365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Mini Mission Monday ~ And so it is Christmas

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IMG_6484Mini 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.

And so it is Christmas and what have we done ~ a whole lot of decluttering this year, that’s what. So I think it is time for a break and this weeks missions are based on that. You can either do Part A of each mission or Part B, it is entirely up to you. I will be focusing on Part A. Have a very happy holiday everyone, no matter which, if any, you are celebrating. And we’ll chat again in the New Year.

Monday – Declutter  A. Something chocolate, or B. Something that begins with the letter C.

Tuesday – Declutter A. Something edible with mixed fruit in it, or B. something that begins with the letter F.

Wednesday - Declutter A. Some wine or other alcoholic beverage, or B. something that begins with the letter W.

Thursday – Declutter A. Some gingerbread, or B. Declutters something beginning with the letter G.

Friday - Declutter A. Declutter some Turkey or other edible cooked bird (Tofurky roast for the vegetarians among us) or B. Declutter something that begins with the letter T.

Saturday - Declutter A. Something cluttering up your fridge, such as that carton of eggnog (For extra decluttering effort my daughter-in-law suggests adding a shot of spiced rum to that), or B. Declutter something that begins with the letter E.

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

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

Comments

  1. This is cute Colleen. I will have to see what I can find but it will probably be Part b as we don’t even have any of Part A other than the chocolate.

  4. Hi, Colleen. Fun missions … almost all of the Part A items have my name written all over them. 🙂

  5. Great missions this week!
    I’m with Nicole V….part a has my name written all over them!
    Merry Christmas to you & yours!

  7. My husband okayed getting rid of a Crockpot that I don’t think has been in use for at least 2 years! Happy dancing 🙂

  8. Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year) to all 365’ers.
    May your days be clutter free and bright in the new year.

  11. Well I have had to go our and buy most of the stuff in order to achieve the A group of missions.
    Monday = Chocolate ~ From Fassbender & Raush, I believe to be one of the finest Chocolate makers in Germany.
    Tuesday = Mixed fruit delight ~ a Stollen from Ka Do We, Berlin’s equivalent to Harrods.
    Wednesday = We will be acquiring the Glühwein and the Eierpunch tomorrow to drink on Friday.
    Thursday = Gingerbread ~ We bought a little ginger and lemon treat from the chocolate shop above and ate it on the way home. So I am a couple of days early on that one.
    Friday = Christmas fowl ~ We will take care of the goose thigh and leg roast on Christmas day that we bought today.
    Saturday = Fridge Clutter ~ Should have that mostly taken care of on Saturday and be too busy whining about being overfed on Saturday to be bothered anyway.

    • I took four years of German in high school (back when Abraham Lincoln was President, haha!). I remember that Froliche Weinachten meant Merry Christmas. It looks like it must be a holiday wish of some sort. Can you translate for us?

  13. F for fluffy (old/deteriorating) baby blanket

    T for towel

    (Both of these items will go to the pet shelter)

    Also got rid of a nutritional powder (amla) because it’s too sour for my taste… Even though I am usually all for stuff that’s “good for you” 🙂

  14. Hi Colleen, Fun missions as usual and I am happily munching my way through a few too many tasty treats. Hope you are having a great vacation. I haven’t commented much lately but I never miss a post of yours and I love to read all the comments as well; there are always so many good ideas and so much motivation and encouragement. I feel that I have made good progress in my house this year, the rest of the family are well and truly on board with the decluttering mission, and we have some definite plans ready to implement in January which will send quite a few items on their way. Best wishes to everybody here for a Merry Christmas and a Decluttered New Year!

    • Hi Christine, enjoy those treats and have a very merry Christmas.
      By the way, you didn’t happen to send an email to me this week using a different email address to the one you use to comment with. It was an offer to write a post for me but I thought it might be spam. It didn’t match any emails in my comments section.
      Cheers Colleen

      • Hi Colleen, I did send you an email a couple of days ago with a link to a video by Alton Brown talking about single-use kitchen gadgets which was pretty funny, but I thought I used my usual email so not sure what happened there.

  15. Donated 2 sets of never worn Earrings, 1 Green skirt, 1 Grey Winter dress, 1 Winter sweater to Goodwill. (I have capitalized the letters according to the missions). So proud of myself for getting to some of the mini mission items this time. I have been slacking lately, unable to see or think of declutter items LOL

  16. Season’s greetings to you all! 🙂

    I am on holidays and so not able to declutter more items at home for a while. But I will work on decluttering the Part A’s this week, and make some notes on the Part B’s for when I get home in a fortnight’s time.

    • Home now so I decluttered my six things 🙂
      C: blank canvases
      F: festive ornament
      W: white planner/organiser
      G: painting (gift that I have not come to love over the 9 years I have had it!)
      T: tea tin
      E: eyeliner and eyeshadow

  18. Hi Colleen,

    I am finding your blog for the very first time today. I’m 100% first generation German, living in the US. This is the first year without my mother. I really enjoyed reading your references to some German traditions and your German holiday wishes. While I spoke German first as a child, I never learned to write and I can read, because I speak.

    I have to say I’m a bit confused with your decluttering method. Am I getting rid of things or buying them?

    • Hi Susanne and welcome to 365 Less Things. I am glad you are enjoying the Germany references at the moment. They will keep coming for a while, we are here until Mid February. As for the decluttering v buying. I don’t usually encourage anyone to buy anything, that Mini Mission post was just a bit of a laugh for Christmas. In fact I am so good a buying just what I need that today, which is the 26th here I have already used up nearly all the food we acquired for our Christmas day meal and some leftovers from a couple of days before that.

    • Hi, Melanie! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too … I was wondering when the 365 digital nomad would be checking in. 🙂 I hope that everything went according to plan and that your mother was happily surprised on Christmas Day.

      • Hey, Nicole V! You always remember everyone’s details….that is so sweet and impressive. Our move went very well, and we reach our temporary destination tomorrow! I am so excited to get out of the car and be in one place for a few months. And I have some 365-ing to do (receipts and such), so I will report back on that. LOL. The visit with my mother was very nice…..thank you again for remembering that!

        I hope you and everyone here had a wonderful Christmas!

        Colleen, I hope you are having fun and safe travels!

        Happy New Year, everyone!

        • Hi Melanie, nice to hear where you are at right now. It dare say it will be nice to settle for a little while. We are enjoying our three months here in Berlin. It will be hard to leave i think. Although we have our adorable new little grandson to go back to, so maybe not so hard.