Cindy

There are all sorts of things that I don’t want to do or don’t like to do. For example, I like a clean house, but I do not like to clean house. You may want to be decluttered, but get overwhelmed at the process of decluttering.

Today, I want to talk about some tricks that can help you get yourself to cooperate. These are ones that I have used, and I am very curious to hear your strategies and tricks, as well.

1. When working at my desk, don’t sit down. Once I sit down, my rear end seems to develop a lead weight in it and nothing else gets done for at least an hour. When I stand, I do the one thing I came to my desk to do, and then I move onto the next thing.

2. The five (or 10) minute clean up. This is one for the whole family. I set a timer for a predetermined number of minutes, and everyone cleans as fast as they can for that amount of time. No going over; no extending the time. When the buzzer rings, everyone is done.

3. The five item clean up. Everyone finds five items in the house that are not where they belong and puts them away. This takes our family less than 5 minutes, and 20 objects are back where they belong. A variation of this involves finding 5 items to put away, 1 of which must be something that can be decluttered.

4. Use your declutter money for a specific purpose. Longtime readers will know that I put all the money that I’ve made from Ebay, Craiglist, and Amazon toward my mortgage, which has whittled away $2000 of that debt. Good motivation, and if I hadn’t done this, the money probably would have slipped away, largely unnoticed.

5. The mortgage connection. This is a new trickery device I’m trying. As I said before, I don’t like to clean house. (I do like to declutter, though, so I don’t need any extra motivation in that department.) I would love to hire a housekeeper, but that’s a luxury I don’t feel able to afford. I have decided to pay myself for cleaning the house. For every hour I spend on housecleaning chores, I will immediately go to the computer and transfer $20 from our checking account to our mortgage account. True, $20 isn’t a lot, but it’s $20 more than nothing, and it gets me just that much closer to my goal.

So, those are some of the tricks I have used to motivate myself and gain my own cooperation toward my goals. What are some tricks you have invented for yourself?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a music related item. Old records, cassettes or CD’s you no longer listen to. When I occasionally feel like listening to something that isn’t among my usual selection I just go to YouTube. There is no need to keep once-in-a-while music on hand these days.

Eco Tip For The Day

Challenge yourself not to use paper towel for a month. By the end of that time you may have come up with viable reusable alternatives that you are happy to utilise  on a permanent basis.

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

Cindy

True story: Once I was carpooling with 2 friends. At that time, the girls were still using car seats, so I pulled a booster out. Among other crunchy, yucky little bits under the seat were two desiccated chicken nuggets. How embarrassing!

While I was driving the van, it always looked “Mom-ed.” In this case, “Mom” is another word for “trashy.” No one ever took into the house everything that they carried into the car, and over time, there were more and more pens, scraps of paper, crumbs (no more nuggets!), a single shoe, forgotten art projects, etc. It was dirty – “Mom’s taxi” dirty. In fact, my favorite YouTube video of all time celebrates (?) the “Mom van” in a video that you can watch and laugh at here.

Some people’s cars are much more of a disaster than my bit of “momming.” Not long ago, I encountered two women driving the most trashed out car I’d ever seen. It made me sick and sad to see how foul it was, especially when I realized that they had a couple of small dirty dogs in the vehicle with them and that they were likely living in it as well. Ironically what were they doing? Jockeying to be first in line at 99 cent day at the thrift store.

I found this website of junk-filled cars. While these vehicles are extreme, how many of you have a car that you’re not too proud, that you’re not keeping clean? A car is a major expense: the purchase, the fuel, and the maintenance. Shouldn’t it receive the same attention as your house, your closet, and your office?

Here’s how I suggest you proceed. First, get your trash can, your recycling bin, and another bag. One at a time, grab everything off the floor, from the trunk, and from within the seat pockets and sort – trash, recycling, goes back into the house (that’s what the extra bag is for), stays in the car. Clean out every little thing. Put away what you’ve accumulated, possibly leaving the “stays in the car” stuff out because next you’re going to vacuum, and not having those items in the way will allow you to vacuum more thoroughly. Finally, wash the car, inside and out. Ah, doesn’t that look and feel better?

Now, just like every other area of your decluttered home, you have to maintain it. Frankly, this is easier than maintaining the house because once you leave the car, it’s unlikely that you’re going to pass back by it and leave a book or shoes like you might in the living room.

In fact, a clean car can save you thousands of dollars. About five years ago, Dan was sick of his car and started talking about buying a new one. I knew that wouldn’t be a good way to spend our money, and I knew that this car still have thousands of good driving miles left. I took it to the body shop to have a few little dents and dings repaired and a piece repainted so that the outside looked new, and then I took it to a car wash place and got the super-detail package (everything cleaned, buffed, waxed, shampooed, etc.). True, it cost me about $500, but that’s only one or maybe one and a half car payments worth of investment, and we used that car for 170,000 miles.

What state is your car in?

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

Today I am going to share with you a little story from a relative of a friend which I found most amusing. It is in relation to unwanted gifts and goes like this…

One Christmas this mother whose children were grown and left home decided to do something a little different for Christmas. At sometime previously she had ceased purchasing gifts because they neither needed nor wanted anything. So prior to the Christmas in question she collected up things from around her house that the children had left behind. She then wrapped them up and put them under the tree.

On Christmas morning as the unexpected gifts were unwrapped plenty of laughs were had. Her daughter’s response to her gift of a porcelain figurine was ~ I didn’t want this when I received it for my 21st birthday, so I sure don’t want it now. The stunt had the desired effect. It was determined that neither of her daughters wanted their gifts but the son kept and took away his shirt and video cassettes. The unwanted items went to charity. This has become a Christmas tradition. As she finds things that belong to the kids she puts them aside for the next Christmas season.

I thought this was one of the most amusing and ingenious decluttering ploys ever. And there is no reason to wait for Christmas, why not give  your kids a gift of their left-behind clutter for their next birthday.

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

When we think of big decluttering tasks we often get deterred before we even begin. But the truth is just about every decluttering task can be broken down into smaller tasks. Below are some suggestions as to how you might break a bigger task down into manageable and less daunting segments. These are just suggestions you, however, can tweak them to suit your circumstances or method of storing/arranging things.

Instead of thinking about decluttering…

• …a closet ~ consider breaking it down to decluttering one shelf at a time, one section of a hanging rail or one area of the floor.
• …the Garden shed ~ one day remove any stuff you can see that needs throwing in the trash. Next day sort through the big gardening tools. Next day the pots etc.
• …the kitchen ~ commit to decluttering one shelf or drawer a day until the task is complete.
• …the linen closet ~ One day sort through the bath towels, the next day the sheets, the next day the face cloths and hand towels and so on until you are done.
• … the living room ~ first sort through the DVDs, then the coffee table, then one shelf in the china cabinet… until all is done.
• …the garage ~ break it down to sporting equipment, car related stuff, separate sections of tools, paint cans, hardware supplies and so on. Or simply divide the area into quickly manageable section. For instance if you have a double garage whose floor comprises eight concrete slabs use those as your sections.
• …a bookcase ~ one shelf at a time, one author, one subject, a dozen books at a time using a marker to indicate where you left off. A ruler is good for this.
• …a desk ~ clear one drawer at a time and then the top or divide the top into sections depending or how big of messy it is.
• …filing cabinet ~ choose one hanging file at a time and declutter its contents. Leave a post-it note or similar marker to indicate which file you are up to, so the next time you have time you continue the task where you left off.

Be sure to not leave too much time between sessions or you may get confused as to where you are up to, or clutter things up again before you complete the task. Hopefully recluttering won’t be a problem because you will have learned by now not to reclutter while you declutter. This is best achieved by not bringing new stuff in.

So if you find a task too daunting just break it down and celebrate each section you complete.

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

Cindy

I’ve been thinking a lot about cleaning supplies recently – how many I should have, where I should store them, etc. and I have come to a somewhat shocking conclusion: I’m going about it all wrong.

I don’t use a lot of cleaning products, and they are stored in a couple of places. I have a caddy of supplies in the laundry room, a huge container of vinegar under the kitchen sink, a toilet brush by one toilet but the toilet bowl cleaner is in the laundry room, and a vacuum in the upstairs closet.

What got me on this train of thought was a problem with the vacuum. I’ve had my vacuum for many years, and it’s been repaired a couple of time. Literally, one of the wheels has fallen off and won’t stay on for more than a minute at a time. (Ironically, this doesn’t seem to impede the action of the vacuum or scratch the floors – makes me wonder what the wheels are for!) I only have one 10 x 12 rug in the whole house. I thought when the vacuum finished dying, I would chuck it, sell the rug, and just work with a broom and dust mop. Then Colleen and my mother persuaded me that I would have a lot less dog hair on my floors if I vacuumed more, rather than less.

What happened next is the opposite of what I preach: I bought a second of something while the first was still functional. Yes, I bought another vacuum cleaner, an upright. I planned to sell my old canister-style vacuum cheaply on Craigslist. But the more I used the upright vacuum, the less I liked it. Instead, I tried to sell it on Craigslist, with no success. The upright was good on the rug, but less great on the hard floors. I had a brain storm, and even though I felt completely indulgent doing it, I brought the old vacuum downstairs and left the new one upstairs. My floors, upstairs and down, were cleaner. Because I didn’t have to lug the vacuum up the stairs, I was vacuuming more often. My floors really were less hairy. Yes, I became a person with two vacuums.

This revelation of convenience got me started thinking about my other cleaning supplies. For example, what the heck is my cleaning caddy doing in the laundry room? I never clean in there (except clothes, of course). Why do I only have one toilet brush with the cleaning fluid stored elsewhere? I started noticing that I would think, “If I had a sponge (or toilet brush or glass cleaner) nearby, I’d take care of that real quick.” But “real quick” did not involve going to another room, getting the proper supplies, and bringing them back. That was not “real quick.”

I started small: I got a toilet brush for beside every toilet, and I added toilet bowl cleaner to the grocery list – one bottle for every toilet. I’m adding a scratchy sponge and a container of baking soda beneath every sink. I have two vacuum cleaners. What I discovered is that, for me, more cleaning supplies, not fewer, more duplicate items, not less was the secret to housekeeping success.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a fashion accessory.

Eco Tip For The Day

Share and borrow between friends and family rather than everyone owning/buying everything.

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

Cindy

Unless I’ve lost track, which is possible, this article from Wired magazine on the need to fix things, rather than just tossing them out, has not been included in a Friday post. I’ll wait while you read it.

One of the things that I love and appreciate about my husband is that he can fix almost anything. Sometimes his care in fixing an item makes it better than when it started out. Recently, he fixed a bag dryer that we’ve used for a decade. (See a photo of a bag dryer here.) Years of use had finally caused the glue to completely give up and the base to fall off, so I was using it balanced in a short drinking glass. Dan took the entire thing apart, sanded it, waxed it, and reassembled it. Quite frankly, it was better than new and will surely last another decade. I think some people would have been tempted to either use it in its broken down state or maybe fixed it but without all the extra fuss. Most people, I fear, would have tossed it and purchased new. After all, they’re only about $20, and that one lasted a decade – good enough, right?

After reading the article in Wired, my Aunt Eileen commented that she had heard that you can judge a society by how it treats its broken. “Broken” here referred to people, but it made her wonder if we could also judge a society by how it treats its broken things.

That really got me thinking about all the things that Dan has fixed in the many years we’ve been together: shoes, a play baby buggy, computers and electronic items, jewelry, and (my favorite) a stick from the yard that one of the girls broke when she just had to have it. Yes, my husband fixed a stick.

Your money will go further, and so will your pride, when you fix up something and keep using it.

But for clutterers, the challenge and thrill of potentially fixing something can be a real trap. Do you have items in your house that have been broken for more than a year? Items that you do not know how to fix? Items that you could fix – maybe – but still wouldn’t use? Do you pick up broken items during bulky trash because you’re sure you can fix them up and use or resell them, even though you don’t have the time, money, tools or know-how? Stop! This is a trap for clutterers, and you don’t need to get sucked into it.

Like an never (or partially) started craft or a gadget that you used for just one project, it’s time to let those broken things go. Offer it free to someone who can fix them, or break it down for recycling, or just put it out on the curb with a “free but broken” sign on it and see what happens. If you can fix it, do. And soon. If you can’t, it’s time to say good-bye.

Today’s Mini Mission

Identify and declutter an item that has remained in your home out of habit. Something that has so far escaped your notice just because it has been around for so long and has literally just become a piece of the furniture.

Eco Tip For The Day

Return hangers back to the dry cleaners to be reused. Every little thing recycling effort helps!

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

Here is a little example of how my decluttering strategies are helping me in the task of compiling my household inventory.

As you know I have been working away slowly and steadily on this household inventory for a while. Before I began my husband transferred the inventory from our last move, back to Australia from America, into a new program. This inventory did not include the items that had been left behind in storage while we were in America, or items we have purchased since. And of course this old inventory contained many many items that I have long since decluttered. And some items had changed location within the house.

It really was a toss up as to whether to start afresh, with a new inventory, and input everything or delete items from the old one and continue on from there. It was a close decision but we decided that it would be easier in the long run to take the second option. And I didn’t mention that as a result of all of this deleting, moving and probably poor original labelling, there is quite a bit of faffing about to get it right. Also our deadline may be looming sooner than we thought, so a girl can get in a bit of a panic. You know, the sort of panic some people feel when they first begin decluttering when they step back, view the big picture and think ~ This is all too hard.

That feeling started to creep up on me this morning while working on the inventory of our living room items. However I stopped my mild panic in its tracks by shaking myself off and taking a moment to regain order in the face of chaos. All I needed to do was focus on one area at a time. Just like I always suggest here at 365 Less Things when it comes to decluttering.

So I stopped took a look at the walls of the room, compared that to my inventory and added anything that was missing. I then looked around at the furniture in the room and checked that off. That left me with the furniture pieces that held stuff. I then went meticulously through one piece of furniture at a time checking off and adding. I left post-it note markers on each shelf as I completed the count. Once done I moved onto the next shelf and then the next piece of furniture.

As I went along I encountered the odd thing that belonged to my husband that I wasn’t sure of the value of or how he wanted to list them ~ as a job lot or individually. I made a list of these items and will ask him about them this evening.

I was cruising along so smoothly with this strategy that the room was complete in no time and I happily moved on to another area of the house.

As you can see, this is the same approach I advocate when it comes to decluttering…

• Just focus on one thing or one area at a time.
• Make a plan ahead of time on how you are going to work systematically through an area, if that is likely to help things go smoothly.
• Make a list of items that you encounter, that aren’t yours to decide on, then later ask other family members about them. You can easily go back and declutter these items if the choice is to let them go.
• Don’t be in a rush. You know the old saying ~ The more haste the less speed. ~ well it is often the case.

So today I practiced what I preached and all went well.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter one thing that you know hasn’t been used in a very long time that really isn’t necessary.

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t ignore dripping taps. Replace the washers as soon as possible.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

Today I am going to suggest five scenarios, that you can imagine you are a part of, that would likely force you to be more ruthless with your decluttering. You find an area in the house that you feel could do with some decluttering, and I will set the scene for a situation that would, if it were reality, make you let go of some items you might otherwise keep just because you have the space.

Scenario One: Your kids have left home and you have just had an offer, out of the blue, from someone who would like to buy your house. It is a very generous offer and you have been thinking of downsizing for some time. You have viewed a very attractive two bedroom apartment recently that you could imagine yourself living it. You look at your stuff and think what would I have to get rid of if I were to move into something smaller. What among this stuff could I find quite easy to live without should it not be likely to fit in?

Scenario Two: You have just brought a new puppy home and it is an indoor dog. You need a space to be able to leave it at home alone, at times, without it chewing up stuff. One room needs to be quite clear of items it can get at. So everything that is at danger either has to go or fit into another room in the house. What items would you give up to make this work?

Scenario Three: You are fifty-five years old and are already on the waiting list for a hip replacement. The reality is you aren’t getting any younger and your body isn’t as young and agile as it used to be. But joyfully it also isn’t old and decrepit either. This hip replacement is however a warning signal that there are certain tasks that aren’t going to get any easier as you get older. So now is the time to start getting your affairs in order. Not ten or fifteen years down the track when mobility could possibly become a real issue. What can you do now to make life easier for you in the future? What items can you start eliminating so it makes cleaning, organising and access easier?

Scenario Four: There is a new baby in the household. Whether that be your household or the baby is a grandchild that will be visiting. Soon enough the little darling will be mobile and able to get their sweet little hands on anything at their level. As wonderful as the idea sounds ~ “They just have to learn not to touch things.” ~ do you really want to have to be ever vigilant during that learning period. Or would it be easier for everyone if you just declutter items that you don’t need or care much for, to make it easy to move everything breakable out of hands way? What can you declutter from your higher and lower shelves so that what is important can be neatly displayed out of reach?

Scenario Five: You have just lost a loved one in your family and you have been helping in the process of sorting out the estate. Clearing out the home of this much loved relative has been a real eye opener. Oh, the things you have had to sort through. Items you aren’t sure are valuable or not. Personal items that would have been best left personal. Old correspondence that you just don’t have the time to read through and decide what is worth saving for family history reasons. Wardrobes full of clothes that clearly haven’t been used in years. A shed full of stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day since this loved one lost their male spouse ten years earlier. And just the usual household items that seem far too abundant for someone who had so few to cater to on a daily basis. Do you want to leave the same mammoth task for someone to clear away should something happen to you. You think not, so what do you have in your home that no longer suits your lifestyle and probably never will again?

Use one or more of these scenarios to help see your stuff in a different light and use that to guide you in letting go.

Today’s Mini Mission

 Declutter a small section of a cupboard anywhere in your home.

Eco Tip for the Day

When you are out and about and there is no provision to recycle bring your items home if possible and not ridiculously inconvenient

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

Cindy

Today’s post is geared toward the advanced decluttered. If you’re a beginner, don’t try this at home…or anywhere else…it can lead to discouragement, a big mess in the hallway, and a complete lack of improvement in your situation. But if you’ve passed the beginning stages of decluttering, if your friends call you The Decluttering Queen (that’s what mine call me, at least), or if you’ve been at it for more than a year, then today’s post might be for you.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to start all the way over.

Yes, all the way over.

That’s what I did last week. My pantry is decluttered. There is no food that no one eats nor out-of-date cans, and like food was stored with like food, but it wasn’t working for me. I have a pretty great pantry that is wide but fairly shallow. I don’t want to have to reach around and knock things over, and I want to be able to see everything at once. The very top shelf had food stacked on top of food, and the snacks, cereal, and other dry goods seemed to be sorted wrongly.

I was sure that I was going to need to take the whole shelf of baking goods (flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.) and find another place for it; there was no way everything was going to fit the way I wanted. But I was wrong.

First, I took everything off the first two shelves, which are pantry staples – canned goods, pasta, dried beans, etc. Having everything out allowed me to sort it a little bit smarter, and I got it back into the same space it had been in before but without being double stacked.

I just straightened up the next shelf. It’s the one I use the most, and the stock there is always rotating.

The next two shelves are snacks, nuts, and cereal. Again, I removed everything. Because my eldest daughter is diabetic, she eats a lot of nuts, which do not raise her blood sugar. I literally have an entire shelf devoted to nuts. Snacks of various kinds were organized on the next shelf. Since it’s summer and since my eldest and all her friends are teens, the amount of snacks that can be consumed is fairly amazing. I try to keep a large variety of healthy choices. Dry cereal, granola bars, oatmeal and grits were clustered on the shelf below that.

The next shelf is the baking shelf. Amazingly enough, with the re-organization and sorting that went on above the baking supplies, I didn’t have to move them any where.

Last, I got out my label maker and labeled the shelves that I thought would most easily fall into disarray – the ones that are used by the most people. One shelf is labeled NUTS, another CHOCOLATE, CHIPS/PRETZELS, DRIED FRUIT, CRACKERS,  and the last one is DRY CEREAL, OATMEAL, GRITS, BARS (that is, granola bars).

I was surprised that after years of use, there was a way to fine-tune the pantry, to make it that much more functional. And, as is so often the case, I had all the room I needed; I just needed to use it more efficiently.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a dust collector that someone gave you. I have a little elephant pie funnel that was given to me by a very dear friend who has now passed away. I remember her often enough without needing to keep this item as a reminder. Also I have seen this exact item sell for in excess of $100 on eBay and wouldn’t mind a piece of that action. 

Eco Tip For The Day

Stop using fabric softener, some experts say that it is a waste of money and not that good for your clothes. Try using white vinegar instead. Not only will it remove chemical residue in your fabrics but will also help control mould and mildew in your washing machine. If you like to add a nice scent to your wash load add a few drops of essential oil.

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

Sometimes in our homes we have items that on first inspection seem to be either beautiful, useful or truly sentimental to us or a combination of those values. These items have either gone under the radar or passed the clutter inspection and survived previous culls.

However as we continue on our declutter journey we tend to become more ruthless causing us to be more selective about what really is useful, beautiful or of sentimental value to us. Having experienced how good simplicity feels, our desire to continue on that path can easily eclipse old feelings of sentimentality or opinions of beauty or usefulness. This creates thought patterns that allow us to part with things that once upon a time we would possibly not have considered letting go. We question these items each time we encounter them, testing through a process of enquiry as to whether they will stay or go.

This strategy works the same whether you are not far along on your decluttering journey or almost at the end of it. It simply boils down to whether something really warrants a space in your home. And some items don’t pass this close scrutiny. Here are some examples of the scrutinising process below.

1. I have a throw rug that my mother gave me. It has survived the cut so far because it is pretty and it performes the, not so important, task of tying the colour scheme of my living area together, and because it was made for me. What it hasn’t done is perform the task it was made for, that is keeping me warm on cold evenings. You see it makes me itch and sneeze so I can’t use it. My son did use it when he lived he but he has since left home. It got in the way when anyone wanted to sit in the chair that it was draped over. It often slipped off onto the floor. And I have plenty of other throw rugs. In the end all I am really keeping it for is because my mother made it for me and that isn’t enough of a reason. Result:~ I have offered the rug to my children. One had more than enough rugs already and the other had the same itch problem with it that I did so I have decided to donate it to the thrift shop.
2. I had a flour sifter that used to belong to my grandmother. It did the task that it was made for and it had sentimental value for me. But the reality was that I hardly ever baked anymore and, for the occasions when I did, I could use one of the other two more versatile sieves that I had in my kitchen. I also didn’t need this item to remind me of my grandmother, I think of her often anyway. I decluttered the sieve and haven’t missed it.
3. I have a big cooking pot. It is actually a pasta pot which included a slotted insert and also a colander. For years I have kept this set together simply because it came as a set and because it took up no more room whether I declutter parts of it or not. I can’t remember if I ever used it to cook pasta so the slotted insert was almost never if ever used. Also the colander was badly designed with a handle that if held while straining anything hot would result in some painful scalding of ones hand. Sanity prevailed some time ago when I finally broke up the set and donated the parts, I didn’t use, to the thrift shop. Perhaps I should have asked myself these questions sooner ~ Do I use all the parts? Are they even well designed? Would I miss any of the useless-to-me items if I broke up the set? and Is it likely that I am suddenly going to change my cooking habits and wish I had kept these items? The answers were no no no and doubtful, once I finally did ask them of myself. Now when we use it we don’t have to remove all those useless-to-us parts that once nested inside of it.
4. I have a camphor wood chest that I have owned since I was 15 years old. It holds our spare blankets and duvets and some sentimental items from when my children were small (that also come under scrutiny periodically). It is hand carved and the rich warm wood colour suits our décor and I like it. Here are the questions I ask myself about this chest. ~ Is it useful to me? Yes. Could I do without it? Yes, there is plenty of room in the closets to store the items in it. Will it fit in a smaller dwelling should we finally make that move? Possibly not. Am I going to declutter it? Not now, I like it, I feel good about it and it is serving a purpose for now.

Use these examples to help you ask question of your stuff. Don’t be afraid to put your items under scrutiny, be honest with yourself over this and make the right decision for you in the moment. There will always be an opportunity to revisit your decisions again later if you feel you want to continue simplifying.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some wall art. I have a set of eight canvases with photos attached from trips we have made to Europe. We have more than enough wall art so I offered these to my daughter last week and she said she would take them. She is coming to dinner tonight so now is as good a time as any to take them down off the wall and give them to her.

Eco Tip for the Day

Why not engage your eco friendly habits in your work place. Scout around to find ways to save water and electricity while at work. Suggest changes to you boss and coworkers. Don’t be deterred if your ideas are met with rejection just do what you can do and hopefully others might follow suit in their own time.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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