Inside: A decluttering challenge is a great way to kick-start your journey towards simplicity. This post shares 5 super simple challenges to declutter your home quickly and with ease and to make decluttering more fun! These decluttering challenges are great for beginners or those who need a refresher. Keep reading to learn how to use challenges to declutter your home plus download your free checklist to declutter your home today!
If you look around your home do you feel calm and content or do you feel stressed and overwhelmed?
If you are anything like me, you probably feel the latter. Womp womp.
Clutter can cause us to feel stress, and there’s science to prove it.
Luckily we don’t have to live in our clutter anymore! We can climb out and declutter our homes so that we no longer feel that stress and overwhelm.
To kick-start your decluttering I have listed 5 challenges to get you started. A decluttering challenge is a great way to spark some competition and excitement (yes really!) around decluttering.
Keep reading to learn about these 5 decluttering challenges and get your house in order in no time!
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Please click here to read what that means.
5 Decluttering Challenges to Quickly Kick Your Clutter to the Curb
#MinsGame
Towards the end of last year I embarked on the journey of completing the 30-Day Minimalism Game from The Minimalists. If you are not familiar with the challenge, the idea is to declutter one item the first day of the challenge, two items the second day, three items the third day, and so on, until you reach 30 days.
This started out SUPER easy. When the average home has 300,000 items, decluttering a few things each day should NOT be that difficult. However, as the month went on, and I was decluttering dozens of things each day, it became more of a challenge!
I documented my 30-Day journey on Instagram (see day #3 below – and follow me over there if you’re not already!)
Documenting this decluttering challenge on Instagram and using the hashtag #MinsGame was a fantastic way for me to connect with other folks completing the challenge as well. Even though I am not currently doing the challenge I still follow the hashtag because it’s so inspiring to see what others are accomplishing! Some people are on rounds two and three of completing the challenge. How encouraging is that!!
If you end up doing the MinsGame let me know so I can cheer you on!
Project333
I wrote about this decluttering challenge in the post Simplify Your Closet in 9 Steps. For this challenge, you choose 33 articles of clothing and accessories to wear over the course of three months. The idea is that you will learn to dress with less and develop a closet that lends itself to easily mix and match.
If you are interested in learning to dress with less, this short, affordable e-course from Courtney Carver at Be More With Less walks you through how to declutter your clothes, choose items for the season and develop your own remixable wardrobe.
Here is a glimpse of what I wore for the fall season:
The thing I love about Project333 is that it’s only three months! At the end of the challenge you can bring everything back out again if you wish! But you may find, like most participants, you don’t even want to.
>>Learn more and sign up for the micro course here.<<
Packing Party
This decluttering challenge also comes from The Minimalists. What can I say, they have great ideas!
The idea is pretty simple: pretend you are moving and box everything up. And they mean everything! As you realize you need things, you pull them out of the boxes. The items that are still boxed up after a certain amount of time, well those things are not essentials and should get donated.
This challenge is definitely not for the faint of heart! And may or may not work for you if you have been decluttering for a while.
However, I will say, when my family moved last summer it was incredible how much stuff we donated before AND after we moved. I am also amazed at how many boxes we haven’t even touched yet.
I think the packing party decluttering challenge has the potential to significantly reduce the number of unneeded items in your home.
>> Learn more here. <<
Toy Detox
If you have kids you need to do The Toy Detox. NOW. This decluttering challenge is similar to the packing party, but is limited to just the toys. The Toy Detox e-course walks you through how to declutter your toys, what toys are good options to keep based on your child’s developmental needs, and how to prevent the toy overwhelm from coming back.
I completed the steps outlined in the course and it has made such a huge difference in how our kids play and interact with the toys. No, we are not perfect. And yes, it’s a continuous process as our children grow and change interests.
The thing I loved about The Toy Detox is that you learn how to set boundaries so you don’t undo all the hard work you have done.
>>Learn more here!<<
Related post: 5 Tips to Combat Toy Clutter
30 Day Decluttering Challenge
A simple 30 day decluttering challenge is a great way to set an achievable goal and have someone else take the guess work out of what to declutter.
There are tons of 30 day challenges on the web. I have pinned several to Pinterest. Follow me over there to see other great simple living and minimalism pins.
Bonus Decluttering Challenge: 40 Bags In 40 Days
I have not completed this challenge yet but it looks like a fun challenge with fun participants each year. While the challenge runs live once a year you don’t have to wait until the blogger facilitates the challenge. You are more than welcome to complete this whenever you want!
You essentially work on 40 areas of your home over a 40 day period. The goal is to declutter 40 bags, but you can have more or less, depending on how decluttered your areas are.
>>Learn more here!<<
FREE Decluttering Checklist
If you need help with the actual decluttering steps, I have broken it down into 8 simple steps for you.
Download your FREE checklist to keep handy while you start simplifying your home!
Related post: 8 Steps to Clear the Clutter
Are you ready to feel calm and content when you look around your home?
Please share in the comments below which decluttering challenge you plan to complete!
Would you like to refer back to this post later? Pin it now!
Photos by Sarah Dorweiler, Bernard Hermant, and Micheile Henderson on Unsplash.
14 Comments on 5 Decluttering Challenges That Will Finally Clear Out Your Junk
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Some days and months I do better than others. Does feel good to declutter and pair down.
I hear you! It can be tough to stay on top of it all time. Every little bit helps though!
Love this post! #MinsGame looks like a fun decluttering challenge. I’m going to give it a try! 🙂
Good luck! It’s fun to watch the hashtag #minsgame to see what others are decluttering too.
I love organizing/decluttering challenges and these sound like great ones! Thanks for the resources. I’m going to take a closer look to see which ones I want to incorporate into my spring cleaning routine.
Hi Carri! Thanks for stopping by! I hope you can find something that helps you this spring!
I loved this, great post and thank you for sharing! My house needs a toy detox!
Hi Chelsey! Toys tend to pile up unless I am intentional with what we have. I swear they just multiply! 🙂
These are such great resources. I’m definitely going to get in on the toy-detox! I’ve been doing a lot of it already but I love learning new tips to do things. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Brandi! Thanks for stopping by! The Toy Detox was a great resource. I learned a ton! Especially about which toys we should really have in our home. Good luck!
I love the 40 bags in 40 days challenge .
Recently, I read Apartment Therapy. The simplicity of having an outbox appealed to me. Put in the outbox what you no longer need, use or love. I filled 18 outboxes in a month and donated the items to out church’s trash and treasure sale. I did this in the evenings during TV commercials; got up with the goal to put 4 items in the outbox. The guest bathroom and office are nearly decluttering and simplified!
Linda – this is amazing!! The outbox is a great idea and spending “commercial time” is brilliant! It sounds like you are on a roll! 🙂
I’m not a full-on minimalist “yet” but I love to declutter! I learned a cool tip to help declutter your clothes: hang your clothes with the hanger hooks facing the wall and then change the hook’s direction to face the closet door if you wear the piece of clothing on the hanger. After 6 months check which pieces have hooks still facing the wall and that should tell you what may need to be cleared away next! I also created a free 30 day decluttering challenge and a fun little “treasure hunt” game to help with decluttering. Check it out at https://buddingoptimist.com/how-to-declutter and let me know what you think!
Hi Sabrina! I have tried the backward hanger experiment for decluttering clothes and it’s very helpful for the items you like but realize you don’t wear regularly. Thanks for the helpful tip!