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Well that was hard!
So I have sat down now to reflect on the process of the minimalist challenge and came up with a few thoughts along the way.
For anyone who has checked out my latest VLOG over on my You Tube Channel you know that I have some new things coming out this week to help me accomplish the goals I originally but unknowingly set out to complete with the minimalist challenge.
I think that when I started the minimalist challenge I thought I was going to have a much less cluttered house. This did not happen! I think I would need to finish it over and over for a full year in order to remove all the junk from my house and I am just not up for a yearlong challenge like that!
If my math is correct (and for those who know me well know I don’t math) I rid my house of 600 things over the course of the 30 days. That’s a lot but it really didn’t seem to make a dent in the cluttered areas of my home. And it didn’t feel like any area specifically was cleaner than when I started.
The minimalist life style (although I admire those who can live it) is not exactly for us. We need stuff. I have three kids, we have activities, we have commitments, and we live a long way from “the store” like any store. I shop at Costco and buy in bulk whenever I can. We have two fridges and two big deep freezers because if I can, I attempt a once (maybe twice) a month grocery trip, outside of the food we grow and raise ourselves. I bring more things into my home than I could possibly remove at the same rate, and I just don’t see myself going to the extremes of living with less!
I think that was my flaw going into all this. I didn’t have respect for the lifestyle because it wasn’t the life style I was looking for as much as a purge. So purge I will do.
A Spring Clean of sorts. I feel if I set up the cleaning process within the purge I will accomplish more of what I thought I would get out of the original challenge.
So the goal will be to choose an area once a week (there are many to pick from) and clean it. Remove the crap, box up stuff to take to donation, throw out garbage, re organize, and clean an area all at once. I feel this process although it might take longer in the moment, will allow an entire area of my home to be cleaned up and feel less cluttered. Immediate gratification always feels better!
I will be filming, and talking about the process over on my VLOG so please click SUBSCRIBE over on my channel if you are interested in the updates. I wont be doing a continuous update here on this blog as I did with the minimalist challenge, I will be reserving this space for my writing rather than blogs with only click content!
So here is to a cleaner home and less clutter!
-A
It has been a tough go. I realize that there are so many things I hold on to for sentimental reasons, and then I see those behaviours that border on hoarding. It is extremely stressful and exhausting at times to find things that I am willing or able to get rid of, and that makes this process feel all the more necessary. I think that if I can make it thru to the end my house will not only be de-cluttered but I will learn some new ways to let go of things I no longer need and might even spur on some more projects or challenges, but we shall see what the future brings! I am not holding my breath yet! 🙂 It has been interesting, I have learned a lot, and I am excited to be done! Not just for a decluttered house but for the sake of not worrying any more about what to get rid of!
