Playing the Minimalism Game (Part 1) #Minsgame
This month I decided to start the Minimalism Game. It’s an idea by The Minimalists (awesome blog!), you can read more about it here. It’s very simple: you choose someone to join you, to create accountability. Then on Day One you get rid of one thing, one day two, two things, so on and so forth, until day 30, when you get rid of 30 things in one day.
The game is meant to create momentum while decluttering and eliminating the feeling of overwhelm when you want to tackle a great number of stuff. You can either donate, sell, or trash the excess stuff. By the end of the 30 days, if you keep it up, you’ll have 465 less things in your life.
In my case, since February has 28 days, I’ll have 406 items!
This will be a three part post!
Why have I started it?
I’ve been into a minimal mindset since 2013. It’s a long process, and I started to get rid of unwanted or forgotten clothes and shoes at first. I realized I was hanging on to too many items that didn’t correspond to my life style anymore. I had shoes I never wore. I had old clothes that were setting in my closet forgotten. First, I’ve decluttered my wardrobe. Then my CD’s, my books and my kitchen utensils. But I still had other areas of focus I wanted to tackle. I have office supplies, old electronics, mementos and miscellaneous stuff I want to go through. So, I thought the Minimalism Game could give me the right amount of incentive to start up this process.
The first 9 days or 45 items less cluttered
I started my challenge on February 1st, 2017. It was a Wednesday. And I started with an item that had some emotional value to me. I thought it could be a great way to start this process of letting go.
This first item showed me how much I tend to hold on to material possessions that no longer serves me. Why is that? Well, it was a wooden pencil holder my mom decorated for me many years ago. Probably more than 15 years ago. I used it for a long time, but last year I decided to replace it with a simple mug. I got rid of old pens that were cluttering my desk and so the old pencil holder got too big for my taste. So… I let it go.
During these first 9 days I’ve mostly got rid of office supplies, paperwork and miscellaneous stuff. I’m opening drawers and cabinets to find out which forgotten and unused objects are lurching inside. I found out that I have plastic holders everywhere! And paid old bills also! Bills from 2013 that surely don’t have any purpose by now. (Please, don’t judge me!). In total, I got rid of 45 items so far :)
Here’s the daily log of my first 9 days:
- Day 1: an unused pencil holder that my mom decorated for me many years ago;
- Day 2: not functioning printer cable and earbuds;
- Day 3: an old facial cream, an unused plastic holder and a small cloth bag;
- Day 4: paperwork I no longer need (an early draft of my master’s dissertation) and 3 old city maps!
- Day 5: One empty pen, more paperwork, “Just in case” office plastic holder and 2 empty packings;
- Day 6: I opened a drawer this morning and it was amazing how there were forgotten miscellaneous items in there;
- Day 7: 2 piles of old paid bills, a swimming google I no longer used (I think it was leaking), 2 travel toiletry bottles, a comb and another plastic holder. I keep finding plastic holders everywhere. That’s weird!
- Day 8: Miscellaneous!! I am not sure why, but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find 8 items! Well, it was easy when I peeked inside some drawers and doors…
- Day 9: Office supplies, 3 tweezers (who knows why!), paid bills, headphone manuals. And that warned me that I have many more electronics manuals lurking in my office…
So far, so good!
I am really enjoying it because of the momentum this game is giving me. Everyday I discover more things that I no longer use. But since we have a numeric goal per day, I do not feel anxious about having to deal with them all at once. And the accountability feature works well for me.
I’m sharing my challenge with 4 other people on the online Facebook group Minimalism.org: Online City. It’s a very supportive group of people wanting to live a meaningful life with less.
It’s worth a try!!! Now onward to more 19 days!
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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.