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:

Forgot Day 5!:

• 1 pair of kids Ugg Australia boots
• 4 babygrows

@BeefSupreme yes this is your game, it's up to you. I'm being quite generous with myself and I would not adjust my sums. It might be a good time to look through your book shelves and see if there are 4 books that are easier to part with now that you have some more.

Good morning.
Yesterday day 5.

3 items of clothing I was selling on eBay unsuccessfully so to the charity's hop they go.
Old tub of body scrub.
Old lip balm.

Iv decided to do the photos again as I'm losing track.

Here's day 6.

I looked in the the fridge.
2 McDonald's sauces.
Old Homeopathic medicine.
2 Old eye drops.
Daughters face mask from 2020.

I don don't know why Iv kept this stuff in here as it's unusable.

Oh and 44 photos deleted from iPad for digital detox.

I find things and wonder why I've kept them too @mrsjackrussell ! Hopefully the last month has worked for us to change our mindset about whether to keep stuff and we will stop accumulating as many of these types of things going forward 🤞

Day 5 and 6.
The final remaing dead printer cartridge. A phone charger cable that no longer works, a pair of school football boots, a pair of shinpads, plus seven pais of boots/ shoes that are either too worn to use or no longer of a size that fits anyone.
The shoes etc. have filled two carrier bags .

@mrsjackrussell'm terrible for keeping McD's sauces. The BBQ one is sooo good

I subtracted 4 from my total number of items decluttered to make up for buying 4 new items. Hopefully this will put me off bringing anymore stuff into house.

Out today:
(10-12) dresses
(13) baby sleepsuit
(14) Christmas garland
(15-21) books

Total items decluttered: 21 which is me caught up with what I should be at for day 6.

I also seem to permanently have a McDonald’s sauce stash in my cupboard 😂 quite pleased with myself I did actually use 2 of the salsa dips last Sunday.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats good haul . It's fab when you can get larger items.

I’m afraid I’ll be jumping the gun here a bit but otherwise I’ll just forget what we’ve done today since I’m going through a box and DH went to sort out our old rental and put up landlords own curtains , blinds and lampshades back . So here a bit early
Day 7:

• 4 sets of curtains from bedrooms in the rental house
• 2 roller blind fabrics we fed into the landlords fittings in the kitchen ,now have returned their ones in them
• 1 lampshade

Day 8:

• 2 Advent stocking kits to charity we won’t use
• a few packets of wrong school socks sent back they gave us in error
• 1 box with 2 light fittings will be sent back we we’re also mailed accidentally ( what the hell is it with these companies ?!!!)
• a couple of flu shot certificates etc DD doesn’t need in the memory box that she’d had on her notice board and then in a drawer ( I’m sorting out a box of a bit of everything but mostly memory box stuff from the move before last that’s been forgotten about )
• 1 small bag of coins will join the other sacks waiting in the car for DH to take them to the bank on our way to flu shots now next week sat ,they were rescheduled)
• a bunch of coin bags we’ve somehow been given ages ago but last time I looked the bank had a machine you pour into
• a model of a set of teeth DD made at school years ago that was displayed on her shelf proudly for ages I have a picture of and is cracked she doesn’t care about keeping is going
• another lampshade from the rental house we now don’t need

I did my Halloween boxes last night so before I forget since I’m too lazy to write it down elsewhere first

Day 9:

• 1 more lampshade from the old house ( accidentally added it to day 8 earlier )
• 1 set of broken Halloween fairy lights
• 1 yellowed plastic storage box
• 1 book DD has already read
• a few more broken paper and wood

Halloween decorations

• 1 too small costume of DS to charity

-1 too small costume to rag bank

• 1 mask
• a few Halloween napkins and cups

Gosh well done @Nordicmom you'll be able to have a few days off from decluttering now if you want!

I sorted a box of adults and kids cheap costume jewellery, some to go to charity and some in the bin. It was only a small box but took AGES as all the chains were tangled so felt like a much bigger achievement than it probably deserves

Day 7:

(22) book
(23) broken fridge magnet
(24) broken grater
(25) out of date hormone tester strips
(26) old moisturiser
(27) sample lipstick
(28) out of date painkillers

Day 7.

1. Bag of out of date last year flour bought for me and not used. I think Iv kept it because I felt guilty.
2. Book light dh gave me from boot fair which I cannot for the life of me figure out how it attaches. I don't think it is actually a book light.
3. Another McDonald's sauce.
4. Out of date cream.
5. No junk mail sign. Bought 2 by mistake.
6. Horrible tonic water dh bought from boot fair. Ruined my gin.
7. Snack box bought for me by dh never used. Can you see a theme here ?

Already done tomorrow's.

Day 8.

Out of date medicine.

I finished day 8 as well. I was on a roll with my cosmetics/toiletries drawer.

(29-34) various creams/balms
(35) deodorant
(36) hairbrush

Day 7.
Broken lava lamp
DS fiddle toys
Drawstring bag
Pastry cutter
9 kids' books
21 items, running total 132/361

DIY/deep clean: finished varnishing windowsill, obscured window above DD's door.

I haven’t done any decluttering over the weekend so I need to do a bit of a catch up today, both digital and physical stuff. (also name changed from SandwichDistraction to a character from DD’s new book).

@EmpressFlabulonTheWobbulous that's amazing name!

@EmpressFlabulonTheWobbulous love the new name.
I did day 8 yesterday so just deleted 200 photos from my tablet.
Thinking about what I'm decluttering tomorrow. Either the yarn stash or cleaning cupboard.

@EmpressFlabulonTheWobbulous that is a magnificent name! I think I might need to go on a hunt for the book it's from!

I just discovered where the moths were hiding in the pantry so have been decluttering moth eggs 🤮

Day 10:

• 1 big dog bed that kept on moulting fluff everywhere so it’s going despite the dog enjoying it , luckily he has taken to his other non fluffy big fat cushion bed made out of used water bottles 😁!
• 2 last old dog bowls ,metal ones to metal collection at the dump
• 2 dog toys never played with
• 2 too small kids coats
• 1 DS too small trousers
• 1 Teddy baby rattle
• 1 pair of rusty scissors

Day 9. Just cobbled this lot together.

4 empty items from cleaning cupboard.
2 old highlighters.
A remote mouse with the bit missing.
Sold a bag on Vinted and a cctv kit on eBay not pictured.

Day 7, 8 & 9. have been fulfilled by sorting the random contents of a plant holder junk box in the living room. (including about 10 bonus items). All destined for the bin / recycling.

Very pleasingly I found the shoe for a camera tripod (which I've been looking for for over a year) hiding in the same plant holder

That does sound very fulfilling @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats!

I've been having a very satisfying time ditching items from the tupperware drawer. (I might buy some new ones... but I'll account for those later )