But wait... there's less!

What do you do when you have 80 pens? Help save someone's life. Most times we give away an item we feel we're helping someone. Even selling an item does the buyer a favour by providing what they need at a bargain price. But this was a step above. At a local church, lawyers and other volunteers help refugees seeking safety in Australia. They have a mountain of government paperwork to do to demonstrate who they are and the serious danger they face in their home country. Recently they needed more stationery supplies for the paperwork and applications. It was a great chance for us to declutter our stationery and help people in real need. I was surprised to find we had at least three staplers and 80 pens. Almost half the pens no longer worked - either broken or had dried up while waiting to be used.. We have much less now - but probably still more than we will ever use in our lifetime.

According to research by Gumtree, the average Australian household has $5,200 of unwanted goods sitting around the home. Why not cash it in? I'm sure we'd all much prefer to have a few thousand dollars rather than all that clutter we no longer use. So far we've made over $1,630 We didn't have many valuable items - just a fridge and a lounge suite. Most of the cash came from lots of little items (around 170 of them) for 2, 5 or 10 dollars. It all adds up - to a surprisingly high amount.

May 1-7 is Screen-Free Week . It's about spending time away from the screen and more time with each other - or doing things we love. It's a great chance to break the work-tired-watchTV-ads-shop-work cycle. This list of twenty alternative ideas is great for screen-free week. It's also a great reminder of things we could enjoy if we're shopping and spending less - and maybe working less and enjoying life more.