Before we begin reading today’s wonderful post by Cindy I just wanted to wish all my fellow Aussies a Happy Australia Day

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I just started reading Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project. I was attracted to it because, well, who wouldn’t want to be happier, and also because I read that Ms. Rubin’s first task in pursuit of happiness was decluttering her closet. Now there’s an idea I can get behind!

Here’s how she describes her first adventure: “When I had finished…I could see huge patches of the back of my closet. I no longer felt drained; instead, I felt exhilarated. No more being confronted with my mistakes! No more searching in frustration for a particular white button-down shirt!” Doesn’t that make you want to run straight to your own closet?

In thinking about her own clutter, Ms. Rubin breaks it apart into categories, and I like her divisions. They are

1. Nostalgic clutter – “Relics I clung to from my earlier life.” Sports trophies and my husband’s college lecture notes fall into this category.
2. Conservation clutter – Things which have been hung onto to because they’re useful, even though they are not (or are no longer) useful to you. Winter coats and sweaters when you no longer live in a cold climate or a bunch of bud vases that have built up over time are conservation clutter.
3. Bargain clutter and its twin Freebie clutter – Deal too good to be true? Or, better yet, free? That’s where bargain and freebie clutter come from.  (You can read a post on freebies here http://www.365lessthings.com/?p=597.)
4. Crutch clutter – Items that are worn out and should have been replaced, possibly years ago, but you continue on with them. You love them! You need them! . . . No, really, you don’t.
5. Aspirational clutter – I love this category. This is the things that you own that you aspire to use, but don’t. Craft and hobby clutter or a fabulous evening gown could fall into this category.
6. Outgrown clutter – Ms. Rubin sees this as the flip side of aspirational clutter. This is the stuff that you aspired to use, then did use, and now no longer use, but still have.
7. Buyer’s remorse clutter – I think this is a tough category for a lot of people. It’s hard to admit that you made a bad purchase but hanging onto it is not going to improve the situation.

When you declutter today, ask yourself, What category of clutter is this?

Today’s Declutter Item

It was my stupid idea to buy this video camera years ago. I soon realised I didn’t want to see every event in our lives through a camera lens. Needless to say it hardly got used but now it has a new home thanks to the wonders of eBay. It sold be a mere $51.00. That’s one more piece of guilt clutter eliminated from my life.

Things I am grateful for today

• Bridget (my daughter) made it to the next round of interviews with the defence recruiters today – She is hoping to follow in her fathers footsteps.
• Realising a task was easier than I expected it to be – I thought it was going to be a pain making a pavlova for Australia Day was going to be more of a bother than it turned out to be.
• Living in a country full of opportunity, abundance and freedom of choice – Not everyone can enjoy such liberty.
  
• Lots of good responses to yesterday’s post
• Receiving an invitation – Even if I couldn’t make it, it is still nice to be asked.
  

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

“Is prosperity only a material condition? Is there not prosperity of the soul? Outward riches without inward peace, I think we can all agree is a tentative state of wealth.” –Dave Bruno

Having never actually been a follower of Dave Bruno’s Blog, I only had a vague idea what the 100 thing challenge was all about, and in my ignorance I was very sceptical about the concept of paring down to only 100 things. The odd snippets I did come across while reading minimalist blogs gave me the impression that a lot of people were jumping on the band wagon like it was some kind of competition as to how few things the participants could live with.

When out of the blue I received an email from Mary at Harper Collins asking if I would be interested in receiving a free copy to review my initial reaction was to think – Do I really want to add this book clutter to my home.  Then I thought – What have I a got to loose, I can always hand the book on when I am done.

Well I have to say the book pleasantly surprised me. The story is simply one man’s attempt to break free from the constraints of American-Style consumerism. As my readers know I am  a strong advocate for adopting a more sustainable approach to consuming. My first advice when it comes to decluttering is to be conscious about what you buy or you will just be re-cluttering while you are decluttering.

Dave lives with his wife and three daughters in San Diego, California. He sets his story up with a little information about his life from both a business and personal point of view so we get to know him a little. He outlines the rules  of his challenge so we know exactly what is considered personal items, and what items are considered shared property, so not included in the challenge. Dave is honest and open about his struggles during the challenge, and about the mistakes he made with some of his choices.

He touches on how disappointment is built into the products we buy causing us to be constantly dissatisfied with our purchases. I could really relate to this and have blogged about this problem myself in the past on Day 214 and Day 111. Sustainability is not even a factor in some of the useless and flimsy products on the market.

Even though he took a year to reduce his belongings to the 100 thing limit, it forced him to part with some things that he later regretted not keeping.  This particularly concerned me as he then talks of replacing those items once the challenge was over. He also traded a few items out as the challenge went along.  All in all though, compared to the average consumer he certainly set a fabulous example for how we can all live a fulfilling life with minimal possessions. Several months after the challenge is over he is still living with less than 100 personal items, and content that the challenge brought him to to his goal of being a more thoughtful and joyful person.

Would I recommend reading this book? Yes, I personally preferred reading the first half of the book, it tells of Dave’s soul searching to choose which 100 personal items to keep. He delves into the reasons behind why he was clinging to certain objects in his life, how he came to terms with and untangled those ties. How there is more to it than just parting with the items but also letting go of the unrealised dreams that those items represent. For this alone the story is really worth the read.

I wouldn’t suggest that you reduce you personal belongings to 100 things on a whim?  No, but it is not unreasonable to think that in the endeavour to simplify and declutter your life you may wake up one day and realise you have done  just that. I have no doubt that you would be happier for it.

Today’s Declutter Item

Another DVD that Liam decluttered. He has been very cooperative with the decluttering lately and I am milking that for all it’s worth. There is no telling how long it will last.

Things I am grateful for today

1. I have managed to resurrect a favourite pair of shoes today with the help of a bottle of suede/nubuck dye.
2. I found a good red lentil dahl recipe on the internet.
3. I have my car back – Steve’s motorbike is finally back on the road.
4. I made it home safe and sound each time I left the house today – despite the fact that in four separate instances when vehicles tried or did take my right of way. I seem to have been a crazy driver magnet today.
   
5. Memories of reading bedtime stories to my children when they were younger- I loved reading to them and sometimes I would con them into brushing my hair so I would read an extra story. I love to having my hair brushed.
   

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

I received a comment yesterday and wanted to share it with you because it is a great decluttering success story and has some very useful tricks that we all could utilise when it comes to decluttering. Not everyone reads all the comments and I didn’t want you to miss it.

OBC wrote…

Well done Colleen! Fantastic!

I have read every single one of your posts over the past month and it has been a fabulous journey for you.

I actually spent 6 years decluttering way back 2000-2006 paving the way for me to be able to completely change my life by giving up work and moving across the seas to sun and warmth and experienced everything you have said – how the decluttering muscle gets stronger the more you use it – some things I couldn’t bear to part with in 2000 went out the door with ease in 2006.

I played games with myself – eg. the 16 week challenge of 1 book per day, 10 papers per day, 1 cloth item (eg. clothing or household linen), total amount of stuff had to remain the same or diminish – eg 1 new thing in = 1 thing out (even if it was a broken old pen!)

Another game, I packed as much as I could into 20 collapsible crates and the challenge each week was to reduce the number of crates by 1. Some weeks it could be achieved by repacking, and other weeks I actually had to throw stuff out. Psychologically, the act of repacking was allowing my sub-conscious to begin working on the letting go.

As the pack-rat nature is buried deep within, I constantly have to review and declutter to avoid build up and right now, I just completed ’1000 things’ – I have set aside a table in my office to use for going through things (keep or throw) and am circulating round my home a drawer or shelf at a time. I drew up a grid on my whiteboard and each box = 10 things gone through. Tick. (I am motivated by ticks!)

One key decision I made years ago is to not judge the ‘value’ of the items i.e. one old sweet wrapper or till receipt = a thing just as much as an old chair = a thing. Makes decision making much easier!

One of the most thrilling moments I experienced is the day I suddenly realised I could hear echoes in my home as shelves and walls gradually became clear!

Anyway, congratulations again and a Happy New Year to you!

I love the idea of small missions within a mission. Whether they be mini missions or like OBC’s  16 week challenge. Smaller missions give you a shorter goal date to work towards. In honour of the small mission concept I am going to add one here that I would like everyone to take up for this week. I will give you a mission a day for the week and we shall see how you went in the end. Which reminds me I didn’t get much feedback on the last set of mini missions I set for you so here is the link to Day 350 if anyone chose to participate at such a hectic time of year I would love to know how did you do?

Week 1 of 2011 Mini Mission

1. Saturday – Find something that can be used up but has been hanging about in your home for too long and start using it up. This could be moisturiser, something from the pantry, a note pad etc.
2. Sunday – Time to visit your book stash again there must be two books that are out of date or unlikely to be read again. Put them in the donation box.
3. Monday – Evaluate your plastic storage containers are there some you could declutter? Tupperware sells on ebay you know. There are probably some that have seen better days to or ones with missing lids these are seldom used and are probably ready for the recycling bin.
4. Tuesday – Go to a storage area of your home (the garage, a closet or drawer for instance) that you rarely use things from there must be one item of clutter you can delete.
5. Wednesday – Now that Christmas is over and birthdays are on the way gather all of your greeting cards, gift wrap etc. together in one place. Weed out what you will never use and discard.
6. Thursday – Go and find 1 “I might need it one day” item that you haven’t “needed” for years and put it in your donations box.
7. Friday – Declutter one item from your closet that you know you didn’t use last season.

I might just start mini mission Monday as a fixture after this week just to give everyone some easy decluttering ideas for the week. If you like that idea just let me know.

Today’s declutter item

Some boxes I eliminated over the Christmas period

Things I was grateful for today

• All the kind wishes for my first anniversary here at 365lessthings.
• A cool breeze on an otherwise hot day.
• The free produce out of my neighbours garden while they are away.
• Something simple for dinner that includes some of the produce mentioned above.
• A new year to do with whatever I want.

key #6 – Don’t over think it

Sometimes when we are faced with what seems like a mammoth task we tend to over think the situation. For my decluttering effort each day I just walk into a room take a look around, peek in a cupboard or too and just find something to declutter. Or I might just spy something on my daily meandering throughout the house. Over thinking can cause procrastination or worse scare you off the task altogether. If you find yourself hyperventilating at the mere thought of decluttering, STOP, and take 5 slow deep breaths clear your mind and start over the easy way.

Item 362 of 365lessthings

Today’s offering to the donation box is a batch of unused greeting cards that have been cluttering up my card box for more years than I care to remember. If I haven’t used them yet I’m probably never going to.

5 Reflections of gratitude toward people in my life this year

1. My husband- for always doing all the work to organise our wonderful overseas vacations. For editing my posts most of the time. For being there for me through thick and thin. For loving me no matter what etc etc etc.
2. My daughter- Although I worry about her far more than I should she never does anything too outrageously frightening. And she loves me enough to phone me nearly every night.
3. My Son – For doing his best to be patient about all the things he isn’t allowed to do while his brain recovers. And for being forgiving when I get too overprotective.
4. Cindy for helping me out in good times and bad – Can’t thank you enough Cindy.
   
5. The other wonderful people who wrote posts for me while I was on my vacation – Donna * Steve * and Betty Jo* (I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone)

Polish Apple Pancake Recipe

A simple healthy recipe with very few ingredients that requires very little effort

1 cup plain flour
1 tblspn sugar
½ tspn salt
1 egg
1 tblspn vegetable oil
1 cup skim milk
4 medium green apples peeled & thinly sliced
icing sugar

1. In a bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt. (I use a whisk to aerate these dry ingredients)
2. In another bowl using the same whisk lightly beat eggs, milk and oil.
3. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
4. Fold in apples.
5. Pour batter by half cupfuls onto a greased griddle on medium heat and spread to form a 5 inch circle.
6. Turn when bubbles begin to form on top.
7. Cook until the second side is golden brown and apples are tender.
8. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

These portions will make about 8 pancakes. I usually only mix up half this amount for my hubby and I

Note:- these are a delicious breakfast alternative. It is a very basic recipe that can be spiced up with a little cinnamon for added flavour. In fact you could be very imaginative as to what you could add to make them interesting.

Enjoy

Item of 365 less things

Yes! The storage containers are flying out the door at this stage of my declutter mission. They are one thing I am not going to keep “just in case”. There will be no case where I will be needing them.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Another nice cool overcast day.
2. Finally getting my Christmas shopping out of the way – Yes it took me until a week before Christmas to get the ONE gift I had to buy. Maybe I am taking this Minimal Christmas thing too far.
3. Finding time to do a little crafting.
4. Take-out for dinner – Mmmmmmmm curry!
5. Clothes airers – I prefer to hang our clothes inside rather than have them fading out in the sun or wasting electricity using the dryer.

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

How many times have you heard or said “But I’m no a morning person”? You know the story “not being a morning person” is a great excuse for continually having a messy bedroom. As a result of “not being a morning person”  the bedroom turns into a disaster zone in the attempt to get ready for work each day. Needless to say when the “not a morning person” finally gets around to cleaning up the mess the very next day it’s back to square one again.

As for not being a morning person:-

• This is just a state of mind which can be reversed if you just let it go. The only reason a person isn’t a morning person is because they have convinced themselves they aren’t.
• Getting a good night sleep is key to being a morning person. I would probably not want to get up in the morning either if I stayed up after midnight every night. This can be fixed by changing night habits. Start going to bed about 15 minutes earlier each night until a more suitable bed time is reached.
• Unless you have a job that changes shift all the time it should be relatively simple to attempt to set a routine in place that better suits your daily requirements.

Simplify your morning routine

• Set out your clothes for the next day before you go to bed at night. That way you aren’t wasting precious time rummaging through your closet and hurling clothes all over the place in a panic. You will cause yourself a lot of extra ironing if you leave your clothes crumpled on the floor.
• Set out all the accessories to match the clothing selection you have made above – shoes, jewellery, belt etc.
• If you are a woman have your make-up neatly arranged so everything is easy to find. Put things back in their proper place so it is easy to find what you need the next day. It takes no longer to do this than to put it in the wrong place. After a short time you will be so familiar as to where the right place is you won’t even have to think about it.
• Have your shower the night before if climate allows so there is one less thing to do in the morning.
• If you take 15 minutes or more to do your hair consider a new easier-to-maintain hairstyle.
• If you take your own meal to work make sure you get it ready the night before.

Set your alarm a little earlier if all else fails and you are still finding yourself running late.

Important: You should always leave time for breakfast in your morning routine it is the most important meal of the day.

Item 348 of 365 less things

Hubby just keeps finding more computer bits to get rid off. These parts sold for $10 on ebay.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. 6:30am cup of coffee – enough said.
2. Seeing outside the box – I love being able to adapt something to suit my purposes.
3. Steve has is stitches out and Liam looks like spending very little time at the brain injury clinic.
4. Evening walking – It’s actually too hot and sunny to walk at 7 o’clock in the morning at the moment. At 7:30pm I don’t need sunscreen and the temperature is much more pleasant.
5. Annabelle and her cute comment today – It gave me a little laugh and like my mum I love to laugh.
   

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

Financial security is one thing to strive for but when does that cross the line to decadence?

We must be prepared to sacrifice certain things in order to eat well, put a roof over our heads, clothe ourselves and pay our utility bills and medical insurance. The main thing we give up here is usually our time since we need to work in order to pay for the basics. At what point do we then start to sacrifice more of our time and other things in order to pay for the things that aren’t a necessity.

Do we really need –

• Homes larger than our needs dictate.
• Cars bigger, newer and more expensive than required.
• The latest and greatest techno gadgets.
• Cable TV.
• Beauty treatments and expensive hair styling.
• More stuff in our homes than we can possibly fully use.
• Replacing perfectly good items just because we feel like a change.
• Expensive/excessive dietary items that are likely not healthy anyway.
• Dining out on a regular basis.
• So many toys for our children that they couldn’t possibly learn to appreciate any of them.
• Expensive holidays.
• And worst of all credit card interest that accumulates from buying things we really can’t afford.

I will stop here but that list could go on forever. In order to make more money to buy life’s “luxuries” we work longer hours and something has to give…

Family:-Unfortunately and sadly the first thing to be sacrificed is time with family. There are so many double income families out there whose children are in day care on a regular basis.  Some out of necessity just because of the cost of living, but there are many in this situation because they are just trying to keep up a standard of living that goes way beyond necessity.

Friends:- If we have a lack of time to spend with family it stands to reason that there isn’t going to be much time left for friends either.

Dreams:- We will often sacrifice the life we would really prefer for the one that earns us the most income. While we may be offered our dream job we would have to turn it down in preference to the one that pays more. While we might wish to start our own business we can’t afford to take the risk.

Health:- Working long hours and trying to make time for private lives and for ourselves can be very stressful and stress is not good for your  health. Often on top of that our diet can suffer due to doing everything fast including food. Add  lack of exercise and you have a recipe for disaster.

There are many other things we sacrifice but these are a some of the most crucial and important ones. Unfortunately modern society seems to place so much more value on professional position, qualifications and status symbols than it does on family and personal happiness.

I am sure every person reading this has fallen into this trap to some degree. Be it working too hard and sacrificing too much or just working to surround yourself with stuff you just don’t need while there are far more satisfying things you could be doing. Either way it is worth giving some serious thought, and working out what is really important to you.

Item 333 of 365 less things

Computer parts and cables that are no longer needed but have too little value to sell on ebay. I will have to check out local computer recyclers to see if they would like to take them off our hands.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Being left to sleep in – It made up for the fact that I went to bed late
2. My ebay auctions are going well – Yes I finally got around to placing them.
3. I am going out to dinner and a show tonight – It will be nice to spend some time with my old work mates.
4. Having had the wisdom when young to give up the trimmings in order to stay home and raise our kids – That’s not to say we didn’t make other mistakes along the way where our money and time would have been better spent.
5. Liam getting out and about with his friends this weekend – He must have been getting bored sitting around the house and spending all his time with his parents.

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.

When we knew we would be moving back to Australia from the USA in July 2007, we wanted to move straight into our town-house with all our belongings and settle quickly into our new life. I suppose that is when  we truly began the decluttering.

We did several things to purge items we knew we didn’t want to take back with us. Luckily, we sold some stuff at a planned neighbourhood garage sale. We also listed other things for sale to other Aussies who were staying in the US, and sold some things to the family who replaced us. We also donated a bunch of stuff to charity. I kept several electronic items that I now regret not selling over there while we had the chance. At the time, I thought I would still use them but alas I haven’t for one reason or another.

Next we packed up all the things we felt we wouldn’t really need for a month and sent them ahead by sea freight at the end of May 2007. Then a month later we packed everything else up and sent that by air freight while we took a month touring Europe on our way home. I can’t say I remember missing anything out of the sea freight while living in the house for a month without it. We managed to survive quite well with just what we had left. Unbeknownst to me I suppose that was my first taste of minimalism.

We did notice that when everything lobbed on our doorstep in Australia two days after our arrival, there was far too much stuff to fit comfortably into our new home.

There was also the stuff that had been waiting in storage for seven and a half years for our return. Aside from furniture, there wasn’t much in this load of belongings that I had missed. Unfortunately, some of the stored items I looked forward to getting back no longer worked due to being unused for too many years. I will point out here that we weren’t expecting to be gone so long.

Over the next two and a half years, we continually decluttered stuff. At first, there was a quick purge of extra furniture and home goods that just would not fit into the house. Then, that slowed to sporadic purges as we began weeding out the obvious items that needed to go. Then the 365 day challenge began and the slow but steady fine tuning was under way. Now we are at day 320 with only 45 days to go to the finish line. Somehow I don’t think that is going to be the actual finish line because I am sure there are more than 40 items left but I am very pleased with the result so far.

The lessons I have learned along the way…

1. When moving from country to country think very carefully about the things you take with you. Although I thought I did this there were several expensive items that have never been used since the move that would have been easier to off load in their country of origin.
2. It is amazing how few things you really need to get by day to day.
3. Things can be rendered useless from lack of use just as easily as overuse.
4. The bigger the house the more stuff people tend to buy to fill it.
5. Open space is a wonderful thing.
6. If you don’t want to clean it, store it or move it don’t buy it.
7. Decluttering slowly has been more effective and educational for me than decluttering quickly.

Item 320 of 365 less things

While my daughter was visiting we went through the box of old children’s books that she had chosen to save and culled them down a little.

5 Things I am grateful for today

1. Having made a head start on tomorrow’s cleaning day
2. Rain – We have had a string of hot days so it is nice to have a little cool down.
3. Having fun while answering comments today – I always enjoy it but today I was just being a little silly
   
4. My garden growing madly without any help from me
5. Liam’s progress –He is through his post traumatic amnesia period and has an interview with the brain injury clinic tomorrow. Hopefully that means he will be moving on to the next phase of his rehab very soon.
   

I have decide to make Sundays a day for short and simple posts that is quick to read and simple to follow. I will call them Simply Sunday I hope you enjoy the concept.

This post poses a series of simple questions for you to ponder but the solution is up to you.

1. Do you like dusting?
2. Which room in your home requires the most dusting?
3. What is it about this room the creates the necessity to dust so much?
4. What would you rather 1.) that this room needs less dusting or 2.) to keep all the things in this room that require dusting?

At this point I would suggest you go to this room and carefully scrutinise the items  collecting dust and decide should they stay of should they go.

This room in my house is the lounge room. It is slowly improving on the dusting scale but there is a ways to go yet to get it to the point where I will be satisfied with it’s level of simplicity.

ITEM 311 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This bag is a duplicate due to poor organisation when can happen it you don’t plan ahead when moving house.

5 things I am grateful for today

1. Sleeping in.
2. Enough of a break in the rain to take a morning walk.
3. Catching up with friends even if only briefly.
4. Getting to the end of the day and realising that I had been more useful that I thought – I went for a long walk, baked a cake, did a load of washing, made lunch and dinner, did some grocery shopping, tidied up, did some ironing and visited Liam twice.
5. My little girl is coming tonight and will be able to spend the week visiting her little brother.