As anyone who has been reading here for a while knows, I have decluttered a lot of craft stuff over the last four years. My goodness, it actually has been more than four years now that I have been blogging about decluttering. Anyway, I had a tonne of paper crafting supplies which I reduced down to an amount I was happy with. I had designated a space I wanted them to fit into and achieved that goal. You can go to my Before and After page for a look if you haven't already seen the results. I did not declutter them all my supplies I spent very little time using them for the last few years. This … [Read more...]
You can do things differently
Doodles blog post yesterday got me thinking about how out of character my decluttering method is to my usual behaviour. Of the seven sabotaging behaviours Doodle mentioned in the post, I am not guilty of any of them when it comes to my decluttering over the last four years. Although there certainly are a few that I would previously have thought I was susceptible to. Â Lets go over them. 1. Do you focus on how much there is left to do rather than how much you have achieved? This is something I would most certainly have done in the past. I would be constantly looking at the volume of the task … [Read more...]
Sabotaging your efforts ~ By Doodle
Are there things you do to sabotage your de-cluttering goals? I got the idea for this post after reading “No More Clutter†by Sue Kay. She suggests the following as ways we undermine our decluttering efforts: Do you focus on how much there is left to do rather than how much you have achieved? Do you find your self apologising a lot to others and calling yourself lazy and other derogatory names rather than defining yourself in more positive language and a ‘work in progress’. Do you throw away essential things that then prove how risky decluttering is? Do you create such a … [Read more...]
Know yourself, know your clutter.
Way back at the start of my declutter journey it was obvious that my craft collection of tools and materials was way out of hand. Especially since I hardly bothered to find the time to use them. So I set about deciding which tools I used and which ones I didn't and which materials I didn't like so much. Separating the wheat from the chaff so to speak. As you can see there is a vast difference between the before and after shots above. But this didn't happen overnight. It happened gradually through several sorting sessions to decide what I use, what I don't and what I thought I never … [Read more...]
To be perfect ~ By Andréia
We all are taught that perfection does not exist. What we fail to do is to believe that. I don’t really know about the rest of the world, but I am tired of seeing in all places the evidence of how imperfect I am. It is hard to avoid. You would have to live in an isolated island not to feel how your lack of perfectionism is ruining your life. They say it about the way you keep your house, care for your kids, live your marriage (?) (saw this one in a magazine)…Oh how life would be great…But not. Let’s talk for example about decorating and de-cluttering: How can I have a perfectly … [Read more...]
Share the joy while you declutter
About a month back Michaela, in response to the post Memeories Are Not Stuff, Â left this comment... "This week I sold one of my American Girl dolls. My grandmother had bought her for me, I had gotten different outfits with extra cash back in the day. I took good care of her, and then she stayed in my closet for years. The other day at work I overheard a lady I know talking about getting one for her granddaughter for Christmas, but she was sad how expensive they were. I immediately offered to sell her my doll. Yesterday when I took her in all the ladies fawned over what great condition she … [Read more...]
Happiness Goal
I make a lot of suggestions and give a lot of advice on deciding what may or may not be clutter in your homes. However, ultimately your decisions are your own because no one knows better than you as to what you consider clutter in your home and what you don't. No matter what the choices, everyone's ultimate goal when it comes to minimising their possessions is, and should, be their happiness. What you are happy to get rid of and what level of minimising is entirely up to you. Quite often these goal post move as time wears on, and that is fabulous, but the end result should be what you are … [Read more...]
The Good Stuff
I looked in my closet one day last week trying to decide what to wear for the day. I wasn't doing anything special or going anywhere in particular but was a little tired of the same old jeans and long sleeve T combination. (My default outfit in the cooler months of the year.) Then I spied the lovely velvety olive green jacket that I usually reserve for special occasions. After dismissing the initial thought of “But that jacket is only for good.†I decided, why not! That is just what I needed to spruce up an otherwise ordinary day. This is exactly what we should do with all our good stuff. … [Read more...]
Be Enlightened
I received a comment from Denise recently from which I have included an excerpt below. Denise ~ Thank you Colleen, yes I did and it feels so good to get rid of the stuff. Its amazing no matter how many times you do it you still find more. Quite often readers write in saying that they are surprised that they are still managing to find things to declutter. The readers that say this have usually been at their decluttering mission for quite a while and are expecting it to finally come to an end, or at least to the maintenance phase. However they continue to find things to declutter that have … [Read more...]
Thursdays with Deb J ~ Leaving My Comfort Zone
All of us have varying comfort zones. There are just some items, people, ideas, and/or places that mean home to us. That doesn’t mean that home can’t be moved but when that happens there are certain accoutrements to making up “home.†This is our comfort zone. The things we fight to not change. If this is going to happen then this has to happen too. We tend to set those Comfort Zone (CZ) items in concrete. Unfortunately, many times this hinders us rather than helping us. In fact, it tends to keep us rooted in the past. Along comes change. Someone/something wants to take us out of our … [Read more...]