Today I was reading through my RSS feeds, checking out the blogs I always read, when I came across this when J.D. linked to an older post:

The perfect is the enemy of the good. When you spend so much time looking for the “best” choice that you never actually do anything, you are sabotaging yourself.

Open the door, put one foot in front of the other, and go.
-Get Rich Slowly

In Unclutterer:

Sometimes done is better than perfect.

I know I do this. There are lots of times (like yesterday) when I look at the things I need to do and just sigh and think “Why even bother?”.
… it’ll just need to be done again tomorrow
… it’ll never look like a home in a magazine
… it’ll never taste as good as when others make it
… it’ll never make me look as good as that girl I saw yesterday
… it’ll take a long time, and I only have 10 minutes now

Maybe I need to print out a sappy little saying and pin it up on my wall.

This one is particularly bad when I try to declutter things. I look at a room, and see the hours of work needed to make it perfect. I don’t see the work I could do in the 10 minutes I have right now. I don’t see the “little by little” that will chip away at the whole task.

I don’t want to settle for “good enough”, but I also don’t want to always be waiting for the right time to make it “perfect”, as perfect rarely comes. I will learn to settle for my best, and I will learn to understand that my best can depend on the circumstances.

The perfect is the enemy of the good. Sometimes done is better than perfect.

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More Lessons in Perfectionism

It’s easy to make progress when you have a bit of help! Right now, I have two (unrelated) friends living in my spare bedrooms. It’s pretty cool to have room-mates again for a while! I haven’t done that since college!
Since both of them are way better at organizing and decluttering than I am, they are doing a terrific job teaching me some tips (I’ll be sharing those later!) and showing me better ways to do things.

I’ve got some before, during, and after photos in the works, so those will be posted soon!

If you’re in a decluttering slump, a great way to get out of it is to get some friends. Offer to do something for them in exchange, and it’s a great way to get lots done! I personally find I’m way more motivated having someone right in there with you during things that are, let’s just say “less than thrilling”.

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Making Progress!

I want my house cleaned up and decluttered. I know this. I have known it for years now. However, without motivation, just wanting something can lead to the same place as abandoned New Year’s Resolutions. The gym is always packed in January when everyone decides they want to get in shape, but by March it’s back to the same regulars as before. Life gets in the way, and other tasks become more pressing than the resolution. Unless you have motivation!

My previous motivation was getting ready for moving. I believe I did achieve my goal, (I did get rids of loads of stuff and make the move easier) I also feel I could have done much better. But I’d lost the driving force that a moving deadline gave me.

Allow me to present my new decluttering motivation:

Kittens in a local barn

Kitties! Cute, adorable, itty-bitty tiny kittens! *squee*!

My husband said we could get kittens in the spring, provided the house could be cleaned and made kitten-friendly. It’s been nearly a year since we moved, so our cat Dax has had enough time to become fully comfortable in her “new territory” in our new home.
We’d like to get a pair of males, since Dax is a pretty dominant female. Ideally, we can get a black one and a grey one, but we’ll see what’s available at the Humane Society and/or local barns when the time comes.

Good news: it’s spring!
Bad news: the house is soooo not ready for kittens.

Having a concrete goal makes me want to work toward it. It’s a goal that seems more “real” and less vague than just “I should want to clean my house”.
Yeah, it’s pretty much bribing myself, but hey, I say go with what works.

Cleaning Crunch Time starts after this weekend, since the 22-24 is Anime North, and my friends and I have all spent the past couple weeks working on this year’s costumes!
Then it’s time to buckle down. I’ve already done a bit in our spare room, so I’ll post photos as that gets going!
What is your current decluttering inspiration?

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Inspiration is Essential

Thank you all for your nice comments on my last post! It really does mean a lot that people are still reading. I believe I have found a new source of inspiration, but I won’t tell you what it is just yet.

Today’s post was actually inspired by J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly, a super financial blog that I read. Today he wrote a post asking “when does it make sense to stock up?” and it really got me thinking.

This used to be a major problem of mine. It went beyond simple stocking up and slipped into hoarding behavior for me, though I’ve got it under control these days. I would see an item on sale and think to myself “That’s such a great deal, I should get a few more and save money!” In my defense, I didn’t do it for just any old sale (10% off? Please.) but the 50%, 60%, and 75% sales made me weak in the knees (and in the pocketbook).

I would rationalize it by saying I was saving money. And I probably would have been saving money, had I actually used all of the items I’d buy. But you know me by now, and you know there’s a good chance I’ll have lost the “spare” items before getting around to using them. If they didn’t get lost or go past the best before date, perhaps I was tired of that brand by the time it came to use them. The items would just end up sitting there, taking up space and wasting my money. Nice, eh?

These days, while I still have to fight the urge to take advantage of a “great deal” and buy several items while they are on sale, I’ve really taken control of my stocking up habit. I still stock up on several items, though now they are items I will actually use (before they expire, no less!). If there is a good sale on bread, I will buy a few loaves and pop the others in the freezer to eat later. I go through about a loaf of bread per week, but I never buy more than 3 loaves at a time, no matter how good the sale is. I only have space in my freezer for 2 extra loaves of bread, so I have to keep to this limit. I don’t want bread cluttering up my kitchen counter just because it was on sale. I try to keep the same mentality with any other items I stock up on (tissues, toilet paper, canned goods, etc.).

If an item is on sale, there is a good chance it will go on sale again later.

While clearance and discontinued items are another story, regular sales will always return. Trust me. It took me a long time to trust in that, but it’s true. Sales will always come back, as they are an important strategy for stores to make money.

Ask yourself:
Will I use it regularly?
When this one/pack/pair is gone/worn out will I certainly buy another one?
Will this one still be fresh/good once the old one is used up?
Do I have a place to store it until I use it?
Does it make me happy?

If the answer is yes, go ahead and stock up a bit. Remember to keep everything in moderation.
I find the last two are the most important questions for me. If I don’t have a place to put extras of something, I don’t allow it into the house anymore. If something doesn’t make me even a little happy, well, what the heck am I buying it for?

One item I do stock up on is some types of clothing. If I find a bra that fits well and flatters my shape, I’ll buy a few. I know I’ll wear them (I do wear a bra every day, after all ) and alternating between multiples means they each last longer. If I find a t-shirt that fits well and looks good, I’ll buy a few different colours of the same shirt. Having a handful of similar shirts you wear all the times takes up less room in your closet than 20 different shirts you hardly ever wear.

I would not stock up on items such as electronics or perishable items. A certain style of iPod (such as the one J.D. has his eye on) will certainly be revamped in the years to come, and he may find himself liking a future style even better. Electronics become obsolete so quickly these days, I don’t see a point in stocking up, even if it was a great deal. Also be wary of items that require a specific accessory or other item in order to function properly. A savvy commenter on GRS mentioned a friend who stocked up on a particular type of replaceable razor blades, but then the razor shaft itself broke and he was unable to replace it, leaving him with a whole bunch of unusable blades! Stocking up is only a good deal if you can actually use the items.

Don’t buy a spare iPod, J.D., but buy that extra pair of hiking boots you want. You know you love them, and they make you happy, so go right ahead.

Do you stock up? What items to you tend to buy in bulk, and what do you avoid?

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Stock Up Doesn’t Have to Mean Clutter Up

I don’t think I’m a very good blogger. When my house was being built, I was very excited and could usually find something to post about. That, in turn, fuelled other posts relevant to decluttering.
Now, though, I’m terrible at posting. I don’t like that, but it is, unfortunately, a fact.

Even when I do do some cleaning around the house (and I’ve actually done quite a bit – there are only a couple more rooms to be overhauled. We even cleaned out the whole garage!), I completely forget to take any photos before or during the task, so I end up with no real blogging fodder (”yeah, um, this room used to be messy, er, now it’s not; here’s an “after” photo” doesn’t sound like an interesting blog post to me).

I think by such huge spans of not posting, I’ve probably lost all the readers I once had. Should I just give it up and archive the blog (since I still get lots of hits on some posts) or try to rekindle interest and try to get back on a proper posting schedule and keep the blog alive? If there are any of you left, dear readers, please give me your opinions!

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End of the Line?