Recreational shopping, I wish it was an oxymoron like - unbiased opinion or seriously funny- but unfortunately it's not. As the title suggests, people do approach shopping as a form of recreation. Sadly, having disposable income isn't always considered a necessity in the pursuit of such entertainment. Hence the abysmal levels of credit card debt in the Western world. Although I can't claim to be innocent of taking part in the past, I can honestly say that I did not contribute to the credit card debt statistics. Never the less, it is something I am not proud of and I am glad I learnt to be a … [Read more...]
Day 283 Vanity Clutter
Today's post is a follow in from yesterday elaborating on vanity the offshoot of pride. I have wanted to write this post since half way through my recent vacation. All those people lugging those huge suitcases on and off trains, planes and automobiles all, I can only guess, in the name of vanity. As I have mentioned before my husband and I managed our entire one month vacation with one half empty backpack each weighing about 12 pound. So I can only assume that those other couples were carrying a lot of stuff they just didn't need. How much of your clutter can you contribute to vanity? You … [Read more...]
Day 282 The seven deadly sins
Pride    Envy   Gluttony  Lust   Anger   Greed  Sloth If loosely translated you could associate five of the seven deadly sins to clutter. This may seem a bit like hitting below the belt but sometimes that's what it takes to make people realize the error of their ways. Pride - otherwise known as vanity is a sure trigger to the collection of numerous unnecessary items. How many things do we buy just because we want others to see how trendy, clever, sporty, rich, beautiful... that we are. We don't use these things in the privacy of our own home, we just want the world … [Read more...]
Day 252 Kids Birthday parties
Family Birthday Parties without Clutter A guest post by Cindy Bogard On Day 209, Colleen wrote about having a clutter-free birthday for her 19 year old son. For those of you with younger kids who thought, “Sure, that worked for her; he’s 19 after all,†this post is for you. My daughters are 8 and 10 (just beginning 3rd and 5th grades), and I’m here to tell you it is possible to reduce their birthday haul without reducing their birthday happiness. First of all, if you’re going to make any drastic changes to the way things have been, you need to prep your kids in advance. With my … [Read more...]
Day 249 Coupon & gift card management
Coupon and Gift Card Management Even though I never encourage anyone to shop needlessly here at 365lessthings there are always things that one needs and has to shop for. Quite often you can make some great savings by using store and manufacturer coupons. And there are always those gift cards that we so often receive that need to be used up. Cindy has been kind enough to write a post with her method of keeping her coupons and gift cards organized and easy to access. Here is what she had to say… A guest post by Cindy Bogard I don’t clip a lot of grocery coupons. When I get the … [Read more...]
Day 248 Not so big homes
Today I want to draw your attention to a web site that I discovered thanks to Stephanie who writes a blog called Renouncement . I first met Stephanie through a comment she left on my blog back in Day 208 and I featured her blog on Day 210. As always I went over to Stephanie's blog to check it out as I always do when someone new leaves a comment. On her About Me page she had listed among her favour books one called Not So Big House. Being the curious little munchkin I am I was intrigued and had to check it out. So I did what all computer savvy folk do and googled it and found this interesting … [Read more...]
Day 244 Cindy’s take on avoiding decluttering
Recluttering A Guest Post by Cindy Bogard It’s bound to happen sometime; you’re going to have to break down and buy something. Before you do, consider these factors: Do I need it? Do I want it? Did I come into the store looking for this item, or did it just catch my eye? Would I be criticized if my spouse or family members knew that I had purchased this? Can I afford it? If I cannot pay for it now, should I buy it? Can I wait a week and see if I still believe I need to buy this? I am buying it “just to try itâ€? If I am, is there some other way that I could try it … [Read more...]
Day 230 How many handbags does one woman really need?
ONE Yes that's right ONE. That is all you really need. Having said that, I own more than one handbag myself. I actually have three but I only ever use one. Maybe it is time I decluttered the other two. I used the other two bags more often before I needed prescription glasses but they are not big enough to hold the case. One of the reasons why I stick with just one bag is because I just can't be bothered moving the items I keep in there all the time from one bag to another. I don't like to carry a big bag because like every other space the bigger it is the more you fill it up with … [Read more...]
Day 214 Supply and Demand
There is an election going on at the moment here in Australia. The politicians often jump on the environmental bandwagon to win votes. The issues they promise they are going to address when they win are just a drop in the bucket to what really needs doing. In fact they aren't prepared to do much at all when it comes to the manufacturing of pointless garbage like... the free toys in kids meals and other promotional products wasteful single use gadgets shoddy appliances that don't last and can't be repaired Disposable cutlery & plates Cheap souvenirs The sheer quantity of … [Read more...]
Day 213 A little helpful hint
I happened upon a conversation at my work this week where one of the ladies was talking about getting money from petty cash to buy a new kettle for the lunch room. The old kettle still works quite well but due to who knows what in the water the inside of the kettle goes quite black over time. This new kettle buying has gone on in the past in fact I rescued the last kettle from it's certain demise with the simple hint that I am about to share with you. Clearly word had not got around that I knew the secret of cleaning the kettle. I find this very odd because as you might have guessed by now, I … [Read more...]