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... Something that you want to sell rather than give away but you haven't … [Read more...]
Day 338 The trouble with stocking up and hanging on
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 … [Read more...]
Day 336 X-Mas Craft Declutter
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 … [Read more...]
Day 334 Clutter as Art
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 … [Read more...]
Day 313 The trouble with collectables
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 … [Read more...]
Day 277 A declutter gift
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 … [Read more...]
Day 275 Hang-ons from old hobbies
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 … [Read more...]
Day 212 Hobby clutter
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 … [Read more...]
Day 179 Accidental Declutter
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 … [Read more...]
Day 143 Team Effort
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 … [Read more...]