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 your mini missions have been brought to you by Tanja. I love that she has put a strong emphasis on donating the items that you find. She had also focused on items that many people have a lot of. However even if you don’t have such an abundance you may still find you might have one or two too many that you would be happy to live without.
So thank you Tanja for your contribution to 365 Less Things this week. And should any of my other wonderful readers like to send my a post to publish I would be more than happy to receive it. And without further adieu here are this weeks missions.
“Clearing†a room is not simply shoving things in drawers and cupboards, on the principle that “out of sight is out of mindâ€.
Streamlining the house goes further than decluttering; it is not simply a matter of making a clean sweep of everything into colour-coded bags for when the garbage collecting trucks come around. Many extraneous items are still serviceable – and some are still brand new, with tags on. These may be donated.
Monday: The kitchen / dining room.  Let’s face it – we never have more than four pans on the stove, and maybe one in the fridge. So why did we ever feel the need to purchase that set of thirty? Select half a dozen pots in the sizes you use most; ditto with the fry-pans. While you’re at it, why not decimate your motley collection of glasses, mugs, and cups? Would you ever use all that flatware, even if you were the hostess of a street party?
Tuesday: The laundry room. Why is it that you have ten detergent bottles with not enough liquid in them for one wash? Will you ever really run a mini-load? Put a funnel in the neck of one of them, and upturn the others into it, in turn. Rinse them out, one by one, and add to the water you use for hand-washing lingerie, or for yards and porches.
Wednesday: The sitting room / lounge. Look at that pile of magazines. Are you really ever going to refer to a particular issue for an article, or a recipe? When will you find time to clip and file what you want from them? Will you ever take them to your friend, who has a shredder, to fix them for the hamsters’ cages? Kindergarten teachers and crafters are always on the lookout for pictures and scrap paper. So are the helpers at animal shelters.
Thursday: The bathroom(s). You are never going to use all those soaps and scents and assorted toiletries received as gifts, or bought just because they were on offer. Why not cover a shoebox with wrapping paper – or sheets from magazines, or maps – and make a Happy Box for someone who is feeling down, or is facing a stay in hospital? Groups that do voluntary work will accept this kind of gift, to pass on, or sell for fund-raising.
Friday: The bedroom(s). Half the ironing you do probably happens because your clothes are all squashed up in the wardrobes. If you are lucky enough to have a walk-in closet, it is not a guarantee that this will not happen, either. Then there are those clothes that need mending, and shoes that need a cobbler’s attention. Unless you can get them seen to within the week – discard them or give them away. Give away clothes that don’t fit well; stop hoping you will get thinner, or fatter, so they will fit, because even then, you will still have two sets of extraneous clothing.
Saturday: The garage / basement. New brooms sweep clean – but old ones don’t. So throw out all the tools and implements that no longer serve their purpose, including tatty paintbrushes and all those paint tins with one inch of dried gunk at the bottom, and the empty margarine tubs, and the boxes of school notes, punctured tyres, broken chairs and light fittings…
Sunday: Pick up the phone and see whether the people or groups for whom you have bags and boxes, will collect. Otherwise, arrange for deliveries to be done; make this an excuse for someone who lives in the area of the recipient to hop over and have a mug of coffee before taking the pack with her, unless you can take them yourself…
 All it takes is a little effort on our part. Let’s share what we have, with those who would appreciate it even more than we do…by giving away things we would actually use. It’s nice to do this, rather than donating stuff that would otherwise have gone into the skip, fooling ourselves into believing that we are “sharingâ€, and thus salving our conscience.
Good luck and happy decluttering
Gratitude: Today I am grateful that I have the ability to get around freely. I encountered a lady in a wheelchair today with a severe disability and my first reaction was admiration for her that she has the spirit to defy adversity and get out and about, it seemed without a helper by her side. To her I guess it was just what she was used to, but it sure make me look back at times when I complain about small inconveniences in my life and think how perry they really are and how lucky I am.