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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Is Your Car a Shame?
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, … [Read more...]
Unwanted Gifts
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 … [Read more...]
Breaking it down
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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Decluttering and Cleaning Supplies
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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ To Fix or Not to Fix
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 … [Read more...]
Slow and Steady Reinforced
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 … [Read more...]
Use your imagination to help you declutter
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:Â 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 … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ For Advanced Declutterers
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. … [Read more...]
Boil It Down
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 … [Read more...]