My Minimalism Game Experience: The 30-Day Minimalism Game

I hope everyone is doing okay with everything going on in the world right now. I’ve been working on this blog post for quite some time, trying to make sure I get it just the way I wanted before publishing, and I’m finally happy with how it turned out. If you’re trying to think of things to do while stuck inside, or if you’re just wanting to get started on Spring cleaning, then this post is for you.

At the end of January, I wrote a blog post announcing that I was participating in the 30-Day Minimalism Game. If you aren’t familiar with the challenge, be sure to check out my last post explaining what the 30-Day Minimalism Game is and why I decided to give it a try. Essentially, I had to spend the whole month decluttering items around my apartment, and see if I could declutter 465 items by the end of the month.

I started the challenge on February 1st, and it was really simple at first. So simple that when I started decluttering I had already gathered things for many days in advance. When it got to Day 20, things got very difficult. I didn’t have time to declutter every single day, so there were days when I had to declutter double or triple the amount of items for that day because I was so behind.

It got to the point where I was going back and decluttering areas around the apartment that I had already decluttered. At that point, I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to finish the challenge, because I was having a hard time finding new things to declutter and parting ways with the things that I was on the fence about.

The last few days of the challenge came and I decided to look up some inspiration on Pinterest. I finally got the motivation I needed and got ideas of more things that I could get rid of. I came very close to giving up, but sure enough I finally hit the 465 items at the very end. Actually, I ended up decluttering MORE than the required 465 items. Once I was on a streak, I started decluttering without counting the items and before I knew it I had decluttered about 20 more items than what the challenge called for.

What I Did with my Items

I did a variety of things with my items to make sure someone could get the best use out of them and they didn’t all go to the trash. Of course, I had to throw away things that were expired. I donated a large portion of the items I decluttered. I also made a little bit of money by taking some clothes to Plato’s Closet and some books and other things to Half Price Books!

Life After the Minimalism Game

I’ve briefly discussed my minimalism journey on my blog, so you might know that I declutter in small spurts pretty often. I did a pretty big declutter of my belongings right before I moved into my apartment. I’d say that before the challenge, I wasn’t new to minimalism, but I wasn’t a pro either. I’m honestly still not a pro and I don’t think my apartment will ever be clutter-free because I like collecting things (like Pokémon cards & plush, video games and vinyl). That’s just the type of person I am. But, I will say that my mindset has already changed quite a bit since finishing this challenge.

I am more aware of the things that I am buying and bringing into the apartment. Before the challenge, if I wanted to buy something and if I had the money for it, I would’ve bought it without any second thought. Now, I’m more conscious of my purchases, and I’ve turned down buying many things that I previously would’ve bought.

The Minimalism Game has also encouraged me to start using up products that I own instead of letting them sit around. I’m pretty bad about collecting samples and then never using them, but I’ve started using them up or deciding that they need to go.

Even though the challenge is over, I’m still questioning if I need certain things that I still own and I’m still decluttering things that I no longer use or like. It’s also made me want to reorganize things around the apartment now that I have less things to worry about and some space freed up.

I hope this post has inspired you in some way to declutter your own belongings and clear your own space. If you want to participate in the Minimalism Game, but need some inspiration, I’ve created a checklist of 80 Things to Declutter Today.

Download the FREE Declutter Checklist:

I want to know, how far are you in your minimalism journey? Would you ever participate in the 30-Day Minimalism Game? If so, I’d love to see your progress! You can send me photos or links to your posts showing your journey.

Until next time,