The Rule of Reciprocity

by Maria Lin, Real Simple, Dec. 2011 issue

About 40 years ago, Disabled American Veterans, a Kentucky-based nonprofit, had a bright idea: The charity decided to send potential donors free personalized address labels. After the labels arrived in mailboxes across the nation, contributors to the group nearly doubled – jumping from 18 percent to 35 percent of those solicited. Why was this marketing gimmick so successful (and copied by countless others)? Because of a phenomenon called the rule of reciprocity.

The concept is simple enough: When people are given something for free, they typically feel obliged to make a gesture – or even a purchase – in return, says Steve Martin, a coauthor of Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive (Free Press, $15) and director of Influence at Work UK, a consulting company in Luton, England. The principle applies even when the free item is unsolicited and inexpensive, as Cornell University psychology professor Dennis Regan learned in 1971. In his seminal study, he found that when people were offered a free soda by a student, they bought almost twice as many raffle tickets from him as did those who had received nothing. That’s why you’re so often besieged by offers of free samples, complimentary gifts with a purchase, or amenities like chocolate or bottles of water just for entering a store. The acts of generosity may seem like good, old-fashioned customer service, but they actually prompt you to lay down cash, according to Martin.

So remember this counterintuitive piece of advice the next time you’re at the mall or the grocery store: If you want to stay on budget, say no to free stuff.

This Simple Saturday post was contributed by Cindy as was the amusing cartoon below.

A Mallard Fillmore Cartoon

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

We all want to succeed. We all want  a clutter-free, clean, and peaceful home. Yet sometimes we struggle. What are some of the stumbling blocks to success?

Making Excuses Instead Starting

“I’d like to start.” “I’ll get around to it soon.” “When things settle down, I’ll declutter.” Those are excuses, and if you’re using them, they’re getting in the way of your success. One of the beauties of one-thing-a-day decluttering is that it hardly takes any time, especially in the beginning. In the beginning (which is when excuses are their strongest) nearly anything you touch or see is a candidate for decluttering. Even people who have been steadily decluttering as long as Colleen and me rarely need more than 5 minutes to find something else that needs a new home – outside of our home. Stop making excuses and just start.

An Attack of Negative Thinking

“One thing a day? I’ll be decluttering for the rest of my life?” “What’s the use? There’s too much stuff.” “It probably won’t help anyway.” Stop! No more negative thinking! If you never get started, it won’t ever change, and even one thing less is better than one thing more. We all know that every journey begins with a single step and that a giant tree began as a tiny seedling. Your decluttering journey is no different. Stop thinking and start acting.

Stuck in Your Comfort Zone

You say you want a decluttered home, but really, you like being surrounded by all that extra stuff. Besides, what if you need it some day? Being comfortable is comfortable and wanting to change can be hard and scary. I used to work with a psychiatrist who said, “People don’t change until they’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.” How true. But if you’re here, searching the Internet for inspiration in your decluttering journey, I’m going to believe that you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired and that today is the day you’re going to make your first change. You’ll be leaving your comfort zone one step at a time, one day at a time. Don’t be afraid to take the first, small step. You may be amazed at how many steps come next.

A Second Attack of Negative Thinking

“I’m not getting anywhere.” “This isn’t working.” “It’s too slow, maybe I should just quit.” We’re not running a sprint in our decluttering, not even a marathon. This is a long, sometimes meandering journey on foot, and you won’t get from point A to point B in a single day. That’s okay. Your house didn’t get cluttered in a single day, and it’s not going to get uncluttered in a single day. Write down everything you do get rid of. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the numbers add up.

Input and Output

And if you truly, sincerely feel that you’re getting no where, start writing down the number of non-disposable items (not food, toiletries, etc.) that you purchase. If your incoming goods almost match your outgoing goods, that’s going to slow you down significantly. Purchasing excess to your needs and not purging is how we all got cluttered in the  first place (or inheriting a boatload of stuff from someone who purchased in excess to their needs and never purged). You’ve got to stem the inflow, too. As a bonus, your bank account will thank you.

Get a Goal

Maybe “to have a decluttered house” is too vague for you. How about setting a specific goal? “To have company over at any time without feeling embarassed.” “To sell my excess and use the money for XX (mortgage, vacation, private school, credit card debt).”To reduce my china until all of it fits in the china cabinet.” All these are specific, quantifiable goals that may make it easier to get on track and stay on track.

A Final Attack of Negative Thinking

“Stinkin’ thinkin’ ” is what I called this when I was a therapist. This is any thinking about yourself as a person that holds you back. “I’m not worthy” or “I made my bed, now I have to lie in it.” This type of negative thinking is hardest to detect and most insideous, because rarely do we say right out loud to ourselves, “I am not worthy.” Of course you’re worthy! We’re all worthy. Maybe you did make this bed, but you darn sure don’t have to keeping lying in it. Get up! You’re never too far off course that you can’t start to make a change, and it can start today. Say it with me “I am worthy. I can correct any mistakes I have made. I can change what does not work for me and make it better. All of these things are fully within my power. I AM worthy and I CAN do this.”

Today’s Declutter Item

Rather than waste time and effort trying to sell these last few records on ebay it is time to set them free the quick, easy way and more generous way, off to the thrift store they go.

The last of out record collection

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I think I have finally found just the right sandals. Being a conscientious consumer is hard work sometimes. I needed sandals but I wasn’t going to settle for second best, I needed them to be comfortable, versatile and cute and after trying on just about every sandal in town I think I have found a winner. Now all they have to do is pass the husband test.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

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

Have you ever considered the cost of the things you buy and own in comparison to the value they actually realise for you. Which example below represents good value for money to you?

1. You bought a new dress to go to an event and it cost you $100. Yes, you had plenty of other dresses you could wear but you wanted a new one. The dress has now been sitting in your closet for six months and you have only worn it on that one occasion.
2. You bought a secondhand bicycle in order to cut down on using the car for short trips. You only paid $50 for it but use it all the time and the added bonus is your fitness levels have improved incredibly.

It is plain to see that the value, to you, of the $50 bicycle far out weighs to more expensive dress that is rarely used.

The above examples raise yet more cost v value issues as there is more to cost and value than meets the eye. The monetary cost of the dress was $100 but the value so far in return has been very little. The dress is actually costing you more than just the money you spent on it. Knowing you should not have wasted your money on it in the first place is costing you emotionally. Guilt is causing you to keep the item in the hope that you will get more value out of it and that is costing you wasted space in your closet.

Do you see where I am going with this.

Now how about the bicycle. It cost you $50 and over time it will pay itself off in fuel savings which means it is of more value in dollars than it actually cost. But not only that, you are getting fit riding it so it has an added health value. Plus all of these things make you feel good about yourself which raises your self-esteem adding more value to the bike. Yes, it also takes up space in your garage but it is worth every inch it occupies.

Here is one more example for you. Say you own two beautiful dinner sets. You display one set because you love it visually and you use it whenever you have company over for dinner. The other one you aren’t so enamoured with and it is taking up valuable space in the back of a cupboard where you never look at it or use it for that matter. Even though they both cost much the same to buy one is obviously of more value to you than the other. Perhaps if you are keen to declutter you should keep your favourite and sell or give away the other.

As you can see the cost of an object means nothing if it is of no value to you. While at the same time something of relatively little cost may be of infinite value if it is useful to you in some way. The more useful and/or the more enjoyed the item is the more value it is to you.

This is a good way to evaluate your clutter. It is also a good way to look at items before you decide to purchase them. If you can be honest with yourself about how much value you are likely get out of an item before buying it you could save yourself a whole lot of money. You can also avoid a whole lot of grief, effort and waste of space in the long term.

Today’s Declutter Item

These rubber stamps are of no value to me. They probably cost me very little but I never use them so now they are just wasting valuable space in my already cluttered craft area. 

Rubber Stamps

Something I Am Grateful For Today

In keeping with today’s theme I must say I am grateful for my laptop. I bought a new one earlier this year because my old one really wasn’t keeping up with technology. Although it was an expensive outlay it realises it’s worth everyday when I write my posts and answer all my readers comments. My old one also served me well and was worth every cent I spent on it some six or more years ago. 

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

1. Start with the easy stuff then graduate emotionally into the things you may find harder to part with. The enthusiasm gained from purging the easy stuff should spur you on.
2. Don’t reclutter while you declutter.
3. Learn from your clutter. Don’t just get rid of it learn from you previous mistakes of acquiring stuff. If you don’t take the time to analyse your mistakes in this area you will soon have a repeat performance and be back to square one.
4. KISS ~ Keep it simple stupid. There is no need to disrupt your entire house during the process of decluttering. Just select one small area at a time and then move on to another. There is nothing like a trail of disaster to put you off the task altogether. Don’t even think of it as one big mammoth task just think of it as a bunch of little tasks and only concentrate on one at a time.
5. Do your research and have your strategy planned for how you are going to dispose of your items.
   • Where or how you can donate. (Drop off, pick up, other)
   • Your options for selling (eBay, garage sale, flea market etc)
   • The how, what and where of recycling in your area.
   • Your options for large trash that won’t fit in your curb side bin.
6. Decide ahead of time where your departure points are going to be so you can quickly transfer the things you are decluttering to these areas and get them out of the way. The more organised the area is that you are working in the less likely you are to get stress out, throw your hands in the air and give up.
7. Don’t feel obligated to keep things just because someone gave them to you either as a gift, in remembrance or an heirloom. It is your home and you have the right to decide what stays and what goes.
8. If you can spend hours watching TV, logged on to your computer reading blogs etc, talking on the phone, reading book, magazines or newspapers… then you can surely put aside at least 1 ten minutes a day to declutter. Find a space in your day for that ten minutes and make it a routine.
9. Have an open mind. If you even think an item may need decluttering it is worth consideration. Sometimes an item appears in our declutter radar but we reject the idea because of one reason or another. Maybe this is because the item has been very useful over the years, maybe because at one point you loved this item, maybe because it holds sentimental value. There is usually a reason it appeared in your radar in the first place so give it some second thought, maybe the time has past when it was useful, loved or held sentiment and now you are just keeping it out of habit.
10. Unless you have true hoarding tendencies and need to enlist outside help to assist you in making the decision about what is a reasonable level of stuff I would suggest that you decide for yourself what level of possessions is right for you. The only guide you should use to decided when enough decluttering is enough is your own comfort level. There are many variables at play here and only you know what is right for you and you shouldn’t be railroaded into what is reasonable and what isn’t by someone else’s standards.

Today’s Declutter Item

Once again today’s declutter item is in line with the mini missions set for this week. I made this bracelet but have only worn it once or twice.

My Gratitude List

• Something that made be laugh ~ My husbands silly jokes.
• Something Awesome ~ Miniscule
• Something to be grateful for ~ My balcony is finally repaired so no more tradesmen waltzing through my house.
• Something that made me happy ~ Taking it easy today. It only means I will have to do more tomorrow but I am satisfied with that.
• Something I found fascinating ~ My friend’s grandson’s Lego creations.

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

I received a comment from one of my readers last week who found herself in a tricky situation in regards to decluttering a certain object.  Read the comment below to understand the dilemma. I have edited it so that the artist involved wouldn’t recognise it is about them if by some weird twist of fate they should happen to read it.

I have a tricky one for you and your readers! A very good friend who comes to my house regularly  created a painting AT MY REQUEST for my birthday. That was 4 years ago, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really love the painting then, and I like it less now. It’s just too dark for my house, which I like to be light and airy. I’ve moved the painting from a prominent position to a sort of hidden spot in the another room, but I KNOW she would notice if it was gone, as it isn’t a big house. Maybe I could say one of the kids put their foot through the canvas?

The question is what should she do about the painting…

1. Should she donate it and hope the friend never asks where it went.
2. Should she be up-front and explain to the friend that the shade of it no longer suits her tastes and offer the painting back to her friend or perhaps ask if she can swap it for another piece that she likes better.
3. Should she persevere with it in another room where she looks at it less and then if the person asks at least she can say she still has it but felt like she needed a change.
4. Or is it alright to tell a little white lie (if the friend should ask about it’s whereabouts) that it somehow met its demise by way of a freak accident. Or perhaps say that another acquaintance simply loved it so much you re-gifted it to them because you were intending to buy a new one from her.

I asked my son the art student what he would feel/do as the artist who noticed it missing…

He said he would probably asked where it went out of curiosity but wouldn’t be upset if it had been passed on to someone else. He felt that four years was a reasonable amount of time to have had it displayed and would understand that a person may have changed taste and it no longer suited them. He said he would not be happy had it just been thrown away.

My husband tended to agree with my son but said he would prefer to have been offered the painting back.

Cindy suggested saying  “I love this painting, but the longer I live with it, the more I wish it reflected me/my lifestyle/ my beliefs / something, and I am wondering if you might warm it up / lightening it up for me.”

Not knowing the artist makes it hard for a third party to come up with the best possible solution but it also gives a more detached logical twist as to how to resolve the problem. I personally like the idea of offering it back to the artist and asking if you can swap it for one that matches your new shade preference.  That way the request in no way insults the painting or her/him as an artist but suggests that it is you the owner that has changed but would still love to own one of their pieces.

A true friend would understand and consider your feelings to be important so if this breaks the relationship then you have to ask yourself how strong was it in the first place. I know that I have given things to people and then have never seen them using the gift or displaying it, and I just chalk it up to me not choosing wisely in the first place. Unfortunately, not every one is this insensitive when it comes to giving.

I hope this has been a help to my commenter (who shall remain nameless) and to anyone facing the same situation.

Today’s Declutter Item

This was one of those foolish bargains too good to resist purchases before testing the product to see how well it worked. My guess is that they were a faulty batch and that was why they were selling them off cheap. Because they were crap and I am not sure why I thought 8 years was going to make a difference to their performance. Needless to say they went in the bin.

Things I am grateful for today

• Those odd little things you come across during your normal daily meandering that make you go “Interesting”. Everyday should be different in its own unique way.
• Lunch with a friend
• Cute moments when your kids say things that are quite wise for their age.
• Having a joke with my boy.
• My little girl is taking action instead of just sitting back waiting for life to happen.
  


Below are photos of the Christmas pudding that intrigued some of my readers during the lead up to Christmas. The first picture shows the pudding hanging after being boiled wrapped in cloth for 3 hours. The 2nd picture was taken right after the pudding was removed from the cloth after another 2 hours of boiling on Christmas day a week later (You can hang it for much longer than that). The 3rd picture is of my slice of pudding with custard and cream MMMM Yum. And the last one is of the pudding after everyone had a slice. If you would like a better look just click on one of the photos and it will take you the Steve’s Flickr photo stream.

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

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.

Key # 5 Admire your handy work

There is nothing like a healthy dose of gloating over what a good job you’re doing to inspire yourself to keep laboring on. Just stop every now and again and look around you and enjoy the difference you are making. Why not go back and take a quick peak in that closet or drawer you decluttered and re-organized yesterday to give you inspiration to get back on task today. I do it all the time it makes me feel good and encourages me to move on to the next step.

Item 361 of 365 less things

Computer software – no sooner do you load it on but then it is out of date again.

5 Reflections of gratitude for my neighbourhood this year

1. Spring flowers and Summer showers.
2. All the beautiful birds that live in my neighbourhood.
3. New neighbours – People come and go in my life a lot but that is OK, I am used to it. Variety is the spice of life.
4. The variety of architecture – The landscape is forever changing around me and I love it.
5. The location of my home – It is handy to so many things and I can get there on foot if need be.
   

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

I want you to take one minute now to do exactly as I say. Read the full set of instructions below and then act them out immediately before you forget…

1. Stop what you are doing.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Take 5 slow deep breaths.
4. Listen to the sounds around you.
5. Stay in the moment for one minute.
6. Open your eyes and read on. Slowly and deliberately.

Lately my mind has been all over the place flitting from one thing to another hardly taking time out to savour the moment. A couple of times I found myself really concentrating on what I was doing and it was a very good feeling. I slowed down, focused and took time to really complete my task to the best of my ability. I found myself actually enjoying these tasks even though they were chores like ironing, cooking and cleaning.

Instead of thinking negative thoughts like ‘I would rather be doing something else’ I honed my mind onto the positive feeling I could get out of the situation.

• Instead of rushing through the ironing like a crazed maniac I slowed my movements and really focused on pressing out each wrinkle. I gave myself  time to think what was the best way to lay the article of clothing across the ironing board to get the best result. I think I actually got finished sooner because often in my haste I iron the odd crease in by mistake which can take some effort to get out.

• When cooking I gave full attention to each step of the process. I prepared the ingredients ahead instead of trying to chop, measure and stir all at once while cleaning as I go. We all know what a disaster that can be.

• With the cleaning I focused my mind on how good it feels to have a clean and tidy home and how good each area looked when completed. I concentrated on one small task at a time and as a result didn’t find myself running up and down the stairs or between rooms extra times because I forgot what I went there for in the first place.

Basically I slowed down and savoured the moment. I know you may be thinking that you are a busy person and you can’t afford such a luxury but you really can. Have you ever heard the expressions “The more haste the less speed.” or “Haste makes waste.” I am sure they were words of wisdom quoted from experience. Not only can it be counter productive when you aren’t focused on what you are doing but there is a good chance you aren’t getting any pleasure out of it either.

I wrote this post late on Wednesday night after I have given up trying and let my husband do a guest post for me that day. It suddenly occurred to me that I couldn’t write because my head wasn’t in it so I took 5 deep slow breaths and listened to the crickets outside in the night. That was enough to bring my mind out of its fog and get me back on track.

So remember to take 5 refocus your mind and be in the moment. It is a good use of your time and you might actually find that is saves you time in the long run.

Item 331 of 365 less things

An old plastic tool box that no longer has a purpose for us so it went off to the thrift shop with a bunch of other stuff today.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Ceiling Fans – The weather is starting to warm up but the longer I can resist the aircon the better.
2. Having the time in my day to practice what I preach – I know I am very fortunate.
3. Hubby doing the thrift store run today – I usually do these myself but I was expecting a visitor so he went in my place.
4. My Daughter wishing us a happy Thanksgiving – via text message on her way to work.
   
5. How easy it is to do cleaning jobs around my home – I cleaned out and reorganised the pantry today and it took about 20 minutes because it was tidy and uncluttered to begin with.
   

I love it that we get to start over each morning with a “new day”. This statement formed part of a comment left by Suddenly Susan @ Freezerburned recently and it is a good attitude to live by.

This creed can easily relate to our decluttering efforts especially when we are dissatisfied with a poor performance at any point. Instead of beating ourselves up about it we can just wake up and start afresh tomorrow with a better attitude and renewed vigour.

Today Is A New Day!

Today is a beautiful day because it’s a gift.

Many people around the world did not receive this gift.

You did receive the gift of TODAY – what are you going to do with it?

Today Is A New Day!!

If you want to be a better father or mother – today’s the day!

If you want to be a better son or daughter – today’s the day!

If you want to forgive those who have wronged you – today’s the day!

Yes, this gift is so precious that

If you want to take steps to improve your health – today’s the day!

If you want to help a charity – today’s the day!

If you want to pray for a troubled friend – today’s the day!

You see, what you do with the gift of TODAY is up to you.

If you want to improve yourself or your life or anyone else’s life in any way

Today’s the day!!!

Welcome to today!!

© Steve Maraboli

check out www.abettertoday.com

ITEM 318 OF 365 LESS THINGS

After all this decluttering the empty storage containers are starting to stack up so I gave this one to a friend.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Friends coming to dinner and I don’t have to cook – My darling daughter is doing the cooking tonight.
2. Liam is home for the afternoon- I just hope he doesn’t give us any trouble when we have to take him back.
3. Air-conditioning – It has been a hot one today and with Liam home for the afternoon we needed it to be comfortable. He is finding enough to complain about. 🙂
4. Not having to buy rosemary for tonight’s dinner – because I have it growing in my garden.
5. Macadamia nuts – Mmmmm delicious.
   

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

What motivates you to declutter? Why are you doing it? I was thinking about this questions for myself and came up with these reasons, immediate and far-reaching.

1. I want a clean house. I want to not feel ashamed or embarrassed, both of which I have felt in large measure in the past.
2. I want to continue in my role of stay-at-home parent. Now while the parent part of that job is the most important, the cookin’ and cleanin’ come along with it. While my cooking’s good; my housekeeping makes me eligible for firing. I don’t want that.
3. I have a beautiful home. I want people, including people in my family, to see and appreciate the home and to be able to use the rooms and furnishing in the way intended. (No more sofa = storage bench or formal living room = closet.)
4. I want to decide at 2:00 on a Saturday that it would be fun to have friends come over and not have to scramble like a crazy women, yell at my family like a nut job, and make us all miserable.
5. I want neighbors to drop by and me never to have to say, “Excuse the mess.”
6. I want to find what I am looking for. Now. Without looking in more than one place.
7. I want to know what I own, and I want to avoid buying duplicates because I can’t find things.
8. I want my children to put away their belongings because they know where they go and where they can find them again.
9. I want to be able to park my car in my garage
10. I don’t know if this one’s possible, especially given number 9, but I want to take everything in my ugly outdoor shed, sort it, and store the “keep” pile neatly in the garage. Then I want to tear down my shed and use the foundation as the base for a large pond. Ahhh, doesn’t that sound nicer than a ugly shed full of a jumble of junk?

What’s motivating you to declutter?

ITEM 315 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I bought this album for a project about 7 years ago but never got around to doing that project and I don’t think I would ever use it so out it goes.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. A lovely parting gift from my old work friends – they know I don’t like clutter so they gave me a gift certificate for a whole body massage. I can really do with that at the moment after the tension of the last few weeks.
2. Lunch out with friends.
3. Hubby decluttering in the garage again.
4. A cool evening breeze – I think a storm is on its way.
5. A fridge clean out dinner – Anything left over in there tonight is going on our plates for dinner.