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’s mini missions reflects the decluttering that was going on in my house last week.  Each day I will name a category and you can see if you have an item in that category to declutter. You may think you don’t have anything but take a look anyway, you might be surprised.

Monday – Jewellery ~ This category comes up often and yet last week I got serious about it. There wasn’t that much left  in my jewellery box but mostly I was keeping it just because I have had it for years and it didn’t take up much space. Sentimental clutter really. This time I have been realistic about whether I actually wear it and have chosen accordingly. I have already placed some vintage pieces on ebay and I will either sell or donate that rest. The jewellery box will be decluttered as well.

Tuesday – Heirloom Items ~ In my jewellery box was a fountain pen that I believe belonged to my grandfather and an old Speidel watch band which also belonged to a relative, I have no idea who. As it turns out both items were broken and therefore useless. So after years of “cherishing” them I did what I should have done with them years ago. I threw them in the bin. To be quite honest I was only keeping them because I thought they might be worth something.

Wednesday – A Clothing Item ~ I own one white basic T. Correction did own. This T-shirt has two obvious stains on it so why was it still in my possession. I think probably because I didn’t want to replace it and because it would do in an emergency. Both laughable reasons really.

Thursday – A gadget ~ I have also listed on ebay a digital voice recorder. I bought this with the intention of recording family history interviews. Needless to say this never happened. I was pleased to see this morning that someone has placed a bid on it and it will soon be out the door. If I feel inclined to do any voice recordings in the future I will use my hand-me-down iPhone.

Friday – Fashion Accessories ~ Last week I decluttered some hair accessories and a belt. All of which are rarely or never used but kept “just in case”. I have decluttered in both these areas before but this time I was somewhat more ruthless.

Saturday – Craft Supplies ~ This category appears ad nauseam on my blog I know. Decluttering this area for me is a gradual process in letting go so please be patient with me. Last week I began the arduous task of decluttering enough scrapbook paper so that what remains will fit into two file drawers. Lena has challenged me to be finally done with this area by the end of the year. I am going to do it Lena, you’ll see. In fact I am aiming for end of June.

Sunday – Eyeglasses ~ This week I picked up my new eyeglass prescription. I had ordered a pair of everyday glasses and my first ever pair of prescription sunglasses. Oh how nice it is to be able to protect my eyes from the sun and still be able to see properly. I can now donate my old back-up pairs to charity.   Here are links for donating eyeglasses in Australia and the USA 

Good luck and happy decluttering

Today’s Declutter Item

This belt I mention above. I haven’t used it in about four years and most likely never will so I think it is time to let it go.

One belt no longer used

Something I Am Grateful For Today

A break in the wet weather so we could go for a ride on the motorbike. There a lots of nice seaside places to visit near where we live.

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

Do you have any foreign coin cluttering up a drawer in your home. Even though this post is Australian oriented I am sure if you check out your countries UNICEF web site or contact them they will have a similar foreign coin initiative. Every airline I have travelled on have collected coin for this purpose. So if you have travelled overseas and have foreign coin sitting around unused why not declutter it and help children’s charities.

Drop off foreign coins at any Commonwealth Bank An exciting initiative launched by the Commonwealth Bank and UNICEF is encouraging Aussie travellers to make their spare foreign currency count for children in need around the world.

The Commonwealth Bank has recently launched its new foreign exchange envelope which promotes Commonwealth Bank’s support of UNICEF projects through the Coins for Kids program.

All foreign exchange purchased in branch will be placed in these envelopes which encourages customers to return foreign coins to Commonwealth Bank branches, supporting UNICEF’s work for children in developing countries.

Thank you to Judy for first posing this question to me. It got me thinking about the six different currencies we have lying in a drawer in my house. I will be off to the Commonwealth bank to drop it off next week.

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

Favourite Comments. Enjoy!

I liked this clever idea for socks from Wendy B.

NatalieinCA reminds us of the only sure fire way of avoiding unnecessary purchases in her comment this week.

I liked Cindy’s assessment of shopping in this comment. And then Rebecca B. A. R. rounded it off quite nicely in this comment.

I love it when a post has a reader racking their brain about excess like Lena did on Tuesday. She tells us about it in this comment. I also love her faith in the fact that I will one day, by the end of the year in fact, finally be decluttered in my craft area. I am up for the challenge.

Check Dizzy out, she has been doing some power decluttering due to being on the verge of moving house. See her big list of decluttered items in this comment. Go Dizzy!

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

I was asked to link to this site by Alina Shahnazari, the Cofounder of  clouditems.com. It’s a marketplace where you can sell, rent, exchange, borrow, or just give away goods to the people of your life or to a trusted network of people in Clouditems.

Blog by one of my readers Sammyliea ~ www.sammyleiamoneysaver.com

I enjoyed this post from The Minimalists ~ Shopping or finding meaning. It inspired this quote I tweeted and posted of Facebook ~ “What is the difference between crack-cocaine and consumerism? One habit is more socially acceptable.” ~ Colleen Madsen

Low Income Lady sent me this link from smh.com.au (Sydney Morning Herald) ~ One parents junk is a future parents treasure. I found this one for the booklovers while I was on the site Chapter one ~ a booklover’s lament by Adele Horin

A little story on how well thrift stores are thriving these days in Australia ~ www.theage.com.au ~ Opshops the latest fashion as retail opportunity knocks

Today’s Declutter Item

We are getting closer and closer to the end of the baseball souvenir declutter. This little Mariners train was sold on ebay for $26. There are more items to go from this category in the near future.

One more baseball souvenir gone

Something I Am Grateful For Today

My husband has sold one of his motorbikes. It won’t appear as a declutter item because it has already been replaced with something more in keeping with out ageing bodies. But it will be nice to have the money in the bank and space in the garage.

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

The full title of this book is…

Absolutely Organize Your Family

Simple Solutions to Control Clutter, Schedules and Spaces

…now isn’t that a mouthful. And aptly titled at that as this book is full of simple easy to understand common sense solutions to clutter control in the home. The main focus is on organising life around the little people in your life. And as we all know “happy mother happy family” right so if the kids are organised life runs pretty smoothly for Mom.

Personally I found the information far too rudimentary but this is probably because I have been there done that and now my kids are grown. But for anyone who is feeling like they need a little help in this area perhaps this book will have the simple solutions you are looking for.

I did find this passage about memorabilia very true…

“You have to be reasonable about what you keep. It’s often said that the key to organising is making decisions. I completely agree with this statement and have seen it demonstrated with many of my clients. The people with the most clutter and the most old stuff can’t seem to make a decision to let go of the past.

I also applauded the idea that the author recommended involving the children in the decision making process. Children have individual needs and thought processes on what makes organisational sense to them. If you insist on them conforming to your way of setting their stuff up without allowing any input from them there is a good chance the system is going to break down quickly and order will not be maintained. They also deserve a say in what stays, what goes and when where there stuff is concerned.

Topics covered in this book range from finding solutions to the after school drop off point to keeping their art work under control, keeping their wardrobes decluttered on a continuous basis and even schedule planning for after school activities. So if you are struggling with any of these areas or others I haven’t mentioned why not see if you can find a copy of this book in your local library or maybe you could pick up a digital copy for your e-reader.

I would like to mention that this book was kindly supplied to me by one of my local readers Elaine Inwood who runs her own book distribution company called Capricorn Link ~ Books for better living. Thank you Elaine.

Now that I have read the book and written the review I will be decluttering it so someone else can enjoy it. I did promise it to a reader some weeks back and for the life of me I can’t remember who that was except that it was someone from Australia. So if you see this and know that someone was you please send me a quick email so I know who you were. It will be donated to my local library if not claimed.

Today’s Declutter Item

These were the first jewellery making tools I bought some years back and not very good ones were they. I have since replaced them with better quality ones. They are however good enough to do the odd quick jewellery repair at the thrift store. So that I where they are now.

Old Craft Tools

“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 bet I’m not the only one who has had conversations like this:

• Doing laundry, husband says: “Look at these socks. I think I need to throw them away. In fact, I think I need to get rid a lot of my socks.”
• Me: “Looks like it.”
• “When you go to the mall, can you get me some new socks?”
• “What colors do you need?”
• “Oh, I don’t know. Just get some blue, black, tan, and brown. I’ll get rid of the ones that are getting holey later.”
• Not said: Hold it right there buddy! You’ll declutter after I buy new?
• Said instead: “Most of the socks are in the laundry. I can help you sort the holey ones right now. Then, when we see what you need, I’ll get you some new one.”

He grunted, and nothing more occurred.

I was pleased with the outcome of this conversation. Why? Because, quite honestly, I can’t image that my husband needs new socks. While it’s true that some are holey or getting thin, he seems to have more socks that any one man needs. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he does need new socks, but buying new ones before he actually assesses his needs is foolishness. It’s purchasing randomly, and that’s how clutter occurs. In fact, once he culls, I’ll stall on that trip to the store because I want to see which colors of socks he really lacks and truly needs more of.

Another example:

I’m at the store with the girls. We like to paint our nails, and we have a couple dozen different colors of polish. Without assessing what we have, we buy several more bottles, two of which turn out to be almost exactly like colors we already had at home. (It’s amazing how many different variations on reddish-orange polish there are.) Where did we go wrong? Obviously, we purchased on impulse without assessing our needs before we bought.

The longer I declutter a thing (or more) a day, the more I understand that purchasing is the second, and equally important, part of the decluttering equation. True, you’ll never have a decluttered space unless you actually move items out of your house. But it’s just as true that you’ll never achieve or maintain a decluttered state if you continue to acquire items in excess to your needs. Shopping should be a way of acquiring needed goods not an expedition to overload your home with needless purchases that don’t satisfy you and don’t fulfill your needs, so assess before you add.

Today’s Declutter Item

I guess we have had this double adaptor for a long time. So long that the modern houses have a lot more power outlets so we don’t need it anymore. I think I might be showing my age here. Not to mention that fact that they now make power boards with four or more connections including power surge protection which makes this old thing more of a relic than a useful device

A double adaptor

Something I Am Grateful For Today

You know, doing kind deeds for others often has instant payback. That good feeling you get for doing the deed is as heartwarming to you as the deed was for them. I took a day trip to Sydney today for the sake of a friend helping another friend and what a lovely day we all had together.

“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