Since the beginning of 2023, I’ve been a bit lazy with decluttering, so I needed a new challenge. To kick start my efforts, I set a goal to declutter 150 items by removing at least one item from five areas of my home every day during the month of June. Does decluttering bit by bit work? Let’s take a look.
This challenge was inspired by Karen Trefzger from Maximum Gratitude, Minimal Stuff. In 6 Easy (and Possibly Surprising) Ways to Keep Your Home Clutter-Free, Karen suggested seeing if you can improve your space by removing one item from various surfaces. That post intrigued me enough to turn it into a mini challenge for the month of June.
My June decluttering challenge
Like the fable of the tortoise and the hare, I’ve always believed that slow and steady wins the race. In my 52-Week Decluttering Challenge in 2021, I decluttered over 3,000 items with small weekly, decluttering tasks. Some people prefer a big decluttering blitz, and that approach does make sense in some situations. Personally, I’ve had more success with taking a more thoughtful approach and decluttering bit by bit.
The mini challenge I set for myself was to declutter 150 items in June by removing at least one item from five different areas of my home every day throughout the month. The five areas I identified were: kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, living areas, and basement.
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Observations from the challenge
As I went through the month, I had awesome days when I decluttered way more than five items. On the other hand, I had days where I did nothing. In the end, it all balanced out and I met my goal.
Here are a few observations and learnings from the month.
- Decluttering is a lot like fitness—sometimes you just need to change up your routine to get back on track.
- Making a list and keeping a log is a great way to hold yourself accountable. Even though I didn’t stick to the schedule every single day, just seeing the log tucked in the front of my journal every morning was a visible reminder to do something.
- Sometimes it’s hard to limit yourself to one item in an area. Days when I decluttered 6 fitness DVDs or returned 8 plastic strawberry baskets to the farm store, made up for the days when I did nothing.
- Simplifying life and reducing the number of products you use really cuts down on clutter. This was especially evident in the bathroom. I found very little to get rid of in our main bathroom. Most of the items I decluttered were from the bathroom my daughters use.
- It’s a lot less stressful to post one item at a time on the Buy Nothing Group than posting a whole bunch of items at once and keeping track of who’s picking up the various pieces. (To learn more about Buy Nothing Groups, see 5 ways to turn your junk into treasure.)
- Finally, there’s a bit of a snowball effect when it comes to decluttering. Once you get started, you start to see opportunities everywhere. The trick is to just get started.
The end result
My overall tally for the month was 166, so I exceeded my goal of 150 items.
More important than the number of items, this challenge got me into the habit of doing a quick scan every time I enter a room to see if anything is ripe for decluttering.
Overall, I consider my mini decluttering challenge a success.
What’s your preferred method of decluttering? Do you find decluttering bit by bit works for you, or do you prefer a blitz? Drop me a comment below and let me know.
I love the June challenge idea! My goal for 2022 was to declutter more (after reading your 52 week challenge). Now that I am back home and not in between 2 places, I really want to try and do it. Thank you for the inspiration x
Thanks Caroline. I’m glad you found the post helpful.
I was having a sort out today and all week. I could not recycle two very old ironing boards so went to the dump. But I have recycled plenty, including clothes which go to a charity. Well done on doing it regularly. I now have more room to store more junk no doubt.
Ha ha. You have to resist the urge to accumulate more junk, Jamie!
I do it a bit at a time, otherwise I’d be overwhelmed!
I agree Rachel. I just get frustrated when I try to do too much.
I also got into the habit of decluttering but without keeping any count. I started donating unused stuff in categories like first clothes, then books, then utensils, and then gifted bedsheets. I realised that our emotions attached to beautiful memories pull us back but in order to move forward, we need to declutter before adding more otherwise everything becomes a huge mess. Bravo on your decluttering journey 👏👏👏👏
Thank you Ranjana. It is definitely a journey and there’s always more to do! You’re right that we need to declutter before adding more. I really question everything I buy these days.
I always think that doing something bit by bit is exactly how we successful change out mindset about things like this. I will be looking at how I can apply this approach to my own decluttering journey as I know I need to work on it more. This was really useful!
Thanks Molly. I think this “slow but steady” approach can be applied to so many different areas of our lives.
I have to say Michelle, it’s pretty easy to keep things in their place and to share/recycle things for me since I live alone! However I’ve always been a perpetual declutterer though so I feel like I have that task mastered!
You make such a great point, Deb. When I look around our house, much of what I see belongs to the other people who live with me. LOL Even so, I’ve made great progress. When my daugther moved recently, a bunch of her stuff ended up at our house and I haven’t had time to deal with it. I’ll be tackling that once our vacation is over.
You have made wonderful progress Michelle. I was thinking a bit about how things will likely now change again for you since daughter has settled elsewhere! Especially when you mentioned the girls bathroom 😉
I love hearing about new ways to get rid of clutter and this sounds like a good one. I try to get rid of one item a day and make a weekly pilgrimage to the second hand shop
Thanks. One item a day is a good goal. It really adds up.