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.

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

The three Rs, reduce, reuse, recycle. In decluttering, sometimes it’s easy to overlook the three Rs, especially if you’re going quickly. There are a lot of reasons to like a-thing-a-day decluttering and proper consideration of the three Rs is one of them.

Notice that the first R is reduce. It’s the most important one of all, starting with only buying what you really need and using it completely. Or buy it used; then you’re not creating demand for another of the same. Consider the packaging of your purchases. Don’t buy single-serving items and buy in bulk – even better if you take your own baggie to fill in the bulk aisle. Say no to bags at the store and bring your own. Use durable items rather than disposables (cloth napkins instead of paper, etc.). Take your own mug into the coffee shop – some even give you a small discount. Bring your own totes to the store. I even bring home plastic forks and spoons from restaurants; a bit ironic since I hardly ever use plastic wear. Typically it gets donated to the school or church, and at least it gets used twice, rather than once.

Use your durable goods longer. All of my furniture was purchased used, and all has been reupholstered. My mother’s living room set has been upholstered three times. Good job Mom! Repair items rather than replacing them. It makes me crazy when someone says, “I can buy a new one for $100 more than it costs to fix this one.” Yes, but you already own this one, and it can be fixed, for $100 less than new.

Do something with your food waste other than throwing it away – compost, feed a pet, or simply throw it to the back fence like I used to. It either breaks down or the possums who were already visiting my yard have a treat. (No, I never noticed an increase in furry visitors when I did this, probably because my food waste is limited.) I take a container to restaurants for my leftovers, rather than accepting their throw away package, and I mark my leftovers clearly with a piece of masking tape that says what’s inside and what day it went in. Everyone eats lunches from home, and that minimizes food waste, too.

“Use it up and wear it out,” we’ve all heard that. Reuse is the next R. Don’t buy something just because it’s new, different, or cute. Drive your car until it goes its last mile and replace it with a used vehicle. I wash out the plastic baggies I use and reuse them many times, but I try to use them infrequently. I have plenty of containers for my family’s sack lunches. This is the third year that my children have used the same school backpacks. The PDA that I use used to be my husband’s; he got a fancier one, and I got his. Most children love hand-me-downs. I suppose their enthusiasm may wane at some point, but it hasn’t yet. We take anything that’s too soiled to be handed down and toss it into a fiber pile. The girls are free to pull out and cut up anything in this pile, which is used to make doll clothes, cat toys, baby blankets, and 100 other things that their clever minds can devise.

There is virtually nothing that you can’t buy used and that you can’t get rid of used. Try  Freecycle, Craigslist, eBay, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Replacements (china and dish ware), your church clothing closet, or literally thousands of other places that will take used goods off your hands. I think it’s important, too, to shop at these places. We all need to help close the circle of supply and demand.

Just about anything in your home can be Recycled. It seems to be the R that’s talked about the most, but I think sometimes the phrase “it can be recycled” leads to wasteful use. For example, I was shopping with someone, and she put every bit of her produce – even one grapefruit – into separate plastic sacks because “they can be recycled!” Yes, but by that time that truck comes through your neighborhood and hauls things to the recycling center, where they’re separated and trucked to a number of other facilities and that’s just the beginning, it’s not environmentally “free”.

Nonetheless, here is a list of things you should always recycle

My friends at The Clutter Consultants here in Austin, Texas tell me that sometimes the urge to recycle or reuse stymies people in their pursuit of less clutter and more organization. Decluttering nice and slow allows you to take proper consideration of each item and allows you to make the best choice about what should become of that item.

What did you declutter today, and how did you Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle?

Thanks to National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for help with this article.

Today’s decluttered item from Cindy’s house: a dozen cans of V8, given to my parents, and two bottles of sparkling cider (too “carbalicious” for Clara), given to a friend who frequently entertains.

ITEM 310 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I have two other craft hammers and this one is not well weighted to do the job it is supposed to day maybe it will be more useful to someone else.

5 things I am grateful for today

1. The thrift shop for taking so many of my rejects – I took a much needed trip over there this morning and dropped off a load of stuff.
2. A roof over my head – I can’t imagine what it would be like living on the street in this rainy weather.
3. Liam scored a 12 out or 12 for his post traumatic Amnesia testing today which is great. If he scores 12 three days in a row he will be able to start his brain injury therapy. He is walking and talking better and I saw a lot of glimpses of the old Liam today. His sister will be pleased. He had also been doing some artwork (not on his sheets this time) and seems to be able to focus better and for longer periods on activities.
4. A hearty dinner – another of those things we so often take for granted that others in the world go without too often.
5. A good end to the day

I see so many comments and forums out there from people who are struggling to clean out their basements. I thank my lucky stars I don’t have a basement because from what I read they are just clutter collection areas. One of the common basement curses are rolls of carpet. They often get put in the basement in good condition but after years down there waiting for their new lease on life they end up rotten from the damp.

I found a link with some great uses for old carpet that I felt compelled to share with you just in case you are suffering from this very problem. My Zero waste is a fantastic blog with some wonderful idea on recycling all sorts of things in varying ways and if you have any love for the environment you will subscribe to this blog. The link I found is Four ways to carpet your garden go over and have a read and check out some of their other great posts while you are at it.

ITEM 256 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I need to find a karate dojo near here who might be able to use these belts.

Even though my blog is primarily about decluttering there is a very strong element of doing the right thing by the environment. I have a lot to learn in this area but I would like to think I am making a pretty good effort.

I do try to be conservative with the amount of heating and cooling we use in our home. This is made easier because we live in a relatively small home by choice. I try to be conservative with the amount of driving I do but there is plenty of room for improvement in this area also. I am not getting much assistance with the miserable weather we have been having here lately though.

I recycle every little thing I can and even surprise myself at how little actual garbage our family generates. I do have a few issues in this area that I would like to start a discussion about. I am very concerned about the amount of recycling that is generated in my home due to day to day living. I feel inundated sometimes with plastic Juice and milk bottles, cardboard packaging and tin cans. Even though I know these items are going to be recycled I would rather be able to cut down on the quantity. It would be lovely if you could take these containers back and have them refilled like you do with fuel in your car but that just isn’t likely to become a reality.

Not in a million years would I consider dropping even one item of litter but I am concerned about how many of the items I do put in the recycling and garbage bins may end up as litter anyway. I was watching a show on TV involving waste management just this week and was appalled at the amount of trash that was blowing away in the wind from the landfill. Does this also happen at the recycling plants and public trash cans?

I went for a walk with a friend the other day along a boardwalk in a mangrove area near her home. I could not believe the amount of trash washed up among the mangrove trees. My friend said a lot of this garbage washing down the storm drains from the city streets. It truly shocked me. Are people really this careless I would like to think not.

ITEM 245 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just more clothes. I thought it was females who had the overcrowded closets!

Stationery is another one of those items I am leaving up to natural progression decluttering. It is a very slow process though. This evening I made a very small dent in our supplies and fulfilled a request from my daughter at the same time.

Last week, she asked me to print her a copy of the family cookbook that I had painstakingly digitised about 10 years ago.  I have added new recipes as I have tested and deemed them good enough to add to the regular rotation.

In printing the recipe book for my little girl I managed to use up…

• 68 pieces of coloured paper
• 34 plastic sleeves
• 13 stick-on divider tabs
• 1  ring binder

…the coloured paper was bought for another project some years ago. The sticky tabs are just spares. I am happy to say that the plastic sleeves and binder are from papers we decluttered a while back so are being reused. That’s only a drop in the bucket when it comes to the using up the abundance of stationary in our house but it’s a start.

ITEM 224 OF 365 LESS THINGS

The cookbook in question. I know it is very 1990’s in layout but that is when I originally digitised it and I am not about to go to the bother of updating. It isn’t quite finished yet but it is close enough to photograph for today’s post.

Last Monday, Day 214, my post was about supply and demand. I promised to keep track of my efforts to avoid being wasteful all week and let you know how I went. The idea is to lower the demand for items therefore lessen the necessity to supply them.

Well here is the result…

• I avoided using throw away utensils and containers when eating out. Luckily at most cafes here in Australia coffee comes in china cups unless you order it to go and they have metal utensils so this wasn’t difficult to achieve.
• As usual I didn’t bag up my fruit and vegetable when at the supermarket so no plastic bags wasted here.
• I also took my own carry bags to the supermarket so once again no plastic bags wasted.
• I walked to work on Thursday and car pooled on Monday saving some gas.
• I mended two items of clothing so they could be worn again instead of being replaced.
• I returned some wire coat hangers to the drycleaners so they could be reused.
• I used Tupperware containers to store some individual chicken breast fillets  in the freezer rather than putting them in plastic freezer bags like I normally would. I will be doing this all the time in future.
• I ate porridge for breakfast all week to use up some oats that were getting a little old in the cupboard. I would have bought a new packet of cereal otherwise.
• We have been eating “end of day” bread all week that was given to my son by a friend who works at a bread shop. This bread would have ended up in a dumpster otherwise and I would have bought fresh bread.
• I oiled and seasoned the vegetables before roasting in a bowl rather than in a plastic bag like I usually would. Once again I will be doing this all the time in future.
• I have been buying my meat at the butcher where even though they still put the cuts in a plastic bag they don’t use Styrofoam trays. Another new habit I will stick with. Actually I might take my own container in future eliminating the plastic bags altogether.
• Aside from groceries and a new lid for my skillet I bought nothing else all week. This has become the norm for me though.

My husband spent the last three weeks in Hawaii and as instructed bought me back no gifts. He does want to buy me a new iPad to replace this laptop that I write my blogs on but this old faithful is going to have to falter more than it already is before I will let him replace it. I am getting used to its little quirks anyway and maybe some times I have to wait a while for it to load things but that is not to bad.

I know all this may not seem like much in the big scheme of things but if everyone made a little more effort to cut back the world would be better for it. I am quite happy with my efforts and I pledge to continue to find more ways to improve.

ITEM 221 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I don’t know how many year it is since my husband used this dart set.

I happened upon a conversation at my work this week where one of the ladies was talking about getting money from petty cash to buy a new kettle for the lunch room. The old kettle still works quite well but due to who knows what in the water the inside of the kettle goes quite black over time.

This new kettle buying has gone on in the past in fact I rescued the last kettle from it’s certain demise with the simple hint that I am about to share with you. Clearly word had not got around that I knew the secret of cleaning the kettle. I find this very odd because as you might have guessed by now, I am quite opinionated, hate waste and am not adverse to notifying everyone of any small piece of brilliance I possess.

So here was my opportunity to shine once again! I informed the person involved that I have the power to solve this problem. I am sure she thought I was quite “full of it” and didn’t believe me for one minute but was prepared to be amazed. And amaze her I did.

As luck would have it I had brought a lemon into work that very day to give to her (but that is a whole other story which I won’t bore you with)  so I cut off a slice threw it in the kettle, filled it up with water and put it on to boil. At first I thought it wasn’t going to work and I was going to look like a prize idiot but I don’t give up that easy. I left it there to soak and came back a while later and sure enough a gleaming white kettle was what greeted my eye.

Of course I gloated well over my brilliance to everyone prepared to listen so hopefully the next time the kettle gets to this state everyone will know how to fix it and won’t rush out to replace it.

I may have embellished this story to my detriment but that was just a bit of fun. Really I am very pleased to have saved that kettle from the trash and avoided one more notch in the belt of unnecessary supply and demand.

ITEM 213 OF 365 LESS THINGS

These game used baseball bats fetched $90 on eBay

I am giving you a reprieve today and keeping my post short.

I opened my front door the other day to find a pile of recycling sitting on my door step. One would think that in the 21st century that the company that publishes and distributes phone books would find a way of determining whether you wish to take possession of them before they drop them uninvited on your front porch.

I know that there are still plenty of people out their who aren’t computer literate and still have a need for these massive tomes.  I however am not one of them, I can easily look up what I want on-line should I find it necessary.

After a search to see if there was a phone number to call with information on how to return them I gave up in disgust and threw them into the recycling bin. I know they will be pulped and reused for something else but as I pointed out in my post  on Day 200 all this processing is not good for the environment. I will have to investigate if there is something I can do to avoid the same thing happening next year.

ITEM 203 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Talking of recycling, I have been slowly working through the stuff in the garage that my daughter decluttered from her room and this pile of a school notebook pages was the thing to get thrown out today.

I happened to see 5 minutes of an old Bewitched rerun this morning on television before I went to work. It struck me as amusing that this episode started out with a magazine subscription seller coming to Samantha’s door. Bewitched was filmed between 1964 and 1972 and even back then subscription sellers were harassing people to buy their wears.

I lived in Seattle between 2000 and 2007 and I remember how sad it was that these companies ripped these poor people away from their families to locations thousands of miles away in the vain hope that if they sell enough they will climb to the next rung of the ladder and maybe just maybe get somewhere in life. Purhaps these companies are legit and really are helping these people but I couldn’t help but think they were just being exploited.

Now that I have had my rant about that I’ll get back to the subject that I meant to talk about in the first place, sharing publications.

For no other reason than the reduction of polution caused by producing the paper and printing magazines and newspapers  we need to start either sharing publications or opting for online alternatives rather than buying hardcopies. Sadly even recycling these publication can be a sourse of polution according to a Wikipedia entry I have read on the subject.

Here are some ideas on how you can share publications…

• Share with friends, family, neighbours and work colleges.
• Borrow them from the library
• Read on-line
• Buy from second hand book stores you may not get the lastest edition of  magazines here but unless it is up to date news stories you are seeking this shouldn’t be a problem.
• Pass on the publications you do buy to school groups, craft groups, clubs or even your doctor’s surgery could use them in their waiting room.

I personally have stopped buying magazines and newspapers. The magazines I used to buy I can either subscribe to on-line or get the information I require from other on-line sourses. Like most clutter, out of sight out of mind,  if I don’t take the time to look at them on the newspaper stand I don’t know what I am missing.

ITEM 200 0F 365 LESS THINGS

I think these old golf magazines were sold on ebay but my husband isn’t home tonight to ask.

I think I mentioned some time back that one of the areas of doom when it comes to decluttering my house is my daughters bedroom. It is mostly awkward because for now she is living elsewhere while going to university so that adds a degree of difficulty I didn’t really want to deal with. It is not for me to decide what she wants to keep and I cannot be bothered sending long convoluted emails or wasting precious phone minutes to have her decide long distance.

Luckily for me she came to visit the week before last and I warned her ahead of time that she was going to have to help me do some decluttering in her bedroom while she was here. She actually took it all with good grace and complied willingly if not too enthusiastically. That is she just did it and didn’t complain. We didn’t get through everything but I was happy with the progress we made and the rest can wait until her next visit.

She had fun reminiscing over some of the items we found but willingly let them go. Others she kept and we put back where we found them for now. I must admit I just dumped all the stuff out in the garage and had not been out there to sort through the piles until yesterday. All the extra hours I have been doing at work have left me a little short on time since she left.  Some of the items went into the recycling bin and the rest will be donated to charity.

ITEM 191 OF 365 LESS THINGS

A pile of old papers and Rolling Stone magazines that she would not part with previously have finally found their way to the recycling bin. Hooray this was the stuff I really wanted to see go.