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The Minimalist Challenge - Week 3

I recently started the "Mins Game" or Minimalist Challenge, the idea is that you get rid of one thing on day one, two things on day two and so on increasing by 1 item every day until a month has passed...by the end you will get rid of over 400 items!

 Week 3 was still quite easy, I keep wondering when I am going to start to struggle! At the time of writing this I'm into week 4 and it's still easy to find all my items every day. I thought once I got into 20+ items a day it would start to get hard, but not even started places like under the bed yet and that will last me at least a few days!

 I had a free pass until day 18 as we had so many CD's and DVD's to go from the week before, so I used the time to sell some stuff on ebay (our Wii and Wii fit board for £65, nice!) and get rid of some of the things that had gone into the 'holding zone of crap to get rid of' a.k.a the dining table. 

 Day 18 through 21 were actually all pretty small stuff, more discs and small bits and bobs. Started on the actual clutter hotspots, like the box under the coffee table and the cupboard under the turtle tank. Lots and lots of paper and random little knickknacks this week, nothing massive except the Wii. The kitchen was done this week though and it was quite a nice one, we gained a whole free shelf in one cupboard (in a kitchen as small as ours this is a lot of space!) so I could get all my protein powder and creatine etc off the counters. Plus there is still space in there for the slow cooker that I am hoping that Santa brings me!

 Some things I have learned so far over the last 3 weeks

  • If you build it they will come, also if you have a space to put stuff you will fill it. After this challenge is done I'm going to get rid of a few things like the boxes under and on the coffee table, it just encourages us to leave stuff in there rather than put it away!
  • We really do keep some random old junk. Most stuff has been easy to get rid of, there's not even a second thought as to whether we should keep it or not.
  • Glasses and glasses cases seem to be my favourite thing to hoard, I must feel like I shouldn't throw old glasses in the bin when I get new ones - a friend is an optician and has kindly taken my stash off my hands for charity. Next time I get new glasses I am giving her my old ones immediately!
  • The hardest part has been actually disposing of the stuff, I can't go the the charity shop or the tip every day so it just piles up until I can. Hence the "airlock of junk" that is our dining nook in the hallway!
Onto week 4! I am really starting to think I'm going to make it to the end of the whole month, which is slightly embarrassing considering we only have a 1 bedroom flat :)
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