Now that everyone is on the Marie Kondo kick I thought I should take a moment to share my experiences from my 30 day Declutter Challenge. If you follow me on social media you were bombarded by 1 minute videos of me decluttering everyday. My goal was to make decluttering accessible and NOT overwhelming, for both me and you. Back at the beginning of November I was in the kids toy room and was struck by how many toys we had that were not being played with anymore. With the Christmas season approaching I knew something had to be done! I also wanted to keep myself accountable which is why I shared it with everyone! My main goal for decluttering was to create space for all the new items that were coming at Christmas time. As much as I encourage the people who give gifts to my kids to put money in to the their education fund (and not buy them tons of toys) I do appreciate that feeling you get seeing a 5 year old open the only thing he wanted for Christmas. So I set out on a mission to not only rid our house of excess clutter but to try and find as many things that could be donated!
My system is simple (I am already thinking about doing another one in the spring!). On day 1 you declutter 1 thing...on day 2, 2 things...on day 3, 3 things and so on until you get to day 30! If you do a full 30 days you will have decluttered 508 items!! Take that Marie Kondo!
When you are working full time, have kids and are trying to have some type of adult relationship, decluttering a whole area can be tricky! The best part about the 30 day challenge is that it allows you the time and space to do it thoughtfully and not get overwhelmed. On the first few days you can always find 1, 2 and 3 items to declutter. I also encourage you to find one place in your home to collect the items that are to be donated (or garage sale/Facebook Marketplace if you are really ambitious) this way when it gets full you can take it to the donation site easily.
As the numbers got higher I was a bit worried that I would run out of things...hahahaha...nope. I actually ended up finding more! Once I got to day 12 I started looking in specific areas of my house...under the bathroom sinks, our kitchen cupboards, in our junk drawer, in my husband's sock/underwear drawer :). I also challenged myself to make sure I hit every room in the house during this challenge, not forgetting the laundry room or the mud room. It was really great to get the whole family involved!
The most surprising part of this whole experience was the conversations that were had with our 5 year old, Ben, about donating his toys. As we were finding different toys that hadn't been played with in over a year all of the sudden he was attached to them again! We had some really deep conversations around children who are not as fortunate as him and who might not have many toys this Christmas. I could see that this was not sitting well with him and he wanted to help them. My heart was bursting when we made the trip together to the donation center. He was proud to share with the woman there that he would like to share the toys with other kids. I also remember a similar experience when I was a child and it has stuck with me. I know that I am very fortunate and I hope that our declutter challenge helped another family have a fantastic Christmas.
Decluttering can also be a great way to feel a shift in energy as well. Simply opening your spice cupboard and seeing it organized can help you to feel calm, proud and order in your house. I challenge you to do your own declutter challenge or stay tuned and follow along again in the spring!
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