Consumerism Paradox: Acquiring Stuff only to Let it All Go

I came across this meme on Facebook the other month and it rang soooo true.

"I spent the first 2/3 of my life acquiring stuff that doesn't matter only so that I can spend my last 1/3 getting rid of it. What a stupid game of consumerism we play"

And in some way... we all know this...

"You can't take it with you"...

"We are born with nothing and leave this earth with nothing."

Yet, we continue to teach our kids that it's a game in which "Whoever crosses the finish line with the most, wins." Really?

And I get the truth at the heart of this meme too... we need "stuff" in order to live our life. Unless we want to be itinerate hobos with no home, no stuff. Which is always a possibility. And because we are born with nothing... we need to get "stuff".

As we approach the later years of life, we recognize that we can't take this "stuff" with us. But the sad truth is... no one wants our "stuff". We chose it because it fit us and our lifestyle and the consumerist trends current when we bought it.

But... newsflash... china cabinets are no longer de rigeur. No one wants the china cabinet. No one wants the precious china that was soooo expensive and a "collector's item". No one wants the fancy embroidered table cloths. Nope... not even if the china is Royal Doulton or the cabinet is solid walnut.

I do have hope for the younger generation. They at least recognize that the walnut china cabinet is not something that will add value to their lives. It is just one more massive piece of furniture taking up space in a tiny apartment that will never hold china that is never used. It serves no useful function. Don't want it. Don't need it. Would the younger generation want the china cabinet if they could afford bigger homes? Somehow I doubt it. They don't want to be tied down. They don't want the mortgage and the 9 to 5 jobs.

But then I think of the teens today... they do buy things. Lots of clothing. Lots of make-up and jewelry. At least the girls. But maybe the boys too. What will happen when they fly the coop and move into their own apartments, likely shared with multiple roommates? Will they go out and buy new furniture? Probably not. Will they grab free stuff off the side of the road, or for cheap off of Facebook Marketplace and thrift stores... probably.

Maybe this meme is really a testament to the Boomers and Generation X. Maybe this meme will have no relevance to younger generations. Perhaps because they will have been collecting experiences and not things? I hope so. Or maybe they will only purchase stuff "that matters". Perhaps they will be immune to the siren call of tchotchkes? Perhaps they will be able to distinguish what "matters" and what doesn't matter. I hope so.

In the meantime... Minimalism is trending, the Joy of Tidying Up is a thing, and the Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning has its own Facebook group. Go figure. Declutter, purge, let go... because we can't take it with us. And no one wants our stuff.

Puzzled Reflections: Clearing My Puzzle Backlog

Someone else's puzzle hoard
(from Reddit)

Hi, my name is Gigi and I'm a puzzlaholic (yes, it's a thing).

Seriously. It's a thing. And I'm not the only one!

I follow some jigsaw puzzle groups on Facebook and you would not believe how many puzzles people have stashed away in their homes.

Dozens... no... hundreds!!!

Some people have an entire ROOM devoted to jigsaw puzzles (be still my beating heart). They post pictures of how they have organized their puzzle hoard... by brand... by number of pieces... by box size...

People share different storage options for their puzzles - wire shelving, book cases, etc. (N.B. IKEA bookshelves are a big favourite).

Puzzling Hunting is Half the Fun

Now... I also see a LOT of people selling puzzles... brand new... unopened... never done. There was a post today which shared that puzzling is actually two separate hobbies: (1) finding and buying puzzles and (2) doing puzzles. It is very true.

Hunting for puzzles is a LOT of fun. I'm pretty laid back about it. I don't go out there, actively hunting for a specific puzzle. But some people do that. They have "Puzzle Collections" - they are collecting puzzles like some people collect stamps. They might specialize in Ravensburger, the Van Life series... or the Curiosity Cabinet series... or whatever. 

Me? I'm just happy if I find a "good" puzzle - nice brand, nice pic, box in decent shape and... if I shake it... it sounds like it's bagged inside. Because here's a PPP - Puzzlers Pet Peeve... people who put the pieces back in the box... loose... and then the puzzle gets donated to a thrift store and is NOT taped shut. I don't know if you've walked through the puzzle section at Value Village but... they only rubber band the puzzle boxes... which is not enough. The number of orphaned puzzle pieces on the floor is enough to make a puzzler weep.

Anyhow... I'm not THAT bad, I don't "collect" puzzles. I'm not a snooty puzzle collector. I buy all of my puzzles second-hand at thrift stores. I then do them, take a pic of them, bag the pieces in a ziploc, put them back in the box and sell them... if they are complete.

If they are missing a piece or two, I throw a hissy fit and then donate the puzzle back to the thrift store, with the box clearly marked that a piece is missing! (Grumble... Here's another PPP - there is nothing worse than buying a puzzle, opening the box (which is often taped shut) and finding a little note from the previous puzzler that says "one piece missing". GAH!!! Write it on the box!)

Covid Puzzling

Some of my puzzle stash...

Puzzling, as a hobby, really seemed to take off during Covid... and I bought a LOT of excellent puzzles at the thrift stores during Covid.

And squirreled them away in various closets, pantry shelves and in baskets on top of the kitchen cabinets. (I puzzle in the dining room... hence the puzzles in the pantry).

Because, you see... there are always new puzzles showing up in thrift stores.... "Ooooohhh... I love that one!!!" So I buy these newer ones and do them and the older ones languish.

To be honest... some of the ones I bought during Covid... well, they looked good on the shelf but, they are HARD! And so I skitter away and work on the easier ones... the newer, easier ones.

A brutal 1000 pc Heye puzzle... all those little people and little bits of rigging
a nightmare to sort... took me forever!

Until January 1... at which point I decided that somebody (me) needed to get a grip. I committed to clearing the puzzle backlog... first!

Enough is Enough

So I went through the house and did an inventory of all of my To-Do puzzles... there were "only" 41. Which isn't bad. I mean... come-on... some people have hundreds! I only have a few dozen... **cough**

Some of my completed puzzles

Then I told my partner the rules. I can't buy any puzzles until I clear the backlog. All of it. If I DO buy a puzzle, then I am paying her a penalty of twice the sticker price of the puzzle. Cause I'm a sucker for 30% off days at Value Village and the thrift stores. If a puzzle is $10 and I get 30% off... that is a done deal! But if I have to pay a $20 penalty on that $10 puzzle (bought for $7)... then it's really a $27 puzzle and that is NOT a done deal.

By January 19, I had churned through a dozen puzzles, which isn't bad! By then, I also knew why I had procrastinated on so many of them. They are almost all 1000 piece puzzles which take me a good 3 to 6 hours to complete. There are also a lot of Cobble Hill puzzles which have the weirdest randomly shaped pieces meaning the puzzling is much harder.  And... silly me... I had bought a few 1500 piece puzzles AND even a couple 2000 piece puzzles. Ugh...

But... as long as there is a backlog... I can't get any more puzzles. There's incentive for you!

With one caveat... if I find a still-new puzzle (shrink-wrapped)... I can buy that if the price is reasonable, cause I can just turn around and sell that. I saw a $2.95 shrink-wrapped Cobble Hill in a thrift store the other day and passed on it (oh the pain!)... and when I told my partner, she said I should have bought it! Buy it for $3 and sell for $10... that's a deal!

My Learnings

I have learned a few things during this process:

1. Bigger is not Better - I am a 500 to 1000 piece puzzler. Anything bigger and it gets tedious and I lose interest. 500 piece puzzles also sell the best!
2. Ravensburger is Best - I am a Ravensburger puzzle person. My favourite brand, hands-down. Plus they are easier to sell.
3. Diversity is not Better - I am done with experimenting with other puzzle brands: no more Cobble Hill (I am not a masochist), Heye (ugh), Jumbo, Pomegranate, Bits 'n' Pieces, Wasgij (maybe)... I know what I like and I'll stick with it.
4. More is not Better - let's go for quality and puzzling joy over quantity and puzzle slogging...
5. Don't buy at Value Village - they try to sell a 1000 piece Cobble Hill for $14.99!!! That is a second-hand puzzle with NO guarantee that all the pieces are there. Plus, it's ridiculously over-priced. 1000 piece puzzles typically go for $10 on Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes, very rarely, on a 30%-off day, I will find a deal at Value Village, but those are getting few and far between.
6. How Much is Enough? - I am not a puzzle hoarder. Or maybe I am a reformed puzzle hoarder? My hoard is small... OK... smaller... than others. But I have no desire to hoard puzzles. They nag at me. I am going to limit myself to a hoard of... 5? Max 10? No... 5. That's it. Maybe just one shelf of To-Do puzzles?? That would be more like 10... 

Extreme Decluttering

 A few months back, I did the 30 day Declutter Challenge, where you let go of 1 thing on Day 1, 2 things on Day 2, 3 things on Day 3, etc, etc... and 31 things on Day 31. It adds up to a grand total of 465 things, which is pretty good for a month. At least I think so. I know, from experience, that the first 15 days were easy-peasy... the last 15 days... not so much.

But there are even more extreme declutterers out there. Did you hear about the Danish mom who decluttered 1000 things? Yep, her family now has one plate, one mug and one set of cutlery per person. If guests come over, they have to eat off of paper plates. The eco-warrior in me shudders at the thought of all of those paper plates being tossed away. But maybe she doesn't entertain that often?? We can only hope.

A dreamy minimalist office (where do they keep all their papers???)

Then there's the Canadian mom who got rid of 3500 things, including her children's toys!! They too only have 1 plate, mug, etc per person. More paper plates I guess. Or maybe a BYOPC (Bring Your Own Plate & Cutlery) for guests? Wondering too if maybe these news stories are paid for by the PPP (paper plate people)

Bedroom? Office? Is this our reality? Or just a teenager's reality?

 I thought the 30 day challenge was pretty extreme, but apparently not. Have you heard of the envelope decluttering system? You put 90 slips of paper in an envelope. Written on the slips are the numbers 1 to 30 and 1 to 20 (one number on each slip). The 1 to 20 slips are repeated 3 times. This gives you a grand total of 1095 items. Then you take a slip of paper out of the envelope and declutter that many items. So some days, it could be 1 or 2 or 4 and others could be 25 or 30. It's kind of like the 30 day minimalism challenge... just sort of repeated a few times and spread over a year.

And then there's just the plain version of decluttering 1000 items in year. Do it however you want... 2-3 items a day or 83-84 per month or 250 per quarter.

Now you'd think getting rid of 1000 items in a year would make a big difference. At least it seemed to make a difference for the Danish mom. But then... the Europeans tend to have less total possessions than us North Americans. Remember the Belgian photographer who took a pic of every single item in her home? Just shy of 13,000 items. Declutter 1000 of those items and you've gotten rid of almost 8% of your possessions. Explains why the Europeans are getting rid of extra plates; their possessions are pretty tight as it is!

But for a North American... with an average of 300,000 items... well... 1000 items is 0.3% of the total. A drop in the bucket. To match the Europeans, we'd have to declutter something like 24,000 items to even get close to 8% of our total! We're in no danger of decluttering our extra plates...

Soooo... 1000 items in a year should be easy peasy, right? Do I hear a challenge brewing? I can also imagine my partner's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Another challenge!!??" Maybe... Starting October 1? Hmmm... maybe...

What Does "Simple Living" Look Like?

All of this talk of "simple living" and "simplifying" has got me in a tizzy. What does it actually look like? Is it even possible? Or is life inherently messy and complicated? Is "simple living" actually a unicorn? Like... it doesn't exist?

There are certain things that certainly "simplify" life... like automatic bill payments and recurring events in calendars. But do they actually contribute to a "simple life"? Probably not... if we really wanted a "simple life"... we would sell everything and travel the world. Although... while that may simplify some aspects of life, it complicates others.

So, what does "simple living" even mean? Perhaps it means that we spend less time on activities that take a lot of energy/time but give low fulfillment. Or we find someone else to do those things. Like mowing the lawn... not a lot of fulfillment in that and it's a hassle... get someone else to do that? Or cleaning the house? Although I do get some fulfillment out of that. When I do it... the trick is just getting me to the point of doing it.

Perhaps "simple living" is just less... less of everything. Less appointments. Less stuff in the calendar. Less work. Less chores. In exchange for more fun?

I used to think that computers would simplify life... hah! And digital cameras? Hah! So much "easier" to send photos and store things but... simple? Nope... not at all. Not when you have 10,000s of thousands of photos cluttering up your hard drive. 

And that is an important distinction... simple does not mean easier. Sometimes the simple life is a hard life. So is it really "simple" living that I want or an "easy" life? And if life is easy... without challenges... does that just atrophy me?

The AI Weighs In on Simple vs. Easy

I thought I would ask the ChatGPT AI the question...

"Making life "simple" means reducing complexity and removing unnecessary complications, while making life "easy" means minimizing effort and avoiding difficulty. While the two concepts are related, they are not the same thing.

Simplicity focuses on removing distractions and reducing the number of choices you have to make, making it easier to prioritize what's important and make decisions. It can help you stay focused on your goals and reduce stress.

Ease, on the other hand, often involves delegating tasks or relying on external resources to handle things for you. It can make life more convenient and comfortable, but it may not necessarily lead to personal growth or a sense of accomplishment."

Yes... that is exactly the question I am pondering... do we really want a life of ease? Or are we looking for a simple life? Because a simple life would get to the point where we don't need to delegate things because we have eliminated the things that complicate life. 

So, perhaps the real question is... what would a simple life look like for us? In our situation. How can we simplify things as much as possible?

How to Make Life Simpler

Now, I know this isn't rocket science but... given the tizzy we are in... or I am in... it bears repeating.

1. Declutter: This is a no-brainer. Get rid of the things that are taking up space in the house (and the hard-drive) that are no longer used. And won't be used in the future.
2. Minimize Commitments: This requires me to identify what are the key things I want to keep in my life and to prioritize them. I think this is where "easy" comes in as well. If I want to spend more time hiking... then maybe it's time to de-prioritize house cleaning and delegate it to a cleaning service.
3. Focus on the Essentials: Similar to the one above... prioritize the things that matter the most to me and avoid getting bogged down in non-essential tasks. There are a lot of things that I do which are "nice to have done" but are they essential? Maybe not.
4. Establish Routines: Yep, routines help avoid decision fatigue and make things go smoothly.
5. Limit Distractions: Like social media and the news sites. Because they do suck up an inordinate amount of time and energy. If I say I don't have enough time for things... and then spend hours watching TV... that doesn't... quite... jive.
6. Automate tasks: Yes... like paying bills and grocery shopping. Although... during the pandemic I would go to Superstore to pick up my online order and end up sitting there for 45 minutes waiting for them to bring it outside. I am not sure that automation always simplifies things!
7. Simplify your finances: This could be helpful - rather than having bank accounts in 3 banks... and multiple credit cards... pull it way back and consolidate all of these. Maybe. I don't like having all eggs in one basket but not sure that 6 credit cards, all with different banks, are really necessary!
8. Get organized: Oh yes... this is a big one. My list of "to scan" papers has been growing larger every week and... tax season is always a stress. If I scanned regularly... tax season wouldn't be so bad. But it's a tedious task and so I put it off... even though it would make my life simpler... it isn't necessarily easy.
9. Prioritize self-care: And this makes sense too - taking the time saved from all of the earlier ideas... I make time for exercise, meditation, and spending time with family and friends. It reduces stress and makes me more able to handle the complexity of life...

All of these seem to have one thing in common... reducing stress. Consolidating things so there is "less" to worry about. "Less" stuff to take up mental energy. So it is for me to look and see... what are the main things that are causing me stress. Because it's going to be different for all of us. And really... I should clear the decks and then start with #9 - Prioritizing Self-Care... because when I neglect that... things start to fall apart quickly.

How to Make Life Easier

When you do a search for this on Google, you find a lot of the same ideas as above... ways to make life easier overlap quite a bit with making life simpler. But there are a few extra ideas...

1. Delegate Tasks: If I have done the above items... and re-evaluated my calendar and my priorities... I might decide that lawn-mowing is not a good use of my time. In which case I could get someone to come and mow the lawn. I am trading money for more time. Is it a worthwhile trade?
2. Stop Procrastination: Ugh. Again?!! Still?? Yep. Because the things that I procrastinate on really complicate my life eventually... and everything becomes harder when it is pushed and pushed and pushed into "tomorrow". Procrastination just makes life harder than it has to be.
3. Plan Ahead: Yep, this is a good one. Do some meal-planning for the coming week. So we aren't standing there 30 minutes before meal-time wondering... "What are we going to eat". There are lots of ways to create efficiencies that make life "easier".
4. Clear Emotional Space: This is one that bogs me down a bit. Forgiving people. Letting go of toxic relationships. Letting go of old grudges. 
5. Grab some Perspective: Compared to most of the world... we have incredibly easy lives. We don't have to carry potable water for miles. We don't have to scrounge for firewood to heat our food. We can communicate easily via email, phone, text. That helps to put things in perspective. And a daily gratitude habit might help as well...

The Nubbin at the Heart of This

Well... I see that I have some work to do. Before I get to the exterior stuff "out there" though... I think it requires me to start with the interior stuff first.

Step 1... get my self-care back on the front burner and stop nudging it to the back burner.

Step 2... clear some emotional space and practice some gratitude.

Step 3... stop procrastinating

I keep thinking that if I make the exterior of my life "simple" and "easy"... then that will reduce my level of stress. Truth is... if I don't handle the interior stuff first... then exterior changes aren't going to make one jot of difference. Less Stress is an inside job...  Sigh...

How Many Objects Do We Own?

Did you hear about the Belgian photographer who decided to photograph every item in her home? Yep, turns out Barbara Iweins has 12,795 items in her home. And that includes everything... every little single piece of Playmobile to every single fork and every single tweezer or blister pack of pills or screw or nail.

That seems like an awful lot of stuff. And yet... when I look at that number, I think... "Heck, I probably have at least that many nails and screws... just in nails and screws!" I'm a bit concerned that we would blow that number out of the water!

Some of the many items that Barbara Iweins catalogued in her home

What Barbara also learned was... only 1% of those objects are actually important (128 objects). The rest of it... she could get rid of easily. Now that number... I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. I mean, yes, I could easily get rid of every screw and nail and thing-a-ma-jig as they are not sentimental in the last. And not really "important"... until I need one. Which I often do. 

When I first read the 1% statement... I read it is they only "need" 1% of the things. But that's not the case... it's only that 1% of the things are "important". And many of those things are sentimental to Barbara and her children, like a Dahlia preserved in a jar of formalin.

And so I think... if we had to pack and move and could only keep the things that were "important" to us... what would we pack? Knowing that we could always get more nails and screws somewhere else. I think we could come in under, or at the 128 item limit. Maybe.

North American Reality

But then... I had a bit of a wake-up call... You see... this was a Belgian woman living in a typical European home. She was appalled at the 12,795 things that she owned... and that took her 4 years to photograph.

Guess what... the average American home contains around 300,000 things. Yep... that is almost 25 TIMES as much as our Belgian friend. The average American home has the contents of 25 Belgian homes in it.

On the bright side, that means I should be able to keep 300 items of importance to me but... that's not the point of this...

300,000 things. How is that even possible? Although... with my stash of screws and nails and thing-a-ma-bobs... I do see how we might.. maybe... come close to that. For sure if we counted every single puzzle piece as a separate item! And let's not even get into paperclips. We have the space in our large North American homes so it's easy to buy in bulk and stock up on paperclips and staples and sticky notes and nails and screws.

I had this vague idea that... "oooh... maybe I should photograph everything that we own!"... Yeah. No. I mean, Barbara is a photographer and everything she took a photo of was very nicely staged, which must have taken a fair bit of time. I wouldn't do that but... it's a very different thing to photograph 300,000 objects. Nope. Not doing it. And besides... that's the average American home... what if we have more!?

So you will NOT be reading a blog a year or two (or 10) hence when I produce 300,000 photographs of our possessions. Not doing it. It would be too scary.

Could we get by with less things? Undoubtedly. We have gone through decluttering purges every once in a while and it is always (a) amazing how much we can let go of and (b) amazing how much stuff we still have! Sometimes ignorance is, really, bliss.

More Reading

Barbara Iweins site - Where you can see her Katalog of items

Time to Sell and Simplify?

 We've lived in our current house for 10 years. That is the longest that I have lived in any place, other than at home when I was a kid and teen. Our house has a basement suite that we've been renting out on Airbnb. And we have a large yard (8200 sq ft) which requires a lot of maintenance. With a partner that has a chronic health condition, a lot of the work for the yard, house maintenance and the Airbnb falls on me. While my partner and I had both hoped that the health condition might improve... it would appear (7 years into it) that that is not the case. I'm not getting any younger and I am tired. Tired of the yard maintenance. Tired of the never-ending house maintenance. Tired of everything that we put into the Airbnb.

And so... a few days ago (Feb 28, 2023)... we began to seriously consider selling the house. We could sell it and then buy a condo, for easy, simple living. No Airbnb. No yard. No roof maintenance. No gutters. No perimeter drain. Somewhere in walking distance of stores and coffee shops and hiking trails.

We scrolled through the Realtor.ca app and identified a few top contenders. We messaged our realtor and said... we are ready to pull the trigger. Her response "Cool! So you have decided life is too short and want low maintenance, inexpensive, easy living and time to travel?" YES!! That!! Exactly!

So, tomorrow we are going to look at some places.

Now... this might all seem ass-backwards. Shouldn't we be selling the house before we look for something? Or at least know what we can sell our house for? Probably! I'm sure our realtor will have all of that ready for us tomorrow.

But in the meantime... in the last few days since Feb 28, I trotted down to the liquor store and came back with armfuls of liquor boxes. We have decided to send a message to the universe... We are ready to sell! So we have started by packing up nic-nacs and tchotchkes... all of the extras that clutter up the surfaces. We've packed up "extra" stuff... craft projects and supplies. We have packed up a bunch of books as we look to reduce the amount of furniture in some rooms.

We are looking at paint touch-ups. We had new door, window and floor trim installed a year ago (2 years ago?) and the brad-nail holes were spackled and sanded but need to be painted. The spare bedroom has a gazillion nail/thumbtack holes in the walls and needs a full paint job. Some closets had the rods taken out and extra plywood shelves put in for all of the craft stuff. So... clear out the stuff... take out the shelves... patch and paint the closets and... pack it full of boxes.

We may get a storage locker in March... we'll see how it goes. We need to hear back from our realtor...

And... yes... this might all be a lot of work for nothing. At the very least, we might be doing The Minimalists big declutter event... pack everything you own into boxes and, as you need things, open up a box and pull out that item. Maybe... after living without all of these "extras", we will decide that we like the open and clear house! Maybe we will be more inclined to let-go of things? Maybe.

And we have legitimately been decluttering as we pack up all of this stuff. The thought of schlepping it around to yet another living space is just too much. "I haven't used this in 20 years... it's time for it to go."

There is a freedom in all of this. And a fear as well! I hate moving. I hate the whole process. I hate the upheaval. I am scare of moving to somewhere new. I have had 10 years to put down roots in this house and a part of me just likes the old and familiar. But the other part of me wants less. Less house. Less responsibility. Less work. Less stress. Less complexity. I want more. More time. More free time. More walks. More simplicity.

Letting go of the old can be hard. It is warm and comfortable and familiar. Even if it is a lot of work. 

Sooo... as I write this on 3 March, 2023... I'm not sure what the future holds. This post is scheduled to come out in early September... that is a full 6 months away. Will next week's post have exciting news about a house sale and new condo? Or will we have reversed direction? Or maybe it will simply be an update on our progress... not sure... stay tuned!

I Wish we had a Garage

In all of the houses in which I have lived... I've never had an enclosed garage. Carports yes. Communal underground parking yes. But never an actual enclosed, just for me, garage.

I walk the streets in our neighbourhood many mornings and I see all of these garages and I wonder... what is inside?

A car parked out of the rain and snow?

Maybe a super organized workbench area along the side of the garage. 

A place to park the bicycle.

And perhaps some storage system along the ceiling. Because that's what I would have, in my ideal house, in an ideal garage. My dream garage...

What I Let Go of During the Last Three Days of the Minimalism Game

Right then. The last 3 days of the 30 Day Minimalism Challenge!!

If you've been following along, you can find my earlier blog posts here:

• Week 0 - Playing the 30 Day Minimalism Game
• Week 1 - What I let go of...
• Week 2 - What I let go of...
• Week 3 - What I let go of...
• Week 4 - What I let go of...

This post got a bit delayed because I came down with a nasty sinus cold and just conked out for 10 days but... it is done! I had to dive into the shed and the tool closet to find the 28, 29 and 30 things to declutter. This was brutally hard, these last few days but... it 's done!

Day 28

2 fabric planters - one of which was chewed to pieces by rats, so is not pictured

1 wand watering thing we have never used...

1 very old, very sad patio umbrella (broken)

2 broken saw horses

1 broken plastic container

4 thrashed gloves

1 bag of dead scrubbies

1 bundle of rusted wire

1 rope ladder

1 old goblet

1 broken faucet protector

2 - hammer head and ax head

2 old gloves (found the other one after this pic taken)

1 yogurt container

1 boating emergency kit

2 balls

1 broken compost bucket

1 kite

1 old patio cushion

1 thrashed entrance mat

Day 29

These last 2 days were super hard but... with the help of the tool closet... I got there...

2 broken zero-gravity chairs

3 packages electrical and light switch weather-proofing bits

3 baggies with screw cap thingies

3 bits of bike helmet padding and clips

3 sets of closet door bits

5 thingies - bag with string, handle with string, package of wires, package of small bungy cords, 1 loose bungy cord

5 thingies - bag with closet feet bits, bag with electrical plug, package light socket thingie, baggie with curtain rod bits, baggie with piece of drywall for paint comparison

5 thingies - pile of rando bits, pile of wooden bits, some window track locks, baggie with drywall plugs, baggie with old doorbell

And that's 29!

Day 30

More things from the tool closet!

3 yellowy outlet covers

2 sets pegboard holders

5 thingies - cover, package drywall plugs, baggie curtain bits, package with hinge, over the door hook

5 thingies - weird electrical extender, old faucet cap, envelope with felt protectors that are no longer sticky, water-saving shower head, saw hole kit

5 electrical covers

5 thingies - 3 dead rags, 1 package cabinet screws, 1 package with 2 GFCA outlets

1 wall mirror

1 roll of various poster sheets

1 picture

1 bulletin board (not pictured - already in car)

1 outdoor solar light (broken - in garbage already)

CONCLUSION

Well, this has been very interesting. The first 2 weeks, into week 3 were very doable. But the final week, particularly the final 3 days were brutal! But... we did get rid of a lot of stuff. The shed and tool closet were very fruitful areas for decluttering. Some of the stuff in the tool closet... I didn't even know what that stuff was!

There is more to declutter too... I could spend a bit more time in the tool closet and let go of various old tools and other things that we have no use for. And there is the behind-the-shed space which is also very fruitful.

Oh... and we let go of a bunch of pampas grass plumes! Forgot to even mention those...

I think we will keep doing the decluttering... slowly... over time... it's the small steps that make the biggest difference.

What I Let Go of during Week 4 of the 30 Day Minimalism Game

This is getting super hard. And I'm going to have to bump Day 28 into the next blog post as I didn't quite make the cut-off for writing this post!

Day 22

Today, we have a number of odd things... 3 more aluminium pie plates (from the stove drawer), 1 light-up trident toy, 3 doll clothes, 1 randome piece yellow ribbon, 2 jars lavender bath salts, 2 tiny stockings, 1 zipper plastic bag (not a ziploc), 2 pieces felt, 1 bent piece of wire hanger, 3 empty jars, 2 massage oil containers, 1 glass bread pan.

Day 23

It's getting to the point, where I can't take a group photo of the larger items sooo...

1 picture mat

1 batik wall hanging

1 picture frame broken

1 mitre saw

1 toy ball

1 weird velcro strap

1 purse handle

1 frisbee thingee

2 plastic store hangers

1 duvet and 1 rain jacket

10 pieces of clothing

1 tray

 And yes... that is 23 things. Ugh... getting seriously hard here folks!

Day 24

1 wool blanket - gifting it to a friend.

1 tripod - will try to sell on FB Marketplace

1 bag

1 bag - my Grade 8 sewing project - it's tiny and... it can go.

1 duffel bag

1 office bag

So that is 6 plus the remainder... 1 belt pouch, 1 toy ball, 1 camo scarf, 1 pile black fabric, 1 pile camo fabric, 1 fat cat harness, 1 cat gift box, 5 balls of cat hair from our previous two cats (sniff), 1 pile hazelnuts (they were cat toys), 5 fridge magnets

Day 25

OK... I think this is Day 25! As I took pics, I generally took one with a piece of paper in it that had the day number on it. But such was not the case here. But let's count:

2 over the door racks, 1 puzzle, 1 snowman, 1 tin, 1 donut cushion, 1 bathroom bag, 1 old sheet, 1 plastic container, 1 bag old Advils, 1 empty container, 1 piece of black foam, 1 card, 2 small puzzles, 1 magnetic Story Maker set, 1 wet suite, 1 mermaid tail, 5 stretch bands, 4 craft thingies (cardboard patterns and piles of yarn). Done!

Day 26

For this day, we went out into the garden shed. There's always something in there!

2 lounger chairs (broken)

1 old mat

1 old chair cushion

A kite (going to sell or donate)

1 broken compost bucket

2 balls

1 boating safety kit

1 plastic yogurt container

2 gloves - found one first and the other later (no pic of second one)

2 handle-less tools - ax and hammer

1 broken faucet cover

1 lost wine goblet

1 rope ladder

1 pile old metal wire

1 baggie with old scrubbies

4 old gloves

1 broken plastic tub

2 broken sawhorses

Day 27

Once again, I should have written these out but I'm hoping this adds up to 27!

3 throw pillows, 4 old lotions, 4 write-on fridge magnets, 3 other magnets, 3 rags, 4 cloth napkins, 3 random cutlery pieces, 1 necklace and 2 pieces jewellry (can't see them well in photo).

Alright, that's a wrap!

Day 28

About half way there for collecting Day 28, but will wait until I post Days 29-30 for this one.