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 go from one room in the house to another to find random things to declutter. Each day will be a different room. If you haven’t got that room substitute it with another area of your home that isn’t already on the list of mini missions.
Monday – Declutter an item from the living room of your home.
Tuesday - Declutter an item from a bedroom of your home.
Wednesday - Declutter an item from a bathroom of your home.
Thursday - Declutter an item from the kitchen of your home.
Friday - Declutter an item from the garage, attic or basement space of your home.
Saturday - Declutter an item from the laundry of your home.
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
Experiment to see how little washing detergent/powder your washing machine really needs to get a load of washing clean. It is usually much less than the manufacturers suggestion. Just reduce it a little at a time. So long as the loads are cleaning then you need no more.
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
I may just make the whole week about finding one item a day in my laundry to declutter. It is one room that has been ignored during all the other purging rounds we’ve done. I think it needs to be focused on for a bit. Thanks for the reminder. :]
Sounds like the right missions for you Rachel W. Go for it!
Have you noticed that you can seem to always find one item in each room to declutter? Colleen this is a good list. I am discovering that no matter how hard I try, there always seems to be something that creeps in—or maybe it creeps out of some hidden nook or cranny. I just want rid of the stuff.
Clutter is insidious. I’ve gotten rid of bags of stuff just from my bedroom and I still find things to get rid of.
I wonder if it isn’t just a case of clutter creeping in or out but things we didn’t consider clutter before become clutter as our mindsets change.
Rachel,
You hit the nail on the head. It’s all about the mindset.
Go with the second option Rachel ~ mindset change. That way you can be pleased that you have found something else you are willing to release.
Hi Deb, I bring stuff in, I let stuff go. Mostly what I still bring in is craft stuff (usually free). Mostly what goes out is craft stuff. Fortunately money comes in in place of the outgoing craft stuff so that works for me. I don’t think decluttering ever ends Deb so don’t lose any sleep over it.
I will not lose any sleep believe me.
At present the house is still chaotic with building material and fittings stored in the lounge room and tools in the kitchen .
I can eliminate two baking trays that have been superseded by trays in the new oven.
I can say the new garbage bin is great. It is large enough to handle a weeks garbage. The bags fit perfectly and don’t rip . I can compress the rubbish into it which means we only have been using one bag a week. Next to it is a cheaper bin of the same size which takes the recycling . Having a recycling bin inside stops the recycling building up on the bench waiting to be taken to the outside bin.
The new bathroom will have a mirrored cabinet on the wall with internal shelves and a vanity with a cupboard and two drawers . My lovely husband placed a power point in the cabinet to cater for electric toothbrushes and shavers. There will be ample room to store the medicines and bathing supplies in the bathroom when it is completed.
We have a surplus lounge chair since I purchased a more comfortable one from Lifeline last week. I will take the less comfortable one to the thrift shop.
The Christmas tree my daughter purchased is sitting in the box behind me. I am tempted to donate it to the thrift shop as well rather than try and store it somewhere.
I’m sure the freezer has some hidden treasures I could eliminate this week.
Cheers.
Well done Wendy that is some good decluttering going on there. As for that Christmas tree, did your daughter buy it because she wasn’t happy that you declutter the old one and she wasn’t happy to have Christmas without a tree. Either way, if she bought it then have her store it in her room. I am dying to see your bathroom when it is finished.
In December I pretty much put decluttering on the back burner as I needed some ‘down time’ after illness but I still had an ‘out box’ that the odd item got put in. The break must have done me good as over the last couple of days a number of items that I’ve been hemmming and hawwwing over for months seem really obvious that they should be in the ‘out box’ or to be thrown out or listed for sale.
I’ve also been collecting books from friends to go to a charity book sale, those were just collected from my work.
My friend who I am helping to declutter has been going great. I wasn’t able to help her yesterday but her sale of excess furniture via Facebook proceeded with more success yesterday. As we’d cleared a significant amount of space in her garage with all the selling, she decided to not wait for me and proceeded to bring down the remaining stuff in her attic area. LOL people coming to buy furniture started making offers on what they saw piled up, so out it went too. We do have a goal to have it all cleared up by the end of the week as she has a visitor coming from overseas, I’m going around tonight to see what needs doing next. I’ve also offered to help with one ‘hot spot’ somewhere in the house, probably a cupboard before the weekend too. It is awesome helping someone who is so keen to progress. I thought she would run into emotional attachments on a regular basis, but she has been terrific and as we encounter one, I offer a perspective and after a minute or two she’s back in business.
Moni,
You are a wonderful friend. I have found that it is as joyous to see a friend you are mentoring, declutter, as it is to actually declutter yourself.
Kimberley – she has been a wonderful friend to me so I am grateful to be able to do something for her. I am surprised how ‘educated’ on the topic I sound when we are discuss what needs to be done or come to some sticking point. Obviously several years of hanging around this site has given me the insight on different scenarios. For example she keeps some toys on site for her little nieces and nephews to play with when they visit, I proposed Colleen’s space allocation concept ie that we limit it to the one suitcase. There were a couple of other spare suitcases but what was the point in having two suitcases of toys for guests who visit twice a year? We had to cull down the toys a bit to make sure they fit but it was a good method for setting a limit on what was kept.
As we’re working I find myself saying things like “In Feng Shui a cluttered attic equals a cluttered head” and “In Japan they teach to thank items as you declutter them” and yes I did trot out “Look after your house and it will look after you”and she said “who said that?” to which I replied “Kimberley did” to which she said “Oh I was expecting to hear the Dalai Lama or the ancient Egyptians”.
HaHaHa, Moni!
What is so funny about your comment is that my daughter calls me a wise old sage. I reminded her that I am 1/2 Greek, she is 1/4 Greek. Many of the early philosophers were Greek. Maybe I was one or apprenticed with one in a past life, but the thoughts just come to me with no effort. Maybe I am crazy, too? 🙂
Hi Moni, I am glad you took some down time over Christmas. I think you really needed that. I feel my Christmas was my up time and now I am taking the down time. That means time for some unrushed crafting.
I love that your friend brought down the extra furniture and sold it without have to go to the bother of listing it. Well done her!
LOL at your friend’s comment, Moni. You seem to have some multiculturalism decluttering advice going on there … nice!
Just today I decided to empty a small bookcase in my sewing room – maybe 40 books/binders. There is a different bookcase just outside this room – that one will be my imposed limit on the books I keep. So this week I will be minus 40 or so books AND a bookcase. =)
Good for you Vicki K. It seems we have a few readers decluttering books at the moment.
Thanks for this mini mission! I’ve been out of town for 5 days, returning home tomorrow (Monday). This is perfect to get back into decluttering mode!
Good luck Barbara. I hope you find your one thing a day.
Hi Colleen and others,
I’ve been reading these posts and comments for over a year and get a lot of inspiration from them. I’ve been decluttering on and off for years. I love organizing and have read so many books and articles on clutter, organizing, living simply, minimialism etc. I can be really focused for big clean out projects ( in fact probably hyper- focused, ignoring all else). I am now working full time and I’m really keen to try and declutter at least one thing a day as I no longer get much time for big projects. How do you all remember to do your mini missions each day?
Hi Andie B and welcome to 365 Less Things, even though you have been around for a while. It is good to see you join us for a chat. My whole plan for decluttering a thing a day was to make the task a simple one for me as I was also working at the time. As for those mini mission, follow mine or just make up your own. However if you want a daily reminder just Like my Facebook page where the missions are posted every day.