I have made some significant progress in decluttering my home this year – after years of moaning and groaning about it without taking any action. It has been a wonderful thing, but as I look around, I realize there is a lot more to be done, and I’m also finding that it can be difficult to keep the decluttered areas from becoming messy again.
So when I discovered the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge, I was very intrigued. The basic idea of the challenge is “to donate, sell or toss one unused item from your home every day for a year.”
My first thought was – one thing? That’s not very much, how will that help? But then I thought about how much of a difference 365 things would make by the time a year is up. Of course, there will be days where I get motivated and do more than that, but I love the idea that I can make a difference by removing just one unused, unneeded or unloved thing from my life each day. And that by doing it every day, I am creating a routine that will become an automatic mindset.
Suzanne Sergis, who started the challenge and also blogs at Taking Care of You, even created monthly focus challenges to help inspire and motivate people as they go through the year. For her original year of decluttering, she had declared one day of the month as an anniversary and posted a focus challenge on that day.
My Plan
I have decided to take this challenge for myself and start on January 1st (And why not? It’s the classic day to start something new, after all.) Anyone want to join me?
My plan is to post the focus challenge on the 1st of each month and then put up a MckLinky a week later so we can report on how we did and encourage each other to stay motivated. I may post at other times throughout the month about how it’s going or what I’m learning through the process as well.
So, who’s with me? Leave me a comment and let me know if you’d like to join me so we can encourage each other over the coming year.
Links to the Monthly Focus Challenges:
January 1 – Month 1 Focus Challenge
