22 / 2022 Declutter Challenge

This year I have felt it more imperative than ever to have a thorough declutter. Our lives were already busy but now with a new baby the frenzy is amplified and our flat feels smaller than ever. Not only that, but it’s a good time to rid ourselves of the old and make way for the new.

I thought instead of doing what I would usually do (declutter by item or room) it might be fun to create a new challenge for myself. Throughout January I have been recycling, rehoming or throwing away and the method I have used has been to start with one item on day one, two on day two up until twenty two items on the 22nd. In total, 253 items gone in 22 days.

What happened instead was that I carried it on to the end of the month and managed to declutter a total of 495+ items in January. It has been such an excellent way to start the new year and I’ve felt so much better having done it!

Decluttering by amount rather than room or item has meant I’ve decluttered more than I otherwise would have. There was a pressure to keep going which added some much needed momentum. When I struggled, for example with my wardrobe, I didn’t feel the need to keep going until all of my clothes were done which would have been overwhelming, and I didn’t feel bad when I didn’t declutter my clothes all at once because I had managed to achieve my goal of decluttering a certain amount.

I have decided to keep the challenge going on a smaller scale – 46 items a month, so that at the end of the year I’ll have decluttered 1001 items.

See below for a helpful worksheet to hopefully inspire you to declutter using the same method!