I dug this set of mini missions out of the archives. Enjoy!
For this week’s mini missions I am going to encourage you to declutter some of those items you have been clinging on to for toooooooo long. You know the items I am talking about here, things you just haven’t been able to press the reject button on even though they have been in your radar for a while. There is always something holding you back, some lame reason for hanging on, none of which are because you love the item and want to keep it. The reasons you still have these items will become apparent as you start to work through the list for the week but lets face it, you already know the reasons you just haven’t done anything about it. Yet!
Monday – One I might need it some day item. (If it makes you feel better find someone you know nearby who will take this item off you, then if you do need it you can borrow it back.)
Tuesday – One clothing item that you keep telling yourself…
- will fit you one day.
- will be great for the right occasion (that occasion hasn’t arisen for two years what makes you think it is going to).
- is too good to give away and besides it cost a lot (even though it went out of date years ago).
- I love it and I am sure it will come back into fashion soon.
- etc etc etc
Wednesday – Either repair or arrange a repair  on a broken item you have been keeping because you intend to use it again . If it isn’t important to enough for you to fix quickly then perhaps you don’t need it as much as you think you do. If that is the case then just declutter it. Right now it is just wasting space and tormenting you.
Thursday – One expensive item you keep clinging to because you paid good money for it. (it will never realise its value if it never gets used. Learn from your mistake and move on. Sell it if it makes you feel somewhat better about the waste.
Friday – One item that you keep trying to use up but never seem to get anywhere with. I recently decluttered a bunch of scrap paper that I have been trying to use up for years and have hardly made a dent in it. I am going to donate it to the local school this week now that they are back from vacation.
Saturday -One sentimental item.
Sunday – If you have grown up children, choose a childhood item you have saved for them and ask them if they want it. Chances are you are saving a whole lot of stuff for people who just don’t care. If they do want it, give it to them and get it our of your house. If they don’t want it then you are free to do what you like with it.
Good luck and happy decluttering
Today’s Declutter Item
There are an awful lot of caps in this house considering they rarely get worn. This one found its way to someone else’s house via ebay so that is one less in my house. Woo Hoo!
Cap sold on ebay
Something I Am Grateful For Today
Although we took the risk we didn’t get rained on during our walk today. There were ominous rain clouds and it did sprinkle a little here and there but we stayed dry. It was more good luck than good management.
“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast
Uhh, back from a spontaneous week of vacation there is no such thing as mini missions for me … more maxi missions with BF moving in in about six weeks. I am glad that my decluttering muscles are not as weak as they used to be – thanks to Colleen (and Cindy of course and all commenters who throw in their perspectives).
Now I better get going. We gotta move these refrigerators … (though actually: no. Fortunately the kitchen may remain untouched … but everything else either needs to be moved around or needs to go. Ouff)
Throwing a little Dire Straits in there Ideealistin. How appropriate, were your thoughts on moving things around or on the definition of dire straits? 😉 I am sure your home will look wonderful by the time he gets there and if he complains show him the door and tell him “Don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out.” Just kidding. He has been good inspiration to get doing what you really wanted to do in the first place so be glad of that.
Oh, and I hope you enjoyed your little vacation. I think you earned it and needed it.
Ideealistin, it was exactly this ‘moving in with my boyfriend’ combined with a passing relative and fitting ‘heirlooms’ in the new flat as well that got me decluttering. It really is a maxi mission! 🙂
However, it’s a great thing to do and you’ll realize when living together that some more things will become unnecessary, just because your life changes as well. (e.g. I haven’t watched any of my “girl’s movies” since – they were there for lonely evenings full of heartache – there are no such evenings in my life any longer, so the movies may go as well!)
I feel like I am ahead on my mini missions this week as we just cleaned out our wardrobe a week or so ago. We took out everything that was hanging up in there and tried it on and got rid of anything that didn’t fit, no longer looked good etc. I then took two items down to get fixed (a skirt that needed new elastic and some pants that needed the seams repaired) as I knew I was never going to do it myself, but still wanted to wear the items.
However I am going to have to put some serious thought into the others as nothing springs to mind at present.
Nice work with the wardrobe declutter Rae. If there is nothing else for you to do on the mini mission list then good for you.
Oh Colleen,
you make me look more cunning than I am … I did not even know the meaning of dire straits, but hihi, hard times indeed. Totally worth it though … (I guess/I hope ;-))
I hope so too my friend, and that is what life is all about taking chances and hoping for the best. If we didn’t do that we wouldn’t have much fun would we.
We did the whole combining 2 household thing Idealistin; it did take time to sort out new ways to do things and did make me more ruthless with my stuff once I realised quite how much he had. If I had decluttered all the stuff I have done in the last year before my now hubby moved in, I would have had a very uncluttered home, though it would therefore have been much more of a shock when all his stuff arrived,lol.
Best thing we ever did though, moving in together :O)
I’ve been doing a little maintenance de-cluttering and closet organizing. We started looking at small houses and when we find one, I want the packing and moving to be as stress free as possible. So now I’m getting rid of things like old medication and the broken blender we couldn’t get a replacement part for.. Things like that have no place in our home but they slowly start to clutter the cabinets if we don’t do regular maintenance 🙂 I don’t want to have to deal with all of that at once.
Good idea Cat’Meow, it is best to keep up the maintenance or you will end up back at square one. Well maybe not that far back but any step back is not good.
Thumbs up for all of you who are making space for the love in stead of stuff in your lives!
All this talk of moving decluttering before moving in together got me thinking. I can hardly imagine how we (boyfriend and I) used to live in a student housing of only 25m2. That square footage was including the bathroom and kitchenette. when we moved out everything we owned fit into a van. When we moved from our first house (50 m2) we hauled a whole truck full of stuff to our new appartment. That’s where my decluttering started. Luckily my partner is not really emotionally attached to stuff (that problem runs in my family) and i’m getting there slowly but surely.
Hi Hunter_xs, I like that idea make room for love not stuff. Although I was telling my daughter yesterday that we are looking at buying a two bedroom apartment so she can’t move back in. That really isn’t sharing the love is it? Children are different though, it is our job a parents to raise them to be independent. That’s my story and I am sticking with it. 😉
It’s great that you break things down for people into manageable steps. You must be doing a lot of good to help others!
I hope so Spendwisemom. I get lots of lovely comments and emails telling me I do and it is nice to know that I am doing some good in the world. I imagine that what you write in your blog has been a help to others as well.
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement! Though deep in my heart I know it already it is always good to hear from others how they did NOT regret getting rid off their stuff.
colleen, would you maybe write a post (or anyone a guest post) on “make room for love, not stuff”? I will have the situation coming up in summer, and I would love to hear from experience how to handle that.
My boyfriend is clean and tidy and doesnt own that much, but he is for sure a kitchen nerd. there will come single use gadgets… And being me, I already expect me to start fights about that. 😉
Colleen – do you ever find that when you declutter a room you are left with a wee box or basket of left overs? Just random items that either need to find their way to their official home, or have not yet been assigned a final fate? And so the little box sits quitely in the corner while I bask in the overall success of the room. I have noticed this trend happening with me – I’m on round 4 of the house – and there are a number of rooms which have these little boxes. Am I having too much fun slashing my way thru the big stuff to come back to these? Does anyone else find themselves doing this?
This may surprise you Moni but I have never decluttered a room. The whole idea behind “A thing a day” is so I never disrupt the house by pulling areas apart and making a big mess. So I literally just find random things to declutter almost in a different place in the house every day. About the only time I make an exception to this rule is when I go crazy in the crafting area because declutter usually means reshuffle in there so I can eliminate another piece of furniture.
So I suppose the answer is yes I constantly have random stuff to declutter all over the house. And then sometimes I think I might be finally done with a room and I get more ruthless and remove more stuff.