Mrs. Money at Ultimate Money Blog is sponsoring “Decluttering Challenge: 365 in 2011.” Count me in!
Inevitably, I would be decluttering in 2011 anyway. I enjoy it, I appreciate the results, and I am working towards making a home inventory, which will be much easier with fewer things. I dream of a minimalist existence, and I have been working diligently in that direction for a while, albeit slowly. (I don’t remember the last time I showed up at a get-together without an armload of stuff to offer to people… if they’d stop taking it, I’d stop bringing it, but until they do, I’m assuming the peddling is welcomed, or at least not minded too much!)
I think it will be much more fun to do it as part of a community than on my own. Thanks, Mrs. Money! Plus, it’s an incentive for me to figure out how to get pictures on here. 🙂
The premise is really simple: participants aim to declutter 365 items from their lives in 2011. I think most people participating in the challenge will more or less follow the guidelines suggested by Mrs. Money in the link above. Here are some specifics on how it will work for me:
- I will aim to post at least once a week, but I might go through spells of lots of decluttering or very little decluttering.
- I will create a numbered list of the items.
- For each item I will specify how I got rid of it or where it went (e.g., gave to Littlest Sis, dropped off at Goodwill, recycled, sold on Amazon for $X, or took to consignment store).
- As often as possible, I will take photos of the items I’m passing along.
- On occasion I might be a bit vague about an item, particularly one given to me as a gift. I have zero qualms about detailing why I’m passing along something I purchased, but sometimes I might think it better to be nondescript.
- I’ll decide which things I’ll count as “one” item. For instance, a bag of pencils will probably count as “one” for me, even if there are seventeen in the bag.
Feel free to share any requests or suggestions as to how I should tackle this challenge! I look forward to being 365 things lighter!
Listful Wistful 
Good luck with your decluttering! Recently I was feeling too nostalgic to sort through the baby toys to get rid of them. I waited for a Saturday when the house was particularly shoddy and found that I was more likely to toss items into the donate pile just to feel better about the mess.
So mess up your house a little, it might help you purge a little more.
Haha! Sadly, it is a bit of a wreck even without little ones to help me take the credit for the chaos! You’re right that that definitely ups the motivation, though. If it (my apartment-in-a-room) were neater, I would probably shoot for 1 item a day, but this madness warrants a faster clip…
Awesome that you are in! I am thinking about doing a weekly check in where everyone can post a link to their page where they share what they’ve decluttered! 🙂
That would be great. I’d love to see who else is participating and what they’re scrounging up! Usually when I see pictures of other folks’ declutter piles it reminds me of a few more things I can do without. 🙂
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