Every time I go on a long vacation I am reminded of how little one really needs to live a comfortable and functional lifestyle. My husband and I often stay in Airbnb places when on vacation. These small apartments usually come supplied with a minimal, and varying, amount of crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, utensils etc to prepare and eat meals. They also have minimal linen, towels, bedding, furniture and appliances for you comfort and needs. And sometimes there are some extra items such as books, games, stationary and cooking ingredients etc. 

As an example, we stayed in one Airbnb place in Berlin for almost three months, a year or so back, and we not only managed to cook and eat lovely meals, be comfortable and function as normal, we also marvelled at how much we loved the minimalism of it all.

On every vacation we limit ourselves to carry on luggage only, which usually means a total of 7kg per person. Which includes clothing, shoes, toiletries, electronic equipment and any other accessories we think we will need.

As I type this I am sitting in an Airbnb apartment in Downtown Wellington in New Zealand. It is cold outside as winter is on its way but we are snug and warm after just enjoying a home cooked meal of Scotch fillet steak, broccoli, mashed pumpkin and fried onion and mushrooms. That was after doing our washing which is drying on an airer in front of the oil heater in the bedroom. Almost our entire wardrobe of clothing is on that airer except for the clothes we will wear tomorrow, as we only wash about every five days and only carry enough clothes with us for about a week. Which is more than enough.

In my downtime I have a book to read, a sudoku puzzle book to work on, my cell phone with games etc to amuse me with, and what I need to knit a pair of socks. My husband also brought two card games for us to play. So along with good food and creature comforts and clothing we also have plenty of entertainment.

In fact we enjoy the lifestyle so much that we are always a little sad to leave our homes away from home when we move on, or head home. But when we are away and living like this we often find ourselves discussing why we still own so much at home, which isn’t that much bigger. It is a good chance to reassess and there is often a bit of decluttering that goes on soon after our return.

The fact is that we do own more at home than we need and we choose to do so. But we could, if we chose, live with a whole lot less. At the same time we do own a vast quantity less than most people which just goes to show how much excess there is in todays Western Society. What many people don’t realise is that the excess usually does not enhance their lives but limits it in many ways. I am glad to have shed that kind of burden and will continue to limit what I acquire and most likely eliminate more and more from what I still have.

Just like a bird who can not fly free if it carries too much weight I do not wish to be held down by the burden of my stuff or what the cost of acquiring stuff limits how far I can afford to roam. Because getting out in the world broadens my horizons and my mind.

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 have been informed that my Mother-in-law has been following my mini missions so this weeks missions have her in mind. I could be way off base because she has decluttered so much already but I am going to make some guesses as to what missions would work well for her. I hope they work well for all my readers too. So here goes.

Monday – Declutter a secondhand item that you purchased but haven’t really found a use for yet.

Tuesday – Declutter 5 craft items.

Wednesday – Choose ten items to donate to a charity of your choice and take them there this week.

Thursday – Donate some old toys that your children or grandchildren have long grown out of.

Friday – Declutter a gift you have never used but kept because a loved one gave it to you.

Saturday – Declutter some excess items from your or your partner’s wardrobe.

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

Clutter is very much about being keener to acquire than to let go. We acquire things we need, or more likely just want, but once their usefulness to, or novelty for, us has expired we hang on to them. I feel that there are four main reasons for why we hang on to this clutter and they are, laziness, confusion, fear and indifference.

Laziness of course refers to having the stuff there, being aware that it is a problem but refusing to deal with it because you just don’t want to make the effort. The problem is this is that while you are “ignoring” it it is gnawing away at your peace of mind. So best to just get on with the job. It doesn’t have to be difficult which is what 365 Less Things is all about.

Confusion is the problem of not knowing how to responsibly get rid of the useful yet unwanted stuff that we know we need to get rid of. To help with this issue here is a link to one of my guides on how to Recycle or Donate you unwanted stuff. There are no doubt other options open to you in your area but at least this guide will give you some clues or maybe even get your imagination flowing on more novel ways of finding new homes for your stuff.

Fear is all about thinking you might need it some day and keeping it just in case. Or because we fear we are letting go of something sentimental and that doing so is somehow an affront to our history or to those who may have given an item to us. Use this link which will send you to a list of posts with the subject of Personal Attachment. These posts might help you let go of some of those attachments to stuff. 

And indifference is being aware that you have clutter but don’t mind, don’t care or even like it that way. It can also be that you don’t even notice because you like being surrounded by stuff. And that is fare enough if that is how you like to live. However I don’t suppose you are here reading my blog posts if that is truly your attitude. But I will mention here that constantly acquiring new stuff or even hoarding stuff that could be useful to someone else is not a very environmentally friendly approach to taking care of the planet we live on. 

Which leads me to the issue of acquiring stuff. The clutter would not build up if we stopped bringing it in in the first place.  I have said it before and I will say it again, and again and again, that one of the best thing that happened to me during my mission to declutter was losing the desire to acquire. It is not only good for your finances, and better for the environment, it is also a fool proof way of achieving your decluttering goals sooner and remaining uncluttered once you reach your goal.

I am not saying that I never acquire anything but I sure am very discerning about what I do acquire. I would rather go without than end up with an item that doesn’t live up to the function I bought it for. I never buy anything on the spur of the moment and usually what I do acquire is to replace something that is worn out that I use all the time. I buy very few material gifts for people, I prefer to buy consumable items or give experience gifts or the gift of my time in some way. And for those who insist on buying gifts for me, I request that they are consumable.

It is amazing how freeing it can be when one overcomes the desire to constantly acquire. I am amused but mostly appalled when I see the ridiculous advertising slogans and enticements companies use to con you into buying their products.

It is also nice to own mostly things that are useful to you or beautiful. I get so much satisfaction when I use the items in my house that have proved their worth and the space they take up in my home.

So consider your acquiring habits if you are truly wanting to set and reach a level of unclutteredness within you home.

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.

It seems to have been a while since I focused on the philosophy behind the 365 Less Things approach. I tend to take it for granted that we all know what that is, and we just get on with it. However this week that is going to be the theme for my posts. Even though my home contents are greatly reduced I can still benefit from taking that ten minutes a day to assess if there is anything still lingering that I could happily do without. After all, my home size was also greatly reduced, giving me less room to store those less than necessary items I may have kept just because I once had the space. It is aways nice to have a little empty space which leaves room for the next phase of life to arrive. So lets focus and six tasks this week that we can easily achieve in those ten minutes.

Monday – Think for a minute which drawer in your home is the messiest or most difficult to use due to how much stuff is crammed into it. Take ten minutes now to focus on finding and decluttering some things in that drawer that you don’t need. Things that, once removed, will make that drawer far more functional.

Tuesday – Take ten minutes to go through the most cluttered shelf in your kitchen cabinetry and declutter a few things that you rarely if ever use.

Wednesday – While you are preparing yourself for the day take ten minutes to go through your toiletries cabinet in you bathroom. Declutter anything that you don’t use or is past its used by date.

Thursday – Take ten minutes today to sort through your socks or underwear drawer. Ten minutes is all it will take to sort and identify those items that you avoid wearing until you are desperate. Declutter anything that you aren’t comfortable wearing.

Friday – 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.

Saturday – Take a look in an old photo album and take ten minutes to choose and toss some photos that don’t do much to record your life history. Duplicates, fuzzy shots, meaningless plants or animals (not pets), people you don’t recognise or who flitted through your life without giving much meaning to it.

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

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