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 missions are designed to give you a little practice at ways of getting rid of your stuff. You may already be an expert at all of them or perhaps you have tried one or two, however this week why not give them all a try. Half the fun will be digging out an appropriate items for each mission and the other half will be testing your success with the method.
Monday – Give something away to a friend, family member or work colleague.
Tuesday – Put something into the recycling bin.
Wednesday – Throw something, that is beyond useful to anyone, into the trash.
Thursday – Put something aside to donate to charity.
Friday – Put something out on the street, in your apartment foyer or in the staff room at work with a FREE sign on it. It is always fun to see how quickly this method works.
Saturday -Â Sell something by any method appropriate for you. On-line, to a friend, family member or work colleague, through an auction house, consignment store, local notice board, garage sale, flea market or any method possible.
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
Let your fingers do the walking. When there is something you need to shop for, phone ahead to make sure the store has what you are after rather than making a wasted trip. Every small amount of petroleum product saved is a good thing.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Love your ideas, though folks might want to be careful with Friday’s suggestion. Leaving something on the street with a “free” sign is considered illegal dumping in my city, so best to place the object on your own property.
Hi Kate that is good to know. For all I know it could be illegal here too but I can’t say anything I have ever put on the footpath has stayed there long enough for the authorities to notice. I always kept a close eye on them too.
These are good. Colleen, thank you for being a really good help to all of us.
HI Deb, I appreciate your gratitude. I think this one is a first of its type. I don’t think I have used methods of disposal as the theme for mini missions before.
This could be fun, though I may need to double up on something to cover Friday. I live at the end of the cul-de-sac, therefore no through traffic and I work on the main arterial route to the harbour bridge to the city, so traffic stopping is a no-no. I’ll find something to put on freecycle instead.
Hi Moni, you could always put the item on the closest through street near your house. I am sure no one would mind so long as you took it back in at the end of the day if it isn’t taken.
I wouldn’t feel right leaving something outside someone else’s house even if I did pick it up at the end of the day. I doubt the lady in the house on the intersection corner would be agreeable to the idea, so I’ll stick with the freecycle option.
Hi Colleen I think I have a excellent grasp of disposal , except selling. For some reason the planets need to be aligned for me to embrace this method. I have successfully sold at markets and online . My hurdle is postage . Having said that I will take the time to investigate posting different items. If I have appropriate packaging and idea of cost, I will have no excuse.
Just thinking about some items that would have been given away , instead , I could sell 🙂
Thanks for helping me identify the problem.
Cheers
Hi Wendy, there is a calculator on the Austpost website that this pretty foolproof for calculating postage. And you can always duck down to Bunnings and grab a free cardboard box.
Love this post! It’s fun to think of new ways to dispose of items, I think you hit the main ones. I use all these methods a lot, except putting things out on the street with a free sign. Like Moni, we live at the end of a cul-de-sac, very few drive bys. I’ve been actively selling things on eBay for the last 8 months – that has helped the decluttering process quite a bit.
Thanks for all that you do to inspire us, Colleen!!
Hi Barbara, I would like you to try the kerbside decluttering. Put your item on the nearest though street near your home. Just bring it back in at the end of the day. Leave a note on it explaining this in case some nosey person gets all bent out of shape about it.
I’m just starting to declutter our apartment in NYC and am SO HAPPY to have found simple, specific missions to complete every single day. I thought it would be easy, but I had a really hard time figuring out what to give away!
Hi Miriam and welcome to 365 Less Things. I am glad you are finding the missions helpful. I am curious though and to what difficulty you found in trying to identify what the give away. Perhaps I could help figure out what was blocking you. Perhaps you were too focused on the big picture and not so much on just focusing on one thing at a time. Give me some more detail and lets see if we can sort this out for you.