365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Mini Mission Monday ~ Room by Room

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mini-logoMini 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.

I’m keeping it simple this week with a little room by room decluttering. I;ll name a room each day and you find something in that room to declutter. Happy hunting.

Monday – Declutter something from your main bedroom.

Tuesday - Declutter something from from your garage.

Wednesday - Declutter something from your living room.

Thursday - Declutter something from your bathroom.

Friday - Declutter something from your attic, basement, back yard shed.

Saturday -Declutter something from your kitchen

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

Comments

  1. Monday, bedroom….paper back book. Since I read mostly e-books, it’s taking awhile to get thru the half dozen paper back books I want to read.
    Tuesday, garage…cfl light bulb to daughter. Will take old burned out bulb to recycling.
    Wednesday, living room…good there yay!
    Thursday, bathroom…since my closet is in my bathroom I taking 2 pant hangers that are no longer needed
    Friday, basement, attic, shed…since I have none of these I’m good there.
    Saturday, kitchen…good there too. Yay!
    It’s amazing to me how much progress I’ve made over the last several years. The mini missions help me look in places & for things that slip my mind. So thank you Colleen for keeping these things at the forefront.

    • Hi Calla, do you also consider the mini missions a fun challenge that you enjoy rising to.
      This makes me think about some of my friends who have recently bought one of those FitBit things that are basically a pedometer but with a difference. The difference being that the info is funnelled thought your digital device, cell phone, computer, iPad etc, and not the FitBit itself. Then you can use their program to keep a track of your progress, challenger yourself and even make other FitBit friend to compete against. The concept is very clever I think because it gives you something to aspire to other than just he activity of getting fit, which can be hard work and boring otherwise.

      • Definitely a fun challenge that I raise to. I always look in the areas even if I don’t find anything, but when I do I always think “good thing you mentioned it, since I’ve overlooked that area many times”

        I’ve been thinking about the fitbit for 6 months, still haven’t made the leap.

  2. Does my oven count? Hubby was cooking a roast the other night and my daughter informed us there was a loud bang, sparks and flames going on. The roast got finished in the bbq.

    • Oh Moni,
      I just cringe every time something goes wrong with an appliance. They just aren’t built to last like the appliances I grew up with.
      At least you can purchase the new oven of choice. That has always made the process worth it in the long run for me.
      I remember years ago when my sister called so excited over her new dishwasher. Then she calmly said, “This is crazy, no one should ever get this excited about a new appliance”, haha!

    • Sorry Moni, the oven doesn’t count if you are going to replace it. But if you do I am going to give you sage words of advice…

      “To hell with the expense, replace it with an oven that cleans itself.”

      I would jump for joy if mine broke down because it would give me good reason to do just that.

      • Colleen – my last one was self-cleaning and as far as I am concerned there is just no other way to go. I did see an advert on TV of an oven cleaning franchise that have an eco-friendly method. I think it might be Australian based, (the Ad looked Australian but voice over Kiwi) so that might be an option if you want a gift opportunity.

  3. Hi, Colleen. I’ll do the easy ones first: Nothing for Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri. Wed: 1 ornament and Sat: 1 glass jar.

  4. MON (main bedroom): getting rid of some excess literature that came with massage therapy samples (will leave it at work)

    TUE (garage): a “cup holder” gadget that looks like it’s supposed to attach to car interior… I tried it everywhere in mine and it was useless LOL It had a companion on the back porch (in “Box Mountain”) so they are both going 🙂

    WED (living room): Ummm… does taking 4 library books back to the library count? (they were in the living room)

    THUR (bathroom): Melatonin… my husband and I both tried this, neither one liked it

    FRI (storage areas): I need to get back up in the attic, not sure when that will happen…

    SAT (kitchen): a glass & metal hand soap dispenser that I liked looking at but not using… the small top part that you have to “pat” to get the soap out was very annoying… took this to work and a coworker snapped it up 🙂

    • Well done Peggy. As for the Library books, I guess I’ll let you get away with that one, but only this once. You make up for it by getting rid of that annoying soap dispenser. Little annoyances like that can add up to a right pain in the a#@ so best to rid yourself of them.

  5. main bedroom – 2 bags of mixed fabric

    garage – boxes

    living room – old recipes and notes saved from the paper (we don’t even eat that way anymore)

    bathroom – outdated first aid supply

    attic, basement, back yard shed – 1 broken glass rain catcher from back deck

    kitchen – 4 shot glasses

  6. Colleen, I’m very challenged by your mini missions…also by the game that Nicole initiated. I was looking for something in our bedroom for this mission…didn’t think I had anything. Then I remembered my dresser that I had not gone through in awhile…emptied almost a whole drawer full. And…I still have some of the other drawers to check. Thank you! I also get lots of ideas from your following of commenters. Thank you all!

  7. Hi Colleen, I just wanted to finally write & thank you for your inspiring blog. I have been following for a few months now & have even waded through the archives! We have lived in our house for nearly 32 years & raised 3 children here so over the years I’ve had to do quite a bit of decluttering as its not a big place. Even though we only have our 22 year old son at home the house had started to feel like it was about to explode with all the stuff stored everywhere. 2 spare rooms started to fill up with things I wasn’t quite sure what to do with to the point I could hardly move around in there. My mum died 4 years ago & I had things from her house everywhere as well. Thanks to your blog I have been able to pass that emotional hurdle & get things moving on. I have sent things that she wanted passed on to other family members on their way, previously I couldn’t let them go! I haven’t finished sorting the place out but am getting close. I am enjoying using my nice things which had previously sat in cupboards waiting for a special occasion. Thank you again Colleen & your guest writers & commentators, I couldn’t have done it without you.

    • Hi KathyA, firstly welcome to 365 Less Things, and now allow me to apologise for taking so long to moderate your comment. When I found it after receiving your email today I recognising having read it before. I even recall being excited to respond to it because I was so glad that you were managing to let go of the things of your mother’s. Sometimes those kinds of sentimental items are very had to let go even though the sentimentally it is mostly tied to the fact that a loved one is no longer around. I am sorry for your loss.

      Also I was glad to hear that you are using your “good” stuff everyday instead of saving it for just the right occasion. Everyday is a good enough occasion in my book. Life’s too short to wait to enjoy something.

      Anyhow, thanks again for your comment and I hope to hear from you more often now that you have broken the ice.

  8. I’ve enjoyed the room by room challenge this week.

    Monday – A jacket from the wardrobe.
    Tuesday – Nothing in the garage but my car so cleaned out the glovebox .
    Wednesday – I have 2 living areas and was surprised by the clutter in the coffee table drawers – 2 magazines, some faux fruit and flowers, 2 candles and a couple of take away menus.
    Thursday – 3 haircare products I won’t use.
    Friday – started this already – put some china on ebay that I had stored in the shed and haven’t used for a very long time.
    Saturday – 6 cookbooks.

    Even though it was only 2 small bags of items, it feels really good.