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

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

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

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

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

ITEM 189 OF 365 LESS THINGS

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

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

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

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

The input went a bit like this…

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

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

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

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

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

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

ITEM 184 OF 365 LESS THINGS

More personal clutter ready for the recycling bin

Today’s word is…

C O N S I D E R A T E

Show respect for yourself, your fellow human beings and the environment…

Be CONSIDERATE when shopping

• Constantly buying items you do not need puts a strain on the world’s resources.

Be CONSIDERATE to the environment

• To process resources to produce the items we buy puts a strain on the environment. Also the more we own the more space we need to store these items the bigger the footprint we leave on this planet.

Be CONSIDERATE to family

• In order to purchase un-necessary items requires money that has to be earned. The more you buy the harder you have to work to provide the money for those excesses. That time working is time not spent with your family.

Be CONSIDERATE to those left behind

• Nobody lives for ever and there is always someone who has to take care of  the things left behind when we leave this world. This passing is sad enough on our loved ones without the added stress of sorting through excess possessions.

Be CONSIDERATE to those less fortunate than you

• Donate your excess items to a charity so they can help others who are less fortunate than you. Better still instead of buying un-necessary items make a cash donation to a charity it will help others and you will feel good about yourself as well.

I know I have been guilty in the past of not being considerate of all of these things but I vow to be better than this now and in the future.

ITEM 178 OF 365 LESS THINGS

My husband used this sheep skin on his motorbike seat but that was years ago

While blog hopping I ran across a list which I have put a link to below which gives a list of 100 things that are free to enjoy and make life happier. It got me thinking that there were a lot of items on that list that were great alternative to shopping. Things that cost nothing or next to nothing but are a lot more social, healthy, educational, uplifting. rewarding… need I go on.

Here are some of the things I could and do take advantage of on a regular basis

• Go for a walk
• Go to the beach
• Spending time with friends
• Sitting back and enjoying the view. (Anywhere even people watching can be fun)
• Having a cup of tea on my patio and listening to the birds singing
• Doing a favour for a friend
• Go to the library and borrow a book sit and read there for a while
• Write a blog about something you are passionate about (trust me that can take up plenty of time)
• Read other peoples blogs they can be very informative and uplifting
• Enjoy a hobby (join of group to enjoy this with)
• Visit some art galleries
• Go to a museum (look closely at things the time will fly)
• Do some decluttering (I had to throw that one in)

The list could just go on and on and there is no time for shopping with all this stuff to do and the pleasurable memories linger longer than any joy of acquiring another item that I will soon tire of and waste money on.

Here is the link that I promised at the start of my post.

100+ free things to make life happier

ITEM 157 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The box of baseball cards I am so happy to have found a home for on Freecycle

I would just like to say at this point that although Pack Wars can be a fun activity collector cards are really just a form of gambling. Any activity where you outlay money for an item with a value unknown in the hope that it will be worth more than what you paid for it is gambling.

When I first started this adventure of decluttering at the beginning of the year that was all it was to me, decluttering. As I go along on this journey and discover the freedom that unburdening our lives of things that only bring stress on us I am starting to embrace the idea of taking it to the next level.

It really is a natural progression because the fundamentals of minimalism  have been a constant topic of conversation in our home for some years mostly without me even realising it. My husband has been reading up and considering the options available to us  for some time now and I have only just put a label to the concept.

In a round about way I stumbled onto a blog recently – Sanity In Simplicity – that follows one person’s journey into to minimalist lifestyle. I haven’t read that much of her posts yet but what I have read I have enjoyed.

Here is a small sample from the very first post from Megan’s blog….

Minimalism means many things to many people.  To me, it is a way to declutter my space so that I can declutter my mind so that I can declutter my life and sort out my priorities.  It a way to have more time and less stress, and be more environmentally friendly.  It means working less and playing more.  Minimalism, to me, is freedom…

Megan has some links to other great blogs about minimalism as well that are worth a look at.

Maybe next year I will have a whole new blog topic to consider “How I stumbled into minimalism” but lets not get ahead of ourselves after all one step at a time is the motto of 365lessthings.

ITEM 128 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This is another of my ski gear eBay auctions, a pair of child size 10 Columbia Snowboard Pants that fetched $32.95.

Today’s item is this rusty shower caddy.

How many of these items have passed through our home over the last 23 years I couldn’t say but it has been quite a few. I am yet to find one that didn’t go rusty after about 2 years. There must be one out there in the market that is made of a substance that doesn’t perish  with such monotonous regularity.

I know they only cost about $20-$30 but I’m stingy and I expect more for my 30 bucks. So I have come up with a cheap alternative to this design. I have purchased 4 plastic coated hooks with screws on the end at a grand total of $2 and I have screwed 2 of them into the bottom of my shampoo and conditioner bottles and hung them upside down on the edge of the shower screen.

The beauty of this design apart from the $2.00 price tag is that the liquid in the bottles is constantly in the ready position, that is since they are hanging upside down the liquid is always nearest to the exit hole so it is as simple as flip the cap and out it comes.

I will keep you posted as to how well this invention is working but for now I am quite happy with the result.The other items that used to reside on the old shower caddy were my razor and a comb for applying conditioner to my hair. The razer is also hanging over the edge of the shower screen and the comb is sitting in the channel above the door of the shower which works quite will.

I might add that the shower in question is very small and this new hanging method has freed up a Little moving room as well.

My posts from day 110 and yesterday got me thinking about a combination of the basis of those two subjects., oversized homes and unnecessary cars. What about unnecessarily large cars.

How many people own cars far greater in size than their everyday needs. When we lived in America we owned a V8 Mustang and a seven seater van. We loved both these cars, the Mustang because, well it was a V8 Mustang convertable, who wouldn’t and the Van because whenever we had visitors from Australia this vehicle had enough room to fit everyone in and it was roomy and comfortable and handy to have when we needed to haul large items.

Not very good reasons for owning such terrible gas guzzlers. Instead of owning the big van we could easily have hired a similar vehicle when we had visitors or needed to haul stuff  which only happened maybe once a year if that. The little Chevy Cavalier we owned before the Mustang was far cheaper to run, more reliable and had one extra passenger space and didn’t bottom out on speed bumps.

Ah, the crazy things we do for vanity and convenience.

Now we own two motorbikes one is my husband’s one is my son’s and a small Ford Fiesta. That has not doubt reduced our cardon footprint to a much smaller size not to mention the savings in running costs.

ITEM 115 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The modern cars today have inbuilt security systems rendering the car useless when you don’t have a key to start them so this little item is of no use to me.

I know I am getting slightly outrageous today but I just wanted to plant this thought.

Now that you have created space in your home do you really need it? That much space I mean. How many of us live in homes that are far to big for our needs.

Is your home just a status symbol with more rooms than you need that just cause you a whole lot of wasted time doing housework.

When I was a child with four siblings and a mum and dad, we all managed to live quite comfortably in a four bedroom house with one bathroom, a kitchen, a lounge room with a rumpus room under the house.  One of the bedrooms was actually used as a spare room and Mum’s sewing room as she did dress making from home for extra cash.

When I was 21 we moved into a house with four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a billiard room, a study, a kitchen and a formal dining room. At this stage three of my siblings had already left home. Now my parents have “downsized” to a house with four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a billiard room, a study, a lounge room, a kitchen and a dining area and they live together alone in this house.

I know my mum likes to think we can all fit into this house should we all come to visit at once but now that the grandchildren are growing up and starting to get married and have children of their own is she going to  buy a hotel to fit everyone in.

It was just a thought, please don’t thing I have gone completely off the rails with the whole decluttering thing.

ITEM NUMBER 110 OF 365LESS THINGS

Clearly this has nothing to do with the topic of  the day but it is however my contribution for day 110

I live in a townhouse so I don’t have much to care for in the way of garden or lawn but for what I do have I am endevouring to minimalise the amout of equipment and time required to maintain it.

I only purchase/aquire plants that can survive my neglect, requiring little watering or pampering in any way and hardy enough to cope with the varying climate we can get here at times.

When we first moved into the property we owned a lawn mower and an edge trimmer which seemed a little overkill for a lawn 5m long by 1.5m wide so my husband bought a rotory hand mower and gave the other items to charity.

After using the hand mower a couple of times I decided that was hard work so the next time the gardener that maintains the common areas of the property came to do his work I asked him what he would charge me to trim the edges and cut the lawn in the back of my home. He said he would do it for a carton/slab of beer at Christmas each year. “BARGAIN” deal done.

As a result of exploring options and choosing wisely when adding plants I now have a garden that requires little maintenance or equipment. Today I will send the last of the redundant gardening equipment that has been lurking in the garage to the give-away pile.

I might add we have no intention of ever again living in a propery that has big lawns and gardens so I don’t expect ever to have to replace the gardening equipment that we have purged over that last couple of years

Colleen’s Helpful Hint of the Day

If you should accidently write on a whiteboard with perminent marker just scribble over it with the whiteboard marker and it should rub right off.

When out picking up a few groceries the other day, I noticed a woman getting her handbag checked as she exited the shop. Nothing unusual about that except the lady had to rest this bag on a nearby store display in order to open all three compartments that were so crammed with God knows what that she could barely get the zippers open.

There was no chance she was about to steal anything because quite frankly she couldn’t possibly have fit another thing in. Although she quite possibly had already stolen 3 paperbacks, half a dozen DVDs, a flat pack bookcase and 2 bags of potting mix  the way that thing was heaving at the sides. Honestly her bag was like a filing cabinet with handles.

Seriously ladies, how much do we really need to carry with us for a couple of hours out at the shops. Depending on what she was carrying in that thing I am sure this Lady could have parachuted into Siberia with that handbag and survived for a month on the contents. MacGyver eat your heart out.

Ok, so I am getting a little carried away with myself but really, aside from your purse, cell phone, maybe a note pad and a pen, your keys, a few feminine heigine products and a little lipstick what else do you feel you need for one short trip that you simply can’t do without. Men manage to leave the house with a wallet in their back pocket for heaven’s sake.

After seeing this woman I went home and cleaned out my handbag and aside from several old grocery lists and some old shopping dockets my bag was looking OK.

So if you haven’t started de-cluttering yet maybe this is a good place to start.

Today’s give-away

Colleen’s Helpful Hint for the Day

To clean your washing machine just run it through a cycle with 2 cups of white vinegar. Why not throw your shower curtain in the machine at the same time and it should come out clean and mildew free.