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 to admit that sometime my mini mission sound simple in theory but aren’t so simple to carry out. No 10 minutes simple anyhow. So this week I am going to make it really simple by name seven categories from which I only want you to declutter one thing. Should you choose to step it up a notch and declutter a few more then good for you.
Monday – Declutter one garden item ~ be that a sick plant, a garden gnome, a broken pot…
Tuesday – Â Declutter one rarely used tool or gadget in you home.
Wednesday – Declutter one dust collecting ornament.
Thursday – Declutter one vessel that can contain fluid ~ drinking glass, fish tank, bottle, jar…
Friday – Declutter a pair of shoes you rarely use.
Saturday – Declutter a electric cable that serves no purpose.
Sunday – Declutter something made of paper.
Good luck and happy decluttering
Today’s Declutter Item
I have enough nice glass salad bowls that I don’t need to keep this cheap plastic one. Another donation for the thrift store.
Plastic Salad Bowl
Eco Tip For The Day
Cutting back on washing powder ~ combine a fraction of your regular laundry powder (1/4 for top loader or 1/8 for front loader) with 2 tablespoons of bicarb soda.
I have a patio gas heater that is half size, I think it is meant to sit on a table or something. I think we’ve used it once in six years and my hubby is happy for me to get rid of it, we have a fire brazier and if we have a bbq we prefer to light that, if it gets cold we have snuggy blankets in a basket in the lounge which we grab otherwise I just grab some jackets and polar fleeces for guests. Ironically I walk straight past this patio heater to do so. There is a place on the way to my work that hires them so I will note the number and ask him if he wants a free one (they aren’t worth that much new).
Good plan Moni and good thinking of a way to possibly pass it on. There are a lot of people who just can’t think outside the box this way. Well done.
Well, I did next Sunday’s today (Sunday) so I’m going to count it. I decluttered a plastic bag worth of papers…unfortunately there’s a lot left, but one bag at a time.
That’s right Lynn, one bag at a time. So why not do another bag this Sunday and you will be one bag closer to eliminating the excess. Perhaps as encouragement I will pledge to declutter at lease 20 photos from my collection. This is a job I keep avoiding so it is a fair swap. You do you say are you up for it.
I will try! Sitting down to do paper clutter is hard now that my baby is mobile (SHE’S CRAWLING, Colleen!) but I will definitely give it a shot.
Do you have tips for getting rid of sensitive papers? I have a box full of papers that need shredding but that’s a huge task right there.
Hi Lynn,
your baby is crawling already? By already I mean ~ how time flies. My kids were both quick to walk, fortunately I had only two kids and two hand to keep a grip on them with.
As for the paper, I have a shredder at home so I take care of that problem myself. Fortunately we have had our paper clutter under control for some time. Digitising most of our bills and shredding everything else as soon as possible. It is good to know someone who has a heavy duty shredder when you have a lot to destroy. There are companies that come to you to take care of that if you a willing to pay. I believe another option is to soak the paper in a tub of water and then fork it into your garden once it turns to pulp.
Hi Lynn – oh good thinking, newspaper! I was wondering what I was going to do for paper.
We did Monday’s plant pulling today–two zucchini plants, one tomato plant. Tomorrow I’ll plant the fall lettuce and parsley crops–that will be two empty plastic trays to recycle.
Yes, I’m back for a few minutes. I ‘think’ that life is settling down a little, maybe.
I hope life is settle down for you too Willow. Your comment has me thinking that I had better get some tomato and basil plants in very shortly before it is too late.
Yay!, I decluttered all items for this weeks missions in one go! We tried to sell some stuff at a fleamarket yesterday, and although we made a little (not really worth it) proffit we decided that we would not hang onto the stuff any longer, so I dropped of 4 boxes of stuff and a night stand att goodwill this morning. Even my parents had a box of stuff that they thought would probably sell better at goodwill than att a fleamarket. And suprise: only one of us bought something att the fleamarket and that was only a book. I’m so proud of my parents, maybe they are starting to get the idea that less stuff means more comfort and less hassle.
See hunter_xs I said it would be simple. Well done you.
I hope too that your good example is rubbing off on your parents and they will start in earnest to declutter their unused stuff.
Ok! So I’m doing my week in one big swoop.
Mon–some hanging plant containers–put in the yard sale stuff
Tues–found some attachments for the Mini-Dremel that died several years back
Wed–two faux Hummel figurines to the yard sale pile
Thurs–a couple of plant jars & a couple of plants–to the clubhouse for people to take
Fri–only have 2 pair of shoes so none to give away (slippers, sandles, diabetic shoes for all the time.
Sat–some cables to long gone devices–to yard sale pile
Sun–more scrapbook paper
Well done Deb J. More scrapbook paper caught my eye. There is a Christmas card making session for military personnel serving overseas coming up soon at the nearby Airforce base. Perhaps I will go and also donate a bunch of Christmas paper as well.
Colleen, I’m thinking of doing that too–taking the paper to a group doing cards for the military.
Garden….that’s one thing that we “kinda” went through back when we had our garage sale. I want to re-go through it because a) a dear friend LOVES gardening and b) we’re scheduled to move in the spring. So, now is a good time as any right?
checking back on mini missions – I did tomorrows job today already: I FINALLY decluttered the first round on my thesis documents after I got the grade today (its a “good”). I need to organize the rest as soon as I find time – I am sure I will get rid of a lot again.
I got rid of a pair of old sandals, I gave away a flower pot I didnt use, as well as a tupper container, I changed the not existing cable to knickers, the tool/gadgets to old lighters, and the dust collecting ornament to books I sold 😉 even if I stretched the meaning of some categories a bit – this week was fun. the addiction is coming back…
Hi Lena – well done you. Sometimes I substitute an item if I can’t find something to meet the days mini mission. I do find that reading the week’s mini missions at the start of the week, does make my brain start to tick away and sometimes I’ll have a “Aha” moment when I’m not even thinking about clutter.
I’m going to put a shout out for my daughter Dayna who is a junior 365’er in the background. Yesterday she decided we should start the Spring cleaning, well in Spring, rather than in December like we usually do. She wanted to clean out all the kitchen cupboards and pantry, which she did so, but she has covered a whole corner of the kitchen bench with items which she feels we can easily do without. I have created a monster! So my task for the rest of the afternoon is to list these on freecycle so I have room to make dinner!
She commented that when she first took on cleaning the kitchen was two years ago (she would have been 13) and it took most of two days as she could only do one shelf at a time because there was so much stuff on each shelf. Last December it took just over a day including refrigerator, top of cupboards and mopping floors and yesterday it took her five hours including the fridge/cupboards/floor plus getting her dad to shift some shelves in the pantry so we could fit larger items onto a shelf rather than having them sitting on the main shelf of the pantry. Why didn’t I think of that? Naturally my hubby jumped to do his Princess’s bidding. I have been working on my bookcase and dvd cupboard so it was lovely having someone else taking on a project.
Good for Dayna. You have done a great job of training her. I’n excited for you. Isn’t it great to know that it took so much less time to clean that room? I say that’s great progress.
Hi Deb J – I’d say I have my Oompah Loompah but she’s taller than me! She’s a naturally organised person so she understands well the benefits of what we are doing.
Alas, I have created a monster because she is a cut-to-the-chase kind of person and not afraid of creating chaos to get the job done, whereas I treasure the mess-free home domain and like to do things one at a time. Never mind, its probably better to run with her enthuisiasm than to stifle it.
We listed a heap of stuff from her kitchen cull on freecycle and I have about 50 replies so I’d better go and sort those out.
I have to admit that I am more of a cut-to-the-chase type myself so I understand Dayna somewhat. But I also have to admit that I don’t like the chaos so I tend to do things a bit slower because of that.
Hi Deb J – I think deep down I’m a cut-to-the-chase person but like you I realise that I have to live/work in the environment at the same time and tend to do things a bit slower because of that. She has youth and energy on her side but has yet to experience the feeling/realisation of “I’ve run out of time/energy to get the job finished and I’ve still got a big mess to work thru”. Never mind, I’m just enjoying having someone enthuisiastic on the team.
Yes, there is that energy thing. Ah, how nice to have someone young and enthused on the team. Make use of her while you have her. Grin.