Ep 44: What Happened During the Latest Declutter Challenge

It’s day 16 of a month-long Home Revolution Decluttering and Cleaning Challenge.

A group of us are decluttering our homes for 14 days and following it up with 14 days of deep cleaning. It’s all in an effort to start loving our homes again.

This has been quite the year and with so much out of our control it’s time we took back our homes to show them who’s boss.

So, what were the takeaways from the first half of the challenge where we decluttered our spaces. Well, there are 6 major lessons I’ve learned so far from this inspiring group of families who are joining me on the journey.

This episode of the Wannabe Minimalist Show will help you discover:

What a decluttering challenge looks like
How we are decluttering our homes quickly
The most important rooms to declutter and clean
The top 6 lessons l’m taking from the first half so I can make the second half of the challenge better
The secret to succeeding in a declutter challenge

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6 Surprising Things I Learned from my Latest Declutter Challenge

Six Surprising Things I Learned in My Latest Declutter Challenge TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to the Wannabe Minimalist Show with Deanna Yates Episode number 44. I’m doing another quick episode today because we are in the middle of the 1 month Home Revolution Challenge and we’re about halfway done. I thought it would be fun to do a checkin on what we’ve learned so far and I’ll do a follow up at the end of the challenge.

Hey there wannabe minimalist friends! Welcome back to the show. As always, I’m your host Deanna Yates, creator of WannabeClutterFree.com and this podcast The Wannabe Minimalist Show.

Today, I’m talking to you about the Home Revolution Challenge and how it’s going now that we’re half way through.

But, what is the Home Revolution Challenge I hear some of you asking? Well, it’s a 28 day challenge where we spend the first 14 days decluttering our homes and the second 14 days deep cleaning them.

We started the challenge on September 1st and took a one day break between the 2 sections which means that as of today we have officially finished the decluttering portion and have moved on to the deep cleaning.

However, if you are just now hearing of this for the first time, you can sign up for a daily email of the challenge by going to the link for the Home Revolution Challenge that I will leave in the show notes or at LittleGreenBow.com/44. Again that’s littlegreenbow.com forward slash the number 44.

And we’d love to have you join the ongoing discussion in our closed Wannabe Minimalist Facebook Community. I’ll have a link to our group in the show notes, but you can just search for Wannabe Minimalist and you’ll be able to find us that way too.

So, how are things going in the challenge and what have been the biggest takeaways so far?

The First lesson I’ve learned that decluttering requires a bit of maintenance. Not a lot, but if you do not put systems in place, your stuff can become a problem again.

You see, I hosted a decluttering challenge in January and I got rid of a lot of stuff. It was a 21-day challenge and we snowballed our decluttering process throughout the entire house.

Naturally, because I decluttered so much less than a year ago, I did not have as much to declutter this time around, but I discovered that I definitely needed to tidy up.

So organization is not what I think we should start with, but organization is important in order to keep your decluttered spaces neat and tidy.

The Second takeaway we have been talking about in the community is that Lifestyle plays a big roll in not only your decluttering efforts, but in maintaining a decluttered home.

I am a mom and wife with a school-aged daughter. l run this podcast and my blog Little Green Bow from my home.

There are a few takeaways from this statement that influences my lifestyle, wardrobe, and home all of which contribute to the things I need in my life.

1. I am a mom. That means I want my clothes to be comfortable and durable. Even if I am dressing up, I want to be able to play with my daughter and not stress about things getting messed up, which probably means more wearable fabrics like cotton and less dry-clean only things like silk.

2. I am a wife. This means I don’t spend time dating and going out a lot. That doesn’t mean I dress like a slob for my husband, but we enjoy cuddles in more than nights out on the town (probably has something to do with being older and being parents)

3. I work for myself from home. I no longer work a corporate job or go into an office. This means that my wardrobe needs are much different than a someone who works in an office.

I want to point out that I am not saying you should be this or that. It’s not good or bad - it’s just the reality of the situation.

It would be silly of me to keep my old corporate clothes (they’ll be out of style before I head back that way!) or have a closet filled with clothes that do not fit my needs or current desires.

Often, we keep things out of habit instead of examining if they fit the life we are living or want to live. If they don't fit, it’s time to let them go where maybe they will be useful to someone else.

The third lesson I’ve taken away from the challenge so far (and I’ve heard from some of you) is that bringing less stuff INTO YOUR HOME is one of the easiest ways to maintain it’s decluttered state.

I guess one could say that is a silver lining with Coronavirus - I have not gone into a store so the temptation to purchase new items has been minimized too.

Temptation and purchasing new things is something I do get asked about pretty frequently. And I’ve talked about this a bit with paper decluttering and on a couple other episodes. But, I highly, highly, highly recommend limiting the advertisements, marketing efforts, and sales attempts constantly being pushed at you.

simple ways to do this include:

unsubscribing from sales and marketing emails

opting out of catalogs you get in the mail

not watching regular tv or recording it and skipping the commercials

stop mindlessly scrolling social media

shopping with a list (and sticking to it) - or give yourself and extra $5-$10 for one splurge item

Be an active shopper (someone who shops only when they know what they want) instead of a passive purchaser (someone who buys something they didn’t even know existed a few minutes prior in an attempt to fill a void or stave off boredom)

Honestly, because there have been very few purchases in our home this year, I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t a bunch more clutter to sift through. I was able to tell (more clearly) which items have been used in the past few months and those that we have looked over time and time again. That is harder to do when there is a constant supply of new things vying for your attention.

Another lesson I learned is that there is no such thing as perfection.

Tastes change and so do our needs

things like liked and needed in my 20’s are totally different than the things like like and need now that I am married and have a child.

It’s kind of like lifestyle, but also the environment around us changes so rapidly and we’re not immune to these outside influences.

I mean social media wasn’t a thing in my early 20s (yes I am dating myself) but think about how much that has changed the world we live in.

That’s not to say you should give into these outside influences, but it’s helpful to realize that we are living beings who are supposed to grow and change (hopefully for the better) and we get older.

How does this relate to the challenge - well, people often feel guilty for getting rid of things. But, instead of holding on to something you used to love out of guilt, it’s better to appreciate it for the joy it brought into your life and understand that you have moved on.

Just make sure you factor in my previous lesson if you are trying to maintain a decluttered home and not just buying new trendy things because the marketers tell you that you need it.

The fifth takeaway from me is that breaking down decluttering into smaller tasks definitely makes the projects easier. If someone tells you to declutter your home it feels impossible, but if someone walks you though decluttering a kitchen drawer, well, that makes it possible.

Never underestimate the power of incremental steps to get you to your big goal. Sure somedays are going to be harder than others and you may even fall behind, but if you keep at it and press forward, you will get to the end goal.

Some of the members of the challenge have fallen behind and I think they were afraid I would kick them out (FYI I would never!) and instead of getting down on them, the group has been super encouraging. Have I told you that I love the awesome tribe we’re forming. It’s so cool to see people lift each other up.

But, back to the challenge….I would much rather someone join the challenge and try instead of sitting back and not joining because they’re not able to do all of it to perfection.

So, if that’s you and you would like to get in on the challenge, come on over to the Wannabe Minimalist Community on Facebook. Sure, you’ll be starting late, but there’s lots of encouragement and info to help you along the way.

The 6th and final takeaway I want to share today is that what holds us back the most are our mindsets.

we hold onto things for their sentimental value

we hold onto things because they were expensive

we hold onto things because they were a gift

we hold onto things because we might need it in the future

None of the reasons I just listed are because we love and use something. Our things are tools for us to use in our lives to make them easier, more beautiful, more fulfilling, or more comfortable.

Things are a great way to spark our memories, but they are not our memories. Those live in our minds.

So my challenge is, can you recall the memory of someone, some time, or some thing, by keeping the most special thing - not ALL THE THINGS.

One of the best sayings that I remind myself of, quite often really, is that if EVERYTHING is special, then NOTHING is.

It’s been a great decluttering challenge so far and I am always inspired by the new lessons I learn from taking part.

So what did we declutter in 14 days? The spaces were:

Kitchen Drawers

Kitchen Cabinets

Small Appliances

Pantry

Counters and Dining Table

Your Bedroom

Your Closet

The Entryway

Flat Surfaces including Your Floors and Side tables

Toys

Paper

Work Spaces

Storage Closets

The Garage

And a lot of you always ask about the HOW. I feel like this is one of the most important steps and often the missing piece.

Each day came with a checklist to follow and most days or areas followed my QUICK Decluttering Method.

Let’s recap the QUICK Decluttering Method so you know how I like to declutter as fast as possible. It’s an acronym so it’s easy to remember.

QUICK stands for:

Q stands for Question the purpose (stating the purpose of a room, area, or space makes it easier to make decisions on the items you want to keep there)

U stands for Uncover what you have (when possible, we remove all items from a room, area, or space so we know exactly what we own)

I stands for Into the piles it all goes (using a fast sorting method everything gets put into one of three piles)

C stands for Curate your favorites (this is the step where only the items in your keep/love pile that fit the purpose of the room you are decluttering get to go back into the room)

K stands for Keep the clutter away (the final step is how you keep the clutter under control so that you NEVER have to do a huge declutter again)

Now that we are heading into the deep cleaning portion of the challenge I will be taking these lessons with me.

This is part of the challenge that is REALLY going to push me because while I am neat, deep cleaning has never been my strong suit.

Over the second half of the challenge we will be cleaning:

The Refrigerator

The Oven and Range

Your Kitchen Sink and Microwave

Cabinet and Drawer Fronts

Bathtubs & Showers

Bathroom Toilets

Bathroom Sinks

The Dishwasher

Washer & Dryer

Fabric Furniture

Ceiling Fans & Vents

Dusting all Surfaces and Plants

Windows, Blinds, and Curtains

Floors & Baseboards

Now I want to hear from you…have you participated in a decluttering challenge before? Do you want to join us for this one?

Come on over to my private Wannabe Minimalist Facebook Community, introduce yourself, and share your thoughts. I’m so excited to hear from you and help encourage you on your journey toward less stuff, more happiness, and an awesome life you and your family deserve.

The group is totally free and you can find us by clicking on the link in the show notes or by searching for Wannabe Minimalist on Facebook. I want to meet you there and hear about your journey.

And don’t forget if you would like to get all of the show notes for today’s episode you can find it all at little green bow dot com slash 44. Once again get all the show notes and the links for everything we talked about today on my website at littlegreenbow.com/44.

And before I go, I just want to say thank you for listening. I know you have so many options for how to spend your time and it means the world to me that you choose to spend some of it with me.

Let me know what you enjoyed hearing from this show and if you had any big takeaways. Feel free to tag me on Instagram stories so that I can see what you liked the most. You can also subscribe to be notified of new episodes where ever you prefer to listen to podcasts and please leave me a review if you’ve enjoyed the show so more people can find us and enjoy the benefits of a minimalist lifestyle.

That just about wraps it up for this episode of the Wannabe Minimalist show.

Be sure to join me next week for another guest episode. This time I will be talking to someone I became friends with through her amazing Minimalist ~ Simple Living Facebook Group. She’s been on her journey toward simple living for a couple years and her story is inspiring. Make sure you don’t to miss it. See you next week.