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!
This comment shows how Lena had no problem outlining her items for this week’s mini missions on Monday. Clearly she has a good imagination and a clear knowledge of what remains in her home that is needing decluttering.
I enjoyed this comment from Jez it is almost sounds like a minimalist evolution in progress. She went from accepting free items she never got around to using to decluttering them to realising avoiding even the most harmless clutter in the first place is the smart strategy.
In this comment Ideealistin tells us how borrowing works for her.
In this comment Willow adds some tips on choosing good quality knitted garments to my “Choosing Quality Clothing” post. Thanks Willow they were very helpful to our readers.
Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!
This post from The Minimalists tells us a lot about how homes become cluttered.
See how you can relate the ideas in this blog post from The Change Blog to your decluttering goals.
This TV advertisement always makes me laugh so I googled it to share with you.
Here is a post I stubbled upon with some good craft supply donation points for our American readers.
I found this take on the absurdity of modern day kitchen gadgets amusing although I did start to wonder if it wasn’t bordering on being a little racist. Please ignore that side of it if you think it does exist.
Today’s Mini Mission
Declutter something that comes to mind when you read this question ~ At what point did I find this attractive?
Today’s Declutter Item
I have four of these bowls but I have several other sets of bowls as well, since these take up the most room I have chosen them to be declutter. I used to find these bowls visually pleasing but now I find minimalism more appealing.
Vintage Dessert Bowls
Something I Am Grateful For Today
Giving away some craft items that have lingered too long in my home. The please response from the person I offered them to only added to my joy.
Those dessert dishes are really pretty!
They are pretty which is way they hadn’t been decluttered before now. Plus they held sentimental value but my values have changed and my life is not stuff so I am happily able to let them go.
We have been having a lot of great comments lately. I love it. the links are good. The TV advert is a hoot. I really enojyed the one about all of those kitchen gadgets. Mom has a few of those and I don’t remember ever seeing her use them. I’m working on getting her to declutter them. As if we need a special orange/grapefruit peeler. What??!! We have all of these knives and the one we use the most is one that was my grandmothers. It has this funny, wavy cutting surface because my grandpa tried to sharpen it himself. It still cuts good and is sharp. So why do we need an entire set of knives we don’t use? Because I paid for them when I was 22. I have had them all these years and hardly used them because I kept moving in and out of the house and they sat in a box more than in a drawer. When Mom and I became housemates she insisted we keep them. They are still unused. I’m going to try to convince her to let us give them as a wedding gift this September.
Don’t feel too bad about the knives Deb. When I was at my mother-in-law’s the last time she showed me a boxed set of knives that she got as a wedding present that have never been used. They have been married for over 50 years.
Okay! At least mine were used when I lived alone. We have a pitcher and 6 glasses that were handpainted and given to Mom and Dad when they got married. Then there was a handpainted bowl and plate from that time too. She has never used them because they would lose the handpainted design. They are just to be pretty. Sigh! They are pretty but…
We recently decided to declutter a set of ‘pearl’ handled knives that my hubby got as a wedding present 30+ years ago. Still in the box, but they seemed greasy. So, prior to offering them for sale I washed them….and the ‘pearl’ handles disintegrated! Use it or lose it. What a waste.
haha. those examples are brilliant. I will make sure I will never gift anything stupid anymore. what a waste indeed. knives are just like cars. they need to be used, otherwise its ridiculous to own them…
They are very pretty but I know just how much room they take up .I had one dozen Stuart crystal dessert bowls which were given as a wedding present by my mother and a further eight older style Stuart crystal bowls which were given to me by my mother to keep for my eldest girl .Of course “oldest girl” (married with children)” doesn’t have room” and I’m not sure will ever use them and the other dozen I am keeping for “youngest daughter” who you guessed it also doesnt have room! So I have them carefully wrapped in bubble wrap in 3 plastic storage boxes .I dont know what we will do with them.They are very pretty and elegant but very fragile and because of their shape and fragility cant be stacked so they do take up an enormous amount of room. I think all three of us like using more robust items – well at least for dessert. I do have my grandmothers wine glasses too but I use them all the time – they take up the same amount of room as modern wine glasses and they are beautiful to use .I’m not worried about breakages – they are giving enormous pleasure to me and being used for their purpose but the dessert bowls are a bit of a dilemma. Actually I have crystal decanters too – not being used and no-one really wants them but I’m not quite prepared to send them off to auction as I see how little they sell for .Any ideas anyone ?
First I would offer them to other members of the family that might be interested. Selling them is your only other option as far as I can see. The cost of these sorts of items far out weights the price they seem to fetch in the secondhand market place simply because no one seem to care for them now. In our generation’s crazy throw away world nothing seems to have much value any more unless the item is rare. My parents gave me a silver tea set for my 21st birthday, over 20 years ago, it was one of the first things I decluttered. I had left it in storage when we went to live in America, I didn’t miss it in almost eight years and quite frankly never wanted to polish it again so the decision was easy. I donated it to charity.
Yes Colleen – I think I will make sure I speak to all the children individually , then sisters-in law and if no takers then off to auction but perhaps not as a bulk lot (because only dealers will want them then- which is fine except they wont pay much ).Actually I might send them to the thrift shop – at least the buyer will be someone who wants it .Maybe I will get a suprise and everyone in the family will want one! I have also decluttered a lot of silver stuff but still have one lovely old Victorian silver teapot which pours beautifully and is a pleasure to use (and I quite like polishing it!)
Judith, I inherited a lot of “good” china and wine glasses, too. (pretty and well-made, but no very expensive brands, so they don’t really sell well).
I didn’t declutter those completely, but pared down the collection. So, instead of a set for 12 persons, I only have a set for 6 persons now. Or only 8 wine glasses instead of 12. Only 4 “everyday” ceramic plates instead of 8. Etc.
It was a lot easier for me to only declutter them partly, as I can still “bring them out” and enjoy them. I just don’t have all the extras in the cupboards.
Maybe your daughter would take 4 bowls and just doesn’t need a whole dozen?
I wish you good luck with finding a home for them!
Thanks Sanna for the suggestion -reducing to a more manageable number might just work! And I found a home for one decanter today -its a start at least !
I just wanted to leave a message for GreyQueen, as I haven’t seen her post lately. I want to thank her SO much for the Route 66AD book recommendation – I thoroughly enjoyed it! For a long time, I’ve wanted to know more about Greek gods, but not known where to start (and not wanting to be bored to death) and this great travel story of sorts, helped me so much! I now understand two streets names (that are where some of my projects are located). Can’t rave enough about this book – that was mentioned earlier in a souvenir post, referring back to the fact that even Romans had souvenirs!
Sadly, can’t see/read all the links (youtube banned at work, and anything with ‘blog’ in the address also banned :(( ) I did enjoy the Enuffstuff link though.
Hi Snosie, I tried to send you message through to Greyqueen my email bounced back at me. She commented yesterday so she isn’t far away. Remind me about it next Thursday if you haven’t had a response and I will post it in the Fridays Faves, she is more likely to see it there.
Thanks Colleen, I’ve been trying to see if she comments, but must have just missed yesterday – just had a week or two of wonderful reading thanks to her comment!
Hi Snosie, I’m so thrilled that you’ve enjoyed that “Route 66AD” book; it’s a cracker, isn’t it? Laugh-out-loud funny and lots of stuff to learn, too. If you’d like a painless way to learn some history, please may I recommend the “Falco” books by Lindsay Davis? She’s a British author of knockabout detective fiction set in ancient Rome and is brilliant. I’ve actually heard her give a talk and she’s lovely; warm, engaging and very very funny. She had us in stitches describing her misadventures in Rome’s sewer system………….. 🙂
Colleen, just checked that email account and I hadn’t looked at it for so long that it’s “died” so have created another. Sorry for the inconvenience. Must remember to look at it once a week to keep it active……………I read 365 most days but don’t always comment.
I grinned when I saw those vintage dessert bowls because there is a set just like that in my local thrift store and I was tempted. Very pretty but I have a set in plain glass, which stack, so have no need. Funny how similiar things pop up on the opposite sides of the planet. I’ve often thought that you could usefully spend time in thrift stores and at car boot sales, checking out what is checking out, as it were, to make a list of “potential junk” to avoid buying in the first place.
No problem Greyqueen I knew you were out there somewhere since you had only comment the day before. I only wish my email was used so little that it closed itself down. I find myself reading and deleting stuff from it many times a day.
I find working in the thrift store helpful because much of what I have in my kitchen passes through there all the time. It makes decluttering easier because I know that if I do regret getting rid of something a replacement will turn up at the thrift store soon enough. We get sets of those glass bowl come through on a regular basis.
I have several email accounts and that was a “throwaway” one which could be jettisoned easily if it ended up being spammed etc. I never knew Yahoo accounts died after a while if you didn’t use them. Live and learn, eh?
Am steeling myself to drag out the fabric box and have a wee sort-out. It’s full, I’m no longer sure what’s in there, and that’s never a good combination. If I don’t reappear within 48 hours, please sent the emergency services…………. :p
As always I love your blog Colleen. I had a 365 less things “moment” today. Our local quilt store is closing down, sadly, and there is half price everything sale. Naturally the place was packed with eager shoppers. Of course I was tempted, but came out with only black and cream cotton threads, rotary cutter blades and one small piece of fabric. It suddenly occurred to me that I am working hard at decluttering why would I bring more stuff in? I got what I need not what I want. It feels good!
As always, wonderful links! Great reads!
At what point did I find this attractive? A set of curtains from the thrift store. Oh well, live and learn! They might work at our church in one of the baby rooms, so I’ll try that out before I give them ‘away’ (back to the thrift store!).
how honoured I feel. thanks for putting my comment here again, it made me read it again and I remembered the jewellery box. So I gave it a quick go, one necklace, two bracelets are getting a clean and will then leave me for good. and the forgotten little wooden hand fan my mum gave me, can go into the hand bag, for those hot summer days. if I use it, it can stay, if I dont, it will go. (I am slowly realizing that my mother needs a proper talk about gifts soon. this madness has to stop)
thanks for the other links. I loved the ad. watched it three times in a row. brilliant. the article from the change blog was nice too. I really loved the reasonable way of explaining the importance of both sides. how happy I am with what I do daily and what I want in my life. I think I am on the right track there.
Some people would look at my blog and think what a stupid idea I would rather just get my decluttering job done ASAP. But that is the way I used to do it and thought I was so decluttered and organised. Little did I know that I was only ever skimming the surface. I love that I can declutter an area one day and then go back a week or a month later and downsize even more. And while just about nothing else is ever coming it I am slowly slowly truly minimising my possessions, not just decluttering to reclutter which in truth was what I was doing before. I have not long sorted through my jewellery but you have inspired me to give it another once through to see how much more ruthless I can be this time.
I loved that ad too. It keeps playing on the television here and every time I see it I think ~ I must share that with my readers. It took about 5 seconds to track it down on the internet and add it to Friday’s post. I am glad you enjoyed it.
you know the problem with this binge decluttering is that you just want to get rid of stuff and then realize afterwards that you gave away things you actually use. Your method gives you the time to reconsider those decisions again and again and again, and then make the decision to get it out. it happened only once so far that I took an item back that I “decluttered” already, because suddenly I had an use for it. I wonder if that was, because I just held it in my hands a couple of days ago and thought about it, and figured out a way to use it. I also get more aware of what is actually in my house, therefore remembering a fitting object for the task at hand. So I actually get more use out of those items that I always forgot, because now I have them on my radar.
I find that with binge decluttering, I tended to forgo some areas completely. E.g. all “beautiful things” – be it gorgeous clothes I never find an occassion to wear, books I liked but most likely won’t read again in the next 10 years, lovely dishes for masses of people I never could cater at once in my apartment. I always spared my collections or just got rid of those few items which have somehow mingled into the collection altough I didn’t like them as much (presents, bargains or worn out things)
Since I really got into regular decluttering, I have halved most of these collections and got rid of things over the loss of which I’d probably have cried two years ago.
It’s easy to forgo the difficult stuff, especially if you’re only questioning your belongings about twice a year. Even now I manage to forgo some things each and every day for more than a year (paper masses!), but eventually they bother me and eventually I don’t feel so bad about tackling them and even on that rare occassion they are on my radar nowadays and they get culled – even if it’s only one day a month when I “feel” like paper work. It’s highly unlikely that this one day should conincide with a binge declutter.
so true. although I always could binge declutter also beautiful items, if I didnt use them. But I got into this rush where I made hasty decisions.
I always liked paper work. sorting and filing important documents always gave me the feeling of control over my life. strange I know, and as far as I know I am the only one who enjoys paper work. Over the last couple of months I made it (unconsciously) a habit to file paperwork as soon as it enters my home. That way, I check my binders almost weekly and sometimes I decide to cull. I have a really good overview of my personal documents now… dont ask about those uni related papers though. I get so annoyed by just looking at the amount of space they take up….
Colleen, it seems, you are decluttering lots of bowls these days…
My boyfriend decluttered my favourite mug by dropping it to the ground. I was a little sad, but I won’t replace it – I still have some more mugs left (though I decluttered some just a week ago) and chose my “new” favourite among them.
It’s amazing how little of our dishes we actually use. And I’m happy to say, I am already a little detached from those dishes around here.
haha. opposite here – just today I looked at this stash of unwashed dishes in my kitchen and thought – wow, you really do use all of your plates… 😉
🙂 As we cook a lot here, we usually have stacks of unwashed pots and pans – and as soon as we tackle these, the plates also get washed – much sooner than all of them could get used. But I think I’m slowly reaching that point where I might need all of the plates when we have a social gathering over here. (We have still A LOT!)
hupsi. something went wrong with the reply level. I wanted to add that social gatherings could be covered with people bringing dishes or you borrow from neighbours. so you really dont need to be covered for just in case….
Hi Sanna you are right about the bowls, the multitude of them is the reason they are being decluttered and there are more to come. They have survived the cut so far because even though what used to be in my china cabinet ~ now long gone ~ has been integrated into my kitchen cupboards there is still plenty of room due to how much has been decluttered along the way. I therefore didn’t feel the need to be too ruthless while other areas needed my attention. As I get closer and closer to the end of my mission every area that is even slightly overstocked is under scrutiny.
its the same with me too. but lately I have been eating bread and rolls mainly with just raw veggies, because I just couldnt be bothered to cook. So I used far more plates than usually. and plates are easier to stack than all the boards and knives and pots and pans and what not. so I really used them all and have almost none left. impressive.
the thought that keeps creeping in is: I could avoid this stash with just reducing the number of plates. I would be forced to do the dishes sooner and more frequently. but then I wouldnt have to look at this massive amount of dirty dishes and just get the urge to leave it again and order pizza. argh.
Is it just my computer or did everyone have to sign up for The Change Blog in order to read it? I don’t want to become a subscriber but just to read what Colleen found so interesting. I can’t figure out any other way. Did anyone else have this problem?
I would be interested if anyone else had problems accessing The Change Blog. Sorry that you had a problem Grace.
I had no problems, went straight in.
no problems here as well. link was working perfectly
update: For todays (sundays) mini mission I just went through my electronics collection of cable and manuals. Besides a proper sorting, and rearranging with the help of rubberbands, I was successful: I found a white plastic thing, belonging to my iPod. “what the heck is that?” I had to google around to find out what it was: seemed like some sort of dock station, but absolutely useless if you dont have the dock station for the dock station. (I wish I could slap the product engineers on the back of their head sometimes). I dont think it will be useful for anyone else, so in the plastic bin it goes. I found a similar black one, I dont want to investigate it, but I think its part of the camera, and camera related stuff needs a proper see through soon anyway, so I kept it for now.
I also figured out that I wont need the additional stuff that came with my stolen smartphone anymore, so I will check out what to do with charger, headset, etc…