Minimalism Game: The 30-Day Challenge
On June 1, my friend Louise and I decided to play the Minimalism Game, a game thought up by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists.
The premise is simple: take 30 days. On day 1, reduce your possessions by 1 item. On day 2, by 2 items. And so on, until on day 30 you're getting rid of 30 items.
This is a two-part post. This first part is a record of all the things I let go of. See here for the second part - my thoughts and feelings about this challenge.
Day 1
(1) Cards from almost 12 weeks ago when Zara was born - I tend to take photos of any heartfelt messages and email them to myself under a Memories thread. I'll probably never look back at them, but it makes it easy to recycle the cards themselves.
Did you know, glitter can't be recycled? You can cut out the glittery bits on any glitter cards you receive and recycle the rest. I only learned about glitter really recently and will be avoiding buying it from now on as it can end up in the ocean!
Day 2
(1) Ben & Jerry's tee from an event - I have so many swag tees and am not someone who wears them unfortunately!
(2) Necklace I found in 2014 and wore lots but haven't worn in over a year.
Day 3
(1) More cards - birthday cards from my birthday on May 1. I usually keep cards up for 1 month and then recycle them - today is June 2, so this is standard take-down time!
(2) An gifted "I'm Tired" badge well-worn during the first few weeks with a newborn 🙈 I'm still tired, but it's normal now 😅
(3) Comfy trousers I've only had for a year but that are beyond repair. Covered in huge rips but the fabric is low quality and if I sew them up they'll tear again.
Day 4
Clothes - the first of which was bought in 2009.
Day 5
Clothes - the first of which was bought in 2007. Shoes worn almost every night from 2010-2012.
Day 6
My friend's old jacket, charity shop leggings, one of those leaf necklaces every girl had in 2009, leather strap watch from 2012/2013, corporate interview pencil skirt that I'd burn if it wasn't bad for the environment.
Day 7
Beginning to see a pattern. More clothes I vowed to sell but never got round to uploading on Vinted. Second-hand necklace. And a gifted doughnut keyring. Clothes are all going to my local charity shops - one for the homeless and one supporting the London Buddhist Centre and their community work.
Day 8
Another swag tee from Itsu, a brand new water bottle (blog hamper gifts), a rock I found that I thought I could use as a pumice stone but used once, jewellery from 2008, a falling-apart hairband, Take Charge Of Your Fertility book (I wanted Taking Charge but ordered this very similar title by mistake - either way, I understand the workings of my cycle enough now).
Day 9
More clothes dating back to 2009, a necklace I'd worn but repackaged to sell 😩, a USB stick from YouTube Space, a lock and key.
Day 10
Clothes dating back to 2010, a notebook from 2008, phone from 2013, jewellery circa 2008+, Google lanyard.
Day 11
Christmas jumper from Rokit 2014, my friend's shoes (a lot of the clothes generally are old friends' clothes), jewellery starting from 2004!, the top of a Vera Wang perfume bottle from 2008, another Google lanyard (I used to work there).
Day 12
More clothes (half second-hand), dating back to 2011. Mini alcohol bottle (been teetotal since 2014.) Shoes that cause blisters despite having been worn 30+ times.
iPhone box from the attic. Medication given by GP, I think for a UTI in 2016 but I ended up drinking loads of water and it sorted itself (not saying I recommend this as I'm not a medical professional and antibiotics are often necessary as far as I know)!
Headband, bangle, hairband dating back to 2006.
Old spare house key before locks were changed.
Day 13
Clothes from 2011+, old shower curtain, old cushion cover, pregnancy & newborn leaflets from NHS (not the important stuff).
Day 14
Gross old dog bed - we bought one for the dog my dad was supposed to bring home 5 days after he suddenly died. Then when we brought Mango into our family, he used it but it's falling apart so badly from where he's constantly chewed it and ripped bits off! And you can't wash the inner. Not a good choice! Just got a proper bed for him instead.
Book gifted from my time working at GV, which I'll never use because I'm not techy.
Extremely out of date dried herbs & spices, as we grow our own now, and others I'll never use as they were bought for specific recipes. Some went out of date in 2015!
Leggings from 2010 with holes in.
Bookbag from the baby clinic that they give free books to parents in.
Glass bottle that's been my watering jug, but I realise Peppe has one too and his is bigger, so why do I have one?
Its starting to get a bit harder now, but still loads of stuff to get through. This feels soooo refreshing. It's making me realise how I can get used to things being in my space that were once valuable, but that have actually not been valuable for months or years.
Since 2015, I've been good at not bringing new junk in. But I still have lots of old junk to give to charity, recycle, repurpose, give away or dispose of.
Day 15
Paperwork and junk. Old jewellery. Freebie bubble bath (our local charity shop sells unopened toiletries). Business cards. Flooring samples (floor was laid maybe January 2017). Yoga class attendee list. Arbonne samples that I forced myself to finally use. I'm so bad for keeping samples in a box, intending to use them for travel and then never actually using them!
Day 16
Cheerleading shoes from uni days, plastic clip wallet from 2004? 2008?, baubles (lots of them unpictured), Blackberry, out of date trail mix, bra, personal training course mock papers, cookbook, lone bra insert, underwear.
Day 17
Newspaper, notebook, more PT notes, old magazine, 3 bikinis (2 of which are falling apart), shoe insole, knife box, underwear, belt, another old Nokia phone, etc etc etc.
Day 18
6 pairs of horrible horrible underwear, clammy nasty material leggings, packaging for vitamins that is empty, a receipt I finally split with friends, journal notes I took a photo of and uploaded, a person training client's PAR-Q form, some postcard things from PRs from my food blog (no idea whi I still had them), leggings with massive hole even though they're Adidas and I bought them last year (shops like Monki will happily take this material from you) , more leaflets, Wicked Healthy cookbook that I'm giving to my mother-in-law because she's great with recipes whereas I'll eat oatmeal for dinner and not think anything of it.
Day 19
Moisturiser from 2004 or 2008 in Malaysia (!), dress from.Germany 2005 or 2006, makeup tips I saved from More magazine as a teenager, jewellery things, YouTube stickers and other swag, uni course overview, empty CD case and more.
Day 20
Pig photo holder, heart spring ornament from maybe 2003, two old cameras, Natalie Imbruglia album, software CDs, old socks, brick phone and more.
Day 21
Charlton scarf, cinema glasses, CD albums, Elmo, cheerleading makeup, toe separator 😂 my toes have never needed separating as my feet are crazy wide and fat. They're like little flippers.
Day 22
Bras, suspenders (wish I could write a letter to my 18-year-old self about self-worth, as I definitely wasn't comfortable), tights, hair rollers, makeup bag, lace top, clutch bag, CDs, sunglass bag, belt.
Day 23
Cushion infill, school tights bundle, shoes, hairbrushes, swimsuit, medal, socks, hair extensions, business cards, purse, lots more.
Day 24
Fancy dress accessories, bags from 2004+, shower cap, plastic bags from well over a decade ago, a free bikini from 2006, a single chopstick without a partner.
Day 25
Time to clear out lots of old shoes! Plus gloves, jewellery, fabric, bikini, more clothes, bags.
Day 26
This was the most difficult day - my beloved cassettes are no more. I had a cassette player in my old car so could justify listening to them in that, but since we traded it in, I only have my cassette player walkman, and I live in East London and don't want to be one of those insufferable hipsters. I guess I should give away my walkman too. My heart breaks a little for this, but I know it's for the best.
Day 27
A huge pile of assorted junk. I'm not calling the Bible junk - it's just broken all the way through the spine and we have others lying around!
Day 28
Ton of dresses, fancy dress costumes and a few other things.
Day 29
Lots and lots of clothing. Clearing out all my teenage clothes from my mum's house at this point.
Day 30
Charlton fixtures table 2010-2011, packet for Chinese eyelid tape, Chinese wedding origami houses, logbook from car scrapped in 2009, notebooks from uni, empty perfume box.
Thanks for reading!
