R E C Y C L E        R E C Y C L E R E C Y C L E The Word for Today is so simple yet so important. If you are not using something then it is just taking up space. There are so many ways to RECYCLE your unwanted goods that very little should go to waste. RECYCLE by giving things you don't want to a charity, friends, family or even a casual acquaintance. RECYCLE by selling your items on through web sites like ebay or advertise in you local newspaper or through you work Intranet. RECYCLE by putting all unwanted items made of cardboard, paper, metal or recyclable plastic in … [Read more...]
Day 164 100 posts and still counting
Hi to all the people out there who read my post on a regular basis and to all newcomers as well. Yesterday was my 100th post and I am still very keen to continue. I am enjoying sharing with you all the lessons I am learning along this journey of decluttering and I hope my blog has been a help to you in turn. To celebrate this auspicious occasion my site has a whole new fresh look. I made that sound so planned but in fact I didn't know I had a "whole new fresh look" to my blog until I got home from work yesterday to find my husband had been tinkering in my absence. He did a good job though … [Read more...]
Day 156 Freecycle
This week I used Freecycle for the first time and was delighted with the results. First of all I was amazed that the place I live even had Freecycle and secondly I was pleased that it gives me an outlet for items that would otherwise be difficult to find homes for. Let me explain... I listed three items, two if which were a box of baseball cards and a guitar amplifier that doesn't work. As you can see neither of these items is suitable to send to a charity because they only want stuff in working condition and baseball cards would be a bit obscure to say the least for an Australian thrift … [Read more...]
Day 145 My Recipe for Cookbook decluttering
Ingredients: 1 Kitchen cupboard                                  40 Recipe Books 1 plastic crate                                              1 Pinch of Common Sense Method: Open the kitchen cupboard where you keep you recipe books. Take all of the recipe books out of the cupboard. Use your common sense to determine whether you actually ever use these books or are ever likely to. Keep in mind that you can Google any recipe you could possible want and or borrow recipe books from the … [Read more...]
Day 140 Google your way to recycling
While going on my morning walk today I was outraged to see some of the stuff people have put out on the street for Bulk Waste Collection Day in our neighbourhood. I would rather not dwell on it at the moment because it put me in a rather negative frame of mind and I am trying to get something positive out of it. I will be sure to explain my outrage in an upcoming post just in case I have tweaked your interest. Rather than be negative I decided to get on my computer and Google subjects to see how much information I could find on charities and recycling opportunies in my local area. It was no … [Read more...]
Day 137 Methods of disposal
Keeping it simple today I thought I might just compile a list of the methods I have used to dispose of the items that I have decluttered. Donate to charity Give to friends Throw in the trash bin Bulk Waste Collection (Explained Yesterday) Curbside Donation (I will explain this one below) Regift Sell on eBay Re-assign (eg. turning gift wrap into eBay packaging) Use up (like excess toiletries products) Curbside Donation explained: We live on a fairly busy road and I have been known to take large items that I no long require out to the footpath in the hope that someone will … [Read more...]
Day 132 Give Away – Throw Away – Sell
Today I am giving you a tally of what has been thrown away, what has been given away and what has been sold on eBay since the beginning of my new years resolution of 365 less things. There is an upside and a downside to this count though. The upside is that most of the items I have uncluttered from my home have either been donated to charity, given to friends or sold on eBay. As I have mentioned before the advantage to this is that they have gone to new homes where they have the chance of being used to their true potential. The downside is that the reason behind the fact that there has … [Read more...]
Day 98 Garden Downsize
I live in a townhouse so I don't have much to care for in the way of garden or lawn but for what I do have I am endevouring to minimalise the amout of equipment and time required to maintain it. I only purchase/aquire plants that can survive my neglect, requiring little watering or pampering in any way and hardy enough to cope with the varying climate we can get here at times. When we first moved into the property we owned a lawn mower and an edge trimmer which seemed a little overkill for a lawn 5m long by 1.5m wide so my husband bought a rotory hand mower and gave the other items to … [Read more...]
Day 91 Stocking up or obsessing
I once came across and article in a scrapbook magazine with a survey to determine whether the reader was a scrapbooker or a collector of scrapbook supplies. This may seem amusing to some but there is an fine edge that one can easily slip over when at the height of a crafting obsession. This applies to all crafts and hobbies, woodworking, quilting, knitting, beading, model making... the list goes on. So beware and try to put a limit on the amount of supplies you allow yourself to amass. It is very easy to get carried away. Tastes change, trends change and life changes and one day you may … [Read more...]
Day 90 Uncluttering, the cure for retail therapy
I have discovered that uncluttering is the cure for resorting to retail therapy. How often do we use retail therapy to make up for times when we feel down, disappointed, bored and other conditions of the mind. What does this kind of therapy do to improve the situation? Usually it just adds more problems like credit card debt, guilt and regret. It has amazed me how quickly I formed a dislike to shopping once I committed myself to my 365 day resolution to de-clutter my home. Now when I get spare time I don't get bored, I use that time to find the next thing I am going to get rid of or try to … [Read more...]