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.
Homes have so many nooks and crannies where stuff can be hiding, out of sight and out of mind. Good chance is that if they are out of mind then they aren’t even necessary. So lets take a look in some of those out of the way places for a little clutter to dispose of.
Monday – Declutter something from the upper reaches of a closet.
Tuesday -Â Declutter something from under a bed.
Wednesday -Â Declutter something from a lesser used drawer.
Thursday -Â Declutter something from the back reaches of a kitchen cabinet.
Friday -Â Declutter something from under a sink/basin.
Saturday - Declutter something from unexposed sections of a display cabinet, buffet, coffee table or similar.
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.
Hiding places are good places to declutter Colleen. Mom decided to do that in the next few days. She says that now she is settled in and knows what she needs and wants she can “get rid of more things.” I already have a pile of bags and baskets full of stuff to go. YES!!!!
Hi Deb, does your mom ever mention wondering why she ever kept this stuff or does she just think it is ready for decluttering now when it wasn’t before?
She told me that until she had been in her new place awhile she wasn’t sure what she would need. She is doing a really good job of organizing her place and decluttering the excess.
Good for her. I am glad things are coming up roses for both of you at last.
I had a great week decluttering
First I followed the 1 in 1 0ut rule with 2 new shirts & 1 sweater replacing the same.
All this weeks decluttered items go to the school’s thrift shop for fund raising.
Monday-upper reaches of closet, from top shelf
1 like new straw hat & 1 like new fabric handbag
Tuesday-under bed
Nothing under the three beds, so good there
Wednesday-lesser used drawer
Digital camera, case, charger, battery & sde card. I use my phone, so longer need
7 pieces of costume jewelry
Nothing comes to mind for the rest of the week. Will have to put thinking cap on & see if I come up with anything else.
Well done Calla. The next sunny day that I have the car I will be taking some stuff to the thrift shop myself.
Colleen, I just removed about 10 items from the upper kitchen cabinets (still have too much, but this IS a process), and have started on—–gasp!—–books!!!! I think I have about 40 laid out so far!!! Some will go to the thrift store and some I will try to cash in at the used bookstore when I go to the city. I don’t trade in anymore because I hardly ever bring a book home from there. Books seem to be one of the hardest things to let go, so they are usually toward the end of the journey. The journey never ends but it gets less cumbersome with time after you get rid of the worst of the excess. Each layer gets easier and easier. It seems the more I get rid of the more I want more to go and that’s a lot of mores! Ha!
Well done on the books Brenda. Go you!
I agree they are hard to part with, but once you start it gets easier. I severely culled my collection in the past couple of years and have to say I have not missed having them to dust. My daughter and I share fiction authors, so she happily received all of her favourite one, and the library and thrift shop shared the rest of the culls, depending on the condition/age.
I came to the realisation after 20 years working as a librarian, that not all books are sacred.
Stephanie, I think it is great you and your daughter can share books! I mostly have alternative health type books and I have spent the evening scanning my underlined parts to make sure there’s no information I still want to make use of. I only have a few fiction books that I might want to reread, but am thinking of letting most of them go as well. I can see that it will be getting easier and easier to let them go. Thanks for the encouragement! Colleen talks about aspirational clutter, and some of my books fall into that category. Upstairs, in a different batch, I have lots of those that I would LOVE to read, but years have passed, so I think they are not a priority and should let them go!
Hi Brenda, well done, you seem to be getting more and more ruthless with the clutter as time goes on. And you are starting to sound like me with what you are saying about how much easier it gets the more you do it. I am glad you have come to that realisation.
What a great idea. I have several of those nooks..
This weekend I focused on shoes. Just shoes. After this meticulous mission I have gotten rid of 5 pairs, which is not bad.
I love these area missions! Just as fun as the Alphabet ones. So far this week I have managed to do Mon , Tues, and Thurs.
Mon – in our upper closet I keep my stash of dressmaking fabric. I don’t usually make a lot of garments these days, but I went looking, and found a couple of pieces I would like to wear this season, so have pulled them down to cut out new skirts. This area has been severely culled in the past, and now only has my favourites.
In exchange I weeded out a couple of very tired skirts to the rag bag.
Tues – we don’t have anything under either of the two beds we own, so I decluttered the dust bunny colonies under there with the vacuum cleaner.
Thurs – kitchen cabinet saw a few “spare” coffee cups removed from the back for transfer to the kitchen of my son’s shop for the other staff/customers to use.
I am saving Wed and Fri for a weekend blitz on the bathroom. 3 drawers and under the basin.
The less said about my coffee table the better LOL It is large, in the corner by my TV chair and seems to have a magnetic attraction to everything! I (hand on heart) promise to remove a few things from it over the weekend.
Stephanie, I never thought I could NOT have a coffee table, but I have removed it!!! Mine was large also, and it is amazing how much more space I seem to have in the LR. However, I do have to have a small table by our chairs so there can be a reading lamp, a place to set coffee, etc. I guess I didn’t sit on the sofa very much. Sounds like your coffee table is basically your side table. Now, if I could just figure out how to keep my large desk (also in the LR) uncluttered………sigh. It is very temporary clutter, but I’m always preparing cards to send or doing bills or something.
We no longer have a middle of the room coffee table, that one is long gone.
My “side table” (good description) functions as a secondary craft room LOL. As well as lamp, coffee etc, there is a lot of other ongoing stuff there.
My other half loves to watch TV. As a general rule, I do not but we don’t want to spend our evenings apart either. So I sit with him, and in his words, “do stuff”. Things tend to accumulate though, and it really could do with a good sort/tidy.
I have just finished a 21 day decluttering challenge. I got rid of lots of stuff!
Joining in the conversation because of the coffee table references…that was the first table I took out of the living room and some of you may remember me sharing that the sofa table recently was sold at a garage sale. We do have small side tables next to where we sit…a place for a lamp and a beverage being of prime importance as we pitched the tv years ago and both hubby and I do a lot of reading!
I took Christmas glasses off of a top shelf in a kitchen cabinet and one set sold at aforementioned garage sale and the other was donated. Why did I have 2 sets of glasses for a once a year holiday? I can’t begin to explain!
Dining room table leaf under the bed…will keep, but the box of craft projects that “I’m going to get to” is definitely being pulled out this wkend and sorted through.
Yep, got rid of my coffee table a long time ago too. I much prefer a side table as I can reach my coffee without needing to bend forward and down to get it.
Monday’s was a big win for me. I was not looking forward to this, as my closet needs to have the complete upper reaches redone but I’m not ready for it nor did I have the time, and I wasn’t sure how to tackle it in less than “all” due to what’s up there. I wasn’t sure where else to go, though.
However, in trying to find the laptop-carrying bag-purse (used for conferences as it looks professional and does not drive me batty to use.) I pulled down the “purse and small bags” box from the hall closet. That…has gotten out of hand. I cleared out an armload of purses I can’t see myself ever actually using. Some I would have used in the past, others….I really don’t know why I kept them. They are there no longer!
(I enjoy when you point to under the bed as well. We use a roomba in our bedroom and that helps me keep my insistence I will not put stuff under the bed! The kid’s bed is solid to the floor, so good there.)
Well done Kayote.
I had a roomba once and I loved it. And one thing it was amazing for was getting under the beds.
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