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:

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats its great when you find something lost isn't it?
I'm finding this harder than last month. Maybe the novelty has worn off. I had a battle with dh over kitchen utensils earlier. He took lots back including a sentimental spatula that was mine anyway . I'm secretly pleased.

Iv done 11 aswell as I'm worried I won't keep up.

Day 10.

1. Massage roller never used.
2. old T-shirt.

3-4 dvds.

1. Corn cob holders.

6-7. Peelers.

1. Spoon.
2. Water spray broken.

10. Old cleaning item.

Day 11.
Selection of items from utensil drawer.

Day 9 and 10 completed.

(37) broken pens
(38) used up mascara
(39) foundation
(40) dried up eyeliner
(41) microporous medical tape
(42-43) toothbrushes
(44) hairbrush
(45) magazine
(46) out of date cocoa powder
(47) eye sleeping mask
(48) fabric face mask
(49) broken pencil sharpener
(50)skin serum sample
(51) string of pearly beads that were once attached to a handbag
(52) piece of plastic. I think it was supposedly an orange zester (it was free at a stall in the supermarket)
(53) badge
(54) empty fountain pen box
(55) a sample face scrub that’s called “ocean salt” but it has a really terrible font so it looks like it’s called “ocean shit”

I need to just say no to free samples. I don’t need them in my life.

And I honestly didn’t realise how many cosmetics and toiletries I had. I thought I was quite sensible when it came to beauty products and toiletries. Apparently not.

a sentimental spatula
Now that's an adjective/noun combination I've never heard before .

Day 11 from the laundry pile :

• 10 pairs of old socks
• 1 old fabric mask

I am very behind! I have been concentrating on giving everywhere a thorough clean and tidy. Kitchen finished and only thing out was half a jar of mincemeat. I’ve started on the conservatory/play room. I have been through the toys so much recently that the only thing I have found so far is a junk model and a collection of twigs!

Ahead of schedule, I’ve finished day 11-19.

(56-182) various items of clothing. They’re in bin bags and I’m going to take them to the clothing bin in the supermarket car park tomorrow
(183) hair clip
(184) lid from something I don’t have anymore
(184) a few old loyalty cards/gift cards
(185-190) various toiletries

I feel quite pleased with myself.

We’ll done Beef, you are on fire !!!!
I’m not, I’m soooo exhausted now by the new routine and the move with my health problems that I’m starting to forget things where as I’m normally very organised and have managed to keep it all rolling along for the past 17 y with the kids through all my misery and problems . I’ve had a few heart palpitations again which I’ve had before under stress and strain so this is not good . If I go to bed earlier I just wake up at least for loo once or twice even sometimes then don’t always go straight back to sleep . There’s too much going on and more app and things to to book . Im actually kind of exited I don’t have to go out tomorrow hopefully since my hairdresser cancelled and DH should be able to do school run and dog run to his daycare although we have furniture and garage storage arriving and now there seem to be road works in our development so not sure the trucks can get to us . Our electrician cancelled tomorrow too and DS tells me today he can’t miss school due to block test on mon morning when hes due to have a monthly important doctors app , dd also told me earlier in the taxi that she needed clothes for her play rehearsals tomorrow grrrr I had forgotten to order in time now taking them on mon and wearing her black riding trousers and borrowing a top . Good news of the day ; I got an invite to book a Covid booster vaccination due to my health and our long lost piece of furniture arrived . I’m not celebrating yet until DH has unpacked and checked it .the same firm has been quite hopeless just delivered something that was missing an item yesterday and before that delivered someone else’s parcel here . I have hundred things to book organise and buy plus sort out this house there’s still boxes to unpack and furniture to order and quite a bit to sort out and the thought of the trip to finally see my family before Christmas and then Christmas straight after just stress me out .I’m too tired to get anything much done . Just the school runs , looking after the dog all day I’m not used to and the daily cleaning laundry , admin etc for 4 people and a dog are taking all my energy and time and feels like I have nothing left . Needless to say decluttering isn’t happening atm really but I’ll try to keep at it to get my daily amounts and hopefully will get the damn kids clothes boxes out of my room by Christmas and stuff of the landing ( now that’s showed into the formerly pristine study since a bed is arriving .I also pray I like it since it’s made to order and I couldn’t see the fabric of the headboard in real life ).

Day 12 :

• 4 pairs of DS old too small pants
• 1 pair of DH ripped pyjamas
• 7 DS too small pyjama tops

@Nordicmom

We’ll done Beef, you are on fire !!!! I’m not, I’m soooo exhausted now by the new routine and the move with my health problems that I’m starting to forget things where as I’m normally very organised and have managed to keep it all rolling along for the past 17 y with the kids through all my misery and problems . I’ve had a few heart palpitations again which I’ve had before under stress and strain so this is not good . If I go to bed earlier I just wake up at least for loo once or twice even sometimes then don’t always go straight back to sleep . There’s too much going on and more app and things to to book . Im actually kind of exited I don’t have to go out tomorrow hopefully since my hairdresser cancelled and DH should be able to do school run and dog run to his daycare although we have furniture and garage storage arriving and now there seem to be road works in our development so not sure the trucks can get to us . Our electrician cancelled tomorrow too and DS tells me today he can’t miss school due to block test on mon morning when hes due to have a monthly important doctors app , dd also told me earlier in the taxi that she needed clothes for her play rehearsals tomorrow grrrr I had forgotten to order in time now taking them on mon and wearing her black riding trousers and borrowing a top . Good news of the day ; I got an invite to book a Covid booster vaccination due to my health and our long lost piece of furniture arrived . I’m not celebrating yet until DH has unpacked and checked it .the same firm has been quite hopeless just delivered something that was missing an item yesterday and before that delivered someone else’s parcel here . I have hundred things to book organise and buy plus sort out this house there’s still boxes to unpack and furniture to order and quite a bit to sort out and the thought of the trip to finally see my family before Christmas and then Christmas straight after just stress me out .I’m too tired to get anything much done . Just the school runs , looking after the dog all day I’m not used to and the daily cleaning laundry , admin etc for 4 people and a dog are taking all my energy and time and feels like I have nothing left . Needless to say decluttering isn’t happening atm really but I’ll try to keep at it to get my daily amounts and hopefully will get the damn kids clothes boxes out of my room by Christmas and stuff of the landing ( now that’s showed into the formerly pristine study since a bed is arriving .I also pray I like it since it’s made to order and I couldn’t see the fabric of the headboard in real life ).

Day 12 :

• 4 pairs of DS old too small pants
• 1 pair of DH ripped pyjamas
• 7 DS too small pyjama tops

Well done though, you’re still ahead of schedule. Hope you feel better soon.

@Nordicmom you sound like you have so much on your plate. Is the decluttering helping or is it putting pressure on you? If it's the latter don't feel like you need to carry on. Give your mind a rest and start again maybe in January.

Thanks guys ! I do feel the need to finish sorting out the house . To get things unpacked and rooms looking tidy they don’t need to be perfect or done but these boxes etc get to me so I will forge on but will just have to carry stuff to the attic for later if I can’t do it now . It’s everything in total I don’t have energy for I often feel I’m too tired to live to put it simply …

A while ago I wrote that I had lost some double ended knitting needles from a very pricey set.
I found them!
I had lent them to mil and found them this morning.
Happy little dance!

I caught up yesterday with digital decluttering by deleting 51 photos from the computer. It is just such a boring job!

I have kept a list of ins and outs as I have been tidying. Definitely more outs than ins. Also have a few bigger things on gumtree and Facebook market place but won’t count them until they have left the house.

I have to do the big swap from 6-12mth to 12-18mth clothes for littlest (and last) DD before the end of the month so that might help me catch up a bit.

Right I have been through my list.

Croquet set, pirate puppet and a broken toy are leaving to make way for incoming 1st birthday presents.

Then in an attempt to catch up:

Day 6: Book I finished reading, a junk model, twig collection, 1tsp measure, jar mincemeat, and a cookbook.

Day 7: lid to a storage box (who knows where the box is?!?), horrible Tesco moisturiser that gave me horrendous dermatitis, ancient half tube of BB cream, pack of razor blade heads with no matching handle, old GHD’s that I haven’t used in years, and 2 x cardboard boxes that were being used to store things in.

Day 8: small wash bag, whiteboard, crown hair clip thing, baby carrier, waterproof cover for baby carrier, dog towel, and 2 pairs of shoes.

Day 9: 1 battered old hessian bag - still 8 more things to find.

Living room, conservatory, kitchen, hallway and cupboard by front door are all now clean and clutter free. I check the clutter magnet areas (dining table, hallway table, one bit of kitchen counter) every evening to make sure everything is clear. It’s really nice seeing everything looking calm!

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats here's the special sentimental spatula

Been naughty and bought some fabric and clothing but I haven't bought any clothes for ages and I needed them.

Day 12. I wrote 11 on by mistake.
A selection of stationery and out of date and doubles of stuff. I haven't wasted anything just put into 1 box.

Day 13.
More stationery.

3000 photos deleted from phone and tablet. I had insomnia one night and then got obsessed.

Sorry here it is @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats

It certainly looks sentimental to me
We are a few days behind. Day 10 was some books and magazines. (Anyone want a 1992 road atlas or a 2005 London A-Z)
I will tackle days 11 to 13 tomorrow.

Not getting more decluttering done today but this spare room bed arrived and short of dressing the bed more and getting our white shutters put in jan ( and possibly adding a matching to bedside table chest of drawers on Tue )this room is getting done and I love that there’s zero mess . There’s 2 built in double wardrobes that aren’t even full , the bedside table , possibly a 5 drawer chest, a rattan paper bin and a matching magazine holder also an en-suite shower room so there’s storage and it can just stay tidy . My husband said it looks like a hotel room and after we’ve had clutter and mess in some areas previously it really soothes my soul and I plan to make sure it stays that way . I am starting to see the the difference my years of decluttering efforts have made in the rooms we’ve unpacked ;our cupboards aren’t bursting of mess and we can put everything away . The attic is still a jumble of boxes etc though that need organising and some more decluttering ( and we have more in the storage locker ) and there’s two wardrobes in the top floor to put together one in the attic room for me to store things not clothes ( wrapping paper , presents ,my cards etc ) and one is going to the guest room .the dining room has boxes of wine glasses , china , crystal and porcelain ornaments to unpack once I decide where they’re going and I need to get a second dining table ,chairs and a narrow sideboard with something decorative on top to cover the tv outlet on the wall also a chandelier or something for over the dining table but a long lost display cabinet arrived as well and next week the chest of drawers I thought was delayed to next feb/ March . Then in a few weekends the sofa should arrive for the tv room so it’s coming to together bit by bit . Things going wrong too our electrician cancelled ( and my hairdresser and my dentist ) and then the big truck with all the garage storage couldn’t get to our house past some road works that had just sprung up over night so that’s now delayed but just have to try again later and be patient . Feeling sooo tired and like nothings getting done in general but I’ve ticked a few admin jobs off my list today and managed to rest also tomorrow errands inc taking charity shop stuff after our flu shots then going to movies with DS to see Eternals …
How this glass cabinet arrived in one piece I don’t know ! Had to add our little doggy in his house because he looks so sweet in it and he’s only just started using it !

Cleared yet another junk drawer today.
Day 11, 12, and 13 contents pictured.
Mainly rubbish/recycling with anything salvageable for charity shop.
Most of the boxed items were 10 years plus put od code...

And getting ahead of ourselves - days 14 and 15 from the same source .
So that's another area cleared.

10 years plus out of code...

Not sure whether to throw out the catnip bubbles in the cupboard. The cats were terrified of the bubbles but I should probably try again to see if they’ll like them now. The money I waste on those ungrateful cats. 🙄
I took 3 bin bags to the charity clothing bins in Tesco car park yesterday. It feels so good to get the stuff actually moving out of the house.
I have bought 2 unnecessary purchase though so I’m going to subtract that from total items decluttered.

We managed to take 2 large storage boxes of kids clothes and 1 smaller one of other stuff to charity shop on our way to flu shots . We also finally took the several sacks of small coins collected over the years to the bank and there were 120£ of them so that’s worth having ! Had a bunch of errands to do ,a few parcels left the house as well and then took DS to the movies and got myself sushi takeout from near our old house which I’ve really missed in the last month . Tonight we’ll try out a new pizza place for dinner but before that assorted household jobs; endless laundry washing and folding , garden jobs (yesterday DH and DD collected a huge sack of leaves that will go to the dump with the grass clippings after today’s mowing thankfully the tree is now nearly done so not many more leaves to come hopefully ). I have lots of admin online shopping for assorted things and trying to prepare for our trip to my country and Christmas and dogs boarding. I’ve got 5 w left to do it all since back right before Christmas. Have more unpacking organising etc left too don’t even want to think about the mess in the attic although most of it should now be my labeled storage boxes they just need organising after DH builds two remaining wardrobes . Soon decluttering our rental house . After cleaning a bit the builders had gone back there to make an awful mess so DH will be writing to the landlord again to say we won’t be held responsible for having it all cleaned for handover end of our tenancy since we have not caused the mess ! It was clean when we moved out and we were just going to have the normal end of tenancy cleaning done and now they’re been cutting holes in ceilings and going into air vents etc putting dust and piles of insulation everywhere which is nothing to do with us and breaking our new Miele vacuume cleaner in the process. They should have waited until end of tenancy to start this work or at least discuss doing it with us and made a plan about the end if tenancy cleaning . Can’t wait to be done with that house and hopefully get most of our deposit back !!!!

Day 13:

• 3 large kids books
• 1 Frozen colouring book
• 2 pairs of baby shoes
• 7 assorted pieces of too small kids clothing

Day 14:

• 9 packets of wet dog food he apparently really hates to food bank

-1 small stack of newspapers and magazines to recycling

• 1 small ball DD won’t miss
• 1 more book finished to charity
• 1 pair of too small worn out DD trainers
• 1 phone case for my new phone I didn’t like the colour of to charity

I took 2 away from my total because I bought 2 nonessential items for myself

Out today:
(188)make up bag
(189-192) gift bags
(193-210) books

That’s me completed day 20. Hope to get quite a bit done tomorrow as well.