Survey #234 Response from Kathy
| Express your gratitude for something in your home that you plan to keep indefinitely. How does it support the life you love? | I'm grateful for my computer and internet. Without them I couldn't work from home, which I've been doing for over 25 years and love. They also connect me to uplifting, educational, and entertaining podcasts/videos. Through email I have contact with friends and family more than by phone. When I want to learn how to do something or am curious about something, I can just google and find the information I want. Since this is a decluttering forum, I won't mention the convenience of online shopping. 😉 |
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| Describe someone or something that has helped you on your decluttering and organizing journey. This may be an idea, a story, a person, a book, a resource, etc. | The Clutter Fairy is, of course, #1 for keeping me motivated. Dana K. White of A Slob Comes Clean has also helped me a lot. Her "take it there now" rings in my head when I'm tempted to set something down where it doesn't go. I love her no-mess process, which I've used not only in small areas but also to bring order to our basement workroom and to deal with all the stuff that came into our home when my mother-in-law had to go to a memory care facility. |
| Describe something that you’re grateful for having been able to declutter and release from your life. | This happened years ago, before I was really decluttering. I had bought a small used loom and invested in books and supplies, in love with the idea of moving a shuttle back and forth and creating pretty designs. I hadn't done much with it before I took a weekend class at a Shaker Village. This was on a larger loom, but the general process is the same. Sixty percent of the class time was doing math(!) dressing the loom. The actual back-and-forth of the shuttle was maybe 20 percent, and the other 20 percent was in taking the item off the loom. I tried to make a few items on my loom at home but discovered I just didn't like it. But I had invested all that money ... finally one day I asked my husband to just take the loom to the dump and get rid of it. His doing that for me felt so freeing. That was the first hobby that I gave up, and it has helped me now that decluttering is part of my life. I am much more ready to give up hobbies (rug hooking, soap making, jewelry making) because I realize the value for me was in learning a process and not in having the actual made item. |
| Identify something in your space for which you feel grateful, but which you’d consider releasing so that someone else can enjoy and appreciate it. | My quilt fabric, patterns, and books -- I don't want to get rid of them all at this time, but I have been slowly taking some things to the local swap shop hoping to bless others with. Quilting is still a hobby I'd like to dabble in again some day. It fed my creative side for years and was a common interest my mother and I shared. I know I have more inventory than I could ever use up. Your podcasts remind me that these things will break down or get moth eaten over time, and it is better to give them away now than throw them away later. |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | A friend was chatting with me recently about how she uses an essential oil diffuser/humidifier and commented on a particular scent she loved. That reminded me I had one that I haven't used for quite a while. The next time I was shopping online, I looked for that essential oil (orange/clove) but ran out of shopping time before I found what I wanted. A few days later, I was in the cabinet where I had stored the diffuser and couldn't find it. Then I remembered, I had decluttered that a while ago. Thankfully, I hadn't bought the oil! That's not the first time I was sure I had something only to realize I had given it away. I don't feel regret about not having the items, but I wonder if this happens to other people, and how do you remember that you don't have something, especially before buying something for it. |
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