Cindy

My in-laws are visiting, and I was thinking about my father-in-law. He really likes to do home improvement projects, to work on his own vehicle, and he’s done some truly outstanding woodworking projects.

My husband is not really like his father. No one else I know works on their own car, my husband can only do the simplest of woodworking, and although he does home improvement projects, he doesn’t love it. Yet at least some of his clutter reflects who he thinks he should be (see his Dad, above) and not who he really is.

The fancy name for this is “aspirational clutter,” but I’m going to call it “should” clutter because it defines who you think you should be.

You may have a bookshelf full of classic books, when really all you enjoy reading is popular fiction. However, you think you should be a person who owns, collects, reads, discusses, and enjoys classic books.

You may have a sewing machine – maybe even a sewing cabinet – and not even know how to thread the machine. But you think you should be the sort of person who is either so crafty or so frugal that you have need for a machine and all its accoutrements.

You have tools for home maintenance or automobile repair, but no interest, aptitude, or knowledge for doing these things, but you think that a “good” person should do their own home and car repairs.

You have craft or hobby supplies – probably a lot of them – for crafts that you’re sure you should try. The fact that you’ve owned them for more than a dozen years and haven’t tried the craft yet is only making you feel worse for not being what you should.

Stop “shoulding” on yourself. It’s nonsense. There is nothing you should be, just what you are. You are under no obligation to continue owning a bunch of items that simply remind you how insufficient you are in becoming what you (or maybe someone else) thought you should be. Move on! Sell it, give it away, return it to its owner, and free up your physical and emotional space for becoming what you are.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any item you haven’t used in six months. This could be a tool, dishes, some other not very useful to you item or  even an ingredient. You could do a use it up declutter on that ingredient. These items are usually found underneath useful things in drawers and in the mirky depths behind everything else in the cupboards.

Eco Tip for the Day

 Natural way to clean silver ~ http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/natural-way-clean-silver-3121.html. Warning:- It always pays to test any cleaning product or suggestion on an inexpensive, easily replaced item first.

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

Have you ever felt you need to make changes in your life, whether that be adding something healthy in, or stop doing something that isn’t good for you. Have you ever decided those changes are too hard to make and give up before you begin. Well, just like our small steady steps in decluttering you can also utilise this approach with other good habits you would like to implement.

I am using the 365 approach to cut back on the amount of coffee I drink. My goal is to only drink coffee outside of the house which of course isn’t everyday. I started out by not drinking coffee at home after 4pm for a while. Then I stopped imbibing from midday onwards. At this point I don’t have coffee at home unless I have had it by 10:30, the next step will be breakfast only and after that not at all. Much easier than cold turkey don’t you think.

The same method can be used to give up soda drinks (soft-drinks, pop whatever you call it), processed food, fatty foods, sugar laden treats, fast food, simple carbohydrates in general… whatever you feel is not contributing to your good health, the way you feel or the way you feel about how you look.

You can also reduce the portion size of these treats to begin with rather than, or as well as, reducing the number of times a day you usually imbibe. Cutting back is cutting back no matter which way you go about it. By continuing to reduce you will eventually find you no longer feel such strong cravings for these things in your life. And the joy of feeling so much better about yourself is the extra payoff to encourage you to stay strong.

Also, you may think you need to add a little exercise into your daily routine. You are reminded every time you are confronted with a set of stairs that your fitness could stand some improvement. The mistake a lot of people make is to think they have to do at least an hour of exercise three times a week for it to be of any benefit. They also think this requires expensive equipment or gym fees to accomplish. Approaching it in this fashion is fine if you think you can manage it but if the thought of that is keeping you immobile then once again the small steady steps approach might be the best to get you started. If you can manage to find ten minutes a day at first to go for a brisk walk then that is better than nothing.

You can also choose to take the stairs instead of the lift. Take the parking spot the furthest from the shopping centre entrance (quite often this is actually quicker and saves gas in your car). If it is a rainy day I will often climb my internal stairs twice per trip. That is if I am going up for some reason, I go up, I come down, and then I go up again, do what I have to do and then do the same in reverse on the return trip. It is great exercise and because it is done in short bursts and although I raise my heart rate, which is good, I don’t raise a sweat, therefore not needing a shower at the end of my exercise. Do this a few more times and I have added quite a bit of aerobic exercise to my day. It may not sound like much but the idea is to build on this as you start to feel fitter and keener.

Even things that are, in moderation, fine for you can actually become bad when overindulged in. You have found this out through how your shopping habits contributed to your clutter issues which in turn affected your peace of mind. So imagine how bad for you things are that weren’t even good for you in the first place. It is in your best interest to at least try to improve personal habits whether for health reasons, energy levels, for your own mental well being or perhaps to improve an external appearance that you aren’t happy with about yourself.

We have discussed before that resistance to old habits can be well established by 21 days so why not give it a try. What have you got to lose except maybe potential heart disease, insomnia, gout, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, skin problems, bowel issues, tooth decay… and even a few pounds if that is your goal.

Today’s Mini Mission

Consider decluttering your second television or the third one if you have that many. Let’s face it how much time do we really need to waste sitting around watching TV or videos.

Eco Tip for the Day

Taking care of yourself can mean consuming less, consuming fresh and consuming natural all of these things are better for the environment as well as you.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

Some of the clutter we accumulate over time is simply due to life changes. Growing older, changing interests, education, career change, kids growing up, injuries or illness, gaining or losing weight, relocating… All of these changes can leave in their wake items that are of no use to us. I am sure that we all have at least a little of this kind of clutter and this week we will work on it for our mini missions.

Monday – If you completed college or university more than five years ago it is probably time to declutter all those old college papers stacked in boxes in the attic, garage or basement. If you can’t bring yourself to get rid of them completely scan them and only keep the digital copies. Use text recognition software to convert the scans into editable and searchable text, making it easier to reference it should the need actually arise. It makes more sense to keep it in this format because it is far easier to access the information you need when you need it.

Tuesday – Go through your children’s clothing and assess what is worn out, no longer fits, is not useful to hand down to another of your children or be kept for another child should you be planning of having another one soon. Declutter what you will not need.

Wednesday – Declutter old sporting equipment for sports you no longer play. I have done this with our snorkelling gear, my son’s little league gear and  most of my softball gear as I have no intention of ever playing again. I kept my mitt as a keepsake because it is special to me and has lots of signatures from the Seattle Mariners on it.

Thursday – If you have moved sometime in the last ten years but still have clothing or equipment that does not fit with and has therefore not been used in your new location it is more than time you decluttered it. This could be clothing, sporting equipment, gardening implements, snow shovel…

Friday – Declutter old clothing that fitted with your previous life that are now no longer needed. This could be sports uniforms, work clothing, clothes that no longer fit, clothing that is inappropriate to the climate you now live in, clothing that is inappropriate for your age, maternity clothing if you have no intentions of having more children…

Saturday – Do a quick declutter of your children’s toys. There are often broken ones, ones they no longer enjoy to play with or ones they have simply grown to old for.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

February’s Habit Changing Challenge

Remember last month I set you the Habit Changing Challenge to make your bed everyday. How did you go with that? This month I have a new challenge for you. No leaving your clothes lying around. If they are dirty put them straight in the dirty clothes receptacle.  If you intend on using them again do not leave them draped over a chair, on the end of your bed or worse still, laying on the floor. Instead put them back on a coat hanger and hang them in a designated space in your wardrobe or provide hooks to hang them behind a door.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Always at least consider the eco friendly option when buying products. Just be mindful that they are actually eco friendly and not just labelled that way to entice the innocent. Also don’t be lured into paying an exorbitant amount of money for these items. It seems to me that any company that is truly interested in doing the right thing by the environment would prefer to encourage us to do the right thing by charging reasonable prices rather than to prey on our concerns while gouging our pockets in the process.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Last week, I wrote a post praising the wonderful feeling of getting old to-dos done. As I suspected, I was not alone in 1) having pletny of old to-dos that needed to be done and 2) in being overjoyed at how quickly many of them could be accomplished. That made me wonder: How long does (fill in the blank unpleasant chore) really take to do. Here are some of my results:

1. 1 second – Time to put keys in the same place every time I enter the house.
2. 7 seconds – Time to put shoes into shoe cubby and close closet door.
3. 17 seconds – Time to hang sweater on hanger, with one button fastened so it won’t fall off, and close the closet door.
4. 30 seconds to 2 minutes – Time to process the mail upon retrieving it from the post box. I immediately recycle the junk, shred the private, and put any bills or to-dos on the top of my in-box.
5. 1 minute – Time to make the bed, poorly OR 1 min, 40 seconds – time to make the bed well.
6. 1 minute – Time it takes to get more hangers from the bedroom, rather than stacking the laundry neatly on the side of the basket to be hung later.
7. 2 minutes – The time it took me to get the broom and dustpan, quickly sweep the kitchen, and return the tools to the laundry room. ALSO the time it takes for a cup of tea to heat.
8. 5 minutes – The time it took my daughter to floss and brush her teeth and me to clean one shelf in the medicine cabinet. Times 3 nights and the whole cabinet was cleaned and organized.
9. 11 minutes – Time to fold a mixed load of laundry: half folded, half hanging.
10. 17 minutes – Time to fold a basket of laundry that was mostly small things: socks, panties, and napkins.

I challenge you to do something that you’ve been putting off and see how long it really takes for your “boring” / “nasty” / “overwhelming” to-do to get done.

Today’s Mini Mission

This one is a no-brainer really. Even less perishable food has some sort of used by date. So if you have something in the pantry or freezer that hasn’t been used in a long time find a recipe to use it up on. You never know you might just stumble upon a recipe that will end up in your regular rotation this way.

Eco Tip for the Day

Secondhand clothes aren’t just for those who can’t afford new. Daily Lime reminded their readers yesterday that it is a good idea to source secondhand school uniforms. Kids often grow out of their clothes before they wear them out so why not circulate them. Consider organising a uniform swap at your school at the beginning of the school year.

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

 

As you all know I dole out a lot of suggestions about what to declutter. I even put forward formulas on how many is enough of anything to keep. It is no secret that I’m not a lover of gadgets that are only useful if you perform a task in large quantities and/or frequently. Dusting is certainly not my favourite pastime so nicknacks are no longer my thing. For one thing they require somewhere to be displayed which means excess furniture which takes up space and requires more dusting. Practicality is important to me while status symbols aren’t, so I don’t need fancy things on show to prove anything to anyone. That is not to say that I don’t like beautiful object of which I certainly have a few that I enjoy. And I like to have enough craft supplies on hand to be creative when I feel the urge. Not too many of course…. Therefore my decluttering goal is simply this ~ to reduce my belongings to a point that I am happy with the result.

You, on the other hand, may love your nicknacks and get joy out of dusting them for the chance to admire them up close. You might also entertain a lot so prefer to be sure you have enough of everything on hand to cater to a crowd. You could find that the finicky cleaning of kitchen gadgets is worth the time they save you during the cooking process. And when out in public you perhaps feel more comfortable smartly dressed in designer clothes and don’t wish to be seen in the same outfit on a too regular basis. You might find your home to be more homely with lots of furniture to adorn it. But crafting supplies are of no importance to you what so ever and waste no space in your home… Nonetheless your decluttering goal is the same as mine. You wish to declutter to a point where you are happy with the volume of your belongings.

Decluttering isn’t a one size fits all situation. What I require or desire could be completely different to you. However we all want to feel happy and comfortable in our own homes and that should be the only goal each of us sets.

Today’s Mini Mission

Do the same for your crockery as you did yesterday for your cutlery. If you have too much let some go. I ran out of cups one evening when friends came back for coffee and cake after being out for dinner together. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have enough I just should have put the dishwasher on before we left.

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

A place for everything and everything in it’s place!

• If you always know where everything is you won’t need to replace it because you can’t find it.

Know the difference between need and want

• It is easy to convince yourself that something you want is something you need. Don’t be fooled by this.

Only shop for what you need

• This one speaks for itself, if you aren’t bringing anything you don’t need into your home it will stay uncluttered.

Make it clear you don’t want clutter gifts

• It is possible to convince most people not to buy you gift or at least insist that people only give you consumable gifts or gifts of experience such as movie tickets etc.

Remove clutter receptacles in your home

• Adding clutter is difficult if you have no where to store it. Things such as bookcases, display cabinets, baskets, shelves and storage containers are clutter receptacles. Get rid of them as soon as you get rid of the clutter that was in them or you may just fill them up again.

Don’t sacrifice your principals for the desires of others

• Don’t accept other peoples clutter just so you don’t hurt their feelings. Your feelings matter too and you shouldn’t be expected to sabotage your lifestyle in this way.

Remove any items that become useless immediately

• Lifestyle changes are inevitable as time goes by. Once an item become of no further use to you remove it from your home or once again clutter will start to develop. Just because something wasn’t clutter once doesn’t mean it won’t become clutter in the future.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter the kids toy area to make room for the inevitable influx of new fun things. Regardless of how much you manage to contain the influx you will still need room. Kid will be kids and it is there job to have fun.

Today’s Decluttered Item

 It is amazing how little stationary one needs when most all data, correspondence or bills that comes into your home comes in digital form. Needless to say these folders and filing supplies are no longer needed.

Stationary

Eco Tip for the Day

When entertaining, rather than resort to disposable crockery and cutlery, use all the non-disposable items you have on hand, if necessary borrow more from family, neighbours or friends or get the guests to bring their own. I put on the occasional neighbourhood get together and all guests are instructed to bring their own cups, plates, and cutlery. They never turn down the invitations so I guess they don’t mind.

My mother, Leona, is the oldest of three girls. She was 84 her last birthday. Growing up, I thought nothing of all the stuff we had because it was put away neatly, displayed neatly and everyone seemed to have all that kind of stuff. My parents were neat freaks so it wasn’t surprising I grew up to be one too. It wasn’t until I moved out on my own that I learned that we didn’t need to have all of that stuff. As I grew older I became even more aware of what we didn’t NEED. I had the 12 place setting of china, numerous pots & pans, and plenty more kitchen gadgets as well as nic nacs for the walls and shelves throughout the house. It was in my late 30’s that I realized that I had all of this stuff that I never used. I think my china had been used 2-3 times, my expensive knife set had a couple of the knives used a couple of times, I had serving pieces and decorations that I never used. Ack! What was I doing with all of this? In the meantime, Mom was accumulating more and more. She now had 2-12 place settings of china plus her everyday dishes. She had a serving platter or bowl or dish for everything you could imagine, a 30 cup coffee maker, a 12 cup coffee maker, and a 4 cup coffee maker. You name it and she seemed to have it.

In 1993 my father died and suddenly she not only didn’t have the income to continue to live in their 3600 square feet of house but she didn’t want to stay in that town. She wanted to move around with me. That was fine but what to do with all of that stuff. We sure couldn’t afford a place big enough for all of it and didn’t need it if we could. So before she followed me to Colorado Springs we had a huge sale. We sold over $3000 worth of furniture, tools (my father had every tool there was and sometimes 2-3 of them), china, and gadgets galore. I also made trip after trip to the dump with things my father had help onto. Things like 2-3 maps of every state in the US because he was always doing trip routing for friends going on vacation. Every brochure for every vehicle made by Ford, Mercury or Lincoln since 1950. The paperwork for every tax return since 1950. And on and on. I shredded what needed it and then took it all to the dump. We sold 3 cars and bought one new one. I thought we had done pretty good until the movers came to move us. Ugh. Box after box after box. The pile was over my head and took up over half of the 26 foot long living room.

Since Dad’s death we have moved to Colorado Springs, Nampa Idaho, Indianapolis Indiana and finally here to the Phoenix area. In every move we sold or gave away more things. My mother was a crafter and had a room full of craft supplies. We keep getting rid of furniture and craft supplies and kitchen items and anything else I could talk her into getting rid of. But we still have plenty we could dispense with. Over most of this time anything that was decluttered went after much discussion and lots of heel dragging at first. Mom has this belief that if you spend money for it you should keep it until it wears out. If you do get rid of it then you should sell it for close to what you bought it for. It’s not realistic but that’s the way she is. I don’t think it helped that my father was just as bad.

When I started following Colleen’s blog I began a campaign to declutter even more. I didn’t know how I was going to get Mom to go along with me but I knew we needed to do something. I decided to be more talkative about why I was getting rid of things that were mine. Now mind you, my mother has a hard time with me getting rid of things even if I paid for them or someone gave them to me. I’ve known her to dig things out of the trash because she might be able to use them. But I decided that maybe if I talked about why I was getting rid of something and why I was or was not selling it she would begin to start thinking the same way. Well, it worked. She has gone from “I’m not getting rid of anything more” to “Deb, what do you think about getting rid of this?” She still has a ways to go but it’s been amazing to see the difference. One other thing that I think has helped is that she has really learned how much energy it takes to have all this stuff. Even if it is shut away in a box somewhere, it is there and you know it. The other day she made the comment, “You know, I’m glad that when I die you won’t have so much to get rid of as before. Can you imagine having to make all those decisions when you are already dealing with my death?” Yippee!! She’s finally getting it. What really blew me away was the other day when she was talking to my aunt. This aunt has barrels of stuff in her garage attic that she has not opened since they moved to their present house 35 years ago. She’s sentimental and hangs onto EVERYTHING. They have 2 of their 3 sons still living. They are in their 50’s. Do you think their sons want to go through all that stuff when their parents die? Well, Mom was talking to my aunt and all their stuff came up in the conversation. Mom says to her, “Well, if you could afford to fly us there, Deb & I would be glad to help you get rid of all of that now before you have to do it in a hurry.” I was so proud of her. More and more she is beginning to get tired of things or finds them to feel like clutter. She’s slowly working on areas like her closet, her bathroom, and her dresser. When the weather gets cooler she says she wants to, “Get in that shed and get rid of most of that junk.” So now you know that people really can change. No person is a hopeless cause. You may have that decluttered house yet.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something intended for pampering.

Today’s Declutter Item

These don’t fit with the mini mission for the day but they sure are things that have a use that has never been utilised. Hopefully someone will buy them at the thrift shop.

Eco Tip of the Day

 Save a tree ~Stop junk mail. It mostly contains advertisements for stuff you don’t need anyway. In Australia this is as easy as putting a No Junk Mail sticker on your mailbox.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

I received an email from Di last week which contained this passage…

I’ve got to the deeper layers – it’s not just about clothes… and it’s quite hard. Jewellery (gifted and pretty – just too much – have managed to donate quite a bit), photos (out of 6 albums and a box and now ready to go and be scanned but have discovered loads of digital ones on a hard drive), digital clutter (hard cos it’s not so tangible and takes ages – currently doing a ‘folder’ a day), my christening shawl (beautiful and knitted by my gran but now going to a friend’s daughter who is having a baby), unwanted ‘inherited stuff’ that ‘should’ be worth money (all off to the auction house) and you’ll laugh at this one – concert tickets from the late 80s early 90’s – hard to part with simply cos I’d kept them in the first place and keeping them became a habit, doh!

…which is what inspired this weeks set of mini missions. It got me thinking about things I still have or do out of habit, habits passed down through the generations and habits followed just because they are the norm. Some of these habits are quite futile when you start to dissect them.

Have you noticed that keeping things becomes a habit, like Di and her concert tickets. Once started, collecting habits can be hard to break, even though you might have lost the interest to continue you feel you should. Then when you do, so much history and sentiment is attached to these items yet, not so deep down, you really want to be rid of them and still you just can’t bring yourself to do it. At that point they have become clutter and you have two choices keep them or liberate the space and purge them. It is that simple, and that difficult, and the only person who can make the choice is you. The question is ~ what do you want more?

Then there are habits of the generations. In my parents, grandparents, great grandparents… eras it was the norm to pass down items like crystal, the good china, furniture and other items from one generation to the next. It is still happening to this day but what I have noticed among my readers here is that many of our generation don’t want these items that are usually “kept for good”. This creates a problem in itself ~ you feel obliged to accept these items because it is the custom (habit) to accept what is handed down. Well guess what you once again have choices, you can either conform either wilfully or against your will, you can accept and  use the items anytime not “just for good” or you can just say no, politely of course. Trust me, it is possible, I have done it.

Then there are the habits we have developed through childhood to adulthood simply from the world around us. Habits we don’t think twice about following until such I time comes that we begin for one reason or another to change the way we do things. Take today’s mini mission for example. My entire adult life I have always stocked white sugar, caster (baker’s) sugar, brown sugar and icing sugar in my pantry as did my mother before me. As one gets older too much of a good thing can end up on your waste line so for some time now I have been using low GI sugar in my tea, I also don’t bake sweets much any more, and recently I have started using maple syrup on my porridge (natural sugars, although still naughty, are better for you). It occurred to me last week that I have had the same canisters of white sugar and caster sugar in the pantry for a long time. The last time I bought it was purely out of habit. I have decided to free up a little space in the pantry by using up the white sugar and not restocking it. If a visitor wants white sugar they can use the caster sugar. Perhaps you keep stocking something out of habit that you really could live without.

One of the other things we do out of habit is own certain things simply because everyone else does. The idea of owning few or none of these things just seem weird somehow. Televisions are one of them, even having only one television in a household these days is unusual. As an Australian it is almost unheard of not to own a barbeque. And I know people think I am odd because my dining suite  seats fewer than six people.The fact that I only own one handbag disturbs many of my female friend, and Heaven forbid that it may not match the shoes or belt I am wearing. I think you understand by now what I am trying to say here. Society is broken so why bother trying to keep up with it anyway. Do the environment a favour and march to your own drum.

These are just a few of the things we do out of habit that clutter up space in our homes. Why not spend your week questioning some of your habits, perhaps there is a better way of doing things. It is never too late to change especially when it is for the better.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a consumable item that you don’t use much where an alternate product you also keep will suffice.  Good places to find these items is in your pantry, among your cleaning supplies or your bathroom cabinet.

Today’s Declutter Item

Here is a consumable product I had too much of and the silly things is I don’t usually get lazy and do hemming the cheats way anyway. I either sew them by machine or use good old needle and thread. So why did I have so much of this, because it was cheap and I could. That simple and that foolish.

Hemming Tape

Something I Am Grateful For Today

It was another of those days today when I was grateful for my mother and the things she taught me.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – A Review of the Basics

Cindy

Why 365 Less Things?

Let’s get the grammatical question out of the way first and promptly. Yes, we know it’s supposed to be 365 Fewer Things, but it’s not. That’s all there is to it. (Can you believe that Colleen regularly gets comments from readers telling her she’s named the blog wrong? Do they think they’re the first to notice? Declutter this worry from your mind: You’re not the first.)

Now on to the meat of the matter: Why does 365 Less Things exist, and how can it help you?

I truly don’t know the origins of the 365 Thing A Day challenge. I saw it the first time on Unclutterer in a comment that Colleen had written. (Thanks to my friend Janet K. who referred me to Unclutterer, without which my life certainly would have been different over the past two years.)

The idea was simple: Declutter by getting rid of one thing each day.

I thought, “I can do that,” and I’m still doing it almost two years later. My house was a disaster of surface clutter (clean cabinets and drawers, messy counters and floors). Once I started, I couldn’t stop! On average I’ve decluttered three things a day, and it seems like I could go on for another two years.

Decluttering just one thing a day is such a small challenge. It’s so easy to find just one thing. You can take a random approach, open a cabinet or cupboard, and grab one thing, or you can be much more methodical and start in one location, systematically working your way through the house, garage, attic or basement, shed, yard, your neighbor’s side yard (oh wait – you better stop!)

Decluttering one thing a day allows you time to decide the best way to dispose of an item: sell, give away, recycle, trash.

Decluttering one thing a day allows you time to think hard about sentimental clutter and items that you think you “should” keep but don’t want to.

Decluttering one thing a day allows you time to realize the error of your ways in acquiring goods –  whether you shop too much, garage sale too frequently, or never pass up a treasure when it’s bulky trash day in your neighborhood – and slowly amend those ways so you don’t re-clutter at the same rate (or faster!) than you de-clutter.

Decluttering a thing a day is like the saying, “A  journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.”

What one item will you be decluttering today?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter those shoes that you rarely wear that are too uncomfortable, you just don’t like or don’t fit your current lifestyle.

Today’s Declutter Item

So here are my declutter items for today. The shoes that I rarely of don’t use. One pair are too uncomfortable, one pair don’t suit my current lifestyle and the other pair I haven’t worn in so long I don’t even remember what they went with. Either way they are out of here.

Shoes I don't use

Something to be grateful for today

The beautiful sunny day that we have experienced here today. I took the opportunity to take a walk in the sunshine. I saved some gas too by walking to the post office and the dry cleaners. Win win!

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Are you hanging on to old boyfriend /old  girlfriend / ex-wife / ex-husband clutter? Breakin’ up is hard to do, and breaking’ up with the ex’s stuff can be even harder.

Some of the things you may have that remind you of him or her:

• fancy underclothes
• photos
• greeting cards and letters
• jewelry
• vacation souvenirs
• music (what do they call mix-tapes in the days of CDs and iTunes?)
• toiletries
• food that he/she preferred
• debt from outings or vacation that you took together or from his/her bad spending habits.
• a phone or texting bill that went way over your minutes
• a hobby you no longer enjoy

I once bought a card that said, “Your ex is like Thanksgiving leftovers. You’re better off when the turkey’s gone.” The same with the stuff that is physically or emotionally burdening you. When you encounter one of these emotional triggers, it may cause feelings of embarrassment, shame, longing or regret. Those are all emotions you don’t need in your life. As hard as it is, you need to tackle those things scattered throughout your home that cause disturbing feelings and firmly invite them to live somewhere else. If you have a whole box of items – or more than one box – that causes you to swerve away from it like a bag full of stink every time you get near, then throw the whole thing away without opening it, or get a friend to help you make your way through*. Negative emotional baggage is clutter that none of us need, and if it’s physically in your home as a reminder of true love gone wrong, it needs to go. The sooner, the better.

* “A bag full of stink” was my husband’s contribution to this post. I thought it exactly captured what I meant to say. Thanks Hon.

Today’s Declutter Item

I am finally getting to the bottom of the Snoopy clutter. I figured these are never going to sell on ebay and sent them packing to the thrift store. Goodbye McDonald’s toy clutter.

Snoopy Snoopy and more Snoopy

Something I Am Grateful For Today

This message that my daughter posted on facebook on the weekend. She is extremely gifted in writing lovely heartfelt messages. All true of course. 😉

Not a single woman in the world could ever hope to be as incredible as my beautiful mum! I could only hope to be half the woman she is. I love you mum! Happy birthday!!!

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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