Today is ANZAC day, the anniversary of the landing of troops from Australia and New Zealand on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, in World War I on April 25, 1915.  ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Before we begin today I would like to ask you to devote one minute of silence in respect of the members of the Australian and New Zealand military who have served and died in in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations throughout our history.
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- is too good to give away and besides it cost a lot (even though it went out of date years ago).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 brocken 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
All of these cell phones have seen better days. I have taken them to the recycling box at my local Office Works store.
- Cell phones that have seen better days
My Gratitude List
- Something that made be laugh ~ My husband likes to spew forth what he tries to make sound like true and interesting facts but is really just pulling our legs. It makes me laugh to think that he keeps trying even though we never believe him. In fact we wouldn’t believe him if is was true anymore just because of his reputation.
- Something Awesome ~ Free herbs from my neighbours garden. I save so much money and he loves to share.
- Something to be grateful for ~ Dinner in the oven, a glass of wine in my hand and peace reigning in the house.
- Something that made me happy ~ Watching all the people enjoying an afternoon stroll along the breakwater at Bobby’s Beach.
- Something I found fascinating ~ Passionfruit flowers ~ how can there not be a higher being orchestrating life when there are things as amazing as this to be found in nature.
I’m taking the plunge on some sentimental items this week…out the door with handmade gifts from family and friends over the years …things I’m tired of or never liked anyway…I still love the thoughts that inspired the gifts, which means much more than the objects anyway…
Happy Easter!
Hi Kelly,
good for you and I hope you had a wonderful Easter!
Don’t forget you can always take a photograph of sentimental items before you pass them on. I have several pictures of my DD holding things she made for me at school. The look on her face in each is worth so much and if I haven’t kept the item I still have the photo and the memory!
Hi Cathryn,
this is so right.
After much research, I decided to buy a Filofax because I thought that would be the solution to my organisational problem. Turns out it really was just the clutter causing me to be disorganised, and I’ve barely used the Filofax. So now I’m trying to pluck up the courage to sell the Filofax, knowing how much I paid for it and how little I will probably be able to sell it for.
Hi Susan,
I would just focus on the cup half full side of this senario ~ discovering the fact that once the clutter is gone the organising almost takes care of itself. Taking a loss on the filofax is small payment for that great lesson.
Oh, and I have a passionfruit vine that I wrestle with keeping under control just because the flowers, fleeting as they are, are the one of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen.
Hi Susan,
they are beautiful aren’t they. There is one on a fence down the street from my house. I will have to take my camera and get some photos as the flowers are out right now.
I planted what we call a passion vine (as thing) in the garden over the weekend. I bought (yes, bought! the shock! the scandle!) and old decorative metal shelving unit that looks like green bamboo but didn’t have any of its glass shelves any more. I planted it in my garden and planted the passion vine at its base. It’s going to be lovely, and passion vine is a host plant for Gulf Fritillary butterflies, at least where I live.
Hi Cindy,
have you ever eaten passionfruit. They are delicious!
I love these (I think I say that every week); they touch on pretty universal clutter issues. I was just blogging about “I might need it; it reminds me of something special; I paid good money for it.” Thank you for reminding me that there is more to do than blog about it!! Take Action!
I am guilty of keeping *my* childhood things for the potential of future children I don’t even know if I want. So those of us who are childless can take THAT ONE into consideration on Sunday!! I just put 3 of my favorite childhood novels into the book-selling box, because I have fond memories of my favorite scenes from them, I don’t need to read them again, and even if they are out of print there is no guarantee that my potential future child would be interested in them, anyway! I also got rid of a 4th book by the same author that I never got around to reading as a child, got obsessed with obtaining a few years ago, and still never picked up – I even stored it at my in-laws for 2+ years. Clutter in the first degree!
Hi Liina,
we can easily get emotionally attached to our stuff and think that it will be important to others as well, which is often a huge mistake. I met a woman at our local flea market a few weeks ago who was selling all her crystal and china. I thought she must have bought to sell but the huge quantity of stuff she had was all hers. She said she decided to sell it because her children told her that they were just going to hire a skip and toss it all away when she died. It seemed like such an awful thing to say to their mother and she was suitably appalled. But later I got to thinking that maybe they has resorted to that sort of shock tactic to get it through to their mother that they didn’t want the stuff and she would be better off selling it and enjoying the proceeds.
I have decluttered some clothing not so long ago, but there is still a yellow top that can be decluttered, and perhaps something else I oversaw the first round. I am going to do my best this week, love the mini missions!