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 all about the act of actually getting your clutter off the premises. Choosing something to declutter is one thing but the mission is not complete until you actually take the final step to get it out of there. There are several ways to  go about that ~ sell it, return it, transform it, donate it, recycle it or trash it. So here are your missions for the week.
Monday – List something for sale that you have been putting off for whatever reason.
Tuesday – Return something, whether that be to another person or to a store.
Wednesday – Repair something that has been sitting useless so it can become useful again.
Thursday – Choose a few items to declutter prior to tomorrows mission.
Friday – Deliver a load of decluttered but still useful items to a charity of your choice. Or if you have the option phone the charity to come and collect if from you.
Saturday – Declutter some items, that are no longer useful to anyone, by putting them immediately into the trash or the recycling bin.
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
Give consumable gifts. Preferably one from sustainable sources.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Thank you, Colleen. I love walking around the house scanning for things to declutter. I love thinking, Everything is on the table. When I come at it with this mindset, it makes it easier to think that the “one thing I cannot part with” may be next on the chopping block. So far, I’ve not regretted one thing I have recycled, sold, or given away. I love your tips!
Hi Tammy R, I can’t say I have ever truly regretting getting rid of anything but there has been the odd occasion when I had a use for something I did declutter. I have always found a way around those situations and never rushed out to replace anything. I have well learned the difference between need and want, must have and can easily manage without.
I have been sort of “homeless” for the last 6 months. We live overseas but come to the U.S. every few years for a few months. As a part of our work we travel a lot while in the States. Right now our Grand Cherokee Jeep, with a car top carrier, carries all of our belongings (family of 4). We have been staying here and there with relatives, in borrowed cabins, camping at State parks etc… I had been feeling lately the stress of any extra item we pick up along the way. I was getting kind of frustrated when I remembered that I still need to practice the getting rid of one item a day. It helps me realize that it is a lifestyle of living lightly. It also helps me feel in control. Last week we visited some relatives and found out they had been holding some of our stuff. When my husband’s father passed away last year this relative took some of the stuff we had stored! We had no idea. So they handed it to us and at our earliest convenience we visited the nearest thrift store. Even if we were tempted to keep some of it we knew we couldn’t. I am thankful for my limits. It makes any angst over parting with stuff pretty easy.
Hi Grace I am glad you know your limits. When living out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee I imagine those limits a quite short. I bet it makes you appreciate home more when you get back there.
Colleen, I really am longing to be back in a home. For many obvious reasons but when we left I had gotten rid of so much stuff and had packed our stuff in such a few totes (and stored there) that I am excited to move back in our home. Being in a lot of homes these past few months where clutter is a problem just makes me even more eager to get home and keep things simple, uncluttered and sparse. But on the other hand I have about a month left before my son starts college so I would rather travel in a Jeep with him now than have a home in another country. We have had a lot of family time. As you know that is the most important thing.
These are fun mini-missions, Colleen. I just love getting rid of things. This heat has slowed me down but I am still at it.
Good for you Deb J. The rain had slowed me down a little but only at getting stuff to the thrift shop. We only have one car and my husband drives it to work on the wet days. It is sunny again now so I took a load to the thrift shop last week. Mostly stuff the kids had given me to drop off for them. The garage is so clear now. I am loving it. The weekend after next we are hiring a van to deliver bits and pieces of furniture to the kids. That shall lighten the load even further.
I can just imagine how you are loving the cleared out garage, Colleen. You feel like doing a happy dance I’m sure. With the furniture delivered next week you will be getting that much closer to having things ready to move.
These mini-missions will be good for me. The cold weather has slowed me down considerably lately, but over the weekend we had quite pleasant temperatures. The table in the garage has been piling up with stuff people have been filtering out of their rooms or from the living areas, so time to give this some attention.
Hi Moni, It seems the family are well and truly onboard with the decluttering if they keep adding things to the table. Well done you.
Great mini missions Colleen. I was relieved to read Monday’s mission about selling things you’ve been putting off and realize I have nothing I want to sell at the moment. I have a handful of items at a local consignment store, 5 sold recently, the remaing 4 or 5 items may be there for some time, which is OK by me. If they don’t sell I’ll eventually take them to a local charity.
Regarding Friday’s mini mission – I donated a bag of items to a local charity last week, looks like I’ll be sending more things their way very soon. I am constantly amazed at how much stuff makes it into our home, even though I feel like I’m the guard dog at the door doing my best to keep stuff out.
I am envious of your garage, it must be very clutter free and organized. Ours isn’t terrible but certainly has more stuff than I’d like. Haven’t convinced hubby to part with some of it yet. At least we can park our vehicles in the garage, unlike many of our neighbors.
Hi Barbara, I wish we had a consignment store that I could sell things at. It would be so much easier than selling things on eBay. I has this option once and it was so simple. What didn’t sell by a certain time was donated to the store. So it was gone either way. Yay!
With our children both moved out now it is very easy to keep the inbound stuff at a minimum. This is the key to getting and staying decluttered.
Great mini missions, Coleen! I have ‘decluttered’ some items, but haven’t found time to donate it.
At the moment, my room is getting new windows. For that, all my stuff needed to move from the one side to the roomn (where the windows are) to the other side of the room. Seeing everything in one place is pretty confronting. Anyhow, I’m seeing this as an extra chance to see if I can get rid of some stuff when I have to put everything back again.
Hi Dymphy, this does sound like a great opportunity to go over that room with a fine tooth comb. Good luck and I hope you find some stuff you are happy to part with.
Great mini missions this week, as always, Colleen. I definitely have a bag that I have been filling up and I will have it ready by the end of the week because I want it out the door.
Hi Jen, well done you. It is may day at the thrift shop tomorrow and without fail I have a few things to take in to donate. Mostly stuff of the kids or crafting stuff. Either way it is stuff going out and I love that.
I don’t have anything to sell at the moment. I have a LOAD of stuff to give to charity which I am still sorting into the appropriate piles for the appropriate charity and we have a load of stuff that has been sold and is in the process of being picked up. And it feels good 🙂
Good for you Gillie. The beauty of that good feeling is we can repeat it over and over again. Gotta love that.
I really like the mini-missions this week – lots of good things to do!
Last week I tried to e-mail pictures of things I want to donate to my favorite cat charity, but we were having internet issues, so I tried again this a.m. and hopefully that will go through. I know they won’t want everything, but maybe they’ll take a lot of it. Still deciding whether to then sell the rest or donate to a different charity. Yard sales can kind of be a hassle.
Friday I bought a gallon of exterior primer, but ended up using what I had leftover from a prior painting job, so before work this a.m., I returned the gallon. My checkbook was happy!
On Saturday, hubby bought a new portable CD player and the darn thing kept skipping, so he tried a different CD with the same result. I plan to return that at noon. Dang it!
Hi Michelle, I do hope the cat charity will want all your stuff and save you the bother of figuring out what to do with any of it. I love a good yard sale and have enjoyed holding them in the past. However with my slow decluttering effort it just wasn’t worth having them because I would have to store everything I decluttered for ages waiting to have enough to hold a yard sale with. That is why I have donated most of it and sold some pieces on ebay.
Well down using up the old paint rather than using the new can. Well done returning that.
Great mini-missions, Colleen! I just returned a camera bag to Amazon today and I’ll be returning some other items to stores either tonight or tomorrow. They are already in the bags with receipts. This week, I am going to take pictures of items I want to sell and post them on Craig’s List. The money will go towards helping me purchase an iPhone! I enjoy reading your blog. I’ve only commented once before, but I wanted to thank you and your readers for the inspiration to help me pare down my stuff. Have a wonderful week!
Hi Toni, good luck with all your returning and selling. One of the wonderful things about not buying much is not having to return things or tire of them and want to sell them off later on. I will be so glad when I have nothing left to list on eBay. Luckily that is only a few things and in the future I hope never to have to sell another thing on eBay again. I am over it.
I am glad my blog, including my other writers and commenting readers, are inspiring you to declutter.