Day 327 Not too many not too few ~ 23 Nov 2010

Each person’s goal when it come to minimalism is very individual. I, for one, cannot ever see myself living with only 100 things as some minimalists suggest. In fact at this point in my journey I have no idea how many more items will leave my home before I am satisfied with the end result. It may be that as time goes by my embrace on this lifestyle could strengthen and I may detach myself  from even more of my belongings than I ever considered when I started. Who knows?

Being comfortable in the here and now with what is too many and what is too few is all I concern myself with. I want to keep working on weeding out the things in the too many category while not getting carried away and ending up with too few for my needs.

Find you own balance

Just as we may have ended up with too much stuff while trying to keep up with the “Have all” Joneses. We could now take it to the opposite extreme by trying to outdo the minimalist Joneses. My advice is to gather all the wisdom you can from all the sources you subscribe to on the subject of  minimalism, simplicity and decluttering but keep true to yourself. Don’t look at it as some kind of competition or feel obliged to get rid of your treasured possessions. Just learn as you go and evolve naturally to the level you are comfortable with. No one is keeping score.

* * * * * * *

A year and a half has gome by since I started my declutter mission and seven months since I wrote the above post and yet every word written there stays true for me. I still am by no means what you would consider a minimalist but I sure am enjoying my much decluttered home and am still not to a point where I am satisfied that my home is as decluttered as I would like. I don’t think either that I have moved the goal posts because really there never were any. My intension was to learn as I go and declutter certain items when I was ready to let go and that is still happening. It is not only happening for me but also for my family members which makes this job even easier and more satisfying.

I still have some areas of my home that have been on my radar right from the start that I either need to revisit or I haven’t even touched yet. I am quite content with that because it has been a continuous effort and I will get to them or back to them when I am good and ready. The changes in my home have been wonderful and I will continue to enjoy the process and the progress.

Today’s Declutter Item

The only time I ever use this electric knife is at Christmas when we buy a leg of ham. I am sure we could manage the task with an ordinary carving knife that doesn’t take up this much room. Off to the thrift store with you old faithful once a year clutter.

Electric Knife

Something To Be Grateful For

When decluttering your home never look back. Be grateful that you had the means by which to accumulate all the clutter you have, think how much money you will save in the future by adopting better spending habits and be happy with each items that leaves your home. Guilt and sadness are of no use to you except maybe to remind you to be more selective in the future, just be grateful of the new beginning.

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

In Australia for the last couple of weeks news stories have focused mostly on the terrible flood situation in Queensland and the aftermath now that the waters have receded.

One particular news story really caught our eye last Saturday night and I wanted to share it with you. In fact I want to share two stories with you because if a person ever had reason to be proud of their fellow citizens, this is it. It just makes me want to shout Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!

The first story is about how the wonderful folk of Brisbane and surrounds who weren’t personally effected by the flood quickly volunteered to help complete strangers to clean up their homes. I needed a tissue for this one. Click on the link below to view the ABC news video story…

Thousands volunteer for Brisbane flood clean-up

The second story and my personal favourite is about the mammoth task of transporting the mountains of flood destroyed personal and household belonging heading to landfill sites around Brissy (which is Aussie for Brisbane). In the middle of it at 1min 10 sec is a lady with a terrific attitude and the inspiration behind today’s post. Please click on the following link to view the video news story…

Brisbane begins massive waste disposal operation

Now what did you think of that attitude? Talk about looking on the bright side of life. Instead of being devastated by the loss of her household items she saw it as an opportunity to  declutter her life and move on to a new phase of living with less. I have to say I can relate to this. During one of our moves from city to city I found myself wishing that the container would fall off the truck and roll down an embankment causing no harm to anyone but destroying my entire shipment of belongings. Maybe this lady considers this more of a stoke of luck rather than a misfortune. Like the lady in the video suggested, it sure removes the difficult decision to dispose of those items around your home that you keep “just in case”.

If this is the attitude to your belongings then maybe it is time to let go of the strings that bind you to them and purge. If you have been at your decluttering for some time and still having trouble separating through obligation to some things now is the time to forget the slow and steady approach and just bite the bullet and get them out of there. You are the one who has to live in your home and it should be under your terms not dictated to my friends, family or general consensus. You only get one chance at this life, live it your way. As the lady said “Less is more”.

Today’s Declutter Item

Nobody wanted these goblets when we put them up for sale on ebay but they snapped them up in and instant when I was giving them away on Freecycle. Have I mentioned before how I hate cleaning silver, well that is why they’re gone.

Things I am grateful for today

• Getting to the end on my long to-do list today
• The beauty of the human spirit – Sometimes it is more illusive than others but when the chips are down it is amazing what can shine through.
• Having the opportunity to help out a friend today – the giver always gets as much out of it as the receiver. It’s a good feeling to help.
• That my husband rode his motorbike to work even though it was threatening to rain – I had so much I needed the car for today.
• Freecycle – It is good to know someone will love the stuff I don’t.
  

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

Pets as Clutter

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

We have five pets: two dogs, one cat, two guinea pigs, and I was the decision-maker for each acquisition, but as I tripped over Tucker the dog this morning, I started thinking about the animals as clutter. I love them, and I don’t intend on getting rid of them (well, maybe the guinea pigs who have become eating, pooping nick nacks), but still I wanted to think about them in a new way: Are animals clutter?

Certainly owning animals involves clutter. The dogs have food, leashes, bowls, beds, brushes, medicine, and clippers that have to be stored, maintained, and replaced. The cat has a litter box, litter, food, bowl, toys, scratching posts, and a perch. The guinea pigs each have a very large cage, bedding, food, water bottles, and their own dust pan, which I use to scoop the bedding when I clean their cages. In all, that’s a lot of stuff.

Additionally, all the animals shed –  like crazy. Dust bunnies, hair balls, hair drifts, whatever cutesy name you give them, they’re still hair on the ground, and lots of it. (When my doggie friends Lily and Nick were living, we called their fur balls Linky, in honor of the puppies they would never have. Some of those fur balls were about as big as puppies!)  If you let your pets on the furniture, there’s hair there too and likely on your clothes as well.

In my house, one dog loves to carry around dirty socks, which he steals from the laundry basket if he doesn’t get them (almost) directly off our feet, so they are always strewn around the house. The cat tracks some of her litter out of her box every time she uses it, and her favorite toys are balls of paper, which she loves to tear apart when she “kills” them – little bits of paper all over the floor mixed in with the shed hair and the smelly socks. Even the guinea pigs create mess. They eat hay, and the children always drop some of it on the ground between the package and the cages. Wow! That’s a lot of animal debris on the ground. No wonder I sweep so often.

Animals are also expensive. This year I have spent an average of $220 per month maintaining all these mess makers. (That’s about the same in Australian dollars and about 160 Euros.) Plus, there was a very expensive eye surgery for one of the dogs. While spending or not spending money is not clutter, we all know that one of the benefits of living with less is that we buy fewer things and have more money. (Although maybe the money we don’t spend on unnecessary clothes can support a pet instead.)

How can we combat all this pet clutter? For one thing, I think you should consider your pet purchases just like everything else you bring into the home. Does your friend really need a new collar? A sweater? A new bed? If the answer is yes, then the previous collar/sweater/bed needs to be decluttered. If you know, like I did, that you will get another animal when one dies, keep their things. It’s hand-me-downs for pets. The collar and tag that Frankie wears were worn by Lily when she was living. If Frankie gets lost, I may receive a phone call from a neighbor telling me that they’ve found my dog Lily. Does it really matter if they don’t know Frankie’s name?

Additionally, many things that people buy for their pets are really for themselves. I could buy the cat lots of toys to show Stella that I love her (not that she would understand this gesture), but she really enjoys her paper balls, which I make from junk paper. Sure, she might enjoy a catnip mouse (might), but why do I need another thing on the floor when the paper balls are a sure bet, free, and always available to me?

Your pet things can be kept organized in labeled bins or baskets. Leashes can be hung by the backdoor or in the garage. Our cat is lucky enough to have a spare closet almost to herself. This is where her litter box resides, where she is fed, and where all her supplies are stored. The dogs are fed in the kitchen, and their medicines, brushes, etc. are kept in a basket in the laundry room. While the water bowl must be left out, I could pick the dogs’ food bowls up after they eat and store them with the food. If I had a very small space, this is probably what I would do.

Stella has been sitting in my lap as I’m typing, and the dogs are keeping watch over me from the floor. So, are pets clutter? Yes, they create clutter – and plenty of it – but they, themselves, are not clutter. They’re part of my family.

ITEM 297 OF 365 LESS THINGS

21st Birthday Key that my Godfather made for me. I love him dearly but this has been hiding away in cupboards for years and although I am reluctant to part with it there is no point in keeping it.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Friends and family around when you need them the most.
2. Hope
3. Those moments of distraction when you can feel almost like normal.
4. Good wishes from all over the world.
5. Modern communication – It is so easy to keep in touch in times of need.

With fear that lately I have started to sound like some of the nuns I remember from my school days, preaching hell and damnation day in day out, I thought I might write something a little more upbeat today.

I’d like to point out the joy that can be found in decluttering your home. This joy can be appreciated from day one, not just at the end of the journey. See if you can identify with the joy of…..

• A Fresh Start – It is never too late to begin a new phase in your life. Cut yourself some slack and don’t dwell on the past. Acknowledge the things you got right and learn the lesson of your follies but either way do not dwell on the regrets, just enjoy the fresh start you are making.

• More Space – It really does feel good as the clutter starts to disappear and you begin to feel the freedom of the empty space growing around you. This feeling can be appreciated from the very first item and increases over time. Take a moment to focus on that freedom with every little piece of clutter you choose to remove and the process will be one filled with joy rather than dread.
• Less Maintenance – It stands to reason that the fewer items cluttering up your home, the easier it is to keep your surroundings clean and tidy. Every item you remove is one less thing you need to maintain in any way whether dusting, cleaning or storing. Also house cleaning will be simpler if there are fewer items to be moved in order to access the surface under them such as benches and floors. And ya gotta love that!

• Guilt Relief – We generally carry a burden of guilt for every item associated with the waste of money involved with its acquisition and lack of use. For every one of these items that leaves our home there is a relief from that guilt so long as we have learned the lesson of needless waste.

• Giving Back – Whether we sell items to grateful buyers on eBay, donate items to charity, give items away to friends and family or find a way to recycle them there is an good feeling that accompanies that action. Focus on these good feelings and it will spur you on in your quest.

• Appreciation – You will find that you have a higher appreciation for the items you choose to keep and their role in your household.

• Being Environmentally Responsible – For every unnecessary item you don’t purchase and for every item that you liberate to someone who might need it, you are doing a small deed to save the environment. For every item that is manufactured there is a cost whether in natural resources or carbon emissions, so the less you contribute to the supply and demand of these products the better hope there is for our planet’s survival.

• Simplifying -There is more to this topic than the title implies. I will elaborate in a separate post tomorrow but rest assured there is plenty of joy to be found by simplifying.

ITEM 284 OF 365 LESS THINGS

A few more odds and ends for the donation box

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Sick pay – I couldn’t work yesterday as it is a bit hard to sell furniture without a voice.
2. Freedom of choice – This is something we take for granted in Western society.
3. Roast dinner – They are so easy to make and so yummy to eat.
4. Art – This is something everyone in my family enjoys and can share the interest.
5. Kisses – They really are the cure for everything.

A guest post by – My Husband

During a recent overseas business trip I read about an experiment to choose six clothing items and only use those items for a month. You could have multiple copies of each item, even a different colour counted as a separate item but underwear, sleepwear, shoes and jackets etc did not count. I looked at my standard travel wardrobe, and found two pairs of Columbia pants, four sweat-wicking golf shirts (three colours) and two pairs of shorts. Five items to which I could add a more formal shirt for those dressier occasions, and still meet the Six Items or Less challenge. I lived with these five items for three weeks, and as you read this I am using them again for a month in Italy. No one ever comments on my limited wardrobe, and my daily choices are limited to picking the colour of my shirt for the day. Could I live like this for longer periods, or is six items too few to cover every contingency?

I decided that with some minor modifications, the experiment could be applied to my every day life and significantly reduce the size of my wardrobe. The first adaptation was to allow different colours of the same items so my four golf shirts would become one item. I also allowed myself some latitude items that get regular use in rotation with other similar items. For example, I had many long-sleeve shirts of different brands from which I selected the ones I use regularly and counted them as one item. As these items wear out I will look at following my plan to find an item I like that will replace all the differing brands. Using these adaptations, I have reduced my wardrobe to seven items plus work uniforms that are supplied and required by my employer.

I feel liberated from the fashion cycle, and yet have retained the best of my clothes while ridding myself of clothes that are functional but never made it into my rotation. For most of us, we keep returning to the same old favourites until they fall apart, so why clutter our closets with clothes that are never going to be worn? With a smaller clothing footprint, the clothes are not jammed into the hanging space, come off the hanger ready to wear and I can see my entire wardrobe in one place.

The Six Items or Less challenge looks daunting at first but a worthwhile experiment for anyone seeking to simplify their life. The original experimenters had a variety of experiences, and you can read their stories here. Now it is your turn.

ITEM 242 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The first of the clothes that were decluttered from my hubbies closet

ONE

Yes that’s right ONE. That is all you really need. Having said that, I own more than one handbag myself. I actually have three but I only ever use one. Maybe it is time I decluttered the other two. I used the other two bags more often before I needed prescription glasses but they are not big enough to hold the case. One of the reasons why I stick with just one bag is because I just can’t be bothered moving the items I keep in there all the time from one bag to another.

I don’t like to carry a big bag because like every other space the bigger it is the more you fill it up with needless stuff. The one I use all the time is actually ready for the bin. Its handle fell off some months back and I have been holding it on with a safety spring hook (You know, like a climber would use. You never know I might find myself in a “MacGyver” situation one day and that hook will save my life. LOL). That said, this old bag suits my needs really well and that isn’t easy to find so I will continue to use it for as long as it will hold together.

I know some of you lovely readers are probably thinking “you must be mad, get a life”, but the question was “how many handbags does one woman need” and the answer is one. All extra bags are just an extravagant fashion statement really. We are all allowed our one little weaknesses though I suppose.

Thank you to Angelina for sending in that question and inspiring this post.

For more on handbags check out Day 97 Handbag Clutter.

ITEM 230 OF 365LESSTHINGS

I believe these shot glasses have been in my possession since my grandmother died so that is 29 years to add to the weeks clutter years tally which is now 43 years.

Earlier this week I received a comment from Angelina requesting that I write a post about minimizing kids’ wardrobes. Below is what she wrote…

I love your blog, I read it everyday. I am a stay at home Mom with two kids. I was wondering if you can write about Minimalist Wardrobe for Kids. My kids have so much clothes, I don’t know how to keep up with them. My mother in law buys them clothes all the time, non-stop. The clothes are driving me crazy.

Keep up the great job, I can’t get enough of your blog, I’ve recommend your sites to my family and friends too.

Now first up I would like to say the I would not consider myself a minimalist by any stretch of the imagination although I agree in principle with the minimalist movement. I prefer to think that at best I am only at the start of that journey but like the feel of the trip so far.

That being said I will be happy to give my take on Angelina’s problem. Now I am going to be quite blunt here because I think there is no other way around this and I think in the long run Angelina will agree with what I am about to say. Her own comment/request hinted at the real problem here and I think she just needs a little advice on how to handle it tactfully. I am not always the most tactful person though I must admit but I will give it my best shot.

Angelina’s problem isn’t her children and it isn’t their wardrobe the problem is that her Mother-in-law doesn’t know when enough is enough. She means well I am sure but excess is not only bad for the environment but it is also not a good lesson to teach children. Unfortunately, the only solution to this problem is to make a request of the MIL to cut back on this unnecessary supply of clothing.

Now I don’t know how close their relationship is but, no matter what, she cannot idly stand by and let this continue. We often make the mistake of sacrificing our own needs for the needs of others but when the other person’s actions are having a negative effect on more than just ourselves (although that really is enough in some cases) then it  is time to stand up for what you believe in.

There clearly needs to be a conversation between Angelina and her MIL and perhaps it should go like this.

1. Lead in with a compliment…“‘MIL you provide such lovely clothes for the children, they are always so neatly dressed and I can see you love them dearly”….
2. Continue with a little gratitude…“and I am grateful to you for your generosity”…
3. Then comes the BUT… “but the quantity of clothes you provide for the kids is just too much. There is no way they will ever get the full value out of each item when there are so many to choose from and it is such a waste. This excess is not a good lesson to teach the children and not good for the environment either”. You may want to add something here about your goal to cut down on clutter in your home.
4. Now is when the request comes in with a little lacing of more gratitude for sweetener…“It is not my intention to upset you but I really would prefer that you cut back on the quantity of clothing you have been buying for them. I do appreciate your generosity but it is just too much. Do you think you could do that for me?”

At no point in this conversation have any demands been made. There is a good balance of gratitude and a clear explanation of the concerns both for Angelina’s thoughts on the waste involved and the feelings of the MIL. I think this formula can be adapted to fit with a number of situations to request people to cut back on the excess they provide you against your personal requirements.

I have made a page of this called Request Formula in case you would like to reference it for future issues. I am always open to suggestion on improvement so if you think I need to add something to it please feel free to let me know.

Well Angelina, I hope this was helpful to you and I look forward to hearing how things went for you with your mother-in-law.

ITEM 219 OF 365 LESS THINGS

We bought this set of snorkel gear when on vacation once. We should have left them at the beach for someone else to take as they have never been used since. I gave them to the son of a friend because they go to the beach all the time.

There is an election going on at the moment here in Australia. The politicians often jump on the environmental bandwagon to win votes. The issues they promise they are going to address when they win are just a drop in the bucket to what really needs doing.

In fact they aren’t prepared to do much at all when it comes to the manufacturing of pointless garbage like…

• the free toys in kids meals and other promotional products
• wasteful single use gadgets
• shoddy appliances that don’t last and can’t be repaired
• Disposable cutlery & plates
• Cheap souvenirs
• The sheer quantity of seasonal decorations
• Gas guzzling cars
• And the over-packaging of most of the above

just to name a few.

Generating manufacturing creates economic wealth and employment regardless of how unnecessary the end resulting items are.  So no politician is going to put a stop to any of that. So we will just keep on causing massive pollution until the supply and demand of these products are eliminated. The only thing that is going to have an effect on this is you the consumer.

Supply and demand is just that. If we stop demanding (buying) it they will stop supplying it. It is really that simple. No manufacturer is going to make something that no one is buying. Supply will always be limited to demand and even if that just reduces the quantities supplied it would be a great improvement for the environment.

Think twice about what you are doing with your money and your actions.

• Don’t accept free useless stuff just because it is free
• Avoid using plastic utensils when you are eating out.
• Take a carry bag with you when you go shopping so you don’t have to accept plastic bags
• When buying a new car buy what you need not some gas guzzling monstrosity just because it looks cool
• Use the same decorations year in year out. It is possible to celebrate an occasion without polluting the planet.
• You can julienne vegetables, crush garlic, chop an onion, dice an apple, slice potatoes… with just one gadget, a knife. Sure it might take longer but unless you are running a restaurant kitchen will the time saved really make that much difference.

See what you can do this week to reduce supply and demand. I will keep a track of my efforts and let you know next Sunday how I went.

ITEM 214 OF 365 LESS THINGS

You can sell just about anything on ebay. This item made a nice $14.00.

One thing I have observed during the process of writing my posts, answering comments and emails, and reading other decluttering blogs is that lack of communication is a real problem when it comes to clutter. It causes clutter in the first place by people giving well meaning gifts that are not wanted by the receiver. Also because we try to protect others feelings people keep items they no longer want.

Although it is commendable to try to be thoughtful about others feelings, sometimes your own personal needs should take precedence when the result effects your new sustainable way of living. Sometimes we assume we know what the reception will be and give up on communicating before even trying. We fear what the reaction might be if we tried to assert our needs but often we underestimate how understanding others might be.

Taking into consideration what your motivation is behind decluttering and the passionate need you have to clear your space it would be very unreasonable for another person to reject your feelings. Even if the giver is a little disappointed I am sure they will forgive you this little indiscretion. If, however they are just totally unreasonable then I have to wonder if their selfish feelings are worth protecting.

Here are some examples of how you might go about refusing a gift or explaining the absence of one in your home on inspection by a giver etc.

• Refusing a gift: “Thank you so much, this is a really lovely gift but I really can not accept it. Please don’t be upset it is nothing personal. I have recently embarked on a more minimalist lifestyle and I am no longer bringing anything into my home that is not a necessity or consumable…”
• Inform friends and family you no longer wish to receive gifts: I just want to let you know that in future I would prefer that you no longer send/give me gifts for birthdays, Christmas etc as I have recently embarked on a more minimalist lifestyle and I am no longer bringing anything into my home that is not a necessity. If you would like to give consumable gifts or donate to a charity on my behalf I will be happy to accept.”
• When someone asks about a previous gift that no long resides in your home. “I am sorry please don’t be offended but I have recently embarked on a more minimalist lifestyle and I am greatly reducing the number of non-functional items in my home. It was a lovely item that needed a new owner that would appreciate it  so I have…  1) donated it to charity 2) given it to a friend who has admired it for some time 3) sold it and used funds to…”
• When returning something to the giver that you no longer wish to keep. “I am sorry please don’t be offended but I have recently embarked on a more minimalist lifestyle and I am greatly reducing the number of non-functional items in my home. This was a such a lovely/expensive/thoughtful gift and I wanted to give you the option a taking it back rather than me giving it away. I have enjoyed it up to now but it no longer fits into my new way of living.

ITEM 189 OF 365 LESS THINGS

It has been a while but at last we have another ebay sale these Rugby League Football magazines sold for $20.00

For a long time now my husband and I have kept track of our savings and spending using budgeting programs on our computer. We record pretty much every cent we spend so we know where the money is going.

Recently we bought a new Apple Mac Mini so our old software is no longer compatible. We downloaded and tried out a couple of free software programs but have not been to happy with the performance of these. I have been persevering with one anyway just so we can keep track of things as usual but after today we have decided that we really don’t need to do this any more.

There are two reasons for this. One is that we have now paid off our home loan so we don’t need to keep track. Nor do we need to keep track our spending so much either since not having a home loan means we have a lot more disposable income. But the best reason is that today when I was inputting and balancing our spending against the online banking statement I noticed that there was very little to keep track of any more.

The input went a bit like this…

groceries, groceries, groceries, groceries,auto (gas/petrol), groceries, groceries, groceries, groceries,auto (gas/petrol), groceries, groceries, groceries, groceries,auto (gas/petrol).

As you can see, we really don’t do a lot of shopping these days except to buy groceries or fill up the car and motorbike. The bit of cash that goes in my wallet usually goes on having coffee with friends, more groceries and hand outs to our son for school supplies and other incidentals.

Most other things we buy replace an old favourite, so there isn’t any clutter coming into our house to take the place of the stuff heading out the door. This is the key to staying decluttered and it also means we have more savings to spend on the things that are more important to us like:

• A nice meal out together occasionally
• Travel
• Being able to get the car serviced without having to worry where the money is coming from
• If any unexpected medical expenses crop up we have nothing to worry about except our health

I am sure there are many more things but these are the few that jump into my head immediately.

With that accomplished the next target is to get my husband semi-retired by the time he turns fifty.

ITEM 184 OF 365 LESS THINGS

More personal clutter ready for the recycling bin