Each of us has a different day when we clean up all the decorations from the holidays. One thing we all do though is repack and stash away everything. This is a great time to declutter. We have a great opportunity to look at each item and decide: Did we use it this time? Does it need repair or a toss into the trash? Do we like it? Do we want to change our style/color? Has our life changed in a way that requires our decorating to change? Now is the time to declutter all of those holiday items you no longer need taking up space in your home. Things like decorations, … [Read more...]
Silly Season Series ~ Consumable Gifts by Moni Gilbert
Looking for some last minute gift ideas? Ideas which won't clutter your friend's and family's home and will be happily received? Here are a few consumable gift ideas from myself, Deb J and Idgy of the North. Moni’s Lemon Honey (also known as Lemon Curd) 3 eggs 1 Teaspoon grated lemon rind 1 Cup Sugar ½ Cup Lemon Juice 50 grams butter  Melt butter in a 2 litre microwave proof container. Add rest of the ingredients and stir. Microwave on high for 8 minutes. Allow to cool then pour into hot dry jars. Seal when cool. Note: this recipe won’t work if … [Read more...]
Silly Season Series ~ Christmas Shopping and the power of planning
A guest post by Andréia So, there is Christmas just around the corner and the dreaded shopping season is on its way again. Some will start shopping now and not stop until Christmas day. Some will not shop at all. Some will spend way more than they can and have a January and other months filled with angst at unpaid debts and regrets at impulse shopping. One way to celebrate Christmas, for those of us who celebrate it, is to not buy gifts at all. But we want to celebrate the season and gifting one another seems a very warm way to do it. But the gifting has to have meaning and be useful. … [Read more...]
Silly Season Series ~ Christmas shopping for kids by Andréia
It is that time of the year again. Christmas is approaching and with it comes the shopping season. But I am not getting too deep into that in this post. I want to talk about children and their gifts. I have three young children and a host of well-intentioned extended family. That being said, it means that my children get tons of toys, every single year. I can´t seem to put a hold on my relatives, but I have developed strategies not to be sunk deep in new toys. Mind you, I might seem ungrateful, but one child can have enough toys. And sometimes a interesting and or fun experience, or … [Read more...]
Mini Mission Monday ~ Silly season stuff
Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and "fun" for you to achieve some quick decluttering. The holiday season is a great time for decluttering. It always seems to be the time of year where all the weird stuff comes to the surface or at least comes to mind. And now is a great time to send it on its way. So here are some items to be on the lookout for. Monday - Declutter something … [Read more...]
Silly Season Series Part 2 ~ Christmas/Hanukkah Gift Wrapping
This post was contributed to 365 Less Things by Deb J Gift wrapping is one of the big “chores†of the Christmas/Hanukkah season. A later post in this series will talk about alternative gifts for adults but for those who take part in gift giving among family and friends decluttering wrapping supplies can make a big difference. Every year as you walk through the stores you see a big assortment of wrapping papers, bows, bags, gift tags and gift boxes. I remember a time when we had a huge storage tub of wrapping supplies we would buy in the after Christmas sales and hold over for the … [Read more...]
The silly season series ~ Part 1
This blog post is by Moni Gilbert who is coordinating this series of posts. As we enter the Silly Season I would like to kick off a series written by Deb J, Andréia and myself entitled "365-ing The Silly Season". So often women plan their holiday seasons to the nth degree with the goal of the 'perfect' day and while the home might look grand, the menu perfect and all the little details might be delightful, is there a tired, stressed out woman behind it all?  I would like to suggest the gift of going a little easier on yourselves.  Trust me, no one will notice the difference if you … [Read more...]
Before & After ~ Michelle’s Christmas Declutter
Last year one of your fellow 365ers, Michelle, was on a mission to reduce her Christmas supplies. Some bins she spent time on in consideration while others bins she just did a quick rush through. The following photos show the pile of stuff she had (on the left) and the end result of her decluttering effort on the right. The third photo below is the stack of what she decluttered.  There was  more on the floor that isn't in the picture. She told me that she could have spent more time and consideration in getting rid of more but this was at least a first step. Quite a massive effort for a … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Don’t Shop for Christmas Yet
I was making my semi-monthly trip through Costco and what did I spy everywhere I looked? Christmas items! Christmas foods, Christmas wrap, Christmas decorations, Christmas gifts, even Christmas Kleenex. (Okay, let's be honest, what do you think is going to happen to Christmas candy that you bring home in September? Uh huh, that's what I thought.) Well I'm here to tell you - it's too early to shop for Christmas. I am convinced that the earlier you start shopping, the more things you buy - both for yourself and for others. You buy a book for your child and by the time Christmas rolls around, … [Read more...]
Unwanted Gifts
Today I am going to share with you a little story from a relative of a friend which I found most amusing. It is in relation to unwanted gifts and goes like this... One Christmas this mother whose children were grown and left home decided to do something a little different for Christmas. At sometime previously she had ceased purchasing gifts because they neither needed nor wanted anything. So prior to the Christmas in question she collected up things from around her house that the children had left behind. She then wrapped them up and put them under the tree. On Christmas morning as the … [Read more...]