With fear that lately I have started to sound like some of the nuns I remember from my school days, preaching hell and damnation day in day out, I thought I might write something a little more upbeat today. I'd like to point out the joy that can be found in decluttering your home. This joy can be appreciated from day one, not just at the end of the journey. See if you can identify with the joy of..... A Fresh Start - It is never too late to begin a new phase in your life. Cut yourself some slack and don't dwell on the past. Acknowledge the things you got right and learn the lesson of … [Read more...]
Day 223 Clutter weakness
Everyone seems to have at least one clutter weakness. Mine was paper crafting supplies and magazines. Even when I was at the height of my paper crafting days I think I was more addicted to shopping for supplies than I was to using them. I did do quite a bit of the craft but I bought a whole lot more than I was ever going to need even if I had continued at the crafting pace I was at. I am not sure what really turned me off my addiction but I think it may have been photo clutter. The beauty of digital photography is also its downfall. You can take as many photos as you can fit on you DS card, … [Read more...]
Day 208 Time to tackle the tricky stuff
For the last 207 days finding things to declutter has been a reasonably simple task due to the sheer volume of stuff that needed to go. Now it is time to tackle the tricky stuff. The stuff that so far I have avoided simply because I didn't want to make the hard decisions. Things like... Those craft items that I keep telling myself I will eventually use one day but after years that day has never arrived. Some of the sentimental items that deep down I know are just clutter that no one but me would ever want. Items that I know I don't want but have been struggling whether I should give … [Read more...]
Day 202 How much hard work does this item cost.
I found this clever shopping deterrent strategy when reading my comments yesterday and I thought I would share it with you. Here is what Jacquie, who was inspired by Gogol's buy it back approach, had to say... Along the same lines as Gogol, if I am thinking of buying something new, I use an ‘earning money’ analogy. I use a basic hourly rate and say to myself “If I had to work for (how ever many hours to earn the cost of the item) and at the end all I was given was this item – do I like it enough or want it badly enough to do that? Often the answer is no. I can now use the … [Read more...]
Day 177 Recycle
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 165 Would you like some adventure with your coffee
I live in a city on with a population of about 160,000. So far I have explored very little of the area and have decided it is about time I made a bigger effort to find out more about the wonderful ways to spend time in this fascinating city without it involving shopping. I meet a friend for coffee at least one day a week and usually we get together at the local shopping centre because it is convenient and there are plenty of cafes to choose from. The problem with this arrangement is that once we have finished dining there is nothing else to do there except shop. As you know I have no desire … [Read more...]
Day 160 My thrifty packaging
As you know we have been selling a bit of stuff on ebay since the start of this 365lessthings challenge. I have mentioned before how I hate wasting our ebay earnings on costly packaging so I do my best to recycle otherwise unwanted resources to make my own thrifty packaging. After telling a friend of mine how well I had been doing recently selling snow gear on ebay she asked if I would sell some snow gear for her. During this exercise I took some photos to show you the process of creating my thrifty packaging. I used a box from a piece of furniture from the store I work at. I cut out … [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 155 A selling milestone
With today's item which sold on eBay for $36.00 we have hit a milestone. We have broken the $1000 mark for selling unwanted items. I am pleased we have managed to redeem some of the money that in some cases was wasted in the first place. In other cases though we had got more than our money's worth out of the items and the cash was just a bonus while other items we made a killing on. A quick story regarding an eBay auction not relating to this decluttering quest but something my husband nearly threw away last year but put on eBay as a last minute decision. It was a kick start for a Ducati … [Read more...]
Day 143 Team Effort
Decluttering is a much easier task when it is a team effort. I can't imagine what it is like when the effort is one sided or worse sabotaged with one person doing all the work while the other is under-minding their efforts by bringing more clutter into the home. That said, I want to take the opportunity today to give credit to my husband for the way he has embraced my resolution to remove 365 items of clutter from our home this year. This would be a much more difficult quest if I had to do it alone and especially if he was not prepared to co-operate because the clutter is not all mine It … [Read more...]