The Minimalist Game – Week Two
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You can feel it in your throat, the sensation of panic is starting to build. What on earth am I going to get rid of next?? Okay, maybe panic hasn’t totally set in yet, but it’s the Minimalist Game week two and the pressure is ON!
We’re in the double digits and I’m going to be honest–it’s been tough this week to find enough items to part with. Mainly because we already downsized all our stuff two months ago, so what’s left in the house are mostly things we like and use.
However, I’m still determined to be 406 items lighter by the end of the month and I’m pushing through this challenge!
This month, February 2018, I am de-cluttering the amount of items for the date of the month (ex. 1 on Feb 1, 2 on Feb 2, etc.), meaning a total of 406 items will be gone from my house by the end of the month!
What I Decluttered in Week Two:
- Day 8 – hand blender, expired spice, bottle, baby food jar, measuring cup, 9-pad keyboard, soap holder, lipstick (8)
- Day 9 – toys: stuffed animals, coloring book, hat, puzzle, books, phone and flashcards (9)
- Day 10 – picture frame, stacker toy, preschool certificates, bulletin board letters (10)
- Day 11 – toddler jacket, basket, lovey, stuffed bear, outgrown shoes, slippers, toy car, rolling toy, hardened clay, bath toy, medicine cup (11)
- Day 12 – puzzles, books, stuffed animal, doll, beanie baby cards, ribbons (12)
- Day 13 – mugs, shot glass, empty essential oil bottle, baking pan, potholders, soap lid, glass storage jars, bottle brushes (13)
- Day 14 – ice pack bags, coat hanger, contact paper, expired supplements, scrunchie, cotton rounds, montessori curriculum binders (14)
Total Items Removed
• This Week: 77
• This Month: 105
Tips for Keeping Momentum!
1. Focus Areas
When you aren’t sure where to start, it can be helpful to pick one area of the house to focus on each day and pull out anything that is broken, damaged, outgrown, unusable or simply NOT used or loved.
Children’s toys, books, and clothes, and places like kitchen junk drawers and bathrooms are excellent places to start as they often are subject to piles of unused and discarded items.
Peek through your drawers, particularly kitchen drawers and cupboards, bottom or top dresser drawers, closets and desk drawers. These places always seem to hold our dropped and unwanted items!
Trying to do the whole house in a day will lead to overwhelm, so take it in small chunks to avoid overthinking.
2. Keep Your Eyes Open Throughout Your Day
Since this is a month-long challenge, teach yourself to be observant as you go about your daily routine. If you see an item that is broken, or you no longer want o use it, grab it and throw it into a box or bin by your front door.
At the end of the day, take out the trash, put donation items in your car, or store a box in the garage for a yard sale–but get it out of your house!
3. Letting Go of Sentimental (but unneeded) Items
If you’re like me, there are probably a lot of special things in your house. Gifts from family and friends. Childhood treasures. Maybe even cards or arts and crafts from your school days.
These items may be special, but they are also very un-useful. They take up space and often have no purpose beyond the memory. For items like this that I love but don’t need, I snap a picture and file it in a Google Drive album or on an external hard drive.
This way I can always look back at the picture to think about the memory, but I can give away or discard the physical item that was taking up space.
It works wonderfully and I don’t feel the loss of not having the item (again, useless items, not things you want to pass down to your kids or anything).
In Week Three we’re digging in our heels and tackling the tough stuff–
clothes, closets and bookshelves!
Read More in the Minimalist Game Series:
Week One
Week Three
Week Four
