Through my friend Lisa, I found out about this minimalism game, in which you spend a month decluttering your home. On the first day of the month, you get rid of one thing. On the second day, two things. Third day, three things. And so on until the end of the month.
Lisa decided to complete this game in February, and I wanted to play along with her. While I didn’t think I had 435 items to purge, the experiment intrigued me enough to want to play along.
I should say that I have been on a mission of living with less for a few years now. I get it: minimalism is the “cool thing” to do now (at least in Internet circles), but I’ve never been someone who likes clutter or finds enjoyment in owning things. Some people do, and honestly, that’s fine. If organized chaos is your jam, then that’s awesome. You do you.
For me, clutter makes me anxious and I believe everything needs to have a place. If something does not have a place, then it makes me question why I’m owning it.
Truthfully, we keep a lot of stuff we don’t need because we think we “should” own it. One of the easiest examples of this is with books. I think it’s safe to say that I am a major bookworm, but one thing you won’t find in my home is a bookshelf. That’s right – I am a bookworm that doesn’t own very many books. In fact, I can fit my entire book collection on my nightstand. And I hesitate to call this a collection because one book is for a blog review, another for Postal Book Club, and the two Harry Potter tomes were loaned to me from a friend. (So, these books won’t be in my home for very long.)
I should own books, right? I love to read! What more bookworm-y thing is there than bookshelves stuffed with books? And yet… I don’t feel as if I need to own books. There are a few reasons why. I rarely buy books, preferring to frequent the library or buy digital when necessary. I rarely reread and don’t see much of a point of holding onto a book that will just grow dusty on a shelf. And when I did own a bookshelf stuffed with books, it felt more like something I needed to keep because I was a reader and readers have bookshelves.
But when I packed up my books – all of them – and took them to my local library, I felt free. I felt as if I had lifted this heavy weight from my shoulders. This weight that said I should own something because of XYZ reason.
From then on, I really began to examine the stuff I kept. Dozens and dozens of shoes? Why? I’m not much of a shoe person, so out they went and now, I have seven pairs I rotate around. Jewelry? I don’t even like to wear jewelry and haven’t worn any of my necklaces in months. See ya. Purses? Clothes? Beauty products? Odds and ends? Unless I had a reason to keep them, good riddance.
When I moved back in September, I purged many of my belongings. In the end, my entire life fit into just a few boxes. And then, a month into living in Tampa, I did another purge because my closet felt overwhelming. I filled up an entire garbage bag of stuff that I thought I “needed.”
It’s amazing how much we think we need, but how much we really don’t.
So, this February purge. I figured I still had stuff I needed to let go of. And I found stuff. Little things. Beauty products that were almost used up or I no longer needed, shirts that had seen the wash a few too many times and were misshapen, pens, bobby pins, expired medicine, dog clothing I’d never put on Dutch, headbands, out-of-shape elastics, and on and on.
Fifty-five things I found.
Until Friday, February 12.
I looked around my bathroom, opening cabinets and pulling out drawers. Nothing. I use all of this.
I looked around my bedroom, peering inside my nightstand. Nothing. I use all of this.
I looked inside my walk-in closet, taking down boxes, inspecting my shoe bin, looking through my purses. Nothing. I use all of this.
I looked in the kitchen, opening cabinets and doors. Nothing. I use all of this.
It came to a point where I looked around my home and I realized I am living with less.
I am living with exactly what I need.
I am not keeping things around because I think I should keep them.
I am keeping things around because I use them or because they hold value to me, like my great-grandma’s Bible.
What this minimalism challenge taught me was that I am living my minimalist life. It’s not something I’m striving for, but something I’m doing. Sure, as the challenge shows, I had some things to get rid of. But little things. I’m not hoarding books or shoes or clothing or knick-knacks or things I think I need to keep but don’t actually need.
It’s a pretty spectacular feeling, knowing you’re living your minimalist life.
That is great that you had so little to get rid of! I wish I could say the same is true for me but it’s just not. I would not say I have organized chaos at all as I really don’t have *that* much stuff, but I have enough stuff that I have kept around that I really don’t truly use or need. I think that living alone for as long as I have is part of the culprit as I just tended to accumulate so much throughout the years. But now I am being more intentional about what I bring into my house and dating Phil has also impacted me as he is a super duper minimalist. I am going to end up getting rid of a lot of books for this challenge and he has kind of inspired that because he asked me WHY I felt the need to have so many books, especially when they aren’t ones I loved or would re-read. Right now I have 5 bookcases and I think when the purge is over I will likely have 2? We’ll see.
I do keep books but only if they are a) by a favorite author b) something I would reread c) a book I would consider loaning to a friend or d) it’s a classic (to me).
A lot of the things that I’m ditching are items that I just plain forgot about or are looking at wondering WHY in the world we have them. It’s been fun and I love having more empty drawers, less stuff in closets and etc.
Maybe someday I’ll get to a point where we have exactly what we need and nothing more!
I keep books, but only ones that I like to reread. And OMG those bookends are AMAZING.
I love that you realized you’re leading YOU’RE minimalist life. Not what’s considered the perfect minimalist life by everyone else.
Good job, lady! I guess YOU don’t need a minimalist challenge 😉
What a great feeling! I have definitely cut down on what I own/keep, but because I’ve moved so much, I just don’t have as much stuff anymore, period. When I lived with my mom, I kept a lot of my stuff in the basement for all eight months – & by the time I moved out, I figured, “If I didn’t need this for the better part of a year, why move it with me?” And so I got rid of almost all of it (except, of course, stuff I didn’t use because my mom already had it, like utensils & a blender & a Swiffer. I took those with me!) It was really freeing to take six bags of stuff to Goodwill when I felt certain I didn’t even have that much stuff to begin with!
so awesome! one day i will be living with only the things i need. i’m considering doing the challenge next month. i’ve got plenty of boxes to go through, so plenty of stuff to get rid of. 😛
I love this post.
Yesterday I put on flipflops for the first time this year and then pitched them because they hurt my feet. Sugarface kept telling me it was just because I hadn’t put them on for a while and was like, WHY THROW THEM OUT. I told him I had plenty and it felt good!
Need to tackle my closet. 🙂
Yay! Good for you! This is where I want to get. We got rid of a lot for our first move, and now that we’ve moved again, I see even more to purge. Especially the books – I don’t see why I should keep things I probably won’t reread and I just have to dust. Blah.
That’s so awesome! I’ve been thinking about taking up the minimalism challenge one month, because even though I got rid of a BUNCH of stuff last year (mainly clothes) I feel like there are still a few extra things here and there that I could get rid of and not even notice. Still, I love the difference getting rid of clutter makes to my home and frame of mind.
I don’t have many books, either. I prefer digital to paper (I know, I KNOW) but honestly like 99% of the books that I read now come from the library anyway.
This is awesome! SO so proud of you! (Is it weird to say that? Well, I’m saying it anyway!) And I’m starting to get that way about books as well – I have a couple of shelves worth that are just sitting here – might be worth going through and donating/purging them!
That’s so awesome!! I have done a few purges over the years but since we last moved five years ago I haven’t done a BIG purge for awhile. I think I am going to do somewhat of one this weekend because I do think we have way way way too much stuff in our house. I wouldn’t call it organized chaos or even clutter but it’s definitely more than is necessary! Good for you for already living that lifetstyle.