Be More with Less

simplicity is love

A Challenge to Clear the Clutter

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  1. Have a ‘Goodwill’ area in your home, where you can regularly add things to give away. You’re not fully committing to giving it away just yet, so it’s a little easier to toss more things. Let the pile grow long enough that you realize how little you miss what you tossed – and now send it to Goodwill FOR GOOD. 🙂

  2. Wish I would have had this when I first started getting rid of everything before my big move! It was stressful because I was in overwhelm and didn’t know where to start!

    Living clutter free is so joyous. I highly recommend it for everybody. In fact I’m in for the challenge too just to make sure I don’t gather more than I need here again.

  5. My biggest excuse is always that I don’t have time. With a full time job and studying at university I always feel like spending time with my boyfriend not with my stuff. But secretly I know that I would have more time when I could get rid of my clutter. This year I move my apartement – good time to get started 🙂

  6. I’m frequently in declutter mode, so I’m definitely in for this challenge. I don’t think my before and after photos will be as great as they would have if I’d done this 18 months ago, but hey, I could surprise myself!

    I know my inventory will shock me the most, especially clothes and shoes. I’m already red from embarrassment even though I’ve purged my closet several times.

    • Alyssa, No need for embarrassment! Just make a change and embrace your closet space.

  7. I am a big fan of de-cluttering and making things more efficient; it has changed my life, and I am now trying to help my friends and relatives. One thing to remember is that too many “special” things make each one less “special”. Also, choose a reasonable sized bin to keep your sentimental items, and don’t put in any more than it can hold.
    Another big help is just having another person there to talk you through it. Trust me, your children will not want their stained burpcloth when they are older!!

  9. What a fantastic challenge! I wish I could join in but we’ve just done our own 30 day challenge. With newly renovated floors put in just before Christmas, we spent the break purging even more. A few of the things gone are: 1 bag of clothes donated, 1 crate of books sold to a second hand shop, digital stuff downsized, and due to skin sensitivities I’ve got rid of so many lotions etc and non-quality-fabric linen. This idea makes me wish I had taken more “before” photos prior to Christmas, but then we’ve been constantly decluttering and questioning items for a few years so it would have been great to compare now to then in photos! Still to go are DVDs, converting videos to digital format and in the “maybe” pile is the vacumn cleaner – with the new easy clean floors and zero carpet in our home I think we’ll be able to make do with just our handheld vacumn and still conquer dog hair! As a side note, has anyone noticed how easy it is to accumlate bags? And then need the space to store said bags? Agh!! 🙂

  10. This topic has been on my mind for several years. I used to live a somewhat nomadic lifestyle with few belongings and
    I moved almost every year until I was 38 years old. Then I bought a house with my then fiancé, got married and had 2 kids 23 months apart. The stuff just grew and grew. I dreaded anyone coming over because I couldn’t really get a handle on it. I would chip away and then feel overwhelmed. I then became focused on moving because i saw it as the only way we would gather the energy to go through stuff. Two weeks ago we moved. I got rid of a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff, but I am still in amazement at how much stuff we have and moved with. I love that I now can just go through stuff in a box…..seems much easier to make an objective decision about it’s value. So, in summary, I would love to partner with some other people this year in the process of letting go!

  11. Of course, I’m in. We moved 2 years ago in our appartment, and well…there is still stuff in boxes because I can’t find space to put them. And I definitely know that I don’t open them so much, which means that I could get rid of lot of stuffs. The hardest for me is to get rid of clothes. And I have lot of books for my work. And yarns…which is a little part of my job, but the biggest part is from my big love of creativity and from a knit and crochet addiction ! lol It’s crazy how yarns can take space in a place compared to the slow process to knit something…

  12. I’m in for the Challenge. We downsized from a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home to a 30′ motorhome in May of 2009. We’ve been traveling and living in this small space ever since, but I still have too much stuff and clutter.

      • It was tough, actually took a few years of planning, selling, throwing & giving stuff away. It’s been great, but I’d love to downsize further…I still carry way more than I should, in my opinion…and I’m a clutterbug. 🙁

  13. I’ve been slowly doing this over the 18 months or so, and have ground to a bit of a halt over the last few months. I guess mainly because the majority of whats left involves scanning docs/photos, which is tedious, and getting my arse into gear with selling the car boot full of rubbish I have to get rid of!

    New year, fresh start!

  14. Started my own decluttering project before the holidays. Now that the holiday decorations have been put away I’m ready to continue. Great timing I’m game! G

  15. Excellent idea we have lived with 2 kids for years like this only owning stuff we use and love the kids have a good range of toys but not tons meaning that tidy up time is quick and easy we buy good quality clothing and items that last so that we are not continually needing to go shopping this Christmas holidays we went out most afternoons on a trip to a new place instead of wading through the Christmas mess of stuff lots of people seem to end up in after the holidays we enjoy our simple lifestyle very much the only debt we have is our mortgage and that is budgeted to be paid off in 10 years

  16. I read and hear how sometimes it takes people from 2 weeks to 3 months to declutter their homes. It took me ONE WHOLW YEAR to get rid of my things and sell my house. It was hard, it was draining and it was painful. Now I live in 365 sq ft with my family and we live with so little. I still want to get rid of more. I want to see empty spaces. That makes me feel happy!

  18. I am overwhelmed with counting my husband’s stuff in drawers and boxers? What do I do? No, getting rid of his little items are not an option.

  19. Well this fits in with my 2012 mantra of “less is more” quite well dosen’t it?!?! Thanks for thie link can’t wait to start! I’ll find your facebook page tonight!

    Amber

  20. I would love to take this challenge only my stuff is in storage in L.A. and I’m in the U.K. It’s been in storage for a few years while I travelled and I feel so over whelmed by it I don’t know what to do. I did do a huge clutter clear prior to putting it in storage so it mostly stuff that I would use if I was in L.A. but I’m not. It really feels like it is holding me up.

  21. 3 yrs ago my father’s health began to deteriorate fast. In order to help out I started to sleep at my parents house and went to my apartment basically to change or look for clothes until my father passed away about 8 months later. Afterwards I moved in with my mother but I must admit merging our 2 households has been very difficult, specially for me. I couldn’t sort and purge, that is, declutter before moving, there is very little storage space and I feel that I have to get rid of so many things that it is hard. I have dealt with shoes and clothes, but books, magazines, photos, papers, in general, are so difficult to sort and dispose of. Any insights on how to deal with paper; sort, file, organize will be greatly appreciated.
    I am interested in the Challenge although I am financially unable to participate in the course right now. I found your clutterfat inventory very difficult. I would have to spend so much time doing this I will never start with the proper decluttering phase of the program. Can I register even if I don’t have a number to start with? Everyone registers or only those participating in the course? How is it going to work for those of us who only participate in the Challenge? Thank you for your help.

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