Declutter a couple of old shabby shoes that you no long choose to use.

Declutter your fridge of out of date items or by using up as much as possible before adding more. With the holiday season here you will likely need every inch of spare space.

Going through and decluttering your filing cabinet can be a nightmare when it has been neglected for a long time. So I have written a set of guidelines below that I use to declutter my files and to avoid paperwork buildup in the first place.

1. Don’t file anything you don’t need to keep. By “need” I mean absolutely should keep. Don’t allow anxiety to force you to keep documents that aren’t really important. Only keep tax papers for the government prescribed length of time then declutter them.
2. Switch to as many digital documents (bills, newsletters, school notes etc) as possible so the paper has less chance to invade your home and to build up.
3. Once a bill is paid, and the next statement comes through that confirms that, declutter the previous statement.
4. Pay bills by cheque or bank deposit so you have a permanent digital bank record of the transaction. This way you can be secure in decluttering paper statements.
5. Scan documents you declutter if you feel the need, rather than being worrying that you shouldn’t have parted with them.
6. Every time you file a paper under it’s specific label check that file to see if there is an older document that could be decluttered.
7. Use the smallest document/file holder necessary for your needs. This way you are forced to declutter it regularly or there won’t be room to add to it.

I hope you find this list of guidelines useful and that you will end up with a big reduction of paper in your file drawers and ultimately reduce the number of drawers you need.

Wendy B wrote this very wise statement in a comment recently in regards to decluttering ~ 

“The thought of tackling the job is often more consuming than doing the job itself.”

How very true this is. I bet there are many of you out there who spent more time and metal energy putting off your decluttering than the time and effort that you actually needed to put into it once you got started. I was a little guilty of that myself to be honest. I knew, before returning home to live in Australia in 2007, that downsizing was our ultimate goal, but aside from the necessary ejection of stuff required to fit comfortably into our new home, and some extra bursts here and there, it was 2010 before I got on with the task in earnest.

And the problem with procrastinating is that you are wasting all that mental stress on getting nowhere. When it is as easy as putting one item aside each day, in the garage, or wherever you choose your transition area to be. Then donating the stuff to a charity when you have a pile big enough to make the effort to drop it off. And if you live in a place like the USA where the charity will come to you, it is even easier to get the job done, or at least make progress.

Of course you can complicate things by selling items via online auctions or similar, or by having a garage sale, but there is always an extra reward for your labours there, so it is often worth the extra effort. But that is entirely up to you.

We often procrastinate because we focus on the harder aspects of the task rather than just getting started on the easy stuff. How does the saying go? ~ “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” And there is always those things that are much easier to deal with than others. That is how I got started and in the end I got rid of far more stuff that I ever thought I would. Even things I had no intention of ever letting go. The more I decluttered the easier it was to part with things and the more things I realised a didn’t need to keep.

Actually just writing today’s post was a case of procrastination for me. That seems a little more than ironic. In the end I figured I would get a better night sleep if I took care of that and another small task before going to bed rather than leaving it until today. And I did sleep better for it I think.

The thing about procrastinating is that it makes you feel bad, then feeling bad makes you sorry for yourself so you self medicate by doing something else you would rather do. While actually by doing what you don’t want to do you can make yourself feel a lot better than avoiding it.

I know there are plenty of my readers out there, who are a long way along their declutter journey, who have been there and done that, so why not share with us your procrastination story, and how you overcame it. And those of you still torturing yourself with futile procrastination, hopefully reading our about experiences will help you start eating that elephant, one bite at a time.

Random Acts of Unusual Kindness

As a pedestrian treat the sidewalk as if it were the road. Keep to the side that the road traffic travels on in the country that you are in at the time. Don’t dart out from side allies and shops into oncoming foot traffic. And don’t walk three abreast. This ought to be common sense, but it doesn’t seem to be, and life would be a lot easier for everyone if we all adhered to these simple rules.

Each of us has a different day when we clean up all the decorations from the holidays.  One thing we all do though is repack and stash away everything.  This is a great time to declutter.  We have a great opportunity to look at each item and decide:

1. Did we use it this time?
2. Does it need repair or a toss into the trash?
3. Do we like it?
4. Do we want to change our style/color? 
5. Has our life changed in a way that requires our decorating to change?

Now is the time to declutter all of those holiday items you no longer need taking up space in your home.  Things like decorations, ornaments, decorative paper plates or napkins, towels, tablecloths, and duplicates of salt and pepper shakers or serving pieces.  I’m sure there are more items you can think of.  How about holiday books or magazines for: cooking, decorating, or crafts. 

This year we are going to be decluttering many things because we will be moving.  We will have two households but fewer places to display items.  Mom is not even sure she wants to decorate other than maybe a wreath on her door.  I will probably keep the small tree we have but not many other things.  If I could find a metal tree I really like I may get one to put the ornaments on because they are what I treasure.

Share with us your stories of decluttering as you clear away after the holiday season.

Hi folks, well after reading the heading of this post you are probably wondering what on earth I have written about. So lets get started.

My home isn’t clutter free. People probably think it is but it isn’t. After all I have never professed to be a minimalist and doubt I ever will aspire to that. The bulk of the clutter that I planned to get rid of is gone. And, as you all know, we achieved our goal of moving into a small apartment almost two years ago now. My wardrobe doesn’t hold a lot of clothes, my shoe selection is minimal compared to most, we have books but not a lot. We don’t have excess toiletries, linens, stationary supplies, paperwork or food supplies and the kitchen holds very few items  that don’t get used often.

However, there is still some clutter in our home. I have an abundance of craft supplies, despite my feverish crafting habits of late. We still haven’t finished culling photographs, which is one of the tasks I raved on about a lot back at the start of my decluttering. There is a variety of coffee making implements high up in one of the kitchen cupboards that don’t get used. And my wedding dress still wastes space in my wardrobe. Those last two things are ones I haven’t been given permission to dispose of yet or they would be gone. And the keepsake box probably holds some items that we probably don’t care much about but I haven’t taken it down to look through it for a while. Keepsakes are probably all clutter really but if we enjoy that little trip down memory lane every now and again then they aren’t clutter to us. And then there is the stuff that just isn’t mine to part with so I don’t touch it.

There are three reasons why there is still some clutter in our house. Clutter that has been lingering for a long time too. Reason one is that I believe that all parties who have any ownership of the clutter also has a say in whether it stays or goes. Reason two is that, there are some decluttering tasks that I am still happy to put off until I feel inclined to deal with them, such as photographs. And reason three is that, like the less loved keepsakes, I really don’t care if they remain because they don’t take up much space.

All in all I am very happy with the clutter level in our home. And yes I do still declutter items every now and again. And yes the craft clutter in general is lessening despite the fact that I add to it for certain projects. And yes there are still items I would be happy to part with. And the one thing that keeps the level of clutter down is the fact that we don’t buy much in the way of material things these day.

So what clutter do you still have in your home that you don’t mind being there or just don’t care to deal with yet? Or perhaps you need some advice on why and how to get rid of some things that really do irritate you. Share your thoughts with us and we will give you our advice or opinions.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you keep just because most people have one. I decluttered out BBQ soon after I began by declutter journey. It is almost sacrilegious to not own a BBQ in Australia but we just never used ours so out it went. Five years latter and we have never replaced it or missed it for that matter.

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

You know how the saying goes ~ “Tomorrow never comes.” Well someday is usually even further away than tomorrow. So keeping stuff simply because you might need it someday is a fools game if you are attempting to declutter. Especially if they are items that, in reality, you could easily manage without. For example, silly little single use kitchen gadgets that do the same thing as a knife. That mass of household stationery supplies that could supply a large office for a year. That thing-a-ma-jig to fix that thing that you don’t even own anymore. Just to name a few.

Then there are items you once used but think you might go back to sometime in the future. Such as clothing that you keep just incase you lose or gain weight. The chances are those items will be unfashionable by then. Also in both cases these categories of clothing don’t bring positive feelings. That heavy winter coat you used way back when you lived some place cold. Sports equipment from your younger days that your now ageing body probably couldn’t handle using.

And of course there are those items you spent a lot of hard earned money on but you either never used much or lost interest in over time. You keep them just incase the interest is rekindled, and simply out of guilt for the wasted cash. Keeping them doesn’t change the fact that the money is spent, while selling them will at least recoup some of the money and free up space.

Prior to my decluttering journey there were so many useful things that I had kept just in case I might use them one day. They are long gone now and although every now and again I find myself in a situation where I could use one of them, I manage to improvise and achieve the same result efficiently without them. And I might add that, I feel proud of myself for my ingenuity. Although in most case the solution is simple.

Then there is the case of buying things, when you see them at low prices, just because you might have a use for them one day. Well that is also a fools game. If by some miracle, someday does actually arrive, I am sure the item will still be available to purchase or a simple alternative would suffice. What most people have a need for all the time is money, so don’t waste it on “might needs” so it is available for the important things or better investments. So you are best to leave acquiring stuff that you only might have a “need” for it until then. Now is not the time.

Oh, how much someday clutter did I accumulate when in the honeymoon days of my scrapbooking hobby? Hundreds of pieces of printed paper that were too beautiful, cute or useful to resist that I would use someday. The same went for stickers, embellishments, ribbon and rub-on words. All items I convinced myself I would be sorry if I didn’t buy them because this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity or a bargain too good to miss. Where are many of those fabulous crafting items today? Sold, given away and some still in my craft room. Yes some of it got used but some of it has been undergoing a use-it-up challenge for five years now. Recently I have come to a point where I am using it up more quickly and it is a nice bonus that I am now making money out of it by selling my creations. However frequently I encounter situations where I can acquire more supplies cheaply and even free so there was no need to stock up back in the day.

In this day and age of rampant consumerism what are the chances that something bigger, better, cuter, more fashionable… will come along at the same bargain price or better soon enough when you actually have a use for it? Experience tells me that there is every chance. So there is no need for people to be purchasing items for the future, a future that could be very different than one imagines. This is especially so for items that aren’t even necessary in the first place.

So find the strength to get rid of the stuff you have kept for some day, and have the fortitude to resist acquiring any more of these items from this day forward. Live for the present because someday is never guaranteed.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter crockery and cutlery that would only be required under the same circumstances as the Thursday mission.

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

I received a comment from Jill which inspired this post. It will probably sound like a confession as well but so be it. Here is Jills comment and I will write my thoughts after it.

“I have been a collector of “stuff” my whole life. Had a major life changing operation last October and since then have been getting rid of lots of stuff. For the past 10+ years, I had been stock piling items for use after retirement (this November). Using “poverty thinking” (after retirement not having enough money to buy craft items, books to read, clothing, i.e…), my small home was piled high! After many trips to Goodwill with bags and bags of items, one or two bags of books donated to our local library for their book sales, I am starting to see the light! Major clean out of old financial papers, sentimental papers, etc… (on the 11th clothes basket for the burner). I feel so different. God has continued to provide anything that I truly need.”

So here is what I thought when I read this, inspired by Jill’s mention of craft supplies but mostly by the last sentence. As you know I wrote a post just recently about the universe providing. Also, as you well know, I have been decluttering craft supplies for the whole five plus years of my declutter mission, and particularly over the last year since having a selling outlet for my craft. However, on a regular basis over the last twelve months I have also stumbled across many opportunities of acquiring craft supplies for free or next to no cost. A temptation, that at times, I didn’t try to resist given how quickly the supplies can end up going back out the door. Yet still I sometimes wonder if I really have less craft stuff now than I did a year ago.

That does sound like a confession, but in fact I am using it as an example of how what you need does usually materialise for you when you need it. Granted I do find myself socialising in circles of people with similar interests, and I do volunteer at a thrift shop and then there is my friend Wendy (my partner in crime) who, like me and with me, loves to check out the piles of stuff left on the sidewalk on bulk waste pickup days. But nevertheless it is proof that one doesn’t need to stockpile stuff for when times are hard.

Books especially don’t need to be stockpiled because one can always borrow them from the library for free. And it is amazing what great craft projects one can do by upcycling “trash”. Clothing might be a little trickier, but then again by just wearing them out, rather than replacing them just because the novelty has worn off, will help get better value out of them. And secondhand clothing is a cheaper option and there is no shame in accepting friends’ cast offs. I have items in my closet that used to belong to Wendy’s daughter.

And lets face it, for most of us, we will never find ourselves in a position where we won’t have at least some luxuries and/or non-necessities in our lives. Another friend Carole, when we find ourselves complaining about the trivial, laughs and says “First world problems”. This is so true, we have had it so good for so long that we don’t realise how spoiled we are and what we could manage to live without.

So long as we have a roof over out heads, food and our bellies and people who love us, then we will be just fine.

Today Mini Mission

Declutter something rough or gritty.

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

I received the following comment from creativeme on Wednesday and thought it would be a shame if anyone missed it so had to make a post of it. Also I wanted to add my 10c worth, of course! It was meant to publish yesterday but it wasn’t finished and I was sick. So here it is, better late than never.

“I’m getting better at this.
Especially with the food! I have found that I go through this journey of letting go of stuff, what I am really letting go of is FEAR. I think I was afraid that I might not have enough in the future or it would never go on sale again or that I might not be able to afford it later or it might be taken away somehow. Lots of latent fears that kept me wanting to cram MORE into my pantries and any other space that could fit cans or boxes (garage, basement, under the bed). I have finally got to the point that I trust there is enough money around for food, enough food around to buy, the sales ALWAYS come around again and even if it is taken away (really, who would take it?), it can ALL be replaced.
Every canned and dry good in the house now fits in the kitchen! I still have enough to make pretty much any recipe I can think of at a moment’s notice, but not crazy amounts of each thing. In this part of the world (west coast Canada) we are encouraged to have 3 days emergency supplies in case of earthquake. No problem here! But at least I am no longer a sweet target for looters like I was before! LOL
And with the newly found spaces where food used to live, I let it simply be S P A C E, sigh, it’s nice to have breathing room!”~ creativeme

The one thing I most want to add to what creativeme had to say was this ~ Simply fear of changing old habits seems to paralyse people as well. So many of us don’t adapt to the present when phases of our lives pass by. For example ~ I swear that, out of habit, many parents continue to cater for a home full of children once the kids have all left home.

Crafters have a fear of letting go of materials in case sometime in the future they will somehow conjure up the enthusiasm and creativeness to use them. I know I am guilty of this at times. I am much more ruthless these days though.

And let us look a the futility of that fear. If an item isn’t necessary to comfort and survival how much emotion should we waste on worrying about its place in our lives anyway.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item from the laundry of your home.

“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

Release items in your home so that they are available to others who truly have a use for them. Butter, for the environment, that others use your used stuff than go out and 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

I never thought I would change my bedroom as I did this year. It was a challenge I set to myself. In part one I told you all about my struggles to get rid of clothes and one piece of furniture in my bedroom. Now I am telling how I managed to get rid of a wardrobe.

Late last year I was talking to Colleen by e-mail and I was anxious about the state of my bedroom. It was a mess. I occasionally watch some Peter Walsh show and my bedroom was as far from a “haven” as you can put it. It stressed me out. Always. There was always stuff strewn across the “floordrobe” (I would like to thank Cindy for this very appropriate name…). I had a place to put my shoes, but if I did put them away I could not find them when I needed to go out, because they were under the bed, and I could not find clothes, laundry day was “Oh God how am I going to deal with this!” day and so on. I was desperate for a change. I came to a new milestone in my decluttering. I wanted space. Space can either be bought, by acquiring a bigger house (so out of the question because I would not acquire a bigger place to clean) or clearing space in your existing home. As I have been seriously decluttering for, at least, 5 years, I knew I could have more space by decluttering a lot more easily and with no expense than buying a bigger house or remodelling the one I live in.

Finally I came to a stage in my decluttering when I decided that I needed to have less storage space in my bedroom and less stuff in my room and more space. That means I had to declutter a very big wardrobe (the actual piece of furniture) and empty almost completely another one.  I had to declutter a very massive excess of stuff that was CRAMMED inside those wardrobes. I have read time and time again in this blog how Colleen decluttered this or that piece of furniture. And it always made me wonder: “What if she needs that furniture in the future? She will never get that kind of furniture ever again; they don’t make them as good as that anymore;” And the final thought would be: “She should have kept it, she had space for it and she might need it someday…”. And there you have my thought for that moment. 

After a while (being so overwhelmed by stuff inside my own bedroom) I thought: Why keep a big piece of furniture that you may never need again? I used to love, big, massive furniture. I have monstrous wardrobes and I use every door in both of them. I used to suffer (yes, that is the right word – suffer), whenever I thought I would move to a smaller house and had to get rid of some piece of big furniture that I had. It never occurred to me to down size on the furniture front, I just thought I could never let that furniture go, because I would never have something as good/sturdy/big/well done (you pick) as that again. 

The obvious decluttering had been done. Still there was a lot of things inside the wardrobes. I, sometimes, was guilty of decluttering a few pieces and what I was unsure about I just stuffed or crammed (look, there is that ‘nice’ word again…) somewhere. My somewhere was, mostly, my wardrobes and my bedroom. I liked those wardrobes. I had a hand in their design. They were done to me personally, not bought in stores. Everything from bed linen to covers, from clothes to belts, shoes and purses, books, caps and some things I don’t know, were stored in those two wardrobes.

As I started to clear out the wardrobe in my bedroom, I was so amazed at the amount of UNUSED stuff that I thought this overhaul was long overdue. There was loads of stuff I donated as I told in the first post and a lot I had (finally) to deal with. I started questioning my attachment to pieces of wood and screws, which are, basically what makes a wardrobe. As I was evaluating my bedroom and everything in it, I concluded that I had wardrobes much too big and a lot of the stuff in them was excessive.

One of the best thing I did was downsizing the amount of clothes we had (me and my husband). My style changed and I kept clothes I did not like just because they fit me. I found bad buys, shoes, knick knacks, books you name it, I had in there. So I decided to make a smaller built in closet, a little bigger than my former wardrobe and divide it in two, for my husband’s and my use. As I was doing the project, the architect that designed said: “There is no way all that is in those wardrobes is going to fit in the space you want.” I said “yes, it will.” “How?” Decluttering the excess.

I sold my wardobe, because “I might need it some day” is no reason to keep a 1,80 meter by 2,30 meter wardrobe. I know I have the space to have kept it. To my old self having the space would mean I could fill it up nicely. To my new self, space can be an asset all in itself, even more if it is empty. And I also bought a trunk bed, as seen in the picture, to store big covers so they are not in “the way”. When winter comes we take the covers out and use them as bed spreads (takes a little more time to make the beds each morning, but we can’t have it all…)

As I declutterd something else became obvious: how much easier it was to clean the bedroom. Get up, make the bed, the shoes are always in place (as I designed an easier system to store them I never leave them scattered around anymore), no more clothes to pick up, because they have a place to be stored. I am still amazed I can clean my bedroom in under a half hour. It used to take me several hours and the result was a lot of stuff “crammed” somewhere.

After the wardrobe left and I had dealt with the excesses I put my chest in the wardrobe’s place. I holds all the linen and towels of my house. It is not crammed and it looks quite nice on that spot. That chest belonged to my great-grandmother and it was passed along to my grandmother (in whose house I lived until I married) and I got when she passed for my then, future children (as she would have liked). And as it was restored to be used by my children and it is a very useful piece of furniture, it is also a warm reminder of my grandmother. I feel great when I look at it. I feel great walking into my “new” bedroom.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter an item of clothing that you promise yourself is going to fit you again some day.

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