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...

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...

The Big Leap: My First Time Attempting a 2000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

I am a bit of a mad puzzler. I love doing jigsaw puzzles, as anyone who has read some of my previous posts will know! I recently did a post about how puzzling is full of life lessons - get organized, one small step at a time, it's OK to say "No", etc.

Charles Wysocki - 2000 piece puzzle

Usually I do 500 or 1000 piece puzzles. They are a good size and I can do them in a timely fashion (usually). But... a few weeks back, I decided to step up my game and try my hand at a 2000 piece puzzle. I chose a Charles Wysocki (Americana style) puzzle for my first attempt.

Well... let me tell you... the stack of pieces at the beginning was a bit overwhelming! And sorting them took a lonnnngggg time.

But... one group of pieces at a time and it got done. As I was sorting, I noticed a few slightly chewed puzzle pieces go by (perhaps a cat or a dog). I always find this annoying. I bought the puzzle at Value Village for $10 and had hoped to do it and resell it for $20 or $15 (the going rate for a 2000 piece puzzle). But... with slightly chewed pieces, it loses quite a bit of its value. Why not just say that on the box! Ugh. Anyhow... side rant over.

The starting pile of unsorted pieces

There were so many pieces, that some of my sort piles ended up being quite large. I put all houses together, for example. And all greenery. Just to start. Otherwise, I would have had two dozen piles and nowhere to work!

Half of the sorted piles

Soooo... I started working on the sky and then the river... then started the various houses by resorting the big house pile. Ya gotta start with what looks doable! But as all of these pieces started to come together, it quickly became apparent that the table was not going to be big enough. At least not big enough for me to work on it easily. It would have fit width-wise in the middle of the table, but that makes it really hard to reach over and access it.

Halfway done?

Soooo... this was our round oak table with one leaf in it. Time for the second leaf. When we bought this table (second-hand), it came with two leaves... and I never really thought we'd have any use for the second one. Over the years, we have schlepped the second leaf along with us and stored it under beds, in a corner. It's never really been a contender for a declutter list... cause what if we need it "some day"! Well... that "some day" finally came!

I had to break apart bits of the puzzle, and clear a space for the table to be split open but... once we had the leaf in and securely in place... what a difference! Finally, I could finish the bottom edge and start to place things where they belonged in the bottom half! That second leaf makes it soooo much easier to do a puzzle like this. I also have some space to spread out my remaining piles.

Soooo... sometimes those "I might need this some day" items actually do get to be used "some day". Which doesn't meant that a few "some day" items can be let go of safely. But I guess I wonder... how do I know which can be safely let go of? And which can't?

Well... a table leaf is a pretty unique item and kind of hard to replace. It's not like I could have popped onto Marketplace or Amazon and found a leaf that would have fit. Whereas... with that Camino book... if I let that go... it would be super easy to just pop on Amazon and order another one for a minimal amount of money. Sooo... that might be the key... how hard (and expensive) would it be to replace the "some day" item.

As for the puzzle... I did get it finished in a timely fashion!

Completed puzzle (sans a few pieces)

And... on top of about half a dozen slightly chewed pieces, there was one piece missing. At first I thought there were 5 pieces missing, a clump of 4 along the bottom edge... but they turned up stuck on the side of the box. But the single piece... never did show up.

The missing piece

And that is OK. I will release the puzzle back into the wild (thrift stores or give it away for free on Marketplace) and let someone else enjoy it.  But I'll be sure to mark the box and let future puzzlers know that there is a piece missing!

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 2 of the 30 Day Minimalism Game - Mar 8

Alright... we are into Week 2 of the 30 Day Minimalism Game. Week 1 seemed to go by very quickly and was super easy. But... as this week wore on, I found that it got progressively harder.  I have no idea how Week 3 and Week 4 are going to play out... but I am already wondering how the heck I am going to make it to the end!!

Do You Want to Play the 30 Day Minimalism Game with Me?

Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff!! Sometimes it seems like we're drowning in stuff! Do we really need all of this stuff? We don't have a garage or a basement or a storage locker... so we probably have less stuff than the average household. But I will tell you this... we have maxed out our closet space with extra shelves! And every shelf and corner seems jam-packed with stuff.

There are times where I just want to let it all go. Pack up the absolute essentials and head out on the open road with what I can carry in a backpack.

We actually did that for 4 months in 2013 and by the end of it... all I wanted to do was to settle down in a house and surround myself with the comforts of home. Sooo... selling everything and hitting the road probably isn't the answer.

Surrounded by Stuff

The stuff in my office got to me in mid-December. Everywhere I looked, there was just stuff and more stuff. I had had enough and started a decluttering purge.

I do this every once in a while when the decluttering bug bites me. Or when the stuff just seems like too much. Or when I watch a bit of a Hoarding: Buried Alive episode. Or after reading a book like Fumio Sasaki's book, Goodbye Things.

Lest you think I am a slob or a hoarder, I am not. I come from a long line of super-organized Germans who, while they might keep old jars and bits of string (because... you never know!), keep them in super-organized fashion. Our house was always neat and tidy growing up, even in the closets and cupboards. Everything had a home and we all knew where things went.

Now, this is not a problem when you live in a 2000 sq ft house, and we had a lot of space for stuff when I was growing up. There was a whole massive side of one cupboard totally devoted to gift wrapping - paper, bows, ribbons, tags, stuffing. It was all there. Super handy, super efficient and super organized. If you have the space...

Today, my partner and I live in the upper half of a typical BC box house and we have about 1000 sq ft (maybe a bit less cause that's the outside measurements and doesn't include the square footage devoted to walls and what-not). We have three bedrooms, one a half baths, a living room and a kitchen/dining room. Oh, and three lovely closets in the hallway. It's a nice little house but, honestly, I've lived in apartments that are about the same size. So, it's not like we have a tonne of space. I've added extra shelves in all the closets because there is always so much wasted space up top. And we use all of that space with a vengeance.

But... it's a lot of stuff. Still. Even after moving from an 1800 sq ft condo in Calgary when we came here. We did a lot of downsizing over the years, even here on the Island. Letting go of furniture and stuff. Do we really need all this stuff? What is it all anyways?

And so I go on a little scan through my closet and cupboards in my office and... quickly realize that a lot of it has sentimental value. Little stones that I've picked up along the way. Vases that look sooo cute. Tchotchkes from here and there. Trip souvenirs. Childhood books. A little vase from my grandmother, a gift from a friend. A crystal bowl from my other grandmother. Every item seems to have a memory and an emotion and a person attached to it. I can't let them go!

But, when I sit down with my partner and go through her things, I could easily let go of all of her stuff. Of course I could, I don't have the emotions and memories attached to those objects. They are just things to me and I have no attachment to them.

When I come back to my things, I sit in front of them with a perplexed frown. Why? Why do these objects hold so much attachment? And I realize... with a bit of a gulp... that I really am not all that different from those folk on the hoarding shows. I want to hang onto all of these things because of the emotions that they bring up. Whether it's joy or security or nostalgia. Or even fear. If I let go of this thing... I might need it one day! Better keep it. No matter that I haven't needed it in the lasts ten years. Nope... as soon as I let it go, Murphy's Law kicks in and I'll be needing it.

Like this. My old pair of headphones that I use at the computer were getting pretty ratty. The padding on the ear covers was deteriorating and the plastic was flaking onto the side of my face every time I put them on. So I bought a new pair. Beautiful new headphones. But then I looked at the old pair and thought... They still work just fine. Maybe I should keep them just in case something goes wrong with the new pair? So I did... for months. Crazy, no? But I happy to report that those headphones are now in the electronics recycling container, ready to go to the depot. Although... I still have an old, stained mouse pad in the cupboard... and a spare mouse... just in case the current ones die. Sigh...

And so it went... all through the latter half of December. Some things went to the thrift store. Somethings went into recycling, others into the shredder and still others got scanned first. A bunch of things got listed on Kijiji. If they sell, great. If not, off to the thrift store they go. And some things got set aside for my niece and sister... but only after checking with them first! Some things (like cute rocks and driftwood pieces) went out into the yard to decorate the fairy garden. And... a few things ended up in the garbage, but not too much.

I feel lighter, as if I can breathe and move.

Our ultimate goal, once everything settles down again (if it ever does), is to travel more. Maybe sell the house and become digital nomads. Not sure yet... but if that is our goal... all of this stuff is a big barrier to that goal. We went on a one year sabbatical a few years ago, sold the condo and put everything into storage. It was a pricey hassle, let me tell you. Not planning on doing that the second time around.

I'd rather do the decluttering slowly over time, not in one big fell swoop at the end. And, sometimes, I take pictures of the things I am releasing back into the world. Just in case I want to look at them again. You never know... and digital pictures don't take up any physical space... right?

Don't even get me started on digital decluttering. Ugh!!

Credits - desk image from Lisa Fotios from Pexels