On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
Favourite Comments. Enjoy!
Deb J agrees, through first hand experience, that the brain can be retrained in this comment.
Laura took all the right steps to do the right thing to dispose of out of date medication that she found in her medicine cabinet. She shares her experience in this comment . For anyone in Australia ~ I believe every pharmacy/chemist in Australia will accept expired medication so it is a easy as dropping it off the next time you are there.
Elizabeth is one smart nana. Learn why I say that in this comment
Deb J said just the right things to inspire another reader judging by this comment from Connie
I also loved this comment from Melisa. Keeping up with the Stewarts can be as hard if not harder than keeping up with the Jones.
Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!
I recently discover Daily Lime a web blog where they post great environmentally friendly tips each day. They don’t always relate to my situation but I read them all and learn some good stuff. Here are just a couple that I felt compelled to share with you. Link 1 & Link 2 . I highly recommend you subscribe to this blog if you are at all interested in reducing your carbon footprint.
Lynn sent me this link from link from Zen Habits. I must admit it took me 10 days to get around to reading it but I am sure glad I did. What a great post! Thank you Lynn, keep them coming.
Cindy sent me this great piece from Oprah.com comparing everyday items we use in our homes. It gives great advice on making the greenest choice.
I can find a link between this post from The Minimalists and decluttering. See if you can find one. In fact I think I will write a post about my thoughts on this very soon.
Here is a link shared with me by Low Income Lady with some good advice on how to declutter your social networking time.
Before I finish with today’s post I wanted to ask your honest opinion of the Friday Favourite posts. Do you look forward to them each week or would you be happy if I used Friday for another post or guest posts from your fellow 365ers. Let me know your feelings on this so I can decide whether to change thins up a bit or leave them as they are.
Today’s Mini Mission
 Declutter a pair of shoes you rarely use.
Today’s Declutter Item
These are one of those “I might need it some day” items. The fact is that some day might very well come but by that time these boots could have perished so much that they fall apart on first use. After five years of them wasting away in my closet I think it is time to send them off to the thrift store before that eventuality becomes reality.
Warm Outdoor Boots
Eco Tip for Today
Save water and electricity ~think twice about how often you really need to wash your clothes and linens. Underpants and perhaps socks are the only clothing item the really need to be washed after one use. Most other clothing items are usually clean and fresh enough to wear twice unless badly soiled the first time round or if the weather is extremely warm and/or humid. Sheets need only be washed once a week at most while towels can last up to a week provided they are air dried between use.
Hi Colleen. My response to your question of whether to keep Friday Favorites or change would be….Both. You haven’t done it for a couple of weeks and I kinda missed it. On the other hand, I don’t always have time to check out all the links and reading one comment often leads to re-reading the entire post. It could go on forever. And I enjoy the guest posts as they provide a different viewpoint and get the others commenting. If keeping up with Friday Favorites is getting to be a chore for you, maybe you can alternate. Whatever you do, we 365ers will continue to enjoy your blog. Wendy
Hi Wendy B, thanks for your input. Whether I keep the Friday’s the same won’t impact the amount of guest posts coming through so don’t worry there. I can always post them on Saturdays. I think I just need a better system to make putting the Friday post together. Time to put my organising skills in to action I think. A little discipline is all that is required. However if you ever come across any great articles for the Friday’s while you are surfing the web please send me links. That would be a great help.
Hi Colleen!
I have to agree with Wendy on that. I like the Friday Favourites very much. It’s nice to recap the week through the favourite comments and get some reading material for the weekend via the links. I indeed look forward to them and missed them in the past weeks. However, you have mentioned more than once that they become a chore for you (at least some weeks) and I certainly wouldn’t want you to do stuff you don’t like during your free time because of me.
I want to add that I really liked all the guest posts so far. I love the different approaches and writing styles. As one says here, four eyes see more than two. All of the writers have experienced different things in their decluttering journey and may have observed something that another person has overlooked.
Finally, I also want to stress again that I like your posts very much, too. Your hands-on approach is really refreshing and often what I need to read. I am someone who tends to complicate things, you on the other hand have the gift to un-complicate things, i.e. to simplify with just a few words. I learned a lot in that field in the last year and hope to learn more.
Well thank you Sanna, your input was helpful and I am glad that my blog is inspiring for you. I can manage to complicate things myself sometimes so I know where you are coming from. It is time I simplified how I put Friday together and then it will be a lot easier for me.
I also think the guest posts are great. They are so well received by the readers and the different perspectives are very helpful. They also trigger ideas for my own post so that is great for me. I have quite a selection of guest posts to choose from at the moment so prepare to be inspired.
Colleen, The Fridays Favorites I could take or leave. The guest posts, I love. I really enjoy every persons story. I think a lot of the regular commenters sound like they have really interesting stories and I’ll bet you could have a dozen or more of their posts right away. I also like your posts and I missed the new ones when you were gone. But, with that being said, we don’t want you to get “burnt out” and stop blogging, so maybe the guest posts would give you a little break. Also, I appreciate you commenting so often to the other commenters comments! So many other blog authors don’t take the time to do that. I think that is one of the reasons that your blog is so successful. Just my 2 cents!
Hi Jennifer L and thank you for your 2 cents and your nice words about my blog. I am glad you missed me while I was away. I missed the interaction myself. I agree with you on the commenting, I don’t much care for blogs where they don’t care enough to respond to their readers or worse don’t even accept comments at all. But some blogs have such a large following I suppose it would be impossible to keep up. Luckily that isn’t me.
I should say that I could take or leave the Friday comments because I read your blog daily including all of the comments (which I love) so I have usually already read everything. Also, forgot to mention that I really like your daily gratitude items. It gives me a small glimpse into your daily life which I think is pretty interesting. Just my 2 cents again!
Colleen, First off let me say I enjoy Favorite Fridays but that doesn’t mean we need them every Friday. I say do whatever works for you and your schedule–every week, once a month, none. Having had a daily blog at one time I know how hard it can be sometimes to get it done and make it interesting.
Now about all those good comments and links. I do want to tell Laura that I used the link she provided and have it on my calendar to hit one of the med return sites so I can get rid of some meds. I think I will ask them about insulin syringes too.
I signed up for the Daily Lime. I really liked the links you gave us and I think I will enjoy getting their daily emails.
Leo’s post was exceptional. It had a lot of good stuff about learning to make things a habit so that it becomes second nature. Many of the things he mentioned we already do and I don’t even think of them because they are so much a part of me. I found a few that I want to incorporate into my life.
I agree with Oprah’s take on the ereader and this is how I select all the things I use. I’m finding that I use my printer less and less. It has become more of a picture printer than anything. Since that is true I am contemplating whether I need this pig printer. I may just get rid of it and buy a small printer for pictures only.
I always enjoy the Minimalists. this post you linked to is very good because it reminds me off the Myers Briggs tests and other tests places like to give you to pigeonhole a person. I had never considered that my natural tendencies to be organized, look for a way to do things smarter and cut out middlemen were signs of a passion for Knowledge Management (KM). They were just part of my personality. It was only after I was given the directive to work on a KM system that I developed and nurtured a passion for it.
I so agree with Low Income Lady. Yesterday I was sitting here deleting email and realized that it had been weeks since I actually read one from LinkedIn. I immediately went out and deleted my LinkedIn account. I already hear from many of these people through other means and the ones I don’t hear from I don’t really care to hear from anyway.
Hi Deb J, thank you for your input on the Friday posts. I can see from the rest of your comment you certainly check out all the links. Should you ever happen upon a link while you are on the web please send them through to me. My time is mostly taken up maintaining my own blog so I don’t get a lot of time to read others which does make the Friday’s posts a little difficult to fill sometimes.
I hope you enjoy your subscription to Daily Lime, I am loving it.
Colleen,
I have been reading your blog for about a year, and Friday’s Favorites is my favorite day. It always leaves me inspired to be happy and continue uncluttering. Please don’t discontinue it!
Hi Sally and a belated welcome to you from everyone at 365 Less Things. You wish is my command. I have decided that what I need is more discipline when it comes to setting links and comments aside as the week progresses. I have set a system in place to so this. I rather like the Favourites post myself I just needed confirmation that it was popular and to utilised my usually well honed organisational skills.
Hi, Colleen…Once in awhile I have time to follow the links, or read the comments you’ve chosen, but usually, if I don’t catch them on the first time through the post, I don’t get back to them.
I’d rather see a post from you, or a guest post, but as others have said, whatever you choose, I’ll still enjoy visiting your blog.
Thank you Becky for your input. I knew there would have to be at least one person out there with this view. I am glad you are still reading and I hope your decluttering is going well.
Hi Colleen, I am happy whichever way you decide to go with Friday’s Favourites, whatever makes life easier for you!
I’m not a shoe person, so I don’t have much in the way of shoes to get rid as I tend to wear them to death but Dayna has volunteered up a pair of high top sneakers in my place! Unworn, given to her by a friend of ours who also just never got around to wearing them, I understand they aren’t comfortable. Plus after her ballet exam today she has a pair of pointe shoes that will be going in the bin. Its her last dance exam of the season, so yay!
You are like me Moni, I like to use my shoes to death too. I love my Keens especially and the Toas sandals I bought last year were also worth the months of searching to find just the right pair. I’ll choose comfort over style any day.
Hi Colleen. Your Friday favourite web finds have led me to wonderful sites that I would never have found otherwise. However I agree with all who said perhaps you could post your favourites less often if it is becoming a burden. My way of dealing with the time factor for reading all your web referrals is to bookmark each one as I read your post and then look at them later when I have more time. Since I’ve stopped reading all those home and fashion magazines and watching the news programmes (couldn’t agree more with your views on them!) I do have more time! Like Judy I LOVE your eco tips and have subscribed to Daily Lime so thanks for that.
Finally I just want to say that your blog is so very inspirational and a most welcome start to each day. I’m so sorry that I was unable to meet up with you when you were in Sydney but I had a commitment I couldn’t change. Please let us Sydneysiders know when you’ll be visiting again.
Hi Megan, thank you for your input and your kind words about my blog. I wish you could have been able to come and meet me in Sydney as well. I will make a point of coming back again. I seem to be there often enough lately, in fact we almost went this weekend but I have a nasty cold so we didn’t bother.
I am glad you are liking the eco tips and I am sure you are going to love Daily Lime. Their ideas are great and they explain the reasoning so well.
I love Friday favorites, but perhaps instead incorporating the links into daily articles? You don’t necessarily need an eco tip each day (though I love them), or a link each day, but that could reduce the Friday favorites a bit. Then if you wanted to keep doing the comments, you’d still have LESS work to do to put it together.
Also, I love the Oprah article. I haven’t had aluminum foil in my house for years, and am still on the small roll of plastic wrap I got over a year ago. It’s a very interesting read though.
Hi Amanda, thank for your suggestions. Do you miss the gratitude item at all?
Oh! I had forgotten about that actually! I guess that means I don’t miss it too much 😛 I do remember it being nice to read (especially the ones about your son). I was just trying to find a way to still include everything, but have it be less of a burden. That way you just set aside comments, but (other links/thanks/eco tips/whatever else you decide to share) can all just get tacked onto the bottom of the next article you write.
Like Wendy B (I didn’t read all the way through), I like Friday’s with the faves – sometimes it adds more to my blog roll. Other weeks, there’s nothing that takes my fancy, but I always look at the links. I get that it’s a lot for you to keep up with, so if you mix it up, it’s ok. But I did used to really look forward to a Friday and some links out to the wide world! And you well know, sometimes I send you through a link (though none lately!)
Oh, I like the Lime post about electricity (cause, you know, I work for them and all!)
Hi Snosie, thank you for adding your opinion. Keep sending links through if you happen upon ones you think would be a good fit for my blog. I always appreciate it.
Me again! I like Lowincomelady’s link to the SMH. I pruned a ‘friend’ the other day when I realised it’s unlikely I’ll ever have want to contact her again. That being said, a lot of my facebook friends are school friends. I saw 25 of 135 of them at a reunion mere months ago – alas facebook is better than real life in the most recent test – but the photos I posted were largely enjoyed. I use facebook as a ‘how to keep in contact with someone easily’ dumping pile – cause keeping all those numbers or emails would be clutter, but sometime in the future, I might want to contact them, and it would perhaps be far simpler via facebook then an alternative (esp since women have a habit of name changing). I do like to ‘sort’ my facebook people into groups though…
I don’t have a lot of Facebook friends so I am doing ok with that. You are right it is a good way to keep up a way to contact people without storing email address or sharing your will people you would rather not.
Loved the Link from Low Income Lady. After reading it I headed over to Facebook to share it. I was looking at my cousin’s friends when a name looked familiar, I did not know the person but she has a business called Unclutter with Karen. She helps you uncluttered your house and sells the items on consignment in Sydney. I wonder if she has been on a Declutter journey too?
I like Friday favorites as a recap to the week and catch up. Cheers
Hi Wendy, talking about catch up, I am posting a expression of interest post about a Newcastle get-together this Sunday. I look forward to your input on that as well.
Sounds great! Always love a chat!
Hi Colleen, I don’t usually revisit the comments but for the most part check out the links that you provide. However I’m with everyone else so far who says that whatever works for you will work for us. I too love your blog and will definitely be signing up for Daily Lime. And I love that you make the effort to respond to comments, it makes it feel very much like a community here 🙂 Cheers Judy
I Judy, I like to think it is a community here. It feel good to come to work each day and chat with you all. It may be unpaid but I can do it in bed or on the sofa (my usual place) and I can fit in coffee with friends whenever I feel like it. I love my job.
I always look forward to your Friday Favourites and always look at the comments and website links. Often I have read the comments when there aren’t many and I would miss the gems that come later.
However, cut it down a bit to suit yourself as long as we have something (even repeats) from you every day! No pressure!
Thanks Janetta. I have decided to keep it as it is since it is still so popular.
Hi Colleen
I love Friday’s Favourites and would like to see you retain them…please.
Cheers
ColleenP
Hi Colleen P, sure mate I have decided to keep it going.
Hi Colleen, I read your blog every morning, so I’ve usually read all the comments, too. I take a quick look at the Friday favorites to make sure I didn’t miss one. I enjoy the links to other sites, especially the eco tips. But be flexible with yourself and do whatever you like on Fridays. Your blog should be a “want to” rather than a “have to” for you.
I think that is either is fine. I gain ideas and inspiration from all of it, so it really should be up to you what is easiest. Maybe switching it up on Fridays and doing a post one week, a guest post one week or Friday Favourites one week would work. Although, I do really enjoy the links that you post on Friday, as well as, your favorite comments that I may not have gotten around to reading.
I’ve run a daily blog, and it is very hard to do – even with guest posts etc – so well done for doing it for so long.
I like the Friday link posts: I don’t tend to read comments otherwise. And you have some good links. I like external links on websites. On the other hand, it’s your blog, your choice.
Hi Penny,
it certainly takes quite an effort to keep it going every day, but I get great satisfaction out of knowing that I am making a difference so I am happy to make the effort.
The thing I like most about the Friday posts is that people like you who don’t read the comments get to enjoy a selection. The conversations that go on behind the main body of the post are just as informative, so it is nice that everyone gets at least a little taste of it.
I love Friday Favorites! Don’t stop them.
hey Colleen,
I also like fridays favourites five. I missed them the last weeks – but its your choice after all, its your blog and as the others said already, you should have fun doing this 🙂
that being said – I obviously missed Deb Js guest post – I will catch up on it now. and I loved the one on the social networks – I have unfriended people before and some of them just dont get the hint, they send you friends requests over and over again… I deactivated my account in april, and deleted it permanently a couple of weeks ago. I figured that if I can live without seeing those people I can also live without this constant flow of unnecessary information about them. Especially if you have enough friends, so that you get the most important news (deaths, weddings, moves, divorces and pregnancies) by classic gossiping just the same… actually its even more fun because you get the nice flavour of your informants opinion about it on top.
leaving facebook surely made my life simpler.
I would love it if you continued to do the Friday Favorites! 🙂
Your wish is my command Sara.
I really enjoy the friday favourites too…and am I the only one who feels a frisson of pleasure if I am lucky enough to get a mention! 🙂
I love the friday links and nearly always look them up and learn something or enjoy reading of like minded souls.
I also enjoy the daily gratitude.
But as others have said Colleen – you need to do what suits you and if you need to vary things to make ot easier, please do.
The link from zen habits is fabulous.