8 Easy Decluttering Challenges to do This Month!

Hey there, Decluttering Friend! Are you ready to tackle the clutter that’s been creeping up on you in your own home? The nerve! If you’re nodding your head, shouting, “YES!” or exhibiting some other form of acknowledgment, then let’s get started right away while the momentum is strong. This month, we’re turning decluttering into a fun adventure with 10 themed decluttering challenges that will not only help you clear the chaos but also bring a little joy and mindfulness into your life.

Imagine stepping into your space and feeling like, “Ahhhhhhhh, I love it here!”, knowing that everything around you serves a purpose or brings you happiness. Sounds dreamy, right? Well, it’s totally achievable! By breaking down the decluttering process into manageable, themed challenges, you’ll find it easier (and way more fun) to tackle those pesky piles of stuff.

Each decluttering challenge is designed to not only help you declutter but also to connect your efforts to broader goals—like living more simply, creating joyful spaces, or simply enjoying a more organized life. So grab your favorite beverage (if it’s tea, you’re my kindred spirit!), roll up your sleeves, and let’s dive into this month’s decluttering challenges that will leave you feeling accomplished, refreshed, and ready to embrace a simpler, more organized lifestyle! Let’s get started!

1. Mindful Mornings: Declutter Your Nightstand

Your nightstand is one of the first things you see when you wake up and one of the last things you see before you sleep, making it essential for a mindful start to your day. Let’s transform it into a peaceful mini haven!

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Clear Everything Off: Remove all items from your nightstand to start fresh.
2. Assess Each Item: Ask yourself the usual questions such as: Does this serve a purpose? Do I enjoy it? Do I use it daily? Let go of anything that doesn’t make the cut. Relocate anything that ended up in your nightstand that doesn’t belong.
3. Organize Essentials: Return only the must-haves, like a good book, lip balm, and a lamp.
4. Add a Calming Touch: If you enjoy decorating, consider including just one decorative item: a small plant, a candle, or a cherished photo to enhance your space.
5. Establish a Nightly Routine: Tidy up each night to maintain your serene setup, ensuring you wake up to a clean slate.

2. Joyful Spaces: Tackle Your Favorite Room

Your favorite room should be a sanctuary—a place where you feel relaxed and inspired. This month, let’s focus on decluttering and organizing that special space to enhance its joy and functionality. It’s time to create an environment that truly reflects what you love!

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Choose Your Favorite Room: Identify which room brings you the most joy. It could be your cozy living room, a bedroom, or the kitchen—wherever you love to be.
2. Clear the Clutter: Start by clearing out anything that doesn’t belong in your favorite room. My favorite method for this is using my one-minute cleaning hack. Anything that no longer resonates with you or is simply unwanted should go either in a donation box or in the trash/recycle.
3. Assess What You Love: Go through the items that remain and ask yourself these questions: Is it useful? Do I enjoy it? Does it enhance the room’s atmosphere? Keep only things that contribute to the vibe you want in your favorite room.
4. Organize Thoughtfully: Find a designated spot for everything you’re keeping. Use baskets, shelves, or decorative boxes to create a tidy and visually appealing arrangement.
5. Add Personal Touches: Once your space is decluttered, consider adding only a few personal touches that make you smile. This could be artwork, plants, or cherished photos that reflect your personality. Just be sure not to over decorate or you’ll end up with too much clutter all over again!

3. Inbox Refresh: Clean Up Your Email

In our tech heavy world, your digital spaces can become just as cluttered as your physical ones. This month, let’s focus on decluttering your email inbox to create a streamlined digital environment that helps you feel more organized and in control. Refreshing your email inbox not only reduces digital clutter but also helps improve your productivity and focus.

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Set Aside Time: Schedule a dedicated block of time to focus on your inbox—30 minutes to an hour should do the trick. Try to stay focused on the task the whole time.
2. Unsubscribe from Unwanted Emails: Start by going through your email subscriptions. Unsubscribe from newsletters, promotions, or updates that no longer interest you. This will reduce the influx of emails and make your inbox more manageable.
3. Create Folders: Organize your inbox by creating folders for different categories, such as “Work,” “Personal,” “Receipts,” “Important,” or “To Read.” This will help you sort and prioritize your emails more effectively.
4. Delete or Archive Old Emails: Go through your existing emails and delete or archive anything that’s outdated or irrelevant. Aim for a clean slate—if you haven’t needed it in the last few months, it’s likely safe to let it go.
5. Set Up Filters: Use filters to automatically sort incoming emails into your designated folders. This will help you maintain organization moving forward and keep your inbox clutter-free.

4. Family Focus: Declutter a Shared Space Together

When it comes to decluttering, involving the whole family can make the process smoother and more enjoyable. This month, let’s tackle shared spaces together and create an environment that everyone can appreciate. Working as a team can foster communication and make decluttering a fun family activity!

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Choose a Shared Space: Pick a common area in your home that needs some attention—this could be the living room, kitchen, or playroom.
2. Set a Family Meeting: Gather everyone together to discuss the plan. Explain the importance of decluttering and how it can benefit everyone in the household. While everyone may not be excited to do this task, it’s helpful for everyone to do a little bit. Not only will they get to share in the sense of accomplishment, but it’s a great opportunity to identify who has a difficult time parting with things and who is likely to throw out everything!
3. Sort Items Together: As you declutter, sort items into categories: Keep, Donate, Deferred Decisions and Trash. Encourage open communication about what to keep and what can be let go. This can also be a great opportunity to teach kids about making choices when you can’t keep everything.
4. Create a Maintenance Plan: Once the space is decluttered, establish a plan for keeping it organized. Set up a weekly or monthly check-in to ensure everyone is keeping their areas tidy and maintaining the shared space. Honestly, just reminding people to pick up after themselves, is one of the best ways to keep things tidy.

5. Your Wardrobe: Build a Versatile Capsule Collection

I’ve been working on this for a long time: less clothes, more to actually wear! That’s the dream, for sure. For me, who is not a fashionista, this has taken a while to build. Building a capsule wardrobe helps streamline your daily outfit choices while ensuring you always look put together. By focusing on versatile pieces and a cohesive color palette, you’ll create a wardrobe that reflects your style and adapts to your needs. Here are steps that have really helped me.

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Assess Your Current Wardrobe: Start by taking a good look at what you already own. Identify pieces that you love, wear frequently, and that fit well. These will most likely be your foundation pieces. Consider the colors, styles, and fabrics that work best for your lifestyle.
2. Choose a Color Palette: Select a cohesive color palette that reflects your personal style and can be easily mixed and matched. You can consider aiming for a combination of neutral tones and a few accent colors that you enjoy wearing.
3. Incorporate Accessories: Accessories can transform an outfit and add variety to your wardrobe. Consider adding scarves, belts, jewelry, and hats that complement your chosen color palette and can be used to create different looks.
4. Evaluate and Adjust: After a month of wearing your capsule collection, take time to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. You might find that certain pieces are worn more often than others, or that you need to make adjustments based on your lifestyle.
5. Select Versatile Pieces: Choose a limited number of versatile clothing items that can be layered and styled in different ways.

6. Kitchen Refresh: Clear Out Expired and Unwanted Food

The kitchen is the heart of the home, but it can quickly become cluttered with expired or unwanted food items. This month, let’s focus on refreshing your pantry and fridge to create a more organized and functional cooking space. A tidy kitchen not only looks better but can also promotes healthier eating habits! When you can easily see and get to what you have, you’ll be encouraged to cook more often. If your pantry and fridge are not overwhelming, meal planning becomes a bit easier as well.

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Set Aside Time: Choose a time when you can focus on your kitchen without distractions, perhaps 1-2 hours.
2. Sort through Your Pantry and Fridge: Start by removing things that clearly don’t belong. Did you try a food and decide you didn’t like it? It’s time to let that mistake go and toss it. Were you on a diet last year that required some unusual foods that you no longer eat? You know what I’m gonna say, right? If you’re not going to eat it, then give it away or throw it out. This gives you a clean slate and helps you see what you have.
3. Check Expiration Dates: While you sorting through everything, check expiration dates. Discard anything that’s expired, stale, or no longer safe to eat.
4. Organize and Restock: Once you’ve cleared out the expired and unwanted items, organize what’s left. Group similar items together (canned goods, snacks, grains) and consider using clear bins for easy visibility.

7. Sentimental Reflection: Sort Through Keepsakes

We all have sentimental items that hold special memories, but they can also accumulate and create clutter. This month, let’s focus on thoughtfully sorting through those keepsakes to find a balance between cherishing memories and maintaining a tidy space. It’s time to honor what truly matters!

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Choose a Memory Box: Start by selecting a designated box or container for your sentimental items. This will be your “memory box” where you keep only the most meaningful pieces.
2. Gather Your Keepsakes: Collect sentimental items from around your home—photos, letters, gifts, or mementos. Bring them all together in one place to see what you have.
3. Reflect on Each Item: Go through each piece and ask yourself: Does this represent a memory that I love? Does it still hold significance for me? Would I miss it if it were gone? Be honest about what you truly want to keep.
4. Decide What to Keep: As you reflect, choose items that evoke strong positive emotions or memories. Aim to keep only those that bring you joy or remind you of important moments in your life.
5. Create a Display: Consider displaying a few cherished items in your home. If you love them, you should enjoy them!
6. Memory Book or Scrapbook: Consider creating a scrapbook or memory book to preserve photos and letters. You can also take pictures of things you’re ready to part with, but you’re worried about losing the memory. This way, you can enjoy your memories without needing to keep every physical item.

8. Subscription Audit: Reduce Costs by Reviewing Your Services

In today’s digital landscape, it’s easy to accumulate multiple subscriptions for streaming services, magazines, and other memberships without realizing how much they add up or if you still use them. This month, let’s focus on conducting a subscription audit to help you reduce costs and ensure you’re only paying for what you truly use and enjoy.

Quick Challenge Steps:

1. Make a List of All Subscriptions: Start by compiling a comprehensive list of all your subscriptions, including streaming services, magazines, apps, and any other recurring payments. Include the monthly or annual cost for each.
2. Review Your Usage: Go through each subscription and assess how often you use it. Ask yourself how often you really use it and if it’s worth it based on your usage?
3. Identify Redundant or Unused Services: Look for subscriptions that overlap in content or services. For example, if you have multiple streaming services that offer similar shows or movies, consider keeping only one or two.
4. Explore Alternatives: For services that you rarely use, consider if there are free or lower-cost alternatives. Many platforms offer ad-supported versions or free trials that might meet your needs without the commitment of a paid subscription.
5. Set Reminders to Review Regularly: To prevent subscription creep in the future, set a reminder to review your subscriptions every few months. This will help you stay on top of your expenses and make adjustments as needed.

Cultivating Mindfulness in Your Life

As we wrap up this month of decluttering challenges, it’s essential to take a moment to reflect on your journey and cultivate a sense of intentionality in your life. Focusing on intentionality can help you clarify your goals, values, and the changes you want to make moving forward. Let’s celebrate your accomplishments and set meaningful intentions for the future! I have created a free resource for you to help you be more mindful and intentional with your time and energy. Identify what’s truly important to you, implement some self care and be more intentional in several areas of your life. Be sure to grab that below!

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Conclusion

Congratulations on taking the steps to declutter and create a more organized, joyful space in your life! Each challenge you embraced this month not only contributes to a tidier home but also fosters a sense of purpose. Remember, decluttering is an ongoing journey, and every small effort counts.

We’d love to hear about your experiences! What challenges did you find most rewarding? Did you discover any surprising insights along the way? Share your thoughts in the comments below—we can’t wait to read your stories!

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