This week’s posts inspired some great responses from our readers and below are five of the many that I enjoyed reading.
I liked Sabine  take on gift giving and receiving in this comment.
Jo’s concerns were quite valid in her comment about the perils of upsetting people when decluttering obligation clutter.
Snosie tells us how she has soaked up my advice over the last couple of months and is putting it in to action in this comment.
Jude has some great cable recycling tips for our American readers in her comment in response to The Great Cable Roundup.
Sharron reminds us again in this comment about how one can be inspired to reduce their belonging when they have experience the heartbreak of decluttering when a loved one has passed away.
This week for the five blog choices I would like to drawer your attention to five blogs from five of our readers.
Some are long time readers, some new to my blog but it is always good to hear from them in the comments. There are several other readers with blogs that I will also feature in upcoming Fridays.
Willow at Willows Cottage
Chelle at On the domestic front
Angle Kay at Minimalist with 3 kids
Karin at  Green and Generous
Lynn at Defrag my life
Today’s Declutter Item
There is nothing like a little cash incentive to reinforce the benefits of decluttering. Although my son is already very good at decluttering, receiving $32 for the sale of this jacket through eBay will go a long way towards encouraging him to keep up the good work.
Liam's Jacket $32 on ebay
Something I Am Grateful For Today
Today my husband and I walked for miles on the Sydney streets visiting art galleries. It was a lovely day together but I am exhausted and am going to be grateful to lay my head on my pillow in my own bed tonight. I am also grateful to my husband of course for planning the gallery visits and for being with me in Sydney for my radio interview.
Colleen,
Have I mentioned that I love you?
Chelle
http://www.lifeonthedomesticfront.blogspot.com
Hi Chelle,
no I don’t think that you have but thank you!
Well,it’s true. I would be your stalker if I lived on the same continent. LOL
Chelle
Hi Chelle,
You are too funny. I used to have a stalker once. He was harmless, more like a personal bodyguard. He gave up on me after I had been married for a couple of years, I suppose he thought this marriage thing might actually work out and he didn’t have a chance. Ah life, it is a funny thing.
OH thanks for the link to my comment, I’m swelling with pride (I think that’s it?!) Lovely surprise after a yucky day yesterday! Thank you!
Hi Snosie,
Sorry you had a bad day yesterday, I hope today is better for you.
Good for you Liam, keep up the good work !
Thanks Francesca,
I will pass on your encouragement to him.
Hi Colleen. Just droped by to tell you that I am so unmotivated, tired and feel like let everything slip by. Have you ever felt like this? I came here today to ask for a uplift. The thing is, I am tired. It seems like all my progress is nothing. There are some very simple tasks I could do, but I am stuck. Help me out here.
Hi Andréia,
I understand mate, I feel like this at times myself. Maybe you just need to take a rest for a while, working from home, raising two children being a wife and trying to run a household is more than a full time job. Who wouldn’t get run down occasionally? I was feeling quite overwhelmed myself yesterday but when I reflect back in it most of it was just in my mind. When I tell you what I did all day you will probably laugh, but here goes. I got up at about 6:30am, made a cup of coffee and answered some blog comments. At 7:45 a tradesman arrived to measure up for a new shower upstairs. At 8am I made crepes for myself and my son for breakfast and then settled in to do some more blog work. I had a shower and got dressed and had another coffee around 10am. I put on a load of washing and did some more blog work. At 11:45 I walked up the street to the club to have lunch with a local community group (Had a Jack Daniels and Coke). At 12:45 I dashed home to do a radio interview (10 minutes) about my blog. I hung out the load of washing and then went back to the club to rejoin the group, where I sat around talking until 3 o’clock (had another Jack & coke). I got home and then went to drop something off to my neighbour and had a coffee with her. My husband arrived home with the car so I dashed out and picked up the dry-cleaning & groceries for dinner then picked up a friend from the train station who was staying the night. Cooked dinner, ate, shared a bottle of wine. Sat chatting all night.
In reality, I spent the biggest part of my day drinking alcohol and chatting and I felt totally drained mainly due to orchestrating the whole train of events. I let that one ten minute interview in the middle of the another commitment send me into a spin. The lesson here is to plan your day, don’t overcommit yourself and learn to say no when a request is going to throw a spanner in the works.
And if you get to a point where it all feels like to much take a mini vacation. Find I quiet place to sit and unwind for a while and when your mind has settled work out a plan of attack to catch up on the things that need doing and stick to that plan until you get things under control again.
Here is the link Chelle mentioned ~ Don’t worry, be happy
Andreia, I am not Colleen, but I know exactly how you feel. I have days that go by where nothing gets decluttered. Life just gets in the way sometimes and with my father in law’s passing this month, as well as my mom’s cancer diagnosis, I have not been nearly as hard working on the decluttering as I had been.
Back when I was feeling overwhelmed with the jobs in front of me, Colleen wrote a great post entitled Don’t Worry, Be Happy addressed to me directly. Maybe she can find that in her archives and post the link up for you. It really helped me feel better about not getting as much done as I wanted to and realizing that there’s no time limit on this stuff (unless you have a moving deadline, I suppose!) You can also check around her archives for posts in the last 2-4 months and see if you see that title anywhere.
Good luck and I hope you find your mojo again!
Hugs,
Chelle
http://www.lifeonthedomesticfront.blogspot.com
Thanks Chelle! I am not moving so I don’t have a deadline. I will look that post up, but you know it sometimes is too much. I will get back to you. Hugs to you.
Hi Chelle! I didn’t need to read that post about happiness to get my act straight, I just needed to drop by your blog. Thank you for that dose of reality. As I said I was a stuck. But reading again what you are going through, good and bad, with more detail and an open mind has made me see that I am the only one who can make me feel better. I am thinking that I have problems I have to talk about them and move on to solve them. That is what I am going to do. Thanks again for taking your time to write to me.
You’re welcome, Andreia! And thank you so much for dropping by my blog. I hope you will come back and read more. I write about a lot of different things, but I try to update on the decluttering as often as I have something to say.
Everyone goes through problems and mine are no better or worse than anyone else’s. Different things get different people “stuck.” Right now, it seems to be that my life circumstances are much harder than usual, but sometimes it’s good to just take an hour to concentrate on how I can make my home more peaceful and that takes me away mentally for awhile. Sometimes the simple act of getting rid of stuff I don’t need can calm my mind, which is why I’ve taken on this challenge of Colleen’s to declutter my life.
Good luck to you and keep going. And thanks for reading my blog!
Hugs,
Chelle
Hi Chelle,
once again, great advice. Don’t look at the clutter and think it is all too hard, look at the clutter and think what can I do right now to make your home more peaceful. It gives your efforts a very positive purpose.
Hi Andréia,
good for you, you are right of course, problems don’t go away if you try to ignore them. Face them and devise a solution that is the only way out. And thank you again Chelle for helping Andréia out.
Hi Chelle,
thank you so much for helping Andréia out with this issue while I was busy. What good advice that is. I have found that link and will email it to Andréia. Here it is if you want to read it again. Don’t worry, be happy.
You’re most welcome, Colleen! I always have something to say. LOL I get overwhelmed when there is ONE thing on my calendar in one day. Really, just one! That’s all it takes to overwhelm me.
I have tried very hard to keep my commitments to a bare minimum this summer and things have still spun out of control. I am going away for four days with my husband next week and I am really looking forward to it. I actually enjoy the completely uncluttered and impersonal look of hotel rooms. I know I wouldn’t want to live without anything sentimental for the rest of my life, but it’s nice to completely take everything out of your life for just a few days and get a break.
Glad I could help in any way and keep up the great work. I love your blog.
Chelle
Hi Chelle,
I understand what you are saying about hotel rooms they are certainly uncluttered yet functional. I also, am going away with my husband at the end of next week to for four days. We are going to Hobart in Tasmania which is Australia’s Southern most state (an island state). I have never been to Tazzy before so I am really looking forward to it. I had better pack some Winter woolies as it will be cold.
Hi Chelle and Colleen! I am feeling better after a weekend with my family.I think you were both right I was trying to be wonder woman, and I am just a woman. I decided not to look at the whole picture, but, do one thing at a time. Sometimes, you just look about you and you don’t relax, never. And it starts to make you feel tired. You don’t read a book. You don’t talk to your husband. The children are restless, and you somehow think: “This is my fault, I have to be a better… everything.” Fortunately, next week I am taking a mini break. We will travel as a family. No cell phones, no laundry, no house, just the kids and us to enjoy a break. I hope it gets me back on track.
Hi Andréia,
I am glad you are taking a break. Come back nice and refreshed and start with the attitude of I can only do what I can do in this moment. Don’t put too much on yourself or try to play catch up when you get home.
Hugs Colleen
Thanks for the shout out for Willow’s Cottage 🙂 Your long walk on the streets of Sydney sounds like a day we’d love too. Congrats on the radio interview!
Thanks Willow,
it is always a pleasure to read your blog, you are a positive up beat kinda gal! And thank you for sticking by me for so long and keeping me company on my journey.
Colleen, I appreciate being included in the comments for the week – even more so as I was troubled over this one and you came up with the answer for me.
Hi Jo,
that is why it was such a good comment, because it challenged what I had written and raised a concern that was likely to be troubling more people than just yourself. I was glad to be of help.