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 focus on areas of your home, top to bottom, inside and out. Here’s hoping you can find something for each day to declutter.

Monday – Declutter something hanging on a wall or from the ceiling.

Tuesday – Declutter something in a closet.

Wednesday – Declutter something from outside.

Thursday – Declutter something from inside a drawer.

Friday – Declutter something that is located on the floor.

Saturday – Declutter something from on top of a piece of furniture.

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.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

Minimise the paper products you use in your home, such as paper towel, printer paper, wrapping paper, note books…

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

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I came across a hyperlink to an article last year about hiding clutter in the home in “secret” spots. Intrigued and curious (why would the writer ask readers to hide their clutter, instead of getting rid of it, I wondered?), I went on to read the article. It turned out to be about hidden storage for items at home (think: platform beds with storage drawers and hidden cabinetry), rather than squirrelling away or stashing your clutter out of sight, which was my first impression upon reading the title.

This led me to wonder whether anyone would have followed the tips given if the write-up had actually been about ways to hide your clutter, which in turn led me to question whether people follow decluttering advice to the letter or if they tweak it to suit their needs or even ignore certain aspects of it, depending on which stage of the decluttering journey they are at.

When I first came across Colleen’s blog, I was taken by the simplicity and ease of her one-item-a-day decluttering method. It was something that I could do immediately – there was no complicated manual to decipher, nothing to purchase and no preparation was required in order to get started. I decluttered my first item that same day and told my husband about it and he was soon on board. I have read a plethora of decluttering and organizing tips in online articles, as well as in magazines and books and have found many helpful and interesting bits of advice. Some of the information was irrelevant to me – not because it was bad, per se – it was just unsuitable for me and the circumstances at that time.

An example that comes to mind is some sporting equipment that had not been used for ages (for far longer than the usual one-year period that is often cited, for allowing something to take up precious space in your home and in your life), and that remained where it was, in good condition, but with absolutely no indication whether it would ever be used again. And one evening, a spontaneous decision was made, to take up that particular sport again; and a couple of days later, the items were being used. It has been about nine months now and they are still being used on a weekly basis.

You know how you always read that you should declutter first before buying storage solutions? Well, we were still in the throes of decluttering when I felt that the existing limited storage was not only not working for us, but was making our home look gloomy. Although we had gotten rid of a great deal of stuff, we were by no means done. I felt disheartened as I couldn’t give the belongings that were “keepers” a proper home and I felt that having a place for them would also enable me to see the actual progress that had been made. So, we took measurements and went out and purchased the absolute minimum amount of storage that we were willing to have. It was a tremendous boost for me as I could actually see everything being neatly put away for easy retrieval and I could see space opening up across our home. It was thus worthwhile to cherry-pick and create a “customized decluttering package” for ourselves.

So, I’m interested to know whether there were any decluttering principles that you tried, which did not work for you. Was there any advice that you read which you ignored or deliberately went against? Or did you adapt or modify anything? What did you do and why?

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter some paperwork that you keep because you think you should, when in fact a digital copy would suffice. Scan the items and save them to your hard drive or a cloud. Papers such as manuals, old school papers, bills more then two payments old…

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t leave lights on when you aren’t in a room. It takes no longer than the blink of an eye to switch lights on and off, so make the effort to save every precious second of electricity.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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

So today I was out and about with Wendy F and we had a wonderful time shopping and checking out the stuff on the sidewalks ready for bulk waste pickup. And yes I know what you are thinking ~ “What is someone, who writes about decluttering and being environmentally friendly, doing shopping and picking up junk off the sidewalks?”

First of all let me tell you that I bought nothing new and of course the stuff on the sidewalk wasn’t new either. So that is the environmentally friendly side taken care of. The items I purchased at the thrift shop were two reels of thread for a friend, some wooden clothes pegs for me to make some product for the art space, some small elastic bands I will use for merchandising at the thrift shop I volunteer at and a photo album to experiment with for a possible storage solution for my cutting dies. I also bought a shop display stand and some baskets for the art space I work at (secondhand from a shop that is closing down). And the items I picked up from the sidewalk were also intended as merchandise displays for the art space.

So as you can see I salvaged lots of stuff for all sorts of reasons other than bringing them home to clutter up my space. If it turns out they aren’t useful for my art space I will donate them to the other art spaces or the thrift shop so someone else can find a use for them. Better that than they get trashed. If there is one thing I enjoy as much as being creative it is repurposing other’s unwanted stuff.

I suppose it could be said that I put myself in a position to make use of things that otherwise might end up unused. And I can tell you that it is uncanny how “the universe provides”, which leads me to another point of this blog post and that is this…

Don’t ever worry about getting rid of things that you think you might need some day. Because, if you are like me, these things will just appear when you need them and for free or for very little cost. Maybe I am just lucky, or maybe I fortunate to have time to seek these things out, but one thing is for sure, they just seem to appear when I have a need for them. Or perhaps I should say a want. So when I feel that something is cluttering up my space, because I have no immediate use for it, it isn’t a hard decision to let it go.

So, as you can tell from my enthusiasm in this post, I had a fun filled day with Wendy F, finding all sorts of treasures that aren’t going to clutter up my home, that will help rather than cause harm to the environment and fill a need I might otherwise have had to spent a lot of money on, or go without. So never fear the old “I might need it some day monster” and let go of all that stuff that is no use to you now or in the near future.

Today’s Mini Mission

See if you can think of an item to declutter that you rarely if ever use, that you keep only because it is a society norm to have one in your home. I don’t have a coffee table, a barbecue, a handbag to match every outfit, eyeshadow or plastic wrap.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

Eco Tip for the Day

Seek out secondhand items before resorting to buying new. If you have a little patience the thing you need will appear soon enough and much less expensive than buying new.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

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 our mini missions are all about the items we keep, not because we want to, but because we feel we should. As I have written about many a time, obligation is not a good reason to keep something. In fact it is bad enough that we have things cluttering up our homes, but feeling we can’t let them go adds yet another element of irritation. So let’s see if we can get some of that obligation clutter out of our homes this week.

Monday – Declutter something that you feel should be kept for sentimental reasons even though it doesn’t spark joy in you to see it.

Tuesday – Declutter something someone else gave you but you no longer want.

Wednesday – See if you can think of an item to declutter that you rarely if ever use, that you keep only because it is a society norm to have one in your home. I don’t have a coffee table, a barbecue, a handbag to match every outfit, eyeshadow or plastic wrap.

Thursday – Declutter a family heirloom that you don’t want to keep. See if there is another family member, no matter how far removed, that would appreciate this item more than you.

Friday – Declutter some paperwork that you keep because you think you should, when in fact a digital copy would suffice. Scan the items and save them to your hard drive or a cloud. Papers such as manuals, old school papers, bills more then two payments old…

Saturday – Declutter things your children made for you. You don’t have to keep everything just your favourites will do. It doesn’t pay to teach kids to be over sentimental about such items.

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.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Eco Tip for the Day

If you are like me and love to craft, consider the possibility of searching for materials from thrift stores to make your projects. You might be surprised what you can pick up secondhand in such places.

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

I was at my son’s house on Sunday to pick up some packaging he wanted us to put in our recycling and trash as he had bought a new sofa and his bins were full. He also had several items to give me to take to the thrift shop.

As I was sitting enjoying a little time chatting with my step-granddaughter my husband and son were packing up the car. She suddenly noticed what looked like some sort of plush toy jutting a little from one of the bags destined for the car. She asked if she could see what was in it and my son said no that we needed to get the stuff to the car. She began to get upset thinking that he was decluttering something that may be hers.

I am not sure what the item was but he insisted it was just some old toy of his that he no longer wanted, but she was not convinced. As my son left the room with the bag her bottom lip dropped and I thought this was the perfect time to have a little conversation with her about why it wasn’t important as to what was in the bag.

I said, “Did you recognise the thing in the bag as one of your loved toys?”, and she said no. As I know her pretty well by now I then asked, “Don’t you think that whatever that toy was, if you loved it so much, wouldn’t you recognise it even from the little you could see?” And she said yes. I explained to her how she can sometimes get a little too attached to some of her things but if that was something that she loved her Mum and Liam wouldn’t dream of decluttering it. And she seemed satisfied with that.

I then went on to explain what happened to the old toys and clothes that she had grown out of and were decluttered. I explain how some of them where bought at the thrift shop for little kids who’s parents couldn’t afford new toys, and if it wasn’t for her kind donations those kids would have no toys. I also explained how, no matter who bought the items, that the money went to a charity who used the money for a good cause. Sometimes to help people in need. Sometimes to help starving people overseas. Sometimes to fund research to find cures for things that made people sick. And even other to help save endangered animals like the pandas she loved so much.

By now she was no longer upset and said wait here and she ran off into her bedroom. I thought for one incredible moment that she was going to her room to find something else of hers to give me to take to the thrift shop. Alas she went to get her iPad mini to play games with me. My husband later said she probably got it to distract me so she didn’t have to listen to my raving on anymore. But I prefer to think that I succeeded in making her realise that giving was living and she was now ready to move on to something fun we could do together.

But seriously, it is never too early to include your children in the act of decluttering. I don’t know what that toy was in the bag, but I do hope if it was some old thing of Liam’s or something of hers that  she had chosen to give away a while back. As you know I don’t think it is a good idea to declutter anyones stuff without their agreement. And having a discussion with your kids about how what they donate can help others is a great way to encourage them to let go of things they don’t really use. Like adults they can tend to cling on to stuff otherwise, just in case.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that is brown.

“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown

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.

I received a comment from Amelia last week saying how much she enjoys the mini missions, particularly the ones that focus on what things are made of.  I am sure we all have our favourites when it comes to the missions. I know that some of you like me to be exact about the items so you don’t have to put much thought into it. Well this week I am going to honour (honor) Amelia’s request and make the missions about the colour of things. I put it to the test by picking a colour and looking around the room and it is amazing how the colour stands out when you are searching for it. So this week you can all wonder around your houses with you colour radar on and see what you can find to declutter. Have fun with it.

Monday – Declutter something that is red.

Tuesday - Declutter something that is green.

Wednesday - Declutter something that is brown.

Thursday - Declutter something that is blue.

Friday - Declutter something that is white.

Saturday - Declutter something that is silver.

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.

Good luck and happy decluttering

There is no miracle cleaner the will make cleaning your home anything but work. Just like miracle diet pills can’t replace healthy eating and regular exercise to maintain healthy weight. What you need in both cases is a good attitude to put in the effort that is required to achieve good results.

So if you have a large space in your home dedicated to bottles and jars full of specialised cleaners for every surface then you are most likely deluding yourself. Not to mention wasting a lot of space and money.

I encountered just such a situation recently and it left me shaking my head in amazement. I am not going to go into more detail than that but it sure got me thinking. And yes, I have written about this subject in the past, with a list of the limited number of cleaners I have in my home along with convoluted details on where and how I use these items. So I am not going to go into the details again here today but I do suggest that you take a look at what you are using. How many of those items are just multiples of the same thing and multiple brands of those same things. How toxic are they ~ these are usually ones that “require no scrubbing” but a hell of a lot of rinsing. And trust me proper “thorough rinsing” can turn out to be more complicated than scrubbing.

When it comes to the surface cleaning of my home, sinks, counter tops, showers, baths, windows, hard floors and even spot cleaning the carpet, I use a solution of white vinegar, water and a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid. And I have a bottle of toilet cleaner with a bleach element that I use very sparingly. I can assure you that I have tried all those other “fancy” cleaners and they have all been a disappointment. The only miracle ingredient that I know of is effort. And anyone who knows me will vouch that I have a lovely clean home.

So stop wasting your time, space and money trying new cleaners. They are usually just a lot of advertising hype. And some of that hype borders on false advertising. Start a use it up challenge on all those extra bottles and jars and in future simplify your cleaning supplies.

Allow me to make one little extra remark. Cleaning is not such hard work when you have less clutter. So clearing the clutter is much more effective than wasting your hard earned cash of mythical miracle workers.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter shabby linens that have hung around too long waiting to be used as rags.

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

Sometimes when it comes to clutter it takes a major event to force you to deal with it. Sometimes we chip away at the clutter slower even than a thing a day, letting go of an item here and an item there. As we all know at that pace there is often just as much stuff coming in and all you are doing is marking time. Then something happens or you make a decision that finally forces your hand.

We have at least two long time readers and their spouses who have found themselves in the position where they decided to downsize their homes. In both cases these couples have been reading and decluttering along with us here for some time. I dare say they even thought that they had done a pretty good job of letting go of their excess stuff. But the prospect of trying to fit into a smaller dwelling with what they have left is not at all desirable or probably even a possibility. My brother and sister-in-law also put themselves in this position and did a remarkable job to prepare themselves, over twelve months, for a move from what had been their family home for many many years to a new city and a new two bedroom apartment.

I am sure that each of these couples learned to become far more ruthless with their declutter decision making when the stakes were this high. There are so many things that we all find sentimental and vaguely useful enough to cling on to until such an event occurs. In fact in some cases I wouldn’t even be surprised if people sometimes make these big potentially life changing decisions intentionally to force their hand. I guess I was just fortunate enough that, both my husband and I, had the foresight to glance further into the future than most and decided to get on with the task well ahead of time.

It is my experience that many people, when they learn that I write a blog about decluttering, express a desire to also declutter. They want this, they may even need it, but for some reason just can’t bring themselves to do it. I am sure many of you can relate to that. Even I had thought about the idea and chipped away at it for a couple of years prior to actually getting started in earnest. Then the thought struck me to take it easy and declutter slowly but consistently, rather than having to do it in a big scary rush some day in the future. This epiphany literally happened for me in the blink of an eye and I never looked back.

I have encountered several people who procrastinated over starting their decluttering journey, then one day just found their trigger to get started. Fortunately, for them, this meant that the task was done ahead of any big life change that would have found them floundering with a monumental task with a deadline. And that trigger can be the strangest of things. Observing someone else who was forced to undergo a downsize under pressure is just such inspiration. In at least one case the person simply found an easy way to make some money out of their stuff and that was inspiration enough. For others it was just getting to the point that enough was enough and things had to change.

Sadly I also know more than a few people who ignored the desire to declutter, then found themselves in the very stressful situation of trying to make fast painful decisions of what to keep and what to let go.

For those who have found this blog and are still procrastinating please don’t be that last person I mentioned above. Begin now with the easy stuff, find a variety of good ways to send your clutter on to be useful to someone else, recycle what you can and throw away that which is not useful to anyone. The decisions do get easier over time. Get your home in order now before your hand is forced. Because you just never know what life has in store for you just around the corner.

Today’s Mini Mission

Sometimes we buy a new item of clothing without letting go of the items that it replaced. Items that are a little shabby. So now is a good day to let go of some of those items.

Eco Tip for the Day

Recycle all that you can.  Don’t make excuses, don’t be lazy, just do it.

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 set of mini missions is all about those things that build up until you can’t help but notice. You generally notice when you feel like the clutter is closing in on you again but you don’t understand how that happened. So I have listed some areas for you to check on and declutter if necessary.

Monday – Declutter a couple of items you have just lost interest in. Don’t be concerned about what they cost or how little they were used. Just get them out of your life if you have no use for them.

Tuesday – If you are like me and keep the odd, seemingly useful, container and then later on find they are building up and not being used then declutter a few today. Jars, plastic containers, cans, folders, plastic sleeves…

Wednesday – Sometimes we buy a new item of clothing without letting go of the items that it replaced. Items that are a little shabby. So now is a good day to let go of some of those items.

Thursday – If you have children declutter some items they have grown out of.

Friday – Declutter some entertainment items that you no longer care to enjoy. Board games, digital games, outdoor fun equipment etc

Saturday – Declutter shabby linens that have hung around too long waiting to be used as rags.

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.

Good luck and happy decluttering