Mini Mission Monday ~ Room by Room

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 weeks mini missions will take you to a different area of your house each day. I will name a room/area and all you have to do is find one thing from there to declutter. If you don’t have one of these areas either declutter a second thing from one of the other areas or choose from an area you have that I may not have mentioned.

Monday -Declutter something from a bedroom.

Tuesday – Declutter something from a bathroom.

Wednesday – Declutter something from your kitchen.

Thursday – Declutter something form your storage room. Be that attic, garage, back shed, basement…

Friday – Declutter something from your living room.

Saturday – Declutter something from outside. Whether from your garden, porch, balcony…

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Time for yet another category declutter

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Time for another round-up

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.

Our declutter missions don’t always have to be about decluttering. Sometimes clutter forms due to poor organising causing you to purchase a duplicate item simply because you can’t find it when it is needed. So this week we are going to do a little organising. To be more specific it is about rounding up like items in your home so they are all corralled in the same place making them easier to find when you need them. Sometimes two places is appropriate but multiple places is a recipe for clutter if ever there was one. So I will name an item category and you can check that these items are all accounted for and only stored in one or at the most two places in your home. Of course you might as well declutter the excess while you are at it. And naturally this exercise is only useful if you and your family commit to putting these items back in there rightful place every time they are used.

Monday – Round up and declutter small tools ~ Most of our tools are kept in the garage with the exception of one small tool kit with holds a few often used items that saves me having to go out to the garage to retrieve them when needed.

Tuesday – Round up and declutter shoes ~ Do you have shoes in the car, shoes in your bedroom, shoes at both the front and back doors? Why not find a simple solution to keep the bulk of them in one area.

Wednesday – Round up and declutter stationery ~ Keep a pen in each room of the house if that makes your life easy but the bulk of your stationary items will be more easily found if they are all stored together. If you don’t have a desk or set of drawers for this task why not use that spare shelf you have cleared in the linen closet during your last towel and sheet declutter.

Thursday – Round up and declutter small kitchen appliances ~ Choose one cupboard or shelf in in the kitchen for all of these appliances. I have done this in my kitchen with the exception of the toaster and kettle which are located on the bench top because they are used very regularly.

Friday – Round up and declutter hair accessories ~ These tend to end up scattered all over the place making them impossible to find when you need them. They end up in school bags, handbags, bathroom drawers, bedside cabinets, in the little nooks and crannies in the car, sports/gym bags, coat pockets and even under the sofa cushions. I own four hair clips but at the moment I only know where two of them are and they aren’t my favourite two.

Saturday – Round up and declutter household cleaners ~ I keep kitchen cleaners and the all-purpose spray that gets used most days in the kitchen but all other cleaners are kept in the laundry cupboard. It may seem convenient to have toilet cleaners next to every toilet and a bottle of all purpose cleaner in every bathroom cabinet but what this really is is clutter. Don’t just round these up reduce them to one of each. After all the extra exercise to collect them from a central position when you need them will do you a world of good. I do keep a microfibre cloth in the upstairs bathroom because in reality microfibre will wipe up any mess and eliminate 99% of germs so there really is no need for chemical cleaners anyway.

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.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Keeping It Simple

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 there is no gimmick to the mini missions just plain old simple decluttering. Just find one item to match the  description provided in the daily missions below. It you don’t have such a thing just declutter something else that suits you.

Monday – A home decor item.

Tuesday – A pair of shoes.

Wednesday – A book or two.

Thursday – A worn out or outgrown clothing item.

Friday – A wad of papers ~ out of date bills, tax papers, manuals or warranties…

Saturday – Something from 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

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Nooks & Crannies

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, we are going to visit little nooks and crannies around the house which may have, up until now, remained untouched by human hands, or the vacuum cleaner for that matter, during our previous decluttering efforts. I will list seven places I have thought of below, but if you have already taken care of these areas or you don’t have them in your home make some up for yourself. Don’t just declutter these areas give them a clean up as well.

Monday – The bottom of your linen closet.

Tuesday – A corner of your garage, attic or basement.

Wednesday – The cupboard under the stairs.

Thursday – Under your bed or any other bed in the house.

Friday – The cupboard/space under your laundry or kitchen sink.

Saturday – The top or bottom shelf of the pantry.

Sunday – A blanket box, shoe box, toy box or tool box.

Good luck and happy decluttering

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Mental Decluttering (Tying off loose ends)

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.

Clutter isn’t limited to the physical stuff we have crammed into all the nooks and crannies in our homes. Sometimes our minds are  just as crammed full of useless stuff we wish would go away. This week’s missions are about decluttering some of that mental clutter. Knowing you have unfinished or unattended to tasks can be very draining. The only way to make the feeling go away is to get on with it.

In karen Kingston’s Book ~ Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, she writes:- “Every promise unfulfilled or commitment has a call on your energy and pesters you to do it.” So lets get some of those tasks out of the way so we can relax a while.

Monday – Return something you have borrowed.

Tuesday – Make that phone call you have been avoiding for whatever reason.

Wednesday – Get on with those mending tasks that have been awaiting your attention.

Thursday – Repay a debt or favour.

Friday – Declutter an item that exudes more negative energy than positive. You know the one, you have been procrastinating over it for some time now but can’t decide whether you like it more than you want it gone. If it is a close decision then you might as well let it go because it isn’t adding enough to your life to allow it to clutter up space.

Saturday – Return some out of place items in your home to their rightful place or reshuffle an area that just isn’t functioning efficiently theway it is.

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 ~ Sentimental Clutter

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 is a funny word SENTIMENTAL ~ of or prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. However when it comes to clutter we tend to think of it as anything with some sort of personal history attached to it. To me the only items of “sentimental value” that are worth keeping are the things we really love or find useful. Not things that prompt feelings of sadness or obligation. On that note, this week’s missions are all about identifying and decluttering some items that hold negative sentiments that you could happily do without.

Monday – Declutter something that you keep only because someone gave it to you. Not because you love it or use it.

Tuesday – Declutter something that you keep only because it once belonged to a loved one that has now passed. Once again not because you have any use for or affection for the item itself.

Wednesday – Declutter something that brings you more sadness than joy or exudes more negative energy than positive for you.

Thursday – Declutter something that you don’t care enough about to put on display. How sentimental can you be about stuff that you have hidden away in a box in the attic, basement or wardrobe.

Friday – Declutter something that you made and really only keep because of the creativity, effort  and money that you invested in it.

Saturday – Declutter a family heirloom that you  no longer or perhaps never cared for. Pass it on to another family member who is glad to treasure 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 luck and happy decluttering

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Excess

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.

My husband and I attended an open house on the weekend. It was a quite lovely two bedroom apartment and considering the small size there was a good amount the storage space. But my oh my, the occupants sure did manage to fill all that storage space and more. As a result I am basing this weeks mini mission on areas in this home that stood out as over stocked.

Monday – Declutter two excess items from your choice of casual clothing.

Tuesday – Declutter two excess cooking or serving items in your kitchen.

Wednesday – Declutter two toiletry or beauty items.

Thursday – Declutter two excess items from your choice of professional clothing.

Friday – Declutter an item of furniture the is cluttering up your space.

Saturday – Declutter and neatly organise digital media items that are scattered around your living space.

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

When shopping for groceries try to choose items that come in the least environmentally offensive packaging or preferably no packaging at all. I have mentioned this before regarding soap, I only buy soap loose or in a cardboard box. Individually packaged snack food such a chips and candy bars are also big offenders when it comes to this kind of excessive packaging.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Transform It

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.

Some clutter isn’t just solid tangible objects that you are either using or you aren’t. Some it it comes in the form of things that can be used up, ingested, absorbed, altered, or repaired to become of more use. Sometimes these things hang around far too long out of  lack of interest, dissatisfaction or lack of enthusiasm or time constraints. This week our mini missions are set to help you identify such items in your home and take action to transform them.

MondayRepair ~ Repair an item so you can begin using it again or so that it is in a condition to donate.

TuesdayComplete a project ~ Finish a project you started some time ago but haven’t added the finishing touches to. You can then either use it, gift it or donate it. Just this weekend I restrung some beads my mother had sent home with me about two years ago. She is coming to visit me this week for a couple of days and I can finally give the revamped necklace back to her. That frees up a little space and removes the guilt of it sitting there unfinished. 

WednesdayIngest ~ Find an ingredient that has lingered in your pantry, fridge or freezer and use it up. Perhaps in a way you hadn’t considered before. Use a recipe site like taste.com type in the ingredient you have and see what recipes come up.

ThursdayAbsorb ~ Read a book that has been sitting on your shelf for a while and then declutter it.

Friday Alter ~ Alter an item that isn’t quite right so that you will be more inclined to use it. (Change the fit of a clothing item, cut up large note books to make small jotters, change a piece of furniture, maybe just give something a fresh coat of paint.) I used graffiti paint to freshen up some old coasters recently. I cut a body pillow down to two standard bed pillows. And I pulled the last few pages out of two old note books and cut them down to make note paper for my grocery list etc. 

SaturdayUse Up ~  Turn a product you don’t like so much into something else in order to use it up. (Bubble bath or shampoo into liquid hand soap. Make tinted moisturiser out of that foundation you don’t like so much. I used some old craft felt that I thought I had no use for to line my buffet drawers. 

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

When all else is equal between one product or another choose the one with the most eco friendly packaging.

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

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Mini Mission Monday ~ Not So Wanted

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 are all about getting rid of things that were acquired out of choice not necessity. Items that, if you are trying to reduce your belongings to just the things you really like or need, should be quite easy to part with. Unless of course you love all the items in these categories that is. If that is the case then these items aren’t clutter, right? 😉

Monday – Declutter a décor item.

Tuesday – Declutter a souvenir.

Wednesday – Declutter a fashion accessory.

Thursday – Declutter a piece of jewellery.

Friday – Declutter a book.

Saturday – Declutter a rarely used kitchen gadget.

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

Be very selective about what you buy so that you are so satisfied with the product that you will use it until it wears out and not trade it in for something else soon after.

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

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