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 for our mini mission I tried to come up with suggestions that I don’t cover very often. Some things like kitchen, linen, stationery and beauty items, knick knacks and clothes appear here often so I thought I would steer away from them this week. I hope you can find an item appropriate to each day’s mission but if you can’t just come up with your own idea. Good luck!
Monday – Declutter some printed photos. Poor quality images, duplicates and images of stuff you care little or nothing about.
Tuesday – Declutter a sports related item. No longer used equipment, uniforms, souvenirs or even trophies.
Wednesday – Declutter a music related item. Old records, cassettes or CD’s you no longer listen to. When I occasionally feel like listening to something that isn’t among my usual selection I just go to YouTube. There is no need to keep once-in-a-while music on hand these days.
Thursday – Declutter excess cushions and throw rugs. The ones you sit or drape on furniture as a decor item. They are a pain when you want to sit down and are just in your way. Perhaps a few of those six cushions/pillows on your bed that you pull off and put back on every night and morning.
Friday – Declutter a few excess picnic items that you keep for those rare occasions when you actually do eat outdoors. Or ones that are completely unnecessary even if you do picnic often.
Saturday – Declutter one or two storage containers that you have eliminated the need for through you decluttering efforts. Having these items hanging around gives you permission to fall off the decluttering wagon. You don’t want to do that now do you?
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
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Does anyone know how to remove the little name plaques from sporting trophies?You know, the little metal bit that they engrave your name on? I feel I could part with the actual trophies (which are all boxed away) if I could keep the name plaques.
Hi Tracey, I did this some time ago. I just slid a sharp implement under them and prised them off. I kept the plaques and donated the trophies a nearby trophy shop that uses their parts to make up trophies they then donate.
Most of those plaques are held on with double-sided tape. If they don’t pry off easily, try heating with a hair dryer.
Well, Colleen, I think I have these covered. It’s the usual things I’m still dealing with Mom on. Things like extra whisks, some baking pans we never use, clothes she can’t wear, etc. We have out of town company coming to church with us and then over for the afternoon. It’s nice to be able to look around and see that things are pretty well uncluttered except for a few cabinets in the kitchen and Mom’s closet. Makes me feel good.
Hi Deb J, I know how you feel. There isn’t much left in my house that I feel I need to declutter but there are plenty of Hubby’s things I could happily live without. I am not sure how it is that I am the emotional one but he is the with all the sentimental stuff.
I have some ladies coming to my house tomorrow for a small function. Aside from the usual Monday house cleaning there is nothing else I need do to prepare for it. Aside from a little cooking of course. I think several of them are looking forward to seeing what my home looks like because they know that I am “the declutterer”.
Our friend just left a little while ago and it felt good when she said, “Oh, you have a beautiful home.” She knows I’m a neat freak, she used to be my boss.
Tracy, try to slide underneath the plaque a plastic scraper, moving it side to side and back and forth. It helps to add a few drops of ‘goo gone’ or any other glue remover. I removed a plaque from a trophy with that method a few years ago. Use a plastic scraper in order not to scratch the surface.
Hi Marie L, Goo Gone is great stuff. I haven’t owned any for a while but I have been through a bottle or two in my time. Un-Do is even better because it is less messing and removes things so gently that you can re-stick them somewhere else if you wish too. You can even us it on photographs.
Hi Colleen! I have been going through my cassette tapes, and I suspect that they all will be going. I might keep the ones that were bought already recorded, because I might sell them one day. However you will be pleased to know that most of the tapes I had were recorded by me, so they are “leaving the building” 😀 . As for the storage units I have decluttered a plastic box, a plastic clothes basket and I am still looking at what else will go.
Hi andréia, I thought of you when I wrote that mission. This is really big! You have certainly advanced in your ability to let go if you are willing to let go of those tapes. And it isn’t just a case of letting go of something physical is surely is a case of letting go of the past. Good for you!
I kept a few of my storage crates but gave away a lot and many sets of plastic drawers etc. The few I kept will come in handy for storing out of season clothes once we move into our new apartment. As we don’t have a lot of closet space.
Yes, I was very attached to those tapes. Far too much actually. And now I can’t listen to them because they are ruined (I tried to listen to some, but the sound was so bad I could hardly distinguish the song…), so I have no reason to keep them. I have to let the past go to make way for the present.
You should declutter, but also you have to keep in mind your needs in your future home, with the space difference and all.
Andreia – way to go! I actually have a music cassette sitting here on my desk but do not! I got rid of the last of our collection a few months back but hung onto this one, some great memories with this one, my best friend and I went on a couple of road trips and had this on continuous play.
As it was a compilation cassette and most of the songs turned up on cd’s I later bought ie best of the 80’s and best of the 90’s type cd’s – these cd’s I uploaded to my iTunes on my computer a year or two back, and what I’m going to do is make up a play list and add as many of these songs to that playlist as I already have.
I’m attached to my cassettes too. Even the damaged ones! I looked through them again with a view to decluttering and found that one had just one song that I liked. I’ll probably download it. That song was the only reason I bought it in the first place. Another cassette had just one song that I love and others that I like but have on CDs. I’ll download that one too. Funny I didn’t notice that last time. So that’s two more decluttered.
I am so happy!! Today I heard an echo at home while I was speaking. That means, the decluttering mission is taking shape!!!
My home was always organized, but with too much stuff. Like they say, you can’t organize clutter. As I take things out of storage bins, I place the bins next to the garbage pail with a free sign. So I have been declutering bins also. I play a game while decluttering: I make believe I’m moving overseas and asked myself if I am willing to pay shipping for that item. If not, it is not that important in my life. So I either sell it, give it away, or trash it.
And I am happy for you Marie L. I remembered the time that I noticed my house had a slight echo too. I had been visiting family and arrived home “still suffering from the usual sinus problems that entails”, then as walked in the door and notice the echo. The beautiful, tidy, uncluttered visual was enough joy to my eyes. However the echo just confirmed that the hidden places were also uncluttered and that my sinuses would soon clear. My house, like yours, was always organised but there was way too much hidden clutter. I disagree with one point in your comment ~ “…you can’t organize clutter.” That is the problem, you can organise clutter but no matter how organised it is it is still clutter.
The ‘would I pay for shipping’ game doesn’t work for me because although we have moved several times ~including overseas and back~ my husbands work pays for the shipping. So that isn’t much of a deterrent. I did always declutter, to a certain degree, prior to every move but in those days I didn’t believe that what I kept was actually clutter. I know better now.
About the echo. My husband was complaining that, soon enough, there will be echo at our house, because we have so few things… 😀 😀 😀
Finger crossed Andréia, fingers crossed. 😉
Well, I think I’m pretty right with all these missions, but I have 3 piles of paperwork/filing to tackle this week. It only takes about 5 minutes to do each pile but I just keep putting it off!
My daughter and I decluttered her bedroom AGAIN on Saturday and there were at least 4 plastic bags full of crap to be thrown out/recycled (lolly wrappers, bits plastic stuff, old school work). Fortunately no mouldy food this time! She really wants a bedroom makeover, so I said that if she can keep her room reasonably tidy till the start of 2014 school year we’d do something about it.
Hi Loretta, teen girls bedrooms, I’m glad those days are behind me. My daughter is no 24 now but her tidying skills haven’t improved much. Lets hope she never returns home to stay. Love her to bits but don’t love the mess.
Loretta – that’s a great goal for your daughter, win-win!
I forget to mention that I did the same things with my daughter once. When the room was made over she went back to her messy ways.
I have been reading but not commenting lately, so first of all: welcome back home, Colleen!
We do have echo in a room, because we have had a guest who just moved out and we haven’t re-conquered that room for us. It’s completely empty except the furniture.
There have been some life style changes over here and I am spending much more time working outside the home. Though that means I have less time to actively declutter, it also means, I use many of those bits and pieces at home even less than before. I also have/had to buy a couple of new things for my new job, but on the other hand I feel ready to let go of the stuff I don’t find the time to use now. I will spend this time doing some paperwork and getting rid of things that don’t fit my current life anymore.
Hi Sanna, I have one room now that has absolutely nothing in it while the second spare room has a bed and some stuff in the closet. The bathroom between those two rooms only has its fittings and artificial bunch on flowers and a few wash cloths. I don’t think the house echos anymore than it did before all that stuff left.
Life has a way of changing over and over again. I think you are doing the right thing letting go of things you no longer have time for. People usually just keep the stuff and then find out that when they do have time again they still don’t use the things.
We are still getting ready for our move, so most of our stuff is in boxes but I’m happy to report that we have less than half the number of boxes we did the last time we moved! yay! I held off on decluttering a few items until we get to the new house because ‘I might need them there.’ I know, that’s a bad trap, but really I’m not sure which curtains or sheets we’ll need until we’re there. After that, I have no excuses and what we’re not using will go! 🙂 At least it’s not a long time in the future. Just a few weeks or so.
Hi Melissa, don’t feel too bad. I am also taking some things to our new apartment because I will keep them if they fit but could live without them if they don’t. It is hard to know exactly what will go and what won’t when we have only seen the place a few times. The only item we aren’t going to do this with is our TV unit, we are pretty sure it will be too big so we are going to give it to our daughter and try to find a nice little secondhand one. We should be moving in about six weeks