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.

Some of the clutter we accumulate over time is simply due to life changes. Growing older, changing interests, education, career change, kids growing up, injuries or illness, gaining or losing weight, relocating… All of these changes can leave in their wake items that are of no use to us. I am sure that we all have at least a little of this kind of clutter and this week we will work on it for our mini missions.

Monday – If you completed college or university more than five years ago it is probably time to declutter all those old college papers stacked in boxes in the attic, garage or basement. If you can’t bring yourself to get rid of them completely scan them and only keep the digital copies. Use text recognition software to convert the scans into editable and searchable text, making it easier to reference it should the need actually arise. It makes more sense to keep it in this format because it is far easier to access the information you need when you need it.

Tuesday – Go through your children’s clothing and assess what is worn out, no longer fits, is not useful to hand down to another of your children or be kept for another child should you be planning of having another one soon. Declutter what you will not need.

Wednesday – Declutter old sporting equipment for sports you no longer play. I have done this with our snorkelling gear, my son’s little league gear and  most of my softball gear as I have no intention of ever playing again. I kept my mitt as a keepsake because it is special to me and has lots of signatures from the Seattle Mariners on it.

Thursday – If you have moved sometime in the last ten years but still have clothing or equipment that does not fit with and has therefore not been used in your new location it is more than time you decluttered it. This could be clothing, sporting equipment, gardening implements, snow shovel…

Friday – Declutter old clothing that fitted with your previous life that are now no longer needed. This could be sports uniforms, work clothing, clothes that no longer fit, clothing that is inappropriate to the climate you now live in, clothing that is inappropriate for your age, maternity clothing if you have no intentions of having more children…

Saturday – Do a quick declutter of your children’s toys. There are often broken ones, ones they no longer enjoy to play with or ones they have simply grown to old for.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item, of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

February’s Habit Changing Challenge

Remember last month I set you the Habit Changing Challenge to make your bed everyday. How did you go with that? This month I have a new challenge for you. No leaving your clothes lying around. If they are dirty put them straight in the dirty clothes receptacle.  If you intend on using them again do not leave them draped over a chair, on the end of your bed or worse still, laying on the floor. Instead put them back on a coat hanger and hang them in a designated space in your wardrobe or provide hooks to hang them behind a door.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Always at least consider the eco friendly option when buying products. Just be mindful that they are actually eco friendly and not just labelled that way to entice the innocent. Also don’t be lured into paying an exorbitant amount of money for these items. It seems to me that any company that is truly interested in doing the right thing by the environment would prefer to encourage us to do the right thing by charging reasonable prices rather than to prey on our concerns while gouging our pockets in the process.

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

The 10 year old outfit

The outfit

I never thought I would write a text about an outfit. Especially not the one in this photograph, because the only relevance it has in my life is that it was never worn. I bought this outfit in 2003, it was Autumn. It is a winter outfit. The skirt and blouse are of a hot fabric (sweating is not an option or it would stick and get smelly, even in winter) and it was very stiff, not allowing much movements. But I am making excuses for myself. I knew all of this when I tried the outfit at the store. I remember very clearly the day I bought this outfit, because it was the one time out of two that I put it on. It was not an overly expensive outfit, but I did pay money for it. The first time I tried it, at the store, I felt powerful. I thought I would put high-heeled boots with high tops and look great. Except that the perfect place to use that outfit never came. Never! And the years came and went. I gained weight, got pregnant twice, lost weight, gained again, bought clothes to fit my new weight, donated loads of clothes that were too worn/small/not my style anymore but this outifit, never worn, never made it to the donation pile. I changed my clothes from one wardrobe to another and the outfit was just going from one place to another. And it never met my washing machine either…

I remember the other occasions that I gave clothes away when I looked at this outfit and I thought: “I am going to use it. The perfect time for using it will present itself.” Of course that time never came. But I could not accept that I had done this, that I bought something and had not worn it. Not one single time. I get hand-me-downs from time to time and I don’t wear the clothes because I don’t like them, I just pass them on. But I did not choose those clothes. I did not go to a store, try them on and buy them. They came for free and the same way went.

On January, 11, 2013, I was trying to do a challenge, like Steve did, and was assembling 100 objects to declutter. And I opened the place in my wardrobe where the outfit was. I was with a trusted person, who helps me with housekeeping and babysitting when needed, and she said I should let it go, because in three years she had never seen me wear it. I did not try it on to see if it still fitted, I just let it go.

Why did I hold on to that outfit for so long? Because, as Colleen has put again and again on this blog, I could not accept defeat. I could not accept that I did not like the outfit, that buying it was a mistake and that it was simply not my style and I would never wear it, no matter how long I held on to it.

I learned my lesson. But it took me too long and I agonized too much over it. Don’t let clutter agonize you, if you have something that you never wore, never used and are just hanging on because the day will come when you use it, give it up, that day will never come. Even if you think, as I did briefly, that there could come a Contry Theme party and I would miss that outfit and would want to wear it, I reminded myself that two such occasions did present themselves in 2012 and I did not wear that outfit. I chose something else. And the outfit had been there, at my disposal, in my wardrobe. So I let it go. Trust me, give up whatever you are not using, you will not need it and the occasion will never rise, I waited 10 years and that “perfect occasion” to use it never came.

The Weekend’s Mini Missions

Saturday – If you haven’t taken a look at your collection of books for a while now is as good a time as any. If you are inclined, reduce the number a little more. Question your sentimental attachment to books you have already read and aren’t likely to read again.

Sunday - Sunday is reserved for contemplating one particular item of your choice that is proving difficult for you to declutter. Whether that be for sentimental reasons, practical reasons, because the task is laborious or simply unpleasant, or because the items removal requires the cooperation of another person. That last category may mean that the item belongs to someone else who has to give their approval, it could also mean there is a joint decision to be made or it could mean that the task of removing it requires assistance from someone else. There is no need to act on this contemplation immediately, it is more about formulating a plan to act upon or simply making a decision one way or another.

“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

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!

Sanna fills us in on her reasons for liking the slow and steady approach to decluttering in this comment.

Creative Me gives us her take on how the best of a collection can just get lost in the crowd in this comment.

This comment in response to Cindy’s post this week is also from Creative me. She stumbled upon a way to resist retail temptation.

Rebecca is using much the same method to declutter her photos that I am. Read about it here.

Ideealistin gives  us a rundown in this comment on how she was being inspired by both posts and fellow 365ers last week.

One of a newest 365ers, Mags, introduces herself and lets us know what areas of clutter she is working on in this comment. Welcome to the gang Mags.

Favourite Web Finds. Happy reading!

Cindy sent this link from the NY Times

In case you haven’t been over to Midway Simplicity lately, to see what Tohami is up to, here are a couple of posts worth reading. The first by Kate Carpenter on the true cost of clutter and the latest video project The Midway Decluttering Show featuring Joshua Becker .

This post from Slow Your Home gives you 52 reasons to simplify.

Here is another article, this time from Body & Soul with more information on, and reasons behind clutter.

Today’s Mini Mission

I find that the stronger my desire to reduce my belongings becomes the less attachment I have to sentimental items. Assess what you have in the way of sentimental items and declutter those that no longer hold much attraction. Take into account whether you really need these items to remember the people, places and events.

Eco Tip For The Day

If you enjoy a nice coffee seek out cafés with and eco friendly bent. Two of my favourites have secondhand décor, sugar bowls (not sachets), butter and spreads served in dishes no foil or plastic…

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