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.
The theme for this weeks mini missions is what the items are used for. That should make it nice broad categories for you to find clutter among. So lets get on with it.
Monday – Declutter something for wearing.
Tuesday – Declutter something for cooking.
Wednesday – Declutter something for adorning the home with.
Thursday – Declutter something for adorning yourself with. Jewellery and the like.
Friday – Declutter something used to maintain things. Tools, cleaners and other utilitarian objects.
Saturday – Declutter something meant to entertain you. Books, CDs DVDs, magazines etc
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.
This isn’t about the mini missions, but I just had to share this. I’ve been talking to my sister about getting rid of craft items I haven’t touched for years. Well she sent 3 huge boxes of yarn for me to give to a friend that makes hats for the mission. When my sister asked if my friend wanted her yarn I asked & she was thrilled to get it. My sister sent over 100 pounds of yarn! She did a major declutter. She switched from crochet to quilting at least five years ago.
I’m just so proud of her for getting rid of unused yarn & for finding someone that wanted the yarn & will use it. Win, win
Just had to brag on sister.
Yay, Calla! Your happiness is understandable. What you wrote reminded me of the six degrees of separation or six degrees of Kevin Bacon games … hmmm … Calla’s six degrees of decluttering, perhaps? 😉
Lol
Thanks Nicole V
Did start on mini missions
M-coral shirt to daughter (much better color on her than me)
T-cooking , good there, nothing left to declutter. Yay!
W-home decor, good there, nothing to de clutter, may change my tune when I pull Christmas stuff out
T-jewelry etc, will have investigate further
F- maintenance items, 2 cans of new motor oil, 1 partial can of paint thinner & 1 liquid fertilizer, all to hazardous materials roundup.
S-entertainment, will work on cleanup of e-books
Thanks for the motivation
Well done Calla.
Monday — I’m ahead here. Last week I donated 5 summer blouses/tops I wasn’t wearing to a local sewing teacher. It’s still warm here but I know I won’t wear these items next summer either and she can use them.
I am in gratitude that she took them and I now have more closet room. As for coat hangers, I use the velvet ones, and I gave her the hangers also. I don’t plan to be buying more tops next summer.
Hi Calla, you have good reason to be proud of your sister. What is one good effort of decluttering for sure. Good for the space she liberated, good for finding such a good recipient of her unwanted stuff and good because she has now fully moved on in her crafting life. Well done her.
I had the lovely surprise of guest turning up for the weekend so wasn’t able to participate in Nicole’s game, I have however enjoyed the updates thru the weekend.
I have two good friends who have wedding planning going on and so I have bits and pieces headed in both directions ie glass drink tap dispenser, ice tub, baskets, troggs and all that sort of thing going to one whose daughter’s reception theme is “extended family picnic” and a box load of tea lite holders going to the other wedding. The respective weddings aren’t until November and February but both parties are keen to have the stuff now. This was an unexpected source of de-cluttering.
How nice Moni, it is aways nice to have visitors. And well done with the decluttering you are managing to achieve while helping out friends.
Hi, Colleen. These are my items:
M: 1 pair of socks
Tu: 1 cake tester
W: 1 framed photo
Th: 1 pendant
F: 1 cleaning brush
S: Several Internet bookmarks that I’m no longer interested in. (Hat tip to Rachel W for decluttering her ebooks while playing Declutter with Friends, as it reminded me to look at my digital clutter.)
Well you found all those object very quickly Nicole, well done you. I also decluttered a pair of socks this morning. I also decluttered some undies but replaced them this afternoon.
Thanks, Colleen … they were all small items. I’ve been going around taking a good look all over the place … things can get the better of you when you’re busy. I’m trying to prep for Deanna’s next play (she’s really on a roll!) for Declutter with Friends :-D.
Yes the game is going well.
Here is my list for the week –
Mon – A few work uniform shirts (I have too many since I do less hours these days) They get returned to the work closet for new or casual staff to use.
Tue – Contents of 3 containers of unidentified white powder. LOL most likely corn flour, rice flour and gluten free flour from a shortbread baking phase from ages ago. I will keep the containers for now, and refill with useful stuff, currently without safe homes.
Wed – [shuffling feet in embarrassment] what I mostly have adorning my home at the moment is dust! Wednesday will be for a lot of dusting and vacuuming! There is also a less than healthy indoor plant that may also go.
Thurs – Several pieces of costume jewellery, and any stud ear rings that I missed last time.
I already have a little bag started for the thrift shop with other small things.
Friday will follow Wednesdays theme. I will declutter some cleaning materials, by actually cleaning with them. I am sure there are several under the sink at the back that are almost empty.
Sat – More magazines, and some well loved IKEA catalogues as well
Good choices Stephanie, especially the cleaning ones. It is very easy to get flax about the housework when one is busy doing other things. However it can be hard to truly relax in a messing or unclean home. Best to keep the cleaning as up to date as possible for your own sanity.
Something to wear:
***donating 3 pants, 3 tops, 1 velour pantset
I took this opportunity to count & classify my remaining clothes (not including my “maybe box”):
120 items as follows (does not include shoes or other accessories or underwear, but does include dressier items that aren’t often worn plus different weights of clothing for 4 seasons):
vest 3
skirt 6
dress 7
pant 21
dress blouse 9
t shirt 17
long sleeve t shirt 6
sweater 3
cardigan 10
jacket 13 (includes “big shirts”)
long sleeve casual top 14
jean 3
winter pj 3
summer pj 3
tank top 1
short 1
In cooler months (6 mos of the year) I have to layer clothes because I’m cold, plus I like a lot of colors… Those reasons are why I have so many clothes!
I’m glad you clarified there in the end because that did seem like a lot of clothes when you see it in a list. However I have no idea how many items are in my collection of clothing so am possibly in no position to judge. It could be more than I think. Perhaps I should count them just our of curiosity.
Hi Colleen, It would be interesting to have posts occasionally where you assign a category (like clothing or a certain item of clothing or shoes) for us to count. If you did the same item annually, we could compare our individual numbers (and see whether we have added or reduced). What if we had a” month of counting” (each day a different item?) Maybe that would be too tedious? Like an inventory? Or the counting could be in addition to the regular mission, for “Colleen Bonus Points” haha 🙂
I did that with shoes once. The highest and lowest counts were scores apart. If I remember corectly my niece had the most.
Hi Peggy, that’s an interesting thought…the counting. I, for one, would probably be surprised. I’ve been paring down my closet for a number of years (with missussmartypants.com), but I still have a lot of clothes. I was so proud of my closet…then we sold our motor home and all those clothes, kitchen utensils, linens, etc. had to come into the house. I had a lot of duplicates. I gave away a ton of stuff (especially clothes, Tupperware and other kitchen items). But I still have an over abundance of many things. I have quite a long way to go…and quite a few things I’m not ready to get rid of yet. I considered the 333 Project last year, but then decided I’d rather whittle down slowly.
I forgot to count the outfit I’m wearing LOL so that adds 1 pair pants, 1 casual long sleeve top. Still, at 122 items I’m doing better than a few years ago at 146 🙂
I seem to have gotten busy so that I have no time for decluttering. I hope things will coalm down later in the week.
And I hope you are busy doing something you are also enjoying Deb.
Maybe by Thursday Colleen. Right now it is doc appts and such.
The NZ and Australian readers will probably know about the Countdown collectible Disney Pixar Dominoes. I couldn’t help myself, I had to collect a set and got all caught up in it. Then yesterday a work mate said his 3 year old missed out on collecting and did I have any spare………sigh……apparently I will be giving up my dominoes. Ah well, the fun was in the hunt. I can probably download a game of dominoes onto my ipad and play it there.
Hi Moni, that seems like a rather strange thing for you, and avid declutterer, to collect. However I was involved in helping my granddaughter to collect them. I dare say my son was thinking clutter clutter clutter as they were flowing in the door.
Colleen – I think the word “Collectible” is my down fall. Its all about the hunt. At least nowadays it is free Dominoes and not book collections etc.
I understand Moni, I used to go out of town on shopping hunts for Elephants in my late teens, early twenties, I had quite a collection. As soon as the prospect occurred to me of having to move them from place to place after I married a RAAFie had me selling them as a job lot by the time I was 28.
What is a RAAFie?
I thought that one might trick some readers up. My husband is in the RAAF ~ Royal Australian Airforce. The members are called RAAFies for short.
Thanks for the explanation
Moni, that’s why I was willing to dismantle my quarter collection…”the fun was in the hunt”. However, hubby confiscated it instead!
I still have our quarter collections. They were collected for the kids but when they moved out they didn’t want them. I was thinking of selling them to a coin seller in town but then his shop was fire bombed. I guess he annoyed the wrong person. Now I think I will just donate them as foreign currency.
This week’s mini missions:
Mon – wearing – 1 pair of khaki pants (don’t fit right)
Tues – cooking – 8 expired condiments from frig in garage
Wed – adorning the home – I found something great for this, but I don’t know what to do with it. It’s a picture…apparently a copy of Road at Chantilly (by Cezanne)…I didn’t know it is a well known painting. I bought it at an antique shop quite a number of years ago, then didn’t like it as much as I thought I did. I don’t know if it’s worth anything or not. I think I paid $35 for it.
Thurs – adorning myself – 1 pair of dangly earrings
Fri – utilitarian object – steering column for a Chevy pickup (the pickup is already gone) – $100 for hubby
Sat – something meant to entertain you – TV set that needed an adapter box to work with satellite
Ah, the old fridge in the garage. I have a question for you Deanna, how badly do you really need that fridge at all?
I don’t know how bad I NEED it, but I LOVE having it. Every few weeks hubby and I brown and season 5-6# of hamburger meat, then freeze it in 1# portions for quick meals later…tacos, cabbage and ground beef, chili, spaghetti sauce. I freeze up ziplock bags of tomatoes in the summer when they’re in season and so good. Our inside freezer keeps veggies, bacon, chicken, ice packs. I buy mostly fresh food, so after shopping our frig is full of that. When I make big pots of soup or chili, I store the big pot in the outside frig sometimes til I portion it out. I keep the extra eggs out there. It also contains a little extra wine and a bit of beer. I would miss it sorely. Everything in both frigs and freezers rotate regularly…
For cooking (TUE), one hateful frying pan “that burns everything” according to my elder daughter, straight into the trash… I had asked for suggestions for this Mini Mission because I am the least likely of the household to take part in cooking LOL
Hi Peggy, I am curious how a frying pan burns everything, unless it is an electric one that doesn’t regulate its temperature well. I had a frying pan with an opposite issue but it wasn’t really the frying pans fault. I had a ceramic cooktop and bought the pan to use one it because my old one was warped which doesn’t work well on a ceramic cook top. It was designed for the jog apparently but between them they were hopeless at maintaining heat for frying. I still have the pan but now have a gas cooktop, a much better combination. I still don’t love the pan though because it tends to be very sticky no matter how much oil I use. Oh well, I don’t dislike it enough to bother trying to replace it with something that might turn out not to be any better. And I refuse to buy non-stick pans.
Hi Colleen, My husband says it’s because no matter what the cook does, everything sticks to this pan… I surely was not going to dispute my daughters’ suggestion to get rid of the pan because she is the one who has so much trouble parting with anything LOL… and my husband, our main “chef”, agreed to part with it… Time for happy dance! 🙂
Peggy – we had a frying pan like that. Of course, it wasn’t a good quality item and my friend who is a chef says that the something-something layer wears off and something-something-something I think it might be a protective layer that insulates the actual heat, and so everything burns. Sorry I am not more informative with actual facts but I am Cateringly Challenged and a lot of it goes right over my head. But there is such a thing as Pyro Inclined Pan.
I like all the something somethings Moni. With my pan I thought maybe I needed to season it somehow before I first used it. Had that been necessary you’d think they would have given instructions about that on the packaging. Oh well, I manage to cook stuff well enough anyway.
Oh yes Peggy, working with crappy utensils or tools just makes a chore even less enjoyable. Best to send it on its way then.
For adorning home (WED), one framed print that I always loved but has faded so now makes me feel sad 🙁
Donating it because it has a nice custom frame which could be re-used, but probably not by me since I don’t want too many wall hangings anymore 🙂
I’m not sure which heading it goes under – it might even deserve the Strangest Item of the Day award – but 7 Trophies all egg cup size left today, they were my daughter’s and we’re donating them to the local dance society to have new award plaques put on the base and to be used for the new age divisions they have created.
And the other contender for the Strangest Item of the Day award – the mold of a face that my same daughter made after casting a friend’s face.
For adorning self (THUR) a cream eye shadow pencil that I never use although I like the color.
My husband is going to try to do FRI mission, something used to maintain the home. When he gets home tonight…
I have another box of items my elder daughter has okay’d for donation! Will be dropping that off before work tonight 🙂
I don’t know about SAT mission because the only thing I can think of are our music CDs and I need hubby & time for that LOL. I don’t get magazines at home anymore and most of my books are from the library, where they are returned ASAP 🙂