My take on the “Minimalism Challenge”

I think most of us who are online know this one: You do it for 30 days and you get rid of one item on day 1, 2 on day 2, 3 on day 3, and so on.. until you reach day 30 and then you will have decluttered 465 things. I didn’t check this number, it’s what other people have said and I’m just too lazy for math.

Years ago, I had tried to do it but failed at it, after day 8 or so it just became too much of a hassle to go through things every day and the number rising and rising.

So this time, the modified rules are as follows:

• There are 30 days and on each day the corresponding number of things will be decluttered. BUT the order of the 30 days is not important, I can pick one of the 30 days and then I can check it off on my list.
• I am allowed to take days off if life gets in the way.

So far, it is going pretty well! I’m about at the halfway point and last time I checked I had decluttered over 260 items.

For the first time since forever, my desk actually has lots of empty space!

I would not advise anyone to do this minimalism challenge right away, because the reason I failed at it years ago was that it was really tricky for me to get into decluttering mode. I had not yet learned a good method and all I did was barely scratching the surface of a encrusted layer of old clutter.

After reading the much-hyped book of Marie Kondo “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up” (I believe it deserves the hype) and applying her approach to my belongings, I got the idea. I knew which things I actually live with and the things that are just there because they’ve been there for years and years.

At the end of 2019, my Konmari process slowed down and during the pandemic, it stopped altogether. So this minimalism challenge was a nice chance to reboot it. At first I thought “I Konmari’d 80% of my stuff already, so what else is there to declutter now?” and then I realized that this challenge is super good for refining my collection of things one year after doing Konmari. So yes, for me, I started to get rid even of things that “spark joy”, because I kept them to cherish and use them more, but in fact, I didn’t.

I have a love for beautiful bowls and cups, for example. But I can’t drink out of so many cups and I can’t have so many bowls, even if they are loved. So I decided to give these two a new home:

two hand turned ceramic cups

They are very beautiful (at least I think so) and both had been presents, one was even handmade by my mom. But I have so many nice cups and most of them are handmade by my mom, so I decided to part with these two, and I found them a new home via ebay Kleinanzeigen. So, in this case, they are just too nice to let them gather dust and not use them. I freed them for someone else to enjoy.

a freshly repaired bike seat (it’s a brooks saddle)

One more good thing that came with the challenge: In February, my bike seat broke. I replaced it because they had told me that it’s not possible to repair it. So I decided to get rid of the broken seat and when I put it on ebay Kleinanzeigen, someone wrote me a message and told me it actually can be repaired and the spare part only costs 14€. I ordered it, repaired the thing, and now I can equip my second bicycle with this seat!

I already reap the benefits of my minimalism endeavors. I have now spaces in my room that are clutter-free and stay clutter-free with little or no effort, and this is working well at lowering my stress levels and helps me to recharge and just enjoy a visually calmer space. Even if it is just my desk, for now. Probably my desk will remain my only minimalist space in my room. But it does a good job at making me feel more relaxed.

Now, on to the challenge part 2 – I have checked off 16 of 30 days, many of them in the rear end of the challenge, and I’m looking forward to completing the list!