Playing the Minimalism Game (Part 3) #Minsgame
This month (February, 2017) I decided to start the Minimalism Game. It’s an idea by The Minimalists (awesome blog!), you can read more about it here. This is the last post about it, from Day 19 to Day 28. You can also read Part 1 and Part 2.
So, my February Minimalism Game is now complete! That means I had a daily task of looking at my possessions and deciding which ones no longer were adding value to my life…
…That means I trashed, donated or recycled 406 items!
The habit of critically analyzing my stuff got easier day by day. I started to wonder why I held on to each particular object and weighted its importance and usefulness to me. The weird thing is that I remember each one of the 406 items. I have memories about them. I know where they came from. Some of them traveled 1,105 kilometers with me when I left my hometown and moved to Brasilia in 2007. But, oh, well, they are just stuff! They have served me once but now they are just stuff.
Most of the items were paperwork. I have spent some hours of February digitizing stuff too because there were some documents I wanted to keep a digital copy. I finally dealt with a memory box I carried with me since college that contained old postcards and letters (Day 21). I kept the digital images of the important letters to me, the hard copies were recycled. And the box is gone too because it wasn’t useful to me anymore.
Here’s the daily log of my last days:
Day 19: Mostly paperwork, small address book, notepad, speaker manual, a folding cloths board, an old PC game that was lurking around.
Day 20: 16 CD’s and wristwatch stuff: metal container, bill of sale, manuals.
Day 21: Mementos day! So, I had this wooden box that I kept the letters and postcards my husband sent me when were were dating. I took a photo of them and decided to let go. I would never actually open the box. It was something that brought me good memories, but I realized don’t need to own the physical letters to remember these moments! They are inside me already!
Day 22: Why so much paper? I cleaned up old paid bills, old pay stubs from my first job (why was I keeping those? 15 years ago! Gosh…) and just paperwork…Are you also surprised/overwhelmed by the amount of paper you keep?
Day 23: Some more paper, a safety helmet that I will donate, 2 paper clips, 3 boxes of leads, a mechanical pencil, 4 technical books, a notebook sleeve, a pen, a binder and some other random stuff.
Day 24: Toiletries! Forgotten mini soaps, toothbrushes, combs and shampoos and samples of creams.
Day 25: Mementos from a trip I made to Sweden in 2007 (postcards and tourism booklets), notebooks, expired medicines and other small stuff.
Day 26: Lots of paperwork, mostly notes from a course, 3 maps, empty CD box, CD sleeves and an old back-up CD I no longer need.
Day 27: I went through my medical exams folder today. I digitized the important ones. Result: a huge pile of paperwork that can go to trash. And also plastic sheet protectors.
Day 28: Last day !! 12 books, paper and office supplies.
Conclusion and plans
It was a great experience and I want to continue! There were areas in my office that I had planned to unclutter and organize years ago. With this game I finally got the momentum I needed to face the task!
It was challenging, tho! After day 20 I had to spend more time checking my stuff and judging their value. Since there were lots of paper, I had to evaluate each sheet individually to check if they were some irreplaceable important document I had to keep.
There are still unexplored areas that I want to dig in further , so I will start again next month! Some of the areas I want to check out are:
- CD’s (old backups of my personal files since 2002);
- Clothes;
- Shoes;
- Photos (needs scanning);
- Digital files;
- Kitchen utensils.
And thanks to all the people at the online Facebook group Minimalism.org: Online City!! Their inspiration did not let me give up!
So Month 2 here we go!! Have you tried it?
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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.