40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

I heard about Ann Marie Heasley’s “40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge,” in a tweet from Joshua Becker, one of the minimalists I follow. The challenge looks interesting enough:

40 bags in 40 days is a forty day period (coinciding with the 40 days of Lent) where you declutter one area a day.

So I printed out the worksheet and spent an hour or so writing down the areas of the house that need decluttering.

Day 1 was easy.  I picked the foyer, an area where I bring all my good intentions — old towels for donation to the animal shelter, used print cartridges for store credit, and grocery bags for recycling, just to name a few. Unfortunately, these things never make it to their intended destinations because I have to find out where to take these donations and when these places are open. So they all get stuffed in the closet. But this time, I was determined. I made a pile of coats to donate and sorted through all the bags at the bottom of the closet. I plan on (really) bringing them to their new homes this week.

Day 1 of 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge: Found over 70 old printer ink cartridges that were supposed to be recycled.

Day 2 was my desk. What was slated for an hour, turned into an afternoon project. It seems I have an obsession with post-it notes and expired, unclipped coupons. It was easy to throw out the coupon books and recycle newspaper coupons, but the coupons from that store that takes expired coupons…well, that’s where I got stuck. I shredded papers, put stuff away that didn’t belong on the desk, and paid some bills hidden in my inbox. I would like to revisit my desk later on in the challenge to see if there are more things I can toss.

Day 2: Tried to make a dent in my desk. Put away everything that didn’t belong on the desk and threw out all the unclipped, expired coupons.

Day 3, I needed something that wouldn’t require so much heavy lifting or movement. I chose to tackle my email boxes. I was going to save this for later on in the challenge, for those days when I couldn’t work at home. But, I needed something easy. Turns out I hoard email, too. I can’t seem to part with the “40% off already reduced prices AND free shipping coupons.” I deleted 1155 email from my one account and 333 email from another.  I am proud to say that I unsubscribed to almost every retailer. Since then, I have been keeping up with unsubscribing and deleting unwanted email.

Day 3: Deleted emails from two accounts.

Day 4 I worked on my bedroom. No pictures for this one. Sometimes I have to draw the line on what I can share. #tooshameful I had a hard time parting with unmatched socks. My sister commented, “it makes me feel better when I use the unmatched socks to dust around the house before tossing them #getridofthem .”  I also have an obsession with hotel toiletries.   Sometimes I even ask housekeeping for extra.  My cousin recommended, “donating those toiletries to a shelter… #keepgoing #inspired”  So I will try to follow up on these suggestions.

Day 5 looks like this:

Day 5: Den (before pic) hoping to tie up boxes and newspaper for recycling and bag up coats for donations.

I will post an after pic on Instagram.

A big thanks to everyone who keeps me encouraged. I really don’t know how things get this bad.  #lifejusthappens

How do you keep clutter at bay?  Share with us your story…