The 30 Day Minimalism Game: Everything I Decluttered & Reflections | Minimalist Home

if you think you're having a bad day I have a zit on my eye hello and welcome our welcome back you know who you are today I have another 30-day minimalism game video to share with you if you followed my videos for any length of time then you will know that I am a huge fan of the challenge and this is now the third time that I have completed it in case you're unfamiliar with a 30-day minimalism game the basic premise is that on day one you get rid of one item on day two you get rid of two items and keep going throughout the thirty days eventually getting rid of 30 items on day 30 I'll share the clips of all of the items that I got rid of during the month of June and then at the end I'll share some of my new reflections on this process so without further ado and if you want to see me get rid of a bunch of my stuff here is everything that I got rid of during the challenge over the month of June okay day one is a big Dutch oven that we never used for day two we have this Halloween spider web pattern bowl and we never get trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood we've learned our lesson and this glass square base for day three I am getting rid of these three throw pillows we used to change out the pillows in our living room between summer and winter but these pillows don't work very well with the marble tables that we have in there now so it's time to let them go for day four I am getting rid of these four boxes I got them from Ikea and I previously use them on my bathroom but I haven't needed them for a while day five includes three tumblers Tupperware and this oil dispenser it stays six and I am getting rid of six video games four day seven we have three serving dishes two placemats an herb peeler and a Harry Potter mug don't worry I have two other Harry Potter mugs exactly like that one it's day eight and I am getting rid of four books two packs of old business cards a tire gauge and a perfume sampler for day nine I decided to clear out my work bag and what you see or what you would see if it weren't covered by a cat is more than nine items but I'm not worried about it it's day ten it's time to tackle some things in the guest closet for day ten I have some gift wrapping supplies many of which came free from stores some leftover stickers and Halloween items it's day 11 and today I am getting rid of this bin which has for a long time held some items that I still have yet to deal with and so to force myself to deal with the items that it has historically contained I am getting rid of the bin along with an old router that we've been hanging on to a couple of random pieces and a virtual reality headset that you use with a cell phone for day 12 I'm getting rid of three reusable bags of flasks and eight pieces of glassware to those of you who have asked why I've gotten rid of reusable bags in the past the answer is because I have a crap ton of them I think I have nine reusable bags left it's day 13 and today I am getting rid of 13 plastic food containers some of them are just lids because we lost the corresponding pieces that went with them and I still do have a few other plastic food containers in rotation but I plan to get rid of those whenever I'm done using them today I am tackling my spice cabinet and yes I do use that mini red pepper flakes does anyone know if food coloring expires it does not say all right this is after it's not the most dramatic transformation but it's a little bit better and I'm getting rid of these things so these are my 14 items for today day 15 is mostly sample or trial size toiletries it's day 16 and today we have a random assortment of things including some travel battery packs that I no longer need some extra nail clippers the box to my curling iron I'm keeping the curling iron but I no longer need the box and some baking soda that I meant to use with laundry detergent but never really noticed a difference so this is everything that's going today it's day 17 and we are back in the gus closet today i want to get my items from here so i can combine our crafting slash gift wrapping box and office supply box so we'll see how far I get all right here are my 17 items they're all office supplies we have some notebooks some pens a giant hole punch and a stapler that we don't need because we have a mini hole punch and stapler that worked just fine now I was able to combine the remaining contents of the crafting and office supply boxes into one box but even though they fit they didn't fit very well and so what I decided to do instead was move all of the remaining items into the bottom drawer of this nightstand now I realize this doesn't look great but the items are now at least accessible so hopefully we'll either use them or at the very least we kind of can't ignore them anymore and we'll get rid of them for day 18 we have some overflow from yesterday's office clear out including 12 pens Brad's who needs Brad's I don't know some binder clips these guys leftover from different laptops an award that I won years ago and my ti-83 Silver Edition from I think middle school it's day 19 and today we have another random assortment of things including some hardware and boxes leftover from our bathroom renovation that I completely forgot we had one of my two garlic presses because I only need one this guy my husband got me from Jeff but it's a sentimental duplicate so I'm gonna get rid of that and keep a different thing and some stuff from our laundry room it's day 20 and here we have yet more bags does anyone else hold on to nice paper bags because they seem too nice to recycle and so I hold on to them and I really want to reuse them but I never have the opportunity to do so that's been me so I have 10 paper bags six plastic bags and four items from my crafting box that are going today for day 21 it's a little bit difficult to get all of these items in one frame over here we have the box that my husband's headphones came in and we don't need this big bulky box in the closet anymore we've got some office supplies my yearbook from college as well as my cap and gown from graduation it's been a bit of a sentimental item so that one is a little bit difficult to let go of but I'm never going to use it again and we're getting rid of one of our two fluffy IKEA pillows only one is going because our cat has claimed the other one this pillows hers it's a 22 and what you see before you is not 22 items these are nine planters that have been living on the side of my house and I am going to get rid of but because they are very dirty I'm not going to bring them inside and these are the remaining 13 items for today including some pots and pans we don't use this plastic salad bowl a trail guide for USBs I don't need two nail polishes and my original iPhone and before anybody tells me to stop and keep it because it's valuable right now it's listed for about twenty-five dollars on eBay there are no shortage of listings for it on eBay and I feel no inclination to store it and hang on to it for some day in the future when it might be more valuable all right pardon my scratched up dresser but this is everything I'm getting rid of for day 23 so we have some ray-bans that I never wear an extra glasses case I have two pairs of but I don't need two cases some jewelry holder some jewelry the box that my watch came in some photos from prom that I'm not going to show you and extra bra straps they just accumulate in the backs of my dresser drawers and I don't need them so this is everything that I'm getting rid of today it's still day 23 but I figured I would show you the giant pile of decluttered stuff that I have accumulated because I can't even think about what I'm going to declutter next until I get this pile out of my house so all of this is going to be sorted and recycled or donated or thrown out today it's day 24 and I'm getting rid of these two items and everything that you see up here so this is a laundry hamper that we always just used to store linens and this box used to hold God knows what in our guest bedroom and everything else up here is mostly stuff from our kitchen we have some bar items that I don't really like and that we never use some mugs a vase some other containers and then back here are three candle lids two candles that I used up a long time ago and I still inexplicably have the lids so all of this stuff and these two things are going today alright this time around for the minimalism game I asked my husband to participate and he said yes so today day 25 is all his stuff and what you see in front of you is more than 25 items these are 60 items that he's decided he no longer needs we have a license plate from an old car a bunch of personal items and video games that bin is filled of things that we 3d printed a long time ago we have a stack of clothes an old laptop and in this garment bag is the suit that he wore when we got married and no I'm not sentimental about it we got married five years ago and even after just five years the cut of the suit is no longer great on him we actually looked into getting it tailored but the cost of getting it tailored was more expensive than just buying a new suit and so that suit and everything else you see here except for the cat is going for day26 my husband went through our shed and actually found 30 pieces of random hardware and some duplicate tools that we no longer need kitten is being so elegant but this is everything that I've gathered for day 27 and we are really getting to the bottom of the barrel I had to tear through my entire house to find all of the things that sort of slipped through the cracks and this is what I came up with so we have a laptop bag we have some office supplies a couple of things from the kitchen some toiletries that I found mostly on my husband's side of the bathroom and these black bins used to store things on my side of the bathroom my husband still has a couple of those black bends but I no longer need mine so this is day 27 it's day 28 and today I am getting rid of 27 photos as well as the dress that I got married in now I've mentioned this in comments before but ours was a very casual wedding this dress was really inexpensive and I think it was a perfect dress for me and our wedding but I can't realistically see myself ever wearing this again I actually just tried it on and even though I think it's a beautiful dress it's still a long white dress and so you look like you're about to get married so I can't see myself wearing it again and I have lots of other mementos from our wedding that I can appreciate a little bit better than my old wedding dress hanging in our guest closet so it was a wonderful dress but it's also time to say goodbye the wedding dress is going kitten it's not your new bed it's day 29 and you are looking at what I have referred to previously as our storage unit it's not something that we pay for it's basically a shed that's attached to our house that's just what I'm used to calling it this is where we keep things like gardening and lawn tools our bikes and then back here a whole bunch of tools and seasonal equipment and extra paint and so my husband and I are going to go through all of this and get our 29 items for the day all right this is a very narrow space so it's hard to show you all of the items that we've decided to get rid of but just like last time we've managed to find all of our items for days 29 and 30 all in one go so we have an edger some Christmas stuff in that bag a sleeping bag some lawn landscaping stuff and then tools and random other crap that just sort of accumulate in storage units or sheds like ours so all of this is going for days 29 and 30 and what we are left with is everything back here so it's still kind of a lot of stuff but I hope it will be easier to go back through and manage once we get this crap out of the way so this wraps up the minimalism game so yeah I made it through again and I'm actually really proud that I finished this time because it was getting a bit tough at the end but I made it through and I am so happy with my house right now I really feel like I've reached sort of a state of equilibrium I feel like I have the right amount of possessions and the right possessions for me right now I'm sure that will change in the future I would be shocked if it didn't but right now I'm incredibly happy with the results of this game has helped me to achieve now in case you're interested in hearing my thoughts and sort of my general critique of this method I included those in the video that I made the first time I did this challenge and so I will leave that video linked in the description below along with the video that I made the second time I did this challenge in case you just want to see more of the stuff that I've gotten rid of but as this is now the third time that I've completed the challenge I have a few new thoughts and reflections that I'll share briefly with you right now my first new thought I'm calling the power of defamiliarization so something that I noticed this time around with the minimalism game is that I would be concentrating on a particular space say a closet and I would be almost done with that closet except I had a couple of items that I wanted to take out of it and so what I told myself was no you needed to take down those items and put them anywhere else find new homes for them and so as I was walking around my house with those items looking for new homes for them I realized that I didn't want to store those items anywhere else either and realizing that made it a lot easier to get rid of them but what I think was happening is that I had become so accustomed to so familiar with seeing those items in a particular context that I was basically immune to it but once I remove those items from that context it suddenly made me realize that I didn't actually need these things so if you are accustomed to seeing your clutter in a particular space and you're kind of okay with it now try taking that clutter and moving it anywhere else and just that change of context might help you to realize that you don't need to hold on to that clutter either another sort of personal thing that I noticed this time around is that it's important for me that the inside of my cabinets be sort of as nice and pleasing as what I display outside of those cabinets so a little while ago I would open up particular cabinets and drawers and just kind of get stressed out by their interior state they weren't disorganized they weren't sort of overly packed but they didn't really look nice either and so I slowly realized over time that for me it's important that what I store behind closed cabinet doors look as nice as everything that I display outside of those spaces now I don't have open shelving in my house but something that I found really useful is to approach those faces cabinets drawers and closets as though they were open and on display all the time and approaching those faces in this way has really made me sort of reconsider some items that I've justified keeping behind those closed doors it's made me realize that I don't need a lot of those things and I can spend a little bit of time and effort making those spaces look nice so I don't get stressed out whenever I my cabinets my third and final sort of revelation from completing the minimalism game this time around is that it can take a little time to adjust to seeing your space with fewer items in it now I know I just made a video on styling minimalist spaces I'll leave that in the description down below if you want to check it out but this is actually something that I failed to mention in that video and it's that when you declutter a space and see it again for the first time it can feel a bit odd and empty I've heard it like him too seeing somebody without their glasses on for the first time when you first see it fewer items in it it can seem a bit strange but it takes a little bit of time but you will adjust I think about my kitchen countertops and whenever I first completed the minimalism games this time around it felt kind of strange they felt very clear and it just wasn't used to that but now it's been a few weeks and whenever I stand in front of my countertops I think how did I ever have more stuff on these countertops why would I ever have more stuff on these countertops so if you declutter up space and it feels a bit empty give yourself a little bit of time you will adjust all right I hope you've enjoyed but I suspect will be my last 30 day minimalism game for a little while I may switch over to a new format but we'll see and if you haven't done the 30 day minimalism game yourself get up and get rid of one item and tomorrow get rid of two you will not regret it it's really given me a new perspective on my possessions and on decluttering itself in general so I can't recommend it enough if you haven't tried it give it a go that's going to be it for me today as always thank you so much for watching I hope you've enjoyed this video and I'll see you next time

Channel: Vested Interests

Views: 206,147

Rating: 4.8263216 out of 5

Keywords: 30 day minimalism game, thirty day minimalism game, minimalism game, minimalism challenge, extreme declutter, extreme home decluttering, extreme kon mari, extreme konmariing, home decluttering, house decluttering, minimalist home, kon mari home, minimalist house, decluttered month, minimalism game review, complete 30 day minimalism game, the minimalists

Id: heMfEEys26I

Length: 19min 50sec (1190 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 22 2018