At the end of October I went to hear ' The Minimalists' speak locally and it reignited my fire when it came to minimising the unnecessary and 'just in case' stuff I have in my home.
Joshua and Ryan spoke of their own journey in minimalism and shared a 30 day challenge that I instantly decided to take!
I've always been an advocate of having less stuff taking up precious space but thinking about it now it was as mainly a 'purge, build up, purge, build up' approach, instead of a habit to consistently keep the clutter out. This challenge felt like a great way to build my habit of less.
The Rules- During the month you have to get rid of the number of items of the date. so day 1 = 1 item, day 2= 2 items etc. If you make it to the end of the month you will have cleared 465 items from your home! If you want to join in during December you can get someone to play the game with you and if you'd like to post on social media it's #MinsGame.
#MinsGame all the stuff that has been banished from my home by me during November!
I just took part in the November challenge and I DID IT! 465 items GONE from my home and space left behind! It feels GREAT!
It got tricky once it got into the 20's but I persevered, making lists of places in the flat I still hadn't explored and even started photographing items that had memories attached and getting rid of the things themselves. Sometimes, not having had much time during the day I would stay up late and have that extra motivation to 'win' the day before going to bed. I was 'competing' with my boyfriend too so it made it all the more challenging and fun. Actually including his declutter efforts we have cleared 930 items from the flat! Result!
Spaces have started to appear, I'm thinking about those 'just-in-case' items very differently and I'm starting to place limits on the amount of any one thing/type of thing I own. For example, all the pens have to fit in one tin and one small pencil case, all the electrical cables have to fit in 2 small boxes in the hallway, and all the medicines in 2 small baskets in the kitchen.
I'm going to do the challenge again in the 2015 but in the mean time I'm setting myself a goal of getting rid of 3 things per day from home for 21 days during December.
I can't wait to get rid of more things and distractions and create more space for the important and meaningful.
If you decide to take the challenge I'd love to hear about how it's going and I'll happily cheer you on!
Here's to less! Here's to simplicity!
with warmth and wonder
Jaimie xx