Declutter a couple of old shabby shoes that you no long choose to use.

I received an email from Christie this week asking for some advice. I’ll launch right in with her email, followed by my advice, and then I would love you all to add your thoughts on the subject. Hopefully somewhere among all that advice there will be the spark to help ignite a flame of determination in her to let go of these items standing in the way of a beautiful uncluttered life.

Christie’s email

Hi Colleen. I am a single mother with a long list of things to do…always. Life is a process I know and I can’t tackle everything at one time. I try to heed my own advice I give my daughter….practice your patience. But so many things always need to be done….that I end up shutting down and waste time…does that make sense? I need to declutter and organize many things, which I am highly capable of, but there are a few things I just simply do not know how to deal with.

One of the main things that takes up space is greeting cards. A lot of them. Why do I hang on to these? I think I have 80% of the greeting cards that have been given to me in my 45 years of life. Gasp! And now I am hanging on to the ones my daughter gets. And they are a mess. Boxes of unorganized cards. Why? What to do? I simply cannot wrap my head around it. And google has given me nothing.

and then there are magazines. i am a chef. and i have years upon years of Bon appetit and gourmet magazines. why? ugh. i can’t make myself throw them out. there has to be a better way.

I desperately would love any suggestions you can throw my way. I am drowning in self loathing at this point and need to pull my head up and provide my precious daughter a better example to live by. Much thanks to you in advance and much thanks to you for your blog. 🙂

My response to Christie’s email was this…

My first advice is if you have other clutter that is easier to part with then work on that first. I always advise people to leave the hard stuff until last, at which time you tend to be more ruthless. The joy and feeling of success generated by letting go of other stuff will spur you one to get rid of stuff you never thought you would.

My advice on the cards and magazines, once you get to them, is simple. It is clear to me from reading your email that you have already decided that these are things that you don’t want to keep. Decluttering is all about getting rid of things you don’t want to keep. These things are obviously causing you stress and you don’t care that much about them so not only are they wasting space in your home they are also affecting you negatively. Just another reason to let them go. What you are doing is keeping them out of habit and obligation. Life is a beautiful thing, the way it changes for us in waves. What we must do is ride those waves not try to swim against them. The magazines are a thing of the past, a past you are obviously reluctant to let go of. However any information contained within them can be easily found on the internet. And the beauty of the internet that it is so vast and yet it takes up so little space in your home. Go digital and get rid of that collection of dust collecting, stress inducing  magazines. Just put them right in the recycling bin. I’d like to bet that once they are gone you will wonder why you had such trouble letting them go. It is kind of like pulling off a bandaid. There is way more time and agony involved in the procrastination than there ever will be once the deed is done.

As for the cards it seems to me that they would be a mix of sentimental and obligational clutter. Ones that mean a lot to you and ones the you just keep because you feel you should. Well let me tell you that you don’t need to keep anything you only feel you should. Most people don’t give cards or gifts with the obligation that we should keep them together. They are merely a symbol of their affection for us in the here and now. Sometimes cards and gifts are even given purely out of obligation and their is no sentiment involved at all. So break this task down, it will mean double handling but that will be better for you phycological state. Go through them all, even if that is just a handful at a time when you have nothing better to do. Pick out the ones that mean something to you and put them aside for now and throw away all the ones that are pretty much meaningless at this point in your life. They can also go straight into the recycling bin or donated to a craft group that recycles old cards into new to raise money for charity. Sometimes donating them makes it easier to reconcile getting rid of them but it also makes it a little more difficult to get rid of them quickly. Once again a quick google search can prove very fruitful. You can then deal with the more sentimental cards at a later date or also go digital with them now by scanning them into your computer and getting rid of the hard copies. I personally would put them aside until you feel ready to deal with the further.

Here is a link to the post where I decluttered my greeting cards.

http://www.365lessthings.com/keepsake-clutter/

Now it is up to you, Christie’s fellow readers, to lend your advice to her situation. Thank you all in advance.

Today’s Mini Mission

And how about those book shelves ~ I haven’t picked on them for a while ~ how about you visit the elephant book graveyard and choose five books you are unlikely ever to reread and declutter them.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

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

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

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

Isn’t it baffling that no matter how much you reduce your belongings and simplify your life, there still seems to always be an endless to-do list. I think it is highly possible, at least in my case, that while I am un-complicating one area of my life I am filling that void with something else.

Actually as I write this, I am sure I published a post on this very subject not so long back. Nevertheless I am going to prattle on about it again today. If for no other reason than the fact that I obviously didn’t listen to my own advice the last time. 

Sometimes even the things we enjoy in life can begin to feel like a chore.  The effort of manoeuvring other activities just to fit them in can be exhausting. And then there is the physical clutter that sometimes manifests due to them.

I don’t actually know  where I am going with this post so I am just going to give some examples of things on my to-do list that are just draining me at the moment. Things that I aspire to getting around to doing but are actually just causing clutter in my life that I don’t need.

First Thing: On my balcony I have a louvred cabinet door and three picture frames. I can see the potential in them, which is why I “rescued” them from the gutter in the first place, but I really don’t have the inclination or possibly even the skills to do anything with them. But what they really are is aspirational clutter making my balcony look unattractive and harder to clean. They have to go. Should I find the time and inspiration later I am sure I can acquire replacements  just as easily as I acquired these.

Second Thing: I really enjoy creating my handcrafted cards and using up my supply of craft materials. However there are a lot of materials among them that  I don’t like enough to warrant the space they waste in my home. Allowing those to linger is making the decluttering process far too long winded. At the same time I find it hard to say no to interesting papers etc that I can see potential in.

Solution: On Monday I made a pledge to not bring in any more paper crafting materials for two months and I am going to stick to that pledge no matter what. In fact I hope to stretch that pledge out longer once the two months are up. Also I am going to round up a collection of materials among what I already own and donate them to my local thrift shop.

Third Thing: I have been taking on far too much responsibility and not delegating enough when it comes to my art space since taking it over in April. It is time I stopped being such a control freak and gave myself a break. One of these responsibilities has been to bring the space in line with the new standards of presentation. That is the reason for props such as the picture frames and louvred door mentioned in the first thing above.

Solution: I have started delegating and am resisting any temptation to acquire any more merchandising items. Especially ones that require upcycling.

Forth Thing: There are a few tasks on my to-do list that are unavoidable yet I have been procrastinating over them. Although avoiding them is not causing clutter in my home it sure is causing clutter in my head.  In my experience, doing is usually far less painful than procrastinating, so heaven knows why I still find myself doing it at times.

Solution: I pledge now that these tasks will all be completed by the end of next week.

I love repurposing, I love crafting, I love organising, I love helping others and I love to be thorough… but one needs to know where to draw the line. As it is impossible to be everything to everyone all of the time.

Are there areas in your life that need decluttering? Are you overtaxing yourself, even when it comes to the things you enjoy? If so maybe it is time to cut yourself some slack and take a break from it all.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that was given to you that you no longer wish to keep.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t accept free promotional products that you have no use for. Accepting these just encourages the continuation of this practice while the environment would be healthier without the manufacture of cheap throwaway or needless items like these usually are.

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

In my last post I talked about how I had been reading too much and needing to be more intentional with my reading.  This post I want to talk about being intentional about what we do so that we don’t have cluttered lives.

I am so excited about the decluttering progress we are seeing from people who comment on this blog.  While we all have places where we struggle, we are all moving forward and working to break through those struggles.  The majority of this decluttering is that of ridding ourselves of the things we accumulate over the years.  We have talked some about decluttering our lives when we talk about stopping the use of shopping to deal with stressors in our lives.  Today I want to talk a bit more about this type of decluttering. 

In a world where life seems to get busier and busier we have taken on cluttered lifestyles.  Does Junior really need to be on all those after school sports teams?  Does the little Princess need to be so caught up in dance, sports, etc?  Does Mom or Dad need to be so busy after work that they seldom come home until late in the evening?  Does your job really require working long hours or is it a way to climb the ladder and gain more money?  Do you need more money or have you become dissatisfied with what you have because of all you see and all others have?  What are you doing that you NEED to do and what are things that you do because you feel obligated or you want to pass the Joneses?  Are you really obligated or is this a case of following the crowd or using busyness to get out of dealing with life issues?  How much is enough and how much is too much? 

Reading too much isn’t the only place I need to declutter.  I have found that there are some other areas of my life that have become clutter and it’s because I have fallen into the habit of doing them not because they were needful or a real enjoyment.  They were there because I fell into them and didn’t want to spend the energy thinking about them or getting out of them.  We have already talked about the decluttering of scrapbooking that I am doing.  Another area was that of making all the cards I send.  Speaking of that, there is the habit of sending cards to so many where I not only don’t hear back from them but I have little contact in any other way, it is all one sided. 

For some people they need to declutter some of the things they do as individuals in order to do more things as a family.  Some need to come to terms with not keeping up or exceeding the Joneses in what they have or how much they make.  Maybe you need to cut back on the amount of entertaining you do so that you can be home more and get more rest.  Or maybe you need to take walks or bike rides as a family or couple rather than each go their separate way to the gym or to other forms of exercise. 

So, what is cluttering your life and what can you do about it?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that hasn’t been used in a long time. After all, if you don’t have a use for it then your home is not the right place for it.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t throw those old sheets, towels, blankets and pillows in the trash donate them to an animal shelter, humane society, wildlife rescue service, kennel or veterinary surgery.

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

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

Deb J

I have discovered something about myself.  I read too much.  Yes, I really said that.  I definitely read too much.  I love to read and I am a very fast reader.  I read 2-3 books in an evening depending upon the length of the book.  I was pretty happy with the decluttering I have done over the years.  I used to have an extensive library.  I once sold enough books to pay for one semester of college.  While I never accumulated that many books again, I did have a bunch of books that I decluttered over the last few years.  Then I started using a Kindle and had over 1000 books on it.  I decluttered many of those and am decluttering more.  With all that, you would think I would be very happy with where things are today.  Then I realized I’m not happy at where I am.

I discovered I read too much.  How can I say that?  I have acquired the habit of reading the entire evening and into the early morning each day.  I need the relaxation and rest of being in my recliner.  It makes me able to go to bed and actually sleep because it helps my body have less pain.  I also like to have the quiet time once Mom is gone to bed and thus the reading into the early morning.  Unfortunately, reading so late is not good for my body and especially it is not good for my diabetes because it means I don’t have a good schedule like diabetes requires. 

What does this have to do with decluttering?  Sometimes decluttering requires ridding ourselves of more than “things”.  Decluttering often means ridding ourselves of or changing habits or people or even jobs.  It means being intentional about how we spend our time.  I have not been intentional enough lately. 

Moni, suggested I should set a time to go to bed and announce it to my mother.  I should also then go to my room and not let her interrupt my “quiet” time.  I can then read some more if I want.  I am going to take it a step further.  I am going to be pickier about the books I put on my Kindle.  I am going to set the standard that I will only read one book an evening.  When I go to my room at 10, the time there will be used to read my Bible and pray more or to journal.  I need to spend time with the Lord listening to what he has to say and dialoging with him in a journal.  And I will not stay up past midnight.  I will also continue to declutter my Kindle until the only books left are the ones I really like and will read again. 

For me, reading so much has become a way to passively deal with things I don’t like in my life.  It is not a good way to do this. 

Do you have any habits that are cluttering your life?

Colleen’s 10c worth

I have often wondered about this in relation to all my blog readers who are avid readers. Not being much of a reader myself it is easy to form the opinion that reading can consume an awful lot of a person’s time that might be better spent doing less pleasant things they are avoiding.

I will be the first to insist that everyone is entitled to a certain amount of downtime in their day. We all need relaxation time in which to wind down and rest mentally and physically. However sometimes it is also good to do the math on how much downtime we are weaving into our day. Also trying to mentally relax while knowing that there are chores you have left undone, leaving your home unpleasant, can be counterproductive to rejuvenation. And never discount the the tranquility of mind that comes from knowing you have achieved something extra in your day. Especially an extra that can be a permanent fixture. Who among you has later interrupted your downtime to return to that drawer or shelf, you earlier uncluttered and reorganised, just to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment again. I know I have, sometimes more than once.

Today’s Mini Mission

Find something in your closet that you haven’t used for three months and let it go.

I was talking to Wendy F the other day about breaking old habits. Smoking, I believe, is a very difficult habit to break, as is overeating, chewing your nails etc. I have a theory about this.

I think that just trying to stop a habit is difficult. The ultimate reward can seem a long way off and hard to achieve. In this case the whole focus is on trying not to do something that, in some cases, you have spent a very long time doing and enjoying.

While replacing an old bad habit with new better behaviour has immediate rewards even if they are only small. An immediate reward is far more enticing and stimulating that a long term objective of finally eliminating the cravings of a hard fort battle against bad habits.

When I was in high school I had a PE teacher who lined us up after class one day and inspected our nails. Those of us who clearly chewed our nails were told that if our nails were showing no growth by the next PE lesson we would have to stay back after school. Naturally I didn’t want to spend any more time at school than I absolutely had to so, I quit chewing my nails then and there. The almost immediate reward was that I didn’t have to worry about being kept in after school. Had I decided to stop biting my nails without such a reward I would probably have failed.

So what has that got to do with decluttering you might ask. Well one of the problems that gets us into a cluttered mess is recreational shopping. If we could replace that with the reward of achieving the simple task of finding one thing to declutter each day then we have our immediate reward. If we focused only on being fully uncluttered sometime in the distant future we might lose faith and give up. It is surprising how rewarding finding that item to declutter can be.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter any season specific shoes that didn’t get used last season or aren’t likely to be used for the next or when the closing season returns next year.

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

More than one person commented last week that they can’t believe they are still finding things to declutter after years at the task. And what I say to that is ~ rejoice and be glad. Usually after most people do the usual kind of quick declutter they find they are back at square one a couple of years later. With a slow and deliberate declutter one gives a lot of thought to their habits of acquiring and holding on to stuff. Being aware of these habits makes it much easier not to make the same mistakes in the future.

The reason why years later they are still finding things to declutter is because they grow more and more willing to part with more and more stuff. It isn’t  because they have recluttered their homes, instead their homes are getting less and less cluttered all the time. Usually less cluttered than they ever thought they would. And having well entrenched systems to offload the clutter makes the task simple.

For example ~One reader (Peggy) last week commented on how she decluttered some extra hand lotion by putting it in the bathroom at her favourite coffee shop. On later inspection she found that it was indeed getting well used. That is just one example of some clever thinking on how to dispose of stuff. But I digress.

I am glad to be still finding things to let go of in my home. I am also happy to be vigilant about decluttering something in place of any new thing coming in. I don’t waste my energy worrying about the clutter I simply stay ahead of it by loosely following that one in-one out rule we talked of last week. When I say loosely, I don’t rigidly remove something immediately that something else comes in, but I am intuitively aware of any small build up and rectify the situation fairly speedily.

So don’t be concerned if you are still finding clutter after a long time. Also don’t have any expectation of an end date to your decluttering journey. This isn’t really a finite task anyway it is a change of lifestyle. And positive change in something worth sticking with.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something hiding, and rarely if ever used, in the back of a kitchen cupboard.

Eco Tip for the Day

It takes but a second to flip off a switch, so don’t leave lights on when you leave the room.

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

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

I received the following comment from creativeme on Wednesday and thought it would be a shame if anyone missed it so had to make a post of it. Also I wanted to add my 10c worth, of course! It was meant to publish yesterday but it wasn’t finished and I was sick. So here it is, better late than never.

“I’m getting better at this.
Especially with the food! I have found that I go through this journey of letting go of stuff, what I am really letting go of is FEAR. I think I was afraid that I might not have enough in the future or it would never go on sale again or that I might not be able to afford it later or it might be taken away somehow. Lots of latent fears that kept me wanting to cram MORE into my pantries and any other space that could fit cans or boxes (garage, basement, under the bed). I have finally got to the point that I trust there is enough money around for food, enough food around to buy, the sales ALWAYS come around again and even if it is taken away (really, who would take it?), it can ALL be replaced.
Every canned and dry good in the house now fits in the kitchen! I still have enough to make pretty much any recipe I can think of at a moment’s notice, but not crazy amounts of each thing. In this part of the world (west coast Canada) we are encouraged to have 3 days emergency supplies in case of earthquake. No problem here! But at least I am no longer a sweet target for looters like I was before! LOL
And with the newly found spaces where food used to live, I let it simply be S P A C E, sigh, it’s nice to have breathing room!”~ creativeme

The one thing I most want to add to what creativeme had to say was this ~ Simply fear of changing old habits seems to paralyse people as well. So many of us don’t adapt to the present when phases of our lives pass by. For example ~ I swear that, out of habit, many parents continue to cater for a home full of children once the kids have all left home.

Crafters have a fear of letting go of materials in case sometime in the future they will somehow conjure up the enthusiasm and creativeness to use them. I know I am guilty of this at times. I am much more ruthless these days though.

And let us look a the futility of that fear. If an item isn’t necessary to comfort and survival how much emotion should we waste on worrying about its place in our lives anyway.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter an item from the laundry of your home.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Release items in your home so that they are available to others who truly have a use for them. Butter, for the environment, that others use your used stuff than go out and buy new.

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

How many times have you decluttered in the past but then a year or so, or maybe more, later you find yourself back at square one. This is often the outcome when the task of decluttering is the focus and not the cause. In fact many times in the past I have decluttered only with the intention of making room for new stuff. Stuff I didn’t even realise would be my future clutter.

The thing that was different this time for me was that my focus was mainly on my intent to remain decluttered in the future. With that intent in mind it is helpful to analyse the clutter as you let it go and recognise the possible mistakes made in the past the got you into this mess in the first place.

There are numerous reasons why newly acquired stuff soon loses its appeal and becomes clutter. Making poor choices to acquire it in the first place would top the list of those reasons. However when scrutinising each piece of clutter while you declutter it slowly and deliberately you soon start to realise your purchasing errors. This is key to not making the same mistakes in the future.

Now that my home is nicely decluttered and even downsized due to my decluttering I don’t ever ~ in fact I can’t ~ allow it to become cluttered again. There isn’t much room for that. But even if there was I have discovered a little trick to staying focused on the goal of remaining decluttered and that is to save at least one decluttering task until the last that will keep you mindful of where you once were and how far you have come. For me there are two such tasks. One is the seemingly endless task of reducing my crafting supplies and the other is the goal to finally declutter and organise our photo collection.

If you have been reading here for a long time you will know that photos are one thing I have been going to get to right from the start of my decluttering mission. My husband and I have both taken small chunks out of the task in the past but there is still the bulk of it to be done.

So constantly working on reducing the craft supplies by creating and selling my the results of my labour of love and by knowing those photos are still there to be worked on when I am not so busy keeps my mind continually on decluttering to a certain extent. And while that is still my focus it is natural that I remain fully aware of keeping a check on what purchases I make, being sure to scrutinise each possible purchase and making a decision to buy or not to buy based on the likelihood of whether the item may just end up as future clutter. Of course, allow my catalogue of experience of past mistakes to be my guide.

So to cut a long story short…

• Analyse you clutter in order to recognise purchase mistakes
• Save one long fiddly task to string out at the end of the bulk of your decluttering to keep your mind focused your new uncluttered lifestyle.
• Scrutinise possible purchases to save you from making bad choices that would help put you back to square one.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter a hobby related item.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t be tempted to bring home those hotel toiletries, the ratio of plastic to product is a poor eco choice.

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

Not so long ago, Colleen wrote an excellent post about discovering who we really are when decluttering. The post was “Who are you”.

I thought that post was great. It encouraged me to think about whom I had been before decluttering and who I am now. It made me think about what I want out of life, work and my home environment. Throughout my decluttering journey many times I have struggled with stuff related to who I was a long time ago as opposed to whom I am now.

One example of that were my cassette tapes which I got rid of. While they were all important to my teenage self and listened and cared for back them, they had no importance in my adult life, and therefore became clutter and a burden. I remember my toys from my childhood. They are all gone, with one single exception. I remember most of my toys and even have pictures as a child with some of them. However if I still had them they would just be another collection of stuff to clutter up my home. I hold their memories dear to my heart. Not so sure I would be so found of the actual objects to this day. As for holding your toys for your kids, unless you get detached from them (i.e. you REALLY DON’T CARE if they are broken) you will never let them go and will never let your children touch them.

On the other hand I have DVDs of my favourite movies (Star Wars – original trilogy – and The Lord of the Rings) which I have watched over and over again and, therefore, is not clutter but a cherished collection which shows my nerdy side.

I also found stuff that I really like on the internet. I like comic strips from new artists. I follow four blogs which publish them daily. I went to a comic books fair and met one author, bought his book, got it autographed and took a picture with him. It was a very enjoyable moment and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But what does any of it have to do with decluttering? Well if I had never decluttered I would never had opened space to change, to discover who I am today. We change every day, but if we hang on to objects of the past, if we hold ourselves back we fail to enjoy today. I loved to play with my toys as a child, but no matter how many of them I had today that time has long gone. I had a great time as a teenager, but my memories cannot be held in objects. I enjoyed my young adult years, my college time, but no object from that time will capture those memories back. It was only by letting go of objects, stuff no longer used or cared for that I opened up space for new interests and new people in my life (a.k.a. my children – LOL).

So, think about your life. What do you enjoy today? What are your interests now? Apart from a few mementos, we must direct our lives and objects to be useful today and to our life as it is and not some distant memory from the past.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case” it fits you again some day.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown