Cindy's Weekly Wisdom A few weeks ago, this short article from The Change Blog was a Friday reading, and I've been thinking about it on and off ever since. The point of the article was that you might be more successful setting firm, absolute rules for yourself, rather than "trying." How can we apply these rules to leading a more decluttered life? I will ALWAYS put my keys in their proper place when I enter the house. At the end of each day, I will ALWAYS put the newspaper in the recycling bin. Each day, I will ALWAYS declutter one item. (Perhaps even, each day immediately after dinner, … [Read more...]
Don’t Let “Value” Fool You
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom My mother, as I have mentioned before, is VERY decluttered. She was a minimalist before I had any idea that there even was such a decorating style. (I thought is was called "bare.") Very recently, my parents moved back into their house after having it extensively remodeled. Before moving to Austin, Texas, my parents had lived in a very stylish, although not very large, custom-built house. The plain ranch that they purchased in order to live next door t me and my family never fit my mother's idea of stylish. Every remodel produces its share of furniture and … [Read more...]
How Do You Know You Need to Declutter?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom While we have plenty of old pros here at 365 Less Things, we have plenty of drop-by readers and lurkers, some of whom are probably in denial about their need to declutter. So here's my checklist, roughly arranged from the most obvious to the most subtle clues that you should use if you think that maybe you don't really need to declutter. You rent a storage unit. Your garage, basement, or attic looks like a storage unit. You have a whole room devoted to storage. You have a door in your home that you cannot open. You have a door in your home that you cannot … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Going to the Flea Market
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Last month the family and I went to a monthly event, The City-Wide Garage Sale. Ever since one of my staff members bought a really cool old stove at the sale, I'd been curious. (And since that was literally more than 15 years ago, it seemed like it was about time.) Wow! Was that eye opening! The garage sale is really an indoor flea market, and you could buy just about anything there - the smaller it was, the more likely they were to have it. The sellers are pickers and traders who endlessly loop throughout the country attending these events. Nothing's terribly … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ A Book Review
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom A Book Review of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg What a fantastic book: so well researched, so easy to understand, so very interesting. Duhigg shows over and over again that most of what we do is habitual and that habits can be changed and manipulated - by ourselves and by others. My mother should be happy. This book validates her often-said phrase "When you do things outside the norm, that's when they go wrong." My Mom's not a pessimist or a stick in the mud; what she's saying is that when you lock your keys in the car, forget your purse, leave the burner … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Going Cold Turkey
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Early last year, I wrote a post about The Black Hole. You probably have one in your house. It's the place where all clutter tends to accumulate . . . and never leave. Like the black hole in astronomy, it has such a strong gravitational force that even light cannot escape it. I confess, I too have a Black Hole in my house: my gigantic kitchen island. It doesn't look like a Black Hole, you may be thinking. You're right. It doesn't anymore. Anymore being the key word here. The half in the foreground seemed to always have a stray napkin, maybe a glass or two, and … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Just Let It Go
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom As I've told you (probably countless times), we remodeled our house, and the last of the workmen pulled away two years ago in July. There were a lot of smaller jobs and some very large painting jobs that needed to be completed, but the house itself was done. Two years have passed, and I still have a half dozen paintings, including a couple of pieces of expensively framed limited edition pieces, that have not been hung. About every three months, I get into the closet where they're stored and vow that today is the day that I'll finish figuring it out. And every time I … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Two Year Anniversary
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom May 30th marked the end of my second year of decluttering and the end of the second year of reporting daily on Facebook what I have decluttered. (Possibly I've missed a few days, but not many.) In the past 731 days (Leap Year), I have decluttered 3690 items and made $2471.20 plus $1000 barter for repair work on my van in exchange for our car, which we did not replace. Yes, that's a heck of a lot of stuff, but let's remember that the average house today is almost twice as big as it was in the 1950s, while families are closer to half the size. The concept of the … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Decluttering for HE and SHE
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I've been decluttering at work recently. We transformed a short hallway that went nowhere into a storage closet, and I started working my magic on it. I told Colleen, and she said, "They must be really grateful." I'm not so sure. I work for two attorneys, whom I am going to call HE and SHE. They are very different. HE doesn't seem to think much about his surroundings, and SHE could become a decorator. SHE loves moving the furniture and paintings, putting out pretty boxes for functional items like paper clips, and SHE like a somewhat crowded decorating style. SHE also … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Does Your Garden Need Decluttering?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom It's almost "second winter" here in Texas, where the weather is so hot, and typically so dry, that nothing grows any more. It just tries to hold on through the hot months. Before that happens, it's time to declutter the garden. Now I know that not all of you have a garden. Do you have potted plants (inside or out)? A front stoop or entry way? Any bit of lawn that you're responsible for? The first thing we're going to do is assess. This is best done from the vantage point of the street or sidewalk looking back at your garden or entry way. Are there toys, tools, boxes, … [Read more...]