30 Day Minimalist Decluttering Challenge
Update: Days 7-14
The time has come once again for me to give you our update: days 7-14. Unfortunately, my update is a little late this time. While I was planning on having our update posted on Friday (as is our goal for this challenge), we were sadly dealing with the death of our family dog. As any of you fellow dog-owners may know, the death of a dog is never fun.
The dog was mine since I was about 11 years old. I got her as a little puppy and she has grown old in our home. She passed away in her sleep last week and we are glad that she is not in pain, but miss her deeply. It halted our challenge for a few days, but we are back and caught up now to give you our newest update: days 7-14!
For those who are new to this challenge, read this first!
For everyone else, feel free to skip ahead!
If your family is anything like mine, you’ve felt the frustrations of a cluttered home. My wife and I moved into our small house about two years ago from college dorms and apartments. We settled in, we decorated, we stored, we received gifts, we stored, we went shopping, we stored, etc. etc. etc. Now, after two years of living in our cluttered and chaotic home, we are realizing the importance of simplicity in life. We are striving toward debt-free living, but a healthy life is more than finances alone. That’s why we have decided to complete our first ever 30 Day Minimalist Decluttering Challenge – and we want you to join us!
The 30 Day Minimalist Decluttering Challenge was created by Erin on A Welder’s Wife and she has graciously allowed me to share the challenge with you all. I would love to have you all join for as much or as little of the challenge as you are willing! Don’t worry, you can start whenever you feel ready!
Join the 30DMDC by writing your email here! Don’t worry, we promise we won’t spam you.
30DMDC Update: Days 7-14
Day 7: Accessories
Day seven was a little bit of a struggle for us. While we were able to get rid of MANY scarves, the jewelry aspect was a little harder. We realized how easy it is to become emotionally attached to an item and how frustrating it is when that item is one you never wear anymore. We realize that unless we are specifically going through our jewelry box, we never even see these pieces of jewelry, but we really struggled to get rid of some of those.
However, despite our struggles, we did manage to get rid of a fair amount of jewelry. I have a number, but it’s not on my computer. It’s a lot though!
To hear more stories about these pieces (and see pictures / stories about other things we are getting rid of), visit our instagram page at: instagram.com/diyjahn
Day 8: Shoes
This day was easier because we aren’t as emotionally attached to our shoes (except our wedding shoes, but we wear those regularly)! We kept two pairs of fancy boots each (one brown, one black), rain boots, snow boots, tennis shoes, chacos, and two pairs of nicer shoes (wedding shoes are toms and my slip ons, plus my wife has a pair of black flats she wears regularly). My wife also has a few other pairs of work shoes that she wears.
Wow.
That sounds like a lot of shoes that we kept, but it really was the bare minimum. Working and living at a summer camp, we can’t exactly get rid of the need for rain boots, snow boots, chacos, and tennis shoes. I suppose we could get away with less nice shoes, but we really only have options for black and brown so that we each have shoes for any outfit.
Plus we got rid of some. So yay!
Day 9: Pamper Yourself
Honestly, this is one of the best days yet. We never get to pamper ourselves. Okay, let me rephrase that. We never allow ourselves time to pamper ourselves. We are always going, going, going and never remember to simply relax and be.
So, we took time to sleep in (YAY), to wash each others hair and give head massages (double YAY), and to go out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. It was blissful.
Day 10: 10 Items
Day 10 – we got rid of so many more than 10 items. It’s really unrealistic to tell us 10 because we have SO much stuff. So, on this day, can you guess what our number was?
Seriously, what do you think it was?
Because it was insane for one day.
Honestly.
We got rid of…
Drum roll please…
235 things! Plus, we officially finished the bedroom! It’s done. There’s nothing more that we can get rid of in there at the present moment.
So, I feel like that’s winning.
Day 11: Social Media
This one was difficult for me and I feel like I’m still not where I want to be. I have to go through my friends again and get rid of them. Another one I need to go through is groups on Facebook, I really struggle with having a million of them that I never go to or participate in. I want to slim it down to only a few that I actually use often. That’s my goal!
Day 12: Use it Up!
We used up a few cleaning products and a bag of chocolate chips! Yay!
Day 13: Pantry
This was fun… Our “pantry” for the past few months has been one cupboard space, two boxes above our kitchen cupboards, and one tote box in the dining room. Honestly, why are we eating and living out of boxes?!
We went through our cupboards and made room to have ALL of our food in the cupboards. No more boxes! I’m so happy!!
Day 14: Pots & Pans
Pots and pans are one of the things that we have had way too much of, and we know it, but we don’t really go through them often. It was nice to have a day dedicated to getting rid of them.
When my wife and I got together, we combined our giant sets of pots and pans into an even bigger set of pots and pans. It was really unnecessary, but we each liked our individual sets. As our preferences grew and changed, we realized we were only utilizing about 3-5 of the pots and 2 of the pans. We got rid of a ton of them and are super excited with the storage of the last few!
Update: Days 7-14 – Week in Review
Favorite / Least Favorite
My favorite day of the second week of the challenge was definitely the pamper yourself (day 9). It was glorious to take some time to simply be, to relax, to not worry about work or cleaning, and to be together. We definitely don’t get time like that often, but with summer approaching quickly, I’m glad we got time for that this week.
My least favorite day was definitely the social media (day 11). I feel like I didn’t make any progress and it’s still something that I would like to work on. Ah well, to another day!
Number of Items Removed
Well, this week we took a boatload of items totaling over 1,000 to Goodwill and are currently adding even more to the list. This week we added over 500 more items and have another car-full for Goodwill. We’ll be counting and giving exact numbers soon – they’re being kept track of though, don’t worry!
One Thing I Learned
Well, last week I realized the importance of not keeping things for “just in case.” This week, I’ve been focusing on how easy my life seems to be getting the less stuff I have. Let me explain what I mean and how I got here:
On Friday, my parents were coming for a visit. Because we are in the middle of this crazy challenge, our house was a mess – the living room was filled to the brim with boxes that needed sorting, piles of items to give to Goodwill, more items that needed to be put back into their places, bags of trash, and furniture that we were unsure about. Basically, it was a disaster.
However, the rest of the house (the rooms that were already completed) took less than a half hour to clean. We wiped off counters, surfaces, tables, etc. that were already clear because we don’t have enough stuff to put on them. We pushed chairs in. We swept. We vacuumed. We did the dishes. We took out the trash. And we wiped up the bathroom.
It’s crazy how easy life can become when you have less items. I can’t wait for my whole house to feel as simple as the rest of my house already does! Or for that matter, I can’t wait for my life to feel the way that half of my house does!
Update: Days 7-14
So, that’s it for the Update: Days 7-14. Coming up next week we have a ton of great things to do to get our house clean and rid ourselves of the clutter! Right now, we are looking forward to the days of cleaning products, linens, and, of course, going for a walk. See you soon!
I hope that you’ll join us for the challenge or take it on your own, but regardless of how you do it be sure to share your results with us here, sign up for the e-newsletter at the top of this email, and join our awesome Facebook groups: Frugal Living Community and/or LGBT Frugal Living Community.
What does your Update: Days 7-14 look like? What was your favorite / least favorite day of this week? How many items have you gotten rid of so far?
Let us know in the comments below!
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