Sorry Sanna and Readers I should have published this post last Friday. Better late than never I suppose. I will be publishing this week's update tomorrow. Sanna's Update So, I'm in for almost 3 weeks and actually, I'm meanwhile 200 items ahead of my challenge. This week, lots of incense, recipes, more pens and pencils, a few books, notepads and more left the house. Fine weather made it possible to put a cardboard box with a "for free" sign on the sidewalk which made getting rid of these little items as easy as can be. I also went through my "memorabilia box" (which includes photos) and … [Read more...]
Reasons v Excuses
I have two telescopic tension rods, the kind you wedge between two hard surfaces to hang curtains from. The reason I still have them, even though I haven't used them since returning to Australia from the USA, is that they might come in handy one day. The excuse for falling into this old trap is that I don't think they are sold here in Australia which would make them nigh on impossible if not too expensive to replace should I find a use for them. Now how is that for a lot of rubbish. Oh, I admit to both that I do have these things for such a ridiculous reason. Â I don't even like curtains, … [Read more...]
Life moves on
I received the following comment from Kimberley to one of last week's posts ~ Who Are You Now. Kinberley wrote: "Your post should be titled, “Isn’t this how clutter begins?â€Â We move from one phase of our life to another. We don’t or won’t let go of what used to serve us while at the same time adding things that now do. It’s as simple as doing the math." This is so true. The reason much of our clutter builds up is because life moves on for us. The problem with that is that life moves on but we don't move on the resulting items that become clutter. We understandably hold on … [Read more...]
Positive attitude to decluttering
Here is a great comment from Kimberley that I didn't want anyone to miss... "Selling vs. Donating….. When we acquire an item, there was an obvious need for us to do so, real or imagined. It may have served its purpose where we feel we “got our monies worthâ€. Then again, some acquisitions are what we needed at that time in our life whether we “got our monies worthâ€, or not. I have found over the years that everything that has come into my life, came in for a reason, sometimes very temporary and all at some cost. Our lives are constantly changing as we grow as individuals. I … [Read more...]
Control Issues
All that "I might need it one day!" clutter is about control. Control over your future, a future that may never unveil itself. A future created in your own mind that won't allow you to relinquish items you don't have a use for right now, probably never will and in all honesty, although used in the past, were never really needed even then. What tragic outcome would ensue in the future if, today, you decluttered that spare potato peeler? If you got rid of that ever growing pile of ragged bath towels you save in case of a huge spill? If you put all those magazine clippings in the recycling bin … [Read more...]
What’s your clutter weakness
Since today's mini mission is to analyse your clutter weakness I thought it would be good if I also made it the subject of the day. Perhaps in the comments you might like to admit your clutter weakness and see if you can get any advice about it. My clutter weakness would be my craft supplies. It is one of the few areas where I still add items. Mostly cutting dies and embossing folders. However there is more going out than is coming in so I am happy with that. And these items are being used over and over again. I did also bring home fabric and lace from my mother and mother-in-law but I am … [Read more...]
Decluttering, the cure for retail therapy
I was wondering what I should write about today when it occurred to me that I have just past the four year anniversary of blogging about decluttering here at 365 Less Things. That got me thinking about how things have changed and in some cases how things haven't. My living circumstances have certainly changed, having reached the goal I originally started out trying to achieve. I am a little amazed that the goal never really changed over that time. However, my principles of decluttering haven't changed at all. So today I thought, just for fun I would dig up a blog post from about this time … [Read more...]
Giving stuff away
It seems that these days I do a lot of talking about the benefits of decluttering but very little on ways to go about it. This is probably because I know I have a lot of readers who are well seasoned declutterers by now, and they know this stuff. But the fact also is that new readers find my blog all the time and may not be so informed about such things. So today I am going to mentions my favourite and most successful ways that I have managed to give away my stuff. I am not going to write about selling stuff today only about giving it away, because quite frankly that is usually the quickest … [Read more...]
Decide, divide & Conquer
I want you all to read this post by David @ Raptitude.com before going on. Take from it what you will but this is how I applied the concept to decluttering. Before doing any decluttering decide on your options for disposing of your clutter. Do some investigating and make a decision on where you can donate your clutter so you have this option in place prior to choosing which items are to go. Decide if eBay is an option for where you can do your selling. Check if Freecycle is available in your area and decide if that is another good option for you. Decide if putting your stuff … [Read more...]
Triple the pleasure
Yesterday I received the following comment from Stephanie ~ "I just finished a use-it-up project on some leftover baby yarns that my late mum used part of, to do test work on a "masterpiece" crochet blanket for my son when he was born (he is 32!) My blanket, which used 23 asst small balls/ball ends, is a non-masterpiece giant granny square LOL. It will be given away tomorrow, and I have started on a second use-it-up blanket. Pretty sure there will end up being 4 use-it-up blankets by the time that box is empty. This is a good mindless TV project for me, and far better for me than … [Read more...]