The Little Things
May 10, 2017

Well, at the start of April I set out to play the Minimalism Game. The rules are simple: day 1, get rid of one item. day 2, get rid of two items, day 3, 3 items, etc… for the month. In my first post I wanted to get to about day 15, and I felt like that would be a success for me. Once I made it to day 15 and was going strong, I decided I would commit to 25 days. So, how did I end up doing?

minimalism game

Well… I DID IT! I made it a full 30 days of playing the game, meaning I got rid of 465 items this month! WOAH. It sort of puts my “one item a day for a year” game to shame last year! Or, it got me warmed up, because I don’t think I would’ve been able to play this game two or three years ago.

turns out I don’t miss the 70+ magazines I tossed over the course of the month- yikes!

I’ve learned a few lessons over the last month:

1. I learned that there is a whole lot in my house that I don’t even realize that I have. When I REALLY went looking for items (especially deep in the back of cupboards and drawers), I found so my items I had no idea that I had… and that I no longer needed.

2. I found that, while I still struggle to hold onto items because of the memories, I’m getting just a tiny bit better at releasing them… and I’ll take that progress!

3. I realized that I really need to get a scanner so I can scan in some hard copies of pictures and documents and then get rid of them. I have 2-3 large boxes of pictures in my house, and I honestly don’t really have space for those boxes. So, a scanner would be perfect!

4. Making it a game makes it way more fun and motivating than it otherwise would be. I’d heard that but honestly felt skeptical until I started playing the game.

5. People will often comment with “I don’t think I could find that much in my house to get rid of.” And you can smile to yourself because, except for the rare exception, of course they could. And then you’ll remind yourself that you didn’t think you could do it two weeks prior.

6. I realized that I feel more relaxed when I walk into my house at the end of the day.

7. I’ve realized just how much energy it takes to look at so much stuff, and how that raises my stress level a little bit… which just motivates me to continue to clean a bit.

8. I realized that I have a lot more that I can get rid of.

So where does that leave me today? Well, like I said, I still have more items that I want to get rid of! I have a bag set aside for me to start tossing items into, and I plan to play the game again in June or July. I don’t think I’ll play for the full month this time, but I’d like to play for at least 15 days. We’ll see though- that’s what I said last time!

 

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2 responses to “The Minimalism Game- Final Update!”

  1. highstreet beauty says:
    May 10, 2017 at 2:53 am

    This has really inspired me to do the same. I have recently been decorating my house and finding so many things I don’t need. Thanks for the motivation!