I have had the inevitable question posed to me a few times of late; what will happen to 365lessthings once the year is up? All I can say at this point is – you are not getting rid of me that easily. You will have to hit the unsubscribe button if you want to do that.
I really haven’t had much time to think about it but there are only 78 days left so I suppose now is a good to time start making plans. As you all know I have quit my day job and as of Thursday at 7pm I will have a lot more time on my hands to ponder the issue.
I will continue to post next year but not everyday that is the one thing I am fairly sure about. It is a harder task than you can imagine flying solo with this and trying to come up with a new post 7 days a week. I sometimes feel I am overloading you all anyway and I am sure there are days where you just wish I would give you a break.
What I would like to do at this point is ask you – my wonderful and loyal readers – what you would like to see here. Is there something you would like included or excluded? Maybe you would like days dedicated to this that or the other topic. Perhaps you would like me to focus on specific clutter items every now and again. Or even a forum where you can pose your own questions to the other readers. I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave a comment. I will paste a link to this page everyday for a while to make it easy to come back here to add your ideas.
ITEM 287 OF 365 LESS THINGS
My cell phone does everything this old PDA does so into the donation box it goes.
5 Things I am grateful for today
- A clean House – I know it didn’t get that way by itself but I still enjoy the end result even if I worked hard at it with a cracking headache.
- My Dishwasher – There is no better way to clean the filters from the kitchen range hood.
- Old friends – You know the ones that no matter how far apart you live or how infrequent you contact each other you happily just take up your friendship right where you left off.
- My Parents – They did a great job of teaching me how to do things and I am often reminded of what a treasure that is.
- Microplane graters – They just perform perfectly the task they are designed for.
Maybe make it a group blog? You could select a few people to post what they decluttered that day with some stories about it. Like you do, but from different people.
Hi Lynn,
That sounds like a good idea. I could start out by selecting one day a week dedicated to guest posts and go from there. With that idea the blog could continue to post everyday without me having to write seven days a week. Thanks Lynn
You’re using wordpress, right? You can also select a group of people doing what you’re doing now and set up authors on WP so they can login (restricted) to post. You can also moderate their posts so you can preview them before allowing them through. It’s less work for you, too.
Hi Lynn,
thank you for that advice and thank you also for your encouragement. I am actually going to go to a blogging festival soon in Sydney. Since I know not a whole lot more than writing (and I’m no writer), replying and up loading photos I figured it would be worth my time as I am bound to come away knowing far more than I know now. Luckily I have my hubby who takes care of the other stuff for now. I am a person who loves to learn and not rely on others to baby me every step of the way so I teach myself as I go along. Now that I have more time on my hands I am sure I will make great progress.
You know, I think you should just write about whatever’s on your mind and link to whatever you think is interesting. Doesn’t have to be limited to a topic or collection of topics. You always have something interesting to say, so trust your instincts and be yourself.
Hi Amy,
I have taken medication to stop myself from listening to whatever is on my mind. I am not sure I would want to subject my readers to that tirade. Just kidding – well, sort of. I actually like this idea and have thought of starting a spin off blog just for that purpose. I will speak to my advisor (husband) and see what he thinks of that. Thanks for your input Amy if you have any other ideas please let me know.
With that in mind – there has been one unexpected personal advantage to starting this blog and that is that my husband has gotten to know me better I think and we share ideas a lot more these days. He is very encouraging and supportive of what I am doing.
I don’t care what you write about, I totally LOVE your blog, so just keep writing… I’ll be reading!
Hi Rebecca,
I am so glad you think so and thank you so much for saying so. I thought I might have upset you yesterday with my big ideas but obviously you received them with the thoughtful attitude with which they were intended. And for that I also thank you.
Agreed!
As a newcomer to 365 Things I agree with Rebecca, please just keep on writing something in this vein. It is SO helpful. You’ve got me thinking about things that clutter in a new way and this morning I spent about 15 minutes, amazing how fast it was, really, cleaning out all the odds & ends and scraps of gift wrap I had stored for years, some of it very ugly. It’s in the paper recycling now, and the closet looks great!
Hi Sarah,
so nice to hear from you and a heart felt welcome to you.
I am glad you are already discovering how quick and easy it is to tackle one task at a time and not overwhelm yourself. Well done and keep up the good work you will see the results in no time.
I’m always the old biddy that gives unsolicited advice, and then when advice IS solicited, I never shaddup. 😀 Gotta keep it short:
I think you should listen very carefully, not to your head, but to your heart. The best-est blog will come from that and not be such a pain in the arse to maintain. You’ll be starting out with a built-in set of followers and a recognizable style, which is a real bonus. But that’s it, really, listen to your heart and not to your head. You’ll know.
Hi Meg,
I am a listen to your heart kinda gal so I will take that advice easily. Luckily I have my husband to proof read and let me know if I have overstepped the boundaries.
Yeah, don’t feel so obligated to the blog that you begin to fear/hate it! Bad blog! I’m just kidding. You mentioned quitting your job to pursue more artistic endeavours (I think?) everyone would probably love to hear about that too. Overall, I’ll echo others, keep writing – we will read it!
Hi SimplePoppy,
thank you for those kind words of encouragement and advice. At the same time that I speak of not writing so often I am also considering a spin off blog – I think I am addicted – someone please help I think I need an intervention. LOL 😉
Can I just say ‘ditto’ to everyone else? Write what’s on your mind (and we all know that decluttering and simplifying will always be on your mind) and in your heart. I like the idea of the weekly guest posts. If you blog about your continued simplifying even on a weekly basis, we’ll all still be here reading and commenting.
I was just thinking this afternoon, what is Colleen going to do after 365 days? I had been seeing the number going up all the time but I had been ignoring it as I so well do ignore things that I don’t want to think about. I just don’t want you to stop writing!
Hi Willow,
thank you for those kind words and also for being one of my most loyal supporters and contributors over the last seven months. I am enjoying myself too much to stop now so don’t worry. Maybe expanding my subject matter to include more simplicity and personal experience posts will make it easier to fill the week with maybe a break on Sundays. That sounds good to me. 🙂
You have such a free and friendly way of writing that I love. Your blog motivates and inspires me, but it also encourages and comforts me. Yours is the first blog I read because it’s so real and personal like a big family. I don’t want to lose that. I feel like I know you and several of the regular commenters personally as friends and I like that feeling of community. So whatever you decide to do, please keep that same style and atmosphere.
Hi Di,
thank you and I am glad you feel so comfortable here at 365lessthings. I consider you all to be friends and that is one of the reasons I don’t plan on disappearing into the ether.
My head is getting so big from all these lovely comments that soon I won’t be able to get through my door to leave the house so I will have nothing better to do. LOL 😉
From your heart…
😉
Thanks Annabelle, always from my heart.
Hi Colleen!
Just keep writing: whenever you have something to say, whatever it is. Without pushing yourself to do it, without feeling guilty if you don’t do it regularly and most important: enjoy it!
If you enjoy your writing, surely we will enjoy reading your posts.
I want to tell you something that happened to me this morning: my mother and I have given away two duvets we don’t use anymore to Margherita, the Romanian woman who helps my mother with the house chores.
My mother asked her to check if the duvets suited her well and she answered, more or less, “When one can’t afford to choose, one must take what is given and be content with it”….
What a lesson she taught us!!! I had never thought before that owning too much stuff and having to declutter is an issue only for people who can afford to spend too much on useless things…
At least this is true in my country, Italy (and probably all around Europe), where we don’t rely too much on credit cards as Americans do (we nonetheless buy too much, but few people gets really in trouble with debt problems).
Sadly, all those people from Eastern Europe, who have very little to live on, look at our way of living as to something to achieve, they want to be able to buy useless stuff, they want their stuff to “speak for them”….pride and greed, as you so clearly pointed to on day 282…
Maybe minimalism will take down consumerism…I really hope it happens before it’s too late for our Earth to recover.
Thank you for inspiring me Colleen: your posts are so practical and meaningful and your example seems so easy to follow (and in fact, I believe it is), that you always push me farther, and make me want to do something more in my journey toward minimalism.
Hi Paola,
you are so right in everything you said in this comment. That fact that poor people aspire to becoming consumer gluttons like the “rich people” is a sad thing. I actually often think about that situation in countries like Australia and America where the poorer folk are closely surrounded by those that have plenty. The theft and violence which that kind of envy often invokes is an on going problem but understandable in a sad way.
I wish the playing field was more even and it could be if the ones that profit from all this greed would work off the principle of a fare days work deserves a fare days pay. It is a strange situation when poorer people are paid less and less to toil over making products that are largely unnecessary which are then offered up in the market place at lower and lower prices for those that can afford to buy them. It’s easy to see who the losers are in this scenario. Unfortunately we don’t live in a fare world.
All I can do is try to inspire people to be responsible consumers. I know that I have lived the good life and I thank God for the good fortune of being born when, where and to the parents I was. I am sure I don’t know the solution to the worlds problems as that is one thing that isn’t simple to fix. I only hope that we can evolve into a society that can survive trading on something other than products that rape the planet of it’s natural resources before it is too late. Those that carry the most power need to start making a difference in the meant time it is up to us little guys to chip away at the problem in whatever way we can.
One more vote here for you to listen to your inner voice when deciding where to take this blog. I have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) learning about decluttering from you, but there might come a point where you’d feel like you were just repeating yourself. I’d happily look forward to whatever other topics you want to cover. I also agree with others who really like the family atmosphere here. So whatever you do, if your heart is in it, it will likely go over well.
Hi Jo,
thank you for your support I really appreciate it.
I actually don’t think it matters if I repeat myself because we can all do with a reminder every now and again anyway. I am sure I started repeating myself some time back actually. I will take the advice to add in other topics though trying to keep within the same vein of being consumer conscious and eco friendly. I am sure there is no shortage of ideas to address there.
Haven’t had time to read the other replies yet (packing to go away for 2 weeks – tomorrow!) but I think your blog is bloody brilliant. I’d feel that there was a big hole in the blogging community if you stopped writing. So, whatever the format, keep doing it 🙂
Hi Loretta,
thanks mate I really appreciate the encouragement. I will keep on keeping on so long as you keep on reading.
Dear Colleen, you have a wonderful “voice” and I am sure whatever you wrote about I’d want to read. I think that there is so much more to minimalsism than just de-cluttering that you would NEVER run out of topics, but I agree with everyone who says follow your heart. I follow some other blogs that are written by a small number of contributors and they work well, so maybe that is the pathway to go down that will keep this community going, but still give you some space to explore other things. (And, as Lynn says, WordPress makes it awesomely easy to do that!)
Hi Calico ginger,
thank you for your support, past, present and future. Perhaps like my decluttering journey I should just let it evolve as I go along and hopefully it will mature into all it can be. I am happy to go along for the ride and see where it takes me.
I agree with Calico Ginger–you have a clear “voice” which draws people in to read, then back to read more. The night I first found your blog, I sat there and read all the way through your archives.
I don’t have advice for you. I just want to include myself among those who will be looking forward to reading whatever you write.
It looks like you’re already expanding into more simplicity and minimalist topics, which I very much enjoy. You’ll probably “flow” into other topics as you go along too.
Congratulations on being brave enough to let go of one job in order to pursue another opportunity. You’ve got such a great start on your blog that I’ll bet you could monetize it easily, and probably start seeing some amount of income right away from it.
I’m not sure I’d add other writers, except as guest posts for when you don’t want to/can’t write at certain times, because it’s YOUR writing that we eagerly look forward to when we visit.
Even though I’ve been decluttered, organized, and living simply for years, there’s just something about your writing that re-sparks me to do even more. It’s very inspiring. 🙂
Hi Becky,
thank you so much to taking the time to write to me from your heart. I appreciate your input and am glad you are enjoying what i have to say. I will consider everything you had to say when making my choices in the coming months. In the meantime keep adding your voice to mine it is what helps make my blog what it is.
I’d say just go with what YOU want to write. I’ve enjoyed all of your posts as they are. If you decide you want to go in another direction or experiment with posts – I’m with you 🙂
Hi Debbie V,
thank you for your kind words. My blog is proving to be the replacement for wasteful shopping and for that I am truly grateful. If it can continue to help others in the same way then it is certainly worth any effort I put into it. It is more joy than effort though so I am glad to keep forging ahead.
Hi Colleen,
Please, please …. don’t even consider not writing – I am keeping myself motivated with your blog, and at last am making some progress. If I can keep it up a while longer, it may even start to show …..
Ann
Hi Ann,
aside from housework and decluttering blogging is the only useful thing I do in my day so I can’t give it up or I might have to go our and get a real job. 😆 I will be stickling around for a while so don’t panic. I am glad you are making progress. You should take photos as you go and you might be surprised at how soon you that to see the difference.
Thanks Colleen,
I did take some photos this morning – they shocked me! Far worse than just looking at it!
I’m glad you’re “sticking around”, but I’ll bet you do more than you think. E.g. Volunteering?
I’ll be off-line for a week while I visit my mother in the North Island (no computer). I’ll be back.
Ann.
Have a nice time visiting your mother and enjoy the time away from the computer. I am going to NZ (Auckland) in May for a weekend it will be the first time I have actually spent onto NZ soil. I have been in transit at the airport a few time but never stepped outside. Gotta love Jetstar’s cheap fairs, $99 flights to NZ on todays Fair Frenzy.
Hi Colleen,
Hope you enjoy your visit to Ak in May! I’m home again, but housebound and virtually bedbound with a cast on my leg, and strictly no weight-bearing. So I’m sorting papers, and reading and ditching books, but can’t do a lot else in the clear-out line. Any suggestions? I’ve torn my achilles tendon.
Ann
For goodness sakes Ann what did you do in NZ that you have come home incapacitated. How is that you mother survives an earthquake but you can’t Manage a simple visit to Christchurch to see her. More details please! I am particularly interested in this story because I have been have some twinges in the back of my heal lately and I am hoping that isn’t the hint of worse to come. Please tell me it didn’t start out by being a bit stiff and tender in the morning and after sitting for long periods but OK after a little walking around.
There is always and upside to everything though because now you are trapped into sorting and decluttering things you may otherwise have tried to avoid.
Well mate I hope you feel much better soon and that you heal quickly. (Excuse the pun)
Well mate I hope you get well soon