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.
It seems to have been a while since I focused on the philosophy behind the 365 Less Things approach. I tend to take it for granted that we all know what that is, and we just get on with it. However this week that is going to be the theme for my posts. Even though my home contents are greatly reduced I can still benefit from taking that ten minutes a day to assess if there is anything still lingering that I could happily do without. After all, my home size was also greatly reduced, giving me less room to store those less than necessary items I may have kept just because I once had the space. It is aways nice to have a little empty space which leaves room for the next phase of life to arrive. So lets focus and six tasks this week that we can easily achieve in those ten minutes.
Monday – Think for a minute which drawer in your home is the messiest or most difficult to use due to how much stuff is crammed into it. Take ten minutes now to focus on finding and decluttering some things in that drawer that you don’t need. Things that, once removed, will make that drawer far more functional.
Tuesday – Take ten minutes to go through the most cluttered shelf in your kitchen cabinetry and declutter a few things that you rarely if ever use.
Wednesday – While you are preparing yourself for the day take ten minutes to go through your toiletries cabinet in you bathroom. Declutter anything that you don’t use or is past its used by date.
Thursday – Take ten minutes today to sort through your socks or underwear drawer. Ten minutes is all it will take to sort and identify those items that you avoid wearing until you are desperate. Declutter anything that you aren’t comfortable wearing.
Friday – Take a look on and in a desk or work space today. Give yourself ten minutes to find and declutter something that is not used and wasting space in this area.
Saturday – Take a look in an old photo album and take ten minutes to choose and toss some photos that don’t do much to record your life history. Duplicates, fuzzy shots, meaningless plants or animals (not pets), people you don’t recognise or who flitted through your life without giving much meaning to it.
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
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow
Excellent missions for me this week. I noticed over the weekend that most of the drawers around the house are over full.
Oh, these are good.
Monday–I need to reorganize my sticker/embellishment drawers.
Tuesday–I was recently told I have a high intolerance to about 50 foods. That means changing
my way of eating. I need to reorganize my kitchen cabinets and also declutter a few things.
Wednesday–my toiletries are doing well but I have some other things in that vein I need to
declutter now I know I am not going to need them here.
Thursday–Underwear drawer. I need to toss some old ones.
Friday–instead of my desk I will work on my craft/utility/puzzle closet. I need to see what I can
rid of.
Saturday–My photos are good. What I need to do is work on getting them all in an album.
I haven’t commented for a long time and I am reading through all the archive posts and comments! I am up to October 2012. Very inspiring.
I also have been keeping a list of what I have bought since the beginning of this year and the cost, and I am proud to say this has reduced my purchases right down to almost zero.
I have now disposed of 2690 things or bags of things.
My husband and I are planning to downsize next year, so have been on a mission (well at least I have) to declutter in a much more serious way. I have gone though things I never even considered decluttering before and got rid of lots: selling and donating.
We have also replaced our huge, dark, lounge suite with a much neater, smaller, lighter one, got rid of the coffee table, got rid of three large dressers and replaced them with a long low “entertainment unit” and sold our old fashioned, heavy, wooden dining suite and six chairs. We have bought a glass top dining table and our living / dining area look twice the size.
Also I will be getting rid of my old, hideous desk (Wednesday) which I use for sewing and DH has made a bench top and cabinet similar to the one in your craft room. So huge changes and (a) the difference is dramatic, (b) it’s cut down on all the furniture and silver polishing – yay! (c) it’s the first time we have bought any furniture for about 30 years and all the old stuff has gone to a new home.
If I had known how happy it has made me I would have pushed for this a long time ago!
In spite of getting rid of all that storage (20 shelves) I still have 6 empty shelves and drawers.
I still have some kitchen appliances that I don’t use any more but DH is reluctant. I am patient! However the other day we went though his ties and he let me declutter five, leaving his favourite six. He has not worn a tie for at least 15 years…
Even the garage is thinning down, I got rid of a bundle of carpet the other day for instance, but he has a lot of tools and a workbench which I can’t touch. Oh last year we donated a three drawer filing cabinet which was in the garage, and replaced it with a single drawer one which fits under his desk, so that was a big thing gone.
Thanks so much for your inspiration: your blog, and particularly my reading the archives, has kept my motivation high and I am just so happy!
Wow Janetta! You are cooking on your decluttering!!! I wish I could but mostly have to wait until next year (daughter & her babies still here). Great job 🙂
Thanks Peggy!
Well done Janetta. Keep up the good work. It sounds like your home is getting much more manageable and downsizing should now be a breeze for you.
Thanks, I’m just so grateful I started in plenty of time so it will eventually be a smooth move. I have an acquaintance that moved from a large house to a small unit half the size and took everything with her, and is now living in absolute chaos and complaining bitterly!
Wow Janetta you are on a roll! Keep up the good work.
This week I did the one in, one out rule. I bought 4 pairs of summer pants/capris and am taking 4 pairs of still decent ( just tried of them) pants to the mission.
I did think about the missions. Find it very useful to be on the lookout for areas that still hold unused/unwanted items.
Well done with the one in one out Calla. I am glad you sent those capris to the mission. And I would be even happier if they were secondhand when you acquired them.
I have started on my drawer ‘campaign’ and I have realised that the items that are cluttering the drawers, don’t actually belong in that drawer, but may not actually have a designated spot in the house. Interesting.
Sounds like you have some organising to do Moni.
Here is what I was able to get done this week: organized my sticker/embellishment drawers and put some aside to give away; went through my kitchen cabinets to declutter ingredients I can no longer use due to new food intolerances; decluttered a couple of kitchen items and other items I found I do not need with the move here; bought new underwear and tossed the old; took several things out of the craft/puzzle/cleaning closet to give away; went through my clothes closet to remove things I can no longer wear due to weight loss and put in new things I bought to get me through the next few months; put together two bags for the thrift shop of items from my week of decluttering.
Well done Deb, I would have thought you had nothing left to declutter by now but apparently not. 😉
I am finding that life changes as along with that our needs change.