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.
The focus of this weeks missions is activities. Much of our clutter is about activities after all ~ stuff we buy to do things with. Sometimes we over cater to a new activity, sometimes we purchase items to simplify a task and some stuff is purely for entertainment. Either way it builds up over time. So lets see you what can find among the following activity related clutter that you no longer use.
Monday – Declutter something that you bought to read and are unlikely to ever read again.
Tuesday – Declutter a utensil/tool you brought but haven’t found that useful.
Wednesday – Declutter a hobby related item.
Thursday – Declutter a sports related item.
Friday – Declutter something you acquired for entertainment.
Saturday – Declutter something related to sleep.
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
Use less of things, like toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, cleaning products. You might be surprised to find that less does just as good a job but is also less expensive and less harm to the environment.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
My daughters finished their annual ballet concert on Saturday night so yesterday was about getting things laundered and probably tomorrow I will start packing them away till next year. Plus I can put away the sewing machine and over locker for another year. In general the house looks really good considering the upheaval that ballet concerts bring to a household, but there are a few areas needing some attention, mainly the hall cupboard which houses most of my sewing stuff along with other household bits and pieces and the ceiling storage as my husband has been dumping things at the top of the ladder rather than putting things back in their proper places up there. Two of our kids reported suitcases they used for trips recently had broken handles so either they’re out or will be used for storing winter duvets as the storage bags seem to be perishing.
What a relief that must be Moni. Isn’t Christmas a crazy enough time without end of school year. They don’t know how lucky they are in Northern Hemisphere countries. That hall cupboard of yours sounds like the epicentre of your home Moni. It seems to be the one that gets the most traffic. Any wonder it is the one that also needs the most attention when it comes to reorganising. As for the ceiling space, it seems that hubby might have to be the one to take care of that since he is the one not putting things away properly. Winter item storage seems like a great use for those suitcases.
Take it easy on yourself though and sit back and enjoy the Christmas festivities for a while and take care of the rest of it in the new year. Unless of course you can palm all the tasks off to other members of the family. 😉
I will repeat the comment I made awhile ago, “This is how clutter begins”. The new book, the new craft project, the new clothes, the new dishes etc. etc. etc., without removing the old or what the new item(s) might be replacing. So now, we have double the “stuff”. Everything has an expiration date. Sometimes things wear out and cannot be fixed, sometimes we just tire of them and sometimes we just made a “what was I thinking?” purchase. It is really okay to just let them go no matter what the reason.
Well said Kimberley,
“It is really okay to just let them go no matter what the reason.” You don’t have to hang onto something if it was an ill advised purchase or you’re tired of it. I recently bought a new set of mugs which I really like and I decluttered all the mismatched ones, which were still OK, but I tired of them.
Down to 1,496 items or bags of items decluttered since I started – yay!
Wow, Janetta, that is an amazing amount of clutter be gone 🙂
You go girl! You mentioned the new mugs that you purchased. I recently did the same with a set of four drinking glasses. Nothing wrong with them, but I was tired of them after 15 years. I think I got my monies worth. The old were donated to charity immediately.
Hi Janetta, I know what you mean about those cups. I had a bunch of wine glass for 25 years that didn’t suit me ergonomically ~ I am a very tactile person ~ so I sent them to the thrift shop after my daughter bought me the ones I really wanted. I felt a little guilty about swapping out like that, from an environmental point of view but I had searched for secondhand ones for a year before caving in and asking my daughter to buy them for me of Christmas. My mugs however are ugly but strangely appealing to me ~ right ergonomics I guess ~ and I have had them for 27 years. When any break I can usually pick another up secondhand.
You are so right on both counts, the stuff can easily mount up again but also so it is best to not to allow things to linger once they are done with.
I want to be a minimalist so much, I dream of my house burning down and just escaping with my children, laptop and cash stash as the rest of it burns. (That’s not entirely realistic – I love my house, my bed, my dresser that was my grandparents, the kitchen table that was my families when I was growing up, paintings, my stove, etc. so I don’t really mean that, but I do have those feelings sometimes.) But individually I have a really hard time letting things go! I did get rid of quite a lot of stuff when my husband left almost two years ago, but I still hold onto a lot. When I look at things one at a time I can always find a reason to keep them. What can I do to retrain my brain to let go of what I do not need? Any ideas would be so appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Audrey and welcome to 365 Less Things. You wouldn’t be the first one to feel this way about your home. But I can tell you that the decluttering journey can be well worth the effort. If you don’t take your time to handle and declutter all your unwanted stuff yourself you won’t have the opportunity to learn from the experience. It is good to expose yourself to your previous mistakes so you know where not to go wrong in the future. And trust me, with the slow and steady method it really isn’t all that hard to do. So good luck and HAPPY decluttering.
I usually hang on to plastic margarine containers due to my frequent house painting activities, but since it’s wintertime here, I got rid of several this morning – into the recycle bin. 🙂
These are good mini-missions.
Hi Michelle, I hang on to items like this too. I prefer to reuse and recycle rather than buying new for such purposes so it is always handy to have a few on hand. However, like your, mine were building up recently so I also put them in the recycling because I just hate build up.
I’m taking a break until after Christmas. I will only declutter what I come across as I am doing other things. Between doctor appointments and holiday activities I can’t seem to find the time for anything else.
Deb J – good for you, you’ve set a cracking pace this year. Enjoy a break.
Moni, thanks. I think we are going to just sit back and remember the reason for the season.
Deb J.,
I agree with Moni. Something about Christmas makes us re-evaluate what is important and what is not. You may actually surprise yourself with the things you just come across during the holidays that give you cause for pause 🙂
Kimberley, you are right. When Mom was getting out a couple of Christmas sweaters she looked as some other things in the drawer and said “Why do I still have these?” Out they went.
Hi Deb J, I am taking a break over Christmas too ~ even though I have already had six weeks vacation just recently. We are going to visit family interstate so will be offline for a few weeks. You could all do with a break from me anyway I am sure.