365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Friday’s Favourite Five 18FEB2011

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The five comments I chose to share with you all this week

Anne in response to Creating Enthusiasm by Changing your Thinking – Another important issue with decluttering is the support from others…Read more

Cat’s Meow in response to Decluttering Anxiety – I used to be like that too. Trouble finishing the task… Read more

Jo in response to Space Solution -  The thing that most amazed me about this process was… Read more

Nurchamiel in response to Simple Saturday – That reward-system sounds good, but I think I will try to do it without… Read more

Jo in response to Try!!!! -Being a perfectionist, oddly enough, can also contribute to not starting… Read more

This weeks posts that I have enjoyed. There are only three because I have heeded my own advice this week and ignored all but a couple of my RSS feeds.

A Guy Named Dave – Hoarders-ascetics-and-the-american-dream

Slow Simple Conscious – Challenging “it’ ll do” I loved this post. My son and I were just having a conversation on this subject very morning I was made aware of this blog when the writer left a comment on my blog.

Be More With Less – 5 simplicity diys you’ve been too scared to try.

Today’s Declutter Item

Ear Phones 17FEB2011

I am grateful from anything that brings me joy. Below are five things that gave me joy today.

  • The excitement of a good thunder storm right overhead. Flash Bang!
  • Oatmeal, brown sugar. all-bran, cream and blueberries. Yummmmm!
  • Spotting the unicorn. – A graffiti artist has been painting unicorn stencils in my area and I have been having fun spotting them when hubby and I are out walking.
  • Less interruption from builders today.
  • A nice long Facebook chat with Cindy.

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


Comments

  1. Interesting having the two points of view here – one, the perfectionist outlook which is helped by saying, “it’s good enough”, and two, the quality outlook, which is helped by saying, don’t settle for “it’ll do”. I think what this says is that there is a balance to strive for, and that’s a great message!

    • Hi Jo,
      very clever of you to notice that as it wasn’t my intention to place them together for that reason but it is kind of a juxtaposition isn’t it. Probably not a smart move on reflection. I suppose this happened because my thoughts of each topic were not running along the same lines. Resisting the need for perfection because it can be detrimental to trying was where I was going with one. While settling for second best when purchasing items causing dissatisfaction later resulting in making another purchase was where I was going with the other. But another person with a different stream of thinking could be shuffling down a path of destructive confused thinking. I would be interested in what thoughts were running through your head Jo.

      • I agree, there are two ideas here that should be kept separate and not contaminate each other! LOL

        However, the linked post was co-mingling the ideas (very naughty), at least in my reading of it. I thought the first part of the post was promoting excellency as something we should ALWAYS strive for. Sometimes, however, “good enough” and “it’ll do” are fine. Example: sweeping the floor.

        And, sometimes “best” is wiser, as in the writer’s example, later in the post, of buying quality shoes which she will wear frequently and which must be comfortable.

        Therefore, I was trying to point out that properly assessing the circumstances is the key to making the decision “good enough” or “best”. Figure out which is actually required. Life requires that we find a balance or we’ll go mad from lack of time or energy to do everything perfectly.

        I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this explanation – quality over quantity is a great message and fits with both the decluttering message and the environmental-impact message. And striving to do one’s best is only a bad thing if you are a perfectionist and your “best” causes you to sit frozen while there is work to be done!

        • Hi Jo,
          I don’t think you would offend anyone with your point of view here. You certainly haven’t offended me. In fact I am glad you pointed out this faux pas. Having both these ideas sitting along side each other almost proves your point that properly assessing the circumstances is the key to making the decision “good enough” or “best”. It is totally a personal choice to figure out which is actually required by us and how we react. Just as it is possible to overcome the extremes of both.

  2. Thanks for the guynameddave link – it’s a good post!

    I’ve just got to share a marvellous uncluttering book I’m reading: Clutter busting by Brooks Palmer (he has a great blog too, if you haven’t seen it). He has lots of interesting things to say about clutter and the mind. I thought I was getting really good at getting rid of things, but man, he has had me going through my house with different eyes! Highly recommended.