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 for our mini missions lets concentrate on “Just in case†clutter. There are several different clutter scenarios where “Just in case†comes in to play. I have come up with seven for this weeks missions. Let’s see if you can come up with seven matching items to declutter.
Monday – Declutter something that your are keeping “just in case†it becomes valuable some day.
Tuesday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case†you have grandchildren some day.
Wednesday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case†you eventually find a use for it.
Thursday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case†it fits you again some day.
Friday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case†the person who gave it to you notices it missing.
Saturday - Declutter something that you are keeping “just in case†you finally might get around to reading 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 mini-missions Colleen. “Just in case” has been my mother’s favorite reason for not decluttering something. SHe is now using it less and less and I am happy dancing.
Future grandchildren? Perish the thought at this stage! However, my daughter has saved her ‘Franklin The Turtle’ books for her (far off) future children. Out of the hundreds she got rid of I’m ok with her keeping the Franklin books.
I still struggle with “just in case” items, but I have a couple in mind already that I think I can part with… 🙂
For some whacky reason I ended up with an extra electric knife. It has been residing in our attic for about 7 years. The one we currently use is partially broken, but still works, so I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. 😉 Hanging on to the new one “just in case”!!!
Just-in-case was the reason for the majority of my clutter. I always thought I was doing the right thing by “being prepared”. I finally realized that you can’t be prepared for everything. Furthermore, whenever I needed something, like a nut, bolt, or screw, I rarely had the exact size I needed and ended up going to the store anyway.
When we did our big purge, I got rid of most of my just-in-case clutter. Only one time in the past three years have I needed something that I had gotten rid of, and it was easily replaced with a quick trip to the store.
I’m going to go through my junk drawer when I get home and see if I have any just-in-case stuff stashed away that I can get rid of.
Hi Eric, I challenge you to eliminate the junk drawer too. If something doesn’t have a proper home you probably don’t need it.
So far this week:
1. a big roll of bubble wrap and some bits and pieces I had saved just in case I took back to eBaying with a vengence – off to freecycle
2. some plastic ‘champaign’ glasses saved from a teenage party just in case I had another teenage party (no teenagers live here now) – recycled
3. big bag of painting clothes which didn’t get used at all in the last painting exercise – into the rubbish!
I can now declutter the bag it was all in!
Yup. Just in case we ever want to watch our VHS tapes and listen to our scratchy bootleg music cassettes…. The VCR has gone to Mexico so kids can learn English by watching movies, the cassette player goes to the recycler tomorrow, and the tapes and their cases have been tossed or recycled. Don’t think I’ll miss ’em much.
If Mr. Justin Case has taken residence in your home and your mind, you will never be able to discard anything. Mr. Justin Case is very skilled in creating reasons why everything you own should be kept, “just in case”. Time to trust that we are very creative in thinking outside the box, if necessary. That is where the magic happens. Time to evict Mr. Justin Case from our minds and send him and all of his “just in case” clutter packing 🙂
Plan to haul some of those just in case they got valuables to the consignment shop tomorrow. I think that was why they survived this long, and some of them were once loved, but I no longer need them. Looking at similar items on e-Bay should convince anyone that even if something has value, it is seldom a whole lot of value, certainly not worth taking up space, and the money is long gone anyway. Also in cleaning the kitchen cabinets I realized I had some huge nice Pyrex & other bowls–used only in preparing for big family holiday dinners which we no longer do. One was for yeast rolls. So they are in the box, too. They suddenly got on my radar–why I hadn’t thought of them before I don’t know. My children have all that type of stuff they need, and I am not saving stuff for the grandchildren I do have. They will have their own ideas–and rightly so–and can pick their own stuff.
I am still de-cluttering my clothes by considering one at a time what I have on for the day (since I am usually at home). After I wear something with that in mind, by the end of the day I may think that is getting worn looking, that has a stain, that is faded. This seems to work better for me than trying to weed a closetfull. Also I lost a little weight so now a few things don’t fit right.