As I am on vacation in New Zealand for some time I will be republishing old posts from the archives to keep you all entertained and motivated while I am busy. I hope you will enjoy the post I have dug up for you today and that it inspires you to have at it and get some decluttering done. How much time do you waste in your day then profess to have no time to get your house in order. No time to begin decluttering that stuff that is making it difficult to keep your house in order. We are all entitled to downtime. I am not going to argue that fact. The question is has your downtime taken over. … [Read more...]
Dithering? ~ By Peggy W
I have dithered many times in my decluttering journey, unable to make a decision about my stuff. Two of the “ditherees†left my house this morning because I needed soft fillers to keep the glass bowls I was donating from clashing with each other. One item was a top I bought that always looked better on my younger daughter than it did on me. When she left home, she also left the top. I thought this morning that I’m never going to wear that again and it’s not my other daughters’ style, so out it went. The other item was a pair of nice warm slippers. They didn’t have an … [Read more...]
The key to action is enjoyment
I received a comment from Bernadette on the 365 Less Things Facebook page this week that said... "I enjoy getting rid of things. It is so liberating. Got rid of a bunch of old photos today." And that is a great example of the key to getting anything done, which is enjoying the process. If you can get yourself to that point, with any challenge, then how can you fail. After all, who won't do whatever they can to find some time in their day to do the things they enjoy doing. I have always enjoyed my decluttering which was what made it such a success for me. Even when it also required … [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...]
Ringing Out the Old and Welcoming the New ~ By Deb J
How many of you come to the end of the year with a bundle of paper you need to keep to prepare your taxes or because you have to be reimbursed for medical expenses or for who knows what reason? How many of you just find that at the end of the year you have piles of Stuff you can’t remember having a reason to keep? How many start the year with plans to do better and then it all falls apart? Every year I find myself going through a large personal safe of paperwork. I’ve been good about filing it away but I still have way more than I want or need. I also find myself starting a new … [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...]
Declutter With Friends: Let the games begin!
A guest post by: Nicole V Do you know the word game in which a player begins with a word in a particular category (countries or cities, for instance), with subsequent players taking turns to say a new word that begins with the final letter of the previous word? Once a word has been given, it cannot be repeated and any player who is unable to come up with a word is out of the game. It is usually referred to as the ‘Last and First’, ‘Last Letter Game’ or ‘Last Letter Word Chain’ although I’m sure there must be other names for it. Well, I was thinking that it might be fun for us … [Read more...]
Disposing of this weeks mission yields
In a post a couple of weeks ago that asked a range of question about your clutter issues and my blog. One of the readers asked for more information on how to get rid of the clutter that has been set aside for removal. I do have a list of ideas on a page here at 365 called Recycling/Donating Guide that you can find here. However it is an unfinished page and may not yield the information you are looking for and also may not be relevant to your location. It is worth taking a look at none the less during those times when you have hit a brick wall. As I just mentioned, access to ways to sell, … [Read more...]
Spark of joy equals…
I received the following question from Nicole V in Monday's comments... Hi, Colleen. I have not read Marie Kondo’s book but have seen the ‘sparking joy’ catchphrase all over the place. What does she say about mundane items that might not necessarily ‘spark joy’, but are needed in a home? Does she ‘re-Kondonize’ them under a separate category? Well Nicole and your fellow 365ers, I am going to give you my take on what I believe to be that "spark of joy". I have written about a similar thing some time back here at 365 Less Things. There are so many blog posts in my archives that … [Read more...]