Yes, you read that right. You can declutter your home in 30 days (with me!). In fact, we’re starting a challenge over on my Instagram page called 30 Days to Decluttered and I am so excited. But first let’s circle back to where this idea started.
How does clutter affect us?
In December of 2021 we moved to a new state where we knew no one. A corporate relocation company handled our move and therefore I didn’t have to pack a thing. It was very nice, but it wasn’t until I was unpacking our kitchen that I realized how much less storage our new kitchen had. But I realized something else as well: We had so MANY THINGS we didn’t need in this small kitchen.
As I was unpacking our house I think I took up to 10 boxes full of stuff to donate. Even though our new house was significantly larger, I realized we just had a lot of unnecessary stuff. I had to spend so much time tidying and cleaning. The clutter just kept piling up and I felt like I was never going to be able to relax in my own house. I was finding that we were losing family time because we had too many things to mind. And I was feeling more stressed and anxious because I was struggling to get everything on my to-do lists done.
Clutter and the “Mental Load”
Fast forward to January 2023. I had just had a baby and we celebrated Christmas in the same week. I realized that my mental load wasn’t going to be getting any lighter and my home was just getting more cluttered. I felt like I was treading water in my own home. I started reading about how mental health can be related to the amount of clutter in the home. Studies have shown that living with less clutter makes us happier, more confident, and less stressed and anxious. Sign me up for that!. So I decided to start a journey to live with less. Not just a one-time organizational purge, but a long-term goal of not being surrounded by excess stuff.
Declutter in 30 Days Challenge
Now we’re in September of 2023 (where has the year gone) and I’ve decided that I want to be even more intentional about decluttering. When I started talking about doing a decluttering challenge on Instagram, I had a lot of followers asking for tips or saying they wanted to do it too. SO the 30 Days to Decluttered Challenge was born. If you’re interested decluttering your home in 30 days, subscribe to my emails. I’ll share decluttering tips, helpful decluttering methods, and teach you (as I also learn) how to declutter your home in a meaningful way. And it just might motivate you to keep it up and start living with less.
We won’t just be throwing everything out. I won’t tell you that everything has to go. But we will focus on editing the items that are necessary versus unnecessary. I want you to think about what is helpful in your home and what items add weight to your mental load. We will be working on streamlining the function of your spaces simply by editing what we own. Organizing is great but I read once that we don’t need better organizational systems, we need less stuff, and I couldn’t agree more. I love an organized space as much as the next girl. But organization can only go so far when you have too much stuff!
The benefits of a decluttered home:
- needing less time to tidy your home
- having less visual clutter means less mental clutter
- decluttering reduces stress and anxiety
- having more time for things and people that are important to you
- having a more beautiful and functional home
- feeling lighter and being able to take a deep breath!
So if you want to have all of the above, join my 30 Days to Decluttered challenge! I’ll be sending emails with decluttering tips and check in on your progress. But don’t worry, I won’t clutter your inbox!
The Best Method to Declutter Your Home
So what is the best method to declutter and are we going to use it in this 30-day challenge? The answer is, that’s up to you. There are so many decluttering methods available from plenty of experts. And I’m still learning them too! I personally don’t think any method to declutter spaces is one-size-fits all. So we are going to keep it really simple. For our 30 days of decluttering, we are going to set our timers for 30 minutes and declutter one specific space for that amount of time. If you only have 15 minutes, that’s totally okay too. But the goal is to make this a regular daily occurrence so that it becomes habit to be mindful about our belongings.
I will have tips and tricks to share that I’ve found from other methods that work for me. But my goal here is to make decluttering the home simple and doable. All you’ll need for this is your phone (timer), and cardboard boxes or trash bags. I personally like to use any cardboard boxes I have lying around because they are easier to fill with items to donate. But trash bags or old laundry baskets work fine too!
I’m so excited to do this and get clutter out of our homes. This 30-day challenge is going to change the way we feel in our homes. As always if you have any questions at all feel free to send me a DM on Instagram (@caitliving).
