I have been considering doing another decluttering challenge to get myself motivated to declutter yet another layer of my belongings. I have been stating an item a day for several months, now, and while I have decluttered some items, I haven't been very consistent. I thought that September would be a good month for me to rev up my decluttering.
I am trying to decide between 10 items a day for the 30 days of September, resulting in 300 items decluttered or as many items a day as the date (1 item on the 1st, 2 items on the 2nd, and so forth) which starts off easy, but, becomes more difficult as the month goes on. But, doing so will result in decluttering 465 items (and then, a further push to maybe bring it up to 500). I have done both ways of challenging myself to declutter in the past. I think I will start with the as many items per day as the date and go from there, while giving myself permission to stop once I've reached 300 items.
I will post weekly lists of decluttered items, to keep myself accountable. So far, I've decluttered:
9/1 - 1 magazine
9/2 - 2 containers
9/3 - 1 artificial plant, 1 blue and white decorative tea pot, 1 decorative plant pot cover
Would anyone else like to join me in the challenge?
We could us some decluttering around here, but I'm not sure if I have enough time this month to focus on it. My goal will be donating the closetful of stuff I've already collected. If I counted all of that, I would have pretty good numbers, I think. :)
ReplyDeleteGetting the collected stuff donated is a whole other thing, isn't it? I usually wait until I have a pile of stuff to donate and then, call for a donations pick up. That's what I plan to do at the end of September. :)
DeleteMaybe I should give it a go. My daughter mentioned that I do seem to be keeping an excess of empty containers after she tidied the kitchen for me last week!
ReplyDeleteThose empty containers do tend to collect, don't they? I need to go through my containers, too; some of them seem to be missing their lids!
DeleteWhen I read this post I thought "I don't need any decluttering, I don't have too many things.." etc. Then I saw Angela's comment! I do have a shelf full of empty jars! No wonder I forgot. They are in the spare room AKA blackhole where things go to disappear. LOL
DeleteWell, jars are useful, aren't they? I've empty canning jars, too, and I keep them for when I make my jams and chutneys. Some get given away when I gift the jams, etc. I have a spare room, too, which I call The Dump! It's not quite a blackhole ...yet! :D
DeleteI'm not sure if I can do as well as you in increasing items decluttered, day by day, but I will certainly join you in trying!
ReplyDeleteIt does become harder to find more items as the month progresses, but, I know that I have a lot of small things. Or, you could go in reverse order - 30 items on the 1st day, 29 on the 2nd day, and decrease as the month progresses. :)
DeleteI need to join you in this challenge. I just need someone to pick a room for me to begin in!
ReplyDeleteHow about your laundry room? You had mentioned you had already cleaned out the fridge that's in there and will be cleaning the freezer. Maybe you can find a few items to declutter in that room? If not, maybe the kitchen?
DeleteGood luck with your decluttering challenge, that sounds a good way to do it. I'm afraid I don't have the willpower to declutter as I've tried and failed so many times.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen. For me, decluttering is an ongoing process. It's like peeling an onion, layer by layer. I might not be ready to let go of an item in the first couple of rounds, but, I might be ready on the 4th or 5th round. And, just like with peeling an onion, sometimes, there are tears.
DeleteGreat idea! I will join you in a declutterring challenge. I have been lackadaisically donating, recycling, and tossing, but I really haven’t made a dent. Time to work on this. I am going to be traveling in September and October, so I’ll have to double my efforts when I am home. 😊
ReplyDeleteGlad to have you join me, Taconix. The more the merrier, as they say. :)
DeleteI'll join you, or at least try! I have too much unused gadgets in the kitchen, and a lot of junk is in the basement, so clearing out these spaces will be good.
ReplyDeleteYay! Glad to have you join me, Celie. Try is good. Starting is good. Have smaller goals - 5 items per room, for example, or 5 items per day.
DeleteI would happily join you, but I'm not sure that I've got anything left to declutter :)
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo! You've arrived at my destination! Well done on getting all your decluttering done!
DeleteDue to my travels I'm not about to participate this month, but if you get incredibly inspired 😊 and decide to do this for October, I will join you then. Best wishes decluttering!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'll look forward to having you join me in October. :)
DeleteAs someone else said: it's getting the things you've decluttered out of the house that's difficult! I had what turned out to be a car bootful + of bags to donate to Emmaus when I finally got round to taking them...They'd been sitting downstairs for almost a year!!! (Shame face!) So I didn't exactly de-clutter...I just put them in bags. Never mind, they've gone now! Love FD xx
ReplyDeleteWell, you did the hard work of culling and bagging up the items to be decluttered! And now, you've taken them out of the house and donated them! Give yourself a pat on the back for that! I've stuff I'd culled, earlier, and set aside in the garage - I usually wait until I have a few boxes and bags collected before I call for a donations pick up.
DeleteI sort and purge on and off as I go, and as the mood takes me. I actually have a small list of things, including old cameras, ready to be sold, and hope to get to that next week. This week I took a big box of jars that I won't use to the eco shop (they sell their goods by weight rather than prepackaged, so they have a "jar library" for customers to take from and fill. (I actually chose 10 or so jars which will be useful to me too!) And I have a second, smaller box of jars already started. AND, over the past few weeks I have used three boxes out of my vast collection, along with various packaging materials that I had also saved. There is always scope to do more, but most of my stuff is pretty organised and I don't feel the need to go around the house chucking things out for the sake of it. That said, Dad's books are still all over the place. :o( I took a bagful to charity last week but haven't been through or started reading any further titles.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've done a lot of decluttering, recently. As long as you feel your stuff is organized and you are content with the amount of possessions you have, I think that's fine; you don't have to declutter. I have a tendency to hold onto stuff for whatever reason - I might need it, someone gave it to me, it was a souvenir, I might read it again, etc. But, did I really need 15 pairs of disposable chopsticks stored in the kitchen drawer? Of course not! I rarely use chopsticks, even when we get Chinese or Japanese take away! I kept 3 pairs (plus the 2 pairs already in use which are kept in the mug holding the daily used cutlery) and recycled the rest! :)
DeleteYeah! I love a good challenge when it comes to decluttering so I will be cheering you on.
ReplyDeleteI am still decluttering but it's getting harder because I have never stopped doing it since I started. My items are slimming down for sure.
I think I'm pretty close to my happy place.
Last year I decluttered 1440 items.
This year my count through August is 586 - you can see my pace is slowing.
Thank you, Debra. You have accomplished a lot of decluttering and it makes sense that your pace is slowing as you run out of things to declutter! Well done!
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