Every time I go on a long vacation I am reminded of how little one really needs to live a comfortable and functional lifestyle. My husband and I often stay in Airbnb places when on vacation. These small apartments usually come supplied with a minimal, and varying, amount of crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, utensils etc to prepare and eat meals. They also have minimal linen, towels, bedding, furniture and appliances for you comfort and needs. And sometimes there are some extra items such as books, games, stationary and cooking ingredients etc. 

As an example, we stayed in one Airbnb place in Berlin for almost three months, a year or so back, and we not only managed to cook and eat lovely meals, be comfortable and function as normal, we also marvelled at how much we loved the minimalism of it all.

On every vacation we limit ourselves to carry on luggage only, which usually means a total of 7kg per person. Which includes clothing, shoes, toiletries, electronic equipment and any other accessories we think we will need.

As I type this I am sitting in an Airbnb apartment in Downtown Wellington in New Zealand. It is cold outside as winter is on its way but we are snug and warm after just enjoying a home cooked meal of Scotch fillet steak, broccoli, mashed pumpkin and fried onion and mushrooms. That was after doing our washing which is drying on an airer in front of the oil heater in the bedroom. Almost our entire wardrobe of clothing is on that airer except for the clothes we will wear tomorrow, as we only wash about every five days and only carry enough clothes with us for about a week. Which is more than enough.

In my downtime I have a book to read, a sudoku puzzle book to work on, my cell phone with games etc to amuse me with, and what I need to knit a pair of socks. My husband also brought two card games for us to play. So along with good food and creature comforts and clothing we also have plenty of entertainment.

In fact we enjoy the lifestyle so much that we are always a little sad to leave our homes away from home when we move on, or head home. But when we are away and living like this we often find ourselves discussing why we still own so much at home, which isn’t that much bigger. It is a good chance to reassess and there is often a bit of decluttering that goes on soon after our return.

The fact is that we do own more at home than we need and we choose to do so. But we could, if we chose, live with a whole lot less. At the same time we do own a vast quantity less than most people which just goes to show how much excess there is in todays Western Society. What many people don’t realise is that the excess usually does not enhance their lives but limits it in many ways. I am glad to have shed that kind of burden and will continue to limit what I acquire and most likely eliminate more and more from what I still have.

Just like a bird who can not fly free if it carries too much weight I do not wish to be held down by the burden of my stuff or what the cost of acquiring stuff limits how far I can afford to roam. Because getting out in the world broadens my horizons and my mind.

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

Clutter is very much about being keener to acquire than to let go. We acquire things we need, or more likely just want, but once their usefulness to, or novelty for, us has expired we hang on to them. I feel that there are four main reasons for why we hang on to this clutter and they are, laziness, confusion, fear and indifference.

Laziness of course refers to having the stuff there, being aware that it is a problem but refusing to deal with it because you just don’t want to make the effort. The problem is this is that while you are “ignoring” it it is gnawing away at your peace of mind. So best to just get on with the job. It doesn’t have to be difficult which is what 365 Less Things is all about.

Confusion is the problem of not knowing how to responsibly get rid of the useful yet unwanted stuff that we know we need to get rid of. To help with this issue here is a link to one of my guides on how to Recycle or Donate you unwanted stuff. There are no doubt other options open to you in your area but at least this guide will give you some clues or maybe even get your imagination flowing on more novel ways of finding new homes for your stuff.

Fear is all about thinking you might need it some day and keeping it just in case. Or because we fear we are letting go of something sentimental and that doing so is somehow an affront to our history or to those who may have given an item to us. Use this link which will send you to a list of posts with the subject of Personal Attachment. These posts might help you let go of some of those attachments to stuff. 

And indifference is being aware that you have clutter but don’t mind, don’t care or even like it that way. It can also be that you don’t even notice because you like being surrounded by stuff. And that is fare enough if that is how you like to live. However I don’t suppose you are here reading my blog posts if that is truly your attitude. But I will mention here that constantly acquiring new stuff or even hoarding stuff that could be useful to someone else is not a very environmentally friendly approach to taking care of the planet we live on. 

Which leads me to the issue of acquiring stuff. The clutter would not build up if we stopped bringing it in in the first place.  I have said it before and I will say it again, and again and again, that one of the best thing that happened to me during my mission to declutter was losing the desire to acquire. It is not only good for your finances, and better for the environment, it is also a fool proof way of achieving your decluttering goals sooner and remaining uncluttered once you reach your goal.

I am not saying that I never acquire anything but I sure am very discerning about what I do acquire. I would rather go without than end up with an item that doesn’t live up to the function I bought it for. I never buy anything on the spur of the moment and usually what I do acquire is to replace something that is worn out that I use all the time. I buy very few material gifts for people, I prefer to buy consumable items or give experience gifts or the gift of my time in some way. And for those who insist on buying gifts for me, I request that they are consumable.

It is amazing how freeing it can be when one overcomes the desire to constantly acquire. I am amused but mostly appalled when I see the ridiculous advertising slogans and enticements companies use to con you into buying their products.

It is also nice to own mostly things that are useful to you or beautiful. I get so much satisfaction when I use the items in my house that have proved their worth and the space they take up in my home.

So consider your acquiring habits if you are truly wanting to set and reach a level of unclutteredness within you home.

It has come to my attention, both through comments on my blog and through real life experience, that one of the issues people have with their clutter, once they finally decide to be rid of it, is getting it out of their homes. Clutter gets rounded up then put aside in the corner of a room or storage space and they build up and hang out there for, what seems like, forever.

One reason is a lack of time, another a lack of knowing exactly what to do with it, while a lack of transport to get it to a thrift shop can also be a deterrent. Some folks spend too much time trying to find the perfect new home for there stuff so they feel more comfortable letting it go. And trying to return some monetary gain for your, not well utilised, stuff can slow down the process of it getting it on it’s way. But whatever the reason, I can only imagine it must feel like a failure and becomes a deterrent to getting rid of any more stuff.

My advice is…

1. Find a good charity who will take most things and make a promise to yourself you will pack up your stuff and take it there as soon as you have a trunk load. If you have no vehicle ask a friend, relative or neighbour to help. Or even book a taxi every now and again. You could also use Freecycle.org, or similar, where you list your stuff for free and the taker will come to you to pick it up.
2. If you insist on selling some of your stuff don’t dither over this. List it quickly, if it doesn’t sell list it again and if there are still no takers send it off to the charity of your choice. Here are some options for selling ~ eBay or similar or check out Facebook for a Buy, Swap and Sell page for your local area. You can also have a garage sale or flea market stall.
3. Don’t be too precious about where the stuff goes. There may be waste no matter what method you use. Better that it go out into circulation, and come what may, than it gathering dust in a corner of your home where it is no use to anyone. Just promise yourself you will be less inclined to acquire in future so you don’t have to agonise about letting things go.

In summary, plan a strategy for removal of your stuff and carry it out quickly. The sooner you send it on its way the better you will feel and the more likely you will be to carry on the process.

At an assembly, at my granddaughters school today, the principle said ~ “A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing…”. In the case of clutter, knowing what to get rid of is that little bit of knowledge, not also knowing what to do with it is where the danger sets in…

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Firstly I would just like to apologise for my recent extended absence from the blog this month. Unfortunately my mother took ill and I rushed off interstate to visit her in hospital and to take care of my dad while she couldn’t. After she returned home from hospital it took a while for her to sufficiently recover enough for me to feel comfortable about leaving for home.

Add that to the three week vacation immediately after Christmas and I have spent only about two weeks in my own home so far this year. With an eight week trip to New Zealand planned for not too far in the future I suppose I won’t be spending much of the entire first half of this year in my apartment.

Aside from the part about my mother being sick I am sure many of you are thinking… “Lucky you, being able to travel and see the world.”. And I would have to agree with you, however what is also wonderful about this is that having decluttered and downsized to a smaller home with lots of built in security it is so easy to just walk away knowing that what I do own is secure and need not worry about it while I am away.

And there is another point to this story. Middle age is the time to begin setting yourself up for your twilight years, because you just never know… . The better set up you are for all circumstances and realities the easier the transition will be. The reality is, that a lot of stuff and a lot of space is much harder to take care of as you become less nimble and energetic. Transitions are much harder to make when the task seems insurmountable, causing upset and frustration.

This doesn’t mean you need to significantly change your lifestyle, just progressively tweak it so that it never gets too much for you. You will not only be doing yourself a favour but you make it easier for everyone around you. My husband and I have already reduced our belongings, downsized our dwelling, made a list of our assets and set our wills and power of Attorney in order. I am sure our children will thank us for it. And our minds are at rest knowing that everything is in order.

So on those days when you look around you and see how much unnecessary stuff you have, don’t just ignore it and hope it goes away. Think of your twilight years and your loved ones and do something about it.

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

I made a mistake in my sudoku while having my morning cup of tea and needed my correction pen. One thing led to another resulting in a tidy bedside table and kitchen bench among other small achievements. Here is what transpired…

• I went to the bedroom to get the correction pen from my bedside table.
• There I found I’d left the floss last night, so I put it away.
• On the bedside table there was also last night’s completed torn out page from my sudoku magazine. There was also a used tissue, and a white gel pen. So I took all four items to the kitchen where I put the trash in the bin the gel pen where it belonged among my craft supplies and set the correction pen aside as I had now discovered more items out of place.
• We had just finished breakfast and the dishes were on the kitchen bench along with the items I used to make breakfast with. These I stacked into the dishwasher.
• Then the bench needed wiping. At this point I decided the cloth was getting a little manky and that I would take it to the laundry. I came back, got a clean cloth and wiped down the bench.
• In the sink were the egg shells and discarded teabags, which I put in the bin.
• While executing those last two tasks I got to thinking about what I would be doing that day. This thinking also cascaded to the fact that it would be my sister’s birthday next Sunday which coincided with me visiting and I would see her. This reminded me of the tiny blue glass cat I had picked up for her at a thrift shop a while back, which I could now deliver in person. So off I went to the bedroom again to put the cat out where I wouldn’t forget to take it next weekend.

You may all be thinking ~ “Wow! Sounds like Colleen is much less of a tidy freak that we have been led to believe.”. And you would be right. My house is generally very presentable but like most humans I can tend to get slack at times and not clear up everything around me as I go. However I never let it get too out of hand as I do very much like living in an tidy environment.

You may also be thinking ~ “What has this to do with decluttering?”. And the answer to that is, that it is also possible to declutter quite effectively with this method, or even  during the process of Cascade Cleaning. As you go from room to room keep and eye out for items you no longer use or want. You may have noticed that I decluttered the used up page from my sudoku magazine. I also put out that item for my sister which has been lingering for a while in my drawer for the right time or method to get it to her. And since I delight in every item being decluttered, no matter how insignificant, doing so makes the task of tidying actually enjoyable rather than a chore.

Of course all this led to me quickly writing the blog post so as yet it I haven’t even erased the mistake in my sudoku and finished the puzzle I had started. So, if you don’t mind, I will say goodbye for now and go and enjoy that little task.

But before I go I had better include a couple of items I have decluttered during the week. The beanie served its purpose at -10 in Berlin but looks awful on me and probably will never be needed again, so out it goes. And the merino wool undershirt also keeps me warm but I am itchy the whole time so out it goes too. I have no interest in swapping one uncomfortable feeling for another. They will be off to the thrift shop very soon.

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

Hi folks, well all good things must come to and end and my vacation is one of those things. We had a lovely time in Japan but it is always nice to be home again. And now it is back to the decluttering.

We arrived in Japan not long after Christmas and departed in mid January, and what a crazy time it is over there at that time of year. There are lots of New Year celebrations that, among other traditions, seem to involve the purchasing and, I assume, consumption of sweets. I have witnessed the shopping frenzy that goes on in Australia and the USA at this time of year but nothing compares to what I witnessed in Japan. And especially, it seems, at theme parks such as Disneyland. Seriously you can hardly move in the souvenir shops at opening and closing of these parks, and sweets seem to be the main purchasing goal. Given that the word compact would probably describe the majority of homes in Japan, giving consumable gifts would seem a very sensible option. Although I am a little confused as to why there a so few overweight people to be seen, considering the vast quantities and variety of sweet purchases. Clearly the shopping frenzy is not equal to any sort of eating frenzy and these gift must surely be shared among many. However there was still plenty of non consumable souvenir purchasing going on and I am just glad I feel no need to indulge in it.

And on the subject of gifts, I am pleased to say that my family were true to my wishes and did not over endow me with them. Our daughter is going to take us to dinner the next time she is in town and our son and his family gave me mostly items that will be used up (candles, chocolate, wine) and another very small non consumable gift in the way of a key organiser, that is not only minimal in size but practical too.

As a result of my lack of desire for stuff and a little decluttering along the way, I am happy to say that I have made it through the holiday season and a vacation with no more possessions than when I started.  Maybe even fewer.

And today’s decluttering item, which will be going out to a relative, will result in two less skeins of yarn in my meagre yarn stash and has given me something to fill my downtime with (including waiting in cues at theme parks and during train rides and flights) while on my vacation. They are a strange combination of yarn but that is because I didn’t have enough of either to make an entire pair of socks so I simply combined the two. When they are covered with a shoe no one need ever know there is a hidden secret in the way of a splash of red.

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

Wishing all my lovely readers all the very best for the holiday season. 

It is such a busy time of year to be spent with friends and or family and also a good time to take a break from work and other commitments. That being said, as of today I will be taking a one month break from the blog to prepare for my Christmas celebrations and then I am off on a three week vacation. I will be back in the new year, around the end of January, until then I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season and return with great enthusiasm to declutter in 2017.

Cheers from Colleen

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Hi again folks. The days keep slipping away from me while I have been spending them mostly not at home. This week should be different so I’ll hopefully have time to play catch up and maybe even post more often. Last week I managed to declutter a few things. Actually, as you can probably tell from the mini missions this week, I decluttered a lot of things, however they weren’t from my house. So I have been very busy decluttering one way or another. I certainly have inspired my daughter-in-law. She got so into declutterin in her daughter’s room that I though the poor kids was going to have to run around naked. Well, that may be a bit of an exageration because she still has enough underpants and socks to sink a battle ship so purhaps only half naked. Needless to say the charities will be doing well out of that room alone. Which reminds me, all that stuff is in the trunk of my car so I had better drop it off today.

But back to my decluttering. as I said above it has been a struggle to find the time but I am constantly on the lookout. I found a shirt that I got secondhand, I think for free from a friend, that I was going to alter but have now decided that the colour is too drab so out it goes. I also emptied some more of those spice containers that don’t work well and will be giving them to my friends Wendy F. Then there was the second batch of Christmas cards for the season, which will not be replaced as I stil have an abundance. I’ve used the same photo as the first batch because I forgot to take one in my haste to get them in the post.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Actually I am not even sure what day I am up to with the Thing A Day mission. I have been so busy with grandparenting this week that I don’t know if I’m coming or going. So lets call it 12, 13 and 14 and I’ll go back and do the count when I get a spare minute. 

Here are the three items for those days and then I want to talk just a little about a non related subject to my items.

Now on that non related topic. The kitchen and all it’s clutter. So while grandparenting I have taken it upon myself to do some decluttering at my son and daughter-in-law’s house. And being that the baby is asleep a lot upstairs, the kitchen, which is downstairs, has been the centre of my attention. So far I have focused on pantry items and have thrown out a far quantity of out of date food stuffs and also began some use it up challenges on things that will expire soon if not eaten.

And once again it has come to my attention that not only are kitchens one of the most likely places for clutter in any home but they are also often so poorly designed. Clutter is bound to accumulate in cabinets of any kind that have deep shelves so why they have so many in the basic kitchen I will never know. This is why I have converted a lot of my shelves to weight bearing drawers. These can be slid out to reveal everything at a quick glance. Unfortunately the home the I am working on is even more poorly designed than most and doesn’t even have a proper pantry, has a very deep corner cupboard where plastic containers, pot and pans are kept and one very tiny thing deep cabinet in an odd shaped corner and way too many high cabinets that are hard to get at.

So I am going to try to come up with some cheap, simple solutions to try to alleviate some of the issues with the kitchen at hand in the hope of making it more functional . Meanwhile I have at least cleared some clutter and identified items that are good for some use it up challenges.

Take a long hard look at your kitchen and see what you can declutter, consider getting it better organised ,maybe reconsider how you stock it, or perhaps all three. Because inefficiency and waste is a hard pill to swallow.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Clutter isn’t about what we have, it is about why we have it. 

We acquire stuff for many reasons, aesthetics, functionality, sentimental, recreation and entertainment and even societal, just to name a few. In fact those few reasons just about account for most of the excess stuff in our lives. So lets just take a closer look at them.

Aesthetics ~ The stuff we enjoy mostly because it is pleasing to the eye such as art and décor items, fashion accessories, jewellery.

Functionality ~ These are items we acquire that are useful to us in some way, generally to make our lives simpler or more comfortable.

Sentimental ~ Things we acquire because they bring back fond memories

Recreation & Entertainment ~ The stuff accumulated under this topic is many and varied, CDs, DVD’s, sporting equipment, toys and the list goes on.

Societal ~ This accounts for those items that we acquire because of the culture we live in. And of course they aren’t always necessities and as members of society we just end up falling in line with the trend and acquire them whether we need them or not.

So let’s now have a look at some very typical items that fall into one, or even several, of these categories…

Clothing ~ This falls into every category. Western society dictates that we don’t get around in public naked. So we wear clothing for its function of covering us up. And while choice of what we acquire is partly dictated by the situation the particular garments are required for (recreation, work, evening functions etc) a big part of what we choose is driven by our aesthetic preferences. Where this gets out of hand is when we desire an abundance of variety in that aesthetic and buy way more clothing than we really need. Also aesthetics gets us into trouble when we disregard what suits our “particular kind of beauty” and buy items because they just look good. These items often end up rarely if ever used. And then there can also be clothing items that we relate to special occasions that we keep for sentimental reasons long after they are useful to us.

Kitchen Gadgets ~ These of course have a function, the question is whether or not we actually have a “need” for that function. Once again Western Society tends to dictate that life is easier if we have a tool that speeds up performing every little task required of us. And it is the job of advertisers to convince us that such items can actually do this for us by only showing us the upside, imagined or not, of owning such items. Hence we end up with a gazillion single-use kitchen gadgets that we only “require” once in a blue moon that don’t really save us enough time to warrant the amount of room they take up, the time wasted trying to find the one you “need”  among all the others or the money wasted on acquiring them.

Entertainment Items ~ For a society of people who seem to work endlessly to “make ends meet” we sure do seem to acquire and require an lot of stuff to fill the spare time we are always complaining we don’t have. I often wonder how many of the dollars we earn from those hours spent working are used to acquire stuff we don’t really even need and sometimes don’t even use much before the novelty wears off. Although rest, recreation and entertainment are essential to a healthy lifestyle it seems counterproductive to work our butts off in the first place to cater too it excessively. Fortunately music, movies and games can be enjoyed digitally these days so we don’t actually have to clutter our homes with them. And although televisions screens seem to be getting bigger and bigger they are also getting slimmer and slimmer so they don’t really take up that much room. Computers, phones and also music players have also shrunk over the last 3o years however where once we used to have one of each of these things we, in Western Society, now usually have at least one for every person in the house. And then there is also the variety of of sport and exercise equipment available to us, the clothing to go along with that. And then there are the bags etc required to tote all this stuff around ~ laptop, tablet and phone cases, sports bags, handbags, backpacks… Yikes!

Keepsakes and souvenirs ~ Although these have a function, to remind us of special occasions, good times and loved ones, collections of them can often get out of hand. We even find ourselves accumulating them against our own better judgement because they are another one of those things that society tends to dictate that we should be passionate about. We go on vacation so we “should” get a souvenir from every place we visit. We go to a funeral or wedding and isn’t it respectful to keep the service booklet? Wouldn’t it be wrong to throw out even one picture your child brought home from school, their report cards or any of those band concert programs with your child’s name in it? The answer is no it is neither disrespectful, heartless to dispose of these things nor necessary to have a physical reminder of every vacation or event you ever attended. Sure keep some reminders, the most treasured ones, but not all. It is possible to be sentimental without being cluttered.

Décor items ~ A bed is a functional item that assists us in having a good night sleep. A pillow makes us that bit more comfortable and blankets keep us warm in the cold times. However that is where the functionality of the bed ends, throw rugs and cushions are décor items. Trinkets, art, artificial plants, etc, etc are also just aesthetic items we can either chose or not to adorn our homes. If they didn’t exist we wouldn’t care but once again society and advertising comes into play very much when it comes to the plethora of choice there is out there. And again, they cost money, they require maintenance and the novelty of them tends to wear off over time at which we spend more money switching them out for something new.

Today’s Mini Mission

I starting out writing this post to point out all those things in our lives that we think we need but really don’t and why we acquire them. And sure most of them do add to the enjoyment and comfort in our lives. However there is always a point where enough is enough and beyond that we are just working too hard to be able to afford all this excess and spending too much time maintaining stuff. Not to mention the detrimental effort that producing all this excess has on the environment.

So think twice about continuing to acquire at such a pace for your own wellbeing as well as that of the planet you occupy. And also pass on some of that excess while it is still useful to someone else so they don’t go out buying new. And I will leave you with a great quote I unexpectedly stumbled upon this week just to get life into perspective…

“We are not made rich by what we possess but by what we can do without.” Immanuel Kant