I had tried Diet Coke a number of times and found it very untasty. After reading that if you tough it out for a week, you get used to Diet Coke, I gave it a try and found that I could subsist on Diet Coke (with an occasional 50/50 with real Coke at a restaurant).

I was feeling pretty good about the switch to Diet Coke and even considering using Splenda in my cooking instead of sugar until I read more about Splenda. Having had cancer, I was concerned to read that Splenda wasn’t as natural as I thought it was (read here, here, and here, for starters). So Splenda is out.

I shared my desire to kick my Diet Coke habit with my friend, Lisa, who is a runner, healthy eater, and breast cancer survivor. She gave me this wonderful info I’m about to share with you.

Stevia
There’s a leaf of the stevia plant that is extremely sweet and can be purchased in powdered or liquid form. Stevia contains no artificial sweeteners, including saccharin, Nutrasweet, aspartame, refined sugar, maltodextrin, or fructose.

What my friend does is take a couple of bags of tea, one regular and one a sweet fruit, and brew them. Add powdered stevia to taste, and keep in your fridge. So this is what I’ve been doing, and it’s been a great replacement for cola. You really have to have a replacement when kicking a habit, or it just won’t stick.

Stevia isn’t cheap (ran me about $10 for 4 ounces), a fact that helps inspire me to try to cut down on the sweetness I need in the tea. I think the best aim is to adjust to desiring less sweetness in food and reduce the use of any added sweeteners since anything (including stevia) in excess is likely to be unsafe, but it’s going to take a while to adjust. A little stevia goes a long way. Also, using a fruity tea as one of the bags really adds some natural sweetness.

The brand I purchased, which can be bought at Kroger and Amazon, is called Stevia Plus by SweetLeaf. Equivalencies: 1/4 teaspoon stevia = 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 tablespoons stevia = 1 cup of sugar. According to the bottle, it has a glycemic index of 0, doesn’t affect blood sugar, has fiber, and nourishes the healthy bacteria in the intestines. Neat stuff!

I also purchased some agave nectar, but haven’t had a chance to try that out yet.

So what to do with all of your white sugar? Here’s how I used up most of my leftovers last night:

Make a sugar scrub: In a container with a lid mix 2 parts sugar with 1 part skin-friendly oil. I used some almond oil that I had on hand, but other good choices would be jojoba or olive. After stirring well, mix in some 100% essential oil to scent as desired. I used rose oil.

Now prepare yourself a bath with warm water, epsom salts, and a few drops of essential oil. In the tub slather on the sugar scrub, massaging it in, working toward your heart.

It felt heavenly. My skin was left very soft, if slightly oily. Afterwards I washed lightly with a castile soap.

One warning—be careful if you do this in the tub. The oil made the tub extremely slippery so much so that I’d rethink how I’d do this in the future. It’s probably a good idea to keep your sugar-scrubbing contained and make sure you have a stable surface. If the tub is oily afterwards, vinegar, lemon, and some hot water should cut through the oil.

This easy sugar scrub recipe would make a great, inexpensive gift for friends. Put it in a glass canning or other jar dressed up with a bow or whatever you have around. Recommend to use a spoon for mixing and dipping out into the hand rather than introducing water into the scrub in order to keep it clean.

Enjoy!

Photo credit: Porcelaingirl

Cleaning and greening have been my focus. I don’t even remember what set me off—maybe seeing a pile of clutter or a corner that needed to be swept. Ever since, I’ve been enjoying making my home as clean as possible.

During this time I also read a book, Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. While I’m not a fan of the “girlfriend” style of writing, the book did help me get bitten by the green bug. Through the book and reading some web sites, I learned several things about living a greener life, such as:

• Most recycling centers will only take #1 and 2 plastics. Think milk jugs and water bottles. Yogurt cups are typically #5, which means you might have a challenge finding a recycling center that takes them.
• Not all plastics are safe for heating food. In fact, the only plastic I’ve seen recommended for microwaving is #5, and even that recommendation sounds pretty wishy-washy, as in “may be safe.” Take a look at this web site, for example: Microwave-Safe Plastics.

I inspected all of my plastic containers and found that most of them were badly scratched. The surface of some that I used frequently for things like tea had worn away. I ended up bundling up all of these plastics and driving 10 miles to a recycling center that would take plastics other than #1 and 2.

To replace my plastics, I ordered Pyrex containers and this awesome Bormioli Rocco glass pitcher.

With all of this organizing of my cupboards, I found and discarded expired food. I also was cleaning with a mixture of ammonia and water, resulting in my lungs feeling wheezy. That led to my reading up on cleaning supplies.

Do you know that most everything can be cleaned with baking soda, vinegar, and water? Maybe you were like me and had heard something like that before but had never put it to the test. Well, I’m learning that there is really very little you need in the way of cleaners in your home. Nobody needs a separate toilet bowl cleaner. Some sprinkled baking soda works as a great scrubbing agent. Vinegar and water works great on mirrors and inhibits the growth of mold.

Furthermore, so many of the antibacterial cleaners we keep have helped create the so called “superbugs” that are resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria has been overhyped. One of the best things you can do to keep your bathroom free of bacteria is make sure the lid of the toilet is down before flushing. I recall reading an article or seeing a story on TV showing that the spray from the toilet goes several feet if you don’t put the lid down, and I’ve been a closed-lid flusher ever since.

Another wonderful find: Dr. Bronner’s organic liquid castile soaps. These come in a wonderful variety of scents, like citrus orange, rose, lavender and almond (my favorite), and they can be used to clean almost everything–carpets, your body and hair, laundry, general cleaning. They’re free of the bad stuff, and the company has a really rich, impressive history worth reading about; they continue to make a difference through promoting organic farming and fair trade.

As I’m sitting here, wrapping up this article, there’s a gentle scent of almond in the air. A bottle of Dr. Bronner’s arrived earlier, and I had opened the lid to take a whiff. A couple of days ago I cleaned the carpet with a nontoxic cleaner called Ecover. Everything smells fresh and clean, not that suffocating toxic product scent that I used to associate with a clean home.

But what’s really nice is it feels good to have made some changes at home. It feels good to support responsible companies. And it feels good to know I’m doing little things that might make a difference, both for my health and the health of the earth.

Photo credit: miyukiutada

Twitter applications are popping up all over the place. Many are here today, gone tomorrow. While by no means exhaustive, here’s a list of some live ones (as of today!) that have recently caught my eye. You may note some popular names omitted because their sites are frequently down due to bandwidth overages or technical issues.

Do you have any Twitter tools not listed that you’ve tried and love? Please share them in the comments!

Desktop Applications

DestroyTwitter - Mac, Windows, Linux.

Snitter - Mac and Windows.

TweetDeck - Mac and Windows.

Twhirl - Mac and Windows.

Web-Based Management

EasyTweets - Track anything you want, get SMS and email alerts when someone mentions your brand, and more.

HootSuite - Manage multiple twitter profiles, schedule tweets, and measure success.

TweetLater - Scheduled tweets, tracking, automatic following and unfollowing, and many other features.

Blog Integration

Tweetmeme - Has a great Re-Tweet button that’s easy to install.

Twitter Tools - Pull your tweets into your blog and tweet about your blog posts.

Twitterfeed - Automatically tweet your blog posts titles and links.

Outlook Integration

OutTwit - Post tweets from within Outlook.

Blackberry

Twitterberry

iPhone and iPod Touch

Tweetie

Twitterfon

Twitterific

Firefox Add-Ons

Power Twitter

Twitthat

TwitterBar

Your Statistics

Twitter Grader - Get your twitter grade as well as see who the top Twitter users are.

TweetStats

Twitterless - Track your followers with graphs.

General Trend Tracking and Search

Favrd - Tracks which tweets are favorited most often.

Retweetist - See which tweets are retweeted most often.

Tweetburner - Track links you share on Twitter.

Tweetchat - Creates rooms based on the topic you wish to chat about, and helps you focus on that one topic for discussion.

Tweetmeme - Tracks the most popular links on Twitter.

TweetScan - Search for tweets containing specific phrases or names.

Twemes - Follow hashtags.

Twitter Search - Twitter’s own search engine.

Twitt(url)y - Track trends.

Twubble - “searches your friend graph and picks out people who you may like to follow.”

WeFollow - “user-powered Twitter directory.” Search by hashtags.

Group Twittering

CoTweet - Specifically for businesses to communicate with each other and their customers.

GroupTweet - Group message broadcasting.

Blogs About Twitter

TwiTip

Twitter

TwitterSweet

Other

Dailymile - Post your running, cycling, triathlon or other fitness progress to Twitter.

EasyTweets - “Twitter marketing tool.”

Mr. Tweet - Recommend other Twitter users for improved Twitter experience.

StrawPoll - Mini-polls on Twitter.

Tweepler - Helps you decide whether to follow or ignore a Twitter user.

Tweet2Tweet - See the @replies between two users.

TweetChannel - Create channels in Twitter, including protected channels.

TweetCube - File sharing in Twitter.

TweetGrid - Organize groups and topics into a grid for easy viewing.

Tweetake - Back up your Twitter account.

TweetWheel - See which of your Twitter friends know each other.

Twitter Karma - Monitor who you’re following that’s not following you and vice versa.

TwitterSnooze - Temporarily hush someone who’s being too chatty on Twitter.

Twittervision - Fun real-time geographic visualization of Twitter posts.

Photo credit: respres

If you find this post helpful, I’d appreciate it if you’d spread the word. Try the new Retweet button or your favorite social media application below. Thank you!

Books

1. Your Money or Your Life - Classic book by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. YMOYL will help you understand the value of your time and figure out what your real hourly wage is. Comprehensive and life changing.

2. Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow - If you hate what you’re doing for a living, it’s time to make some changes. This book by Marsha Sinetar will help you find the courage to follow your dream.

3. The Simple Living Guide - by Janet Luhrs. A must-read book on voluntary simplicity and achieving overall balance.

Web Sites

1. Financial Integrity - Established by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin and others as The New Roadmap Foundation. This is a nonprofit that offers a detailed program with free downloadable program guides and other materials  to help you understand your money and spending and make some changes.

2. The Simple Living Network - A site chock full of resources on simple living, such as study groups, newsletters, SimpleRadio, and discussion groups.

Software

You Need a Budget - I tried Microsoft Money, Quicken, Excel spreadsheets, and other methods for keeping a budget, and they just don’t work. I was delighted when I found YNAB and have been using it since. Rather than trying to estimate what your next month’s income and expenditures are, YNAB uses your last month’s numbers. It’s a system that will give you a buffer and an entire program and forum that will educate and support you. You can read my review of YNAB and the chat I had with its founder over at Lifehack.

Photo credit: FreeWine.

1. Smart Glove - I tried several pairs of gloves and braces before I found these wonderful gloves. They’re quick to put on and remove. The don’t interfere with finger movement like so many gloves and braces do. The padding underneath really supports and cushions my wrists. They’re washable and have held up for years. Highly recommended for use at the computer. Retails for $19.99 on manufacturer’s site.

2. Cat’s Paw - This simple, inexpensive little product mimics several of the movements I did in physical therapy—and physical therapy was infinitely more beneficial to me than surgery was. To use the Cat’s Paw, you insert your fingers and thumb into the holes and spread your fingers. The tension really works your muscles and feels wonderful. Now you could probably find a rubber band or make some device that will mimic what the Cat’s Paw does, but for $14.95 I think it’s a good buy.

3. Logitech Marble Mouse - This isn’t a mouse, but a trackball (it’s not marble, either, for that matter). Switching to a trackball really reduced my symptoms. One of the beautiful things about this trackball is that you can switch it to use on your left or right side. Since I’m right-handed and tend to use my right hand for more activities, I keep the trackball on my left. This also has the benefit of allowing me to simultaneously use my left hand to move the pointer/cursor while writing with my right hand. Retails for just $19.95 on Logitech’s web site.

I have many other things I do, such as take rest breaks, do exercises and stretches, and so on. However, these three things are tools I wouldn’t be without. When they fail (and they’ve all been going strong for years), I’ll be replacing them with the same models.

Photo credit: Ifyr

I’ve searched for many a motivational guru on Twitter and found that, while many have accounts, not all are up to speed with the twittering world yet. Here’s a list of famous motivational folks to add. You may not be a fan of all and may find some missing that would be on your list, but this should get you started.

The ones who are using Twitter, are posting a continual flow of information and inspiration. Let’s hope the tweetless ones get bitten by the Twitter bug eventually. You’ll be ready when they do!

There are many Twitter accounts posing as the real deal. I’ve done my best to ensure these are the official sites, but if you see any posers, please let me know.

1. David Allen
2. Robert B. Allen
3. David Bach
4. Les Brown
5. Deepak Chopra
6. Seth Godin
7. Clark Howard
8. Robert Kiyosaki
9. John C. Maxwell
10. Dave Ramsey
11. Anthony “Tony” Robbins
12. Brian Tracy

Photo credit: Robert Scoble

Always having loved stones and crystals as well as owning a growing collection of the same, I took a small bowl that I had once made in a pottery class and filled it with stones and crystals that are said to have aspects of enhancing or stimulating creativity and releasing creative blocks. I had also just finished a couple of books on feng shui and purchased a beautiful string of red crystals that ended in a large, tear-drop shaped orange crystal (orange being a color that is supposed to enhance creativity).

Now, before you write off all of this as some “New-Age hooey,” consider the intention aspect of changing your environment to enhance creativity. I an convinced that all of our beliefs are learned and that we can choose to believe whatever we want in order to support our goals. So while there may be no innate creativity-boosting qualities in the stones and the colors I’ve added to my creative corner, if I believe that surrounding myself with creative things and my creations themselves (my pottery, for one) will stimulate my creativity, it’s likely that it will.

Since making these changes and making room for creativity, my creative mind has been activated. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I don’t have the answer; I only know that what I’m doing is working. I have an endless flow of creative ideas that I didn’t have a few months ago. Some have said creativity is enhanced with use, so it makes sense that all of these efforts combined are making my right-brain (creativity center) more active. If it works, I don’t question it. I just continue what works.

Tips for Creating Your Own Creative Corner

1. Add color. Close your eyes and imagine what color represents creativity for you. Add touches of this to your creative corner. If, rather than using your intuition and preferences, you want science behind color and creativity to help you choose your color(s), take a look at books on color theory.

2. Add stones and crystals. Choose your own, or select some from these creativity-stimulating stones from The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall: aventurine, lapis lazuli, bloodstone, celestite, blue chalcedony, rhodochrosite.

3. Use scent. This could be from a candle or from incense or oils. Try peppermint or lavender in a diffuser.

4. Play music. By now you’ve probably heard about the studies reporting that Mozart’s music enhances creativity. But don’t limit yourself to Mozart, especially if you’re not a fan. Any music that makes you feel relaxed, whimsical, or comfortable in expressing yourself is good. I highly recommend any of Steven Halpern’s CDs (most of which can be downloaded from iTunes as well). He has one entitled Enhancing Creativity. Other CDs geared toward stimulating theta brainwaves may possibly enhance your creativity as well.

5. Surround yourself with artwork. This can be your own artwork or that of others—or a combination. The key is not to judge your art, but to enjoy it. Judging is a creativity-killer! Having your beautiful creations around you are a constant reminder that are capable of creation and that you’re in a place primed for your creative output.

6. Reserve your corner for creativity. If at all possible, reserve your creative corner as the place that you go to do your creative work. Living in a small home, I do not have that luxury of a space reserved only for creativity. I find that whenever I sit in my creative corner, the creative ideas flow because that’s what I’ve designed this space to do. I have had to take other actions to be able to focus without creative thought, such as in meditation in this corner I set an intention that I will rest my mind for this period of time, to resume its joyous creation after the meditation.

These are inexpensive, fun things you can do to build a creativity corner. Honor this space. Keep it clean and orderly. And don’t forget to add to it regularly! There will be little more rewarding that seeing one of your newest paintings or your published articles framed nearby.

Photo credit: Kevindooley

Just as clutter can pile up in our homes, clutter can accumulate in our personal lives. While we all sometimes fall short of being great friends, it’s repeated behavior that makes the difference when it comes to considering who you should keep in your life.

5 Reasons to Let Go of a Relationship

1. You are not being treated with respect. Physical and verbal abuse are blatantly disrespectful and should never be tolerated. Both become easier for the offender to continue each successive time. However, more subtle forms of disrespect may be easy to overlook. If someone is repeatedly late for appointments, continually teases or even mocks you on subjects that you’ve made clear are painful areas to you, or does not listen to your “no” when you’ve expressed it (which is what the continual teasing would be), they do not value or respect you. I recall Oprah once saying that If you tell someone no and they continue with their behavior, it’s an attempt to control you.

2. You feel drained by contact with that person. While a toxic relationship may have its occasional peaks of excitement that sustain it, the net result is that you feel worse for your contact with that person. I am very sensitive to discussion around me, which is one of the reasons I don’t listen to talk radio or politics. People who like to use rhetoric or try to engage me in discussion of sensitive topics like religion or politics drain me. Being around negative people drains me, so I do my best to make contact with them infrequent.

3. You are the one doing nearly all of the giving. There are times in any relationship when things won’t be “even,” and I don’t think anyone should be keeping score. However, you know when it’s a long-term issue that you’re the one doing the giving. You initiate the contact; the other rarely or never does.

4. You are the only one making an effort at open and honest communication. I once had a friend who I sensed was upset with me about something. For a good six months I kept asking her what was wrong. I took her out to lunch and posed that question to her across the table. She just smiled in a way that said “you should know” and kept her mouth shut. I felt like I was being punished without being permitted to know the reason. I racked my mind periodically for six months. Some of my calls went unanswered. Our relationship dwindled to little contact. Then one day, out of the blue, I got a call from her confessing that she had been holding in her anger for the past six months over a detail that I couldn’t have even known about. I thanked her, apologized for my long-past innocent mishap that had upset her so, and said I was so glad that she had finally shared with me and to please share with me immediately in the future. A few days went by, and without malice, I realized the relationship wasn’t worth continuing. I had put forth too much effort in those six months to allow something similar happen again. Adult communication is a necessary ingredient between friends.

5. You are not supported during your darkest hour. A bittersweet aspect of crisis is it’ll clearly show you who your friends are and are not. When you plunge into deep depression, are diagnosed with cancer, file for bankruptcy, lose a loved one, or have any of life’s other major crises, a true friend will remain by your side. A false friend will suddenly be missing, not initiating contact or returning your calls. It can be heartbreaking to realize in the midst of a crisis that you were somehow being used or devalued, but it’s also a gift to you in that for a moment you can see clearly and release that person. They were an illusion of a friend. You can now focus your energy on your true friends.

How to Let Go

When faced with #5 above, I have a harder time letting go. My mind tends to circle the situation, trying to understand how someone could possibly use another person, how they could not be there for them in their crisis. Because I only associate with people that I care deeply about, I tend to fixate on these occasional aberrations and my unanswered questions. I’m slowly improving in this area as I realize that I don’t need all of the answers to be able to let go—and that letting go is honoring myself.

Otherwise, I find that I quite easily periodically simplify my relationships without intentionally doing so. It happens naturally. I start noticing how I feel around that person physically and emotionally, and those feelings are a clear indicator as to whether I need to let go.

I’m convinced the best way to let go depends on the friendship.

If there was an incident, out of respect for the other person and the adult communication mentioned above, it should be discussed. You should let the other know how their actions made you feel. You should follow that with a firm and clear, but unemotional, conveyance of your desire to cease communication. If you cannot do it unemotionally, then it means that you have more inner work to do before you can take this step gracefully. When you’re ready, you’ll know because it feels like you’re taking care of yourself rather than retaliating.

If there was no incident, but the relationship has been steadily declining in its value to you, I think it’s fair and honest to simply let loose of your grip on trying to make things work. If you simply withdraw your effort, you’ll likely find the relationship quietly flickers out on its own. You both go your separate ways and find people who are more suited to you. People change; there’s no one to blame.

What Remains

We all have limited time and energy to give to others, and it’s both treating ourselves and others with respect to periodically assess our relationships. If they’re damaged or damaging, it’s time to let go. You may find yourself with a much smaller circle of people you call your friends, but at least you’ll know what is real.

Photo credit: Sukanto Debnath

So many times I think we have nebulous resolutions such as “be on time,” “be more organized,” or “drink more water,” but we really don’t have a plan for achieving those goals. The good news is that, by utilizing natural patterns in the day and month, you can establish routines that help you accomplish your goals painlessly.

5 Easy Habits with Great Payoff

1. Change the time. I found that there are two places where I tend to overestimate how much time I have to get ready: The bathroom and the car. In these two locations, I’ve set my clocks five minutes early. Since the rest of the clocks at home are on time, I tend to forget that these two clocks are running fast. The result is those unexpected extra five minutes tend to keep me from being late. Where do you tend to try to squeeze in extra time? Set the clocks in those rooms fast.
Payoff: You’re on time more often. You have lower stress. You drive more responsibly. You respect others’ time.

2. Always put your keys in the same place. No matter how tired you are or if you’re racing for the phone or whatever, when your keys are not in use, always and immediately put your keys in the same location. Always. That location for me is a pocket on the outside of my purse. The result of practicing this rule is that if I ever manage to briefly set down my keys next to my purse or next to a grocery bag I’ve brought in, I’m extremely uncomfortable until I put those keys in their proper place. I cannot rest. I cannot leave the location. I’ve linked enough discomfort to the occasions in which I’ve searched high and low for my lost keys that I cannot relax unless the keys are in the pocket.
Payoff: You don’t go through the frenzy of trying to find your keys when you’re on your way to an appointment. You don’t throw your keys in the trash at a fast food restaurant because they just happened to be resting on your tray. You don’t lock your keys in your car or in the house. You never again lose your keys.

3. Do monthly routine maintenance. The first of the month is designated for routine maintenance of car and body. Check the air in your tires. Check the mileage and see if you’re due for an oil change or a tire rotation. If you’re female, do a self-breast exam. If you’re male, do a testicular exam. Take a little extra time to examine your body for any changes, such as changes in moles.
Payoff: You’re in touch with your car and your body. You’re doing the basics that pay off in better gas mileage and possibly a longer life of your car. You may catch problems early. You just may save your life if you discover a physical problem early.

4. Get your water in. Here’s a simple method to get at least six glasses of water a day: Before you go to bed, pour a glass of water and place it on your nightstand. If you read in bed or wake up in the night, it’ll be there for you to take sips from. Cover it with a lid or piece of paper so dust or other debris cannot settle on it in the night. When you wake up in the morning, immediately finish off that glass of water (1 glass down). Drink a glass with breakfast, lunch and dinner (4 glasses down). Figure out when your midmorning and midafternoon slumps are, and use that time to get up and go drink 8 fluid ounces of water (6 glasses down!). Using these scheduled events to get six glasses in, and try to supplement them with other fluids at your desk while you work or more fluids during meals.
Payoff: You can finally cross this goal off your list! You have a plan now, and it’s easy to get your fluids in. The reported benefits of getting adequate hydration are numerous.

5. Sort your mail at the trash. You may have heard this one before, but it’s time to put it in practice. This is a huge time saver. For mail you want to keep, remove from envelopes and discard unimportant filler information and return envelopes you will not be using. For repeat junk mail, such as catalogs, tear off the back cover (with your customer ID number), call the company and request to be taken off their mailing list. Also, ask them to set your mailing preferences so that when you place your next order, the catalogs mailing won’t start back up again. When you have time, switch as much of your mail as possible to electronic billing and statement delivery. Also, take a moment to register your mail preference with the Direct Marketing Association.
Payoff: You have less paper clutter to deal with. You touch your mail fewer times than if you bring it in and set it down, only to have to sort it away from the trash. You are more organized.

Ultimate Payoff

Lower stress. More peace. Knowledge you’ve finally conquered some of your longstanding goals.

Do you have any simple practices you employ that have saved you from headaches? Let’s hear them in the comments!

Photo credit: Fabiola Medeiros

But how does a single woman living in a 1-bedroom apartment accumulate a carload of stuff?

Some things in my charity boxes:

Books - I like books. In fact, I like them so much that I like just having them around me. They’re decoration. They make a home feel homey. However, when recently cleaning, I also discovered they aren’t getting any younger. My books are yellowing. They need to be dusted more frequently than I want to dust them. On opening them, I found some of them smell very musty even though they’re not stored in a damp environment.

I am one of the blessed owners of a hard-earned Amazon Kindle (second generation) due to arrive today. As part of my thinking about purchasing a Kindle, I reexamined the things in my life and what they mean to me. I found that while I love books and love reading books, this thing I’ve been doing with books isn’t much different than Smaug lounging on his pile of treasure (please, go read and enjoy The Hobbit if this illustration makes no sense to you). They’ve become precious things seldom used, but more enjoyed as baubles to own. What was my mission in collecting all of the classics? Just to know I owned the classics after I had read them? I decided that somewhere along the line I had lost the true value of books and was going to eventually find myself using the back of the toilet tank as a bookshelf. I threw myself an intervention to coincide with my decision to purchase a Kindle.

I put up for sale on half.com the books that I would be unlikely to read again, the books I really didn’t enjoy, the books that were a bit musty or yellowing, and the books that had an e-book version. Over the course of a month I had earned enough for a Kindle. I then used that money to purchase a Kindle. And I’m still selling books.

Even if I sell all of the books I have advertised, I’ll still have many, many books on my shelves. However, through this reexamination of what really matters, I’ve become reacquainted with my love of books and reading balanced by my desire for simplicity.

Paper - I began a quest for a paperless office in 2007 and managed to stretch that process out for a couple of years. I need to write a book (that may be coming!) to help others avoid the pitfalls that I ran into in going paperless, but I’m happy to say the end result has absolutely been worth it. I have a couple of notebooks to sort, and then I will have finally achieved the goal of a paperless home. Going paperless has meant having much less of the things necessary to support a paper-filled home. For example, if you are going to keep paper, then you need notebooks, file folders (manila and hanging), paper itself for printing, multi-colored paper for various projects, boxes to organize the paper and folders, and more. All of that is blissfully going to charity. Who knew that paper could be such a burden?

Schwag - For some reason, at the last convention or two I’ve been to, I’ve felt the need to hit the various exhibit tables and come away with nifty things, like strange-shaped highlighters, lots of cheap pens that don’t write very well, book lights when I don’t read in the dark, sun visors, and more. At the end of the convention, everybody scoops in their bags and shares their finds. It’s adult trick-or-treating. “Did you score the stress reliever ball at table 6 before they ran out? How exciting!” It’s pathetic stuff, and it’s hopefully going to be enjoyed by someone at the charity rather than winding up in a landfill. I’m trying to remember this for the next convention I go to.

My boxes were full of other odds and ends, but this was a reminder to me how easy it is to fill up one’s home with stuff.

I’ve heard the Japanese have a decorating concept that emphasizes the importance of empty space. Room to breathe. I’m looking forward to having some empty space to breathe more easily.

What about you? What are you hanging onto and why? Have you possibly confused form with value? If so, it’s never too early to get a jump start on spring cleaning.

Photo credit: Clearly Ambiguous