While looking at furniture a few weeks ago I was considering one item and found myself thinking ‘This unit is a little low. The drawers will end up not being used for the purpose we intend for them because it requires bending over to use them”. My God I thought, have we really gotten that used to convenience that this could be an issue, what is the world coming to. At what point did we get that spoiled, and when I say we I am not just talking about my husband and I. I am talking about Western society in general.

Laziness would seem to be the initial culprit here and in some cases it may be but in fact I think sometimes the opposite is actually the problem. Loading ourselves up with too much responsibility, so that something has to give, is more likely the issue in many cases. We then find ourselves doing counter productive things in order to “save time”.

Stop and think about the things we do, or don’t do for that matter, because it is just one more effort to add to our already busy day…

• Driving round and round in a car park looking for the most convenient parking spot rather than walking a few extra yards. We waste time and gas, adding to carbon emissions, and rob ourselves of the chance of a little healthy exercise. In the end we have actually wasted more time than we saved.
• Buy “time saving” gadgets in order to streamline the jobs we can’t avoid. In my experience many these gadgets don’t save time and just add clutter to our homes, waste to the environment and rob us or our hard earned cash.
• Buy convenience foods, often over processed, over packaged and over priced and I don’t need to tell you the problems all three of those things cause to our health, the environment or our bank balances.
• Overloading our children with toys to keep them amused because we don’t have enough hours left in our day to spend some quality time with them ourselves ~ once again adding more expense to the cost of living that we work too hard to upkeep. It is a vicious cycle isn’t it.
• We pick things up while shopping, change our minds, and just put them down where they don’t belong. Contrary to popular beliefs you are not doing the staff a favour by keeping them in a job doing this. You are just displacing product in the store possibly causing a loss of sale and adding more strain to an already overworked staff. The amount you pay for items is determined by the cost of manufacturing, shipping, store rent and staffing expenses. The more mess the more hours required to maintain the store, and the more you pay.
• Don’t pick up after ourselves, then clutter accumulates and we live in a constant mess. The stuff has to be dealt with eventually, it may as well be now rather than later. Living this way can be more stressful than making the effort to stay tidy. Cindy’s post ~ One minute rule ~ has some fine examples how spending one minute now can save you countless minutes of inconvenience later on, and that has to be more convenient in the long run.
• Dropping litter may seem more convenient than holding on to it until you find a trash can but it costs everyone eventually. Someone has to pay for the clean up and although there isn’t a obvious fee I can guarantee you that we are all paying for that in local taxes somewhere along the line.

You may have noticed that the cost of convenience only adds to our work load. In some cases there is a monetary cost in others it costs you in time. How much of our lives are we prepared to give up  just to pay for stuff that we don’t even need or could avoid paying for.

Today’s Declutter Item

Somehow I don’t think we are going to find a use for these around the house. They can certainly be decluttered.

3D Glasses

Something I Am Grateful For Today

The weather has been less than optimal when it comes to taking our evening walk lately but today the clouds parted long enough to allow us the privilege. It was nice to leave everything behind, including the cell phone, and just walk and talk. I can hear the rain coming down out there again now so we were quite lucky to find that gap.

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

Today I am going to keep my post short and simple if it brings up questions for you please feel free to leave a comment and I will attempt to answer it for you but for now I wish to be uncomplicated.

I received a comment from Chelle yesterday and the following words were amongst what she wrote:-

“This is so overwhelming, but I am slowly going through things and chucking stuff that is just taking up space, donating, and getting rid of. It feels good, but I keep realizing how much I still need to do!”

* * * * * *

Before I came up my brilliant plan to declutter one thing a day for 365days I am sure the thoughts conveyed here by Chelle had run through my head more than once. Especially when we first moved back to Australia from the USA and lived among packing cases for weeks because there was simply nowhere to put all the stuff. My advice to this attitude is…

Don’t worry be happy!

Don’t worry about how much stuff you still have to declutter just be happy you are making progress.

Do the easy stuff first and let momentum carry you on to the next thing and be satisfied with that. I am sure I wasn’t worrying about how the stuff was accumulating when I was buying it so now I am not worrying about how slowly I am eliminating it. I have to say that although there were items I procrastinated about along my declutter journey it did not trouble me simply because I was true to my goal of one thing a day and everyday was an improvement on the last. Sure I need to go through the photograph albums and the keepsake boxes and my scrapbook supplies and the bookcase and the garage again and probably other areas too but so what everyday I become one thing lighter and that is all that matters. I don’t bring unnecessary stuff into the house so I am not going backwards as I go forwards and I will reach my ultimate goal of a decluttered home in the end. I am happy today with how great my house looks and I will be even happier tomorrow. I am satisfied and I hope you can be too.

Today’s Declutter Item

At some point in the distant past my husband bought this duffle bag to bring shopping home from a business trip. Those were the days when shopping was a pastime and there were lots of things we just couldn’t live without but not anymore.

Duffle Bag

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Listening to the staff in a department store today trying to convince a male customer that he would benefit from their loyalty scheme. I couldn’t help but put in my 10c worth.
• Something Awesome ~ Having ten different places to be in a day but never having to backtrack.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Being satisfied with my progress.
• Something that made me happy ~ Someone whose opinion I trust confirming my choice.
• Something I find satisfying ~ Lately, every time I feel resistance within myself to tackle a certain task I resist the urge and through myself straight into it. I am never sorry that I have the task over and done with and doing it is never as painful as procrastination over it.

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

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

Last Tuesday’s post inspired the idea behind this weeks mini missions which isn’t really a set of mini missions at all. Let me explain… This week we are going to tackle one declutter mission by breaking it down into seven small steps. Now the catch is ~ I want you to choose a mission that you have been avoiding because you think it is a bothersome task you don’t wish to deal with. Chances are it isn’t as big as your mind has convinced you it is. Be brave my precious declutterers and remember even if you don’t get the task completed you will have a least made it smaller and more manageable.

Monday – Choose the area you wish to work on (Or don’t wish to work on as the case may be). It may be a room, a cupboard a category like craft supplies or even just one single item that requires some effort to deal with like Cindy’s tent. Decide on your plan of attack ~ Take some time to consider the steps involved in tackling this task. Make a list in sequential order if that helps.

Tuesday – Start with step one. Each steps will be different for everyone because no doubt we will all be working on something different. Try to keep each step to a minimum so as not to get overwhelmed. It may be setting up the item/s, like Cindy and the tent, so you can determine the best method of disposal. It maybe dragging the item out of the basement or, like my trophy declutter, making a few phone calls to check on whether you can recycle this item in some way. Or it may be, in the case of clearing out a closet, pulling out the obvious items that you don’t want in order to make room to better tackle the rest of the task.

Wednesday – Naturally we go on to step two today, this might be ~Cleaning up the item/s, picking out a few more things from the closet and dividing them into keep, donate and sell piles, taking photos of the item/s for keepsake purposes or to list it/them on Freecycle or eBay….

Thursday – Now for step three on your list ~ remember this is a task unique to you so the steps are what is logical for your situation.

Friday – Hopefully by now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel or for some you may already be finished the task and wondering what all the fuss about.

Saturday – Today’s step may be cleaning up or rearranging the area that you have decluttered.

Sunday – The final task will be expelling the item all together which may be a little difficult to do on a Sunday so maybe it will have to wait for an appropriate day. The main thing is the task is complete and it is only a matter of disposal.

My trophy task, although stagnating, was only one step in an even bigger task of clearing out the large display cabinet that we want to get rid of. Getting the trophies sorted has catapulted us into clearing out the rest of the cabinet and now we are finally ready to get rid of that as well. So don’t be discouraged by the big picture just complete one small mission at a time and before you know it you will have achieved great things.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

No matter how big or small, clutter is clutter and every little bit you get rid of is one small step to the intoxicating freedom of a decluttered home.

Some little bits of clutter from my jewelry box

My Gratitude List

• Something that made me laugh ~ Anthony Bourdain’s interview at the Sydney Writers Festival on Saturday.
• Something Awesome ~ When things turn out to be easier than you expected.
• Something to be grateful for ~ Some unexpected good advice.
• Something that made me happy ~ Achieving more than I expected in the way of outside work yesterday.
• Something I found fascinating ~ How good advice sometimes comes along just when you need it even though you weren’t even looking for it.

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

A guest post by Katharine

The Mysterious Case of the Tottering Stalagmites

Photo Credit Simply Placed Blog

In the magic land that is our home we have an enchanted forest. Trouble is the wicked clutter goblin chopped it down and made into paper that breeds when we are not looking.

So I needed a plan of action for breaking the curse of paper clutter.

This is what I felt mattered

I can only get ruthless with the stuff I own, no one else’s, so focus on my stuff first. Everything needs a home so I can put away ‘like with like’ easily. No more malevolent life forms spreading homelessly over our living space. I don’t want to keep what doesn’t enhance my life now. I want to let go of ‘aspirational’ clutter: it’s contributing too much to an undercurrent of failure to achieve. I saw one way of eventually tackling the tottering stalagmites was to create more shelf space for their contents by getting rid of mine.

This is the variety of paperwork I had to deal with

the official that needs to be kept (finances/tax records, car records, pension info, health info, employment and qualification records) the practical (warranties/instruction manuals & a hoard of receipts; house maintenance records/rent/purchase contracts the sentimental including aspirational clutter and ‘information that might come in useful one day’.

This is how I did it

I discovered with quick research online that the 10 years of paperwork in the attic, including legal documents relating to flats I sold 9 and 12 yrs ago, all phone bills, utilities and bank statements was O.V.E.R.K.I.L.L. I weeded my official and practical paperwork from the systems already set up on my filing shelves and stored in the attic and shredded everything apart from specific tax related details for the last 3 years. The shreddings filled 4 dustbin bags and what is left fills two A4 envelopes. Please note I am in the UK. How long and what you need to keep for tax purposes may vary depending where you live. My banking is all online. I have now gone paperless for these accounts and my phone. For now, I wish to keep one year’s hardcopy of utility bills as I find it easier to monitor our usage that way.

BIG HELPS

A very good shredder, set up at waist height that is easy to access immediately (including waist height wall plug switch). Have a filing system that is easy to access and use. Be ruthless with mail as soon as it enters the house. Over the last year, we have actually got very good at this: the envelopes and inserts and marketing go straight in the recycle bin; bills are filed in my A4 ‘Bills’ folder . The official and practical felt like the easy bit. Much more difficult was the homeless mess of sentimental flotsam and jetsam.

This is how I did the difficult stuff

I tackled one small pile of mess one at a time, gradually ‘joining the dots’ with many small clearances, keeping in the forefront of my mind the release I wanted to feel by it leaving my home and setting me free to live now. I remember the high from getting rid of the most difficult thing for me ever, last year, my flute: nothing was going to be as difficult as my struggle over that one and it has felt great ever since. I took each single piece or scrap of paper and put like with like in piles on the floor, weeding ruthlessly as I went. At the end of each mini clearance, I put each group in designated box files/folders. It helped that I have been decluttering for 3 months now: I’ve build my ruthless muscles up in that time.

The piles roughly divided into these

Papers related to hobbies (unfinished writing project with lots of research notes & articles, clock & mosaic making and a titchy bit of selling.) Family history research written on scraps of paper Cards I have bought because they would be ‘lovely to frame’ (dating back years) Cards I have been sent. Cards bought to send to people but I didn’t don’t get round to ‘yet’. Entertaining articles cut out from papers. Useful ideas and quotes written on scraps of paper. Sentimental bits of paper; including doodles I liked or quotes, or half filled notebooks. Memorabilia; tickets, pamphlets (many of places we ‘should’ go to…) Information; magazine articles with a good quote in them or interesting picture Course notes from numerous evening classes Articles that might come in useful one day

Nearly all the cards went,(plus a number of unused frames bought 2nd hand for these cards and the two never met); the quotes; the scraps; loads of excess envelopes and writing paper we will never get through if we live to 110; the university brochure I appeared in; the badly written poetry; the half filled notebooks; the course notes I hadn’t looked at since finishing the courses over 5 years ago.

IT FELT FANTASTIC

Anything just too difficult to chuck now, is now is a single box file and I can go through that whenever I am ready to. It’s ok to do this in stages. Results I was able to get rid of half a dozen boxes/files that were now empty, choosing to keep the ones I liked best. The attic is no longer haunted by the paper ghoul. I know I will do a further purge one day. My ‘creative desk space is clutter free and the sofa seat beside me empty. My total paperwork reduced to 1 ½ shelves. I have created 7 ½ ft of empty shelf space and one empty filing drawer for the tottering stalagmites. I converted 4 shelves down to 3 much more useful ones by raising them two inches so it takes the right size for OH’s files etc. So what next My next job is to “facilitate the organised & supportive demolition of the aforementioned tottering stalagmites, on to the shelves in a like with like labelled basis. Sounds so easy put like that…

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

My husband and I were in Sunday School (religous education) recently, and the speaker touched on the topic of the Christian calendar (the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, etc.) that mark the Liturgical (Church)Year. He pointed out that we used to have two main classes of holidays: Holy Days and Patriotic Days. Thus, in the United States, our seasons would be marked by celebrations such as Independence Day and Presidents’ Day, as well as by religious holidays.

Over time, days such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day got added into this mix.  More recently, days exclusively for shopping have become holiday-like and deserving of their own names such as “Cyber Monday” (the best deals on-line), “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving and the beginning of the American “Christmas shopping season” and similar to Boxing Day in the UK and Australia.) (You can read more about Black Friday and decluttering here.)

So, is holiday shopping a new phenomena, exclusive to our hyper consumer-oriented culture? It turns out that the answer is: Not so much.

According to Wikipedia, the purpose of the first U.S. Mother’s Days, held in the early 1900s, was to reunited families that had been divided by the American Civil War and were celebrated in church – a combination of patriotic and religious holidays – and mothers wore a white carnation.  However “in part due to the shortage of white carnations, and in part due to the efforts to expand the sales of more types of flowers in Mother’s Day, the florists promoted wearing a red carnation if your mother was living, or a white one if she was dead; this was tirelessly promoted until it made its way into the popular observations at churches.”

Father’s Day was initiated just two years after Mother’s Day, originally in observance of a mining disaster in which many men were killed. It did take longer for it to be officially recognized by Congress – according to Wikipedia because Congress was afraid of it becoming too commercialized!  However, merchandise sales were an important part of the holiday from the beginning. “The Associated Men’s Wear Retailers formed a National Father’s Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s, which was renamed in 1938 to National Council for the Promotion of Father’s Day and incorporated several other trade groups. This council had the goals of legitimizing the holiday in the mind of the people and managing the holiday as a commercial event in a more systematic way, in order to boost the sales during the holiday.”

What did I learn from my research? That the promotion of holidays and shopping is as old as the holidays itself. Yes, I am sure that the intensity of the advertising and promotion has increased. Yes, a diamond necklace for Mother’s Day is a far site different than a white or red carnation, but the association of holidays, religious and secular, with shopping is as old as the holidays itself.

Today’s Declutter Item

Just one more stationary item that has been sitting around unused and needs to be out of here. Another thing for the thrift shop box.

Things that made me happy, made me laugh, made me feel grateful, fascinated me or I thought were just plain awesome.

• Tissues with aloe vera ~ I have had a bad case of hay-fever today but my aloe vera tissues are kinder to my nose that others I have tried.
• A hot cup of tea ~ This is a must when hay-fever is wearing you down.
• That there are no wars in my country ~ I wish there were none anywhere but unfortunately that is not the case.
• Some days it is enough to be just grateful that the day is done and I can sit back and relax for a while. Today is one of those days.
• People who go out of their way to be helpful.

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

I have been struggling to find time to wrote my blog posts over the last few days because my parents are visiting so today I will keep my post short.

Being that the mini mission for the day is to declutter the outgrown, worn or unloved clothing that is hanging in your child’s wardrobe I though it appropriate to make a few comments on that subject. There are several reasons why is does not pay to overindulge when it comes to children’s clothing…

1. Wasted money ~ why buy a whole lot of clothes that are going to get rarely worn before your child grows out of them. You really only need enough outfits to keep them clothed from day to day and no more. A few good outfits and a two weeks worth of everyday clothes ought to be enough to get by without running out even if you don’t have a clothes dryer for wet weather periods. Beyond that is sheer indulgence.
2. Creating a monster ~ Children aren’t born as fashionistas they are transformed into them over time by making a big fuss about the way we dress them. If we constantly make a fuss about how beautiful they are in new outfits we buy them they with start to associate that with their self worth. This is not a path I would advise any parent to go down.
3. Wasted resources ~ Yes you can hand clothing on to someone else when your child is done with it but wouldn’t it be better for the environment if you placed as little strain as possible on the supply of natural resources. The more items you buy the more demand you place on the materials and energy it takes to provide these items. Please do your best to shop sustainably.

So work out what it is the your child needs ~ everyone has different circumstances so their needs will be different ~ than shop only for what is necessary. Replace items only when needed and adjust to suit future needs. It is possible to raise your child to present themselves neatly and appropriately without making them vain about their appearance. These guidelines can just and easily apply to adults so if you have no children considered taking a look at your own wardrobe.

Today’s Declutter Item

More baseball stuff gone to a new home via Freecycle.

Things that made me happy, made me laugh, made me feel grateful, fascinated me or I thought were just plain awesome.

• Having a lovely day in Sydney yesterday.
• Spending time with family and friends.
• Talking with perfect strangers and learning about their lives ~ Sometimes hearing about other peoples struggles make you far more grateful for your own good fortune.
• Inexpensive public transport.
• Rain on the roof at bedtime.

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

The spare room ~ Always ready for guests

Why bother to declutter? What is it really going to do for me? How is it going to make my life better? I am sure these are the first questions people ask when they begin on the journey of decluttering and/or minimalism.

I know we have discussed this topic many times before but we can always do with a refresher course especially if we have lost momentum. So today I will share with you this chapter from my free ebook as it covers some great benefits of living a decluttered life.

The Joys Of Clutter Reduction

I would like to point out the joy that can be found in reducing the clutter in your home. This joy can be appreciated from day one, not just at the end of the journey. See if you can identify with the joy of:

• A Fresh Start ~ It is never too late to begin a new phase in your life. Cut yourself some slack and do not dwell on the past. Acknowledge the things you got right and learn the lesson of your follies but either way do not dwell on regrets, just enjoy the fresh start you are making.
• More Space ~ It really does feel good as the clutter starts to disappear and you begin to feel the freedom of empty space growing around you. This feeling can be appreciated from the very first item and increases over time. Take a moment to focus on that freedom with every little piece of clutter you choose to remove and fill the process with joy rather than dread.
• Less Maintenance ~ It stands to reason that the fewer items cluttering up your home, the easier it is to keep your surroundings clean and tidy. Every item you remove is one less thing you need to maintain in any way whether dusting, cleaning or storing. Also house cleaning will be simpler if there are fewer items to be moved in order to access the surface under them such as benches and floors. And you gotta love that!
• Guilt Relief ~ We generally carry a burden of guilt for every item associated with the waste of money or lack of use. For every one of these items that leaves our home there is a relief from that guilt so long as we learned the lesson of needless waste.
• Giving Back ~ Whether we sell items to grateful buyers on eBay, donate items to charity, give items away to friends and family or recycle them, there is a good feeling that accompanies each action. Focus on those good feelings and it will spur you on in your quest.
• Appreciation ~ You will find that you have a higher appreciation for the items you choose to keep and their role in your household.
• Being Environmentally Responsible ~ The key to decluttering is not to reclutter. For every unnecessary item you do not purchase, and every item that you give to someone in need, you are doing a small deed to save the environment. For every item that is manufactured there is a cost whether in natural resources or carbon emissions, so the less you contribute to the supply and demand of these products the better hope there is for our planet’s survival.
• Simplifying -There is more to this topic than the title implies, having an uncluttered home and embracing the principles of staying uncluttered can simplify your life. I have discovered the freedom that clutter reduction has added to my life and that has allowed me to enjoy the present and foresee a better future.

Now I will share with you a very short story on my most recent joy of clutter reduction…

I received a call from my parents Tuesday to let me know they are coming to visit me on Wednesday and will be staying for a week. Now my parents don’t live around the corner they live 900 kms away so it isn’t as though they drop in all the time. So you may think there has been a mad scramble overnight to get prepared for this visit. I have made a list below to show you what was involved in this mad scramble so you will understand the joys of decluttering…

• Put clean sheets on the spare bed.

No I didn’t forget to finish the list, that’s it! The spare room is spotless, the house is spotless, I don’t have to clear anything out of the way and I am ready to take visitors anytime at the drop of a hat. Now if that isn’t a huge benefit of decluttering I don’t know what is.

I now need to add this paragraph to my ebook…

Less Embarrassment ~ Being able to welcome visitors into your home at any given time, without a moments notice and without feeling ashamed about the appearance of you home is a big plus. If you have so much stuff that it can’t be stored away neatly the oposite situation can be a real possibility for you.

Today’s Declutter Item

Things that made me happy, made me laugh, made me feel grateful, fascinated me or I thought were just plain awesome.

• Not having to prepare my house for quests.
• A nice sunny day to get the sheets dry on the clothesline.
• Having the car to run errands with. ~ I finally got that load of stuff to the thrift shop.
• The friendly staff at my local hardware store. ~ They were extra friendly and extra helpful today and I appreciate that.
• Reading the book my daughter wrote about me. ~ Here is one of the things she wrote. I’ve never known anyone who is so loved by all of the people in their life. You almost glow with a personality that is impossible to deny. There should be so many more people like you in the world. ~ I don’t know if all that’s true but if she believes it then that is pretty special and I am a very lucky mum.

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

Dachau Germany ~ Click on the photo for larger detail

I received an email from my sister today and then Cindy wrote something similar in a comment that gave me inspiration for today’s blog post. It is more about simplicity than decluttering but there is a strong link between the two topics and I felt like having a little fun. I hope you enjoy this little diversion from the norm.

Remember the good old day when…

• Milk used to come in glass bottles with foil caps. The caps were decorated during the holiday season. And the milk was delivered right to your door step. I even remember my Grandmother leaving out enamelled cans and the milkman would fill them with milk.
• Nearly everyone’s mother was home when they got home from school. (Sorry to the feminists out there but I loved this about my childhood.)
• The green grocer had a truck and would do the rounds of your neighbourhood. The fish monger did the same. Oh! and don’t forget the ice-cream van.
• You got your windscreen cleaned, oil checked and petrol served, without asking, all for free, every time you put gas in your tank.
• Candy (lollies) were in open containers in a glass cabinet in the store and you would tell the salesperson how much you wanted of each one and they would put them in a little paper bag. I remember some lollies being 4 for 1c when I was young. Ahhh, those were the good old days.
• You could return glass soda (softdrink) bottles to the store and get a refund. Usually that money went to buy the candy mentioned above. I believe this does still happen in some places but certainly not where I live.
• Fish and chips came wrapped in newspaper with just one layer of butcher paper against the food. I don’t think that actually ever killed anyone. Meat at the butchers used to come the same way. Where I lived we could even sell our old newspapers to the fish shop and butchers for a little pocket money which we often used to buy that candy mentioned above.
• A family of seven had one small tin trash bin collected each week. Granted ours was usually full to overflowing but most of it was organic so no harm done.
• There was no such thing as hand sanitizer. I managed to survive that as well.
• Actually, remember when we weren’t constantly bombarded with commercial from chemical companies trying to sell us all sorts of products to kill germs. They aren’t trying to save our lives they are just trying to sell more product.
• Children used to ride their bikes to school and just about everywhere else as well. When I was in school there were about 500 kids at my school and about 400 of them rode bikes everyday. In places like Germany and the Netherlands I believe they still do this and adults too. The photo at the top of this post is of a bike shelter by a railway station in Dachau which had hundreds of bikes parked under it. It brought back fond memories.
• No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition and the doors were never locked. Back then having a car was a luxury now it is a necessity and most families have more than one.
• Children weren’t expected to go to school from the age of three to the age of 23 in order to be considered educated.
• Kids used to play together outside from the minute they got home form school until they had to come in for dinner.
• Bottles came form the corner shop without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison perfect strangers.
• You could take a picnic lunch to the ballpark including a knife to cut up food. Now we are limited to the size bag we can take and that has to be searched on the way in and we could be arrested for having that knife. Now once you get in there is costs $8 for a plastic cup of soda.
• We wore our clothes until they were shabby or we had grown out of them.
• Eating out was a luxury and frozen dinners didn’t exist.
• Christmas consisted of a decorated tree, a wreath on the door, a home cooked meal, a small stocking from Santa and a couple of gifts from parents and grandparents.
• Parents weren’t required to sign a contract at the start of their 10 year old’s little league season promising not to be abusive to the opposition (players, coaches and parents), umpires or their own children.
• Things we bought didn’t come in blister packs.
• The Joneses only owned a three bedroom house and one car. They were a lot easier to keep up with then.
• Recycling bins weren’t necessary.
• Children only received toys for birthdays, Christmas or other special celebrations.
• When even the stores weren’t air-conditioned. Do you remember that even being a problem, I don’t.

I remember those times with fondness not with horror. And yes I know there are a lot of not so good things we could remember from those days too but that isn’t the point here. The point is life was way simpler back then and there is no reason why we can’t have some of those good things back. A little less greed, a little less elitism, a little less competition, a little less pampering and a lot less supply and demand would make the world a better place in my opinion. What do you think?

What are some of the things you miss from the good old days? Please send me a comment so we can all have fun reminiscing.

Today’s Declutter Item

Today’s we have an item that could very easily have become sentimental clutter. My son Liam was carrying this bag over his shoulder the night he was involved in a very serious cycling accident last year. Luckily we still have our son so we don’t need this bag to remind us how lucky we are.

Things that made me happy, made me laugh, made me feel grateful, fascinated me or I thought were just plain awesome.

• Reminiscing while writing the list above.
• Going to the shopping centre with a friend and coming home with nothing.
• Creating an oil burner from a metal frame a tea light and an small saucer.
• Liam is back at work, he has gone to his first work shift at his new job today. One more milestone reached.
• Laughing with my husband when he wished me a happy false anniversary today. For some reason we both get confused as to whether our anniversary is on the 21st or the 23rd. We don’t know why we have just had this issue right from the start. So we forgot to wish each other a happy anniversary on Monday the 21st but today Steve remembered. He is too funny sometimes.

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

For those of you overwhelmed by the decluttering task ahead of you I would like to give you hope. I am going to ask you to do five simple things, and I want you to focus on the effect those things have on your mood. It is important that you carry out these tasks in one short period of time in the order given. Please do not read ahead to the next task until you have completed the previous step.

First Task

If you haven’t completed all the mini missions for this week I would like you to choose two but only carry out one of them for now. If you have completed all the mini missions I set for this week please devise two of your own and carry out  one now. Make sure this mission only takes about ten minutes or so.

Second Task

Now that you have completed your mini mission I just want you to  take one or two minutes to think quietly about how good it feels to get that one small task accomplished. It only took a short length of time but you are one step closer to a decluttered home. This is one less area that you need to work on in the future. I bet you feel enthusiastic to start on your next decluttering task.

Third Task

Now I want you to think about the entirety of the decluttering mission you have ahead of you. Consider how immense the task seems when you focus on it’s entirety. Think of the size of your home, and all the little nooks and crannies where stuff could be hiding. Dwell on those thoughts for a minute of two. I bet you aren’t feeling so smug now, right!

Forth Task

Now I want you to take five deep breaths and clear your mind of the nasty thoughts you were just thinking. I want you  to forget about the big picture and simply focus on the next task I ask you to do. Now that you are calm I want you to carry out the second mini mission you chose in step one. Once again stick to something simple that will only take about ten minutes

Fifth Task

Your final task is much the same as the second. Focus on the task you just completed. How quick and easy was it to accomplish, and how satisfying it felt to be finished yet another decluttering mission? That is one small step towards your decluttering goal. It feels good doesn’t it? The task was simple but you feel you have achieved something. What could be more satisfying than that?

The point of this exercise

I am sure by now you understand the what I was trying to help you see here. Decluttering your home doesn’t have to be a scary prospect that you don’t think you want to deal with, it is simply a series of small tasks that are easy to accomplish with little effort. All you have to do is change your way of thinking and create a little enthusiasm for each task. Everyday find one little area to declutter, spend ten minutes or even a half an hour on it if you have the time. Before you know it the weight of your clutter will start to lift off your mind. That is where it is sitting at the moment – on your mind. It has quietly multiplied over the years without you giving it much thought. So what if it takes a while to physically remove it. So long as you chip away at it one small task at a time and do not add to it, you will get there in the end with minimal effort.

I suppose I could have called today’s post..

How to make a mole hill out of a mountain

Today’s Declutter Item

This was an unneeded gift that fetched $30.00 on eBay.

I am grateful from anything that brings me joy. Below are five things that gave me joy today.

• Finding hanging space for two pieces of framed art that I didn’t want to declutter but also didn’t have a home.
• My friend Liz – Every conversation with her is fresh and interesting. We connect on so many levels and yet we are both so different.
• Remembering the other grocery item I needed before I gave up and went home.
• That first cup of tea in the morning.
• Manipulating and decluttering enough craft supplies to clear one drawer in my craft area – Now a little fine tuning is in order I feel.
  

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

Saturday Quick Post – by Cindy

I fought the art closet, and I won. What was removed…

• A velvet art book
• 2 Idea books
• Some origami paper & instruction book
• 2 Set of glitter glue pens
• A package of horse stencils.

All these were donated. I also gathered a bunch of little tidbits for the craft corner of the 2nd grade classroom and threw away a huge number of little bits of dry, dusty and yarn-wrapped junk.