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.
You may have to put your thinking caps on for this weeks missions. However I am sure you will come up with something. Good luck and happy decluttering.
Monday – Declutter something you have had stored away for that someday that never seems to come.
Tuesday – Declutter something that you have too many spares of.
Wednesday – Declutter something in an area that is overcrowded to the point of causing disfunction.
Thursday – Declutter something you have been procrastinating about getting rid of for a while.
Friday – Declutter an item that you are sorry you ever bought but have held on to in the hope that it might finally realise its cost.
Saturday – Declutter bargain or something you get free that really you never had much of a use 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.
Good luck and happy decluttering
Eco Tip for the Day
Donate or sell under utilised items in your home in the hope that it will prevent someone else, who might have a use for them, from having to buy new.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Personalised mini missions. Excellent. I can certainly adapt these to my garage as I WANT my clear space back. How I ever lived with the garage when it used to be chock full is beyond me.
What is returning to the ceiling needs to happen this week and what is going out needs to leave by the end of the week too.
It’s funny how we adjust, isn’t it?
To think of how many boxes sat in this apartment once. How many things were permanently stored in baskets etc. under sofas or on top of cupboards.
Great for you that the mess in the garage is only transitory nowadays! I completely understand how that mess affects you, probably BECAUSE you know how much stuff once was in that garage. I hope you’ll manage getting rid of it by the end of the week!
I agree Sanna! We do adjust, less browsing in shops, less just in case, less I might need that and less stuff!
Sanna and Wendy – the garage was one of my first big decluttering projects, and it was compounded by the first big round of working on the ceiling storage and it took months as I was also working on other areas of the house, and when its cold, the garage is cold too. Alas, everytime I get the garage looking great, I start another big project and invariably the garage gets used as my ‘decluttering depot’ again.
I had a great moment on the weekend, as a young visitor who has only known us six months, walked into our garage (this weekend) and said (in a surprised way, not a being nasty way) that she’d never seen our garage with so much stuff around, she was a bit embarressed as she realised it could sound critical, so she added that usually its really tidy and empty compared to most garages. We told her that less than a year earlier you couldn’t walk across the garage floor, she didn’t believe us.
That is funny, Moni.
My storage room is your garage, though it also still fills easily up with lots of different things that I actually want to keep. Like, I put all our files for paperwork in there as well, as I’d rather have them out of sight than sitting in the living room bookcase. Maybe one day it will only be storage for in-use items (seasonal items, files, fabric stash, cleaning supplies etc.) and no longer for those random other things as well. Actually, if it was only filled with necessary in-use items I might get rid of nearly all other storage furniture in the living areas, so that would be nice as well.
Hi Sanna, it is a good thing to realise. Like Moni, I will be glad when my garage no longer needs to be a transit point. When my son’s items are good, hopefully real soon, I think my garage will finally be decluttered to a point where I am satisfied.
Hi Moni, I wish you success with getting your ceiling space declutter finished this week. It is good that it has helped you realise how far you have come.
Love the Eco tip!
I bet you do Wendy F. I be you also like that $80 you made today letting stuff go.
Hi Colleen! My godmother does coffee every single day. She always had a coffee pot. I got a coffee pot as a wedding gift (10 years ago) and if I used it 5 times in all that time, it was a lot. So when her coffee pot broke a month ago and she told me she would buy a new one, I said: “No, no, no don´t buy it. Have mine. It is practically new.” So I gave the coffee pot away and she did not have to buy another one. I never missed it 😀 😀 :D.
Hi Andréia, isn’t it so much easier to let things go under these circumstances. Knowing the letting go of something is definitely going to help someone else out.
For this week, I have again two appointments with takers fixed.
Your eco tip is spot on. It’s lovely to see how thrilled people are if they get something for free they really need.
I like the mini missions for this week. As I’m already in the flow of getting rid of the unused things that sit in the storage room for too long already, I might manage to get rid of a few more even.
It’s funny how when you tackle the big things, going back to the little things seems so dull. But I’m collecting some little things in my donation bag on the way, too.
Hi Sanna, I agree decluttering bit things is exciting but I get a thrill from decluttering anything so all is good.
I decluttered some outdoor chairs to the junk shop today and received $80 for them. They were sort of ‘stored away’ around yard for that time we would have a family lunch outside. Now instead of rusting away in my yard for a day that won’t ever happen, they are gone! There was room in the back of the ute for some pot plants as well, Happily received by Elsie at the junk/antique shop.
I allocated a space for the folder of warranties/bills/wills etc, after some removal of outdated insurance forms and other unnecessary paper work it fits into its slot nicely.
My car is parked in the back yard ready to by cleaned and vacuumed tomorrow.
I am currently transferring photos from my phone and ipad to Drop box. It seems to be taking forever. I think I need to delete a few more.
Cheers
Hi Wendy, never mind what there is left to declutter, be that physical or digital, just be happy with every thing that goes. Big or small.
I like reading the mini missions even if they don’t always apply to me (or think they don’t!), for example we don’t have our own place so all of the bedding and furniture belongs to my parents, so usually I just make a mental note of what not to buy/acquire in future.
HOWEVER, I did realise recently that I have been fooling myself – each time I have read the kitchen related decluttering targets and skipped over them thinking they don’t apply to me, until a couple of days ago when I realised that I DO own kitchen items – the ones I boxed up and put in the attic when I had to move back home. Whilst there isn’t a lot in those two boxes I realised that I can recall at least 2-3 items in there I no longer have use for even if I move out again – talk about saving for a day that really will never come!
That’s monday covered for me at least! Happy decluttering everyone! 🙂
Hi Jane W, I recently discovered something really quite large that had been missed in my decluttering efforts (you can read about it tomorrow). So a couple of little things hiding in a box in the attic is quite understandable to forget about.
Just read today’s tip, after donating kitchenware to the local student union which provides exhange students with “kitchen kits”. There’s an IKEA in the city now but they were still happy to take the items.
Good mini missions. I think S wants to buy the big 3-drawer storage unit. I hope so. We will use it in her craft room.
I have a 3 drawer cabinet in our kitchen that I bought to store cookies and chips in when the kids were home and making their lunches. It was easy for them to reach inside and get what they needed or wanted for their lunches. Since they’ve been gone, it has evolved into a storage place for chocolate and nuts for me to use for baking but some things have stayed in there way too long. This weekend I was looking in there and saw some candy bits and nuts that must have been there for 3 or more years. It is difficult to find white chocolate in large chunks and so I purchased extra the last time I saw it at Trader Joe’s. But it is looking pretty awful now so think I will just have to suck it up and toss it. And remember to use it as soon as I get it home next time. This meets the Monday morning mission but also the one about getting rid of things they we know we spent too much money for and now have to just let go since we will never use it. I hate the waste of money but this will clean out a cabinet that I could use for holding plastic ware instead of putting it in a basket on the floor which is where it is now.