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.

Most clutter is annoying, mostly in a subtle way that is just niggling in the background. However some clutter is more annoying. So let us work on that more annoying clutter today. Hopefully in the attempt we will all identify some items that we will feel much better for getting rid of. So lets begin.

Monday – Declutter some items from an overcrowded area. Perhaps the utensil drawer, office desk drawer, bathroom cabinet, sock drawer, linen closet… . Being about to use these areas with the hassle of overflow will make your life that little more pleasant.

Tuesday – Declutter an item that is annoying because you just don’t like it. Perhaps an unwanted gift, something visually unappealing, or just something you lost interest in a long time ago.

Wednesday – Declutter something that is annoyingly inefficient, such as any items that don’t work properly or doesn’t do a good job of what it’s purpose is. Perhaps a kitchen gadget that isn’t time saving, an electronic item that has lost some of its function…

Thursday – Declutter an item of clothing that is annoyingly ill fitting.

Friday – Declutter something that may be causing you, or someone else in the household an allergy problem. Dust collectors would be a prime target for this mini mission, such as trinkets, fabric décor items, old rugs, excessive cushions…

Saturday – Declutter something left behind by a previous member of the household. Check if they want it back and give them a deadline as to when it needs to be collected or out it goes.

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

Random Acts of Miscellaneous Kindness

(Little thoughtful acts for no reason but to make a complete strangers life a little easier.)

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’s mini missions address items that you may not have considered decluttering in the past. You may not even consider the idea when you see what they are, but I thought I would make the suggestion anyway and allow you to give them some thought. I no longer have any of the items mentioned here and some I never did. With all of these items you could instigate a trial separation where you don’t use them for a month and see how you cope. If, like me, you have none of them them consider items closely related to them, for some you could declutter items stored in them.

Monday – Consider decluttering your home phone. Do you really need a static phone as well as a mobile for each person in the household?

Tuesday – Consider decluttering your second television or the third one if you have that many. Let’s face it how much time do we really need to waste sitting around watching TV or videos.

Wednesday – Do you really need an alarm clock when your cell phone can carry out this task. Consider decluttering it.

Thursday – Declutter a piece of furniture, especially if its only purpose is to hold items that need dusting.  Hopefully your previous decluttering efforts might have freed up such a piece by now.

Friday – Declutter a filing cabinet. Once you have decluttered your accumulated paperwork and have become realistic about what you really need to retain in the future, perhaps decluttering your filing cabinet, or at least downsizing to one with less drawers, would make sense. The lack of excess filing space may encourage you to stay on top of the paper clutter in the future, having no place to store it out of sight out of mind.

Saturday – I have mentioned this next item before but not often. Consider decluttering your second fridge or freezer. I know that some people use theirs for economic purchasing reasons but if that is not the case do you really need it. Many second fridges in Australia are used almost purely for storing beer and soft-drinks (soda), neither of which are good for you when consumed in large quantities and/or too frequently.

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

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.

Mini Mission Monday — A greeting card for every (decluttering) occasion

By Nicole V

I was delighted to hear Colleen’s news about the order that was placed for one hundred of her handmade cards! I can only imagine how busy she must have been in fulfilling that order and using up her craft supplies. On that note, this week’s decluttering missions are all about different types of greeting cards, so let’s see what you come up with — but before we begin, do take a few minutes to check out just how creative Colleen can be on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/fancythatartistcollective?ref=hl.

Monday — Birthday: Declutter a gift that you don’t really like or that you might have grown tired of or no longer use. Or you might have a large supply of gift-wrapping paraphernalia that could use some trimming. You could also declutter party supplies, cards, candles, and anything related to celebrations.

Tuesday — Graduation: Have any university textbooks or lecture notes lying around the house? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many people still hang on to them, together with term papers, assignments and projects that they aced. If you’ve been really good in this area, then take a look at any high school yearbooks that might still be occupants in your home, and decide whether you can do without one of them. Photos, awards, sweatshirts or anything from your school days are all fair game, as well as anything from work, courses you have taken, and seminars or conferences you have attended.

Wednesday — New home: Still have an unopened box or two sitting around from your last move? If the answer’s a red-faced “Yes”, you know what you need to do. If you don’t, however, don’t rejoice too soon — you’re not off the hook yet! Walk around your home and look — and I mean really look — at everything you own, from the furniture and the decorative items to the things you use daily or that you might not even have used at all. Can you find something that you know you will not bring with you if you move to a new place?

Thursday — Get well: It’s time to go through your medicine cabinet and first-aid box and declutter any expired items in there. Perhaps you have some other items — clothes, shoes, accessories, lotions, perfumes or cosmetics that you have grown sick of using. Take a look in your fridge and pantry as well, for anything that no longer tempts your jaded palate.

Friday — Bon voyage: Is there a huge stack of vacation photos lying around somewhere or stuffed into boxes, waiting to be sorted? Or do you have a box of once-treasured holiday mementoes that you no longer even bother looking at? You might have even returned from a trip in the past week or so and have yet to tackle that pile of stuff you unceremoniously dumped on the nearest flat surface you could find, while promising yourself that you’d put everything away once the jet lag wore off. Do you have an item languishing somewhere around the home, that you know you should have said sayonara or adios to a long time ago, but for some reason or other, you never got around to doing so?

Saturday — New baby: Have your children all flown the nest and are you still hanging on to every single childhood item of theirs? Or do you have young children who just have too much of everything — too many toys, clothes and books? Are you hanging on to all your childhood treasures on the assumption that your future children will want them?

Sunday — Retirement: Is there any item in your home that’s on its last legs? Maybe it should have been retired ages ago because it no longer works the way it used to, and you can do without it, or you find yourself picking up the new and improved version that you recently bought, because, you know, the old one’s already taken its last breath. If you are retired, or have made a mid-career change, are you still holding on to unnecessary stuff from your previous career?

Good luck and happy decluttering

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.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Going through and decluttering your filing cabinet can be a nightmare when it has been neglected for a long time. So I have written a set of guidelines below that I use to declutter my files and to avoid paperwork buildup in the first place.

1. Don’t file anything you don’t need to keep. By “need” I mean absolutely should keep. Don’t allow anxiety to force you to keep documents that aren’t really important. Only keep tax papers for the government prescribed length of time then declutter them.
2. Switch to as many digital documents (bills, newsletters, school notes etc) as possible so the paper has less chance to invade your home and to build up.
3. Once a bill is paid, and the next statement comes through that confirms that, declutter the previous statement.
4. Pay bills by cheque or bank deposit so you have a permanent digital bank record of the transaction. This way you can be secure in decluttering paper statements.
5. Scan documents you declutter if you feel the need, rather than being worrying that you shouldn’t have parted with them.
6. Every time you file a paper under it’s specific label check that file to see if there is an older document that could be decluttered.
7. Use the smallest document/file holder necessary for your needs. This way you are forced to declutter it regularly or there won’t be room to add to it.

I hope you find this list of guidelines useful and that you will end up with a big reduction of paper in your file drawers and ultimately reduce the number of drawers you need.

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 we are going to search for some clutter that shouldn’t be too hard to find because it is out in the open right under your nose. The worse part about clutter that is out in the open is that it collects dust. The beauty of decluttering it is that the less you have the less dusting is required to keep your home clean and fresh. So lets see what we can find to get rid of. I will name a surface and you can check there for clutter.

Monday – Around the bathroom basins.

Tuesday – On the fridge ~ both vertical and horizontal surfaces.

Wednesday – On bedside cabinets, chest of drawers or dressing table.

Thursday – On and in TV cabinet or entertainment unit.

Friday – On kitchen benches.

Saturday –On the coffee or lamp tables in your living room.

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

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.

Today’s mini missions concentrate on what, experience tells me, are usually the most cluttered areas of peoples homes. I visit these areas a lot in our weekly mini missions but lumping them all together in one week brings our focus to them. Especially if they resinate to you as the most cluttered areas in your home. Maybe due to your decluttering these areas are no longer so cluttered but they are likely to be the areas to remain vigilant about. So lets get started.

Monday – Declutter a couple of items from your kitchen. Gadgets, utensils, crockery, glassware… In my experience this is usually the most cluttered room in homes. The more cluttered a kitchen is the more dysfunctional they become while efficiency in the kitchen is very important to a smooth running daily home routine.

Tuesday – Declutter a few clothing items. Wardrobes and clothing drawers are another common clutter problem area.

Wednesday – Declutter something from the bathroom cabinets. Focus on using up less preferred toiletry items or throwing them out if they are old and possibly no longer suitable for use.

Thursday – Declutter some items from the garage or shed. These places are often well stocked with usual items but also can be catchment areas for items rejected from the living spaces of your home. If there are items there that have been lingering too long, or there are unnecessary multiples of things, now is a good day to declutter a few.

Friday – If you still have a junk drawer in your home where miscellaneous random items get stashed, then it might be time to check out what has accumulated there and declutter what isn’t useful.

Saturday – If you have kids, declutter some outgrown clothes and/or toys. If not, declutter some of you own toys such as hobby items, electronic gadgets, DVD’s, CDs 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.

Good luck and happy decluttering

Random Acts of Miscellaneous Kindness

(Little thoughtful acts for no reason but to make a complete strangers life a little easier.)

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.

Hi my lovely 365ers, and what kind of decluttering are you up to this week. Well here I am again to help you along on that task. This week we are going to unclutter and declutter at the same time. That is each day we are going to seek out something in our homes that need putting away ~ that’s the unclutter part ~ then where we put it away we are going to see if we can find something to declutter completely. So every day the instructions will be the same but the state of your home will determine where and what will be unclutter and declutters. So here goes.

Monday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

Tuesday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

Wednesday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

Thursday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

Friday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

Saturday – Put away an item out of place in your home then declutter an item in the place that you just rehoused the other item.

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

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 has been a while, I think, since we had one of those fun set of mini mission based on colour. So why not have a set this week. I’ll nominate a colour each day and you can, hopefully, seek out and declutter an object of that colour. Have fun!

Monday – Declutter something green.

Tuesday - Declutter something black.

Wednesday - Declutter something white.

Thursday – Declutter something brown.

Friday – Declutter something beige.

Saturday – Declutter something red.

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

Sally White of  http://www.mindclutter.uk/ has kindly written this blog post for you. I hope you will find it helpful and your minds will be less cluttered after reading it. Enjoy!

* * * * * *

I first started decluttering my home to create a calmer environment that would help my over anxious and jumbled mind relax. I considered writing about decluttering possessions, but Colleen does such a good job of it that I thought I’d share something different instead – tips on decluttering the mind.

Begin by identifying the types of thoughts that are cluttering up your mind with worry, stress or negativity. It might seem as if you have a million different worries, but if you start to put them into categories you are likely to notice themes emerging.

Are most of the worries about trying to remember the numerous tasks that need doing or perhaps how you will find the time to do them all? Are you dwelling on things from the past that cannot be changed or worrying about what the future holds?

Once you are aware of the underlying themes, it becomes a lot easier to figure out how to tackle them. Here are some common problems and solutions:

Too many tasks – write them all down so that remembering them all is one less task. Next, prioritise them so you know which to focus on completing first. If the list looks too daunting then simply take a few of the highest priority tasks and turn them into a mini to do list each day.

Putting off larger tasks – break each big task down into several more manageable tasks. For example, cleaning the house could be split by room or type of cleaning (tidying, dusting, vacuuming etc).

Too little time – it is surprising how much time technology can take up without you even realising. Try unplugging by only checking your emails at certain times, turning off social media notifications etc.

Worrying about decisions – trust your initial judgment because repeatedly going over the same information won’t help you make better decisions. Only allow yourself to revisit it if new information comes up. And remember, sometimes there is no right or wrong decision.

Regretting the past – if you can’t change it then it’s time to let it go. Focus on the present and what is achievable.

I’d love to hear your own suggestions in the comments.

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow