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 week we are going to search for some clutter that shouldn’t be too hard to find because it is out in the open right under your nose. The worse part about clutter that is out in the open is that it collects dust. The beauty of decluttering it is that the less you have the less dusting is required to keep your home clean and fresh. So lets see what we can find to get rid of. I will name a surface and you can check there for clutter.
Monday – Around the bathroom basins.
Tuesday – On the fridge ~ both vertical and horizontal surfaces.
Wednesday – On bedside cabinets, chest of drawers or dressing table.
Thursday – On and in TV cabinet or entertainment unit.
Friday – On kitchen benches.
Saturday –On the coffee or lamp tables in your living room.
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.
Some great ideas there Colleen. I don’t have to do most of them because I have few surfaces to worry about. Love it. Everything is unpacked and put away. I will need to move some things around now that the shelving is in the closet I am turning into my “office.” It looks good. Decided to take the closet doors off and leave it exposed.
Deb J – so you have a ‘cloffice’ !!!
Good on Moni.
I’ve seen many pictures of cloffices online … I’m sure yours will be one of the most uncluttered ones out there, Deb. It’ll be interesting to read about your experience in setting yours up, if you are so inclined.
NicoleV, I think I could actually call it a clofflib for closet office/library. Grin. I will try to put pictures in with my post whenever I get it done.
Hi Deb J,
I love your “clofflib”! I’m so glad that you are in your new home and getting it set up just to your liking 🙂
Thanks Peggy. I am also going to have a craftpanpuzclncl (craft/pantry/puzzles/cleaning closet). Grin. Because of the way the shelves were put in previously, I decided one side will be the pantry with the vacuum sitting in front of it and the cleaning rags and laundry soap in a basket on a higher shelf. The craft supplies and jigsaw puzzle go on the other side.
LOL, Deb! I’m looking forward to reading all about it.
I keep eying off the close it our spare bedroom thinking it could be far more useful than it is a just a closet.
Colleen, I’m happy to say I already keep my surfaces clutter free, but your mini missions always remind me to keep decluttering steadily even when I’m not following them to the letter. The last couple of weeks I have been feeling particularly inspired and larger items I finally decluttered included my food mixer, printer, electric fireplace and various broken outdoor clothing items.
Well done Sally. I finally took the accumulation of decluttered items of mine, friends and family to the thrift shop yesterday. What a relief to finally be rid of it. My car now has only stuff in it that belongs there, as the the space behind the single sofa in my living room. And with all the cards I have been making lately even the craft supplies are dwindling. Yay!
Its going a little off topic here, but I adopted a ‘no storing spare batteries’ policy a few years back and to add what was required to the shopping list. On a day to day basis its not a hassle, one doesn’t need new batteries every day, but recently it has been commented on by hubby that he’d like to re-instate the practice. We used to keep some spare AAs in the desk drawer, but we no longer have a desk so I need to find a new location, however aside from that over the last couple of months we have had to make some emergency dashes to the supermarket for other size batteries, things such as garage door remotes which weren’t an issue five years ago but we keep two cars in the garage these days. Things get ugly when the cat feeder (activated by their microchips) doesn’t work. First world problems I know, but all such problems land in my lap.
I watched a youtube clip of the ‘most organised woman in the world’ the other day (I have to admit, she kinda boggled my mind) and hubby saw how she stored/organised her batteries and he said “that’s what we need”. Well the collection was a bit bigger and more comprehensive than what I would agree to, so if you don’t all mind me asking, do you have a spare battery collection and if so where and how do you store it?
Hi Moni,
I watched a similar Youtube video (it might have been the same one) and she had way too much stationary for my liking, even if it was insanely well organised. I keep a few (literally 2 or 3) AA and AAA batteries in my DIY box (along with things like superglue, spare fuses, sandpaper etc).
Sally – I thought it had to be an advantage to have such a large house. Yes her office and craft room were extensive. For the amount of stuff she had it was very organised but I did feel she had a lot more stuff than I would have expected.
Good suggestion. There seems to be a box evolving with similar items “fixits and fixings”, so that’s a good place to start. I’m surprised how often I need C size batteries these days. Never really came across them in the past, now it seems to be several items in the house that use them.
We keep a pack of AA batteries because they are the most common need in our household. However my paper cutter takes 5 AA’s to run it’s bank of LED lights. What is in there would be enough to cover an emergency as it wouldn’t matter if we took them out and replaced them when it was convenient. As it is these batteries I also share with the label maker that doesn’t get used very often.
We still own that gorgeous little wooden, asian inspired, spice rack that I have mentions here at the blog once or twice, and that is where all the little odd bits and pieces are neatly stored. Items like tealight candles and matches (should the power go out), Allen keys, spare eyeglasses…
Hi Moni,
Boxes of baby wipes used to have an insert (not sure why) but I used to keep them for using around the house. I still have one & it contains only spare batteries of various sizes. We keep it in the back of one of our kitchen cabinets. It has been handy although we sometimes need to run out for an odd sized battery 🙂