Tag Archives: less

KonMari Method, Decluttering, Vowing To Be Frugal: Catherine Balavage On Her Quest For Less

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There are many perks to living in London: living in the greatest city on earth, always having something to do, the history, the beauty, the parks, the museums, the monuments, the restaurants….I could go on forever. Perks you do not have however usually involve space. My first flat in London was a tiny studio in Highgate I paid £595 for per month. Practically a bargain now. It even had a garden. The next place I lived was a tiny 9 foot by 10 foot room in a house share with five other people. There was a communal storage room, but it was always packed. It didn’t matter initially that I had no room as most of my stuff was at my parent’s home. When I was 24 I asked my parents to bring it all down. Boxes and boxes of stuff. They weren’t sure where I would put all of my belongings, and my room was stuffed and over-cluttered for a long time, but here is the thing: I sold it all. It helped pay my rent and I felt much clearer. And there the addiction started.

I think the first thing I sold was a hair crimping machine (Yes, I know). But it went for about £28. A fair amount of money. Now we live in a two-bedroom flat in South-West London, and my husband and I have been hit by the clearing out bug more than ever. We also have a child now so can’t use the second bedroom for storage like we used to. We both hate shopping, but seem to accumulate an insane amount of stuff. It doesn’t help that as a writer I get sent a lot of stuff to review, and that when we moved to our previous place my husband took his belongings from the family home and his storage unit. But we are feeling proud. I have got rid of thousands (yes, thousands) of things, and my husband has too. This article is a first in a series of decluttering and turning your house into a home. I previously reviewed the The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying which you can read here. It is a helpful book, my husband even used the phrase ‘tidy up properly once and you will never have to tidy up again’, so it definitely works!

Most of our stuff has gone to Oxfam and Fara. Some of it was sold on eBay.co.uk. There is no point in just throwing your stuff out to it ends up on some landfill site, harming the environment and creating waste. We have donated, sold or recycled everything. It has been a huge job and has taken a long time. Forget what is says in the The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. I just don’t believe you can do it in a day. Well, not if you have a child anyway. Marie Kondo wrote her book before she had a child, it would be interesting to see if she thinks doing it in a day is possible now.

I hope you will join me on my journey. It makes such a difference to your life to get rid of the old and declutter. Watch this space.

 

 

 

Patricia Arquette’s Oscar Speech Is a Thing of Beauty | Watch Now

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Patricia Arquette , speech, feminism, oscar speech, equal pay, Winner of Best Actress In A Supporting Role Oscar 2015Patricia Arquette’s kick ass Oscar Speech took over the internet, and rightly so. While political statements are generally frowned upon at the Academy Awards, Arquette won the hearts of people all over the world with her demand for equal pay for women. The best reaction came from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom nearly fell off their seats with glee. Equal pay for women in Hollywood has been a widely debated topic since the Sony hacks. I hope that Arquette’s speech makes a difference, she has at least raised awareness to billions of people, and for that she is amazing.

She also said earlier this year that she paid her babysitter and dog walker more money than she made on Boyhood. She isn’t the only one to speak out. Hilary Swank said: “My male counterpart will get paid ten times more than me — ten times. Not double, but ten times for the same job. We only have this much left for the female actress. I mean, there’s two genders on this earth. Both are compelling, interesting, diverse, wonderful in all their own separate ways. And yet there’s an influx of male roles, and there’s just not for women.”

While Amy Pascal has said that the problem is that women accept less money than men it is not as simple as that. Pascal herself said that there are less roles for women so women are more likely to work for less just to have a job. This is a sad state of affairs that must change. Arquette has started the battle call, we must all follow through.

 

 

5 Tips to cope with the Euro Meltdown

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5 Tips to cope with the Euro Meltdown by Karen Perkins.

1 Take control. Review, and keep reviewing all your savings/bank accounts etc and decide if you have anything to worry about. If yes, make a plan and act now. if not .. relax & praise yourself, at least you have acted.
2 Choose to listen less to the News .. let go of things you cannot control.. concentrate on the things you can .. you can choose to take on less stress, especially if its not your own !
3 Get over it… think of people who are much worse off than you, imagine having to walk 4 miles a day for clean water !
4 Protect ,and futureproof your current job/ business by keeping your eye on the ball , and being indispensible.
5 Help others, do at least 1 Random Act of Kindness a day , volunteer to help a charity , we are very lucky here in Sheffield ..

Good luck !

Karen Perkins is a life coach. For more information go to her site.