Minimal wardrobes, homes and work spaces are taking over pinterest and instagram feeds. Many people admire the minimalist lifestyle, but feel that they can’t achieve it because they have “too much stuff”, they don’t have the time to declutter, or they can’t kick their shopping addiction.
But minimalism doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t look the same for every person. To help jump start your minimalism journey, I’ve created a 30 day challenge that will give you a framework to help you start simplifying your life.
Week 1
For the first week, let’s start small. Focus on your bathroom. Your bathroom is likely one of the most visited spaces in your home, so it’s pretty easy to decipher what you use on a daily basis versus what you don’t. Start by taking out everything in your cabinets and drawers while separating the items into three piles: keep, donate, and trash. Throughout the week take note of how you feel in your new simplified space.
Week 2
For week two, we’re now going to transition to our vehicles. Take everything out and separate the items into a keep pile, donate pile, and trash pile. After doing so, look through your keep pile and return things that belong in the car into appropriate spaces and take the other items back into your home to store them or trash the items that need to be disposed of.
Week 3
Now that we’ve had two weeks to warm up and get a feel for what it’s like to have cleaner spaces, we will now move on to our kitchen areas. Don’t be intimidated! Start with one cabinet and declutter before going to the next. You have a whole week to complete your kitchen so pace yourself. Use the same process as the previous two weeks — separate the items into a keep, donate, and trash pile.
Week 4
Week four is for coat closets, laundry rooms, and living rooms. Because these spaces tend to be fairly small, I’ve grouped them together into one week. While decluttering these areas, use the same method as the previous weeks.
Week 5
Now the week we’ve all been waiting for. Week five is dedicated to your wardrobe and bedroom. It can be overwhelming, but you can do it! I personally used the Marie Kondo method to declutter my wardrobe and bedroom. The Marie Kondo method entails you piling all of your clothes and possessions on a flat surface and requires you to pick up each individual item and decide whether that item sparks joy — if it doesn’t it goes into the donate or trash pile. I would recommend starting with just clothing one day and starting with miscellaneous items later in the week. This area may take a little more than one week and that’s okay, but getting started is what’s important.
*I’m aware that many households and living situations are different. If you have a space I didn’t mention (i.e. Garage), then decide what week would be best to fit in a time to declutter that space. If you don’t have a space I mentioned, just skip ahead to the next available space to declutter.
I would love to know if you decided to try this challenge! Send and tag me in photos of your spaces on instagram @aaliyahinspired or on twitter @aaliyahdanyell. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section or visit my contact page to send an email.
Happy decluttering!
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