Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This week for our mini missions we are going to re every day. Yes I did mean re and you will understand what I mean when you read the missions below. If you can’t think of a task to suit each day just repeat Monday over and over. Good luck

Monday – Relinquish something. Anything will do. Send it to a new home just get it our of yours.

Tuesday – Recycle something. Perhaps some old greeting cards like I did last week, maybe some magazines or even plastic containers you thought might find useful one day.

Wednesday – Refurbish something. Maybe something has become clutter because it needs a lick of paint to bring it back to life. I just sanded and painted a little TV dinner table today. At least if I still don’t have a use for it, it will now be in better condition for whoever finds it at the thrift store.

Thursday – Repurpose something. Yesterday I constructed a dolly (a small platform with wheels) out of a piece of chipboard and some spare casters in the garage. It is now making the compressor easier to move around. Maybe you have something in your home that would be good to use for a purpose it may not have been intended for.

Friday – Reinstate something. This might be a bottle of shampoo that has been relegated to second best. Bring it to the fore and use it up because it is always going to be second best and wasting space. Or perhaps an old pair of shoes you love but never use. If you find that even after reinstating them they are not used then perhaps it is time to let them go.

Saturday – Regift something. We all have received gifts in our lives that we never really had a need or want for. Why not pass one of them on to someone else who might get the enjoyment out of it that you never did. It doesn’t have to be an occasion just pass it on for the fun of it. Make sure the recipient knows there are no strings attached.

Sunday – Refuse ~ Interpret this one to suit yourself. If you go shopping today refuse a plastic bag, take your own carry bag instead. If you are offered a free sample of something that isn’t instantly consumable politely refuse it. Refuse to buy yourself that thing you think you need and give yourself time to think more responsibly about the transaction.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

This cork board was repurposed out of an old cork tile and an old picture frame whose glass had been broken. It has now been taken to and sold at the thrift store.

Cork Board

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I made great inroads into my keepsake clutter over the weekend. I have been avoiding that task for some time and there is still plenty more to do but at least I have made a good start.  I am sure you will hear more about it soon.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

I received this message from one of my readers this week and wondered if anyone could help with this request.

I just got rid of about half a dozen strands of greenery and three wreaths and some other Christmas odds and ends. It would be helpful to have a conversation soon about decorating for Christmas and seeing some photos from other people on how they decorate. I keep Googling ‘minimal Christmas decorating’ or words to that effect, but not coming up with any good results.

How did you do with Buy Nothing New October?

Colleen ~ I was hoping to say that I bought nothing new this October and personally I feel that I have done that. I have bought nothing that I wanted to buy that’s for sure. Unfortunately though the air conditioner in my car failed on me, and I had to have the compressor and the condenser replaced. I feel rather bitter and twisted about this for a number of reasons that I won’t bore you with. Technically the compressor was replace under warranty but who’s quibbling: it’s new, and it’s now mine.

Although it doesn’t count because it isn’t new, I did buy one secondhand item, a denim skirt that I paid $1 for, which will be donated back to the thrift shop because it did not suit my needs well enough to keep.

I did discover that it is easy enough to postpone a purchase until the next month to fulfil such a pledge. Now that I have proved my shower repair from last month was a success I need a new bathmat which I have put off buying until November. I suppose though that the resistance to instant gratification is a good lesson if nothing else. I think that pledging to buy nothing new for a whole year would be a far more dedicated venture.

In total I bought acquired two new items and one secondhand one. The air-con repair isn’t added clutter because the old parts were instantly decluttered, and the secondhand item and 21 other items will have been decluttered by month’s end. So I have made good strides in decluttering, that’s for sure.

Cindy ~ I’d say I did so so. Besides, food, medicine, and household disposables, I believe I probably bought about as much as usual. I purchased eight new items:

• 5 books (3 novels, all of which have been read, and 2 writing reference books, mostly for the use of the girls)
• 1 set of “bowl bonnets,” elasticized plastic covers for putting over bowls and plates. They’re an alternative to plastic wrap. (I purchased these at this time in order to get free shipping from Amazon.)
• collar and tag for the cat, who lost his other set

Also during the month, I purchased 17 used items, more than I normally would have, because our church had a gigantic garage sale. In addition, I decluttered 36 items. 36 items out, but 25 in. That’s not as good of a ratio as I would like. Definitely something to think about.

For those of you who participated in But Nothing New October, how did you do? And remember, a bunch of you dedicated yourself to Buy Nothing November. We look forward to hearing about your successes.

And one last acticle to leave you with on the Buy Nothing New initiative.From the Sydney Morning Herald

On Fridays at 365 Less Things I share with you my five favourite comments from my wonderful readers and my five favourite web finds of the week. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Fave Five Comments. Enjoy!

I loved this comment from Dizzy last week, she must surely be a proud mum. And no I didn’t pick this comment because Dizzy said I had beautiful red hair. 😉

Cindy recommended I highlight this comment from Ideealistin and what a beauty it is. I am glad Cindy pointed it our because it had snuck under my radar while I was away on the weekend of the the 15th.

Here is a great tip sent to us in a comment from Sabine. If you are having trouble decluttering your wardrobe maybe this tip will be the plan you were looking for.

Jane left this comment in response to Cindy’s column this week ~ How can you have MORE to declutter? Never be deterred by thinking will I ever be done decluttering. You are only finding more because you are continually getting better at it. Just keep pealing back those layers.

I have brought this comment to the forefront in case anyone has some advice for Leah. My advice was to go cold turkey and put them in the recycling. We spend far too much mental energy over stuff that doesn’t really deserve our attention.

Fave Five Web Finds. Happy reading!

Saving Advice ~ Use up, wear out, make do, do without. I just loved the motto to this blog.

The Non-consumer Advocate ~ Use it up-wear it out-make it do-or do without-challenge And here is more of the same.

The Zero Waste Home ~ A word on heirloom guilt  This great post from Bea at The Zero Waste Home just goes to prove that getting rid of sentimental/heirloom clutter doesn’t make you a heartless person. It just makes you sensible. The memories are still there every day and many ways without the clutter to back it up.

MiniMum ~ Top clutter – Paper-rules I loved Jess’s take on paper clutter in this post. One can never read enough blog posts on paper clutter until you are finally convinced you that you don’t need most of it.

This blog post from Willow, one of my long time regular readers, just goes to prove that the good things in life don’t come in packages.

Today’s Declutter Item

Freecycled last weekend were these 14 Coca Cola bottles. Needless to say there were many keen requests to take them off my hands. I am sure the new owner is pleased to have them in their collection. I know I was pleased to have them out of my garage.

Coca Cola Bottle Collection

Something I Am Grateful For Today

Some days just feel good and today was one of those days. Nothing special about it, it just went smoothly. I am grateful for that.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

I know we have been over this topic more than once but it bears repeating over and over.

Here at 365 Less Things readers often share their stories of sad situations where their family have had a mammoth task of clearing out the home of a deceased loved one. At such a trying time it is hard to have to make rational decisions about what to do with all that stuff, especially if it is a case of a really cluttered household.

It is natures course that when one life ends others must go on and often these other lives are busy and complicated enough already. Trying to find the time necessary to invest in doing this kind of declutter thoroughly, taking into account all family members needs, has many challenges. Challenges that no doubt never occurred to the person leaving it behind.

My advice for the future is ~ Don’t be that person. Keep your clutter to a minimum now so you don’t leave anyone in this position. And/or have that talk with ageing loved ones and encourage and/or assist them to purge what isn’t necessary and important to them now before it is too late. Remember it is never too early to deal with this issue, one doesn’t have to be old for live to come to an end.

Here is an email from Amy who found herself in this position.

As someone who recently had to clean out a person’s house after a death, I definitely agree that we shouldn’t be leaving this paper clutter for someone else to deal with later. After all, if you don’t do it, someone else has to. Why burden your loved ones with this?

I now look at everything in my house that could be considered “clutter” and ask myself if I want to leave this for my children to deal with after I’m gone? Do I really want them to go through things and ask themselves why on earth I saved “such and such?” From the leftover watercolor paints and the scrapbooking stuff I haven’t used, to the pile of recipes I thought I’d make, to the extra odds and ends that were purchased and never used – why burden someone else with this? If we don’t find time to do this, why are we assuming someone else will have the time to deal with stuff we should’ve dealt with?

Deb J also had this example to share ~ My aunt has barrels of “keepsakes” from my grandparents that have never been out of the barrels in the 40+ years they have lived in their present house. She says she will give them to the kids in her will. Well, why not give them to them now–they are all adults with families. Actually, I doubt they will want them anyway. Do they even remember them?

Katharine had this to say ~ I was able to have a much needed conversation with my mother-in-law last week as they have a lot of clutter, to gently suggest they need to deal with it sooner rather than later because it will overwhelm my husband when they are gone: combine his grief and his horder tendencies plus his parents in rented accommodation I can foresee a storage unit situation coming on. They have started trying to deal with it, I just wanted to encourage them they were doing the right thing. She seemed to take it on board…I just hope they are able to do a lot over the next year. 1/2 of it is from her parents that they never dealt with…

Here is a link to a comment from Annabelle which is also an eye opener.

These are just a few of many similar stories received from my 365 Less Things readers over the last 18 months. So the question is ~ What are you leaving to your family members when you pass. A lifetime of fond memories or a lifetime of fond memories and a house full of clutter that you didn’t want to deal with.

Today’s Declutter Item

My declutter items today are some hand-me-down milkshake glasses from my grandparent’s bakery circa 1935ish. They are, in fact, extremely relevant to today’s topic. My grandfather could have sold his bakery when he chose to retire but he would not relinquish the “famous” sponge cake recipe. Being as this recipe was key to the popularity of this bakery nobody would buy the business without it. So my granddad stubbornly packed up all the equipment and stored it in his back shed. It was still there when my grandmother died many many years later. He left it for her to deal with and in turn she left it for my parents to deal with. I did have eight of these glasses but donated 4 earlier in my declutter mission. In the process of Freecycling some other items this week is met a lady who had a 50s diner set up in her garage. It turned out her husband was related to me on my grandmother’s side of the family. So if offered her these glasses even though I had no intension of decluttering them right now. I figured she would get far more enjoyment out of them and in a roundabout fashion they were staying in the family.

Heirloom Clutter

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I have got to the stage where I could move things on the floor of my garage up onto the empty space decluttering has created on the shelving unit. I had a fun time organising and cleaning in there today. I know my sense of fun is a little odd but I never once siad I was normal.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom

I took a hiatus of a couple weeks from my decluttering. When I started back up, I found this comment on my Facebook page, “How can you have MORE to declutter?” Three other friends “liked” this comment, which means that probably even more people than those four are wondering why I’m not sitting around on the floor with no clothes on by now, like this fellow. (I’ll wait while you check it out.)

How can I have more to declutter? Easy. According to the TED video featuring Graham Hill that Colleen posted on Saturday, the average American house is now three times larger than it was 50 years ago, yet in that time, off-site storage units have become a multi-billion dollar industry. A New York Times article  from 2009 states that “…by the early ’90s, American families had, on average, twice as many possessions as they did 25 years earlier.” Twice as many possessions? Oh my, I have to declutter something right now just thinking about that!

I think the key is to recognize that there’s no “done.” There may be “done” with the big bulk of the decluttering, but like other types of housework, it needs attending to. Interests change. Hobbies come and go. Children grow up, graduate, leave, and maybe come back. There can be the addition of grandchildren or aging relatives. Plus, we apparently have twice as many belongings as our parents did 25 years ago!

In my case, Dan’s office is largely untouched. I have some boxes up in the closet in Audra’s bedroom that have never been investigated. The garage is virgin territory. The girls are always maturing and changing, so the belongings in their room need continual attention. The attic is in pretty good shape but surely can stand another culling. Maybe someday I’ll be able to get rid of my Christmas china.

In addition, it’s important to be realistic about what’s entering your house. If new things are purchased and nothing is purged, the amount of stuff grows and grows. I had a lighter decluttering month than ususal in October and predict that I will only declutter about 38 things by the end of the month. I have tracked every purchase, and 25 new things have entered my life. Eight of them are brand new, and the rest are second hand goods, so I can feel virtuous from a fiscal and environmental point of view, but it’s still only a net loss of only a dozen items for the whole month. That’s two steps forward and one step back!

I’ve written on this topic before and compared the process of decluttering with editing, a past profession of mine. You have to clear off the first layer before you can see the second layer to deal with it. Once you delve into the second layer, there will be a third, and maybe a fourth or fifth. Hard decisions that you put off the first time around need to be addressed again later. The process is a lifestyle change, not a one-time burst of cleaning.

That, my dear friends, is how I can have more to declutter.

Today’s Declutter Item

If you get an accessory with something but you don’t use it there is no point in keeping it. Dah! So these camera straps when off the the thrift shop. Goodness knows how long they have been lingering unused in the bottom of the camera bag.

Camera Straps

Something I Am Grateful For Today

I am grateful for the extended warranty on my car. The airconditioner compressor has failed which would have cost me $1400 to replace. Luckily for me it is covered under this warranty. 

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

I have avoided doing much decluttering of the keepsake boxes in my home so far. And yes I did say boxes as there is more than one. My husband did a once over of them quite early in our mission and then once or twice again of his own stuff since then but I have kept busy with everything else. I have focused mainly on the more obvious clutter but in all honesty I don’t relish the idea of sorting through all those fiddly bits. We have tackled photos one or twice as well but the bulk of that task is still ahead of us. It is not that I am emotionally attached it is just that it is a lot of faffing about and I prefer to deal with the other stuff right now.

Now the thing is, that not only have I not done much to sort and declutter in these boxes I haven’t even looked in them. The question then has to be asked ~ How much do we really need or cherish these items if we don’t even care to look at them. I would ultimately like to narrow down the collection to one box because, in reality, that is probably all that is in them that is important historically or personally.

So a Saturday I removed everything from the box that contains the items I have kept pertaining to my son. This is what was there…

• Glow in the dark dummy (pacifier)
• Baby hospital ID band
• Birth registration confirmation
• The identification card from the end of his hospital crib
• The calendar page from the month of his birth
• The ultrasound scan of him in my womb
• Hospital account for phone calls made ( that was pre-cellphone days)
• Baby cards
• A little outfit he wore as a baby
• Christening & holy communion cards & memorabilia
• First birthday cards
• School work samples

The first thing I did was take all of the items to Liam and asked him to go through them with me to decide what he wanted to keep. He took a look at the inside of a few cards and said ~ “Let me see, they say to us from someone and nothing else really.”. I showed him the birth registation document and he said ~ “If you want proof I was born I’m sitting right here.”. He looked over all the other items and said he didn’t want them except the ultrasound which he is going do some sort of photographic project with. That is the photographic/arts student coming out in him.

Now it was up to me to decide what to actually get rid of. Just because my son doesn’t care about these things at the young age of twenty doesn’t mean he won’t think differently when he is more mature. So I have set aside the first five items on the list as keepers and they all fit into one Ziplock sandwich bag. What I then worked on was the greeting cards. This is where the soul searching came in and there were a list of thoughts that ran through my head…

1. Do I really need to keep these?
2. What is important, a cute piece of cardboard made in a factory or the message inside from the person who gave the card?
3. Would a scan of the card suffice for historic and sentimental purposes?
4. Why do we even save these things, when did this tradition begin? Some of the people who gave these cards are no longer even in our lives.
5. If every generation saved these things what sort of cluttered mess would a family be in in six generations from now?
6. If I don’t want them and he doesn’t want them, what am I keeping them for?

In the end the decision wasn’t a difficult one. I cut the cards in half, flipped the pieces so I could scan the message and the cover at the same time, scanned them all and threw the cards into the recycling bin. The digital file of these cards will take up a lot less physical space than the cards themselves.

I will do the same thing with his school work samples because I don’t think we really need to keep the originals but some of the stuff he wrote was hilarious and will be fun to share with his kids if he ever has any. He has always has a cheeky sense of humour that one, I wonder where he got the from? 😉

Oh and I almost forgot to tell you the funny ending to this story. When we were going through the cards to scan them I found two cards from Liam’t great-grandma one had $5 in it and the other $20. The money has been there so long that it is no longer in circulation. Back in those days we had paper bills but now we have plastic one. See sample below of the change in the $20 bill. I don’t even know if he can cash them in for the current money. I’ll have to go to the bank to find out.

New currency at top

Today’s Declutter Item

Naturally my offering for today are the cards that I decluttered in the post above.

Greeting Cards

Something I Am Grateful For Today

A clean house, four loads of clean washing, some rearranging in the garage, a couple of extra small jobs around the house done and I am grateful to sit back now and enjoy an evening of relaxation. It is so nice to be surrounded by a clean home even if you did have to do it yourself. In fact I think that makes it even more satisfying.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

Mini Mission Monday is about finding ten minutes a day to declutter. To make it easy for you, each Monday I set seven declutter missions, one for each day of the week for you to follow. It takes the guess work out of decluttering and makes it easy and “fun” for you to achieve some quick decluttering.

This week is another week of just random decluttering. Nothing to difficult like confronting family members or dealing with obligation clutter so I want no excesses my 365 declutterers. Only those who have all these tasked taken care of are allowed to slacken off. Chop Chop!! 😉

Monday -  Go through your spice collection and declutter any that you know have been there a long time or that you never use.

Tuesday -  Open one of your digital photo sub-folder and delete any not so great photos. Computer clutter is still clutter. (I did say one sub-folder not the whole twenty years of digital memories. Don’t blame me if you get carried away.)

Wednesday - Declutter one item of aspiration clutter – something you own that you have been meaning to learn to use for years but haven’t. If you can’t part with it then start to use it either way it won’t be clutter any more.

Thursday - If you have picnic items such as a basket of utensils and the like, a Thermos flask, blanket etc check to see if they are in good working order or if you are ever likely to use them again. If not it is time to purge the items that are of no use to you.

Friday - Find one electrical device in your home that you never use and sell it or give it away. It will be slowly dying from lack of use.

Saturday - The Car ~ I know that during the course of getting from A to B and back again stuff makes its way to the car and doesn’t get returned to the place it belongs immediately and sometimes trash can accumulate there also. Every now and again we need to take some time out to put everything right. Today would be a good day for that.

Sunday - Newspapers and catalogues are also on constant flow through our homes. Once read they are often never viewed again. Recycle the ones you know you won’t be reading again and think twice about setting aside any that you “think” you will look at again.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

About five years back I bought a set of these pens each for my son, my daughter and myself. I don’t think any of us ever used them to their fullest extent. I donated this lot to the thrift store because they are in danger of drying up before they ever g0t used.

Excessive pens

Something I Am Grateful For Today

For a successful Freecycle weekend. I finally got rid of a few things that have been hanging about for way too long.

 But on a sadder note I would like to offer up prayers of comfort to the family, friends, colleagues and fans of Marco Simoncelli. After the high of Casey Stoner winning the Motocycle GP last week it is hard to comprehend the low of this weekend’s race in Malaysia. In an horrific accident in the second lap Marco sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the track medical centre. He sadly succumbed to his injuries at 4:56pm local time despite the medical team’s efforts to resuscitate him. RIP Marco Simoncelli you will be sadly missed. 

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow

I received this email last week and felt compelled to share it with my American readers.

Dear Colleen,

The news is full of stories about Congress battling over the budget but did you know that our elected officials are deciding the fate of America’s natural resources? Critical programs that, for decades, have protected our wildlife and wild places are now on the chopping block. This is simply unacceptable.

You and your readers have an opportunity to do something about it – Use Your Outside Voice! The Nature Conservancy wants The U.S. Congress to know that Americans care about their natural resources and believe that cutting funds meant to protect our water, forests and wildlife will do much more harm than good. Conservation programs did not cause the budget deficit and disproportionate cuts to these vital programs will not solve the problem.

The fact is – Americans need jobs. Healthy lands and waters create jobs and revenue in America’s recreation, agriculture, and other industries that rely on pristine habitats, clean waters and thriving wildlife.

There are three ways you can Use Your Outside Voice to make a difference:

You can Sign the Pledge – http://voice.nature.org and proclaim your support for the health of our American wilderness and the creatures that live there.

You can Speak Up For Nature – http://voice.nature.org/your-elected-officials.html and call your congressman, write to your senator or attend a town hall meeting to show support for conservation programs.

You can Share Your Story – http://voice.nature.org/stories and inspire others to get involved. Please let your readers know that they have a chance to make a difference and speak up for nature!

Thank you,

Midori Matsuyama

Online Outreach The Nature Conservancy

http://nature.org

http://twitter.com/nature.org

http://facebook.com/thenatureconservancy

My husband found this Ted video and of course I had to share it with you all. I also suggest you take a look at the website LifeEdited.org