The 30 Days of Minimalism Challenge has been done by many…and I have decided to hop on the bandwagon after it being 4 weeks since Governor Sununu put the stay-at-home order into place. Not being able to coach right now, I need to put some sort of focus into my day outside of my morning routine.
Every day, I wake up at 6am, cook breakfast, brew some coffee, grab a book or my journal and settle in for about an hour before working out. That’s my morning routine. At the beginning of the stay-at-home order, I had plenty of things to do to fill my time, but I can only purge my closet and my office so many times…so I decided to create a 30 day minimalism “challenge” / calendar for myself. This idea has been in my head for a few months now and as I said with the extra “down time” right now, I’m taking advantage of it to purge in all areas of my life.
My Why
I chose to try 30 Days of Minimalism to give myself a focus during this time of doing nothing. Another big reason is that my lease is coming to an end in a few months. But the main reason for this is to find simplicity. With the chaos of the world right now, nothing is simple. There is no straight answer anywhere at the moment and that creates a lot of uncertainty. So, I want to focus on what I can control. I have control over what is in my house. I have control over what I do with my time. Therefore, I am choosing to use my control to go through my house, my belongings, and my thoughts/mind to simplify my life. I’m not doing anything drastic, I’m not doing absolutely nothing but I’m also not diving into huge projects that I’ll drown myself in. I’m controlling my stride…keeping it simple.
Where It Started
Last fall, I watched Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (Netflix), the guys of the documentary created a 30 days of minimalism challenge that they did during their journey to becoming minimalists. I enjoyed the documentary and though I think some of it was a bit extreme, I do believe there is a lot of sense in it as well. We carry a lot with us, a lot of those things we don’t need, we’re materialistic and we hoard crap. We hold on to clothing, trinkets, etc. because it may have a sentimental value, or so we think, BUT we haven’t worn it, looked at it, or used it in 2 years!
Continuing with this idea, I looked into what the Minimalist guys from the documentary had to say for their 30 day challenge. And I also looked into some other challenges on Pinterest and other people’s blogs. From there, I pulled a few ideas but also added some of my own things in so it caters to me. Some of the sources I used were:
How I Got Started
With the thought of making a big move happening in just 3 months from my current apartment (where I’ve lived for 3 years), I enjoyed the idea of the 30 days of minimalism challenge and really going through all of my belongings and PURGING what I don’t need. I do this on a regular basis, but I also give myself a reason to keep something…even if I haven’t touched it in over a year or it doesn’t fit or whatever. This time though, I’m getting serious and down to business. If it hasn’t been used in 6+ months and I have no intentions of doing so, goodbye my friend!
I decided to start the challenge on Tuesday (April 22nd), which is why day 1 says to set new moon intentions…it was a new moon, if y’all didn’t know. When I was writing out what each task/challenge was going to be over the course of the 30 days, I knew I wanted it to be a mixture of getting rid of shit, but also getting real and staying in touch with myself. I feel like being in “isolation” for 4+ weeks, you either find yourself or you lose yourself…neither are bad. I just find when there’s lack of consistency, I tend to lose sight of some things and I’d like to avoid myself being one of them.
My 30 Days
I am currently on Day 4 – Clean out email inbox. My email accounts tend to overwhelm me, so this was a much needed task. I’ve reduced it down to only using 2 email accounts, which has made it so much better/easier to handle.
I’m weirdly looking forward to cleaning the house and I mean REALLY cleaning it…washing the walls and ceilings, etc. I’m probably going to paint a little bit too or at least do some touch ups around the place. I think I’m least looking forward to posting my unwanted clothes on Poshmark. It’s so tedious! But it must be done.
A lot of the challenges I looked at had similar themes or tasks, but there were some that I just couldn’t relate to. So to fill the 30 days, I created some of my own as you can see them below!
The Common Tasks
- Unsubscribing from emails, unfollowing on social media
- Clearing out emails, organizing computer files/phone
- Cleaning out the pantry, refrigerator, medicine cabinet, etc.
- Purging your closet / wardrobe / shoes
- Recycling / purging other crap around the house
- No money spending
- Cleaning everything
Tasks for Me
- New moon intentions
- Goal setting
- New England Bucketlist
- Reading / Writing
- Exercise / Recovery
It’s not anything grand, but it gives me focus and my focus is to simplify. Right now, I want to focus on Me, Myself, and I. I think this minimalism calendar will help me to do so and will help me prioritize what stuff I want in my living space and in my life. The goal is to downsize all the shit I have in my house so that when I do move in August, it’s not more complicated than it’s already going to be…more on this big move soon 😉 My goal is also to clear space so that I can clear my mind. I’m looking forward to seeing what and how much I can let go of during this time.
What are you doing with your down time?
Would you give the 30 Day Minimalism Challenge a shot?
If yes…what would be your focus?
