As a reminder, the 30 Be Intentional baby steps are designed to get you on the right foot, the right track and give you energy, efficiency and organization which will propel you into a life that is able to develop an overall financially smart, happy and frugal home. We encourage couples and families to do these challenges together so the whole house can function well!
As the 30 steps go along, we will be focusing on 5 areas for the Be Intentional Month:
Self
Home
Budget
Schedule
Frugality
See the full list of baby steps HERE.
This next baby step is a decluttering challenge!
This challenge is to get rid of 5 items everyday for the next 30 days!
This will end up being a total of 150 items!
After that, we are going to recommend that you get rid of 5 items a week as maintenance!
There will be some great results from this baby step!
1. Your home will become decluttered!
2. You will find things that you may have been looking for!
3. You may be able to make a bit of money or get a tax write-off for donations. Either way, this is helping your home and financial goals.
So why 5 items?
Well the answer is quite simple really….we are doing baby steps. Five items a day is easy, quick and doesn’t require a huge change. Finding five things somewhere in your home each day can literally take less than 10 minutes. If you want to do more, don’t stop – just try to at least find 5 things!
When getting rid of your items, you can do these declutter recommendations:
Set up a spot in a basement, garage or empty room with a few different boxes. Then mark each box with this label:
#1 = Donate
#2 = Garage Sale
#3 = Upsale
Each of these can bless others and make you a bit of money in the process. Obviously, the donate box isn’t going to generate a lot of money as the money would come in the form of a tax-write off, just get a receipt.
Your garage sale box(es) will get you closer to making money in the form of a garage sale (and that season is coming up soon for most of us!) and we will be sharing garage sale tips again this year soon to maximize your garage sale opportunity.
Finally, your “upsale” box are items that are best sold via other routes than a garage sale. Really, garage sales use to be the only and main form of selling second hand items. Today, you have the online world. If you have something of higher value, rare, unique, or a large item – a garage sale is probably not going to be the best route.
Sell books, dvds and other items to Amazon for potentially a lot more. Sell furniture online locally for a greater return, and the same for unique, rare and valuable items.
This way you are getting your clutter cleared out and making money at the same time to also help you and your family reach your financial goals sooner.
There is a caveat!
If selling your stuff is too daunting and difficult – don’t hold on to it! It is better to get rid of it in a donation or one-day garage sale (even if you aren’t getting top dollar for it!) then to hang onto it forever in hopes of selling it.
The goal is to declutter with the potential side benefit of making money.
This declutter challenge starts today and ends in 30 days and then go onto a maintenance program where you have a box out in the garage/basement where you can put 5 items in each week and then donate when it’s full!
Will you join us for this 30-Day Declutter Challenge?
What tips do you have for those deciding what to keep and what to get rid of?
Be watching for tips and updates from us over the next 30-days too!
One final thing….. we also have a Facebook Group where you can engage in discussions, receive encouragement and talk to others that are participating in the challenges too for more ideas! Head to the Be Intentional with The Thrifty Couple Facebook Page HERE and ask to join us there! You can also invite friends and spouses too!