2025 Q2 Decluttering check in

Started a low-spend year again after a gap of a year. I tried last year and forgot in April. So I'm now loosely doing a budget challenge to not buy new things just replace essentials. The obsession has evolved to also using up things in the fridge, pantry, bathroom and dresser... and then to become a full declutter challenge. 

I'm working decluttering one thing a day. And because I don't like putting things in landfill, I have a range of options!

1. LANDFILL and RECYCLING

It's unavoidable that some stuff has to go in the red bin. Things I've let go of this way include my old non-stick fry pan. A pottery class fail. 3 pairs of bad tweezers (and I bought 1 pair of tweezermans to replace).

Recycling: I put my 20 year old uni textbook in the recycling last week. I've taken my old laptop and random cables and things to Officeworks ewaste, I worked on that project for a week, resetting and deleting data and gathering things together for the drop off. 

2. DONATE IT.

Not original but I have made it a satisfying regular thing to do, just have a box on the go and take it every few weeks. I have a favourite op shop and I wash and iron things before I donate them. I've donated my Big Soup Pot - that gave me so much cupboard space! And I can't remember when I last used it, I just kept it because it was part of a saucepan set and I had used it in the past so in my mind it was useful. In the last while I've culled tote bags and small hand bags, washing and ironing and wiping things so they look decent to be used if they are wanted. 

3. USE IT.

I have almost 10 year old lip balm and 20 year old body wash. I know. Nothing wrong with them, but they are non-favourite non-habit things I never reach for. I don't want to waste it so I'm just putting lip balm on extra-dry winter skin on feet etc lol. 

Things being non-favourite is a theme I've noticed. Non favourite clothes or food. A podcast ep suggested a good challenge for clothes is to wear the things you never wear. Then you know! It either is NOT going to ever be worn, eg, no pockets is annoying. Or it might actually be a thing that works but you just haven't taken the risk with it, or you've been saving it for an occasion that never happens, and you start wearing it. 

Other things I've been using up is cards, I've been writing and posting cards to kids and thankyou cards to adults. 

And I have a collection of frames and drawings/art I'm going to hang on the walls instead of just keeping in the cupboard for one day. 

I've done a lot of cooking to use up random ingredients. In future, I've decided not to keep leftover ingredients from one-off recipes if I can just use them up as soon as possible. Eg a 1/3 packet of pistachios. I will just add it to my meusli or a salad. I'm annoyed that I have rice flour and corn flour, what are they for? I'm just mixing them into other baking now, and hope to never buy them again. 

Using things is a slow steady project. Donating and binning is an instant gratification thing (if you find it easy), but using is very slow... but when I reach the end of a jar of spice or a tube of moisturiser I feel triumph! 

NO STORAGE

My home won't look more minimalist after this, in fact it might be more maximalist with pictures on the wall. But the difference will be in the cupboards. I want to whittle down the stored stuff. Slowly but systematically. And I hope that by doing this at the same time as my low spend year, I will reinforce the low spend habit, reset the habits of accumulation a bit. Seeing all the things I have and making decisions about them is quite an antidote to buying more. I would really like to commit to slow mindful consumption. 

My dad said recently "We're in the stage of life we don't buy things" and I think I'm in a stage of life where I will still buy things but I want to finish this year with less not more, and anything I buy it's with an eye for what I know from my mid-life experience that I value.

If you are decluttering, here are some other thoughts.

• We always acquire stuff, it trickles in even if we don't buy it, and also our needs change, so moving things out of our life is a healthy thing to do. We don't have infinite storage. 
• It's hard to let it go, but it's easy to live without it. This is my favourite mantra (quote from Caroline Winkler). If it's something I don't need but I still feel oddly torn about getting rid of it—my business textbook from uni, for some reason—this helps me, because I know it is true. My life is fine without my business textbook which I never read after uni. 
• There are times when a purge is good, but there's a lot to be said for slow and steady, because at the end of the day the change is you. If you practice something mindfully and regularly there is more chance of you learning it and absorbing it. You clear a small area and you have a win and move on to a bigger area. You feel the pain of getting rid of something that seems like a waste of money to lose, and that pain is a lesson to learn not to make that mistake again, and you feel the relief of not being reminded of it anymore after it is gone, and you are encouraged to let go of the next things that has been causing guilt. I see a lot of youtube videos of people doing a massive purge in one weekend and I wonder if that will last or if they will continue in their current habits of mindless shopping and aquiring until they do the next purge, repeat the cycle? It's probably not like that, it probably gets a bit better each time, in which case you may as well go slow and steady. Especially if you are sensitive and want to be really thoughtful about the process. 

ART

I have successfully done a chalk pastel of a cloudy sky! 

Next term I am going back to ceramics. I think the main reason is because otherwise I cannot make time to do creative things. I can't make it a priority in my normal life, and some of the reasons are because I am distracted by the jobs I need to do and I do them first leaving no energy, and because creativity is a risk - it might turn out bad, and then I've wasted precious weekend time. So now I've got a commitment to do it every Wednesday morning whether it looks good or bad, whether I have undone chores or not. 

2025 Q1 creativity check in

Argh we are 1/4 through 2025! 

I missed the end of Feb blog, so its approximately the end of March. Yesterday was my birthday. Didn't want to do much but G came up and we had a nice day, quite leisurely, which is what I wanted. A slow day. A late start. Late pilates class. Lunch. A rest. Reading in the park. Walk dog with R. Dinner at tre viet. Watched TV. And a good nights sleep! I felt very rested which is rare. 

So some creativity from the last 2 months.

I've been playing the piano before work most days, and I have memorised Liz on top of the world, and most of Dawn, from P&P 2005. That movie is TWENTY YEARS OLD. Bucket list goal of being able to sit down anywhere there is a piano and play dreamy Austen soundtrack music from memory ACHIEVED.

I picked a lot of tomatos and made 4 jars of green tomato relish! Remarkable crop and didn't lose many to caterpillars. I did used tomato dust, this wasn't an organic miracle. I've got a good number of lemons on my potted tree, too. It has rained a lot!

A friend invited me to walk mereweather to newy, really appreciated how beautiful the whole coast is here, and it was good to break my usual saturday routine of pilates and housework. Routine is good, but forgettable. This was tiring, delightful, memorable. 

I've done some sewing. Made 2 pants and a dress so far. The pants are very useful. The dress I am moving the pockets. Trying to not always do a sewing marathon, and practice doing a bit and then stopping and coming back later. 

I've been doing more housework after work, to free up weekend time for pottery and pastels. I bought a bag of clay on a day off and I've decided to just make vases, with coils mostly. I had some ideas for decorating, but didn't like them, and went back to carving. I just love carving. 

I have an idea to colour the carving too. I don't have any glaze yet though. 

And these are my pastels so far. I put them on the wall and gave one to someone in my home group when we were meeting at my house. 

So reflecting on my original goals for the year, slow down, keep up spiritual habits, change my schedule to allow more creativity, read some more books... going OK. Every day isn't perfect and there isn't enough time to do it all but I'm overall doing the things. I have no big stressors this year which is nice too. 

Start of 2025

 Counting January a success. After new years eve, I did my first creative goal for the year, a chalk pastel class. So good. I have been meaning to redo it for practice but I haven't yet.

I did summer school in Katoomba for 3 nights in a hotel, which was very convenient, saved my energy to get the most out of the event, and got to know my friend better. Then an overnight stay with AM at her newish house, a little bushwalk and a free air plant from the nursery. 

Then getting ready for work and the year ahead! But the Sunday before returning to work I did a pottery class with my sister, which was her christmas gift from me.

I have no big plans this year, but I am trying to set up some small habits to slow down and enjoy my every day life more. So, slower mornings where I do some piano practice or some crochet, for 5-10 minutes of something creative with my hands, instead of just charging off to work. And also continuing my Lectio time because that is very helpful for slowing me down. 

Another focus is moving housework from the weekend to before or after work. Just one small job each weekday. So laundry mid week now. Clean my bathroom on Thursdays. It's going to make my work days a bit longer and fuller, but actually I don't hate housework, and I do enjoy podcasts and audiobooks, so it's good to not be sitting in front of the TV as much at night, and ultimately the benefit is I don't have to spend as much weekend time doing housework. 

I also decided to aim for a higher average number of steps this year. Not a number each day, just a higher average than last years average. One way is by doing an evening walk. This has turned out to be a really pleasant thing that I enjoy. At 8pm, it's quiet, it's still light, it's cool, it's a lovely time to be outside after a day in the office. It's a sensory thing really. 

Thoughts on doing what feels good. Saw a NYT reel where people slowly savoured a piece of cheese and a cheeto and compared the experiences. The cheese has a rich, lasting flavour and aftertaste. The cheeto has an immediate wonderful burst of flavour and sensation but after the first crunchy chew, it has a kind of weak fake flavour and gross feel, which you need to remove by eating another cheeto. What an analogy for dopamine. When you actually take notice of how things feel, what feels good isn't what you think feels good. What I think feels good is scrolling on my phone while watching TV. What actually feels good is being immersed in a story in some form. Or my evening walk. So I hope I can sustain feel good choices next month and onwards, because it's tiredness that hobbles me, makes me feel like it's too risky to expend effort on pleasure.

Last year I dropped my habit of monthly visit to Singleton because life was busy and there were so many birthdays to see them at, so on the Aus day weekend I spent Saturday arvo there, helped with some deep cleaning, just hung out with the kids, and there was an event in the park where I learned basket weaving and the kids queued for face painting. It was a reminder that social events like birthdays aren't the best time to hang out with kids, they are much more relaxed on a regular saturday in their home clothes. I got some special moments.

Little creative progress updates to end with.

End of 2024.

I started term 4 very strong, in good health! And had a very successful day of throwing clay where I made 5 actual things, 2 turned into mugs.

The following week I learned how to pull handles and attach them to mug bodies.

This is a happy event each week, the kiln booty laid out when I arrive.

This is when your clay does not throw and you end up with 5 lumps of mud. 

However I did get one bowl that week I think, and the following week I did a tachnique with carving and coloured slip that I saw on instagram and that worked very well. 

A colleague and I went to the open studios and pottery market and it was a total joy. A perfect activity with the perfect companion.

My garden bloomed.

I did a job I have planned for years. I boguht a hole cutter bit for my drill and turned my unused bokashi bin into an inground compost. This is working brilliantly. I still haven't filled it up. The worms can just wiggle in and out through the holes so it never needs to be emptied, you just wait for the worms to eat it down and then resume filling.

I also decided that this was the year I would get ceiling fans. It cost about 2k and involved a lot of running around, and I'm still waiting for Beacon to replace a wonky light, but it was an achievement. I try and do one big expense each year, on the house or maybe buy a musical instrument or something, so 10 years it took to do fans! 

Speaking of achievement, I got the excellence award at work at the end of the year. I thought after 10 years I might get an award soon but I expected the other one, so this was nice.

The last 2 months felt over-busy. November has a lot of birthdays, and the rehearsals for Chrismtas music events started, which I have resolved not to do next year. My joy in Christmas carols etc was quite low this year. Anyway, I got slightly sick and really enjoyed taking a week or so off, which is always a sign, when you enjoy being sick and cancelling your life, that you are doing more than you want. But, it's all good stuff, it all got done, fans are installed, carols are sung, eyes are checked, pottery is finished.

This is me in the midst of a busy day in a busy week, couldn't resist adding sunflower picking logistics into the day.

 Christmas went off smoothly, and my sister organised a visit to Lake St Clair near Singleton a couple of days later, which we all went to, and picnicked and paddled, it was quite pleasant.

 

Spring 2024

I let the post routine slip a bit and I'm OK with that! I thought I'd just recap all the creative things I did in the last couple of months. I was doing a sort of long service leave / sabbatical while still working and doing my life, working 4 days, doing pottery on Wednesdays, taking a break from rosters at church, slowing life down. I think slowness has been a theme or an aim of the months. I think God is slow, in that he has the eternal view so a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day; and in that I don't have time to relate to him unless I'm slow. I've been having slow mornings this year, which has made it a lot easier to pray, and sets me up for a less stressful day. I even heard that literally slowing down your movements calms your nervous system. It's a challenge.

I went to a little art thing that a work friend was doing at the botanic gardens. I wrote on these postcards and gave them to my bosses. When I finish my pottery experience, I would like to get back into oils and watercolour. Even just small studies like this are beautiful and mindful. 

My first ceramic project was this coil pot! It was smoothed on the wheel, carved, glazed, so it took a month or so altogether, but I LOVED making it. I had some ideas about what I wanted to make last term, but I went along with the learning process and made what worked - just going along with it was a good process. In making this, I tried not to overcook it. It took its own shape, when I trimmed it I stopped when I liked how it looked rather than conforming it to a curved bowl, I carved a design that started freestyle and ended up being inspired by soil structure, the whole experience was a great way to let the process flow rather than be productivity focused or have a goal and force it.

Not every week was so mindful. Sometimes I cried, like my first attempts at throwing. Or when I had bad traffic, ran late, and was anxious to get things done. Sunflower lady has a good radar and offered me a hug.

Not my creativity, but I went to the quilt show at Tocal, because that is high quality craft and very impressive and beautiful.

A colleague wanted to go to the Albert Mucha exhibition in Sydney, and since he was driving, that was a great way to do a daytrip and see and learn about an artist I recognise his work but hadn't studied. He started from a commercial background and transitioned to fine art loaded with political and religious symbols.

More pottery - slip casting. A bit too easy to get caught up in a fast production line. But it gave me a great number of small pieces to explore the glazing process without worrying about ruining something precious from the wheel.

A Saturday arvo in Morpeth, revisiting the gallery, looking at the orchid exhibition, 

A long weekend in Brisbane! First stop, The Nest.

A Friday daytripping around Brisbane and buying shoes, and a Saturday in Toowoomba at the flower festival.

Also the meuseum in Toowoomba has a floral artist exhibition, I can't remember her name now, and she was racist so I don't approve her as a person, but her floral illustrations are like portraits of flowers but still like scientific illustrations. 

Sunday in Brisbane after church I smashed out a big section of my ancient knitting project. Sometimes you have to do craft when you don't feel inspired otherwise they just don't get finished.

I started sewing recently as well, even though I didn't feel like it, I felt like I should make some baby clothes before all the babies grew up. And once I got things started, I kept going, I was on a roll and I decided to use up as much fabric as I could on small pairs of shorts, thus culling my stash of useless small pieces of leftovers, and making very cheap christmas presents! I also made myself the brown rainbow dress, it was $5 m sateen from the Nest.

The end of term - I held an exhibition in the office! My colleagues have been delightfully interested in everything I did each week!

Once it was the school holidays, I pushed myself to really make a mess - I did the sewing, which spread out over weeks instead of being a single weekend then wrap up, and I got out my leftover clay and did some handbuilding. 

It's so easy to put creative things off. They make a mess. You need to make and remake things to get better so it doesn't feel worth it sometimes. You save it for the weekend then the weekend is busy. You will do it later. But you just have to get into it. My first win was coming home from Pilates on Saturday and getting out the clay and starting making a thing for 90 min before I had a late lunch. My biggest achievement was leaving work at 3.30 on a monday, and doing 4 hours of clay and sewing before bed! 

To finish, I've been finding encouraging pearls to inspire my creative process here and there. I shared this article with another beginner in my pottery class. https://janetasantesullivan.substack.com/p/honoring-our-beginner-stage

"Instead of relying on muscle memory, our work flows more freely and authentically—whether it’s art, writing, or our first day on a new job—allowing us to tap into unfiltered creativity and genuine enthusiasm that can often get snuffed once we become seasoned.

"What if we celebrated and valued our beginner selves just as much as our experienced selves? Why do we think that only years of struggle and grinding can validate our creations? Maybe there’s a unique worth in the raw, unrefined way of being and doing that comes from our initial attempts, a purity that deserves recognition and appreciation."