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!
Saskia has run into the dreaded unwanted collection issue. Give her some advice if you have any.
June realised that she is a bit of a vase junkie. But never fear she has come up with a solution to the problem that will get her on the road to recovery in no time. 😉
Melissa is a dab hand at Use-It-Up decluttering. Read about her efforts here. Also Moni’s response to Melissa’s comment had a good method of using up toiletry products.
Now you are all going to think it odd that I appreciated this comment form Morgen. I have however felt in a bit of a blogging slump lately and admit that I may actually be coming across as a somewhat negative. I would be happy for anyone else to make suggestions where I could improve because I am certainly open to them. By all means don’t feel it necessary to come to my defence as I think the criticism was probably well deserved.
And finally, thank you to everyones condolences and well wishes regarding missing out on the apartment we were so exciting to be buying. I am inclined to agree with all those who suggested that something better is waiting just around the corner.
Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!
In case you missed it here is a link sent in by Angel with some great natural cleaner recipes. Thanks Angel, I have found them very helpful and have bookmarked each sheet for future reference.
I like this concept of minimalism that I found at Pinterest.
This post from Tiny Buddha is about letting go of pain, but with a little imagination I think you can use the same principles to help let go of clutter. After all clutter, like pain, often holds us in the past, while letting go of it frees us up to live in the moment and opens our minds to the possibilities of the future.
This article from Real Simple has some good and sometimes humorous suggestion on why to let go of stuff.
Today’s Mini Mission
Declutter a book.
Eco Tip For The Day
Find some time to spend in the sun. This is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than buying bottles of vitamin D tablets.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Hello – I haven’t been reading faithfully this week so I’m a little behind. Colleen, I hope you get to feeling better soon and I’m with everyone else in the thinking that better things are coming your way! I was a bit snappish with my hubby this morning so I reckon I’m going to have to apologize to him. It was about not getting things done and then a crisis happens which would have been minor but then becomes major because we didn’t get the tasks completed. The flooding we had last Saturday would not have caused as much damage if we had cleaned and organized the shed. There wouldn’t have been near as much crap on the floor if we had put things away and now with him having just had back surgery, he is unable to help me clean out the soggy mess, see what’s damaged, what can be salvaged. Maybe I’m just grumpy in general right now. Can I go on vacation too???? 🙂 I did write up a pretty substantial to-do list and I think I’ll take it one task at a time. I am going to deliberately try NOT to get annoyed at my lack of progress but check off the successes. However, things are not going to get done if I’m sitting on my backside. I am the only one who can change the circumstances and it will make life more satisfying. Ok, I have to get busy now. 😉
Hi Michelle, we all have our off days love. Take a deep breath, a bottle of bear and an iPod with some rousing music and head out to the shed and have at it. Sometimes fate steps in to force us to do all sorts of things. Maybe there is a silver lining on this cloud for you too.
Allrightie! Me and my bottle of bear are going out to the shed now. ROAR!!!!!
See I knew there was enthusiasm in there somewhere. You go girl.
😉
Hi, you have a broken link to the Real Simple article
http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/inspiration-motivation/10-ways-let-go-stuff-00000000010583/print-index.html
Thanks Lynda, I will go in now and see if I can fix it. Thanks for letting me know.
Colleen, the Real Simple link isn’t working. Looks like you need to try it again. On to the other links. Some real good ones today.
I’m excited. I received a really, really good coupon from Amazon for a Kindle. I bought one for Mom. Now we can share all of the free books I have accumulated over the year and a half I have had mine. Hum! Maybe now she will let me get rid of some of those we have on the bookcase.
Thanks Deb J, the link is fixed.
Fingers crossed that your mom will let go of those books. This reminds me that I haven’t seem mm husband using his Kobo much lately. Perhaps I can borrow it for our vacation. I think he has Walden ~ Henry David Thoreau. I borrowed it from the library but have been too preoccupied to get into it. It is a little heavy going with its 1800s manner of speech. We’ll see perhaps I will be too busy exploring to be bothered then either and it would be just one more thing to carry.
Thanks.
You never know when you might want that Kobo use while in transit or in a waiting line.
Yes Deb, there is usually down time somewhere.
Deb J – my kobo goes everywhere with me. I have a regular one which had to go away under warranty over last xmas break and was warned it was going to be gone for 4-6 weeks due to the summer shut down that happens around that time here. So I used gift vouchers and bought myself a mini version which Adrian can use since Courtney stole his kobo.
Anyway, the mini one lives in my hand bag and its surprising how often I have a few minutes here and there to read a few pages. I had a run of bad luck earlier in the year where in one week I managed to get caught in 3 different fire drills around town, but happily read my book in the evacuation assembly spot! I think I was the only person not unhappy to be caught up in it.
Moni, I know what you mean. If I am going anywhere that might mean any waiting I take my Kindle along. Mom thinks she won’t like it. SInce that is her first response to anything new I am sure she will. Soon she will wonder how she could ever do without it.
I went to the Real Simple story and printed it out for hubby to read. There’s some good information in there. Thanks!
Tell him it is his penance to read it while you are out cleaning up the mess in the shed. Test his knowledge on the subject when you return. 😉
Colleen, I just wanted to tell you that I too have been a long term reader and lurker and am not really one who posts online, but I must tell you to keep your chin up and let you know how much I enjoy your site. There must be so many people who read your blog and appreciate it but do not post. Your blog is by far the best and friendliest decluttering blog I have come across.
With best wishes from the other side of the world (UK).
Hi Susie, thank you very much for your kind words. I am glad you feel that way about 365 Less Things.
Where is the UK or you. I’ll be there soon for seven weeks. Perhaps I will be visiting somewhere close to you and we could get together.
I loved the last link! I’m going to bookbark it for future inspiration 🙂
Colleen I love the Mantra on Pinterest!
Although I read 365 Less Things every day you post I don’t always comment. However, I am always impressed by not only the many different aspects of de-cluttering that you suggest for us but also the thoughtful responses that you give to almost every comment.
This shows a great dedication to the cause and even though you are supported so well by Cindy, Deb J (and Moni 🙂 ) it must consume a huge part of your day. So, thank you again for all your efforts. This coming vacation is well deserved – enjoy!
Thank you for your kind words Megan S. I have to say I am very grateful to Cindy and Deb J for the help they give me. I am not sure how I even managed on my own. I suppose in those days I didn’t have so many readers or comment either so it was a little easier. Cindy came to my rescue when my son had a serious accident and has been with me ever since. Deb J and her mom are such in inspiration to our readers through he comment that I decided to ask her if she would like to write once a month and she graciously accepted. Without them I think I would just have to post less often. Moni is so present in the comment section that I feel that if I don’t have time to be as present as I would usually like, she will be there to keep the conversation going. She also writes the odd post every now and again.
Know that we are helping people like you every day make the hard work so very worth it. I am, and I am sure I speak for Cindy and Deb too, glad to be of service.
Hi Colleen,
Like Megan, I read the posts everyday. I have only posted a couple of times, although I really look forward to reading what you and the other contributors post, along with the replies. I love the comments, banter, great humour and suggestions.
I hope you feel better soon and have a wonderful vacation. If I still lived in England, I would have loved to meet you in person:)
Much food for thought today. Thank you. I used to buy Real Simple whenever I went to the States or could get to a Borders. When I started decluttering I vowed to stop buying and keeping magazines. Giving up my hoard of Real Simple magazines, carefully collected over the years (yup I kept a pile of magazines about keeping it simple) was one of the harder jobs. But had I re-read any of them? No of course I hadn’t.
When I wrote my blog post about getting rid of about 60% of our books the feedback I got both online and IRL was astonishing. You would have thought I was suggesting boiling up my daughters and feeding them to the family dogs. This was despite the fact that the books all went to a bookspace which gives books away for free to groups and individuals and they were books I was never going to read again. There is something about the printed word that makes it harder to let go. I wonder if the rise of the Kobo and Kindle will change that?
As for the apartment. It was meant to be. Really it was 🙂
Love the Real Simple article.