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...]
Simple Saturday ~ The thrift store run
A long time friend of mine phoned me the other day with the exciting news that she had decluttered a bunch of scrapbooking supplies. She had given them away to a person from where she works. I agreed how great that was and said how I had been paring down my craft supplies again lately and have finally reduced them to the amount I was happy with. She said. I didn't realise that you still did papercraft or I would have given my supplies to you. My response was "Thank the heavens you didn't!" The topic changed to some other items she had set aside to take to the thrift shop and she asked if I … [Read more...]
Simple Saturday ~ Give the gift of sight by donating eyeglasses
I received and email from Ideealistin recently bring a subject to mind that has been mentioned in passing here at 365 Less Things one or twice before. Ideealistin thought it was worth bring to the fore in the form of its own blog post and that is what we are doing today. Here is some of what she had to say... Hi Colleen, as I am sort of moving at the moment (since almost everything in the apartment has to be moved around, I came to the conclusion to consider it something similar to moving at least ...), I am digging through everything and found a pair of glasses. Yep, yet another one. In … [Read more...]
Finding homes for your clutter
A couple of Saturdays ago, you will remember, I asked for people to send in requests for blog posts for me to write about. Everyone who wrote in had wonderful ideas of which I have made a list and will most certainly address each and every one of them in the near future. I received the following request from Nicole which I felt needed addressing sooner rather than later. Although I can't comment on the intricacies of her specific area of residence, which is somewhere in France by the way, I can give you all some general ideas that would then have to be translated into actual possibilities in … [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...]
Thoughtless Donations
I happened upon a situation the other day that was disappointing in more ways that one. And although I am sure all my readers are more responsible than the perpetrators of this, what I consider to be a crime, I wanted to point out how wrong it is. Take a look at the photos below. I noticed the donations piling up around these bins on my way past the area the previous night. At that stage the donations were still packed in bags and boxes. I decided I would come down and get some photos the next morning for my blog with the intension of also notifying the charity of the situation and that was … [Read more...]
Donna Smallin of Unclutter.com on The Law of Attraction
I have been subscribed to the monthly newsletter from unclutter.com (not to be confused with unclutterer.com) since back in 2010 before I even began to blog about decluttering myself. I always find Donna Smallin's advice very useful and inspiring. I found an article from her latest newsletter particularly thought provoking and wanted to share it with you all. I emailed Donna for permission to use the article on my blog and her response was so friendly and welcoming and of course she said yes. So without further adieu, here it is... "Many of us have a tendency to hold on to things long after … [Read more...]
Friday’s Favourite Five ~ 2 Dec 2011
On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my five favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my five favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did. Fave Five Comments. Enjoy! This comment form Jo epitomises the complexity of gift giving. Ami is a new reader or at least a new commenter and needs a little encouragement to be patient with the slow and steady approach. She left this comment, her first, on Thursday and I was particularly happy with her finishing sentence. It proves that she is seeing the benefits already and just needs to focus on … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Don’t Be Fooled into Buying for Charity
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom What do all these things have in common? Buy (Red): 10 to 50% of the proceeds of which go to eliminating AIDS in Africa. Book Sale: 20% proceeds go to your child's school! Would you like to buy some wrapping paper to support our band trip? How about a beautiful $200 beaded bracelets that supports JDRF? An undisclosed portion of the proceeds are donated to the organization. Rubber bracelets for sale for every cause possible. Typically $1 each. Obviously, these are all ways of coaxing a donation out of you; that is, providing a rationalization for a … [Read more...]
I love Freecycle ~ Have you tried it yet?
I have three main methods of disposal when it come to rehousing my clutter. I donate most of my items to the thrift store. I have used the same thrift store since the beginning of my declutter mission and now I volunteer there as well. I sell items that I feel inclined to recoupe my losses on, by auctioning them on ebay. It is a love hate relationship but all in all I have done pretty well out of it. And then there is Freecycle.org This is my go to place for when I am trying to responsibly dispose of items that are not appropriate for the thrift store or that are too awkward to sell … [Read more...]