Here are some questions to ask yourself if you have a lot of nicknacks adorning your home. Usually a home full of nicknacks also has additional furniture to house those nicknacks. Pedestals and little tables for them to sit on, china cabinets and bookshelves crammed with them, open 3D frames hanging on the wall containing more tiny bits and pieces. Just the thought of it all makes me wheeze and sneeze. So here are my questions... How important can each and every item possibly be to you when they are crammed onto shelves where you can't even see half of them because they are hidden … [Read more...]
Never Satisfied
Have you ever been in a relationship with a person who was just too hard to please. Someone that no matter what you gave them it was never enough. Your time, your effort and your hard earned money all wasted in vain, that person were never satisfied. You even went into debt buying the things they wanted and they would to be happy for a short while but then it was back to wanting something else. The stuff you gave them accumulated leaving you with the task of taking care of it or cleaning around it, a constant reminder of your foolishness. Was this relationship worth the effort? Was it … [Read more...]
Mini Mission Monday ~ Someday Clutter
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 theme for tomorrow's post is Someday so I thought I might as well make it the theme for the mini missions this week as well. I won't elaborate too much on someday because I will cover that in full tomorrow. Simply put though, holding stuff, or worse still buying stuff, for someday is a major … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Resistance Is NOT Futile
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom Any fan of Star Trek or American pop culture has heard the phrase "Resistance is futile." It was popularized on the TV show Star Trek when the Borg (human-machine hybrids) were about to assimilate (i.e., suck in, take over, and destroy) a new race of beings. This phrase popped into my mind yesterday when I was perusing the sales flier for the big box discount store Costco. Costco and its competitor Sam's sell items in bulk - big bulk - in a warehouse setting and at discounted prices, often significantly discounted. Not only can you buy food in bulk, more than … [Read more...]
Non-Emergency Supplies
These two comments, from Sanna and Ideealistin, kicked of the responses to yesterdays Mini Mission post.  They make a great point about how we don't need to be cluttering up our homes with stocks of items that in no way constitute emergency supplies. Especially when one spare is enough or in some cases aren't even crucial. How often do you urgently need an envelope, a scented candle, four cigarette lighters or a can of fly spray. And how far ahead do we really need to restock these items before they run out. Do you really need to have another bottle of shampoo waiting in the wings … [Read more...]
The Leading Question Strategy
Recently I was let in on a strategy on how to state a case or perhaps even get another person to come around to your way of thinking without their sensibilities being offended. The idea is to get people to think rationally about a subject without them realising that you are leading them in a direction they may not have considered. The trick is to broach the topic in the form of a question that you quite likely have the same opinion on. Once you are in agreement you steer the conversation, maybe even in the form of another question, in the direction in which you want it to go. Successfully … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Reaching into the Archives
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom I revisted the archives from September 1, 2010 for this post. It was titled "Cindy's Take on Avoiding Recluttering." This time I have published it with gift buying in mind. As appropriate, insert "the gift recipient" in place of "I" 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 … [Read more...]
My ten tips for simplifying Christmas
Below are ten guidelines I follow to simplify my Christmas. They don't guarantee a stress free Christmas but they sure do help. Neither do they eliminate outside pressures to conform to the rest of society but we can make changes to better suit our princles. I hope you find them helpful as it is possible to have a very merry Christmas without all the expense, over indulgence, stress and clutter. Get organised ahead of time. Whether you have big plans or small the more you have sorted ahead of time the smoother everything will run and the more relaxed you will be when the festivities … [Read more...]
From the Archives ~ Day 328 Black Friday
Written by:- Cindy Bogard If you're in a big hurry, just read this: Resist! If you're not in such a hurry, feel free to read on. In the United States, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which was on Thursday this week. Sadly, the website Answers.com defines Black Friday as "an unofficial American holiday". Sad, not because the rest of you are missing out; sad because a day of shopping insanity has somehow become "an unofficial American holiday". So what is Black Friday? As I said, it's the day after Thanksgiving and the official start to what's called the holiday … [Read more...]
Who can resist a sale?
At the moment I am reading Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational. Chapter eight is all about keeping doors open ~ that is keeping opportunities available just in case the current situation doesn't work out as planned. Dan loves to test his theories and after experimenting with this idea he came to the conclusion that "...running helter-skelter to keep doors from closing is a fools game. It will not only wear out our emotions but also wear out our wallets." Of course leaving the odd door open isn't always a bad thing so long as you reserve the habit for important doors. Feeling the … [Read more...]