Declutter a couple of old shabby shoes that you no long choose to use.

Declutter your fridge of out of date items or by using up as much as possible before adding more. With the holiday season here you will likely need every inch of spare space.

Declutter by recycling some items. That mound ofused takeout containers, old newspapers and magazines, paperwork that needs shredding, glass jars you set aside in case you have a use for them but never have…

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 I have dedicated the mini mission to those pesky memorabilia items. This kind of clutter is often the sort that most people have trouble detaching themselves from. We don’t need an abundance of stuff to remind us of those we love, what we have achieved or the good times we’ve had. A few very special items is generally enough. Without further adieu here are some suggestions for things you might find you can happily live without.

Monday – Old birthday cards

Tuesday – A family heirloom you possibly never really liked. Give it to another member of the family.

Wednesday – A souvenir.

Thursday – A childhood or baby item of you or your children.

Friday – A diary or journal.

Saturday – Any memento that is boxed away somewhere where you rarely see 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

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. They aren’t really things you can just get rid on in the ten minute mini mission time frame but you can use ten minutes to give them your consideration.  I first wrote these missions in 2013 so I am actually hoping that you have moved with the times and have already eliminated most of them from you home by now. 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.

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

Every time I go on a long vacation I am reminded of how little one really needs to live a comfortable and functional lifestyle. My husband and I often stay in Airbnb places when on vacation. These small apartments usually come supplied with a minimal, and varying, amount of crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, utensils etc to prepare and eat meals. They also have minimal linen, towels, bedding, furniture and appliances for you comfort and needs. And sometimes there are some extra items such as books, games, stationary and cooking ingredients etc. 

As an example, we stayed in one Airbnb place in Berlin for almost three months, a year or so back, and we not only managed to cook and eat lovely meals, be comfortable and function as normal, we also marvelled at how much we loved the minimalism of it all.

On every vacation we limit ourselves to carry on luggage only, which usually means a total of 7kg per person. Which includes clothing, shoes, toiletries, electronic equipment and any other accessories we think we will need.

As I type this I am sitting in an Airbnb apartment in Downtown Wellington in New Zealand. It is cold outside as winter is on its way but we are snug and warm after just enjoying a home cooked meal of Scotch fillet steak, broccoli, mashed pumpkin and fried onion and mushrooms. That was after doing our washing which is drying on an airer in front of the oil heater in the bedroom. Almost our entire wardrobe of clothing is on that airer except for the clothes we will wear tomorrow, as we only wash about every five days and only carry enough clothes with us for about a week. Which is more than enough.

In my downtime I have a book to read, a sudoku puzzle book to work on, my cell phone with games etc to amuse me with, and what I need to knit a pair of socks. My husband also brought two card games for us to play. So along with good food and creature comforts and clothing we also have plenty of entertainment.

In fact we enjoy the lifestyle so much that we are always a little sad to leave our homes away from home when we move on, or head home. But when we are away and living like this we often find ourselves discussing why we still own so much at home, which isn’t that much bigger. It is a good chance to reassess and there is often a bit of decluttering that goes on soon after our return.

The fact is that we do own more at home than we need and we choose to do so. But we could, if we chose, live with a whole lot less. At the same time we do own a vast quantity less than most people which just goes to show how much excess there is in todays Western Society. What many people don’t realise is that the excess usually does not enhance their lives but limits it in many ways. I am glad to have shed that kind of burden and will continue to limit what I acquire and most likely eliminate more and more from what I still have.

Just like a bird who can not fly free if it carries too much weight I do not wish to be held down by the burden of my stuff or what the cost of acquiring stuff limits how far I can afford to roam. Because getting out in the world broadens my horizons and my mind.

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

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 have been informed that my Mother-in-law has been following my mini missions so this weeks missions have her in mind. I could be way off base because she has decluttered so much already but I am going to make some guesses as to what missions would work well for her. I hope they work well for all my readers too. So here goes.

Monday – Declutter a secondhand item that you purchased but haven’t really found a use for yet.

Tuesday – Declutter 5 craft items.

Wednesday – Choose ten items to donate to a charity of your choice and take them there this week.

Thursday – Donate some old toys that your children or grandchildren have long grown out of.

Friday – Declutter a gift you have never used but kept because a loved one gave it to you.

Saturday – Declutter some excess items from your or your partner’s wardrobe.

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 seems to have been a while since I focused on the philosophy behind the 365 Less Things approach. I tend to take it for granted that we all know what that is, and we just get on with it. However this week that is going to be the theme for my posts. Even though my home contents are greatly reduced I can still benefit from taking that ten minutes a day to assess if there is anything still lingering that I could happily do without. After all, my home size was also greatly reduced, giving me less room to store those less than necessary items I may have kept just because I once had the space. It is aways nice to have a little empty space which leaves room for the next phase of life to arrive. So lets focus and six tasks this week that we can easily achieve in those ten minutes.

Monday – Think for a minute which drawer in your home is the messiest or most difficult to use due to how much stuff is crammed into it. Take ten minutes now to focus on finding and decluttering some things in that drawer that you don’t need. Things that, once removed, will make that drawer far more functional.

Tuesday – Take ten minutes to go through the most cluttered shelf in your kitchen cabinetry and declutter a few things that you rarely if ever use.

Wednesday – While you are preparing yourself for the day take ten minutes to go through your toiletries cabinet in you bathroom. Declutter anything that you don’t use or is past its used by date.

Thursday – Take ten minutes today to sort through your socks or underwear drawer. Ten minutes is all it will take to sort and identify those items that you avoid wearing until you are desperate. Declutter anything that you aren’t comfortable wearing.

Friday – Take a look on and in a desk or work space today. Give yourself ten minutes to find and declutter something that is not used and wasting space in this area.

Saturday – Take a look in an old photo album and take ten minutes to choose and toss some photos that don’t do much to record your life history. Duplicates, fuzzy shots, meaningless plants or animals (not pets), people you don’t recognise or who flitted through your life without giving much meaning to 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

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

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 are brought to you by Nicole V. 

Do you remember playing with those shape-sorter toys as a child? Apart from being fun, they were great for developing hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills. We’ll be shape-searching this week and you’ll need to find something to declutter in the form of (or relating to) different shapes. The item doesn’t necessarily have to take the shape perfectly – it could be squarish, instead of a perfectly proportioned square, or it could be a vase with a triangular base, and patterns and prints of any of the shapes would work as well. So let’s see how your decluttering shapes up for the entire week.

Monday – Declutter something that is a circle.

Tuesday – Declutter something that is a square.

Wednesday – Declutter something that is a cylinder.

Thursday – Declutter something that is an oval.

Friday – Declutter something that is a rectangle.

Saturday – Declutter something that is a triangle

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.

What we have to get into our heads sometimes if that the stuff cluttering up our homes is just that, stuff. These items aren’t life preservers, they aren’t precious, they aren’t our memories… and for the most part they aren’t even all that useful. We get it into our heads that we need this stuff when we don’t. One should watch a few documentaries on how people in less affluent societies to realise just how much stuff we don’t need to surround ourselves with in order to live a happy existence. So this week lets see if we can identify some stuff around our homes that we keep just in case we need it someday but we could most certainly live without, even if the situation did arise where we found a use for it and it was no longer there.

Monday – Declutter a specialised household tool that you could substitute another for, should a rare situation arise where it may actually prove useful.

Tuesday – Use up something “precious” in your craft or hobby supplies that you have been saving for a special project that hasn’t eventuated for years. Every moment is special in life so now is as good a time as any to use it.

Wednesday – Do you have more special occasion outfits in your closet than you ever really need. Either declutter one of them or  move one into your regular clothes rotation so you can feel special in it on a regular basic. In the second instance declutter some old thing you no longer feel good in.

Thursday – Declutter the good china if you rarely use it or better still declutter the everyday set and start using the good stuff all the time. You deserve it after all.

Friday – Declutter a unitasker gadget from your kitchen that you rarely use. There isn’t one of these gadgets on the market that can’t be substituted by a more versatile one (such as a knife) that you use everyday.

Saturday – Declutter an item that you once used a lot but haven’t for a very long time. Perhaps you are past that phase in your life.

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

Know the recycling rules for your area and put every little thing in the recycle bin that you can.

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