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

Even a major clean up can be fairly easily managed if you don’t try to bite off too much at once. In this case, it was time (way past time) to clean our shed, which had not been attended to in the nine years we’ve lived in our house and which, in fact, contained items left behind by the previous owner. I spent a month working on it, once or twice a week, and never for more than an hour, except for the extremely pleasant afternoon I spent decluttering five bags of mulch and compost and some ground covers on a flower bed I enlarged.

Here’s how I approached this task. Unfortunately, we are in a drought, so there was virtually no chance of rain. As I pulled each item out of the shed, I made a decision about its fate.  Most everything went into these categories: metal recycling, trash, Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (a store that sells used and overstocked building supplies to support the charity Habitat for Humanity), sold on Craigslist, given to our eighth grade for their garage sale, or given to my mother. Before I stopped each day, everything was either in its future home or neatly piled waiting to go to its new home.

The shed had not been cleaned in any way in at least a decade and because it is somewhat poorly constructed, it is open the outside world in several places, so it was dirty and full of leaves, and rats had been using it as a shelter. Frankly, I’m just glad I didn’t find any rat carcasses! I swept the floor and the shelves as I went along and used old mulch bags as trash sacks. I did not put anything back into the shed until I was finished decluttering and cleaning. The reassembly probably only took 30 minutes. As I put things back, I gave them one more appraisal, knowing it might be a long time for the shed is decluttered again, but everything made this second cut. I took the advice of declutterers who recommend not going overboard: although I like things labeled, organized, and lined up in nice, straight rows, I remembered that this is a shed, not my kitchen and certainly not an operating room. It’s still a bit dusty, I didn’t clean behind the shelves (too heavy to move), and everything isn’t in a straight line. But, I have only things I will use, and like is stored with like. That’s good enough for this gal’s shed!

Here’s what I said good-bye to:

1. a metal flint spray gun (recycle)
2. edger  (garage sale)
3. rectangular trash can lid, no trash can (unfortunately not labeled for recycling, trash)
4. 4 mysterious flexible rubber hoses (trash)
5. large metal coupling (Habitat)
6. rusted metal pipe (recycling)
7. length of bent copper tubing (recyling)
8. role of wire (Habitat)
9. very old safety glasses (trash)
10. sheet rock tape (moved to the appropriate bin in the garage)
11. 2 pairs rusted pliers (recycled)
12. 2 screwdrivers (1 recycled, 1 clean up and added to the toolbox)
13. roll of copper (Habitat)
14. roll of plastic covered wire (Habitat)
15. flexible hoses for ?? (trash)
16. rat-chewed shower curtain (trash)
17. 3 stiff gloves (trash)
18. torn up extension cord (trash)
19. rat-chewed cardboard box (recycling)
20. 3′ circular blade (recycling)
21. 8 1′ circular blades (recycling)
22. grass flap for a lawnmower we no longer own (trash)
23. pole saw (garage sale)
24. 2 long electrical cords, no plugs (trash)
25. light fixture (disassembled – trash and recycling)
26. what looked like tiny jumper cables. My husband called them “widow makers” (disassembled – trash and recycling)
27. 2 galvanized pails (Craigslist)
28. worn out scrub brush (trash)
29. garden stakes (my mother)
30. large extra metal parts for a lawn canopy (recycling)
31. small plastic and metal parts for the same canopy (disassembled – trash and recycling)
32. weed wacker (given to neighbor)
33. hooks from a pegboard (a few reused, the rest to thrift store)
34. 2 plant hangers (thrift store)
35. hand-held fertilizer spreader (thrift store)
36. bottle of Safer Soap (the tiny bit left in the bottle was washed down the drain, the bottle was recycled)
37. 2 empty bottles of plant food (recycling)
38. bottle of hardened sunblock (trash)
39. hose-end sprayer (my mother)
40. 14 plant supports ranging from 3 to 7′ tall (my mother)
41. a roll and 4 folded pieces of landscape cloth ( my mother)
42. 2 gas cans and 1/2 quart of oil (put on the curb for free pick up)
43. 2 bags of older bird seed combined with my current bag (used up)
44. large bin that held the bird seed (put on the curb for free pick up)
45. 2 bags of last-year’s compost (used)
46. 3 bags of mulch so old that the bottoms of the bags had rotted and the roots of the ivy had started growing into it (used - These were outside the shed. It wasn’t that filthy inside!)
47. a bird feeder (washed, filled, and hung up)
48. a large box of sheets that I’d saved for wrapping plants, which I virtually never do. This was one time that I changed my mind. The sheets were too ratty (literally, sometimes) to donate to the thrift store, and I know of no fiber recycler in town. I put them in the trash but felt very unhappy about it. My mother encouraged me to get them back out and use them as a weed barrier under the mulch throughout the garden. I thought that was a fine idea and used five of them the day I enlarged the flower garden. The rest will go in the front yard when I next mulch.

I’m completely satisfied with my efforts. I would like to get some sturdy hooks to hang my garden tools, and I probably could have been more ruthless in a few cases, but it’s my shed, it’s clean, accessible, and organized, and that’s good enough for me.

The before shots of my Shed

(Brace yourselves it aint pretty)

The after shots of the shed

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

As I mentioned back in January, I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It’s full of rules, suggestions, tips, and research on making yourself, and by extension everyone around you, happier. In the very first month of her year-long undertaking, Ms. Rubin cleans and declutters, and she keeps it up throughout the year – helping out friends when she gets desperate for a tidying fix.

One tip I got from her was the One Minute Rule. I doubt this is something she made up; it sounds like something nearly everyone’s parent said to them as they were growing up in some way or another. Basically: if it only takes a minute to do it, then do it. (A couple variations I can think of are “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today” and “A stitch in time saves nine.”)

Here at 365lessthings, when we talk about clutter, we usually are referring to items in excess of your needs and desires. But clutter also can be the stuff that you use frequently but fail to put away. It’s always out, it’s where it doesn’t belong, and it creates visual clutter. Plus, anything left out draws other things to it. That’s how black holes develop.

Recently I walked into my bedroom and threw my sweater on the bed. As I turned to leave, the rule popped into my head. I walked back into the bedroom, picked up my sweater, and in far less than a minute, I had hung it where it belonged.  I prevented clutter.  One of them sitting on the bed will surely attract another one, likely my husband’s jacket perhaps or maybe his bags from work.

Here are some common clutter pitfalls that can be avoided with the use of the one-minute rule:

• Lost keys: They belong on your dresser, desk, in your purse, or hanging from a hook. Same place every time.
• Sweaters, jackets, and coats thrown on a chair or the floor: Hang up your items in the closet or buy a set of hook for near the door.
• Needed receipts lost, useless receipts found: If you’re going to keep them, find a home for them and put them there every time, as soon as you get home. (Right after you put your keys away, of course.)
• A messy bedroom: Make the bed in the morning as soon as you get out of bed. This might take 2 minutes, but it sure makes your bedroom look nicer.
• A visual mess and possibly smacked heads or knees: Close the cabinet doors behind you. It amazes me that there are people who leave the cabinets open and walk away, but I’ve heard it enough times to know it’s true.
• Mental clutter: Have a place for your notes and reminders, either on paper or electronically. Remembering that there’s something you have to do and what it is takes as much time and mental energy as doing the thing itself. Write it down and free your mind.

Decluttering and organization expert Peter Walsh gave this wise advice that dovetails nicely: Complete the cycle. “If you use it, put it away. If you dirty it, wash it, etc. When a family thinks this way, there no longer is a trail of clutter left throughout the house.”

If it only takes a minute, do it now, do it right.

Today’s Declutter Item

I am not really a flipflop kinda gal but I continued to wear these because it would have been wasteful not to. Now they are beyond repair and I feel quite justified in throwing them away.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ There is an advertisement on television here for a clothing store called Rivers. The lastest promotion is for women’s shoes and I swear the legs in the ad are hairy and I am not even sure they are a woman’s legs. I find this oddly amusing even though I wouldn’t want anyone to see my legs right now either. 😆
• Something Awesome ~ Homemade chocolate chip muffins warmed up and served with cream. Yumm!
• Something to be grateful for ~ The Liam’s motorbike only had an air bubble in the fuel line and decided to start after all. He was not a happy boy when it wouldn’t start.
• Something that made me happy ~ Even though it would be great to wave a magic wand and have the house clean itself I always feel satisfied with a job well done when I am finished the task. I love a clean house.
• Something I found fascinating ~ Chemistry, alchemy and the elements and the discovery there of.

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

If you want to make changes in your life you are going to have to change the way you do things. Explore better options, be open minded, step out of your comfort zone and try doing things differently. Trust me, you aren’t going to wake up one morning, do things the same way you always have and suddenly yield the desired effect that you have been hoping would miraculously occur.

If you have a clutter trouble spot in your home and it has been that way for a long time chances are you are repeating the same habits in this area and until you change this habit the problem isn’t going to go away. For example…

• The Trouble Spot ~ The bathroom cabinet. No matter how many times you declutter this space in two months time it is chock-a-block full of toiletry products again.
• Same Action ~ Clearly this isn’t happening by magic, you have a weakness for this kind of product and continue buying more of it than you need. It is also likely that you decide after a short while that you didn’t really like what you bought in the first place. You either have to accept this weakness and live with a cluttered cupboard or do something about it.
• Different Result ~ The solution here is simple (on the surface) ~ resist temptation, only buy a new product when you have used up the old one. When I say simple I mean logically simple, resisting temptation can be a very difficult thing. I saw a quote the other day that made me laugh ~ Lead me not into temptation, I can find my way there easily enough on my own. The best tip here is to stay away from the shops that sell this kind of product. It is easier to resist if it isn’t right under your nose.

Lets try another example…

• The Trouble Spot ~ Paper clutter. You are forever complaining that your desk is always a mess because all this paperwork builds up and you don’t have the time to deal with it.
• Same Action ~ You continue to receive bills via the post. You sign up for every catalogue known to man, and add your name to mailing lists willy nilly including charities that you just can’t say no to. You also refuse to investigate the fact that maybe your filing system isn’t functional which is what slows you down when putting the completed documents away.
• Different Result ~ Digitise your billing, cancel all the catalogues you really have no time to look at and stop signing up on mailing list (this includes entering competitions that require your address and phone number) including all but your two favourite charities. It may take some time to set this new plan into motion but I guarantee your paperwork will decrease. This isn’t only good for you but good for the environment as well. Once this is in place you will find that you have less paperwork to file which alone could make that task easier but you could also investigate ways to improve your filing system altogether. It took me five seconds to google the works filing systems, one second to click on this site  womensmedia.com and five minutes to read through this article Organize your filing systems a 4-step formula that really works. There were some great tips in the article and I am sure there are thousands of other web sites out there with just the right solution for you. Consider this ~ it isn’t just the filing taking up your time it is dealing with far more things than you need to and feeling obligated in too many areas and those catalogues may be fun to look through but they are most filled with deals on clutter you don’t need.

Also reading about doing something and actually doing something are not the same. You have to put a plan into action. You may find that it isn’t the right plan or the perfect plan for you but as they say Live and Learn. You will not learn the best plan if you take no action. You may find that you only need to make small tweaks to what you are already doing to make a big improvement. I do this all the time even on systems that are working quite well just to see if I can simplify my life even more. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t but my philosophy is ~ Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Today’s Declutter Item

One more toiletry product gift used up and out of my house. I am so grateful that my friends have accepted the fact that I no longer wish them to give me gifts because soon I will have eliminated all the birthday guilt clutter from my home and I would like it to stay that way.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ The latest episode of Big Bang Theory.
• Something that made me happy ~ Sitting in the sunshine having my lunch again. This time no cockroach to spoil the moment.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Making progress on my eBook.
• Something awesome ~ Juicy, sweet crunchy apples.
• Something I found facinating ~ Wondering why we keep the things we do for so long when we clearly aren’t using them and probably never will.

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

What is landscape clutter? Well, I’m a big gardener, but I’m not referring to anything you might see in the yard. No, landscape clutter is clutter that you are so accustom to seeing out-of-place that you no longer recognize that it’s out of place. It’s become a part of the landscape of your home.

Here are some examples of things that have been landscape clutter in my house:

• A cocktail dress that hung in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room for 3 or 4 months
• A piece of furniture that we moved out of Clara’s room with the intention of moving it into the attic. It got as far as the hallway, where we left it. It’s not where it belongs, but it’s not in anyone’s way, and there it sits. (At least it hasn’t become a black hole as well as being landscape clutter. Don’t know what a clutter black hole is? Check it out here.)
• The laundry basket and empty 5 gallon paint bucket that the girls used outside in their playhouse and then dumped on the ground. (Ok, this landscape clutter might actually qualify as being part of the landscape.)
• Countless number of things that I put by the front door with the intention of taking to a friend’s house, the thrift store, or work that seemed to grow roots once they were left there.
• A can in the back of my pantry that had only been there “a little while.” When I decided yesterday that it was time to eat those canned plums, I discovered that the “best if used by date” was 2007!

The trouble with landscape clutter is that you’re so used to overlooking it, that it’s hard to notice.

I’ve written about this topic before. (As I was writing, I knew some of it sounded familiar to me), but the solutions haven’t changed. If you can’t see it, you can’t recognize it, and you need some other way of noticing the clutter. You can become aware of misplaced items by touching each thing and saying the name aloud, asking a friend what they see that’s out of place, developing a need for the item, creating a new strategy for dealing with a category of clutter, or by taking a picture or video and examining the photograph. I’m always stunned by what I see on my counters and such when I look at a photo that I somehow can’t see when I am looking right at them.

Here’s how I got rid of the clutter I mentioned:

• A friend said to me, “You know this dress has been here a while. I thought you might not be seeing it any more.” Well, of course I knew it was there, but that motivated me to actually do something with it.
• I’m embarrassed to admit that the furniture is still sitting right there in the hallway. It’s made of solid wood and is remarkably heavy. I vow to get Dan to help me move it to the attic this weekend, so my strategy is that by admitting publicly that something’s out of place, I am motivated to deal with it.
• The bucket and laundry basket were put away when I needed a laundry basket. While thinking, “What can I use to contain these items?” I noticed the basket sitting on the ground outside, and when I fetched it, I put away the bucket too.
• Items by the front door that get stuck get “unstuck” in a variety of ways but in general, I think the best solution for me is to put things directly into the van, rather than letting them rest by the door. That way, they’re with me when I drive past the thrift store or when I stop by a friend’s house.
• The old canned plums, which went into the compost pile, were spotted when I was a little desperate for lunch ideas on Sunday.  I have a can riser, like stair steps to keep the cans organized and visible. The plums were on the top shelf, far corner. Since they’d worked their way from a lower position to the far back corner (just like clothes you never wear!), that’s a reliable indication that they’d been there a while.

These bits of clutter came to my attention for a variety of reasons, but the key is that because they’d become part of the landscape of my home, I had to have some other stimulus to bring them to my attention. I was so used to just scanning over them with my eyes that just a quick glance around was not going to being them to my attention.

What are you seeing today that you’d been overlooking?

Today’s Declutter Item

A sweater once worn by Liam but has reached the unused in the back of the closet stage. Off to the thrift store with you.

Things that made me happy, made me laugh, made me feel grateful, fascinated me or I thought were just plain awesome.

• Having a lovely morning-tea with my neighbours.
• I thought I was so behind time getting everything ready for the morning tea this morning but then I was finished with ten minutes to spare.
• Finding out by accident that I can actually buy milk at a reasonable price at my local paper shop (Newagency).~ Usually I would choose to go without rather than pay the price the local grocery store charges so this is good to know for future reference.
• Mini caramel tarts ~ I should share this recipe with you all, they are delicious.
• My mum and dad are coming to visit tomorrow.

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

Excessive clutter is often generated by two kinds of self indulgence – Acquiring too much and Feeling sorry for yourself.

Strong words I know but keep with me and I will explain what I mean. I speak from experience here so forgive me if those words sound harsh.

The first part of this statement is self-explanatory by sheer definition… Clutter – a confused multitude of things; fill a space in a disorderly way. Either we have over indulged in a multitude of things we don’t need to the point where we don’t even use most of them or cannot accommodate them easily in our space. AND/OR . We have not disposed of items as they have become redundant or perished (sometimes from lack of use)  nor stored these items in an orderly manner. I think that explanation describes clutter in both its forms, that is hidden clutter and messy clutter. Either way we have over indulged and/or been careless in our maintenance.

Now for the second part to this statement – Feeling sorry for yourself. There are so many ways that this issue manifests itself and sorry may not be the best word but with a little manipulation it sort of works for all categories. Keeping in mind that  self indulgence was the focus for the initial statement.

Some ways that feeling sorry for yourself causes clutter to build up in your living environment…

• Retail Therapy – Buying stuff to make you feel better when you feel sorry for yourself. A common cause of the first part of the self indulgence issue, acquiring too much stuff.
• Lethargy – A state of sluggishness, inactivity, and apathy. This condition is often a result of  illness, depression, bad eating habits and lack of exercise just to name a few. All of these causes are bound to make you feel sorry for yourself. It often results in neglect of your belongings, your surroundings and quite often yourself causing a downward spiral that is harder to recover from the longer it is allowed to take hold.
• Avoidance – Feeling sorry for yourself in advance causing unnecessary delays in tackling an unpleasant task. Especially a task that is hard to break down into smaller more manageable portions. Such as my hatred of cleaning my oven.
• Denial -A situation where you  have had an intense period of justified self sympathy due to any number of causes – marriage breakdown, loss of a loved one, accommodation upheaval or loss of employment just to name a few – can quite often lead to a severe case of insecurity. Such cases can in turn lead to a tendency to hoard items that give you back a feeling of security – items that hold fond memories and useful items that you may need if you hit hard times again. Of course to you all these items are justified therefore it is easy to live in complete denial that you even have a clutter problem.

(Don’t miss the links hidden under each on of the heading above.)

I know I have fallen in the trap of lethargy and avoidance in the past and probably will again in the future. I find that when I have been ill or suffering from a bout of depression it is very easy to feel sorry for myself and neglect both myself and my duties. Most of the time I find that I don’t start feeling better until I shake myself off and decide just to make myself start behaving normally then before I know it I start feeling better. Sitting around feeling sorry for myself only seems to serve to make me feel worse and seeing my home fall apart around me doesn’t help the situation.

As for neglecting unpleasant jobs – who hasn’t been guilty of that? – I know I have. Yesterday when I starting writing this post just listening to my train of thought on the subject inspired me to get up and treat my motorbike leathers to a good feed of leather conditioner, a job that has been needing doing since we pulled them out of the shipping container the day we moved into this house three and a half years ago. I also sprayed out the oven so I could clean it today.  That is still a b***h of a job and it needs a second going over but I am getting there and it is a whole lot better today than it was yesterday. If anyone has any tips on roasting in an oven without make a huge mess please feel free to share them with me. I like my roasts to be crispy on the outside so I fear that cooking them in a closed baking dish will not allow this to happen but the mess I keep making of my oven is just not acceptable and I need to come up with a better plan.

Today’s Declutter Item

Guitar cords are like iPod jack cords – they don’t last forever. One of those built in redundancy tricks I suppose.

Before I start on my grateful list I would just like to send words of love and support and prayers to the people of Christchurch, New Zealand and anyone else affected by the recent earthquake. So far 75 are confirmed dead and there have been 300+ missing person reports lodged. Hopefully the numbers won’t be as high as that but at this point things are looking very grim. The rescue effort is being hampered by the threat of other buildings toppling. This must be heart breaking for those whose loved ones haven’t been recovered. My heart goes out to them and their families and I hope the nightmare of uncertainty ends for them soon.

I am grateful from anything that brings me joy. Below are five things that gave me joy today.

• Being one day closer to the workmen being finished at my house. It is hard to get out and do what you want or need to do.
• My air-conditioner is no longer sitting at the end of my bed but back on the balcony attached to its power supply and working.
  
• My friend Liz took a whole car load of clutter to the thrift store today. Way to go Liz! Tomorrow we will have more to celebrate than just her birthday. Happy birthday Lizzy!
  
• Finding time to do some crafting.
  
• Making contact with some old friends through Facebook.

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

Saturday is fast becoming a confession day for Cindy but if she is willing to keep sending me these pictures who am I to not use them.  I am quite willing to take anyone else’s confession if you are willing to send me your before and after shots. I promise I will be kind and not allot too much in the way on penance, maybe a couple of extra mini missions.

The before shot of Cindy’s desk

Putting things away when you are finished using them is not always easy to do when you have two children and a husband to care for and a part time job. At some point though the mess will catch up with you and instead of a couple of extra seconds here and there you find yourself with a twenty minute clean up task to deal with.

Cindy wrote – It had been looking this bad for at least a week, but I was shocked when I looked at the before photo. As we’ve discussed before, if you have trouble “seeing” your clutter, a photo will certainly bring things into focus for you. The great thing about this cleaning was, because almost everything on my desk actually has a home I was able to declutter two items, re-homed seven things, put a half dozen papers in the recycling bin, and dust my desk all in twenty minutes.

The after shot of Cindy’s desk

Quite an improvement don’t you think and only twenty minutes of effort. Good job Cindy!

Cindy you are a trooper. Thank you again for your before and after shots they are an inspiration to those who have given up hope of ever having a tidy home.

You are probably starting to think that I am very secretive about my own clutter but I have been up front from the beginning that my clutter is mostly hidden clutter and for the duration of married life I have always been a bit of a neat freak. I have added photos of both my husbands desk and mine for reasons of transparency. My husband’s desk is almost as usual clutter free except for that roller-blind that fell down some months ago that requires the ladder to replace and we just haven’t gotten around to it. While my desk has a project in progress but my white board could do with a bit of a declutter. Like Cindy said things look a lot worse when you see them through the lens of a camera.

Steve’s Desk                     My craft desk

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Perhaps if you’re like my mother – always organized, always together, the focused Energizer Bunny – you won’t understand this post, this post about why my house fell into complete disarray and stayed there for about 8 years. Well, perhaps not why it fell into disarray, but why it stayed that way, year after hateful year.

Our house was almost literally always under construction, with my husband and I as the main worker bees. I had two young children. I find housework boring. All those reasons are true. But plenty of people offered to dig me out of my hole, and I had a housekeeper every other week for several years. It would take me hours to “clean” before Ellie came to clean – mostly I was stacking things and tucking them away before her arrival so she could find the floor and the counters.

My reason, in part, why nothing stayed clean was anxiety, unease, discomfort. When I cleaned, I knew without a doubt, that the mess would come right back, right away. I felt uncomfortable and almost unhappy when the house surfaces were clean and the junk was piled up tidily. It was like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew, as sure as I know that water rolls downhill, that all that stuff was going to re-emerge, and sooner rather than later. It felt useless and hopeless to bother to tidy up – so why bother at all? I wasn’t working then, and once both of the kids were in school, I carried a secret fear that my husband might “fire” me as a homemaker and send me back to work because I was doing such a lousy job. Truth be told, I would have fired myself!

Besides my defeatist attitude, another thing that kept the house from being clean and staying clean was that I never organized or decluttered all the way. I would load the dishwasher but not wipe the counter. I would pay the bills but leave the stamps and envelopes out. We joked that no one in our house understood the word “away” as in “I’ll put that away.” 90% of the job done was 100% good enough for me. Why did I only go part of the way – laziness, habit, the feeling of wasted time I got from completing the job?

How did I overcome my cleaning anxiety? The kids getting older and the remodelling finally being finished both helped, that’s for sure. I became determined to know where everything was supposed to go. I decided that I wanted to be extremely familiar with the word “away.” And if I didn’t know where something’s “away” was, I would figure it out.

Although I was already on my way toward cleanliness and organization, I really started my decluttering on June 1, which is when I found 365lessthings. Since then, I have decluttered over 1,600 things. I could really see a difference after a couple of months, and so could the rest of the family. My husband, who had been secretly and not-so-secretly longing for a lovely home was praising. When one child’s room would look great, the other girl would ask for help with her room too. The ease of decluttering – and the reward – became exponential. Now when I look at the island (my black hole) and think, “That looks awful,” I know that it will take me 10 minutes to completely tidy it, and I remember that every surface in the house, plus half the furniture, used to look that way.

So remember there is hope for all of us no matter how deep in the quagmire of clutter we have sunk. You can claw your way out one item at a time, one day at a time one area at a time no matter how you got there. If I can do it so can you, you just have to get started. Good luck and happy decluttering.

Today’s Declutter Item

If I remember correctly this was a stocking filler one Christmas. Just the words stocking filler suggests that it is stuff you don’t need.

I am grateful from anything that brings me joy. Below are five things that gave me joy today.

• I love it when a sentence comes together – Often when I write my posts I am a little too rushed to edit them to my satisfaction or the best of my ability. Not good enough I know. So I do love it when a sentence just comes together and sounds good from the first draft
• The string of cooler days and rain we are having. It is so nice to keep the covers on at night and today I even put my dressing gown on when I got up.
• Knowing I have an entire day at home today – I have quite a few tasks and some unfinished business I need to take care of around here.
• Birthdays that keep repeating themselves – Several of my family got my birthday card out too late to arrive on time while other cards arrived early. The result is that my birthday is lasting for a whole week. I love it!
• Being there for one of my friends when she needed a sanity break.
  

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

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Black hole – In astronomy- an object so massive that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravitation.  In modern usage – a place where things get lost; a place or thing into which objects disappear and are not expected to be seen again.

Do you have a black hole in your house? I bet you do. Maybe it’s the kitchen or dining room table, the chair in your bedroom, your desk, or the bench by the front door. It’s the place in your home that attracts everything that comes into your house and once there is difficult, if not impossible, to re-home.

I have a friend who believes that every single counter or shelf in a house is a black hole, waiting to happen. His ideal house (so he thinks) includes no horizontal surfaces. I guess he’s going to store his underwear in a pile on the floor. For the rest of us, we have counters and shelves and probably appreciate their utility, even if we don’t always appreciate their tendency to attract clutter.

We have a bench by the front door that is the first line of defence against clutter. It stays remarkably clear, holding only the girls’ backpacks and string instruments. I think it doesn’t get cluttered because once the backpacks and instruments are on the bench, there’s not even room for a dust bunny to hide.

But what makes it past the bench to the island in the kitchen, well cue the scary music. We have a big island, a beautiful island, a cluttered island. When I wrote this post it contained the following items, only a few of which actually belong on it: folder, ball of yarn, small pile of papers, clean wine glass that belongs to my Mom, jar of cat treats, watch with broken wrist band, bowl of fruit, bowl of decorative little pumpkins, spray bottle of water (neatly labeled “hair drawer”), two bags of Halloween candy, hair brush, diabetes kit, laptop and power cord (in use), 3 prizes from Halloween party, 4 pieces of mail received today, a bracelet. Yikes! (Note: This column was written in October. The Halloween stuff isn’t still there in February; there’s new clutter instead.)

At our house, we combat the black hole that is the kitchen island by re-homing objects once or twice a week. I quickly pile everything up according to owner and in a scramble, it’s all whisked away, although I would prefer it didn’t land on the island in the first place.

How can we avoid black holes? The bench seems to offer one clue. If the surface is just the right size for our purposes, then extra doesn’t have a place to hide. But since our goals and desires change frequently, and we can’t buy a new piece of furniture to exactly accommodate each change, right-sizing is probably not a realistic solution to most clutter problems. However, if a new furniture purchase is in your future, consider your needs when selecting the new table or shelf. Bigger may not be better.

My friend Julia suggests putting a large plant or other object on the problematic surface. I think this would only work if the black hole was small enough to be mostly covered by the plant; otherwise, I fear you’d just be adding a plant to all your other clutter. But if your black hole is a small one, a large decorative item might help.

I think the solution with the greatest likelihood of success is this one: A place for everything and everything in its place. You walk in and drop the mail, your purse, keys, and sunglasses on the table because that’s their home, even if you don’t want it to be. Find another home. Get a key hook for the door, reassign your purse to your bedroom and put your sunglasses inside. The mail needs a place on your desk. When you shop, put your purchases away, promptly. If they don’t have a home, should you have bought them? If yes, then make a home. Now, before the table becomes their home.

Still feeling the pull of the black hole? Desperate times call for desperate measures: Can you cover the table with a cloth or crumpled newspapers – anything to remind yourself “Danger! Black Hole Ahead!” Perhaps you could lay the table on its side until the gravitational force dies out? If the black hole is a chair, can you get rid of it or move it to another room until your break your black hole habit? And if the black hole is a table in the dining room that you don’t use except to store clutter, is this the best use for this room? Maybe you should get rid of the table all together and add something to the room that you really will use and enjoy. It’s your house. Just because the real estate brochure said it was a dining room doesn’t mean you have to use it that way.

Where is your black hole, and how will you be fixing it?

Written by:- Cindy Bogard

Today’s decluttered Item

And the items just keep on coming. This socket set is excess to our needs and was sold on ebay for $10.50.

5 Things I am grateful for today

• Google Calendar – Life can get very organised with this little internet tool.
• I am finally getting ahead with my blog posts – hopefully I will need to scramble less in future and not make so many typos etc.
• That none of my readers point out my bad spelling, typos, grammar, and bad sentence structure – Thank you lovely readers.
• That I am not employed outdoors – The temperature reached 43°C today that is 109.4°F my friends. Youch!
• T-Bone roast for dinner – This is a T-Bone  steak cut at about 2 inches thick and roasted for one hour on 200°C with potatoes, sweat potato, pumpkin, carrot and onion in the same pan. Yum! How outrageous Sunday dinner on Tuesday night. 😆

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Audra is eight years old and a fashionista. The lucky girl gets hand-me-downs from her sister and her sister’s friend, plus she occasionally gets new clothes of her own, typically from the thrift store. Audra changes clothes many times a day (thank goodness she wears a uniform to school!) and makes some really wonderful outfits.

I have been of several different minds about Audra and her clothes. Initially I would tell everyone, “Don’t buy her clothes. She doesn’t need any clothes,” etc. Then, as I started decluttering and reflecting on our choices, I realized that Audra enjoys a good shirt far more than any other toy, game, or art supply she could receive. If you’re going to buy a gift, it should be one that the person really loves, so then I thought, “Good, clothes it is.” Unfortunately, I quickly regretted my choice. Why? Audra never cleans up after herself. Her clothes were thrown over the bar instead of hung, or they were dropped on the floor barely worn but would quickly become dirty after being stepped on. I got mad, ridiculously mad. I resented the mess; I resented the extra laundry; I started resenting her.

One of Audra’s excuses was that she didn’t know how to hang her clothes properly. I spend several hours teaching her how to hang the clothes and rewarding her a nickel an item. This strategy was only mildly successful, but I used it to justified my anger. Now I knew she was just being careless. Time passed, and I wasted precious time and energy steaming.

Then one day, I had a calm moment when I realized that I was handling the situation backwards. I realized that Audra didn’t have a problem; she didn’t care that her clothes were on the ground or that I was intermittently angry at her. (She’s got a temper too and a very resilient personality.) It was me who had a problem, and it is my job is to solve my problems. I got a big trash bag and picked up everything from her floor and everything that was not hung properly, except stray uniforms, which went into the laundry, and I put the trash bag in the bottom of my closet. To my stunned surprise, Audra didn’t notice. About a week later, I made the same sweep. Audra started to notice that she was having a bit more trouble matching outfits, but she didn’t see the bigger picture.

The third time I made the floor sweep, Audra walked in while I was stuffing my plastic bag, which now bulged like Santa’s sack. She was shocked, but we had a calm discussion. She rightly pointed out that she has more clothes than anyone else in the family but less hanging space. We brought in a rolling rack from the spare room. She helped me figure out how the clothes should be organized, and we started unpacking the bag of confiscated goods. She was surprisingly merciless, weeding out everything that she thought she no longer wanted. After a while, she got tired, we stopped hanging things up, and she has never asked for the remaining items. Her clothes have really not been an issue since, and we finished this project at least six weeks ago.

I realized that I let this problem – my problem – go on and on because I was too chicken to diminish her clothing pile. I really thought it would break her heart and that I would win the Mean Mom of the Year Award. How wrong I was. Audra still loves her clothes, but we both realized that in the land of plenty, it’s easy to have plenty too much.

Item 356 of 365 less things

Yet another thing that I have been passing over during the year. I don’t think this has been used in 3 years. Out it goes.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. A roof over my head and a bed to sleep in – That is more than some people have.
2. The good times together with family.
3. Being organised for Christmas – The gift is bought, the pudding is ready and the house is clean.
4. Stone fruit – Peaches, cherries, plums, apricots etc they are one of the best things about a summer Christmas.
5. My little car – It’s compact, easy to park and cheap on the gas.
   

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