365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Mini Mission Monday ~ Time for yet another category declutter

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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.

I love to throw in a good old clutter category set of  missions on a regular basis to get you thinking about what sort of clutter you have. So this week we will declutter something from each of the clutter categories I refer to on a regular. Declutter at least one item per category.

Monday – A Sentimental item. This is self explanatory really it is an item you feel personally attached to or at least once did.

Tuesday – A Guilt item. Something you feel guilty about acquiring in the first place.

Wednesday – An Aspirational item. Something you aspire to getting around to using or trying one day.

Thursday – An Obligation item ~ Something you only keep because you feel you should. Often something someone else gave you.

Friday – A Lazy clutter item ~ No attachment you just haven’t got around to getting rid of it.

Saturday – A Natural Progression item ~ Something that no longer fits, physically or intelectually or has simply been used up or worn out.

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

Comments

  1. What a line up of mini missions! There in a row is the cause of the bulk of clutter in the Western world.

  3. What I thought was impossible has happened! My son, who’s almost 12 and never wants to get rid of ANYTHING, has gone on a cleaning binge. If I’d known how far he was going to go with it, I’d have taken before and after pictures of his room, which is quite large. He hit every minimission this week and then some. He made the comment that now he has started getting rid of stuff, he doesn’t want to stop.

    I have someone coming tomorrow to pick up items for donation. My daughter also has released some of her toys and clothes, and I’m getting rid of a large, artificial Christmas tree my mother gave me. We always buy a real tree, but it was a spare for upstairs. I never use it, so I am giving it up. I also gathered up some ornaments (I have more than will fit on our tree as my mother gave me most of hers and I had plenty myself), garland and lights for it as well as some spare Christmas linens I don’t need as I have so many.

    Once again, I’m shocked at how much I am getting rid of and yet we still have way too much stuff.

    • Donna B – that is awesome that your kids are getting behind you with their efforts! Yes, it is eye opening just how much is tucked away in a household and how we keep raising the bar of what we want our houses to look like.

      • My son always has had trouble with sentimental clutter. He’d refuse to get rid of a four-piece wooden puzzle because so-and-so gave it to him when he was a baby or whatever. I don’t know what caused him to change his ways. He still hung on to a few things for sentimental reasons. Now he’s walking through the rest of the house telling me how cluttered it is!

        If only I could get my husband to sit down and go through some of his stuff. I don’t think it’s that he’s unwilling, but he doesn’t have that much spare time, and I don’t think it’s a priority for him. He may surprise me some day, too. I say this as if I’m a fine example of a declutterer, but I still have lots of my own areas to work on. I’m chipping away, though.

  4. Hurray! It’s taken me the month of September, but I’ve read through the archives from the very first post ( with a few peeks at the latest ones). “Wow!” is what kept repeating in my head. This is an amazing site and even more awesome community. So many posts I wanted to add comments to, but . . . um, three years after seemed a tad late.

    The upside to being invisible is watching the issues, problem-solving advice shared, and the PROGRESS folks have made — as well as getting to “know” the extended family here.

    Wondering if I’d missed a post about Ideealisten’s baby (ah, busy new mom, finally able to eek moments on the iPhone). Following Colleen’s son’s accidents, sending belated healing vibes of my own. Moni’s funny family, and progress luring Adrian into the declutter game. Huge leaps –even if the felt excruciatingly slow — by Deb J’s mother. Cindy’s friendship to Colleen in her time of need, and the thoughtful series that developed. (This feels like an Academy Awards acceptance speech, where the winner is afraid to leave out someone important to her success!) I am delighted to know about all of you, the rest of this group I did not name — you’ve all helped me without having a clue I am out here.

    Later I’ll share some of my burning ideas, and I do have one comment up, a response to Deb J’s recent “Comfort Zone” post. Thank you, Deb J, for the welcome. I know I found this world when Colleen was in the early days of her well-deserved vacation. (I hope you find exactly what you and Steve are looking for, where you want to be, and embrace the next part of your journey.)

    And, most importantly, a huge thank you to Colleen for not only starting this conversation, but the focus, and efforts to respond to all the comments that came in. I sometimes wiggle and squirm at your posts, sometimes disagree, some don’t relate directly (but I can pick up a lot that’s useful).

    You may come across strong, but are always gracious and open to other opinions. I get a kick out of how protective the “family” is towards you, Colleen. Yes, we all have bad days, and they bleed through despite out best efforts to hide them. And, yes, the tone may seem harsh to someone who hasn’t been following the extended conversation. But, it is in emotional context to those who’ve been around for a while — or who’ve started at the beginning to catch up.

    I thank all of you for putting yourselves on the line, and reaching out to help. I am a poet and writer, and this group has inspired a recent post (Sept 9), and one coming up shortly. I’m Michele on my Poetic Muselings blog, but since you’ve already got a Michelle, I decided to use my “real soul” name.

    RoadWriter

    • Hi RoadWriter, sorry to take so long to respond and to make such a short response.topping comments on a smart phone while on vacation is a challenge. However I wanted to let you know I appreciate your charming introduction and update on where you are at with 365lessthings. Reading all the way from the start is quite an effort. I ‘ll forward to having a proper chat with you when I return home in a week’s time. Until then. Cheers Colleen.

  6. I’ve been rereading Aslett’s Clutter’s Last Stand–he is fun to read and has a man’s point of view, so he brings up some clutter we might not think of. Also he grew up on a farm and says the #1 top clutterers are farmers. No. 2 are their wives. He also says take it a little at a time.
    For a lot of us having an e-mail reminder is a big help. I always leave at least one 365 in my inbox to remind me. I’m still making rags out of the excess white fabrics, and today while straightening sheets and pillow cases found some more mixed in–how it got there I don’t know, but I plan to use it for adding pockets to some slacks from the thrift store.