I have just started reading a book called ~ A complaint Free World by Will Bowen ~ How to stop complaining and start enjoying the life you always wanted. I haven’t got far in to the book but the story goes something like this. Will Bowen is a church minister who has started a movement to get people to stop complaining, criticising and gossiping. The idea is to use the 21 days to a better habit principal to stop yourself from participating in these futile negative behaviours.  He offers free purple bracelets to people who want to participate and whenever you find yourself complaining… you must move the bracelet from one wrist to the other and start the twenty-one day period all over again.

Of course this has got me thinking about other negative habits not the least of all being ~ Forever desiring things you don’t have and clinging to physical possessions that in the end is really just stuff. After reading the comments that came on last Saturday from people sharing their stories about letting go of these habits I think we have proof that this is possible. The only thing holding you back is your own mindset. Over time and with a little practice mindsets can be changed.

In the first few months of my declutter mission I very quickly figured out the the mistake I had made in the past was to declutter then reclutter with new items whose novelty or tenuous usefulness would eventually wear off. Then of course it is back to square one, a house full of clutter and the arduous task ahead for me to unclutter it again. Although blissfully ignorant for some time I am however not stupid. So once my mind was focused on permanently decluttering or minimising it didn’t take rocket science to figure out the solution to ending this cycle.

I was amazed how quickly I changed my mindset from shopping for what I wanted to mostly only shopping for what I needed. The thought of not adding any more clutter to my house was enough to convince me to change my ways. The fact that I was decluttering slowly this time had the unintended side effect of making me continuously aware of staying uncluttered. Had I decluttered quickly like I had in the past I dare say that old vicious cycle would still be in place.

If I can do it you can do it too.  If any of my readers out there are having trouble getting their head around this idea here is your chance to give it a go. Why no pledge to Buy Nothing New in October.

Buy Nothing New…

…is not about going without, nor is it Buy Nothing New Never. It’s about taking October to reassess what we really need, think about where the stuff we buy comes from (finite resources), where it goes (landfill), and what our alternatives are. It is about conscientious consumption and by not spending on stuff we don’t need, increasing our savings for the things we do need. Pledge to Buy Nothing New during October and challenge over consumption. You’ll have more time on your hands and money in your pockets.

There is also a competition to win $5k see details at this link www.buynothingnew.com.au/competition/

It is only 31 days and as they say it only takes 21 days to form a new habit. So give it a go and you might find you will break the cycle of recreational shopping for good. How much easier will it be to keep your home decluttered then?

Today’s Declutter Item

I have a set of boring brown glass mugs that were given to me as an engagement present form an appreciative customer 25 years ago. My mother-in-law hates these ugly cups (sorry Barb) but I like them. She has bought me “nicer cups” over the years that have come and gone but the ugly brown ones still remain. My declutter item today is one of the mugs she bought me that now is a loaner because it’s partner got broken. It only ever gets used when all the others are either dirty or in the dishwasher waiting to be put away. My dominant tidy side thinks that it just makes the cupboard look untidy so off to the thrift shop it goes. I will continue to use my trusty brown cups of which I still have five of the six I began my marriage with over 24 years ago now. Thank you Margaret Muller if you are still out there I am still using your cups.

One cup too many

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I love that I can find silly ways to amuse myself. I was walking home from a friends house yesterday and saw a magpie in the grass with a big juicy law grub in its mouth. Meanwhile this bird is still singing away and I couldn’t help but thinking, “Stop talking with your mouth full you naughty bird!” and went off chuckling to myself up the street.

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

Hi folks, I am back at the helm of the good ship 365lessthings and ready to set sail again on my declutter journey. In the two weeks while I was away visiting my loved ones afar my conviction to minimise my possessions was reinforced by situations I encountered. Although none of what I am about to write was a revelation to me, as I have already learned these lessons at different points in my life, I feel it is my duty to put into words the wisdom that is to be gained by what I experienced.

• As you get older it gets harder to maintain your home when there is too much clutter. Too much to clean and too much to move in order to get at what else needs cleaning is not a good position to be in as your body becomes less agile and more frail.
• Being too emotionally attached to objects makes it very hard to be rational about paring down when you reach the stage mentioned above.
• It always pays to invest a little time and money preparing for the future. If you waste all your money on unessential items now you won’t have the money to spend on adapting your environment to suit your changing needs when the time comes that this is required. That is, a house full of trinkets and excesses will be no good to you when what you really need and can’t afford is bathroom renovations to better suit your mobility needs.
• The rule above applies even when you are young, the option to change direction in your life is much easier if you have a little cash set aside to fall back on during the transition period. I am not saying hoard your money and don’t have any fun, I am suggesting you strike a balance between future needs and immediate wants and budget for both.
• Don’t complain about your circumstances if you chose instant gratification possessions over planning for your future. You have no one else to blame but yourself for the life choices you make.
• Wisdom doesn’t always come with age unless you pay attention to what is going on around you and learn from not only your mistakes but the mistakes of others. The good news is that it is never too late to turn things around.
• Status symbols, that is things that you possess in order to convey a certain image of yourself to others, can be a hinderance even if you can afford the indulgence. Maintaining that image can become more important to you than altering your lifestyle to better suit your needs. You can fool your ego into believing what is best for you but you can’t fool your heart or your body.

Some of the statements above my sound a little judgemental, they aren’t meant to be. They are just observations I have made over the last couple of weeks that I will keep tucked away amongst the collective wisdom in my mind. Hopefully I will be able to recall them when I need their help the most and maybe today they will help you too.

Today’s Declutter Item

The item for today is probably an example of why not to declutter rather than what I usually preach but nevertheless I hope common sense will prevail rather than this be a bad example to you all. This iPod belonged to my daughter but some time many years back it stopped working properly. I suppose, because it didn’t take up much space, it has been overlooked during previous decluttering sessions. However it made its way to the surface but my son decided he would fiddle with it one more time before giving up on it and lo and behold it has not missed a beat since. During our recent trip up north we returned it to my daughter adding a little more clutter to her life but relieving our house of one more small item.

The case of the fickle iPod

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Although I am not what you would call an avid reader I am grateful to all the writers and publishers out there that produce works whether for our entertainment or to share knowledge and wisdom.

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

Among the answers to the ten questions post last week was a response from Cindy to question 2 (For Me)…

Question 2. ~ My style of decluttering is “Slow & Steady” do you think that is a style that works for you and makes my blog unique?

Cindy’s Answer ~  Yes, I think slow and steady for decluttering, like weight loss and love, is better than “fast and furious” which often doesn’t last. In terms of your blog being unique. It must be, because I’ve read every single post, and I don’t read any other blogs except for a very occasional peak.

In response to that answer from Cindy I received this email message from Delores…

I think she is on to something.  When you declutter in a hurry you are not changing habits so are more likely to continue bringing things into your life.  When you go slowly you realize why you are doing it and the weight stays off, your spending patterns change, you can develop new habits.

I have repeated this same information over and over again in my blog because the same thing can be said many ways and people comprehend in different ways also. Clearly, the analogy Cindy used to explain the principles of the slow and steady approach spoke to Delores. So if you even notice that I repeat the same information here in different ways don’t think it’s because I am forgetful or have run out of things to say it is because comprehension is unique to us all and the more ways I say something the better the message will get through to everyone willing to hear it.

When I first started to declutter one thing a day the idea was to just take it easy and not overwhelm myself. Everything was tidy including the clutter that was tucked away in its neat hiding places. Yes I also intended doing a more thorough job of the task this time around  but was unaware of what I was about to discover. Once I got started and began reading minimalist blogs etc I started to realise that the clutter wasn’t the problem but the habits that got it there in the first place and the mindset that stopped me form releasing it were.

It wasn’t that I was oblivious of lifestyle choices causing the clutter I think I just chose to ignore them and follow the same habits most people exhibit. That is…

• Buy stuff not because you need it but because it makes you feel good. Of course the novelty wears off and then it’s back the shop for the next fix.
• Keeping stuff because you can and because it is the “done thing”. After all you shouldn’t give away memories right? 😕 Mementoes from your children and passed loved ones, gifts people give you, cute nicknacks from vacations, things you have deliberately collected over the years. And it would be crazy to get rid of things that you “might need some day” even though you haven’t used them in months or years even though you need the space they are wasting.

Sensible shopping habits, analysing each item, working out why I kept certain things became my new way to approach the declutter process. I think one needs to understand these elements of the task to make lasting change. Purging quickly without thinking about the cause just creates temporary space not wisdom.

When my husband suggested I start blogging about my decluttering experience I was at a stage where I had become far wiser about my situation and felt compelled to share that wisdom with others. I wanted other people to understand that tackling declutteing slowly and steadily could teach them the lessons to make lasting change. When I say slowly it doesn’t have to be as slow as one item a day but slowly enough that you can see the error of your ways because if you don’t see this you are doomed to repeat yourself. And if I have to repeat myself again and again to get that message across, so be it.

As Eve wrote in a later comment ~ As for whether this blog will continue to be useful to me, I have to say YES! Even when we think all has been said and done on any topic, it’s just a fact that frequent reinforcement is the best way to stick with any goal, so I’m counting on you to be here and reinforce my decluttering habits and help me to keep on the right path! Thanks.

Yes Eve, I will be here with the same information different translation with some new stuff thrown in so long as people keep dropping by to read it.

Today’s Declutter Item

Did I mention I finally admitted defeat at trying to use up my vast collection of stationery clutter. These plastic folders are part of the box full of it  that I donated to the school up the street today. They were more than happy to take them off my hands.

More stationery clutter

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ I made myself laugh today making silly ki-ai sounds to increase the thrust while trying to get the doona (duvet) on my bed. I had just changed out the summer for the winter one and it is heavy to try to throw and spread at the same time. I hope the neighbours weren’t listening. 😆
• Something Awesome ~ A great pair of jeans that fit well are confortable and last for years. Like the Calvin Klein ones I bought in 2003 and am still wearing.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Liam starting to get more work shifts. He will be happy finally making real money again. He will be saving to go to America of course.
• Something that made me happy ~ Having the car today so I could drop off a load of clutter to the thrift shop.
• Something I found fascinating ~ and confusing. Why do they have both a one dollar coin and a one dollar bill in circulation at the same time in America. When they brought out the dollar coin in Australia they stopped making the dollar bill. Has it got anything to do with the attachment to the fact that it has George Washingtons face on it. If someone knows the answer to this I would love you to share it with me.

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.

Financial security is one thing to strive for but when does that cross the line to decadence?

We must be prepared to sacrifice certain things in order to eat well, put a roof over our heads, clothe ourselves and pay our utility bills and medical insurance. The main thing we give up here is usually our time since we need to work in order to pay for the basics. At what point do we then start to sacrifice more of our time and other things in order to pay for the things that aren’t a necessity.

Do we really need –

• Homes larger than our needs dictate.
• Cars bigger, newer and more expensive than required.
• The latest and greatest techno gadgets.
• Cable TV.
• Beauty treatments and expensive hair styling.
• More stuff in our homes than we can possibly fully use.
• Replacing perfectly good items just because we feel like a change.
• Expensive/excessive dietary items that are likely not healthy anyway.
• Dining out on a regular basis.
• So many toys for our children that they couldn’t possibly learn to appreciate any of them.
• Expensive holidays.
• And worst of all credit card interest that accumulates from buying things we really can’t afford.

I will stop here but that list could go on forever. In order to make more money to buy life’s “luxuries” we work longer hours and something has to give…

Family:-Unfortunately and sadly the first thing to be sacrificed is time with family. There are so many double income families out there whose children are in day care on a regular basis.  Some out of necessity just because of the cost of living, but there are many in this situation because they are just trying to keep up a standard of living that goes way beyond necessity.

Friends:- If we have a lack of time to spend with family it stands to reason that there isn’t going to be much time left for friends either.

Dreams:- We will often sacrifice the life we would really prefer for the one that earns us the most income. While we may be offered our dream job we would have to turn it down in preference to the one that pays more. While we might wish to start our own business we can’t afford to take the risk.

Health:- Working long hours and trying to make time for private lives and for ourselves can be very stressful and stress is not good for your  health. Often on top of that our diet can suffer due to doing everything fast including food. Add  lack of exercise and you have a recipe for disaster.

There are many other things we sacrifice but these are a some of the most crucial and important ones. Unfortunately modern society seems to place so much more value on professional position, qualifications and status symbols than it does on family and personal happiness.

I am sure every person reading this has fallen into this trap to some degree. Be it working too hard and sacrificing too much or just working to surround yourself with stuff you just don’t need while there are far more satisfying things you could be doing. Either way it is worth giving some serious thought, and working out what is really important to you.

Item 333 of 365 less things

Computer parts and cables that are no longer needed but have too little value to sell on ebay. I will have to check out local computer recyclers to see if they would like to take them off our hands.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Being left to sleep in – It made up for the fact that I went to bed late
2. My ebay auctions are going well – Yes I finally got around to placing them.
3. I am going out to dinner and a show tonight – It will be nice to spend some time with my old work mates.
4. Having had the wisdom when young to give up the trimmings in order to stay home and raise our kids – That’s not to say we didn’t make other mistakes along the way where our money and time would have been better spent.
5. Liam getting out and about with his friends this weekend – He must have been getting bored sitting around the house and spending all his time with his parents.

When we knew we would be moving back to Australia from the USA in July 2007, we wanted to move straight into our town-house with all our belongings and settle quickly into our new life. I suppose that is when  we truly began the decluttering.

We did several things to purge items we knew we didn’t want to take back with us. Luckily, we sold some stuff at a planned neighbourhood garage sale. We also listed other things for sale to other Aussies who were staying in the US, and sold some things to the family who replaced us. We also donated a bunch of stuff to charity. I kept several electronic items that I now regret not selling over there while we had the chance. At the time, I thought I would still use them but alas I haven’t for one reason or another.

Next we packed up all the things we felt we wouldn’t really need for a month and sent them ahead by sea freight at the end of May 2007. Then a month later we packed everything else up and sent that by air freight while we took a month touring Europe on our way home. I can’t say I remember missing anything out of the sea freight while living in the house for a month without it. We managed to survive quite well with just what we had left. Unbeknownst to me I suppose that was my first taste of minimalism.

We did notice that when everything lobbed on our doorstep in Australia two days after our arrival, there was far too much stuff to fit comfortably into our new home.

There was also the stuff that had been waiting in storage for seven and a half years for our return. Aside from furniture, there wasn’t much in this load of belongings that I had missed. Unfortunately, some of the stored items I looked forward to getting back no longer worked due to being unused for too many years. I will point out here that we weren’t expecting to be gone so long.

Over the next two and a half years, we continually decluttered stuff. At first, there was a quick purge of extra furniture and home goods that just would not fit into the house. Then, that slowed to sporadic purges as we began weeding out the obvious items that needed to go. Then the 365 day challenge began and the slow but steady fine tuning was under way. Now we are at day 320 with only 45 days to go to the finish line. Somehow I don’t think that is going to be the actual finish line because I am sure there are more than 40 items left but I am very pleased with the result so far.

The lessons I have learned along the way…

1. When moving from country to country think very carefully about the things you take with you. Although I thought I did this there were several expensive items that have never been used since the move that would have been easier to off load in their country of origin.
2. It is amazing how few things you really need to get by day to day.
3. Things can be rendered useless from lack of use just as easily as overuse.
4. The bigger the house the more stuff people tend to buy to fill it.
5. Open space is a wonderful thing.
6. If you don’t want to clean it, store it or move it don’t buy it.
7. Decluttering slowly has been more effective and educational for me than decluttering quickly.

Item 320 of 365 less things

While my daughter was visiting we went through the box of old children’s books that she had chosen to save and culled them down a little.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Having made a head start on tomorrow’s cleaning day
2. Rain – We have had a string of hot days so it is nice to have a little cool down.
3. Having fun while answering comments today – I always enjoy it but today I was just being a little silly
   
4. My garden growing madly without any help from me
5. Liam’s progress –He is through his post traumatic amnesia period and has an interview with the brain injury clinic tomorrow. Hopefully that means he will be moving on to the next phase of his rehab very soon.
   

A friend and I were having one of our philosophical chats while walking a couple of weeks ago. At some point, the subject changed to the psychological benefits of my decluttering process.  Having known me before I started on this mission and being that we often discuss it she has noticed the changes it has had on me.

We discussed how my blog has added purpose to what seemed at first to be just a household chore. We talked about the side effects and lessons I have learned along the way. How I now receive so much satisfaction out of helping others with their clutter issues and that shopping no longer holds any appeal to me these days.

I have even had a positive impact on my friend, encouraging her to ease off on the spending and get her credit card debt under control.  We walk together often, which is good for our health and keeps us occupied as we all know how easy it is to get bored and restless when we have nothing worthwhile to do.

When this friend went home she happened to check out her meditation passage for the day and was surprised to find that it reflected the difference she felt she saw in me.  Here is that meditation passage for you to read and ponder…

To Believe

Having learned to transcend purely self-directed concern, fully alive people discover meaning” in their lives. This meaning is found in what Viktor Frankl calls “a specific vocation or mission in life.” It is a matter of commitment to a person or cause in which one can believe and to which one can be dedicated. This faith commitment shapes the lives of fully alive individuals making all of their efforts seem significant and worthwhile. Devotion to this life task raises them above the pettiness and paltriness that necessarily devour meaningless lives. When there is no such meaning in a human life, one is left almost entirely to the pursuit of sensations. One can only experiment, looking for new “kicks,” new ways to break the monotony and boredom of a stagnant life. A person without meaning usually gets lost in the forest of chemically induced delusions, the alcoholic fog, the prolonged orgy, the restless eagerness to scratch without even having an itch. Human nature abhors a vacuum. We must find a cause to believe in or spend the rest of our lives compensating ourselves for failure. From Fully Human, Fully Alive

I know that passage is a bit heavy but the message I took from it is this: If we have lost touch with all worthwhile focus in our lives, we will rely on external stimuli to give us the pleasure we require for happiness, such as shopping, drinking, gambling, drugs etc, to fill the emptiness. Decluttering has given me more purpose than I expected. Not only has it taught me I can be “more with less” but has rewarded me with the joy of helping others.

My friend also found this passage that she wanted me to share with you. It says a lot about the way we chose to live in the Western world….

You’ve never seen a people with as little time as Westerners. Yet we have kitchens filled with time – and work saving objects. Go to the poor Third World countries and ask, “Do you have a little time to talk?” “the rest of my life,.” they’ll say and sit down and share themselves with you for the afternoon.

We should have more time than anybody, but we don’t have any time at all. We’ve defined freedom falsely as an outer thing, in terms of time, space and options. Letting Go – The spirituality of subtraction.

ITEM 307 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The photo on the left shows the declutter item for today while on the right is the coffee plunger hybrid I made from the combined unbroken parts of the two pots. One pot had a broken glass carafe while the plunger had broken in the other. A lot of good the Bonjour brand pot with the unbreakable carafe was when its plunger only lasted a couple of months.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Finding time to do some decluttering and organising.
2. Giants won the world series – That is a bit of news Liam is really going to enjoy.
3. A nice night out last night with my old work friends.
4. Having a good laugh with Liam today even though I shouldn’t have been laughing because he was misbehaving but I couldn’t help myself. It is the first time he has smiled and laughed with us since the accident so I just let go and enjoyed it.
5. Making progress with decluttering the fridge and pantry.

By Cindy Bogard

In 2008, I heard about the book Does This Clutter Make my Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh. The title is enough to make you take a second look, and as I recall, he made the circuit of all the daytime talk shows. Without knowing more, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard and forgot about it until this weekend.

Like a lot of people, I have struggled with my weight. I was always small but after the birth of my second child, I hit almost 180 pounds and stayed there. Maybe four years ago, I decided that nonsense had to change. I joined Weight Watchers and set what I considered to be reasonable goal – 138, the same as I weighed when I got pregnant with my first child. I got down to 143, decided that was good enough, and that’s where I stayed until last year when I crept up just a few pounds. I could still wear my same clothes. It was fine.

In December of last year, my eldest daughter Clara was quite unexpectedly diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. Overnight, our entire family eliminated most carbs and nearly all sweets. The few pounds I’d gained disappeared.

Recently, and also unexpectedly, I lost another eight pounds and slid past my long-lost goal of 138. I didn’t trust the loss; I hadn’t done anything to actively make it happen, and I had no reason to think that it would stay gone.

Over the weekend, I was hiking with a friend and I was saying that I could pull some of my pants off without unbuttoning them, but that I was storing these clothes for when the weight came back. She thought that “no effort weight loss” was the best kind – more guaranteed than “plenty of effort weight loss” because it had happened without my conscious effort.  Then she said, “I think this weight loss has to do with decuttering: less stuff, less weight.” I laughed and said that was silly then remembered Peter Walsh’s book. I wondered if there was really anything to it. Turns out, there was.

I still haven’t read the book, but I have read the reviews. (I know, “I’m not a doctor; I just play one on TV.”) In a nutshell, Walsh wasn’t talking about losing weight by decluttering randomly around the house. He was talking about decluttering the kitchen cabinets, pantry, refrigerator and freezer – clearing out what is not important to you to make way for what is.

I have an extremely functional kitchen without many extra supplies, so that part is handled and leaves the food. As soon as we got home from the hospital in December, I got rid of nearly all my cookbooks and a lot of food. I gave it to friends; I donated it to the food pantry; I fed it to the dogs. (Shhh, don’t tell their vet). We went along like this for half a year, but as I grew more knowledgeable about diabetes, more clear about how tight I wanted Clara’s sugar control to be, and what it would take to get that control, I realized there was another big cleansing to do. I got rid of 27 foods from my pantry. I reorganized what was left so that the healthy no-carbs snacks were front and center. There is virtually no processed food – most everything is raw ingredients. The same can be said for the freezer. In addition, I went on a campaign to increase our vegetable consumption. I live in a town that prides itself on having fabulous grocery stores. When I looked at all the offerings, I realized that the four or five veggies we ate regularly were a pitiful selection, to say it kindly. We started having a “new veggie of the week” and I spent a fair amount of time looking for actual recipes for the vegetables, rather than just offering a choice of raw or steamed.

It wasn’t until I fully embraced a new way of eating and eliminated everything that didn’t fit with that model that I lost weight.

Of course, no one wants an illness to be the catalyst for a big pantry reorganization and diet change, but you can use these same principals in your own situation. You know what’s not good for you: get rid of it and don’t buy more. You know you need to cook at home, so rearrange your cabinets so that the supplies are easy to reach and close at hand. If you do have a special treat that’s not healthy, have one piece – heck even have half the pan – then throw it away. I know, it goes against my nature, too, or at least it used to. Now I think, “We’re not going to have anything in this house that Clara can’t eat.” It’s decluttering: keeping what is good and culling what is not. When you consider your food like everything else that comes into and leaves your house, I promise, your clutter won’t make your butt look fat.

ITEM 298 OF 365 LESS THINGS

More of those dreaded shopping bags that last forever. I have learned my lesson and will not accept any more free offers of these bags.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Just making it through one more day.
2. Having our daughter close.
3. For any little sign that our boy is in there just waiting until he is ready to come back to us.
4. Modern medicine – there is no way we would have made it to day four without it.
5. The other young man who came it to the ICU on the same day as Liam is making good progress against the odds.

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.

Scrapbooking is a wonderful pastime, and I enjoyed it for many years. The problem is that by its very nature it causes an enormous amount of clutter. Supply clutter, tool clutter, souvenir clutter, photo clutter not to mention time clutter. I have rarely met a scrapbooker who can keep up to date with all the happenings in life that they wish to record thereby causing a backlog of all of the above mentioned items.

Remember earlier this week, on day 272, I decluttered an old Rick Steves’ travel guide that had been languishing in my bedside cupboard for three years. Close by that guide was also a zip lock baggy full of all the maps, tickets and brochures from that same trip. These items are the subject of today’s post.

As I said I used to be a scrapbooker. Along with the supplies, that I now don’t use regularly, which hold their own element of spending guilt, are the souvenirs that were so lovingly collected and hold far more sentimental attachment than the supplies. Even though I am fairly sure I am never going to return to the hobby, I clung on to these items for years, “just in case”. Well, now is the time to be realistic. I am at a very different stage in my life now and even though it is nice to look back on the scrapbooks I did make I am never going to get around to making any more. Even if I do there will be plenty of new memories that I will be able to document and it would be a mammoth task trying to catch up on the past.

This souvenir collecting has not only cluttered up my home for years, it also cluttered up my suitcase during the collecting in the first place. It was so nice on my recent vacation not to be weighed down with this kind of clutter. Therefore I am ready to part with the items in this zip lock bag and then next week I will start on the storage bin that holds items from other vacations, events and occasions that have likely been lingering even longer than these.

ITEM 275 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The items from the zip lock bag

5 things I am grateful for today

1. The off switch on the television – it is very had to concentrate on writing my blog with that thing blaring.
2. Not having to go out today – sometimes it is nice to stay in and veg out.
3. My husband is home again.
4. That freeing feeling – of purging clutter and the heavy ties it has on your soil.
5. A cozy knee rug on a cool day – spring isn’t sprung altogether.