isn’t available you will avoid the others because, lets face it, they haven’t gotten any less shabby over time.
7. Don’t window shop or browse. Temptation is easier to resist when it isn’t with in reach. Don’t be looking on-line either because an e-shop is only a click away. And to make that worse you could buy without trying only to find the items isn’t right for you in more ways than one. And we all know how slack we can be at returning items and before you know it the return period has lapsed and you are stuck with the item with no hope of a refund or exchange.

I am sure this post will generate some interesting comments where we will learn even more tips and suggestions. So please don’t hold back your input can be very helpful.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you keep as a backup for something else but isn’t expensive to replace.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Keeping up with trends generally leads to waste. Waste environmentally, waste of our hard earned money and often leads to waste of space in our homes.

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

Well folks I have spent the last two days hectically decluttering and organising for my friend and I have to say it was hard yakka (Australian for hard work). Call me strange but I really enjoyed it and was a little sorry to have to drag myself away so soon when there were still things to be done. I am very happy to be home with my husband though. And extremely grateful for my wonderful apartment that, considering I haven’t done my weekly clean for the last two Mondays’, was there to welcome me home looking tidy and cleaner than I expected. It will be Monday before I bother to do much in the way of housework because it still looks so good.

But I digress.

I really enjoy decluttering because of the space it opens up and the reduction in general cleaning it results in. However I also love to organise. I love the flow of it and the results and spending two days doing that has revitalised me as much as exhausted me. The only thing I regret is not taking before and after picks as I felt that was too much of an invasion of privacy. It is enough that I am writing about it without naming names. But I can assure you the transformation was nothing short of amazing.

My friend has been so open to the process and cooperated wholeheartedly. Although I have to remember that the pace I do things at is not the pace that most normal human beings operate under. I can be a dynamo in the relentless pursuit of a finish line. Which is ironic considering my own slow approach to decluttering. However my home, when I started my declutter journey, mostly consisted of hidden clutter where as my friend’s, although not a hoarder case, was in an obvious state of too much in and not enough going out, to the point of dysfunctional.

I am please to say that my friend can now begin to take a slower approach. Although I think she is keen to tackle a few more obvious jobs before truly slowing down to the fine tuning. And there is plenty of fine tuning to do. As I am now intimate with contents of her home, I will be sending her weekly missions to achieve.

Now let me tell you about some of the tasks I have tackled over the last two and a bit days.

I arrived in Sydney at about 3:10pm on sunday and my friend picked me up from the train station to go to IKEA. Her closet had fallen apart in the move and she needed another to begin the reshuffle. Once that was achieved, not so simple because the boxes of parts weighed a ton and we had to not only get them into the SUV but out again and into the apartment. I am glad she lives on the ground floor.

Before unloading a space had to be cleared in the bedroom which required the take down a reassembly of her bed which had structural integrity issues after her attempt to assemble it earlier. I also changed her mind about where the best spot was to place it in the room. Once this task was complete it was off to dinner. Once home again we decided to tackle the new wardrobe because there would be no time in the morning as she had to go to work. Job complete we had a nice hot cup of tea before turning in for the night at around 10:30pm.

Then, for me, it was up at 6:30am on Monday to welcome the new day as my friend left for work. Alone to face the monumental task my first full day was spent doing some serious fitting in of stuff still packed in boxes and plastic crates. Every room was cluttered with hastily placed loads of stuff and too much furniture to comfortably fit the space. As a result my first day was spent following a cascade effect style of organising. This had to go there before this went there, so I was going from one room to another putting things away and shuffling things about. It was a whirlwind of continual improvement and I was in my element.

Tasks ranged from unpacking boxes to deconstructing furniture that we had, the previous night, decided weren’t going to fit. There was also the washing machine to set up before doing a few, much needed, loads of laundry. There were items that needed cleaning before putting into place and some serious dusting to continually do in order to begin the new uncluttering life in cleanliness. I was given carte blanche to make any decisions on placement, although I did run ideas by my friend via text messaging. By the time my friend returned home there was already much more visible floor space in every room than when she had left in the morning. We then went out to dinner, but on our return there was a shelf full of items that decluttering decisions were now to be made on. She performed admirably with that task and yet another crate full of stuff was ready to go out the door. By which time I was about ready to drop. Fortunately navigating my way to the bed was much easier now.

Day two dawned and I was itching to get started on the craft room, it was still piled high with stuff however there was plenty of furniture into which to organise it. That isn’t to say that I ignored the rest of the house. Oh no, as the floor cleared in there, other possibilities opened up elsewhere and although I focused most of my attention in the craft room I deviated off on other projects here and there.

I arranged, rearranged, labeled, repurposed furniture and piled up a massive quantity of stuff for my friend to adjudicate on once she returned home for the evening. Fortunately, as I have mentioned before, my friend and I do very similar crafts, so deciding what was useful and what wasn’t was a fairly simple task, so no time was wasted procrastinating over what I should fit in and what I thought she would be willing to part with. The only interruption to my hectic pace was the cat who had decided that she would like extra attention and kept climbing into my lap whenever I sat to work. And sitting there wasn’t enough, if I didn’t pet her she would nip at me and gently stick her claws into  me. In the end she found herself at the receiving end of a gentle tap on her nose with a sheet of Halloween stickers, when her attention seeking actions got somewhat out of hand. Needless to say, when she fell asleep in the chair I wanted to work in I let her have it and fetched a dining chair instead as I was just grateful for the chance to work in peace.

The changes were obvious to my friend the minute she walked in the door. However there was that massive pile of potential clutter, I had amassed during the day, to be sorted through before the day was done. A home cooked meal and a bottle of sparkling rosé later and we were ready to tackle the task. I joked that this would have to be complete even if it took till midnight. She quickly made choices while I listen to her reasoning and assisted where I could. At one point she was deciding whether to set aside some free grocery store cooking mags when I gently chimed in with all the logic of the, then upcoming, Tuesday post titled ~ Why keep cookbooks. She soon agreed to this logic and threw them onto the recycling pile without even glancing inside.

This task was finally complete as the clock ticked closely to 11:30 pm, by which time I could barely keep my eyes open and thinking was a struggle.  Two ibuprofen, some teeth brushing and goodnight wishes later I collapsed into bed, exhausted yet happy.

With much of what I needed doing done we had a more leisurely start to Wednesday morning. After much needed cups of coffee my friend cooked us a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and fried tomato. Then it was back to the task. Firstly I relocated a bookcase into the hall to be used as her transition point for future decluttering. She then packed another two boxes and two bags of clutter into the SUV to be later delivered to the thrift shop while I made a couple of trips to the recycling bin. This required climbing up onto the fence to compact the contents down with my foot in order to fit it all in. I was feeling a little guilty for taking up most of the precious little recycling space the apartment block was afforded. But it had to be done and I am sure no one else was in greater need of that space than we.

The next task was to rearrange some of the living room furniture in order to open up the space. Then while my friend unpacked yet another box into furniture in this space I helped buy wiping and dusting. And then the one box of kept items, from the previous nights sorting, had to be shuffled into the craft space before we called it quits for the morning in order for me to prepare for my journey home.

To be continued….

Today’s Mini Mission

Work on a collection of similar items so that you might be able to eliminate the excess and reduce the size container/piece of furniture they take are housed in. (I said I wouldn’t bring crafts into this weeks missions but craft is an area where I hope to achieve this this week. In fact I am hoping to eliminate one or even two small wheeled storage carts in the process.)

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

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

Find Part I here if you haven’t already read it.

I forgot to mention that at the end of Saturday’s effort we were sitting together in the craft room talking a little about the progress of the day, and my friend was lamenting that she wished things had been different and this task could have been a lot easier. I don’t recall exactly what I said but I assured her that I was proud of the progress she had made and how well she was doing with the decluttering process. It is always best to look forward and not dwell on past mistakes, just make things better in the future.

Sunday dawned and I had only half a day left to help my friend with this feverishly fast pack and declutter. So we got right to it with me finishing up in the craft room while she continued to tackle the bedroom. I soon completed my task in the craft room and began packing up the back of the SUV with the first load of the day to go to the new address. Once that was full, delivered and the vehicle empty yet again we began filling it up with a load to go to the thrift shop.

As I bundled up stuff and transferred it to the SUV my friend continued in the bedroom. By this time she was getting more and more ruthless with her stuff. At one point she brought two items out to me stating that it took a big effort for her to part with them. These items had been the last things given to her by a dear friend who had passed away recently. They were things she knew she would never use and was keeping for the sentimental value. By this time, after listening to my logical reasonings about letting go of attachment to stuff she had come to the conclusion that she didn’t need to keep these items in order for her to remember and cherish the beautiful friendship she had shared with this lost loved one and had decided to let them go. I was very proud of her and not just a little surprised that she had already risen to this level of decluttering awareness.

Soon after, she brought out yet another two items that were a token of the progress she was making. She was, at that point, boxing up a collection of unicorn figurines. These had been amassed over a long period of time but she had decided to begin a trial separation on them by leaving them boxed up at the new apartment. The two items were the first items of the collection that she had decided she could live without and had brought them to me to add to the donation pile. I enquired if she was sure she was ready to part with them and she assured me she was. Of course I conveyed a genuine “Well done!” and we continued on with the task.

With the SUV filled again with the load for the thrift shop we drove off together to deliver them and to deliver her from that big burden of ownership. Oh what a relief it was to take such a huge chunk out of the mass off belongings that was to be unpacked at the new address.

We then picked up some lunch and went home for some much needed nourishment and a short rest from our labours. At this point it was time for me to freshen up for my bus and train journey home. I almost wished I could stay and continue to help but my darling husband was eager for my return and my wonderful daughter had invited us for a delicious roast chicken dinner.

But that is not the end of the saga.

To be continued…

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter kitchen gadgets that weren’t so useful.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

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.

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

The hurricane method of decluttering, as Moni dubbed it, is when one rips through the house decluttering a vast amount of stuff all at once. A person’s hand is often forced into this action due to a sudden change in circumstances which makes a big declutter necessary.

A hurricane declutter was exactly what I was helping a friend with on the weekend. She had been thinking of moving but found a new place quicker than expected, and just when her best friend was leaving for an overseas vacation. She phoned me in a panic on Wednesday last week begging for my help. I quickly agreed and took a three and a half hour train and bus trip to her home on Friday. I ended up staying until 1:30pm on Sunday. This was enough time to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

At first we tackled the kitchen together, me pulling things out of the cupboards for her to wrap and pack into boxes. We decluttered items along the way. We kept it simple with a choice of keep or go. One word choices that saved time. We did not add any in-between choices of maybe or trial separation. We didn’t have time for that. It was only easy choices of let it go or keep (at least for now).  Secondary choices would have to wait until she has moved in.

Once we had enough for a trip to the new place we loaded it up and went on our way. She then dropped her friend at the airport and returned with a nice SUV (loaned from this same friend), for us to load and transfer with. Meanwhile I stayed at the new place and unloaded the boxes. Boxes were expensive and limited so we decided it was prudent to unpack as we went rather than waste more money.

After the kitchen was done my friend started on her bedroom while I got going in the craft room. Now, just to give you some perspective here, she owns way more craft supplies than I ever have, so you can imagine the monumental size of the task I had ahead of me. Fortunately we do the same sort of craft so it was easy for me to recognise what was worth keeping (at least for now) and what I needed to ask her to make decisions on. This went amazingly smoothly and she was very good at the decision making process. She even gave me her excuses for her choices. As before, we had no time for ifs, buts and maybes so there was a vast amount of stuff that made its way to the new house. Several SUV loads in fact. Which is why I am going back next week to help sort it out and to assist in more decluttering.

Meanwhile my friend was being ruthless in her bedroom. She donated no less than eight garbage bags of clothes to the thrift shop. Keeping in mind that she had no idea what thrift shop to use or what sorts of things they would accept. Luckily she quickly found one quite nearby that would take anything she had to offer. She was also ruthless at tossing out old make-up, expired toiletries and even some sentimental items. She packed as she went, keeping aside only the things she would need for the next few days.

After numerous trips to the new place we began to see that light at the end of the tunnel. And at nightfall on the Saturday we called it quits for the day and went out for a a easy dinner and some much earned rest.

To be continued…

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something a loved one gave you that you don’t need and is just collection dust. This doesn’t mean you don’t love the person just not the item.

Eco Tip for the Day

Take public transport where possible. It is better for the environment and actually more relaxing than tackling the commute yourself.

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

Hi there!

Friday was the last day of July and so my 20 things a day challenge ended. While the first three weeks could be labeled “random decluttering of random clutter”, after about 500 items or so, my assorted little junk items were almost all gone and it was time to change the method a bit. Inspired by a window shopping tour (of all things!) that led us to a interior store, my boyfriend let me know that he would like to get rid of a lot more of what we owned and would actually like a fresh start without the old stuff and, while buying new furniture big style is out of the question moneywise at the moment, we could well get rid of a lot more of what we owned. As I had wondered ever since our guest with “hardly any belongings” that filled 5 big moving boxes nonetheless moved in with us, how much stuff we actually own, I decided on sunday to completely empty out our worst remaining clutter hot-spot: a cabinet in the living room that holds everything from craft supplies, cables and stationery to photos and documents. I packed everything in there along with all the other items that could logically be put there as well, if there was more room in the cabinet, in moving boxes (we happened to have 5! 😉 ). The shocking news is that I needed all five boxes for that! However, the cabinet and it’s surroundings got thoroughly cleaned and we decluttered again when putting things back in there. The task that remains is for each of us to sort through their documents and other paperwork. To see however, how much volume of stuff was there in a relatively small space in our home showed me again, much like the past month’s challenge, that we own still huge amounts of things and that a move would still be quite a task. (We are fantasizing about a long-distance move in the end of next year or the year after, so every box counts! 😉 )

I decided to sell at a flea-market with a friend this week-end, went through the apartment and pulled out some china, books and all kinds of other stuff that I’ll be taking there. It’s all stuff I like, but we just have too much of it in general and it’s not my very favourite of its kind. We’ll see how that goes, I haven’t tried selling at a flea-market since I’ve been a child. 😀

So, I think, in August there will be a lot decluttered, even though my challenge ended. However, a new challenge has come up: those documents and other papers I still have to go through. I’ll do a little bit each day for August and so they should be all neat by September!

Thank you everyone who took part in my challenge, whether as a fellow declutterer or through cheering me on! And thank you, Colleen, for posting my request and my updates!

I had a blast with this challenge and some new motivation for decluttering!

Sanna

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter five magazines that you had saved to reference later but so have never have.

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

As the saying goes ~ “Believe and the Universe will provide.” Whether you are religious, spiritual or neither there is a good chance that this saying is true for you. It sure has been true for me, and that is why I never worry about letting go of the things that I don’t use. I hold on to very little in the way of things that I only think I might need some day because I have no doubt that…

1. …I probably won’t and never did “need” it in the first place and…
2. …and anything I do need want can be easily replaced at a later date.

One of the reasons I believe these this is that I am very good at improvising so can often do without things by coming up with ingenious ways to make do. And that so often, for me, when I “need” something it has a habit of “miraculously” falling into my hands. I’ll give you some examples.

My daughter has always wanted a Magic Bullet Blender  (Too much exposure to infomercials on television in America). I have often thought of buying her one as a gift but never did for various reasons. Last week my friend Wendy was about to take one to the thrift shop but when she found out Bridget would like one she gave it to me to give to her.

A while back I was in want of some double sided scrapbook paper to make pinwheels for my handmade cards. One day I went to a yearly huge car boot sale (flea market) and, lo and behold, one stall had some offcuts for sale which were reduced to half price. I have since used it all up and made some nice pocket money in the endeavour.

Some months back my son mentioned that he would like a handheld vacuum (dustbuster, whatever you like to call it). The very next time I did a shift at the thrift store one was donated which I bought for him for a mere $5. My daughter also mentioned she wanted one of those plastic kids sandpits to use as a dog pool. The very next day I picked one up for nothing from a bulk rubbish pile on the side of the road. The same thing happened when she mentioned she wanted a clothes airer.

This kind of thing happens to me all the time and sometimes with the strangest things. But even if it didn’t I am confident that I would either, never again need an item I have decluttered or I will be able to afford to replace something should it be necessary. Luckily that has rarely happened. I don’t know if this is because the Universe truly does provide if you believe it will but either way I am content to believe that there is nothing I need be afraid to let go of if I am not using it.

It always intrigues me that among a community of people with an abundance of items, that we are all endeavouring to declutter, that any of us could possibly believe that one day life is going to come to a standstill because we might have to go without items we never really needed in the first place. So please don’t hang on to trivial unnecessary stuff in the fear that you might need it someday. Have faith in yourself that you will always be able to provide, even if you don’t believe that the universe will, and just let go of things you haven’t used in a long time and probably never will.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter five food items that have been in your pantry for a while by making meals out of them this week.

Eco Tip for the Day

If you see things going to waste, rescue them and find them a new home. I do with from the recycling bins at our apartment all the time. It is amazing when perfectly good items people through in the bins. I take them to the thrift shop where they are sold on.

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

Sanna’s success with her 20 thing a day challenge got me thinking about how short term challenges can be very inspiring for letting go of things. So today I have come up with some short term simple challenges that anyone can do. Hopefully they will inspire some of you to do a little extra decluttering.

If any of the following challenges appeal to you give them your best shot and let us know how well you did when your challenge is complete.

1. Each day for one week choose a drawer or shelf to declutter. You might be surprised how much easier it is to find what you need in small areas once they are decluttered. Such seemingly small changes can greatly simplify your daily routines.
2. For one week find ten things to declutter each day.
3. Within a week find 100 things to declutter throughout your home.
4. Choose a collection of things you feel you would like to reduce, making them easier to fit into a certain space. Remember how I did this with my craft supplies. However that was a huge challenge that took some time. You could choose a small collection of stuff such as kitchen utensils, clothing, kids toys, your socks, linen, makeup… Choose the space you want to contain it in and declutter any less loved items to make this possible.
5. If you are a book lover, perhaps your bookcase is overflowing. Declutter enough books so that everything fits in your bookcase with enough room for five new books. From then on perhaps you could be determined to maintain this level, by using the one in one out method of maintenance decluttering.
6. If you have a lot of clutter, choose one room to deal with. Challenge yourself to clear one cubic metre or yard of this room each day or week (depending on the level of clutter) until it is clear.
7. If you are a good way along with your decluttering goal have a short turbo charged period of decluttering by finding fifty items in the week to declutter.
8. If you feel you are happy with your level of unclutteredness (spell check doesn’t like that one) then choose a room each day to double check all the nooks and crannies for items you have missed or have since become clutter. Do this once a week until your whole house has been checked for clutter.
9. Scan your home for consumables that are being ignored in preference for others. Put these front and centre and begin a use-it-up challenge on them. It is so satisfying every time you use them, knowing that they will soon be gone and not wasted. And the liberated space is a great thing.
10. Start a trial separation challenge. Choose at least ten items that you are on the fence about decluttering. Hid them away somewhere and only retrieve an item if you are truly in need of it. Make an attempt to improvise before retrieving any item from the hiding place. At the end of two months declutter any item that you haven’t retrieved.

Good luck to those who choose a challenge to undertake and happy decluttering!

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any gardening items that don’t seem to be getting used. Perhaps even pull out some weeds that are making your home look tatty.

Eco Tip for the Day

Modern dishwashers have filters so don’t waste water rinsing of your dished before putting them in the dishwasher. Just scrape of any scraps into the bin prior to stacking them in.

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

Of late I have been getting the felling that maybe there is more stuff coming into my home than there is going out or being used up. Typically craft supplies is my biggest area of concern. Stuff regularly goes out in this area but some stuff does come in, through generous friends and because I am continually experimenting with new ideas, and then there are the supplies that have to be restocked (adhesives, white card stock etc). But there are also other areas of the house where items have also come in, perfume from a good friend, new glass spice container to replace the plastic ones (which are now at auction on eBay), medications, paperwork (not too much of this), some free baskets from the side walk to deck out my laundry… and so on.

For the most part items being replaced are soon parted with when I attend my weekly trip to the thrift shop. Other items, such at the perfume I already had are close to being used up while some things, like paperwork, are dealt with periodically. However I am a busy lady. Mostly doing stuff I love but busy nonetheless, and it is very easy to begin to lose track of whether or not my belongings are keeping under control.

So today, inspired by Sanna’s challenge I decided to start going through each, drawer cupboard, closet, side table and basket in the house to make sure no clutter is building up. A stocktake so to speak. Later in the week I will be posting a photo pictorial of the items I have decluttered, but I am glad to say that so far I haven’t really unearthed much. But I am acquiring the peace of mind that my suspicions of clutter build-up were, for the most part, unfounded. Mind you I haven’t got into the closet where those craft supplies are yet. But any outstanding project I find there will be getting a deadline for completion or will be sent to the thrift shop.

This is what I call maintenance decluttering. Staying ahead of the clutter so that it doesn’t build up again. Mind you I have noticed some small spaces opening up around in drawers and closets lately, despite my suspicions, which also leads me to think I am concerning myself about nothing. But you know me, if there isn’t some maintenance needed there is always a little bit of lifestyle change clutter that rises to the surface that I am only too happy to expel from the premises.

Have you got to the maintenance stage yet? If so be vigilant so your home remains decluttered. Doing a regular sweep through, which shouldn’t be hard given the work you have already done, is well advised.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter any outdoor pet related items that are ready for the trash.

Eco Tip for the Day

Know where to send spent batteries and printer cartridges for recycling. My Library takes the batteries and the local office supply the cartridges. Do you know where to send yours?

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