30-day Minimalist Challenge

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Have you wanted to join the minimalist journey but can’t seem to start?

Join me next month, where we will play a game centered around the 30-Day Minimalist Challenge.

In this 30-day experiment, if you will, we will work together to eliminate the clutter in our lives. A few kick-off points are if you agree with the following:

• • You have been interested in minimizing your possessions but can’t seem to start.
  • You want to live a minimalist life, but you aren’t making it a priority.
  • You have so much stuff you don’t know where to start.
  • Maybe you want to see what others are getting rid of.

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A Quick Video to Start

I found a cool program that allows me to create short videos!

And now is as good of a time as any to try it out. Just know this is currently a free service, so please ignore the “Made with Animoto” in the lower right corner.

After you watch the video, I would appreciate knowing what you think about it. And, if you are interested in the coming-up challenge, leave a YES in the comments below!

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Idea Behind the 30-Day Minimalist Challenge

I want to give credit where it’s due mainly because, sadly, I didn’t think of this idea myself.

Instead, it came from a podcast I was listening to (The Rachel Cruze Show). She had two guests on that I really enjoyed listening to and wanted to know more.

This show was about embracing minimalism to transform your money habits and whole life dramatically.

The guys behind The Minimalists, Joshua and Ryan, came up with the idea of the Minimalism Game Calendar. And again, the concept behind it is to get rid of your access stuff.

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The Game Rules

I know nobody likes rules, but these need to be followed to a T!

For every day of the month, you get rid of that many times. For example, since we are starting in October, you will get rid of one thing on the first of the month.

That’s easy, and everyone can do that.

Then on October 2, you get rid of two things. And so on until we get to October 31, where you will get rid of 31 things (in one day)!

Let’s do some math, if you follow the rules, from October 1 – 31, you will be getting rid of a whopping 496 items!

There is a strong possibility that this will be very easy during the first week.

After all, it’s a pretty simple game. All your doing is getting rid of something every day, but every small step adds up.

An additional rule

The game rules are pretty simple, but I found that makes a lot of sense.

You have to get rid of the items for that day by midnight, with no exceptions.

Why? Because if you leave it in the corner of your room, you might put it back in your closet. This goes back to, “I’ll donate it someday.” That is not acceptable.

Make sure everything you are getting rid of leaves your home by midnight!

My main goal is to give my items a second life when I can.

If I clean out a bin, cupboard, or closet and something is obviously garbage, that will be its second home. But I plan on donating most of my things.

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Less Is More

You might be wondering why I’m so into minimalism.

I’ve had a long desire to live with less. I also know that can mean different things to different people.

For me, I want the things around me that bring me joy and the things that make me happy.

I have tried many things to motivate myself to go through my items. But, as I’m sure you know, it’s a big task that will take time.

Restarting this journey has proven to be difficult.

Then, just last week, I found The Minimalists were on the Ramsey network. Many good podcast stations, but who would have thought minimalists would be on Ramsey? I had to check it out.

I logged onto their website (The Minimalists) and found useful information, including the 30-day Minimalist Challenge Calendar.

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Helping Each Other

Having an accountability partner is the best way to stay on task.

That is why I’m writing this post, and I want to see if any others are interested in doing this with me. If so, let me know in the comments below.

I also plan on posting this to Facebook to see if others are interested but might not read this blog (yet).

Like many things on this blog, putting this out there is another way to hold myself accountable. And if you want to join me, we will be in this together.

With that said, getting five people to join me on this would be amazing. If there is more, then that is just fantastic.

We will see if this small group can hold each other accountable to make it to the end of the month!

Also, I’m a little competitive and have to beat everyone. So all that means is I will hold you accountable, and you can do the same for me.

Now, how are we going to do this?

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Getting Started with the 30-Day Minimalist Challenge

If you want to join me, we are starting this game on Friday, October 1, 2021.

The cool thing is that it’s a Friday, and then you have the weekend. That also means that by waking up on Monday, you would have gotten rid of six things.

Let’s be real. That is more than I’ve eliminated in the last three months.

This will be a fun way to get the ball rolling.

Who knows what will happen at the end of the 30 days.

You might not want to do it anymore, and that is totally okay. At least now you know. Or, you might be on a rampage and keep going (that’s what I hope happens to me).

More Ideas

If you are like me, there are so many things that you are keeping because, “You never know,” or “I might need it someday.” Or 1,000 other reasons.

My advice is to keep this process as simple as possible. If you haven’t used something in the last 30 days, do you really need to keep it?

A better question I’m going to be asking myself:

Have I used this item in the last 90 days? And will I use it in the next 90 days?

If the answer to both is no, it will count as one of your items to toss.

Keeping a log

I will keep a log of what I’m tossing to make this a little more fun and hold myself accountable.

I haven’t decided if I’ll add it to this post or not, but that will be a way I can prove to myself that it’s possible.

I can’t wait to start, but I want some things out of this experiment.

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My Expectations

• I think it will be easy until around the 10th.
• I want this to push me to keep this process going.
• I hope this game gives me the continued motivation
• I plan on being able to stick with this for the entire month.
• My goal is by December 31, I will no longer need my storage unit (that’s a big one)

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Leave me a comment below:

What do you think about this challenge?

Do you think it would be fun to try, or do you think minimalists are crazy?

If you are interested in the coming-up October 30-day Minimalist Challenge, leave a YES in the comments below!

Don’t Forget – Let me know what you think about the above video too!