365 Less Things

Reducing our stuff one day at a time.

Mini Mission Monday ~ Shapes – By Nicole V

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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 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

Comments

    • Thanks, Deb J. I was thinking of toddlers and preschool and all those fun activities involved in learning about shapes – “Let’s see how many circles we can spot during our walk today!” – and decided to carry that childlike fun into writing the daily decluttering missions.

      • Great idea Nicole. We are working on jewelry today. My mom has a ton of it and she seldom wears most of it. She finally gets the idea that we can just give it away to the women’s shelter.

        • That’s another step forward for your mom, Deb. She has surprised everyone several times before … I bet she will continue to do so. 🙂

          • Yes, Nicole, Mom does surprise us occasionally. I think it finally got through to her that we want to get this stuff done before we have to move so we don’t have to do it on the fly.

  2. Ok have some ideas (in no order what so ever):

    Cyclinder: decided to empty a paint can by using the paint
    Square: donating a small hand made table that was in storage
    Oval/Triangle: two wooden reindeer. I went to retrieve them for outside holiday decoration only to find that they had fallen off their shelf and had shattered into multiple pieces. No possibility of repair. The legs were triangle shaped and the heads were oval.
    Rectangle: a pair of fleece pants that have been outgrown
    Circle: piece of jewelry (round pendant)

  4. Circle, cylinder and oval: the basic shapes of a soap, body scrub, and shampoo that I will be able to use up this week. (Am finally getting noticeable results with my use-it-up challenge that feels like it has been going forever!)

    Now to find some angular shapes. I am thinking rectangle should be straightforward enough as either a notepad/book/DVD. But will have a hunt around regardless for all three remaining shapes.

    • Thanks, Amelia. Great job regarding the use-it-up challenge and incorporating three of the shapes. I’m looking forward to reading about the remaining shapes. 🙂

    • Square: a brown handbag, that while very pretty, due to the design I haven’t been able to use it since my shoulder injury last year.

  5. Great missions!
    Circle-2 light bulbs, fry pan
    Square- spatula
    Cylinder- large bag of cans for granddaughter to return for money
    Oval- shower scrubber
    Rectangle- gift box for grandson birthday gift this upcoming weekend
    Triangle- 12 new LED light bulbs, flame shaped. Have wrong base for my chandelier

    Had to really think to come up with the triangle items. Lol

  6. I have had returned to me a number of decor items that I borrowed a friend while her house was on the market. I didnt miss them so I probably could get rid of them. I’ll see what I can out- pile.

      • Nicole V – I am going to take some liberties with the triangle shape and turn it into a diamond shape, I have some decorative glass diamonds that can go.
        I have a box of jetsam and flotsam going to goodwill so I safely have all the shapes covered.

  7. I am good for Circle Monday – a couple of costume bangles that came in a set, where I wanted the red one and the sparkly one, but not really the fake looking silver ones. Bye bye fake silver ones!
    For Cylinder Wednesday I have a beady eye on a couple of jars in the fridge that have not been used up in our use it up challenge. Either because of their flavour, date or general funkiness.
    I intend to toss the contents and recycle the jars.
    Rectangles will be easy on Friday, there is still a paperwork mountain to reduce further.
    I will have to think hard, or get creative for the others, since I got rid of something oval, and several square things (old Nintendo machine and the games) yesterday before I saw the missions!

    • Good job, Stephanie. Here are a few possibilities for the rest –
      Oval: tray, alarm clock, pebble, mirror, photo frame, earrings, pendant, beads, shells, plate, pills.
      Square: cushion, container, plate, clock, cuff links, magnet, Post-it notes, stamps, plasters.
      I’ve mentioned some triangle-shaped possibilities in my reply to Amelia above.

      • I found an oval thing in the garage and binned it. It was a football, which would not hold air. Ever. We do have more than one football to kick around with the grandies, so this one goes. There was no sentimental value attached to this for my husband, we found it in the back yard one day years ago and it never even comes out of the balls bin, but I still double wrapped it.
        Triangle was found too. I had a tall three sided jar stashed, now in the thrift box.
        I am decluttering some tiny quilt fabric triangles too, not by tossing/donating, but by stitching them into little star points in blocks to go into a quilt, which will be donated when done.

  8. Deb, your suggestions this week has led me to see what is in my SQUARE box. I know that is where I keep my odd scraps of fabric (small pieces).

    So I am going through the small pieces, cutting them into squares. Then I will put them in a small Square plastic bag, put a Square label on it e.g. Square Scraps for Crafts or Patchwork, and add it to the Charity Shop pile.

    I am enjoying this and at the same time get rid of things I will probably never use again. I had big ideas for these scraps, but realistically will not get round to doing anything with them, so maybe just maybe, someone else will find some use for them.

    • The song “It’s hip to be square” is playing in my head right now, Katharine. Good job. 🙂

  9. I just got back from another Goodwill drop-off and I think I’ve covered all the shapes for this week:
    Circle – a wind-up music box
    Square – 2 wooden boxes
    Cylinder – various furniture legs, all the wrong size that were sent to us by mistake
    Oval – baskets and a money box
    Rectangle – books and two large art portfolios
    Triangle – a tool caddy with triangular ends
    Bonus – a box with a domed lid!!

    Such a relief to get it all out of here. I also took four tennis racquets and a pile of clothes and have finally dealt with everything from the summer declutter. Now to go around the house again! Almost forgot to say, we also put out 4 garden chairs yesterday. Two were badly rusted and only good for the trash, but the other two had disappeared by this morning so I’m hopeful that someone saw them and decided they could use them. I’m always so pleased when that happens!

    • Great job, Christine … and you get extra credit for the box with the domed lid. I’m glad your decluttering is going well.

  10. Sorry I’m going off topic here, but I just read something for tips on helping baby boomers declutter. The writer was talking about how it is ok to need to go thru your stuff several times because each time your tolerance for how much stuff you have will decline each time.

    That is so true! At the beginning of my decluttering I had a vision for what my home would look like. I passed that a year or two ago, as I realised it was simply a tidy version of what I had started with. Each cull I envision less and less stuff. Nothing which could be a loose end or surplus weight for my next stage of life.

    • Yes Moni, you are so right! What might have been an acceptable rat’s nest to me (because it was in garage or shed or attic) is now on my list of stuff to go through. Over time, I have become more particular about what is acceptable 🙂

  11. circle – (2) placemats w/ baby motif
    square – pair of pants folded into shape haha
    cylinder – (5) brand new lip liners
    oval – fabric elasticized slippers
    rectangle – pair of pillowcases and (2) license plate holders never used, plus (2) blankets & 1 pillowcase to animal shelter
    triangle – fell down on this one, so did multiple for “rectangle” haha

    • Great job, Peggy. LOL – as I was reading about the “pair of pants folded into shape”, I was wondering whether you’d be decluttering a scarf and folding it into the appropriate shape for Saturday 🙂