Cindy's Weekly Wisdom My mother is more tidy and more decluttered than I am, by far. Yet one day when she saw me tidying my pantry, she kind of laughed at me and said, "Are you straightening up in there again?" Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I am. And you should too. Why does your pantry need decluttering? Two main reasons Unless you live alone, it gets rummaged through more than any other cupboard or drawer in your entire house and There's surely something (probably more than one something) lurking in there that needs to be eaten, thrown away, or shared. The pantry is the … [Read more...]
Decluttering Your Office – The Danger of the Paper Trail
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Offices seem to be the center of the vortex of flotsam in a house, particularly paperwork. If you work outside the home, your office probably still has files that were set up by the previous holder of your job - files you haven't looked at the entire time you've had the job. My desk and filing cabinet had "current" files that were five years old and notes that said "to file" on documents dating back to when the law firm was started. Why do we do this? Do the phrases "paper trail" or "for our records" ring any bells with you? Try to think how far back you really need … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Why 365 Less Things?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom - A Review of the Basics Why 365 Less Things? Let’s get the grammatical question out of the way first and promptly. Yes, we know it’s supposed to be 365 Fewer Things, but it’s not. That’s all there is to it. (Can you believe that Colleen regularly gets comments from readers telling her she’s named the blog wrong? Do they think they’re the first to notice? Declutter this worry from your mind: You're not the first.) Now on to the meat of the matter: Why does 365 Less Things exist, and how can it help you? I truly don’t know the origins of the 365 Thing … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Follow Through
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Recently I was so pleased with myself. I had done a great job tidying my desk, and I had sorted through all of Clara's clothes, culling those that were to be saved for her younger sister and those that could go to the thrift shop. I did a great job and was pleased with myself, that is, until I looked at what I had left behind. Oh a big slap on the forehead! Yes, I had processed bills, permission slips, etc. And yes, I had sorted and folded a big ol' stack of clothes, but that's where I stopped. The clothes were still sitting in Clara's room, and … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Gifts with Strings
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom  First of all, and most importantly, Colleen and I had a fantastic time. Steve was super, and we all had a good time getting to know each other. Now to our regularly scheduled blog... Have you ever been told, "If you don't want this, be sure to give it back?" How about, "(Deceased relative) wanted you to have this. Be sure to take really good care of it." Or, "You so admired mine, that I bought you one too." A variation of this one is, "I really admired this item, so I bought it for you." Or, the most dreaded of all, "Where's that (fill in the item of your … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ When the Worst Happens
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom First of all, this story has a happy ending, although it sure didn't look like it would when it all began. A few months ago, a dear friend of mine was in a very dark place and disappeared. Literally gone. You can image what my husband and I feared. My friend has no close relatives and no spouse; I am the executor of his estate. I felt a lot of emotions during this time, and one of them was outrage: "How DARE you go off and leave me with all this sh*t to take care of! How dare you not clean up your own mess before you dumped it in my lap!" You see, my friend is a bit … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ A Book Review
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl I'll confess, it's a bit difficult to say that I loved a book about someone's painful life struggle, but I really did love this book. It's beautifully written, easy to read, and the author cleverly interlaces story telling and factual information about hoarding. The author, Jessie Sholl, lived with a mother who was initially a pack rat and who became a full-fledged hoarder after the death of her long-term boyfriend. But as Ms. Sholl makes clear, hoarding is just one symptom of … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ It’s Not Yours Anymore
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Last week, I talked about shopping at the Goodwill, and we all felt a bit of dread: what happens to our stuff when we let it go? I know the definitive answer to this question: It's not yours any more. I came to this perhaps obvious realization last week. For years, I have had a queen size air mattress with a leak that I have never found. I've tried to find it while using it (and slowly, slowly getting closer to the ground), and I tried to find it earlier this year when I blew it up just for the purpose of locating the leak. I was not successful. So last week I … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Shopping at the Goodwill Outlet
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom My thrift-store shopping girlfriends, Holly, Natalie, and I hit The Goodwill Outlet last month. Goodwill, I believe, is the most common thrift store in the United States. In Austin, the Outlet is where everything not sold at the neighborhood stores goes to die (at least that's how I think of it). It's a massive, one room warehouse with another massive room for processing goods, and a separate area for the local offices of Goodwill - in total, a 124,200-square-foot (11,538 square meters) building. There's definitely a "last chance" quality to the store. Everything is … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ It’s Not Easy Being Green
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Raise your hand if you consider yourself an environmentalist. Mine is up! But as Kermit the Frog says, "It's not easy being green." Being "green" and decluttering often do not feel like they go hand in hand. After all, you might *gasp* throw something away. You might discover that you cannot find another home for an item you no longer want or need. You may have to face up to the fact that you made foolish purchases that you now recognize as being bad for your wallet and bad for the environment. I was once told that for someone who's such an aggressive recycler / … [Read more...]