During the month of November, I completed the “30-Day Minimalism Game.” After 30 days of decluttering and donating, I’m left feeling SO grateful for what I have, my anxiety has greatly decreased, I have less to clean and have no desire to shop.
The “30-Day Minimalism Game,” was started by the Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. If you haven’t heard of them, be sure to check out their website Minimalists.com. They focus on not necessarily having less, but making room for more. More things that are impactful and meaningful, and fewer things to get in the way of that.
Why I decided to play the 30-Day Minimalism Game
I am a human that loves simplicity, I like things to be organized, I want a place for everything and I dislike clutter. When my life gets stressful, I clean and organize…thus the Minimalism challenge.
I was looking around my house and noticed all of the things I’ve been holding onto “just in case.” Extra clothing, toys, kitchen utensils and dishes, shoes that I didn’t want to toss because they were only worn a couple times (but were super uncomfortable), extra towels that never got used, paper clutter, etc. All of these little things were starting to add up and I was ready to let them go.
I did a couple minimalism challenges previous to this. The first was after my twins were born and I noticed how much extra stuff I had laying around, that served no purpose. I repeated it again after reading Marie Kondo’s “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” as well as watching her Nexflix documentary. I used this Ultimate Decluttering Checklist from Making Lemonade’s website, which was VERY helpful.
Each time I decluttered, I was left feeling SO MUCH better. So, I decided to do this challenge once more, getting rid of all of the belongings I had trouble saying goodbye two the first couple of rounds.
How to play the Minimalism Game:
For each day of the month, you will be getting rid of that amount of items. For example, day 1 you remove 1 item, day 2 you remove 2 items, day 3 you remove 3 items and so on until the end of the month. By the end of the month, you will have removed 496 items from your home (if the month has 31 days). 496 items!!!
There are no rules to this game as far as getting rid of items. Anything goes! For more information and a downloadable PDF, go to “Play the 30-Day Minimalism Game” hosted by the Minimalists. I used this PDF and it was great!
How I played this game:
During the entire month of November, I kept an eye out for items that had no use in my home. I had big boxes set up in a closet. These were labeled “donate,” “sell” and “trash.” Each day, as items came up that I noticed didn’t get used, I added the item into one of the boxes.
For the sell items, I posted those immediately onto Facebook Marketplace. Making money while also decluttering kept the momentum going for me. Even if it was $3. =)
No items were off limits for this challenge. I tossed everything from a dresser to piece of scrap paper. Every single thing you toss is one less item in your home to manage.
I then went room to room looking for items that no longer served a purpose. Every time I thought I wouldn’t find anything else, a new items popped up that I was able to say goodbye to. It definitely got more challenging towards the end of the month.
(To see what I got rid of, check out my Instagram highlight labeled “#MinsGame.)
What I learned from this minimalism challenge
My Clothing style: Honestly, I could’ve tossed all of my clothing and started over. I don’t know what my clothing style is, other than I only want to wear things that are comfortable. I’ve purchased so many random uncomfortable items that were cute or trendy, only to have them sit in the closet because I didn’t like how it fit. Moving forward, I’ll be looking for quality and comfort over anything else.
Children’s items: my kids have more than enough. I was able to get rid of old books that don’t get read, toys that don’t get played with, torn clothing, etc. Having less available for my boys (2 years old) to play with, keeps them entertained longer, they fight less over toys, and we all have a smaller mess to clean when they are done playing.
Also, if kids are always getting new things, they will learn to expect new things all the time, rather than being grateful for what they have. Less toys forces more creativity (as long as you stick to mostly open ended toys).
Your kids don’t need the best of everything out there. It is super easy to fall into this trap because you want to be a “good parent.” I’ve learned that my kids get WAY more joy out of the simple things (like boxes, buckets, dirt and bubbles). =)
Duplicate items: not always necessary. Have I ever really used 3 pie plates at the same time? No. Do I need 4 bath towels to myself when I do laundry twice a week and never get to that third or fourth towel? No. Do we need 3 sets of guest sheets when we only have visitors maybe twice a year? Again, no.
Quality over quantity!
Spending money: Buying new “things” for myself or home doesn’t make me as happy as I get when I spend the money on other people. I used the money I made off of this challenge to buy my sister some organization tools, then helped her organizer her kitchen.
Things like that bring me WAY more joy then spending money on myself. This is my husband and I’s ultimate goal. As Dave Ramsey says, “live like no one else now, so later you can live and give like no one else.”
My results from The Minimalism Game
I removed 465 items from my house and made $130 selling items off of Facebook Marketplace. I call that a win-win!!
What I chose to keep:
Keep in mind that everyone’s needs are going to look differently as well as everyone’s definition of “minimalism.” What works for me might not work for you, so you need to do what’s best for your family.
Before getting rid of items, consider how many times you do laundry in a week, what the weather is like where you live, how many family members you have, etc. That should help you scale down how many of each item to keep.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is about my third time decluttering, so I’ve learned what works for me along the way. Here are some of the items and amounts I’m choosing to keep.
- Shower towels: 2 towels per person. I use small face towels daily, so I chose to keep about 5 of those.
- Sheets: 2 pairs total for each bed (if you have more kids, you could probably get away with less and share sheets).
- Kitchen plates/bowls/small plates/utensils: 6 of each (I have a family of 4)
- Kitchen tools and gadgets: I tossed duplicates and am only keeping what actually gets used.
- Cups: using mason jars instead. These jars also get used for canning food and beverages (broth, etc.) I also chose to keep the glass jars I save from salsa or pasta sauce, that I use for canning and freezing broth. I also kept 3 wine glasses and 3 whiskey glasses.
- Coffee mugs: 6
- Tupperware: kept our glass bowls/meal prep containers and tossed the plastic ones.
- Clothing: kept only what gets worn. Donated the rest. I followed the same rule for my kids clothing. (be realistic here). *I did keep baby clothing and items in storage, in case my hubby and I decide on more kiddos. No point in starting over.*
- Books: Only kept what I know will get read again. I’m a lover of non-fiction books, which I refer back to often, so I chose to keep many of these. I was able to minimize my kids books.
- Coats: 1 coat for each season (1 winter, 1 fall, 1 spring)
- Guest items: 2 sets of sheets, 4 bath towels, 4 face towels, 2 pillows
- Décor: 1 bin for Halloween items, 1 bin for Christmas. Extra décor items got donated/sold, unless it was in use (which isn’t much).
- Extra blankets: 1 lounge blanket each for my hubby and I. (I also kept 2 other blankets that my boys use for building forts, that could also be used if we have guests and they want another blanket).
I obviously kept more than what is on this list, but wanted to show you a snapshot of what I chose to keep.
One last tip
When decluttering, if you aren’t sure of something, put it in a box and store it away for a month. During the month, if you find you don’t miss or need the item, donate it at the end of the month and don’t look back. I did this with clothing and kitchen gadgets. Turns out, I didn’t even remember what was in the box half of the time, which meant it was time for the items to go.
If you take on this challenge, good luck and enjoy it!
If you are looking for more organizational tools, check out “How to Get Organized Each Week” (with free printables) or “8 Tips to Simplifying Meal Planning.”
Leave a Reply