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.
This weeks mini missions are broad ranging. Each mission gives you a wide variety of items to choose from. I will be very surprised if you can’t find something for each category this week. And don’t tell me you decluttered something of the sort last week. Last week was last week and doesn’t count this week. 😉 Good luck and happy decluttering.
Monday – Declutter something food related. Whether that be for serving, preparing or eating.
Tuesday – Declutter a fashion item. Be that clothing, accessories, shoes or maybe just a magazine.
Wednesday РDeclutter a d̩cor item. Anything from curtaining to floral arrangements to cushions or figurines.
Thursday – Declutter something in the beauty, body pampering or toiletry range.
Friday – Declutter a hardware item. Anything form a power tool to a nail or a large as a plank of wood.
Saturday – Declutter something outdoorsy. Camping, sporting, gardening etc.
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
Don’t switch on lights to do something in a dimly lit room unless it requires fine motor skills.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Colleen, you might want to fix your title as it says “Board Ranging” instead of “Broad Ranging.” Don’t you just hate Spell Check? I like these mini-missions. So much choice. Now to get them done. We certainly can do so as we have so many things we still need to dispose of.
Thanks Deb, Spell Check wouldn’t have found that one because it is a legit word. However I don’t think that Spell Check works on the titles in Word Press. It is most annoying when it is the title that I mess up on because one it has published everyone who receives it via email and Reader has that glaring mistake and there is no taking it back. Oh well, never mind.
I am glad you like the missions. Steve and I did a big mission of our own on the weekend. We finally sorted through all remaining wall art and other framed items that hadn’t gone up on the walls. Some went up and some will be going out. I am very pleased to have that done as it was one of the biggest tasks on our agenda.
Colleen, I’m glad you were able to fix it. It’s such a pain to have to. Sounds like you did a great job of getting your art work sorted. You are good about doing that. I wish others were, like my Mom. She finally got it that we don’t really need to hold onto things because “we might use them in our next place.” I told her that in most cases unless it is a really sentimental or expensive piece of art we are better off decorating a house to go with the house and the “feel” of it rathe than have every place look the same. I think I have finally gotten that point across. She did a bunch of decluttering of her closet and dresser this past week.
I had a woman come up to me today at church who is finally ready for me to come help her declutter her house. We start on March 6th.
Hi Deb well done with your mom and her decluttering. As for the lady for church, I think you are going to have to start charging for your services.
She offered to pay me but I wanted to help her for no fee. Her husband was recently moved to a memory care home a he has Alzheimer’s. He was the type to keep everything. Now she needs help getting rid of things. I think she needs me there more for moral support than for the actual work.
Good for you Deb, you are a very kind person. I dare say you are right about the moral support. I am sure you will be good at that.
Hi Colleen! I haven’t been commenting, but I have been lurking around in the shadows 😀 😀 😀 ! I really liked these mini missions. I will have a little difficulty with the Saturday item, but I will think about it. I have been schooling myself to not procrastinate. It has been hard. I did some great decluttering yesterday, donating some items I was no longer using.
Let me tell you about the suitcase: I was given a medium sized suitcase a few years ago. It had wheels and its only problem was that the handle that you pull to move the suitcase around was broken at the end (you could only pull so far, otherwise you ended up with the thing in your hands). I used this suitcase a lot for car travels. It was useful. However, when travelling by plane, due to having two small children I take a large oversized suitcase, because then I take 1 suitcase and it is easier to deal with it than with 03 or 04 smaller bags or suitcases (I am at a point that even if I try to travel light, it is still a lot…LOL). As I have other bags (which are better suited for car travels) and a smaller suitcase I can use instead of the one with the broken handle, I decided to donate it. I know it was useful and all, but I have other alternatives. I don’t travel a lot. I plan my travels and I knew I could make do with the other ones and they have no defects. Someone told me I should keep extra suitcases because one day my children will travel alone. That is at least 10 years away and by then the old suitcase will have gone anyway. So, even though I had just used that suitcase, it was clutter because it was surplus to my needs and if I forgot its handle problem (which we often did) and used it for some air travel we could see ourselves with a broken handle in a busy airport with two young children, and so not my picture of a happy travel, and, with that in mind, of it went.
I know this has nothing to do with mini missions, but I wanted to share with all of you.
Hi Andréia, I can relate to your suitcase story. We had one the was very large. So large that if you did fill it to the max it would be overweight for air travel. The last thing one wants is to pay excess baggage fees. We travel so light these days whether we travel by air or car so there was no need for us to keep this bag so it went. I think there has been more than one bag go out the door during my decluttering mission but that one really sticks out in my mind.
We had a really big one too and we got rid of it. We have a smaller carry on with wheels and I think we are going to declutter it too. We travel very little and we can always borrow if needed.
Hi Colleen! I have this dream of traveling light again one day…LOL I try to take only the necessary, but with children you have to consider all possible disasters (because I don’t need 2/3 spare changes outside the suitcase, but they do – I don’t what it is with children/travel/peeing – pooing in their clothes/spilling whatever they are drinking/eating in their clothes – at the most inconvenient times – not at home with their full wardrobe at their disposal – never that!). But I have to make travel as easy as I can. As we travel in 04 paying fares, a big bulky suitcase does not equals excess baggage. Still, I am learning to take as little possible myself.
I agree with you Deb J, that if a person travels very little or not at all, it is way better to borrow a suitcase when needed. In future I might resource to that.
I understand completely Andréia. We didn’t travel a whole lot with out kids until they were 8 and 10 so this is not an outstanding memory for me. Not to mention that they were always so small so their clothes didn’t take up much room.
Andreia – good to hear you are still lurking around. When kids are involved, you just do whatever it does to get there safe and sane. Also you have to consider what laundry facilities you will have available while away.
Andreia,
Good for you! Keeping the suitcase, and a broken one as well, doesn’t serve anyone. I liken saving the suitcase for your children who may or may not want/use it a decade from now to saving your wedding dress “just in case”, your daughter may want to wear it. The energy tied up in that is so draining. Every thing we own, owns us. We are attached to everything by a fine string of energy (even if it is boxed up and stored). Who wants to carry that around 24/7 ?
Hi Kimberley, yikes you got me there, my wedding dress is still hanging in my closet. I washed it some months ago, secretly hoping it would fall apart but it didn’t, now it is about time I decided what to do about it. Thanks for reminding me. Freeing up the space in my closet would be a good thing.
Colleen,
Your daughter is an adult. Ask her if she would ever consider wearing it. If the answer is no, let it go. As I age, I can see the wisdom in starting any new phase of our life with fresh energy, not residual energy of some past life. This can be applied to everything “hand me down” as well as purchased of our own choosing. While many things in our homes evoke good memories and positive vibes, many are not uplifting and therefore energy drains. The wisdom is to know the difference. Can you imagine how much “decluttering” would take place if everyone just asked themselves the positive memories/negative memories question? It would happen at warped speed.
Hi Kimberly, I know already that my daughter is never going to wear my wedding dress. I actually has only been in my house for a couple of years. I allowed it to clutter up my mother-in-laws house for the other 20+ years. Naughty me. I understand all the whys and why nots about letting the dress go and I am all for letting it go. It just hasn’t been a priority. I am all for letting it go, it is my husband who has been the holdup on this item. I will have a discussion with him about it tonight (if I remember) and hopefully he will relinquish any crazy plans he has for it and permit me to let it go.
Sometimes I’m so quick discarding stuff and sometimes it’s so hard and then I regret (or at least I think I do). I was just on Amazon to see about purchasing a used book (that I donated about 6 months ago) and then talked myself out of it. There must have been some reason why I thought I was through with it. (It was a reference book and I can always borrow from the library). I also donated a very large suitcase this past year that we had not used in sometime. I talked my husband into agreeting to it because it was so large and I knew that if I travelled myself it would be too big and heavy for me to handle. Any trips both my husband and I went on, the next size down was adequate. We go to warmer climates and the clothes are not bulky enough to warrant that oversized suitcase.
Colleen,
Thanks for mentioning that it doesn’t count if I decluttered the weekly list last week and that it does not count. I actually decluttered something from just about ever daily category within the past week. I’m sure I can find more items though.
Hi Anna, I am glad you didn’t repurchase that book because, as you say, you can always borrow it from the library. And I am also glad that you did take my bossy insistence that last week is not this week when it comes to mini missions. I wish you success in finding the six items for the missions. I am sure you are up for the task.
Do cookbooks count? Because I decluttered about five of them today. I wasn’t on a mission to declutter books. I was simply reworking the filing system (the actual physical containers) of my parents’ tax returns. It evolved into a book organizing and purging event because the returns are kept on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf in the office. Yup. Right now our office looks like terrible but the bookshelf is starting to look quite good. (It is an intense process because the bookshelf has collected random papers, binders, pictures, etc. Sigh.)
Yes cookbooks absolutely count Rachel W. With so many recipes to choose from online you don’t need cookbooks anyway.