Category: Declutter

21.6 – Some of my grandmothers stuff!

day-6We’re at day 6 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

When my dad passed away 3,5 years ago, among his stuff (which I have yet to go through properly) there was a box of my grandmothers things.

I haven’t been real good at sorting her stuff, and it’s on my agenda for later this year. But until I do the proper sorting, there are a couple of things that I figured there were no reason to hang on to, as they don’t hold much sentimental value.

So here we are… 6 small items from my grandmothers stash!

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1 birthday book
1 “Whats your favorite actor” memory book
2 wallets
1 address book
1 picture frame (yes I’ve kept the photo)

Not a big stash I know, but hey a few items here, a few items there, racks up a big number at the end 🙂

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, is on day seven already. I’m loving her reversed version, I wish I had started that way too.
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, she is joining with 15 minutes a day.
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, she is on day five and is running away from us all with 155 items so far… I’m super impressed!

 

21.5 – It’s all about that Bose!

day-5We’re at day 5 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

When I lived in Houston 2007-2009, I lived in an rental place. An empty town home that needed to be furnished. As I didn’t know how long I would really be staying, I didn’t get to much stuff. A couch, a chair, a small dining table and chairs, a bed for me and one for guests, a couple of bookshelves, a rug, a bench for a TV, PlayStation (for playing DVD’s) and a speaker system!

I got myself a Bose Companion 5 Speaker set.

I first came across this set at a HI-FI exhibition years and years ago, someone was playing music and it sounded awesome! We went hunting for the sound to see what the system was, and we were shocked when we found out the music was coming from a PC speaker set, as we were expecting a full blown stereo system.

So when I moved to the States, I figured that why not get this particular set and use it as my home stereo system. Which I did 🙂

I connected it to my TV and used it for music from my computer. I’m telling you, I love my Star Trek movies with a bit of a rumble, and this tiny set sure delivered even on this requirement, and I loved it.

So I took my system with me home, even though to use it here, I had to get a 220v to 110v converter.

For the longest time I used it in my living room for music, until a got a Logitech Squeezebox Touch media streamer. This gave me the ability to stream my Wimp/Tidal (same as Spotify) music directly to my regular stereo system. The Bose system got packed away, and it’s been sitting in my closet ever since 😦

For some reason I’m having a hard time parting with this system. I’ve been thinking about using it in my guestroom, but I’m hardly ever there, and it does steal precious floor space (sub), I’ve been thinking about my bedroom.. but again, there is no logical space for it.

I’ve been trying several times to “get rid of it”, but every time I get cold feet… Is it because I just love the sound from it, and really want to keep it? Even thought I cant find any useful place to put it? I don’t know… My brain is saying yes but my heart has been saying no…

But I think it’s time to let the brain win this one… it’s time to get this out of the shelf and into the world!

So here we are… my Bose Companion 5 set is going out-the-door!

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But this was a challenge of 5 items, my dear! Not a challenge of an item with model number 5 in it.

Well, yeah I know.. but there are actually 8 items to this “pack” 🙂

1 sub
2 satellite speakers
1 controller
1 power cable
1 soundcable
1 usb cable
and not to forget the separate item not part of the companion set
1 converter unit
=
8 items really
but I count it all as 5 (sub, speakers, controller w/cables and converter)
so there 😉

 

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, she’s on day six already.
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, she is hilarious.. seems like I have a land now? She is joining with 15 minutes a day.
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, she is on day four and is beating the heck out of me with 120 items so far… you go girl!

 

21.4 – Oh, my snugglies!

day-4We’re at day 4 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

I’ve been partial to soft stuffed animals for years. It probably started when I was a kid, as my dad used to bring back stuffed animals from his trips around the world. Dolls were never my thing.. give me a soft snuggly bear, koala, elephant or whatever, anytime, and I’ll turn into a 5 year old again 🙂

Now, do I need to keep every snuggly that enters the house? Off course not! Some have sentimental value, and I’m keeping those. But a few that are not as sentimental are still residing in my home… well no more… now at least 4 of them will be leaving!

3 snugglies, and one with somewhat evil looking eyes (go figure why they would sell this to kids) will no longer be calling my place their home.

So here we are… four three snugglies going out-the-door!

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And the one with the eyes!
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I feel a bit bad about the black sheep… I got him from my colleagues when I left my company (and I love that), it’s just that he freaks me out a little when he is looking at me! Which means I’ll hide him away. And if I can’t enjoy him… well I’m sure I can find a kid who will 😉

 

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, she’s on day five or is it six already?
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, she is hilarious.. seems like I have a land now? She is joining with 15 minutes a day.
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, she’s working on her storage room, she is on day three and a whopping 59 items so far…  🙂

 

21.3 – And then they were three!

day-3We’re at day 3 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

I came across these these measuring cups/jars, that have not been used in ages, and there are no reason why they should use up any of my space.

 

So here we are… three measuring cups going out-the-door!

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What? You think that’s kinda cheating! They should really count as one since they are a nesting set? 

OK, if that’s the way you want it. What about these three then?

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or even these three?

21-day-3-c

Happy now?  

 

Shhh… shhh I don’t know about you… but I’m really counting this as 9 items…  Just don’t tell anyone.. OK 😉

 

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, she’s on day four
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, she is hilarious.. seems like I have a land now? She is joining with 15 minutes a day.
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, she’s working on her storage room, and planning on beating my numbers by far 🙂

 

21.2 – I’m a bag lady!

day 2We’re at day 2 of my 21 day declutter challenge.

Over the years I’ve been a bit of a bag and backpack person. Purses not so much, but suitcases, backpacks and messenger bags.. yep that would be me.

Now.. you can only use one bag at the time, they say.. and they would be almost right (I often use two when I travel), so even thought I have downsized some, I still have a few left. And that’s OK.

BUT holding on to old worn out ones.. well that’s just no point now, is it?

So here we are… two bags going out-the-door!21 - day 2

 

I’m being joined in this challenge by:
– Barb, at Decluttering The Stuff, she’s on day three already
– Melinda, at PurpleSlobinRecovery, she is hilarious.. seems like I have a land now? She is joining with 15 minutes a day.
– Grace, at The CFO MOM Blog
– Jen, at The Hidden Hoarder, she is planning on beating my numbers by far 🙂

 

21 – Day one!

day 1It’s Monday, and I did say I would start my 21 day declutter challenge today 🙂

Barb (and John?), over at Decluttering The Stuff, is joining me for 14 days of the challenge, and are into day 2 already. They are doing the challenge in reverse, starting with 14 items on day 1.

Me? I might jumble it up a little too. When I get into decluttering, I’m not really all that good at being super structured. It might be a challenge to “only” toss one, two, three things when I’ve already found a pile that I want out of the house. So I might end up tossing 3 things on day 18, and 20 things on day 3… we will see how it goes.

But for today… I’ve got ONE thing for you 😉

I’ve had two printers for as long as I can remember, probably because when I get a new one (for whatever reason), I hang on to the old one until I have used up all the cartridges (printing photos for albums).

I’ve decided enough is enough. I never really print all that many photos for albums anymore, and when I do, I think I can afford to buy new cartridges for my now ONE printer  😉

 

So out-the-door my old one goes!21 - Day 1 - Printer

Phew, that just cleared a whole shelf…

 

21 day challenge – Decluttering this time!

21 DAY declutter challenge logo 70Looking at my latest blog posts it’s looking a lot like a “travel” site, rather than a minimalist journey site. Now there are reasons for this as I’ve been traveling a bit this summer (only short trips) and my heart these days have been focused more on future travels than decluttering my life.

The last few years, I’ve been doing really good. I’ve been focused, been counting the items leaving the house, and I have slowly but surely seen the result of my decluttering efforts.

This year! Not so much 😦

I could say, it’s been quite the opposite… I’ve done nothing, nada, zilch on the declutter front, and it’s time, it is TIME to get with the program.

I figured that September is a good a month as any, to get back on the declutter wagon. You know, put a little focus into it, just to get the ball rolling!

So, this is what I’m thinking… Why not make myself a tiny 21 day challenge, sort of like I did tried earlier this year, with my blog writing. But a declutter challenge, this time around!

So what is it going to be? Well, I could off course give myself a hairy goal of oodles of things out the door… but as the intention of this is to get back into to groove of things (rather than set myself up for failure), I’m going to do tiny steps… tiny, tiny steps, just to make sure I have a chance, to get myself back into the habit.

So here it is! My goals for this challenge:

  • I will dedicate at least 15 minutes a day to decluttering, every day, without fail.
  • At the end of each week, I will give you an update of what went out-the-door.
  • Out-the-door – hopefully 231 items. Why 231? Well… even thought I’m going for tiny steps, I shouldn’t make it too easy on myself.. should I? I was trying to find the perfect number of items out-the-door and thought.. hey.. why not do a kind of mini version of The Minimalists MinsGame, that should give me just enough challenge. Declutter the amount of items corresponding with the day. Day 1 = 1 item, day 2 = 2 items and so on up to day 21 = 21 items. Total = 231.

And I’m starting Monday.

Monday marks the beginning of the week, and I figured that would be a great day to start it all up 🙂

Want to join me, on my 21 day challenge, my teensy weensy MinsGame?

Yes! Cool! Let me know and we can do it together!

Caught you off guard? Just jump in any day… anything out-the-door, is golden 🙂

Epson XP-860 – My new printer/scanner!

I got my hands on a printer/scanner a few days ago, and I’ve have checked it out some… so far it seems to do what I want.

I have a pretty good photo printer from before, so for me to go out and buy a new “printer”, this product had to tick a few boxes.

  • It had to do duplex scans – for my paper monster project
  • It had to do good quality photo prints – for when I create photo albums
  • It had to be Wi-Fi  – for me to be able to print from pc/Ipad/phone
  • It would be nice if it did duplex prints – I have info that needs to be printed on a regular basis
  • It would be nice if it would scan wirelessly to my computer – saves me from having to use cable
  • It would be nice if I could print on CD/DVD’s – don’t use this feature much anymore, but…

I looked long and hard, and it turns out it’s not that easy to find a small home product that will do automatic duplex scans, and have a document feeder that can take several documents in one go. They do a lot of office related machines, but they are often bigger, more expensive, and don’t do really good photo prints (which was a big thing for me.. as I do print a few photos now and then).

I found that for home use it seems like HP, Epson and Canon have a couple of products (that will do both duplex and decent photo prints). I’ve always used Canon before, but I find the newer models not as sleek as they used to be (they need more flat space for placement), and I decided on Epson this time around.

I bought the Epson Expression Photo XP-860, which covers all the items on my wish list, and Epson are supposed to be good on photo printing and it gets pretty good reviews, so it’s worth a try…

If I’m not happy? Not a problem, as I can return it! They have brilliant return policies on a lot of electronic shops here in Norway 🙂

And if I’m happy? Then it’s a keeper, and my old one will be an item “out-the-door” – given away to a printer needing person 🙂

 

Expression Photo XP-860

So, guess there is no excuse anymore! I have a scanner, now I just need to get going with my sorting, shredding, scanning and archiving 🙂

Stay tuned.. you know I’ll keep you updated 😉

My paper pile from hell!

I told you yesterday I was going to find ALL the paper in my house and pull it together in a pile or two!

Well I did… and here it is! My paper pile from hell!

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Yeah, I should probably have heaped it all into a big hazardous pile. I’m sure that would have looked way more impressive 🙂 But, I’m just to organized, what can I say?

It might not look to bad, but I’m telling you.. there are still about 54 inches of paper… 😦

You wouldn’t by any chance be struggle with papers, just like me, now would you? Why not join me in culling it all down!

 

Taxes – and the paper monster!

April is tax time here in Norway. You get all your information drizzling in over a couple of months and by April 30th you better have your taxes done and delivered or hell breaks loose… or does it?

Actually no, it doesn’t, any longer…

You see, Norway started with e-filing quite a few years ago, where you pretty much just had to check, correct and press a button to file your tax return, and you were done. Nice right?

Well, now we have gone even further. Now we don’t have to do anything, absolutely zilch, nada, nope…

You see, the rule is that if you don’t press that button to “file and approve” your tax return, they just assume that you “approve” the numbers the tax authorities have concluded with, and it’s being automatically filed for you… Great yeah? Well, yes it is, IF they have your numbers correct in the system.

And that’s a big IF! Regardless of how automated taxes are becoming, I would always recommend to take an hour or two and check it properly. Check that they have the correct amounts on your pay and deductibles, that they have not forgotten anything or added something that should not be there. They might not know about all the little things about you, make sure you add them. It can pay off, as every little amount can help reduce the final amount of taxes.

So, every year, end of April, I sit down to do my taxes, and at the same time, I start to go through the rest of my paper monster 😉

My taxes don’t yield a lot of paper any more, as most everything is online. And truth be told, the rest of the year don’t yield a lot either. But even though most of my stuff is now online at different institutions, I still seem to manage to hold on to a significant amount of papers anyway. And this year that stops!

I have decided that this is the year to digitize my entire paper pile! Everything that I want/need to keep, that is in paper form, will be scanned over the next few months. And it all starts, today, people. It all starts today 🙂

So what kind of papers have I been holding on to and collected?

  • Tax papers
  • Insurance papers
  • Birth certificates
  • Medical papers
  • Pension information
  • Warranty receipts
  • Work papers
  • Some bills
  • Old letters and postcards
  • Random cut outs from magazines
  • Scraps of papers with all kinds of scribbles on (yes, that would be my scribbles)
  • +++

As you can see from the list, I’m holding on to a lot of paper related stuff (I have a few shelves and boxes full) so you can see how this might take me a while to go through.

My game plan:

Tomorrow I’m going to collect all and I mean ALL the paper I have in my house and put it in a pile or two or ten 🙂 I think there will be a few piles as I’m sure I have way more paper stashed around than I realise.

And thats when the real works starts! I’m going to have to go through everything, and decide what to toss, what to shred, what to scan and what to keep as physical paper.

But… before I can get to the scanning part… I need to get my hands on a half decent two-sided paper scanner, so guess that’s also on my list of things to do.

Stay tuned…. I’ll be posting all about that terrible pile…. yes, soon!! 😉