Three years of decluttering and all of a sudden I have a deadline. I have a little under four weeks to do my best to ensure that what we own will indeed fit into a much smaller dwelling. Going from a two car lock-up garage to a single car space with no storage cage means we can only keep from the garage what we are willing to fit into the apartment. Aside from that there are a few things we will offload from the inside of our house and that should be all that needs doing to make the move. We may get even more ruthless once we are in, because we don’t want to go from a decluttered house to an over stuffed apartment.

At this point in time I am so glad I started this mission to minimise our belongings well ahead of time with no real deadline. Decluttering with a deadline can potentially be a very stressful responsibility. One never knows in life when such a situation might occur. So there is no time like the present to start this process.

Having executed my mission over a long period of time has given me the freedom to let go when I am ready, take my time to sell what I want to sell and find good homes for all of the wonderful stuff that I knew would not fit my intended lifestyle. Performing the same task quickly has the potential of being not only stressful but also fraught with quick decision making that could prove costly. Either by not having the time for selling or by letting go of things that may need to be replaced.

I have no doubt that slow and steady decluttering is a far more relaxed approach to decluttering. What do you think?

Today’s Mini Mission

Choose an item that you don’t want in your home that isn’t yours and then ask the owner if they are willing to declutter it. Perhaps they don’t care about it either.

Eco Tip for the Day

Save electricity by not turning on electrical appliances, like irons, hair straighteners etc, too long before you use them and by not leaving them on while you decide to take a break during the task.

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

Today I am going to suggest five scenarios, that you can imagine you are a part of, that would likely force you to be more ruthless with your decluttering. You find an area in the house that you feel could do with some decluttering, and I will set the scene for a situation that would, if it were reality, make you let go of some items you might otherwise keep just because you have the space.

Scenario One: Your kids have left home and you have just had an offer, out of the blue, from someone who would like to buy your house. It is a very generous offer and you have been thinking of downsizing for some time. You have viewed a very attractive two bedroom apartment recently that you could imagine yourself living it. You look at your stuff and think what would I have to get rid of if I were to move into something smaller. What among this stuff could I find quite easy to live without should it not be likely to fit in?

Scenario Two: You have just brought a new puppy home and it is an indoor dog. You need a space to be able to leave it at home alone, at times, without it chewing up stuff. One room needs to be quite clear of items it can get at. So everything that is at danger either has to go or fit into another room in the house. What items would you give up to make this work?

Scenario Three: You are fifty-five years old and are already on the waiting list for a hip replacement. The reality is you aren’t getting any younger and your body isn’t as young and agile as it used to be. But joyfully it also isn’t old and decrepit either. This hip replacement is however a warning signal that there are certain tasks that aren’t going to get any easier as you get older. So now is the time to start getting your affairs in order. Not ten or fifteen years down the track when mobility could possibly become a real issue. What can you do now to make life easier for you in the future? What items can you start eliminating so it makes cleaning, organising and access easier?

Scenario Four: There is a new baby in the household. Whether that be your household or the baby is a grandchild that will be visiting. Soon enough the little darling will be mobile and able to get their sweet little hands on anything at their level. As wonderful as the idea sounds ~ “They just have to learn not to touch things.” ~ do you really want to have to be ever vigilant during that learning period. Or would it be easier for everyone if you just declutter items that you don’t need or care much for, to make it easy to move everything breakable out of hands way? What can you declutter from your higher and lower shelves so that what is important can be neatly displayed out of reach?

Scenario Five: You have just lost a loved one in your family and you have been helping in the process of sorting out the estate. Clearing out the home of this much loved relative has been a real eye opener. Oh, the things you have had to sort through. Items you aren’t sure are valuable or not. Personal items that would have been best left personal. Old correspondence that you just don’t have the time to read through and decide what is worth saving for family history reasons. Wardrobes full of clothes that clearly haven’t been used in years. A shed full of stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day since this loved one lost their male spouse ten years earlier. And just the usual household items that seem far too abundant for someone who had so few to cater to on a daily basis. Do you want to leave the same mammoth task for someone to clear away should something happen to you. You think not, so what do you have in your home that no longer suits your lifestyle and probably never will again?

Use one or more of these scenarios to help see your stuff in a different light and use that to guide you in letting go.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter a small section of a cupboard anywhere in your home.

Eco Tip for the Day

When you are out and about and there is no provision to recycle bring your items home if possible and not ridiculously inconvenient

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 mentioned yesterday that I have been doing some more decluttering in my garage. I had gathered, in one corner, a pile of stuff that belonged to my son. There was his battered old bicycle frame from his accident when he was nineteen, various bicycle parts, a pile of 24 used skateboard decks, a box with spray paint cans, a pile of used core-board for mounting photos from his university days, a sports bag (all shown in the photo below) along with a couple of small tables and a large sheet of chipboard ~ all out of shot.

Some of my son’s stuff in the corner of the garage.

He came over last week and together we went through the items and he decided what he wanted to keep and what I could donate or Freecycle.

Keep in mind that the skateboard decks (some visible in the photo, some in the black bag) are every one that he has used since he first began skating at about the age of thirteen. Being an artist he had aspirations of using them for an art project one day. Well one day has not yet come and he and his partner have been doing a little decluttering at their home lately so he decided to let them go. I put them up on Freecycle, six went to a man wanting them for an art project. Ten more are awaiting pickup by a woman who wants to use them to decorate her autistic son’s bedroom. While the last six have, appropriately, been claimed by a woman for her nineteen year old son to use for an art project while he recovers from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. (Mothers of nineteen year old boys, let this be a warning for you.)

He has, for now, decided to keep the bent bike frame with ideas of either using it in an art project or displaying it as a reminder of his lucky escape from what could easily have been a debilitating brain injury. He kept the bicycle parts that belong to his replacement bike but allowed me to donate, to the local bicycle rescue project, the undamaged wheel, seat and handlebars from the damaged bike.

He is also going to take the two tables and sheet of chipboard to use as work surfaces for artistic purposes in the future. He also kept the sports bag and the spray paint cans, but the core-board will be offered to the thrift store for merchandising purposes.

Skateboard decks awaiting pick-up.

Sixteen of the skateboard decks are awaiting pick-up with plenty of other Freecyclers happy to claim them if this round of claimers don’t turn up. The bike parts have already been delivered to The Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre and all the things my son wanted to keep, bar the chipboard, has already been taken to his home. The core-board will be offered to the thrift shop this week (weather pending).

Both my children have been very good about being responsible for taking all their stuff once they settled into their own homes. I guess I made it clear that leaving it behind wasn’t an option. Which  proves that parents don’t have to hold on to their kids stuff forever. In fact I was talking to a friend of a friend last week who gave her son a ultimatum of pick up your stuff or I’m getting rid of it. She wasn’t popular at first but he got over it and she is no longer housing his clutter.

Today’s Mini Mission

Reassess and possibly declutter a little more stuff from a storage space in your home. I have been working on my garage again, which is my launching place for everything that leaves my home. This time around I have been focused on clearing it of items that belong to my son, who has left home. We achieved a lot in that area this week which I will tell you more about in a post tomorrow.

Eco Tip for the Day

Just like my decluttering approach you can gradually improve your carbon footprint by implementing a new environmentally friendly routine into your life on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be a chore but a fun challenge to not only help the planet but quite often it turns out will also save you money.

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

Decluttering is all about change.

• Changing the way you think about stuff: It isn’t important. It can trigger memories but doesn’t contain them. It usually becomes clutter eventually no matter how excited you were at acquiring it in the first place. It doesn’t raise peoples’ opinions of you. It doesn’t make you happy in the long term. You have to work to acquire it, which may rob you of precious time spent taking care of those and that which are actually important to you. 
• Changing long formed ideas and habits: You are not obliged to keep stuff no matter how it was acquired ~ gifts, heirlooms, rewards, awards, prises, souvenirs… . You are also not obliged to accept stuff ~ gifts, freebies, special offers… . You can express your wishes, ahead of time, to those close to you that you would rather not receive gifts and learn to say no when people offer you other things that you don’t need. It is OK to say no politely.
• Changing your shopping habits: Replacing what you are decluttering will put you back to square one in no time. I have found that resisting the temptation to purchase things that aren’t necessary can soon become a habit that requires no effort or cause any disappointment.
• Changing your mind about what need is: Chances are most of that stuff you are afraid to get rid of, in case you need it one day, was never really needed in the first place and probably never will. Don’t be confused between need and want.

If you aren’t prepared to change, then the chances are, your attempt to declutter will fail or your decluttering will be a never ending process. All these changes can be made gradually, you don’t have to go cold turkey or become a new person overnight. The changes in me during my decluttering process have been gradual and painless. Remembering all the while that these are all changes for the better makes it easier.

Are you ready to change? Have you noticed the changes in yourself already? Tell us about it.

Oh I forgot to mention. The result of all these changes can be a beautiful, wonderful, simplifying, economical, time saving and liberating thing.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some garden related items. Tools you don’t use, empty plant pots, bits of wood or wire that are rotting or rusted, seeds you are never going to plant… .

Eco Tip for the Day

Try changing your usual wash cycles to ones a little shorter and more economical. You might be surprised that your clothes come out just as clean.

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 have written, more than once, about clutter categories on my blog. Categories such as obligation clutter, sentimental clutter, lazy clutter, guilt clutter… One category I have written about before but am not sure I have ever labelled is Life Circle Clutter.

I have been reminded by recent events that people usually have their own particular clutter weakness or weaknesses. I have also noticed that these weaknesses may involve not accepting that a certain phase of ones life is now in the past.

For example, are you reluctance to let go of the fact that there are no longer young children permanently in your life. Does your home have enough kiddy items ~ toys particularly ~ to cater to more than one small child living there permanently. While in fact children only visit their once or twice a year with the occasional half hour visit from neighbours’ children.

Do you have enough kitchen items, linen, and rooms to cater for a large family while there is only two of you left in the home. Do you know someone who is reluctant to part with a shed full of tools that even they admit are rarely, if ever, used.

This is not simply a case of “I might need it someday.” but more of a reluctance to let go of the past and be realistic about who and what one is in the here and now.

I am not talking about being reluctant to part with items of past interest that one is still able and likely to return to. This is a case of being resistant to the circle of life. There comes a time when we simply pass through phases that are never to return and it can be very sad if we can’t accept that. Life is all about change. Change isn’t a bad thing it is simply inevitable. That doesn’t mean that you can’t still enjoy these things it just means you don’t have to cater to them 24/7. A bucket of toys for visiting children, a realistic number of items to cater for the occasional guest and enough tools for the odd jobs you still perform around the home…

Enjoy the happy memories, revel in your new circumstances and make the most of life no matter what phase of it you are in. And, of course, let go of those excess things that are now of little or no use to you.

Today’s Mini Mission

Let go of some grown children clutter ~ This is something long ago left behind by your grown child. Your home is not a storage unit, ask them to collect it and let them know you are going to get rid of it otherwise. With a little diplomacy this is possible without alienating them.

Eco Tip for the Day

Check the water flow of your shower (litres per minute). If it uses more than 9 litres per minute I would suggest you buy a new water saving shower head. Some go as low as 7.5 litres per minute.

To test the shower run it on full blast for 10 seconds. It should use no more than 1.5 litres in that time.

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 was travelling on a train last week when two middle aged men boarded and sat down quite near to me. They began chatting to each other in a familiar way and as the conversation progressed one man asked the other about the status of his fishing boat. In reply the other man said that his boat had barely been used since his children had come along. Its lack of use and position in his front yard had caused it to be the target of break-and-enter more than once and was being ravaged by the elements of sun and weather. For all these reasons he had come to a sensible decision and sold the boat before it became worthless to anyone. He continued on with the conversation by telling his acquaintance that whenever he felt the urge to go fishing he simply hired a boat. He followed on with the fact that hiring a boat cost about $80 for a few hours but in the long run that made much more economical sense than owning one of his own.

I very much wanted to lean over and tell the man that I thought he was very sensible, however my daughter, who was sitting between myself and this logical chap, would have ben mortified had I done so. I decided instead to share his story with you.

Do you own anything that you would be better off hiring or borrowing occasionally rather than owning one yourself? Particularly big expensive items that cost money to run, maintain and even register to use.

Today’s Mini Mission

Round up and declutter shoes ~ Do you have shoes in the car, shoes in your bedroom, shoes at both the front and back doors? Why not find a simple solution to keep the bulk of them in one area.

Eco Tip for the Day

If you use a dozen eggs in a week, $2 is about the difference between…

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

Have you ever been in a relationship with a person who was just too hard to please. Someone that no matter what you gave them it was never enough. Your time, your effort and your hard earned money all wasted in vain, that person were never satisfied. You even went into debt buying the things they wanted and they would to be happy for a short while but then it was back to wanting something else. The stuff you gave them accumulated leaving you with the task of taking care of it or cleaning around it, a constant reminder of your foolishness.

Was this relationship worth the effort? Was it satisfying? Are you still in it?

Was and is this relationship with yourself? If so then isn’t never too late to redefine it and begin again. Hopefully you can do this with a little understanding and compassion for yourself, otherwise seek professional help.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something you are keeping “just in case”.

Eco Tip for the Day

Instead of shopping go for a walk with a friend, a swim at the beach or take in a movie.

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

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

 

Cindy

“Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put it away, you feel thrifty and intelligent: ‘I’m saving food!’ Then a month later when blue hair is growing out of the ham, and you throw it away, you feel really intelligent: ‘I’m saving my life!'”

– George Carlin, comedian

I just finished reading the book The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn. Briefly, Kathleen is a former restaurant and food critic who earns a degree at Le Cordon Bleu. One evening, back in the United States, she is grocery shopping and starts following a woman who is filling her cart only with highly processed, packaged foods including roast beef dinners, macaroni and cheese, and just-add-water scalloped potatoes. She finally strikes up a conversation with the women and hears the confession that the woman does not know how to cook, at all. From this, Kathleen gets the idea to open the Kitchen Counter Cooking School: She finds nine women who all confess to not knowing how to cook, and she trains them over the course of several months. Along the way, Kathleen talks about food politics, food waste, processed foods, sustainability, as well as how to wield a knife and other kitchen basics.

The sections on food waste caught my eye as it relates to clutter. Please bear with me as I quote some big sections of the book.

“Even as we bemoan food prices, American consumers are generally unaware that they spend less of their wages on food than any other country in the world; just under 10 percent of their paychecks. Compare that to 1900, when 40 percent of wages went toward food. Around 1960, the first time the amount spent on food was no longer the biggest expenditure, the figure was about 25 percent. The declining cost comes with the rise of the industrialization of farming practices and the shift of everything we eat – from pigs and cows to orange juice – into mass produced merchandise.”

“Perhaps it’s the lack of investment that leads to a cavalier attitude toward food. We may give thanks for the bounty once a year [Thanksgiving in the US], but then as a country we collectively waste about 40 percent of the food produced for consumption the rest of the time. Anthropologist Timothy Jones spent more than a decade studying food waste. His research finds that some crops sit abandoned or unharvested in the fields where they’re grown. Supermarkets or suppliers discard another few percent dismissed as too imperfect for retail. The rest – about 25 to 30 percent – we throw away at home. That food goes into landfills to rot, where it emits clouds of methane, a greenhouse gas more toxic and damaging than carbon monoxide.

” ‘By treating edibles as a disposable commodity, we teach our children not to value food,’ says Jonathan Bloom… He puts the figure on what we waste at more than $100 billion annually. This jived with what I found in the interviews with the volunteers and the kitchen visits [to her student’s homes before the lessons began] and what I observed in my own house and in the homes of friends. A few of the volunteers agreed to keep a journal of what they bought, ate, and threw out for two week. The result? They reported less waste due to the guilt they felt knowing they had to write it down, but even then, an average of 18 percent of their grocery bills went into the trash.

“But why do we waste so much? Both Jones and Bloom offer some interesting insights.

“First people often shop for the life they aspire to, not their real one. [Aspirational clutter!] Everyone knows that they’re supposed to eat fruit and vegetables, so we stock up on perishables. Since most people don’t plan meals for the week, those beets or greens that looked so great at the farmers’ market sit untouched as we end up eating convenience foods. [Impulse purchases!] With proper planning, buying in bulk or loading up on two-for-one deals can be a genuine money saver; without a plan, it’s just a recipe for double or triple the amount of food tossed away.

“Dr. Trubek from the University of Vermont has studied the activities of home cooks for years… ‘Planning menus is the greatest skill that we’ve collectively lost,’ she said. ‘That, and what to do with leftovers.’

Various chefs and food experts offer their ideas on how to eliminate food waste:

• Participate in an “eating down the fridge” challenge where you avoid buying groceries for a week and intentionally eat down your pantry and refrigerator.  [Use it up challenge!]
• Put a photo you like at the back of your refrigerator. Your fridge shouldn’t be so full that you can’t see it.
• Use up old products first, which is known as rotation in the restaurant world.
• Buy a realistic amount of produce. In our family, when I buy bananas, I just get four, not an entire bunch. Pears go bad quickly, and I usually buy only two of those – a half for each person.
• Especially in the United States and Europe, you can let the grocery store be your pantry: There will be more bananas  pears, cereal, flank steak next time you shop. Just because you can buy something doesn’t mean that you should.
• Don’t be afraid to substitute. If  you need a zucchini for a recipe but only have a green pepper, use that instead. No Panko? Use regular bread crumbs as a substitute. [Use it up challenge!]
• Don’t give up too easily on your food. Peel away the dent or the brown spot rather than throwing the whole thing away.
• Bought too much? Try IQF, individually quick frozen. Spread the extra berries or veggies on a baking sheet and freeze them. When frozen, sweep them into a plastic bag. (And don’t forget to use them!)
• Clean our your condiment shelf by taking some similar flavors and combine them into a marinade. There are sites on the web that will help you to know what flavors work well with what if you’re struggling with this idea. Here’s one possible helper.
• Soup is the great user of all-things-leftover.
• Don’t try to reinvent the culinary wheel for every meal. Develop a stable of recipes that you enjoy and know how to make, and lean on those for the majority of your meals.
• Take leftovers to work and pack them in your kid’s lunches.

On a different note, thank you to everyone who searched the Internet for the blog post I was looking for. It was found on Small Notebook, and here it is.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something from your pantry that isn’t healthy for you even though most people stock it. The best way to avoid unhealthy food is to not keep it in your home. ~ Examples:- White sugar, pasta, sweet sauces, white rice, white flours, candy…

Eco Tip for the Day

 No need for a tip today as there are plenty in Cindy’s post above.

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

Since I have brought us back to the subject of being open minded, now seems as good a time as any to write a post about our state of mind when it comes to stuff. I was reading a post this morning, which I will link to on Friday, and one quote really stood out for me…

“Most of us have so much – much more than the majority of the world at least (and more than our primal ancestors ever dreamed of), yet we live with a misplaced sense of deprivation.” ~ MARK SISSON

This statement puts into words something I wonder about often. I think about it from all aspects. There is the “Have” side where, as Mark mentions, people seemingly have much more than they need but are forever wanting more, so feel deprived. And then there is the “Less Privileged” side where people can’t afford all the trappings of life and naturally feel deprived. Then there is the minimalist who chooses and is happy to live a life like the less privileged and doesn’t feel deprived at all. What is different about his state of mind.

It is understandable to feel deprived when one works hard but struggles to provide the necessities in life ~ food, clothing, shelter and medical care. But when one feels deprived when they can afford this an more, then perhaps something else is wrong.  Or perhaps we are simply duped about what it is we should be striving for. When one comes to terms with the idea that what they give and what they have in life is enough, then stuff no longer matters.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a kitchen item that you have simply because everyone else does. If you don’t find it helpful on a regular basis then it isn’t necessary to you. ~ Examples:- Garlic press, potato peeler, cake pans, blender, turkey baster, meat thermometer, deep fryer…

Eco Tip for the Day

Be conservative about how many dishes you use when cooking and eating. The less there are to wash the less water and electricity is wasted. And in my case ~ my dishwasher is out of service at the moment ~ this tip saves on dishpan hands. I realised, while preparing ingredients for dinner last night, that it would save me on washing up if I just left all the chopped veggies on the cutting board rather than putting them in bowls. I have also discovered that washing plastic bowls, that have had greasy leftovers in, is a real pain. Which for me is another good reason to declutter more plastic.

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

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

Deb J

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s Mini Mission

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

Eco Tip For The Day

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

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

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