Daily Life, Getting Organized 
14 Comments 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge Starts Today!
I’m so ready to get started on this decluttering challenge and make it a routine in my daily life. And I’m even more excited about those of you who have decided to join me. Together we can do it!
The Basic Outline
Simply put, the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge is a commitment to “donate, sell or toss one unused item from your home every day for a year.”
I’m sure logistical questions will come up as the year progresses, but my plan as of now is to designate a spot in my house to collect the items to be donated and then drop them off to charity or post them on Freecycle once I have a box full. If I find items worth selling, I will post them on Craigslist and donate them later if they don’t sell. Obviously, things that are being tossed will go into the trash immediately.
Focus Challenges
This part isn’t required to participate in the challenge, but Suzanne had created a series of mini challenges to serve as a reminder to the participants that they weren’t doing it alone. Each one focuses on a specific area or type of clutter. I asked her for permission to use them during my own challenge, and she graciously agreed.
Focus Challenge, Month 1 (click the link to read the full, original challenge)
Think of 7 areas or such that bother you (for example: a drawer/closet; a flat surface that always has stuff put on it, your desk at home or work, etc.) For the next week, the focus challenge is to look in one area each day for your declutter item of the day.
If this seems too difficult, or you don’t have that many areas which bother you, you could just focus on one area and remove one piece of clutter from that area each day for a week. The main point is that we are getting rid of the extra stuff!
Time to Get Started
Now go find one thing in your house to throw away, give away or sell. And then do the same thing tomorrow and the next day!
I will be putting up a MckLinky in a week (on January 8th) so we can all report on how the decluttering is going and encourage each other to stay motivated. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
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Tags: 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge, decluttering, focus, getting organized
Good for you!!! I probably need to do this challenge, but I don't want to commit publicly. I'm going to try to work on this, though and I can't wait to follow your progress with it. =)
Okay, I can do this. We give away a lot of clothes so that's no problem. The drawers really need a clean out. I bet there are 365 things in one drawer that should be tossed.
Happy New year Trish – what a great idea .. I will join too on the 10th
Happy New Year! This was enough to motivate me to clean out the night stand by my bed and threw a whole bunch of stuff out of there! Now I'm wondering how I ended up with a dozen book lights!
That's cool – just do it whenever you get inspired. Happy New Year!
So true! My son has been wearing sweatpants during the school break, and I am realizing they are all way above his ankles now!!
Wonderful – I look forward to hearing how it goes! Happy New Year to you!!
That's so awesome!! Too bad you didn't find the book lights in time to use them as stocking stuffers for Christmas, haha!
Trish,
I already started throwing stuff out and will definitely join the challenge. I am moving in a few months and that is a great excuse for cleaning stuff out!
That's great – it will be so nice to know that you are moving less stuff and only what you really need and love!
I am good for, like, one hundred days! Today Not-So-Classic and I totally cleaned out our clothes closet. We took 4 trash bags to the Salvation Army. Scarlett has been purging her room today as well. It feels so good to get rid of excess!!
That's awesome! Would you believe that between two small closets, I use 1/2
of one and Bob uses the rest of the space! He has more shirts than anyone I
know.
The one place that bugs me right now is this closet I spoke of. In this closet is boxes upon boxes of donate items, as well as unwanted items we have received over time (birthdays and such) that I had hoped to pass onto others who did want them. It is our only inside storage closet and that's what it's filled with. I really want all that stuff gone this week. I hope I can do it.
One really easy way is to post it on Freecycle and let someone come and pick it up from you. I am usually inundated with responses whenever I post something there. If you're not familiar with it, you can go to Freecycle.org and search for the group closest to you.