Playing the Minimalism Game

[YupIFreakilyHave]

For the month of October I am challenging myself to playing the 30 Day Minimalism Game as described by various people on their YouTube channels including The Minimalists. I prefer Jolita Bartkus' video on this. I know October has 31 days but the last day is for reflecting on how the month went.

How to Play: On the 1st you declutter one thing, on the 2nd you declutter 2 things, on the 3rd three things and so on. By the end of 30th day, 465 items should have been decluttered. Well, that's the aim.

I've been on this decluttering lark for a few years now so it'll be an interesting project. I'll try to update everyday of what was decluttered and maybe a little story of some of the items. I'm doing this online as a way to hold myself to account but I would welcome anyone who would like to join me.

It starts tomorrow. Eek!

Jolita Bartkus' video:

Day 17 - SatNav, chipped mug, stickers, iPad cover, bag full of old paper, leaflets etc more ignored cat toys.

Those that have dropped out must have done 100 items already so it was worth starting.

[quote Trumpton]@MissCreeAnt
Now you need to line them up in colours [/quote]
Sacrilege! Alphabetical order all the way.

Thanks @Declutterclogs you are lovely.

I won't fill in the past few days, but here's my collection for today:

2 chipped egg cups
6 containers (eg boxes, fruit boxes etc used to store small items)
1 stack birthday cards
1 glass tray
1 ceramic flan dish
1 utensil jar
1 bundle fabric samples
1 Jerry can spout
1 badge
1 cleaning sponge on a pole (I was evidently tricked by marketing into thinking this was essential.....and have never used it)
1 bundle plastic strips

@MissCreeAnt
Star Anise
Smoked Paprika
Oh! The dilemmas!

@trumpton

Day 17

1 set of no tie shoe laces
1 pair of holey socks
1 helmet
1 broken letter box, broke yesterday
1 camera
6 gift cards
1 car charger, never used
1 stack of well-being cards that give me the rage (breathe)
Churchill momentous
1 set of maths mats
1 lot of birthday cards

Total: 153 items

@YupIFreakilyHave this game has made things much easier and fun too. Thanks for starting the thread. Iv gotten rid of stuff and shocked myself.
@freezerdinners don't be too hard on yourself and if you can't keep up don't worry. We're meant to be enjoying this too I think.

Day 17
I think it's getting harder now although I can't believe some of the stuff Iv gotten rid of as I thought I'd keep it forever. The green Holly hobby jewellery box Iv taken out of the pile and kept but instead of keeping it in a drawer I'm going to clean it and display it.

6 storage boxes. Too shallow to use.
Selection of screws
Curtain hooks
Long plastic thing
Fly paper which I hate
Old light Bulbs
Old lighter
3 torches. Iv got tons of torches as dh keeps buying them. I think he's my problem tbh.
Dog training clicker Iv had for years and never used.
Head torch
Bicycle lights

@mrsjackrussell that's a good haul and yes, definitely getting harder. I told DS that I'd have to start decluttering his Lego (not really, I wouldn't dare). He was not impressed.

Day 18

Day 18.
I defrosted the freezer and found various mysterious foods !

@Trumpton you even make freezer gubbins look arty!

Day 18, 13 items for me.
2 ancient batteries
1 Dora video
1 Wii Zumba belt
1 broken radiator valve
1 moth trap
1pack cake toppers
2 Rubik's cubes (strictly these have been replaced with others but that happened years ago, so I'm counting them)
4 random bits from TV cabinet Drawers of Detritus.

I'm off to catch up on a missed day or two.

Day 8 here, finding it tricky not because there isn't enough to declutter (far from it ) but dc are very time consuming! . Hoping to gradually catch up;
1x mask
1x rubber gloves
Sherlock dvd boxset olio'd
2x magnetic travel games olio'd
Modern family dvd boxset olio'd
1x kids trousers for charity
Recovery cds from old laptop.

Day 6 here
5 toys
1 old lipsalve

Nice collections everyone! I think that's a lovely idea to display your holly hobby box @mrsjackrussell. I used to love holly hobby so much! 😍 you'll enjoy seeing it everyday and reliving your memories too.

@YupIFreakilyHave I have calming mantra cards somewhere that will definitely be going when I find them. They genuinely increase my stress levels and annoyance whenever I see them! - it's comforting to discover I'm not the only one for whom they have the opposite effect to the one that was intended.

Day 18 here - out of date lip gloss, chapsticks, hand cream tubes etc.

Bonuses today include 29 part-used but now out of date spice and seed packets. I used to cook a lot of curries from scratch but had to stop a few years ago due to a bout of tediously persistent ill health and so these have just languished in the backs of cupboards til now.
Also our family collection of old, ancient and broken mobile phones that we've had no reason to keep but for some reason have also never got rid of! We've finally looked up the closest handset recycling drop off so they are on their way there tomorrow.
Bonuses total 257

I love the idea of letting go of the annoying mantra cards! @declutterclogs your excellent bonus-ing continues.

Day 15 (16 items) old TV licenses, cracker snaps, expired cough sweets, curtain samples

Day 16 (15 items) printer cartridge, manuals for old tech, hospital appointment letters, 2 choc coins

Day 17 (14 items)
4 spice & vitamin jars
3 sewing patterns
1 pile scrap fabric
1 birthday badge
4 linens (duvet cover, curtain lining, ripped towel)
1 just in case bag
2 bonus items

Only 13 more items to find for last Thurs and I'll be all caught up. 'Scuse me a sec....

Just had a phone call from builder…can he rip out en-suite tomorrow?
So that’s the 19th sorted with grotty out of date toiletries.
The 20th can be toilet, sink,taps etc !

I’m a bit behind on posting but I have kept up with the decluttering and writing things on the back of an envelope.

Day 16: 2 x cookbooks, 1 x make up bag in the bin. Then 9 x baby clothes, 2 x nursing tops and 2 x baby weaning books in a bag for my sister.

Day 17: 7 x maternity clothes given away via Olio. 10 x stuff from tea cupboard. This included a lovely loose leaf tea pot and tray that my DH bought me when we were at university. Very hard to part with but my husband pointed out that he would happily buy me a new one in the future if I suddenly find the time to sit and enjoy a whole pot of tea on a regular basis (rather than glugging luke warm tea from a mug in between wrangling the children). A lovely lady from Olio says she has wanted one of these specific pots for ages so at least I know it is going to bring joy to someone else rather than sitting in our cupboard.

Day 18: Olive oil and balsamic thing (again lots of memories attached to it but never used), flask lid for daughters water bottle that never gets used, 10 x odds and ends from sewing box, loads of plastic kinky kids toys things (counted as one thing), 2 x pram toys and 3 x fridge magnets.

I can’t even think where I am going to get 19 things from tomorrow. Might have to raid the garage or heaven forbid get rid of the beanie babies from the loft! Poor beanie babies live in a box in the loft and I just can’t quite bring myself to charity shop them. I spent so much pocket, birthday and Christmas money collecting them. Me, my sister and cousins all did it together to make sure we didn’t have any duplicates.

Still doing catch up here so
Day 12:

• a small ceramic bathroom container
• a large ceramic bathroom container
• a glass lidded bathroom container
• DH far too smelly shower gel I bought him, a ds lip balm not needed he’s got a few better ones , pantyliners never used, a few canesten packets ( I’m unpacking more boxes and organising toiletry back stock so there’s inevitably more things that can go now that I have more time to think than when packing )
• a few dog toys that aren’t played with anymore
• an old phone case although this has been replaced since we got new phones which we’ll keep as spares ( we recently got rid of a whole collection of old ones though )
• 7-12 ; items of baby and toddler clothes to charity shop and clothes bank

Day 14 catch up (17 items)
1 box (no lid)
2 lids (no box)
2 chopping boards
3 notebooks
1 stack rubbish envelopes
1 stack outgrown cards
4 medicine cups
1 reusable sandwich wrapper
1 broken belt
1 broken pen

Also cleaned and sorted the big cutlery/utensil drawer. Phew, all caught up.

I know this has been said before but I am finding it so helpful that you don't have to do a whole drawer or cupboard at once. We're not aiming for perfection, just numbers.

Day 18 - clothes, ties, ski goggles and electric shaver.

I’m going to have to tackle the BIG cupboard tomorrow as I’m running out of easily found items - which I guess is a good thing!

Day 13:

• two clean old dog towels to rag bank
• another ceramic bathroom dish not needed anymore
• a home edit plastic container that had gone too manky for me to get it clean in the move with something oily I couldn’t get off but I finished sorting out everyone’s extra toiletries etc in labeled clippy boxes and unpacked another two cardboard moving boxes so happy about that ! It’s all neat and out of the way now
• broken big plastic storage box that seemed to have arrived shattered at some point in a stack of them
• a minecraft annual of DDs she’s done with
• a sticker activity book also finished , I’ve asked her to look through her stack of magazines too not just leave them in her bookshelf for all eternity so I can add them here soon hopefully …
• a few hotel mini toiletries nearly finished are being used up in the next shower soon plus DS razor although I will replace this
• old ecover limescale remover bottles that had a bit left DH hated it with a passion he prefers the smell of the new version so they're going
• another pair of old scissor not decluttered in the move for some reason
• items 10-13 with a heavy heart more baby clothes from my stash but I’ve got so much and there is no point keeping them all I am trying to reduce them to just a few this is very hard for me because of my miserable history of trying to have my children I have two now but the story is long and complicated . I’m finally getting to the point of being able to let go a bit but it’ll take a long time I reckon to sort it all

@Nordicmom that sounds tough, are you going to donate the baby clothes? Maybe a woman’s refuge might be an option xx