We know how well these three words worked in the war against drugs!

We wish we could say NO to so many things!  There are so many “demands” made of us and not enough time to do all of them.  How do you say NO to yourself and others??  Does decluttering our schedule count?

We place our own demands in so many ways – I ought to . . . and  I need to . . .   In the process of decluttering the stuff, we have found we are placing less demands on our time and are enjoying life more than ever.  With less stuff, clean up has become easier and surprisingly quicker giving us more “free” time as well.

I recently read the book “Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste”  by Bea Johnson.  In the book (and on her website), she mentions the 5 R’s – Refuse what you do not need, Reduce what you do need, Reuse what you consume, Recycle what you cannot Refuse, Reduce or Reuse, and Rot (Compost) the rest.

The first R, REFUSE, is the hardest in so many ways.

• How do you refuse “it” when “it” is from a well meaning person?
• How do you say no to yourself when you know you don’t really need “it” but really want “it”??  (Need is such a hard word to evaluate.)
• Do you enlist the help of your partner??
• Do you then feel resentful about their reminder that you don’t really need “it”??
• What about the emotional “it”?
• What about those sentimental things that are both physical and emotional?
• What about those things that require only your time that you really don’t want to do but feel you must??