Mini Mission Monday ~ Clutter comes in all shapes, sizes and materials

mini-logoMini 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 could be wrong but I am sure that there are more than a few items that are common to most households. Kitchen clutter, paper clutter of all sorts, clothing, toiletries, shoes, toys when children are in the household… . This week though I will base by mini missions on some of the, perhaps less common, clutter items that I got rid of quite early in my decluttering journey. I’ll also give the reasons why I didn’t feel inclined to keep them.

Monday – Declutter something you don’t care to maintain. I decluttered a silver tea set very early on. I hated to have to clean it, so although it was a gift I let it go.

Tuesday – Declutter some sort of sporting equipment that you no longer enjoy to use. I decluttered my bicycle a long time ago. I did test ride it a couple of times to prove to myself whether I would ever use it or not and no won out.

Wednesday – Declutter keepsakes that you never bother to look at. I got rid of all sorts of these things early on and probably could still let a few of them go. I must get that box down and take another look. The fact that it is a box in the top of the closet goes to prove how much it matters.

Thursday – Declutter something you keep just because most people have one. I decluttered out BBQ soon after I began by declutter journey. It is almost sacrilegious to not own a BBQ in Australia but we just never used ours so out it went. Five years latter and we have never replaced it or missed it for that matter.

Friday – Declutter everyday stuff that you have way too much off. I culled stationery items in the early days, we had way more than we would ever need around the house. And once again, five years later we still haven’t had to buy more. How many paperclips, thumbtacks and staples does one need in an almost paperless society.

Saturday – Start a use-it-up mission on excess gift wrap and cards that have been lingering for a while. In future it is easy enough to  purchase a gift bag on the same outing as buying the gift. So you don’t have to stock these items in the house.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Good riddance

mini-logoMini 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.

Among all the clutter in our homes there are always thing that we would definitely be glad to see the back of, whether we realise it immediately on not. So lets get rid of a few of those things this week. The question you should be asking yourself when you encounter these things is ~ Why haven’t I gotten rid of these things sooner. So lets see what we can find.

Monday – Declutter something that you haven’t used in a long time and probably never will.

Tuesday – Declutter something that you never did care for but kept for one bad reason or another.

Wednesday – Declutter something that instead of making your life easer just wastes valuable space.

Thursday – Declutter an unwanted gift, and don’t tell me you have to keep it, because you don’t.

Friday – Find a single use gadget and really rationalise whether it is useful to you or not. And when you come to the conclusion that it isn’t declutter it.

Saturday – Declutter something that makes you cringe when you see it in your home.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ With Deb J

mini-logoMini 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.

Colleen asked me to write a set of mini-missions based on what I would like to see decluttered from our home.  As you know, my mother tends to hang onto things long after we need them or use them.  Right now she is also holding onto some things just to keep the present house “looking descent.”  Here are my mini-missions along with what I would like to see decluttered from those areas.

Monday: Declutter any item from your living room.  We have a small étagère with 5 pitchers on it.  I bought one and was given two of them.  Mom and I were given another and the last one Mom bought at a garage sale.  I do not want any of mine.  She says she will get rid of them when we move.  I say why wait.  We have another étagère with an artificial flower arrangement, a music box with two cardinals and two pots of artificial African violets.  It could all go.

Tuesday: Declutter any item from your dining room.  We have a set of pictures of fruit with two candle sconces hanging on the wall.  We also have a hutch with two sections filled with “pretties”  such as decorative plates, vases, bells, and other items.  All of the items in both places can go.  None of them really have that much sentimental value and most are never used.  They just sit and gather dust. 

Wednesday: Declutter any item from your office and/or craft room.  These rooms are combined for us.  We have books that need to be given away.  I have a desk that I want to declutter as soon as we are sure when we will be moving.  In the meantime, all of this clutter drives me nuts.  It needs to go.

Thursday: Declutter any item from your bedroom.  Mom’s bedroom has a jumble of pictures and pretties on the walls.  Many of them are just on the wall because she thinks a wall has to have stuff on it.  Some of the “pictures” are cross stitch items I made her and she doesn’t want to part with them.  I say ditch them.  They no longer go with her décor that well.

Friday: Declutter any item from a bathroom.  There are too many things on the walls in one of our bathrooms.  They are things like mermaids and bubbles, a weird clock made from fabric, an embroidery hoop and the clock works and a picture that looks out of place in a bathroom.  On the wall above the toilet is a cabinet with a small shelf and a top both weighted down with stuff  like little figurines, little vases of flowers and jars of creams or oils.  There are also too many things on the counter top such as cosmetics, toothpaste, a denture cup, etc.  Much of it could be gone. The rest could be hidden away in a cabinet or closet.  In the cabinet under the sinks are numerous drawer units filled with all sorts of items like extra soap, numerous bobby pins, curlers, permanent rods, duplicates of things seldom used, et .  Most of it could be decluttered.

Saturday: Declutter any item from a closet.  The main bathroom has two closets in it.  In one closet are all the linens.  There are 6 pillow cases, a set of sheets, two bath sheets, several towels and washcloths and two beach towels.  We don’t use any of them.  We need to declutter them if I can convince Mom to do so.  In the other closet we have a number of items that again aren’t used.  There is a back brace to be used after surgery that never took place and will not in the future.  There are travel size containers and products.  We no longer travel so these can be decluttered.  Finally there are several blankets and pillows we neither one use.  The pillows need to be trashed and the blankets passed on.  We don’t need extra blankets when we live in an area where we seldom use a blanket and when we do only a light weight one.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Don’t use throw away cleaning wipes. They have them for cleaning wood, kitchen spills, television screens, make-up removal etc etc. They are usually made from manmade fibres, soaked in chemicals and sold in plastic containers, all of which are bad for the environment. You can do all these jobs with a little water and a microfibre cloth that can be washed and used over and over again.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Room by Room

mini-logoMini 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’m keeping it simple this week with a little room by room decluttering. I;ll name a room each day and you find something in that room to declutter. Happy hunting.

Monday – Declutter something from your main bedroom.

Tuesday - Declutter something from from your garage.

Wednesday - Declutter something from your living room.

Thursday - Declutter something from your bathroom.

Friday - Declutter something from your attic, basement, back yard shed.

Saturday -Declutter something from your kitchen

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Usage

mini-logoMini 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

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Mini Mission Monday

mini-logoMini 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.

Later this week we will be entertained by another of Nicole’s guest posts. She is going to play a little game with us that I hope you will enjoy. With that in mind, this week’s mini missions will reflect what is coming later in the week. So have fun with it.

Monday – Declutter something beginning with the letter S.

Tuesday – Declutter something from a drawer.

Wednesday – Declutter three of something.

Thursday – Declutter something beginning with the letter T.

Friday – Declutter something from a closet.

Saturday – Declutter something in the kitchen.

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

Comments (45)

Mini Mission Monday ~ I might need it someday

mini-logoMini 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.

How many times have you kept something because you thought you might need it someday. Have you ever stopped to think maybe you never needed it in the first place. If it is an item that you might only need someday then chances are, if it is an item that only makes a job easier but you could manage without it ,then it isn’t worth the space it is taking up. So lets see what we can find this week that you really won’t need someday.

Monday – Declutter a kitchen gadget that you use rarely but could easily manage without.

Tuesday – Declutter a tool from the garage or shed that is use too rarely to allow to clutter up the space.

Wednesday – Declutter an item of clothing that is used rarely if ever.

Thursday – Declutter excess sheet and towels that would only be needed should you house a much larger number of people than maybe even your house would allow comfortably.

Friday – Declutter crockery and cutlery that would only be required under the same circumstances as the Thursday mission.

Saturday – Declutter medication from your cabinet that you bought to have on hand when you needed them but now are out of date.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Growth & Change

mini-logoMini 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 weeks mini mission are all about growth and change. We may stop growing physically when we reach adulthood but we never stop growing mentally. So therefore we are ever changing. And in order to not end up with a house full of clutter we need to let go of the things that are no longer useful or meaningful to us as we grow and change. So this weeks lets get rid of some stuff that we have “grown” out of.

Monday – Declutter something from an old pastime, sport or hobby.

Tuesday – Declutter a piece of clothing that no longer fits with how you now see yourself.

Wednesday – Declutter something from an past relationship that isn’t meaningful to you any more.

Thursday – Declutter a book that you doubt you will ever return to read again now that you are more mature or your beliefs have changed.

Friday – Declutter a gift that pleased you in the past but now isn’t something of worth to you.

Saturday – Declutter something that was useful when you lived elsewhere but isn’t in your current location.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

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

Comments (29)

Mini Mission Monday ~ 17Aug2015

mini-logoMini 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.

After being away interstate celebrating a family occasion and catching up when getting home, I haven’t had much thought for decluttering. Except the usual crafting in the seemingly never ending bid to reduce my craft supplies. It is a labour of love.

I must apologise also for not being present in the conversation going on in the comments section of the blog posts. Same reason as above. Hopefully life will settle back into a rhythm for a little while again.

So what shall we focus on decluttering in the mini missions this week. Lets go with what things are made of.

Monday – Declutter something made from paper.

Tuesday – Declutter something made from wood.

Wednesday – Declutter something made from fabric.

Thursday – Declutter something plastic.

Friday - Declutter something made from an animal product eg. leather, bone, wool…

Saturday – Declutter something metal. That could also be precious metal.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Most people have digital cameras these days but some still think “old school” when it comes to printing and insist on hardcopies of everything. Why not save paper and ink and only get the photos printed that you intend to display. Even sending copies to family and friends can be done digitally. No need for waste there either.

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

Comments (61)

Mini Mission Monday ~ Out of place (Revisited)

mini-logoMini 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.

As the title of today’s post implies the missions this week focus on stuff that is out of place in our homes. It is an old MMM post that I have dragged up out of the archives for your decluttering pleasure. Have fun with it and happy decluttering.

Monday – Declutter something in a pile somewhere that it ought not be.

Tuesday – Declutter somethings that have overflowed the area designated to the likes of it.

Wednesday – Declutter something that you’ve been keeping but really belongs in the trash.

Thursday – Declutter something that is wasting space, making it difficult to store more useful items.

Friday – Declutter something that hasn’t been used in a long time. After all, if you don’t have a use for it then your home is not the right place for it.

Saturday – Declutter receipts and other fiddly bits from your handbag. Clutter in your bag makes it hard to find the things you do need from in there.

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

Eco Tip for the Day

Share and borrow between friends and family rather than everyone owning/buying everything.

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

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