Close your eyes and imagine for a moment your dream home. When I say dream home I don’t mean a different house to the one you are living in. I mean the home you would like your current house to be. Containing just the amount of stuff that you would feel comfortable with, only items you love or truly have a use for in your life.

Don’t try to envision a minimalist home if that is not your goal, just the home in which you would be the most content. Visualise each space with just the amount of stuff that matches this vision. One which you would be proud to be the caretaker of.

Imagine these spaces being orderly and inviting should unexpected or invited guess come to stay. This opens your life up to being more social.

Imagine being able to find what you need when you need it, quickly and easily. So that all the tasks you must perform can be done so efficiently.

Imagine the restful, peaceful calm pervading these spaces. Even when you are busy you will have the joy of knowing that there is an oasis awaiting you should you choose to give yourself a break.

Back to reality now. Keep these thoughts of the perfect home for you in your head and use them as your guide when decluttering each space. Stay true to your vision and don’t allow the individual objects to distract you from your goal. Let go of anything that is not necessary to your vision. You might be surprised how far you will go.

Today’s Mini Mission

Find a home for something that seems to have made the floor its permanent resting place. Perhaps a pile of magazines, a large pot, someone’s shoes… It is much easier to clean the floor when you can get to it easily.

Eco Tip for the Day

If you peg your clothes outside to dry don’t leave the pegs to perish on the line between wash days. Bring them in and store them in your laundry, they will last longer this way.

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

Once clutter has built up in ones home there is no doubt that it is going to take some effort to expel it all. This task can appear  monstrous, frighteningly so,  which is likely to set off the fight or flight reflex in our minds.

Most people have either one tendency or the other, fight or flight. If their natural reflex is to fight then they will likely just knuckle down and get on with the task. The most distasteful outcome facing these kinds of people is being beaten, so watch out clutter, here they come. However, there is a chance that, approaching this task in an easy come easy go manner will not be very thought provoking and it is likely that, these brave folks may be back to square one soon enough. So don’t feel bad if you are not the fighting kind. I used to fight my clutter but it always used to return for a rematch.

Then their are the people who tend mostly towards the flight reflex. In this case they can’t very well run from the clutter so instead decide to just try to ignore it rather than confront it. Naturally this option will be totally unproductive unlike the attack mode which at least for a while will yield the desired result. It is also highly possible that the clutter situation will only get worse while these folk drown their sorrows by buying more stuff, only making the situation worse.

But never fear there is a third alternative. It is kind of like the one a stage performer might deploy to alleviate stage fright. In this case though we aren’t going to pretend our clutter is naked, that won’t work. 😉 But we can convince ourselves that it isn’t as scary as it might originally appear. Lets face it, you are the one who fed that big scary clutter monster so you can slowly starve it to death as well. Firstly you stop feeding it and then you quit looking at it as one big scary thing but instead as small individual battles that you can fight and win. Then one day you will realise that the big scary clutter monster has shrunk in size to something not quite so foreboding. No longer appearing that it might swallow you whole.

A similar defence can be used against those occasional frightening individual items that the thought of dealing with fills you with dread. Items like that thing your mother gave you that you don’t want, you never liked, but you are afraid to get rid of for the fear of upsetting her. Don’t beat the object up to be something it isn’t. It is just an object. You don’t like it, you don’t want it, it now instills fear in you. Is that the sort of object that any sane person would allow to linger in what should be their tranquil living space? No of course it isn’t. In this case the monster is either your mother or your own mind playing tricks on you. Either way the goal is a tranquil home and this object is not contributing to that. Worse still it is having the opposite effect. Take your chances and let it go.

So as you can see clutter doesn’t have to be scary. A tweak of your mindset can make all the difference. I am not going to pretend this is as simple as I make it sound. Perhaps a revolt against ones default setting would be more accurate, but if that’s what it takes then it is worth the fight.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter and reshuffle a drawer that is such a shambles you can never find what you need in it. Junk drawers are not a necessity, in fact they can be a nuisance.

Eco Tip for the Day

Today I will share a recipe for a friendly all-purpose spray. I put this together using two recipes/ideas from a great web site called One Good Thing by Jillee. You will need…

• A 500ml Glass Jar
• Skins of a least 3 lemons (collected from previous cooking sessions)
• 250ml (1 cup) white vinegar
• The 600ml trigger spray bottle from your last all-purpose spray.
• a good squirt of dishwashing liquid (environmentally friendly of course)
• 1 cup of water

1. Put the lemon skins in the 500ml jar and top it off with the cup of vinegar.
2. Leave this to steep for a few days. This softens the vinegar smell to a nice lemon fragrance and I dare say the lemon also adds grease cutting power and more.
3. Strain the vinegar from the lemon skins and pour into the spay bottle.
4. At this point prepare your next batch of lemon vinegar reusing the same skins. I have been using the same skins for months now.
5. Add the dishwashing liquid to the the spray bottle and top off with the cup of water.
6.  Put the lid on and give it a little shake. Now it is ready to use.

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

Mohamed Tohami over at Midway Simplicity has begun another interview project ~The Midway Decluttering Show. His most recent guess was a wonderful lady with a shining personality and very wise on the subject of decluttering. OK you caught me  blowing my own trumpet again. 😉 Here is the link to the interview so you can judge for yourself.

The Lazy Person’s Way To Declutter Your Home

Tohami has also recently released his new book Midway Simplicity ~ Easy solutions to simplify your time, health, things, finances and relationships. This book contains excerpts of all the interviews from the Midway Simplicity Show. Below is the excerpt of the interview he did with yours truly.

Simplify Your Time

“Fill your time with something you enjoy”

I think with time, the key is it has to be filled with something, unlike closets that don’t have to be full all the time. With time, you’ve got to be doing something in that space. It might as well be something you enjoy and something you get satisfaction out of. My journey to de-clutter has freed up a lot of my time to do just that.

I had a dead-end, awful job when I first started de-cluttering. I feel I was able to really give that up because I wasn’t wasting money on things I didn’t need and didn’t particularly want anymore. So I just gave that away and spend my time blogging and helping other people and that’s certainly very satisfying.

Simplify Your Health

“Decrease the things you’re doing wrong”

I think when it comes to health, the easiest way to improve is to give up the things that are just not good for you – smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, overeating and all those things. They’re not hard to give up. Like my approach to de-cluttering, you don’t have to go cold turkey. You can give them up slowly. Just decrease the things you are doing wrong a little at a time. That makes it a little more doable, I think. Giving up over several months has to be better than not giving up at all.

Simplify Your Things

“Make it easy”

I think the easiest thing, the thing that for some reason came to me out of the blue, is don’t make it difficult on yourself. You don’t have to do it in a month. You don’t have to do it in a week. You don’t have to do it in a year. Just do it as you feel comfortable. My plan to begin with was just to make it easy. It wasn’t until I started moving further into reading about minimalism and that sort of thing that I realized I had moved into a whole new area of growth where I let go of more and more things.

I think if you use the slow, simple approach, you’ll learn a lot more from it, and you’ll get a lot more out of it. You won’t just find out you’re back to square one in six month’s time.

There are always things in your house that stand out which you don’t want anymore – things you just haven’t got around to removing. Start on the easy things you can part with, not the sentimental things, not the tasks that do take more time. Start on the easy stuff. Then the further down the track you go, the more ruthless you get, and the more you’re prepared to part with.

Simplify Your Finances

“Only use credit cards in case of emergency”

The simplest thing I think you can do when it comes to finances is not use credit. If you can avoid credit cards especially for things you don’t need, don’t use them. When we were first married, we didn’t have a lot of money. We had a credit card, but we only ever used it in case of emergency – if the car broke down or that sort of thing.

Don’t buying things you don’t need unless you can afford to pay cash for them. Like I said, just save credit cards for emergencies. If you’re paying interest, then you’re using it more than what you should. A credit card, to me, is something that I use so that I can pay bills online or use for emergencies, but not to be used willy-nilly buying a pretty dress and a pair of nice shoes. That’s where the problem starts. Suddenly, you need some cash and you have maxed that credit card, and then you’re paying big interests. The problem just snowballs.

Also, if you can fix things yourself, don’t pay someone to do that for you. Take some classes, even in learning to sew or whatever, so that you can do stuff yourself. The less money you’re throwing away, the more you have to spend on the things you enjoy in the long run.

Simplify Your Relationships

“Avoid people you don’t like”

I must admit I don’t have a lot of problems with relationships. I seem to attract people to me who are good to be around, for some unknown reason. But maybe that’s because I unconsciously keep it simple. If I don’t like people, I just avoid them.

Of course, you cannot avoid everyone in your life, but it doesn’t mean you’ve got to waste your time socializing with them. They are there for a reason; stick to that reason and don’t let anything they say get you down.

The Weekend’s Mini Missions

Saturday – Do a quick declutter of your children’s toys. There are often broken ones, ones they no longer enjoy to play with or ones they have simply grown to old for.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Advertising or a trip to The Container Store may convince you that there is a perfect, purchasable  solution for every one of your problems, needs, and desires. But before you rush out and make a purchase, stretch your brain to think: do I already have something that will serve my purpose? The following are some things in my house that we have made do with very satisfactorily, no special purchase necessary.

Stuff

A cardboard box with a few large and small holes cut out of it for the cats to play in. They love their cardboard box, and it certainly works as well as they $25 cardboard “cat castle” that I recently saw at Petco.

Cardboard boxes are also fine for storing Christmas ornaments and the like. There is little reason to purchase plastic storage containers, especially extremely specific containers like the ones that are supposed to hold wrapping paper or your seasonal wreath.

For years I have used the compartmentalized side of egg cartons to hold my earrings. Each carton holds a dozen earrings and several of them fit neatly in my drawer.

I repurposed several excess leftover containers to hold my various chargers and iPod accessories. A label on the lid makes this storage system even more efficient.

Some other extra leftover containers migrated to the bathroom where they now hold cotton balls and Qtips.

When my pillows started to get too flat, I cut them open and redistributed the fluff. Instead of 6 flat pillows, everyone in the house got a new, fluffy pillow. (And, in case you’re wondering, I discovered that the fluff was almost exactly the same in every one of the pillows. What was different was the fabric and style of construction on the pillow case.)

Food

My husband and I package our dinner leftovers immediately after eating. (And sometimes before we are done, if we think that we’ll needlessly eat too much.). Depending on what’s left, we may make up a lunch that’s ready to grab and go or just put away like with like.

We don’t leave the leftovers in pots, as that would be inconvenient when I cooked again. In fact, it might make me think I needed to buy more pots! In addition, having pots in the refrigerator makes it harder to maneuver.

In addition, every container is marked with a piece of masking tape on which we write the date and what’s inside. This simple step really cuts down on food waste.

Lastly, every Saturday lunch is a leftovers meal. I pull out everything that’s in the refrigerator  and everyone helps themselves to whatever they want. Usually this takes care of anything that’s still hanging around at the end of the week.

What clever solutions have you come up with to make do with what you have?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter old sporting equipment for sports you no longer play. I have done this with our snorkelling gear, my son’s little league gear and  most of my softball gear as I have no intention of ever playing again. I kept my mitt as a keepsake because it is special to me and has lots of signatures from the Seattle Mariners on it.

Eco Tip for the Day

I don’t think we need an eco tip today as I think Cindy has it pretty well covered.

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

After reading the title of today’s post you are probably eagerly awaiting an explanation. I am going to attempt to keep it brief because I have a somewhat related topic I would like your opinion on before I sign off today.

What Redundancy or Destruction relates to is this:-

The less we own ~ be that reducing what we already have or minimising what comes in ~ the more likely it is that we will wear things out (Destruction) rather than them becoming useless to us (Redundant).

This is especially so for items of clothing, both for adults and for children. Recently Lena commented that she has so few clothes these days that things are wearing out faster. That could sound like the clothes aren’t well made but what Lena clearly meant was that the clothes are being worn far more often because there are so few in circulation, that they are naturally wearing out sooner.

The beauty of this method is that you get to replace items with something new and exciting, guilt free, because they simply need replacing. This satisfies the need to buy something new and pretty occasionally, keeping your wardrobe fresh and up to date, so to speak. One of the other advantages is that should you gain or lose a little weight over time your wardrobe will be replaced by natural progression over that period without you ending up with two sets of clothes. Ones that fit and ones that don’t.

The situation is slightly different for children, because they require a bit more in their rotation since they tend to be somewhat messier. However it makes possibly even more sense to apply this logic to their wardrobes being as outgrowing their clothes is inevitable, not simply due to poor food choices.

This same inevitability applies to all sorts of items that we can stand to have a few less of in rotation. Items that might perish rather than wear out or run out such as, pens, food, toiletries… This doesn’t only make economical sense it is also the environmentally friendly approach.

* * * * * * *

The somewhat related topic I mentioned earlier:-

I have had a post sitting idle as a draft which I have been advised not to publish. It is not finished but the theme is sensitive. However this same theme just keeps popping up all over the place for me lately and I am seriously considering taking the chance that I won’t offend too many people and just let the post out there. The topic in question is the connection between clutter and being overweight.

Having never been overweight myself, writing such a post could be construed two ways. One ~ “What do you (meaning me) know about being overweight if you never have been”. Two ~ “You (meaning me) ought to have something helpful to say on this topic because you must be doing something right as you have never been overweight.”

I have been offered a blog post from one of our readers on this subject. I am currently reading Peter Walsh’s book ~ Does this clutter make my but look fat. Also I have very recently stumbled upon two other blogs that have suggested this is an area of our lives that could do with habit changing.

So I put it too you here and now to let me know if you think this is a subject that you would like me to at least touch on once. Or do you think I should just leave this alone and allow my readers to deal with their household clutter first. I have noticed that many people who get their clutter under control also begin to form better habits in this area also.

Please give me your honest opinion as to whether you think this is something I should write about. I am happy either way so please don’t just say what you think I want to hear. 

Today’s Mini Mission

Go through your children’s clothing and assess what is worn out, no longer fits, is not useful to hand down to another of your children or be kept for another child should you be planning of having another one soon. Declutter what you will not need.

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t be a princess. Clothes can be worn twice, towels don’t need to be laundered everyday, misshapen fruit tastes the same as the pretty stuff, as does the food in dented tins and crinkled boxes. You might be surprised how much power, water and perfectly good food is wasted by being so picky.

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’s Weekly Wisdom

Cindy

Any fan of Star Trek or American pop culture has heard the phrase “Resistance is futile.” It was popularized on the TV show Star Trek when the Borg (human-machine hybrids) were about to assimilate (i.e., suck in, take over, and destroy) a new race of beings.

This phrase popped into my mind yesterday when I was perusing the sales flier for the big box discount store Costco.

Costco and its competitor Sam’s sell items in bulk – big bulk – in a warehouse setting and at discounted prices, often significantly discounted. Not only can you buy food in bulk, more than half the store is dedicated to non-disposable items such as kitchen appliances, electronics, mattresses, furniture, office supplies, and a huge variety of “storage solutions.” (Clever of them!)

It is not possible to keep / achieve a decluttered house without resisting the temptation to purchase more. Everything that you bring into the house indiscriminately is what later turns into stuff that needs to be decluttered.

Let’s walk through the sales flier together, and I’ll tell you what I’m thinking as we go along:

• First page, TVs and electronics – “Don’t need any of these, keep going.”
• Norton Anti-Virus, limit 10. “I wonder who would buy ten? Why buy the software at all? You can pay for it on your computer and download it directly, no software, box etc. needed.”
• 4 pounds of jelly beans and 48 Pop Tarts. “No one needs that many Pop Tarts or jelly beans. No one.”
• Izze sparkling juice, Kashi Go Lean cereal, Splenda. “Still have plenty of all of those. They’ll be on sale again. No need to buy today.”
• Bottled water with and without vitamins. “Probably the number one source of plastic waste after plastic bags. Why do people buy it?”
• Sonicare toothbrush. “I bought one of these for Audra for Christmas, because she’s such a tooth brushing fanatic. Wish I’d realized that the replacement heads are almost $10 each, though. What a rip off!”
• Vitamins. “Have what I need right now. They’re always on sale.”
• Various medications. “Don’t need, don’t need, don’t need.”
• Charmin toilet paper. “Don’t need any right now. I hope they get the recycled kind back in stock.”
• Paper towels. “I hardly ever use these, and only buy one roll at a time. I certainly don’t need a dozen.”
• Ziploc baggies. “I definitely don’t need these! Still have some that I purchased 2 years ago. I wish I’d known how long it would take me to use them.” (I try not to use baggies, and when I do, I always wash and reuse until they fall apart or until I put meat in them.)
• Venus razors. “Clara uses a Venus, but she just needs replacement blades. This has three handles, too. What in the world?”
• Quicken. “Same with Norton Anti-Virus. Most software can be downloaded.”
• Beds, furniture, giant playset. “No, no, no.”

So I’ve done it. I’ve looked through the sale flier of one of the stores that I frequent most often and found nothing new, special, or discounted that I cannot live without, at least until my current supply runs down.

How do I approach shopping in the store?

I start with a list. We keep a running list of things that are finished / running low on the refrigerator. Everyone in the family knows to add to this list. Things that are purchased at Costco are marked with a big C.

When I enter Costco,

• I walk past all the electronics, furniture, appliances, etc. that line the left side of the store and head directly to the back where the refrigerated cases, bread, and liquor is. I pick up what is on my list, usually bread, Parmesan cheese, beer, and hummus.
• I often buy apples (although the plastic boxes that the apples are packaged in bother me greatly) and a sack of oranges. It doesn’t matter that other fruit or vegetables are so cheap that a box here is the same cost as 2 or 3 pieces at the regular grocery; I only need 2 or 3 pieces, and the rest would be wasted.
• I swing to the back of the store if I need toilet paper, dog food, cat food, or outdoor bird seed.
• Then I hit the freezer cases (again, only buying what it on my list), and quickly make my way through the grocery area, avoiding any aisle that doesn’t contain items that are on my list. 
• Occasionally I make a pass through the pharmacy section.
• Last I hit the snack area and pick up a few things there. Then I check out. 

You’ll notice that I skipped the entire middle section of the store, where all the books, DVDs, seasonal items, clothes, and linens are stocked. Those are not on my list; I do not need to venture in there.

How do I deal with the ladies passing out yummy samples? I hardly ever refuse them, but I don’t buy the item on impulse. It wasn’t on my list; it will be there next time; waiting keeps me from bringing home two dozen servings of something that no one may want to eat after trying the first one or two.

To reiterate:

• No shopping for non-consumables that aren’t my list. No looking even.
• Buy only what is on the list.
• Remember that even if I like a product, I may not like a 4 pound package of it.
• Don’t shop in aisles that don’t contain goods on the list.
• Don’t wander. In any store, the more you wander, the more likely you are to buy what you didn’t intend to purchase.
• No impulse purchases from samples.

Resistance is NOT futile, and if you do it right, you feel like an efficient and smart shopper, not like someone who is about to be assimilated by the Borg of consumerism.

Today’s Mini Mission

CDs and DVDs are another thing that we can tire of over time. Flick through your music and movie collections and decide whether they are all loved enough to keep. Sell or donate the excess.

Eco Tip for the Day

Save petrol by making do with what is in the fridge and cupboard rather than taking an unnecessary trip to the store.

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

Deb J

Most of us are so used to seeing our homes that we don’t really LOOK at it. We live our days hurrying through life and there are many things we don’t look at but are just in the background. One of the things that will help get our lives back on track is to begin to look at our lives through a stranger’s eyes. What do I mean by this?

Before we go on let me tell you that this will take some time. Depending on your personality and what is going on in your life it could take a lot of time or a little. It all depends on you. The first thing you will need to do is find the time for this exercise. The second thing is to do this either alone or with a second pair of neutral eyes like a friend. Next you need to look at your home or even a room or your life with the eyes of a stranger. Imagine yourself looking at your home like it is the first time you have seen it and it isn’t your home. Sometimes this means you have to close your eyes and take a deep breath before taking that second look. Perspective has a lot to do with how we see things. You don’t want to look with a critical attitude or even the idea of trying to measure up. The idea is to just SEE your home like it was your first time.

You don’t need to write anything down unless it really stands out. You just want to mentally make note of the things you notice. Some may be good things like a particular arrangement of furniture that really makes good use of space and is easy to navigate. Some things may be not so good like a very crowded kitchen counter or a pile of bills and unopened mail scattered around. For now, just make a mental note of what you notice.

Now you want to look for trouble spots. Do you have a garage so full you can’t put the car in it? Your clothes closet is so full you can’t get everything in? What are your challenges? Pick one to be your first challenge to tackle and keep it in mind. Ask yourself why it is bothering you? Why is it there? Several people could have the same issue (a messy dining room table) but may all have different reasons for what is behind the “mess”—no other place to do bills, more room in the dining room to spread out even though you have a proper place where you could do them, the desk you have is unreachable due to too much stored in that room because you also have too much stored elsewhere or you tend to hang onto all paperwork even when it is no longer needed. When you have figured this out you have a line of attack to help you understand how to resolve this challenge. It may not be an immediate resolution. If you have bills and paperwork all over your dining room because too much is stored in your garage so that you are now storing things also in rooms in your home like the office, you will need to take numerous steps to resolve this challenge. What is exciting is you now know why you have this issue and can slowly and carefully make steps to resolve it. One thing I have learned over time is most issues are many times tied to other issues. By digging into the problem we can find not only the immediate issue but related issues and work toward resolving them all.

Today’s Mini Mission

Any items made from light coloured fabric that have been worn against your body at some point can be prone to yellowing from the body acids that aren’t completely washed out during the laundering process. Old wedding dresses are a fine example of this. The acids can even perish the fabrics and weaken them. I also find that old sheets that haven’t been used can get quite a rancid smell about them when not washed regularly. So declutter old clothes that you have worn before but now never use and if you have an over abundance of sheets in your linen closet make sure you rotate them on a regular basis.

Eco Tip for the Day

Set your smart phone on Power Saver. The battery will last longer saving electricity by needing recharging less often.

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

Every home has items that are never considered for decluttering. Mostly useful items that are in service continually but also beautiful items that are admired or sentimental items that you wouldn’t dream of letting go. These items never feel like a burden to the household because they are a valued part of everyday life. They are used and used again, used up and then replaced or on display somewhere where they can be admired or remind us of happy times, successes or loved ones.

Then there are those items that are only lingering because we haven’t got around to donating, selling or tossing them. Stuff we’d have no qualms about decluttering if we could face the prospect of weeding them out and dispatching them. These items are the easy ones to let go of when we finely decide enough is enough it is time to declutter. Parting with them is only a physical thing no a metal challenge. These are the items to concentrate on first when we begin our declutter journey.

And then there are the problem items, these are the ones which we have trouble letting go. You know the ones.

• Items you keep out of obligation, such as things that have been gifted to you by someone else and you feel obliged to keep them even though you don’t really want them.
• Aspirational items that your inner most being craves to make use out of but the right time or creative inspiration never seems to strike or has long ago left you. Memory tells you these items are useful and that you should hang on to them but all they do is linger and make you feel a that you have failed them in some way.
• Then there are the sentimental items whose lesser significance to the truly loved memorabilia merely relegates them to a box deep in the attic somewhere. Sure when you pull them out you oooh and aaarh over them remembering good time but then they get sent back to where they came from for another ten years.
• And lets not forget the I might need you one day items. Sure you may have a use for some of these items one day but to say you may need them could be stretching reality a little. Stop and think about the things you do use all the time, even some of those are things you could live without. So don’t allow the thought of future regret plague your decision to let go of stuff the isn’t being used and hasn’t for a long time.

This blog post was inspired by a segment in Gretchen Ruben’s new book ~ Happier at Home. She talks about engaging with the items that you haven’t used or appreciated in a while. If you are having trouble deciding whether to keep them or to let items go try putting them into service ~ use them, bring them out and put them on display for a while. Give them one last chance to redeem themselves and if you still aren’t loving them or finding them particularly useful then just liberate them to someone who may find them more useful that you do.

This process can be applied to a few items at a time so you can focus your attention on them for enough time to assess their worth. This can be done while you continue to declutter the items that you are happy to remove immediately. With the slow and steady approach both processes can go on simultaneously so no time is wasted.

I have done this with many items over the last three years of my possession downsize. Some things I have used up and not replace. Some things I have put into use but not found them useful while others I discovered a newfound appreciation for. Things I have kept out of obligation have been viewed with a new neutral mindset and have either past muster or been added to the donation pile. Either way I have been satisfied that I am making the right decision for me and my home at this time and followed through on that decision.

So if in doubt give the item one last chance, in other words either use it or lose it.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a pair of shoes that you no longer wear. Perhaps ones that are pretty but a torture to wear. Ones that are old favourites but are really so shabby you never, or shouldn’t, choose to wear them anymore. Or maybe a pair that are so ugly you wonder why you ever bought them in the first place.

Eco Tip for the Day

Add a few one pot meal to your weekly menu. Cooking everything at once saves on electricity and your precious time. I often also cook the meat portion of my meals separately but cook all my vegetable together one way or another. A slow cooker or a set of steamer saucepans come in handy for this method of cooking.

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

In a bid to empty my inbox the other day I came upon this post from over at The Change Blog. It is titled ~ Why I stopped chasing happiness. I wanted to share it with you because the principle behind it is something that we should apply to our decluttering efforts. Take a read of it now if you like before you read what I have to say on the subject.

The problem that Isis was dealing with in her life is similar to when people just like you or me decide that the clutter in our homes has become overwhelming and we need to do something about it. Immediately most people get a vision in mind of what they want their homes to look like at the end of the process. They focus on how happy they are going to be when they meet that goal. The “reality”, however, quickly sets in when they start to think about what it will take to achieve this goal. They become focused on how much work will be involved, get confused as to where to begin, get frustrated over what their plan of attack should be and agonise pessimistically over complications they may encounter along the way.

The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the “reality”. This is just the reality that we conjure up in our minds because of the instant gratification society that we live in in this modern age. It has become apparent to me that instant gratification is not all it is cracked up to be. Ultimately it only teaches us to take everything for granted and not appreciate how lucky we really are all of the time not just when we accomplish the big end goal. But I digress…

Instead of being frustrated, impatient and miserable with the process of decluttering we can actually choose to enjoy it. Get your mind around the following ideas rather than the self defeating ones that may be going on in your mind.

• Be joyful each time you identify the next thing you choose to declutter.
• Be happy that every little thing that you remove from your home leaves it slightly less cluttered.
• Feel strong and free when resisting the temptation to bring something new into the home.
• Gloat a little on the space you have freed up with every item you remove, no matter how small.
• Let “Take that clutter!” to be your new war cry.
• Revel in the fact that not rushing the process gives you time to cement this new habit of living with less as a new way of life rather than just an occasional nasty chore.
• Feel generous when donating your items to a charity where they will become useful to someone else and the funds raised will help others.

It is possible to enjoy the process if you can believe it is so. I have to say the I have thoroughly enjoyed my declutter process. Yes there are elements of it that I find less appealing than others but in the end even they feel like great individual little achievements once done. S

o enjoy the process by thinking positive and being happy with every little successes every single day.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter a gadget that you no longer use. Maybe something from the kitchen that you thought would make foodpreparation easier but fell short of your expectations.

Plastic String Bag

Eco Tip for the Day

Reuse all plastic that comes into your home. Little mesh bags like the one in the photo are great to reuse for bagging little grocery items like snap peas or mushrooms.

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

 

Recently I was let in on a strategy on how to state a case or perhaps even get another person to come around to your way of thinking without their sensibilities being offended. The idea is to get people to think rationally about a subject without them realising that you are leading them in a direction they may not have considered.

The trick is to broach the topic in the form of a question that you quite likely have the same opinion on. Once you are in agreement you steer the conversation, maybe even in the form of another question, in the direction in which you want it to go. Successfully bypassing any undesirable emotional response while leading them hopefully to conforms to your way of thinking.

Making a request to grandparents that they don’t overindulge your children with excessive gifts of toys at Christmas and birthdays is a good example of how this ploy might work. Please see below for the scenario I have created to demonstrate this strategy.

While enjoying a normal conversation you bring up your topic by asking ~ “Did you have many toys to play with when you were growing up?”Hopefully they will say “Oh no!…” And they will regale you with some stories of the toys they do remember and how excited they were to receive them at the time.

Then comes the next question ~ “Did you feel deprived because you didn’t receive many or did you have fun regardless?” In this case you will hope the answer is “No we made out own fun. Children these days have no imagination…”

Then comes the $100 question “Do you think children these days have far too many toys?” I have never encountered an adult of my generation or above who ever answered no to this. They all think the current generation is spoiled rotten.

At this point you go in for the kill or should I say you come to the point of your conversation, while you have the upper hand, by saying “I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Don’t you think it would be a good idea if perhaps instead of giving lots of things to the children we all limit ourselves to giving one material gift and perhaps put some money in a bank account for them….”

What has occurred here is that the parent has extracted a true and logical opinion form the grandparent about how overindulged children are these day. Once they have showed their hand you then play your trump card by suggesting your idea of reducing this overindulgence for your own children (their grandchildren). By this point how could they not think that is a good idea. And even if they do realise that they have been lead to this point what can they do without losing face but agree your idea is sound.

I have to say I have been at the receiving end of this strategy more than once. Lead there by a certain person in particular who shall remain nameless. I nearly always twig as to what he is up to, but by then he has me caught hood line and sinker. I have to tell you that I am usually glad to be caught. Why, you might ask. Because I have a tendency to allow my emotions to rule my head far too much and his logic is much easier to swallow. With his clever manoeuvring I can then justify what for me may otherwise be a difficult emotional decision. I know my weakness well enough to be grateful to him for steering me away from that frightening abyss.

The beauty of this approach is that if the answers to the questions you are posing are not the ones that cement your case you can abort the mission at any time. No one ever need be the wiser that you were attempting to achieve an objective in the first place.

Today’s Mini Mission

Roundup all the little tools that are scattered throughout your home. Once together declutter any excess.

Today’s Declutter Item

Stage 2 of the great craft declutter is underway at last. I have opened an Etsy store and have made my first sale. What a fun and creative way to declutter. The photo collage below show my handcrafted products purchased in that first sale.

My first Esty sale

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