Welcome to the first Mini Mission Monday at 365lessthings. Since I have already given you a list of mini missions to work on this week I have decided to give you one mission to think about while you are carrying our you those other tasks.

Your mission is to find something in your house that you no longer really want/use but something is holding you back from getting rid of it. I am sure you all have something that will come to mind immediately. There are several reasons that cause us to keep avoiding these items…

1. Something that you want to sell rather than give away but you haven’t done anything about it.
2. An item that you aren’t too sure about how to dispose of responsibly.
3. Items that requires a series of tasks in order for you to part with them happily like digitising papers for instance. This will require sorting, copying, saving and shredding.
4. Someone else’s sentimental value.
5. A family heirloom that is more of a looming object.
6. Perhaps something that is big and cumbersome that you need to have collected rather than drop off.
7. It might be one of those “I may need it some day” items that you know you really don’t want taking up space but can’t bring yourself to part with it.
8. Maybe your troubling item is a set of tools required for a hobby that you no longer do but the old “I spent good money on this” monster keeps making you cling to them.
9. Maybe it is something from your childhood that you are clinging to for all the wrong reasons.

I want you to give some serious thought to this item and come up with an action plan. This might require some soul searching if this item has some psychological attachment for you. You may need to weigh up what is more important to you, the item itself or being free of its grasp on you. You may not be ready to part with this item yet but if it came to mind there must be something about it that troubles you to have it around.

Write down your thoughts about the item and ask a friend or family member to give you guidance about it. A third party can sometimes be more rational about things because of the history attached to us.

My item is going to be my trophy collection. My intention is to photograph them, remove the plaques and put it all together in a scrapbook page or two. I also intend to go to the trophy shop not far from my home and see if they have a suggestion as to how to dispose of them. I would like to think that they may be able to use the parts or know of some organisation like a drama society who might be able to use them as props. I have put this off for months now but the day of reckoning is nigh. As you can see this involves both the #2 and #3 degrees of difficulty mentioned above.

Well good luck and don’t forget you can always ask the community here at 365lessthings for our opinion, we are always happy to help.

Today’s Declutter Item

Another pair of shoes, mine this time. Every time I wear them I feel a rather uncomfortable lump under my right foot. Like yesterday’s pair I will donate them to charity and hope they are more suited to someone else. They are a cute pair of shoes after all.

Things I am grateful for today

• A lovely long walk at the beach – The weather was closing in but that just made it more interesting.
• Crafting – I have been doing quite a bit of that lately and I am enjoying it.
• The weather being a little cooler today and now there is a thunder storm rumbling in the not to o far away. I love thunder storms.
• Getting some good post ideas from some comments I received today.
• Taking time to stop and smell the roses – and having a neighbour who doesn’t mind you stealing them while he is away.
  

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

Stocking up is the brother to I might need it some day and both are a problem when it comes to trying to live a more minimalist lifestyle. One can create clutter while the other can undermine the decluttering process. Either one has the potential to cause mischief on its own but put the two together and you may even create the basis of hoarding.

Lets look at stocking up first…

The problem with stocking up is that it rightly or wrongly appears to make economic sense. This is especially so when it comes special deals where you can get two for the price of one. In this instance it would seem ridiculous not to take advantage of such a bargain so long as it is a product that…

• you use all the time and isn’t going to take  months or years to use up.
• it isn’t going to perish before you will use it up.
• you have used before and you aren’t going to discover that you have an allergy to it.
• it isn’t related to a pastime that you may grow board with before you are likely to make use of it.
• (if it does pass the previous criteria) you have the space to store it in your home.

Think long and hard about the situations I have mentioned above and any others that may pop into your head. Lifestyles, interest and tastes change all the time whether it be hobbies, sports, food, fashion etcetera. Even our bodies change, our skin, our hair, sensitivities can develop and we all know how age affects what products we require.

What I am saying here is that reasonably thought-out stocking up makes great economical sense but don’t be lured in to what appears to be a “great deal” simply by price alone, stop and consider any purchase no matter how tempting it may seem on the surface.

Bargains aren’t the only reason people stock up. Other reasons can be, don’t like to shop, live out of town, fear that an item you love now may become obsolete etcetera. Whatever the reason the same guidelines apply.

Helpful Tip :- To take advantage of great two for one deals without stocking up share-buy with a friend then you will both end up with one each at 50% off. This can apply to bulk items as well if it is something you can physically split  evenly between people. I used to shop this way at Costco sometimes with a friend of mine in America. We ended up with a great deal between us without the bulk.

Now lets look at I might need it some day…

Once again there is economic sense in hanging on to an object because it might come in useful in the future. The problem is that in the meantime this item, that may or may not ever be used again, is taking up valuable real estate in your home. If it is bothering you because it is more aesthetically unpleasant than it is useful to you then you really need to give it serious consideration when decluttering. Here are some points to consider…

• could I borrow a similar item if I needed one again in the future?
• could I hire a similar item at a reasonable cost.
• could I replace this item cheaply if circumstances changed and I now had a constant use for one of these items.
• is this item likely to perish and become useless from sitting unused for a long period. In this case you are better to give it away now. From personal experience I know that there are many things that you might expect will last for ever but in actual fact will never be useful again if left unused.
• is this item taking up valuable space that I need to work/ live efficiently.

Yes there will come the odd moment when we think – “Heck I wish I hadn’t got rid of this or that.” or “I wish I had got more of that when it was cheap.” – but those times will be few and far between and most likely fleeting. I will bet the times when you think – “I should get rid of that stupid thing it is always getting in my way.” or “I wish I hadn’t bought so much of this because I don’t really like it any more but it would be a waste to throw it away.” – will come around far more frequently if you make poor decluttering or purchasing decisions.

Day 338 of 365 less things

This set of plastic drawers is one more item we do not need to store things in that we no longer have.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Laptop computers – I have found that I write my blog better in bed which would be a little difficult with a desk top computer.
2. Spaghetti Bolognese – It is so yummy yet so easy to make.
3. Steve came home – Everything went well after my husband’s operation yesterday and they let him come home today as planned.
4. The voice of reason – I am finding myself to be a bit overprotective of Liam since his accident so it is good that I have Steve to be my voice of reason when I try to hold the apron strings too short and tight.
5. Quickly finding a good parking spot in a busy car park.
   

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

Well the jolly fat man is due to arrive again but that isn’t going to send me into a spin this year. I have let my family know that I will not be wanting any gifts and aren’t planning on buying any for anyone else. I will be giving my children money and everyone else will be receiving one of my recycled Christmas cards which is what this post is about. I love simple Christmas I feel so much more relaxed this year.

Every Christmas for the last  few years I have been using the cards I received the year before to make the years supply of Christmas cards. Instead of sending generic cards I am sending something I have put personal effort into and am recycling at the same time. I hope the recipients appreciate the effort that went into it and consider it my personal gift to them.

The decluttering aspect of this exercise is that I use up some of my over abundance of craft supplies. This year I have used 15 card bases and envelopes, several embellishments and a number of sheets and scraps of patterned paper and card stock . It may not be much but every little bit counts. Below I will share with you the results of my efforts.

A sample of the end result of my recycling and decluttering

Before                                           After

Before                             After                              Before                                After

Before                             After                                 Before                                    After

Item 336 of 365 less things

The complete collection of cards that I made for this Christmas. Slowly but surely those craft supplies are starting to dwindle.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Games to play together on a rainy day.
2. Be able to do things with my own two hands.
3. Patience – I can’t say I have it for everything but it has been the key to my decluttering process this year.
4. A break in the rain to plant some basil and a chilli plant.
5. Rice – Thai black sticky rice, creamed rice pudding, curry and rice, risotto… need I go on. It’s just so versatile.
   

A guest post by my hubby Steve

In 1998, UK artist Tracey Emin unveiled My Bed, literally her unmade bed and the crap that lay on and around it. By presenting her bed as art she became famous, some may say infamous, as one of Britain’s great contemporary artists.

Well, you do not have to be infamous to use the excess stuff in your home to create an artistic expression that can either become a focal point in your home or sold. Here are two examples:

Steam punk ray gun

I have an old hand wood drill that sat unused in my tool chest for nearly 30 years, sentimental clutter because it belonged to a family friend. It failed to sell on eBay and I earmarked it for the donation bin when I renewed my association with steam punk. Steam punks develop alternate technologies that could have evolved in the Victorian aesthetic, and many create futuristic weapons (ray guns if you like) of a different past. So I dismantled the drill, added pistol grip fashioned from an old wood plane, and some wiring to create the IXLAN Thermal Disrupter. I also created a back story for the weapon, and it will eventually be for sale on Etsy.

IXLON Thermal Disrupter

Steroids in Baseball

Invigorated by my first art project, I took at look at the donate pile and decided I could create a new piece with some 5″ x 7″ gold baseball cards. I chose four cards; Alex Rodriquez, Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire who all admit using steroids during their careers, and Ken Griffey Jr whose stellar career is untainted by juicing.

I printed part of the statements made by the first three players onto vellum and affixed it to their cards to symbolise the cloud or murk that obscures their baseball achievements because of steroid use. Assembled together on a backing board, Griffey’s card reflects his shining example of baseball prowess, a career that will undoubtedly lead to his enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Steroids in Baseball

Be an artist!

Turning clutter into art is immensely satisfying, the act of making something is good for the soul, and remind us that everything does not have to be disposable, even if its originator made it that way.

What could you make?

Something cool like a ray gun or a social statement on an important issue is lurking in the garage or under your bed. Post a photo of your creation on our Facebook page.

Item 334 of 365 less things

Just another item we no longer need which we donated to the thrift store.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. A cup of tea in bed to start the day – My husband has been doing this quite often lately and I hope he plans on making a habit of it.
   
2. Plants that thrive on neglect – They are the only type that survive in my garden and are even better value when they pop up from nowhere and start baring fruit.
3. My mother teaching me to cook while I was growing up.
4. No gift giving at the Christmas party with my old work mates last night.
5. Every day I am grateful that Liam is doing so well.

I love to browse the antique shops just for the nostalgia that it evokes. I often see things there that remind me of my grandmother or things that bring back fond memories from my childhood. The beauty of these occasional visits is that I can enjoy the sensations for free and come home empty handed. I don’t need to own the stuff to enjoy it every now and again.

How many of us actually bring this stuff home or even make a hobby of it. There are a lot of collectors out there and an endless variety of things that can be collected. Some people do this because they enjoy the novelty/beauty/rarity of the items while others collect for the monetary value or more importantly the potential monetary value. Much as I love the idea of preserving these items for history’s sake, it does seem a shame when they are hidden away in private collections where very few people will ever view them.

We have a couple of collections in our home that serve to remind us of our shared enjoyment of baseball and art. Both collections have items we enjoy to look at and also considered to be investments. The trouble with investing in collectables is that sometimes you miss the window of opportunity to sell at it’s best price in your lifetime. Case in point are four Ichiro bobble head dolls that when released sold for up to a couple of hundred dollars each on ebay.  Granted we paid nothing for these dolls but now they are worth much less and taking up space in our garage along with a bunch of next to useless baseball cards and other ball park freebies.

Now I know you are thinking why not just get rid of them but to add to the problem they also hold a certain amount of sentimental value for some family members. There are also a box of band T-shirts belonging to my son and various other souvenir clothing items belonging to my husband that may or may not have monetary value but certainly have sentimental value. All these things are cluttering up space in the garage but they aren’t out of site and soon enough they will be dealt with during the 365 days.

I personally will never collect anything ever again, I have learned my lesson. Baseball card collecting is akin to gambling in my opinion and so too really is investing in collectables with the hope that they will appreciate in value. If you want to gamble like this buy shares and try your luck on the stock market at least this doesn’t clutter up your home.

Before I finished writing this post my husband pulled the boxes of baseball collectables out of the garage and at least condensed it down to a much small hoard. One more step taken to a minimal household and more garage space. I will be posting the photos as soon as he works out what he is doing with the rejects.

ITEM 313 OF 365 LESS THINGS

These paint cans were left over from Liam’s art class in high school. Graffiti really isn’t what a parent wants their teenage sons to learn in art class. Once used up he then kept the cans to make some sort of art installation but never got around to it. He gave me permission to get rid of them before he had his accident so out they go to be recycled.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Another fine day so we were able to take our morning walk.
2. Coffee with a friend.
3. Memories of reading to my children when they were young – My daughter and I were sorting through some old children’s books in order to declutter the ones that have no sentimental value.
4. My husband and daughter doing their part in the decluttering today.
5. Bridget doing a grocery run for me so I didn’t have to go myself.
   

Just a quick post to prove to you that I do practice what I preach even when social convention challenges me to have second thoughts.

This weekend we took a trip interstate to be involved in a birthday surprise for my husband’s mother who will turn seventy later this month. The main object of this surprise was for all her four children to be there with her in one place at one time for the first time in seven years. As she made a point of mentioning during the celebration, this may well be the last time it happens because it isn’t easy to orchestrate with all four children living in different states/territories with the complication of two being in the military.

Tempting as it was to come up with a nice gift to commemorate the occasion, regardless of the fact that there really isn’t anything she needs, I decided to be practical. To be honest spending almost $1000 for three airfares, a hire car and accommodation was more than enough of a gift but I came up with a good alternative to arriving empty handed.

She has sent me the odd comment on my blog about decluttering my craft items without consulting her first. So in the spirit of that and in keeping with what I do and say here at 365 Less Things I put together a collection of paper crafting  supplies – paper, album, embellishments and magazines and gave it to her as my gift. She was very pleased with my selection while I was very happy to lessen the mileage on my craft supply guilt trip.

ITEM 277 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The collection of items given to my mother-in-law minus the magazines that were decluttered in a previous post and were sitting in the garage waiting to be sent to the thrift store.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Decluttering – when I visit homes that feel to me to be full of clutter and return to my own mostly decluttered home it is like a breath of fresh air.
2. Families that get along – sometimes we take this for granted but after a happy week-end with family – cousins, sisters, brothers, parents and in-laws – all getting along happily together I feel quite grateful to have been and continue to be a part of it.
3. Rain – even though it can put a damper on outdoor activities, it just freshens up the city and makes it feel clean again. It we seem to get just enough of it here to keep my garden alive without having to water it myself.
4. Good quality toilet paper – can’t you encounter some really poor quality toilet tissue in public restrooms. Also it is easy to tell that no thought what-so-ever goes into where most TP dispensers are mounted on the wall in these restrooms.
5. The opportunity to help – the joy of helping others is arguably more satisfying then the relief of being helped yourself.

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

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

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

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

ITEM 275 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The items from the zip lock bag

5 things I am grateful for today

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

About eighteen months ago now a good friend of mine opened a quilt shop. She had been involved in this hobby  for quite a while and had also worked in a quilt shop for several years before deciding to branch out and begin her own business.

Being the good friends that I am I naturally offered to help her get started. First of all helping out to set up the store and then she hired me to work in the shop one day every two weeks. I had never tried quilting before but have plenty of sewing skills so I decided I should take some lessons with her so I would be more knowledgeable for the customers seeking my assistance.

I have to admit that right from the start my heart really wasn’t in it. Knowing how much other hobby clutter I already had at home I really didn’t want to start something new that would require more equipment and I had no need for the finished product. Even back then my mind was on the minimising path.

Luckily my friend and I feel free to speak openly with each other and I had made it clear from the start that if she felt she didn’t require my services any more she was free to let me go. As it turned out her daughter was in need of some work hours and took over the days that I had been helping out.

It is a wonderful thing to have friends with whom you can be honest and open with. This situation left us both free to be who we are and do what is right for ourselves without upsetting the other. If ever she needs my help again I would be more than happy to oblige and I am sure she would be content in knowing she can always call on me.

Fortunately I did not accumulate much more than a few snippets of fabric during the time I was learning the craft which I happily gave to her to sell as remnants in the the store. All I have to do now is work through all those other craft supplies I still have.

ITEM 212 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This tote was an item I used during my scrapbooking phase even though it is meant for quilting I like to live outside the box and it was perfect for taking my projects to scrapbook classes. I decided to sell it recently and asked my friend if she would sell it in her quilt shop. It was a quick sale because she decided to buy it herself.  I made a fast $20.

The item I am decluttering today is a motorcycle jacket that has belonged to my husband since before we were married. He has not worn it for years. He had a set of motorcycle leathers made way back then as well and they became his protective clothing of choice.

This Jacket has become an example of natural progression decluttering purely by accident. When I say accident I mean it literally. I recently tagged along on one of my husbands business trips. We had no sooner reached our destination and had a bite of lunch when we received a call from our son. We had lost control of his motorbike during a rain squall and slid down the road. Luckily, he was not hurt.

After years of holding on to this jacket unused, my son finally gave it a new lease on life when he started to ride. Needless to say the jacket went sliding down the road with him but unlike him it did not come off unscathed. It is beyond repair and is going in the trash. Sadly or fortunately as fate would have it, we also still have the leather jacket my husband hasn’t used since 1994 so he can now use that one.

I regret that this post is a bit anti-productive when it come to setting an example for not keeping clutter unused for years on end. It is however the exception rather than the rule and it will not influence my attitude to clutter in general.

ITEM 179 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Decluttering is a much easier task when it is a team effort. I can’t imagine what it is like when the effort is one sided or worse sabotaged with one person doing all the work while the other is under-minding their efforts by bringing more clutter into the home.

That said, I want to take the opportunity today to give credit to my husband for the way he has embraced my resolution to remove 365 items of clutter from our home this year. This would be a much more difficult quest if I had to do it alone and especially if he was not prepared to co-operate because the clutter is not all mine

It was his idea to start the blog in fact and he reads and edits it everyday. I am glad of that because I am guilty of a lot of typo and spelling mistake clutter and he is very good at removing it for me. I had no idea how to go about starting the blog which is why it was day 67 before it got underway as he was overseas due to work commitments.

This week I actually told him he needed to slow down a little as I am the one who has to come up with something to write about each day and it is not easy when I am not exposed to subject inspiration because he is doing all the decluttering. He took it in good humour as it was meant to be – but really love,  slow down!

He is very good at revisiting areas that he has worked on before and being more ruthless at each pass. This is especially so with the sentimental items. He is also having some success with eBay having sold numerous items that would otherwise have gone in the trash or been hard to part with had there not been some monetary gain.

So thanks Love you are doing a great job. XXX

ITEM 143 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This robotics kit was one of those items I am sure my husband would have had a hard time parting with if he could not have sold it on eBay. He only got $105.00 for it but that was better than having sit in the garage where wasn’t being used.