Have a quick look at the contents of your bookcase. I am sure you could find at least three books that don’t spark enough joy to warrant the space they take up.
“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.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been slowly reading Marie Kondo’s book ~ The life-changing magic of tidying up. So I thought I would base this weeks missions on decluttering things that don’t give you that “spark of joy” that Ms Kondo uses as the deciding factor as whether to keep or declutter objects. So lets get started.
Monday – Declutter a keepsake that you keep out of habit rather than because it brings you that spark of joy when you lay eyes on it. Don’t mistake the happy memory as the object, the memory will still be there even if the object is decluttered.
Tuesday – Take a look in the place that you store your jewellery and declutter at least one piece that doesn’t bring you joy.
Wednesday – Have a quick look at the contents of your bookcase. I am sure you could find at least three books that don’t spark enough joy to warrant the space they take up.
Thursday РScrutinise the d̩cor items in your home. Could you declutter at least one that you no longer feel enhances your quality of life or the aesthetics of your living environment.
Friday – Do you own a pair of shoes that are more uncomfortable than fashionable or a hand bag that is way less functional than beautiful. Time to let go.
Saturday – Â Is there a gadget in your kitchen that doesn’t give you the joy of working well or saving you much time. If there is, let it go.
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.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Today I thought I might bore you all with how to digitise your user manuals rather than allow them to take up space in your home. Feel free to disagree about the sense of digitising if you like, I have no problem with how you choose to use the space in your home. I live in a two bedroom apartment so space is at a premium and not to be wasted.Â
There are so many manuals available online in PDF form that you can download to your computer. Today, as an example, I googled for the PDF of my Brother P-Touch PT65 label maker. It must be at least 12 years old. I found the PDF in one try, downloaded and saved it to my computer and decluttered the paper copy.
A PDF filed logically on your computer is so much easier to access than digging around among twenty other manuals in a file box. In my case that box is in the bottom of my linen closet. I created a subfolder in my Documents folder call “Household User Manuals” and that is where I am now saving any user manuals I can find PDF’s for online.
Below are some instructions I put together for those who don’t know how to go about finding and saving the PDFs they will need.
You could likely have manuals for appliances/gadgets you still own and use that a really old – like my forty year old Elna sewing machine. You may have no choice but to keep original user manual such as these,  as a PDF may never have been created of it. An occasion could arise where you need this manual to get the instructions to use a function that you as yet aren’t familiar with.
However by chance I happened to google this manual and, lo and behold, a PDF has in fact been created for it. Downloading that is next on my to-do list.
If you can’t get your head around going digital I have another suggestion to reduce the paper clutter in this area. Get out the manuals and remove and recycle all the extra pages transcribed in foreign languages. You most certainly won’t be needing those. There may also be installation instruction for the appliance. Chances are you will never again need those either.
I must point out two things at this point.
Digitise receipts for things you either need for insurance or warranty purposes. Chances are you will also never need them in either in digital or original form. Check with your insurance company if it makes you feel better about decluttering them.
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
Add a few one pot meal to your weekly menu. Cooking everything at once saves on electricity and your precious time. I often also cook the meat portion of my meals separately but cook all my vegetable together one way or another. A slow cooker or a set of steamer saucepans come in handy for this method of cooking.
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 we are going to declutter some items that we could digitise rather than keep the tangible form of. This should free up some space without actually getting rid of the item altogether.
Monday – Declutter some household appliance manuals. Choose a couple and google the item to see if there is a copy of the manual on line. If so throw away the paper copy.
Tuesday – If you have a file of paper bank statements declutter some, if not all, of them today. All of this information can be accessed by online banking. Set yours up and begin getting rid of all that redundant paperwork. It is so unlikely that you will ever need any of it, digital or tangible, so stop hoarding it in your filing cabinet. Before you know it you may find you can declutter the filing cabinet as well.
Wednesday – Digitise receipts for things you either need for insurance or warranty purposes. Chances are you will also never need them in either in digital or original form. Check with your insurance company if it makes you feel better about decluttering them.
Thursday – Digitise some keepsake items by either scanning or taking a digital photo of them and saving it to your computer, or better still a cloud. Items that you rarely or never look at should be easier to convince yourself to let go of, so begin with a couple of them.
Friday – If you have any bills that could be switched to online billing do that today. This will reduce the paperwork coming into your home and also cuts down on paper waste and transportation which is good for the environment.
Saturday – If you still have a home phone take some time today to consider switching to purely cellular. Why have extra big clunking phones taking up electricity and valuable space in your home when smaller more versatile cellular phones can more than suffice. (This isn’t really a digital tip but close enough)
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.
Save electricity by not turning on electrical appliances, like irons, hair straighteners etc, too long before you use them and by not leaving them on while you decide to take a break during the task.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Every time I have moved house I have had a reasonable length of notice. Although, sometimes the definite ~ “Yes we are moving.” ~ may have come a little last minute but the maybe had been on the cards for long enough to have me get the preparation ball rolling. Â And by that I don’t only mean decluttering but also…
And I am sure the list could go on but I think you get the picture.
In my case I even had to do an itemised inventory of every item that was going in the removal for insurance purposes. I must say this was the worst job of all, so if you don’t need to do it then I am very pleased for you.
However back to the decluttering, because this is one of the most important parts of preparing for any move. My mini missions this week gave a hint to some of the major areas to keep in mind when you are about to move house, and lets reflect on those and some others soon. But first allow me to repeat the warning my last post on this subject carried. Sometimes the necessity to pick up and move house doesn’t come with very much notice. Just like the move that I was involved in last week end. All manner of circumstances can arise that will force you to pack up and move on almost in an instant.
So the moral of this post is to always be prepared. Don’t allow your possessions to accumulate beyond control. Don’t neglect the condition of your home or your stuff so that you have to scramble to get it into moving and move out condition. And don’t allow junk to build up so disposing of it at the last minute requires skips or trailer loads to get it all off the property.
So lets look closer at this weeks mini missions and perhaps some other areas of your home that are best kept under control at all times. Keeping in mind that there can be so much waste by being forced to toss or donate great quantities of things when being forced to move in a hurry.  And not being on top of things will require extra last minute preparation and/or expense to haul away.
The kitchen: This would have to be one of the most cluttered areas of many homes I would think. With cupboards full of stuff often rarely if ever used. Some of which require a lot of wrapping to avoid breakage, thus filling many boxes and a lot of room in the removals van. There is also the potential for lots of liquid items that can get really messy if they break during moving. Some companies won’t even allow you to pack such items. Then their can also be lots of little-used food stuffs ~ sauces, spices, dry goods…~ that, if seldom used, are a waste of space in your pantry but also time consuming to sort through and prepare for careful packing when moving.
The Bathroom: I couldn’t count the number of houses I have visited that have bathroom cabinets full to overflowing with toiletries and other items that are no longer used. They have just been shoved to the side at some point and are now sitting there wasting space and spoiling. Just throw them away and don’t replace them if they have become unusable or offer them to someone else if they are still fine to use.
My preference for the use of toiletries is, if you decide you don’t like a certain item either use it up before replacing it. Or, as I mentioned above, offer it to someone else but don’t just let it linger. I personally use them up, because I don’t like waste and the products usually aren’t that bad that I can’t stand to finish them off. Using them up teaches me to be more careful about what to buy in the future. It also teaches me that many of these products are just a gimmick that aren’t worth wasting my money on in the first place. I came to this conclusion after trying one product after another and being constantly disappointed.
The Garage: Like Nicole stated in her post last week, the garage is a place where things, already rejected elsewhere in the house, go to be ignored until you “might need them someday”. Well guess what, someday rarely if ever comes. Except the someday when you have to move house and you have a garage full of useless-to-you stuff that has now become a real millstone around your neck. If it isn’t being used, and isn’t likely to be, get rid of it now. Some examples of this sort of clutter from the move last week are boxes from electrical items purchased over two years, sporting equipment not used since moving into the house, unwanted kitchen gadgets, motorcycle accessories, excess pet equipment.
The Bedroom: Need I say, clothing and shoes. Then there are fiddly bits in bedside cabinets, dust collecting decor items, rarely worn costume jewellery, clothing, shoes… Oh, and did I mention clothing and shoes. Two huge boxes of clothing and shoes were donated from the house last weekend. That screams excess, wasted money and not nearly enough clutter upkeep to me. But at least it was decluttered and sent on to the thrift shop rather than wasting space in a moving van.
The Yard: The bigger the yard the more work involved in keeping it in order. Some people love that kind of work and would rather be out there pottering than spending time inside. I am not one of those people but I do understand their choice. Others however make this space their dumping ground. Plastic plant pots, discarded leaky garden hoses and building supplies (bricks, boards, wire etc) stacked up against fences. Pet toys and bedding, used and unused, scattered here and there. Kids outdoor toys in varies stages of condition some used some long forgotten. You get the picture. Without this sort of build up of stuff the yard is very easy to prepare for moving out. However where there is no upkeep what a chore it becomes rounding up all these unwanted items and hauling them off to the tip.
Cleaning Supplies: My laundry room is cluttered with excess cleaning supplies at the moment. Not because I usually use these items but because they would otherwise have just been washed down the drain during the last two home moves that I have been involved in. I would prefer to bring them to my house and use them up than see them go to waste, because they are unwanted or are dangerous to pack for an interstate move.
This is another subject I have written about more than once in the past. Purchasing one cleaning product after another in a bid to make cleaning easier is a fools game. Cleaning requires effort not copious amounts of chemicals. Â Trust me, I know this from experience. Microfibre cloths, water, and a good organic multipurpose cleaner will clean most things in your home. Enough said. Keep your cleaners to a minimum in your home and you will save a whole lot of space and money.
Home Decor Items: Nick nacks, curtains, rugs, cushions, throw rugs, lamps, picture frames etc etc, can make your home look warm and inviting, however they all collect dust. At all times they require maintenance and if neglected will need extra attention when moving. Prior to moving, your soft furnishings will require laundering or cleaning while the fragile stuff requires dusting and careful packing. So less = less in this area. The less decor items you possess the less work required to prepare and move them. Unless you don’t mind moving dust and grime along with everything else to your new home.
In summary, a little effort and decluttering here and there on a regular basis will keep your home and its contents in good condition and under control. Then whether you suddenly find yourself having to move, have a rental home inspection or have visitors arrive on short notice you won’t have to experience unnecessary stress or embarrassment. And if none of these things do happen at least your relaxation time will be all the more enjoyable knowing that there is not grime and clutter building up around you.
Declutter or use up some liquids that are sitting unused. That might be toiletries, cleaners, paint or other chemicals that were once used but then set aside wasting space and spoiling.
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
Don’t leave tasks linger for so long that you have to redo them such as drying the washing or folding it. This can cause you to have to waste more electricity rewashing and ironing. Need I also mention your wasted time and wear and tear on your appliances.
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.
I spent a few days, yet again, last week helping someone move house. As a result I am once again writing a set of missions that reflect the various groups of items in homes that tend to accumulate and expand over time. It is often the same kinds of items in every home that are the objects of this problem. And that is all the more reason to harp on about it a bit. Because let me tell you, all that accumulation makes for a lot of unnecessary waste of time and cause of stress at an already very stressful time. I will elaborate on that in a post later in the week. So lets get started with our missions.
Monday – Declutter a few excess kitchen items. Crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, plastic containers, gadgets…
Tuesday – Declutter pantry ingredients that you never or rarely use and vow to keep them to a minimum in the future.
Wednesday – Declutter or use up some liquids that are sitting unused. That might be toiletries, cleaners, paint or other chemicals that were once used but then set aside wasting space and spoiling.
Thursday – Declutter some nick nacks or novelty items that have lost their appeal.
Friday – Declutter some outdoor items ~ plant pots, timber, pet toys etc ~ littering up the yard.
Saturday – Declutter some unnecessary items cluttering up your garage. Boxes, leisure equipment, tools, car parts, rejects from inside the house…
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.
The only thing you need to clean your car is a bucket of water a hose and a selection of microfibre clothes. One outdoor mitt for cleaning the car, one glass cloth for the windows and a multi purpose cloth for drying the rest of the car if desired. Here is a wikiHow article on the subject.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
I received an email from Christie this week asking for some advice. I’ll launch right in with her email, followed by my advice, and then I would love you all to add your thoughts on the subject. Hopefully somewhere among all that advice there will be the spark to help ignite a flame of determination in her to let go of these items standing in the way of a beautiful uncluttered life.
Christie’s email
Hi Colleen. I am a single mother with a long list of things to do…always. Life is a process I know and I can’t tackle everything at one time. I try to heed my own advice I give my daughter….practice your patience. But so many things always need to be done….that I end up shutting down and waste time…does that make sense? I need to declutter and organize many things, which I am highly capable of, but there are a few things I just simply do not know how to deal with.
One of the main things that takes up space is greeting cards. A lot of them. Why do I hang on to these? I think I have 80% of the greeting cards that have been given to me in my 45 years of life. Gasp! And now I am hanging on to the ones my daughter gets. And they are a mess. Boxes of unorganized cards. Why? What to do? I simply cannot wrap my head around it. And google has given me nothing.
and then there are magazines. i am a chef. and i have years upon years of Bon appetit and gourmet magazines. why? ugh. i can’t make myself throw them out. there has to be a better way.
I desperately would love any suggestions you can throw my way. I am drowning in self loathing at this point and need to pull my head up and provide my precious daughter a better example to live by. Much thanks to you in advance and much thanks to you for your blog. 🙂
My response to Christie’s email was this…
My first advice is if you have other clutter that is easier to part with then work on that first. I always advise people to leave the hard stuff until last, at which time you tend to be more ruthless. The joy and feeling of success generated by letting go of other stuff will spur you one to get rid of stuff you never thought you would.
My advice on the cards and magazines, once you get to them, is simple. It is clear to me from reading your email that you have already decided that these are things that you don’t want to keep. Decluttering is all about getting rid of things you don’t want to keep. These things are obviously causing you stress and you don’t care that much about them so not only are they wasting space in your home they are also affecting you negatively. Just another reason to let them go. What you are doing is keeping them out of habit and obligation. Life is a beautiful thing, the way it changes for us in waves. What we must do is ride those waves not try to swim against them. The magazines are a thing of the past, a past you are obviously reluctant to let go of. However any information contained within them can be easily found on the internet. And the beauty of the internet that it is so vast and yet it takes up so little space in your home. Go digital and get rid of that collection of dust collecting, stress inducing  magazines. Just put them right in the recycling bin. I’d like to bet that once they are gone you will wonder why you had such trouble letting them go. It is kind of like pulling off a bandaid. There is way more time and agony involved in the procrastination than there ever will be once the deed is done.
As for the cards it seems to me that they would be a mix of sentimental and obligational clutter. Ones that mean a lot to you and ones the you just keep because you feel you should. Well let me tell you that you don’t need to keep anything you only feel you should. Most people don’t give cards or gifts with the obligation that we should keep them together. They are merely a symbol of their affection for us in the here and now. Sometimes cards and gifts are even given purely out of obligation and their is no sentiment involved at all. So break this task down, it will mean double handling but that will be better for you phycological state. Go through them all, even if that is just a handful at a time when you have nothing better to do. Pick out the ones that mean something to you and put them aside for now and throw away all the ones that are pretty much meaningless at this point in your life. They can also go straight into the recycling bin or donated to a craft group that recycles old cards into new to raise money for charity. Sometimes donating them makes it easier to reconcile getting rid of them but it also makes it a little more difficult to get rid of them quickly. Once again a quick google search can prove very fruitful. You can then deal with the more sentimental cards at a later date or also go digital with them now by scanning them into your computer and getting rid of the hard copies. I personally would put them aside until you feel ready to deal with the further.
Here is a link to the post where I decluttered my greeting cards.
http://www.365lessthings.com/keepsake-clutter/
Now it is up to you, Christie’s fellow readers, to lend your advice to her situation. Thank you all in advance.
And how about those book shelves ~ I haven’t picked on them for a while ~ how about you visit the elephant book graveyard and choose five books you are unlikely ever to reread and declutter them.
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
Just like my decluttering approach you can gradually improve your carbon footprint by implementing a new environmentally friendly routine into your life on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be a chore but a fun challenge to not only help the planet but quite often it turns out will also save you money.
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
“Garages are the elephant burial ground of the 21st century,†according to decluttering guru Peter Walsh. “Stuff goes in. Stuff never comes out.†Well, I don’t know about garages, but we certainly had a period of time when stuff definitely went into our storeroom, seldom to appear again. This was way before we began to declutter, in fact way before decluttering was even a twinkle in my eye. And looking back now, I realize that I’ve encountered a few elephants while decluttering, figuratively speaking, of course.
Our storeroom had way too much stuff, stuff that was nice and in good (if not mint) condition, but most of which we did not really need or use often. It was a motley group of too many items just hanging out together (and sometimes even jostling feverishly for elbow room) in too small a space, with many of them not earning their keep. And just like in the John G. Saxe poem about the blind men and the elephant, the disparate items in our storeroom could have been variously described as to-be-used-someday, duplicate, just-in-case and sentimental stuff, the sum total of which added up to clutter.
We had lovely coffee-table books, Christmas decorations, two different types of Christmas tree lights, an aromatherapy set, lovely coffee-table books, sports equipment, beautiful porcelain plant pots, crystal glassware and vases, home gadgets, tools, and … have I already mentioned lovely coffee-table books? In addition to all that, there was also a white elephant (or three) somewhere in there, all of which had been gifts. And mind you, these are only the items that immediately come to mind, I’m sure there must have been more.
We never had the chance to offload the white elephant gifts at a white elephant gift exchange party, although they did eventually leave our home without exacting any financial penalties, unlike a real white elephant. Apparently, the term can be traced back to the white (albino) elephants given by the Siamese kings in the days of yore, to any courtier that became a right royal pain in the rear, in the hope that this would lead to the latter’s financial ruin, due to the jumbo-sized (I bet you saw this one coming a mile away) maintenance costs involved. Since the white elephant was sacred, it could not be put to work and was a colossal financial burden to the recipient. The term later gained currency as referring to something that was useless and unwanted. Our white elephant gifts were of no use to us, but could have been useful to someone else, so we were relieved to send them ambling out our front door.
Luckily, all that stuff inside never became the proverbial elephant in the room for us. It can be easy for clutter issues to affect the family and interfere with relationships, causing underlying tension and stress. Family members might refuse to acknowledge or address the clutter, even when it is so obvious – like an actual elephant in the room would be.
Then there is, of course, the little joke that I kept coming across:
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
This always precedes advice on how to tackle a huge decluttering project, by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks, so that you don’t get overwhelmed – sound advice, to be sure, and applicable not only to decluttering. If you have to clear a cluttered home and you start attacking on all fronts, it will likely leave you demoralized before long and you will probably give up. However, if you break it down and tackle the clutter room by room or by categories (books, clothes, paper, photos, etc.), it would be easier to attain your goal. With the storeroom, we began with the low-hanging fruit and tackled the easy stuff first – the unneeded, unwanted, unused and occasionally, even the unbelievable (as in “Why do we even have this?â€) items. That led to a great deal of stuff going out the door, which brings me to the next elephant, um, I mean, point.
There is a quote by billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens – “When you are hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits†– which we applied to the s(t)uffocated storeroom, by decluttering first and then organizing what was left. While it might be tempting, when faced with a huge amount of stuff, to think that more space and more storage would magically solve the problem – and then get sidetracked into organizing clutter using chic storage solutions, instead of getting rid of it – unnecessary stuff in neatly-labelled colour-coordinated containers will not magically transform into useful items just because they now live in posh homes. The stuff in our storeroom did not need pretty containers or packaging or clever hiding places, it just had to go, as there was no point hiding clutter in style.
So, does Peter Walsh’s comment ring true for you – is there an area in your home that resembles an elephant graveyard or did you ever have such an area? And do you have any other linguistic associations between elephants and clutter to share? Have any of the above elephants lumbered onto your path during your decluttering journey or are you currently dealing with any of them?
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
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.
On Wednesday this week 365 features yet another of the wonderful Nicole V’s guess posts. This one has a various pachyderm theme to it. White elephants, elephants in the room, how to eat an elephant… I am going to latch on to the elephant graveyard theme and have you clearing out the areas in your home where your elephants (things you no longer use or even bother to look at) go to die.
Monday – If you have a basement, garage, attic or general storage area in your home, today would be a good day to seek out an “elephant” ~something you no longer use any more ~and send it to the outgoing clutter pile.
Tuesday – Another elephants’ graveyard can often be found in the back of kitchen cupboards. Have a dig around in there today and see if you can find some excess storage containers, crockery, electrical gadgets… that you never use and declutter them.
Wednesday – The tops of closets are another place where less than useful or sentimental stuff is often stored. Get up there and find one or two things that you could happily part with.
Thursday – Under beds are not only a good example of elephant graveyards but dust bunny heaven. Find something under there today to relegate to the donate pile.
Friday – Back to the closet today. Items of clothing can certainly fit the dead elephant theme. There is usually a section of a closet where the least used items of clothing gravitate to. Take a look through that section of your closet today and declutter one such item
Saturday – And how about those book shelves ~ I haven’t picked on them for a while ~ how about you visit the elephant book graveyard and choose five books you are unlikely ever to reread and declutter them.
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.
Using electricity off-peak doesn’t save electricity but it can lessen the strain at peak times which can result in a reduced necessity to  increase infrastructure.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
As the title suggests I have been taking my own advice and finding ten minutes daily this week to declutter some stuff around my house. And although the difference is small I feel a whole lot better for having done it.
The first area I decluttered was a drawer in my side-table next to my spot on the sofa. It wasn’t cluttered as such, as there was plenty of vacant space in it. However it still had things that had arrived there over time that either didn’t belong there, was rubbish or useless to me. I decluttered a small flashlight to the donate pile, a plastic bag to the bin and I little plate stand to my art space where it is more likely to be used.
I also decluttered a few boxes in my craft area. I reshuffled their contents and threw away or recycled bits and pieces in them that had lingered too long. There may not have been much that was decluttered but I feel better for them being organised and clear of unwanted stuff.
I also worked on a section of a drawer in my closet. From it I decluttered a brochure to the recycling bin, some old coins that I relocated to a more appropriate place, and a box and gift receipt from an item of jewellery I had received back in February (both went to the recycling bin). Which goes to prove that even when you think you are decluttered there is always things that come in and require dealing with at some point.
The next area I checked for decluttering was the cabinet that our television sits on. I didn’t find one thing in it that I could declutter. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d actually be happy to declutter just about everything in this cabinet but none of it is mine. They are all my husbands items, which aren’t mine to declutter. One has to accept that in a shared space there always has to be compromise.
Retrieving a jacket from my spare room closet resulted in some impromptu decluttering of two leather belts and a plastic skeleton. Talk about skeletons in your closet right! lol These items were freebies collected for craft purposes. Things like this in my house have use by dates. If they haven’t been transformed into something amazing within a reasonable amount of time and their potential usefulness means less to me than freeing up the space, then they are out of here. All three items went in the donation pile.
I even took a look through my sock drawer but didn’t find anything in there to let go. I have that area pretty well under control.
So as you can see, from all these little decluttering tasks that took mere minutes, it isn’t hard to achieve slow and steady decluttering with very little effort. All these little difference add up to a whole lot of decluttering in the end.
So how are you doing with the mini missions this week?
Take a look on and in a desk or work space today. Give yourself ten minutes to find and declutter something that is not used and wasting space in this area.
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
When all else is equal between one product or another choose the one with the most eco friendly packaging.
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
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I received the following question from Nicole V in Monday’s comments…
Hi, Colleen. I have not read Marie Kondo’s book but have seen the ‘sparking joy’ catchphrase all over the place. What does she say about mundane items that might not necessarily ‘spark joy’, but are needed in a home? Does she ‘re-Kondonize’ them under a separate category?
Well Nicole and your fellow 365ers, I am going to give you my take on what I believe to be that “spark of joy”. I have written about a similar thing some time back here at 365 Less Things. There are so many blog posts in my archives that I couldn’t find the ones I was looking for but I did find the following one which came to mind when I read your comment. Day 258 Five items I won’t declutter. Read it now.
If you just read the post I linked to, you will now recognise the items above. And I imagine you would agree that they are all mundane everyday items. All of which still elicit a spark of joy when I see the photos. Everyone of these items served me well and that most certainly gives me a spark of joy. So indeed an item doesn’t have to be beautiful or hold fond memories etc. to emit that spark. However at this present time I still possess only one of those items. Can you guess which one?
The peg bag wore out some time ago so was a victim of natural progression decluttering. I did use its remains as a pattern to make a similar one for my daughter.
The flour sieve was something that I decided I no longer needed as I don’t bake much these days. When I do bake I just beat air into the flour using a whisk that also serves other purposes.
My daughter now owns the skillet. It also served me well and is now doing the same for her.
The laptop needed upgrading about three years ago. It became slow and unreliable as electronic equipment is prone to do. I am still grateful for the years of service it afforded me. It wasn’t classed as a declutter as it was replaced.
So the can opener is the item I still own. It may be utilitarian but it never fails to perform the task it was designed for, and that of course gives me joy. I don’t need a fancier or electric model as this one will do for me just fine. *
So the answer to your question ~ “Does she ‘re-Kondonize’ them under a separate category?”… is no . You just have to understand the meaning of “spark of joy”. Joy comes in all shapes and sizes, including gratefulness for a job well done.  It can also be a joy to look at, a joyful memory, comfortable… That is my interpretation anyway.
However, I guess this post brings to the fore the point that a spark of joy doesn’t necessarily mean you should keep the item. All these items brought me that spark of joy right up to the point where I decluttered them anyway because they were no long required.
Perhaps that is why, quite close to the end of the book, there is this sentence~ “Selecting and discarding one’s possessions is a continuous process of making decisions based 0n one’s own values.” (Written out of context here.)
Here is another example. I have a coffee machine. I am happy with the coffee it makes me and that brings joy every morning. The same coffee machine also has some really annoying design faults and I can’t say that gives me any joy. However I won’t be decluttering it any time soon unless it breaks down and has to be replaced, as I am not a wasteful person. I guess the good outweighs the bad in this case.
I am not sure if this post has been helpful or just confused the issue even further but my intention was to point out the joy comes in all forms and you just have to work that out for yourself when it comes to your stuff. Perhaps you will just have to read the book to understand this more.
 *You can read a more comprehensive post about the decluttering of these items here.