Our house is slowly taking shape. We eliminated another piece of furniture yesterday, well almost, it is now sitting in the garage waiting to go on ebay instead of our living room.  One less thing to dust Yah hoo! It has actually been a great piece of furniture and has been with us since we first got married 23 years ago. It has been in and out of storage twice and therefore in service for 12 out of those 23 years. All that being said we just don’t need it any more and I am sure someone else will be happy to take it off our hands.

Over the last twelve months we have replaced our lounge suite (it was sagging in the seats) our bed (which squeaked badly, not good with teenagers in the house) and a desk (the new one is more functional than it’s predecessor) all at staff discount of course, the only advantage that my last job afforded me. When I say replaced that is exactly what happened, out with the old and in with the new.

Also since moving in three and a half years ago we have removed other furniture from our house – a single bed, a sofa bed, a wardrobe, a coffee table  and a bookcase. All of these items were excess to our needs and in same cases full of stuff that was also excess to our needs.

As a result of all these changes there is space opening up all around us.

• Physical space – More room to move and breath. None of that claustrophobic feeling of being hemmed in by our possessions.
• Mental space – Knowing that we have less cumbersome possessions tying us down making it harder to pick up and move on when we feel like spreading our wings so to speak.
• Time space – Pockets of time freed up in our household routine where we don’t have to take care of all those items that were excess to our needs or wants for that matter.

It is a very liberating feeling. Liberating not just having off loaded all this stuff but also having no desire to replace it with other stuff that will only weigh us down. Nothing comes into our home any more unless something else goes to make way for it. That doesn’t mean that we buy stuff all the time and get rid of perfectly good stuff to make room for it. It also doesn’t mean that we never buy things just  because we want it. It means that we are still reducing our belongings but whenever we do consider buying something new there is a lot of thought going into the purchase before a decision is made.

We are content, comfortable and free and our home reflects that. And I am not even finished yet.

Item 326 of 365 less things

This is the piece of furniture that as of yesterday is awaiting a new home

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. A sunny day to wash the bed linen.
2. Space – I can feel it round me no matter where I am in my home and it isn’t a big house.
   
3. Tissues with aloe vera – They are way kinder on your nose during hay fever season.
4. Having a grocery store nearby – I have been very forgetful over the last month and am always having to go back for something.
   
5. Life returning to almost normal – There are a lot of appointment to attend and life isn’t quite the same as it was before that horrible month which will never be forever etched our memories but today I only had to deliver Liam’s washing to his bedroom not to the hospital.

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

While answering a comment yesterday the old saying “Out of sight, out of mind” popped into my head. I have talked at times about how decluttering makes it easier to clean your home; having fewer items to clean and fewer things to move so you can clean under them certainly makes the job easier. This is the obvious clutter. What about those items that are hidden away out of sight.

By the time I started my 365 Less Things challenge most of my clutter was out of sight because I am a bit of a neat freak. The hard work of making our belongings fit in to this smaller house was already done in the two years prior to this quest.  Nonetheless, “out of sight” certainly wasn’t “out of mind” for me. I knew that the storage areas of our home were packed to capacity and something had to be done. I needed to have enough space in the cupboards to get things organized and easy to find, and I craved a little more open space around me where there was furniture whose only purpose was to store more stuff.

Slowly but surely our cupboards and wardrobes are all starting to become more like transition areas from where things regularly come and go rather than permanent tombs for items we no longer need or want. There were several pieces of storage furniture that are no longer filling up rooms and giving me those open spaces I craved. And the lessons I have learned along the way have cleared my mind of craving more things that would just waste the precious space I have worked so hard to find.

Not matter what stage you are at – whether you are still trying to find the floors or working on stuff hidden behind doors – every little thing that goes is one step closer to a lifestyle that you can be comfortable with physically and mentally. You may want to work quickly at first to find those floors then settle down to a slower pace but keep at it and don’t give up because trust me it is worth every effort you put into it.

ITEM 286 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I know some of you are probably thinking “Oh bah humbug Colleen” but if you knew my husband you would know he isn’t the kind for wearing ties never mind ones with snow men on. I am not even sure how we ended up with it in the first place.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Enough sunshine to dry the sheets – It kept threatening to rain but I think Mother Nature was just teasing me.
2. Cappuccino – I know coffee isn’t good for you but I don’t care.
3. Cheap Tuesday – More naughty food but pizza won’t kill me, or will it.
4. Documentaries – If I am watching TV I would rather it be educational if not I’ll settle for funny.
5. The freedom to stand up for what you believe in – Another one of those things we take for granted at times. Even when we have that freedom we don’t always have the nerve to do it but when the two align it does feel good.

Motivating your Children to Declutter

A guest post by – Cindy Bogard

On day 261, I shared how I got ready for my decluttering journey and the ways in which I had readied my children. So how did I actually get them involved? You’re going to laugh at the irony of this: stopping and tiny rewards. Yes, quitting and stuff!! How funny is that? Let me explain…

We clean and declutter for a predetermined number of minutes or complete a predetermined drawer or shelf and then stop. Stopping is important. Your children need to know that it’s not going to go on and on and on. Even if it’s going dandy, stop. Tomorrow will get here soon enough, and you can do another shelf or work another 20 minutes then.

Praise throughout. Discuss how much you like their cleaner room. Use positive phrases, not negative ones. (“I love how tidy your books look.” Not, “Thank goodness I can finally walk through here without killing myself.”)

1. Prompts to help them declutter include:
2. Do you still like this?
3. Do you still want this?
4. Does it still fit?
5. Do we have all the parts?

Who else would enjoy this? Sibling? Cousins? Younger neighbors? Thrift store? Sell on Craigslist or Ebay? (Perhaps the child would get money from the sale, although mine don’t.)

If they don’t want to give something up, don’t fight. Any decluttering is better than no decluttering, and it’s all part of a larger process. Just discussing why they still want it will bring reflection.

Then they get their reward. My kids get an actual reward, although another type of reward system could be set up around privileges or special activities. What I have for my children is small, well chosen, and desirable stuff, not things grabbed willy nilly in the “little plastic junk” aisle; things I might have purchased anyway or an upgrade of something I would have purchased (a snazzier folder for school instead of a plain one, for example). I have given them pretty colored pens (just 2, not the whole pack), sticky notes (my youngest loves them), quarters, Bella Sara collecting cards, a package of gum, and once even a package of cuter-than-normal panties. (Yes, the kid needed underwear, and I managed to turn it into a reward.) If your child has bigger dreams (a Wii game, for example), I’m sure you could work on a points system for earning it a little at a time.

As the summer has progressed, I have stopped giving rewards for every single decluttering and now use them for motivation when interest is low or when they do an additional chore above what I have asked.

When I ask, “Who wants their room worked on today?” I can bet that I’ll hear a duet of “mmmeeee.”

ITEM 262 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just one more thing that has been hidden away since they kept dropping off the wall.

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

This summer in May, I discovered Colleen’s blog and committed to a 365 decluttering on June 1. I keep myself honest (and hopefully inspire others) by writing about my journey daily on Facebook. I was already partly on my way when I discovered the 365 day challenge: I’d been doing some heavy organizing and decluttering on my own, and when my girls (8 and 10) got out of school at the end of May, I told them that we would be cleaning one area a day.

At first we were just cleaning and tidying. Perhaps one girl’s room, perhaps one of the areas they use often like the living room or their bathroom. We would certainly “move things along” if we encountered something we no longer needed, but we were neither diligent nor focused on decluttering until I took the challenge.

Since my eldest daughter’s birth, our house has been pretty shamefully messy at times – long stretches at a time. I had not always set a great example for them. Nonetheless, in beginning decluttering with them, I did start out with a few advantages:

1)   My children do not watch commercial TV, which keeps the “want its” at bay. When we do see a commercial or a toy that looks cool at the store, we discuss: 1.)What is the purpose of advertising? 2.)Are those kids really going to enjoy that as much as it seems like they are? 3.)Is this a good price for this item? 4.)Do we know anyone who has this item so that we could try it out first?

2)    We primarily shop for durable goods (clothing, furniture, accessories, etc.) at thrift and consignment stores.

3)   I do not particularly enjoy shopping, so neither of my girls considers shopping a hobby.

4)    As part of our faith, we talk about the need to give to and care for those who have less than us, and I often emphasize how fortunate we are because we have everything that we need and many, many of things that we want.

5)   I realized one day that I tell the girls (and my husband) “no” and they probably didn’t realize that I tell myself “no” too. So I got in the habit of discussing my purchases out loud with my children. Now they see that I sometimes see things that I desire and tell myself no and walk away.

If you want to get your children involved in a journey that will be lighter on your wallet, lighter on the planet and will leave more than just a path through the living room, what advantages do you bring to the table? None? Of course not!  At a minimum, I know that you bring two important things with you, things that you can build from:

1)   a desire to make do with less and

2)   a supportive community here on 365lessthings

ITEM 257 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This light glode was faulty when I recieved it I am not sure why I didn’t throw it away then but it is gone now.

Don’t you just hate products that don’t live up to your expectation. Products that you bought for a specific purpose that didn’t perform as suggested on the label, as advertised or live up to first appearance. These items often end up cluttering up your home because you just wasted good money on them and you hope that through some miracle they will actually come in useful at some point and you will finally get value for money.

There are some products that come very quickly to mind for me…

• Cleaning products that just aren’t as effective or simple to use as the advertising suggests. I can just see some of those ads running through my head as I type. You know the ones that show this disgustingly filthy bath tub that has clearly just been sprayed with a substance that even a damp sponge would easily clean off. What they don’t mention is that once you have “easily” wiped the “real set in” grime away you have to rinse this caustic substance off with fresh running water which is sometimes more difficult to achieve than the scrubbing itself.
• Glues that according to the label achieve a bond that even Superman couldn’t break. Often they don’t achieve anything more than a weak bond to even half the substance they profess they can. Leaving you with not only a useless tube of glue but a pile of useless pieces of something that you are reluctant to waste more money on by buying yet another glue that might or might not manage to actually stick them together.
• Food items that look good on the surface but are barely fit for human consumption. I remember years ago a company brought a cheese alternative onto the market and advertised it as tasting just like a mild cheddar. Maybe there is another meaning for cheddar that I was not aware of  because this substance bared no resemblance to any cheddar I had ever tasted.
• Clothing that seemed to fit just fine when you tried it on but after one wash could only hope to fit your ten year old daughter. Why is it that they don’t preshrink the fabric before they make the clothing out of it. At least with clothing items you can return then and get an exchange or your money back.
• Shampoos and conditioners need I say more. My favourite advertisement for this one is the when the Jamaican guy goes into the store with his afro hair to buy a bottle of shampoo and comes back later for a refund because his hair is now silky and straight. If only that add was true it would save me a lot of time with the hair straightener. At least it is blatantly deceptive a lot of other manufactures of similar products use the same trick but in a far more convincing manner.

That is just a small sample of the kinds of products that we are seduced into buying with no hope of being anything but disappointed. Sometime I think this is bordering on false advertising but I am sure there are guidelines to this that have very sketchy boundaries. All I can suggest is return them to the retailer if you can, write and complain to the companies that manufacture them and if all else fails use them up as quickly as possible in as many outside the box ways that you can so they are gone from your home and not taunting you with their shortcomings.

ITEM 259 OF 365 LESS THINGS

I am glad to see the back of these heavy cotton shorts. They are a pain to iron.

Decluttering Kid Birthday Parties

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

Last week on Day 252 I covered family birthday parties without clutter, but what about the crazy excess that comes from a big bash with a bunch of kids? There are so many gifts and so much waste generated by the average party. Most seem to end with a big Santa sack of gifts and an equally big one of trash.

The quickest way to cut down on waste is by restricting the number of kids. In my experience, though, the kids want to invite everyone in their class until second or third grade. (My parents restricted me to one guest per year of age, but I have not continued with this rule in my own parenting.)

My next idea requires buy-in from your kids, but I know it can be done because it’s common in my younger daughter’s class. Gifts are gathered at the birthday party for a charity, not for the birthday child. The animal shelter has been popular, but we’ve also collected gifts for the women’s and children’s shelters.

You could also have a wishing well where a gift of cash is put by each child and the money could be donated to the charity of their choice or kept to put in the child’s college fund. I have been to weddings where they have wishing wells and it is very convenient for both the giver and the receiver.

And what about those (often) junky, plastic-filled goodie bags that somehow have become a requirement at all parties? If your party involves a craft, decorate paper bags too, and let the craft go into the bag and be the party favor. Otherwise, I encourage you to either give something functional (we’ve given marker sets and pool noodles and have received socks) or skip this step completely. I honestly don’t think the kids will notice, and I think the parents will be grateful you haven’t added to their junk load.

As for the party trash itself, in many cities, gift wrap and tissue can be recycled. Gift bags, cute decorations and bows can always be saved for another go around.

I encourage the use of non-disposables at the party. I have two dozen glass plates I bought at thrift stores and another two dozen reusable plastic plates. I use my real silverware, and if I need more, I use the plasticware that will be washed and reused. I serve the kids’ beverages out of a large container and do not use bottled water or juice boxes. I use my own glasses, and if I need more, I use the sturdy plastic ones that restaurants give out with their kids’ meals. I put a piece of tape on the cup and write the child’s name with Sharpie. When I have to use paper plates or cups, I write the kids’ names on both the plate and cup.

Even if you’re having your party at a park or special venue, bringing your own reusable party wear and taking it away afterwards are not hard. An extra box or picnic basket will help you tote the load.

The first time my Mom saw me setting up a party like this she asked, “Is this what your friends do?” I replied, “I don’t have to follow my friends, Mom. I can lead them.”

From Colleen

One the subject of Children’s parties I have a little Aussie treat that has always been popular at kids parties in Australia since way back when. This treat is called Fairy Bread and all it is is pieces of bread butters with sprinkles on top. (the sprinkles you would put on a cake) so simple but always well received. Give it a try.

ITEM 257 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Just one more odd item that never finds it’s way to the top of the utensil drawer

Family Birthday Parties without Clutter

A guest post by Cindy Bogard

On Day 209, Colleen wrote about having a clutter-free birthday for her 19 year old son. For those of you with younger kids who thought, “Sure, that worked for her; he’s 19 after all,” this post is for you. My daughters are 8 and 10 (just beginning 3^rd and 5^th grades), and I’m here to tell you it is possible to reduce their birthday haul without reducing their birthday happiness.

First of all, if you’re going to make any drastic changes to the way things have been, you need to prep your kids in advance. With my girls, the preliminary conversation was easy and began naturally. My eldest daughter’s birthday is right before Christmas, and we had celebrated her birthday at her Grandmother’s house. At the end of the evening, we packed up her gifts into a box and brought them home. Over Spring Break (March), I realized that the box was still sitting in my daughter’s room, largely untouched. That began the conversation about how much we enjoy receiving gifts – much more, usually, than we actually enjoy the gifts themselves.

What Colleen did for  her son, and what every birthday person enjoys, is feeling like the king or queen of the day. I have few memories of any particular gifts I’ve received, but I have great memories of parties and special dinners that were thrown in my honor. You child is no different.

This year when my daughter turned 8, I had been decluttering for 2 months, and clutter had become part of the flow of family conversation, which included my husband, my children, and my mother. I did have to send an email about it to my in-laws, and they were much more receptive than I would have guessed. (I’ve been trying to trim down gift giving for as long as I’ve been a part of their family, so they can’t have been too surprised.)

My daughter received a necklace holder made for her by her Dad, several pieces of jewelry, a lucky bamboo plant in a special container, and a rosebush for her garden – that’s it for gifts from her parents, sister, Godfather, and two sets of grandparents. (As an aside, I have to brag that my husband made the necklace holder only out of items he found in the garage – a decluttering project in and of itself –  and when she hung her necklaces on them, my daughter decided that she was through with two of them and that they could go to the thrift store.)

Where’s the part where she was the Queen of the Day? Her birthday was on Sunday this year, and she ruled from Friday night through Sunday evening. On Friday, we had a family birthday dinner where she selected the menu and opened gifts from other family members. On Sunday, she received a blessing at church, and I took her picture with the rector afterwards. She opened one gift before church and one gift after church. We watch a DVD and have pizza every Sunday, but as a birthday treat we went out to dinner and saw a movie at a theater instead. In between, every time we said prayers from Friday through Sunday, we said an extra thank you for her.

These things, I believe, are the memories that she will retain, long after any games or trinkets she might have received would have broken or been passed along to younger children.

ITEM 252 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Another craft ebay sale once again not a very lucrative one only $5.00 again.

Another guest post by my husband.

You’ll never meet a traveller who, after five trips, brags: “Every year I pack heavier.”

Rick Steves – Travel Writer

These words echo in my head every time I pack for trip, whether business or pleasure, reducing the amount of stuff I carry always makes for a more enjoyable time. Whenever I travel with colleagues, they are amazed by my small bag and unable to imagine how they could do it. Packing light is easier than they think and anyone can reduce their luggage to a manageable size with some planning and preparation.

Colleen and I are committed to only take as much stuff as can be carried onto the flight; a 9″ x 22″ x 14″ bag weighing no more than 7 Kilos (15 lbs) plus a smaller bag for personal items like a camera. We use a convertible backpack/suitcase with zip-away shoulder straps that is lighter than your average roller bag, and easy to tote across town to our hotel. How do we do it? Well, my bag contains the following items:

• 2 collared shirts
• 2 t-shirts
• 1 pair of pants
• 1 pair of shorts/swimmers
• 4 sets of underwear
• 4 pair of socks
• 1 jacket
• Vibram Five Fingers
• small toiletries kit
• first aid kit
• 1 small towel
• journal/pens
• sewing kit
• guide book/maps
• phrase book (if needed)

In my camera bag:

• DSLR plus 28-135mm zoom
• 50mm lens
• iPod Touch
• battery charger
• spare battery/compact flash drives
• Archos 604WIFI (used for photo storage and charging the iPod)

I used to carry a laptop but an iPod touch provides me all the computing power I need except for an ability to upload photos from my camera so I carry the Archos 604. Despite carrying two devices, I still save more than half the weight of your average 12-13 inch laptop or netbook.

The main advantage of this small uncluttered travel bag is mobility. While most people are waiting for their bags, we are heading to the hotel. We can easily change planes, trains or buses when a delay occurs because everything is with us. Sure we have to do some washing along the way but it is often no more expensive to use a fluff and fold service than to do the laundry yourself. We also use lightweight wash and wear clothes that can be washed in a sink if necessary, and air dried over night.

Virtually nothing in our bag is there because we might need it, we will use every item continuously throughout our travels and when those one-off occasions arise we just buy what we need at that time. Plan for the best and be prepared to spend a little money if needed, why ruin a vacation lugging a huge bag of stuff you never use to save a few dollars. Travelling light is an awakening that can open your eyes to how little you need in your life, try it on your next vacation.

For those who cannot imagine travelling with one small bag, check out Rolf Potts’ No Baggage trip.

ITEM 250 0F 365 LESS THINGS

I am sure someone will find these fabric scraps useful but I am sure I am not going to use them

Today I want to draw your attention to a web site that I discovered thanks to Stephanie who writes a blog called Renouncement . I first met Stephanie through a comment she left on my blog back in Day 208 and I featured her blog on Day 210. As always I went over to Stephanie’s blog to check it out as I always do when someone new leaves a comment. On her About Me page she had listed among her favour books one called Not So Big House. Being the curious little munchkin I am I was intrigued and had to check it out. So I did what all computer savvy folk do and googled it and found this interesting web site…

www.notsobighouse.com

Below is the intro from the front page of this site

The Not So Big House books by Sarah Susanka bring to light a new way of thinking about what makes a place feel like home—characteristics that many people desire of their homes and their lives, but haven’t known how to verbalize.

How big is Not So Big? Not So Big doesn’t mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed. But as a rule of thumb, a Not So Big House is approximately a third smaller than your original goal but about the same price as your original budget. The magic is that although the house is smaller in square footage, it actually feels much bigger.

What a wonderful idea someone actually designing homes that make sense  functionally are aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly. Even though these homes as still not small they are designed to entice people into building smaller and leaving a smaller footprint on the planet. What a wonderful idea. Please go over and take a look at this website especially if you are planning to build or renovate.

ITEM 248 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Finally the last of hubby’s clothes