I don’t really write about minimalism but it is implied… oh wait I haven’t implied it either.
Well then ok… As an aspirational traveler but also a parent stuff can easily become burdensome. I’ve been working on trimming down on my possessions because they really have become more trouble then they are worth.
To help keep me motivated and also spurn me into action. Aggressive action! I am going to do the challenge posed by The minimalists( you can read more about it here).
I will be starting January first. I will try to follow the rules but I am making one alteration. I know how difficult it can be to resell stuff so I am giving myself 30 days to sell the stuff that I think I can sell. Other then that I think I can trash/ recycle and donate quickly on the day of.
Will you join me? Mr. Roamer is jumping in the Game so that means we will be getting rid of double the amount.
How does this challenge tie in to the goals of this Blog?
Easy let me give it to you like this
Do you pay for storage?
Get rid of enough stuff and you won’t have to. Bam! Money saved. If you don’t have a storage let me ask you this. How much cash have you spent buying bins or other tools for organizing? For things you don’t even use. Money saved there.
So we are addressing and improving finances.
Do you waste precious time organizing, fixing, and reorganizing stuff?
Well if you get rid of clutter that you never use you’ll save valuable time that you can use else where. Spend it with your kids playing games. Spend it growing your business. Or like me spend it writing a post. For me all those are great motivator. I would so much rather spend my time playing with my kids then endlessly organizing stuff! Plus less stuff means less to clean!
So here I’m picking Parenthood over stuff.
Do you want to travel the world?
If you plan to be a true Roamer you’ll realize that there is only so much you can carry. Trimming down items makes you more flexible.
Finally I am making myself and family more flexible to future moves and travel.
So there you have it how minimalism and this game/ challenge can help you start off the new year living the values I try to push here.
Mr. Roamer even asked Jr.Roamer if he wanted to do it. He said no way! Haha… We told him we would count each individual crayon but I guess he could feel all the pressure.
Actually the idea of challenges really sits well with me. Maybe I will make a new goal to have some sort of challenge month every month. Well see what happens.
So are you up to play a little game? Join me and let me know if you already have some stuff in mind.
Before you go, follow me on Twitter where I will post on my progress. And come back Feb 1st for the wrap up.
Sounds like an awesome challenge! I have my plate full for Jan but luckily I don’t have much sitting around that I don’t use and I’m pretty good about de-cluttering regularly! It’s such a freeing feeling to be rid of things you don’t need! Good luck!
That’s great that you don’t have clutter weighing you down!
Thanks.I’m pretty excited about it
Sounds like a great challenge! And, what a perfect time to start! We’re not too bad on clutter in our house, though we have some disorganization going on down in our basement storage area. I know we have stuff we could get rid of! I need to just get down there and devote time to sorting through it all.
Clutter is such a subjective term, even if your kids played with all the toys and then left them out on the floor I would consider that clutter. Anyways really its about questioning why we keep stuff. Oh and making space. Our closet doesn’t look that way all the time but it is cluttered right now. Sure I could go in and organize it but I’m sure there are things that could be donated, sold or trashed… It’s Day 1!
I feel like were trapped in an interesting paradigm. We are only at day 7 where in total we should have thrown out or otherwise disposed of 28 individual items. I haven’t been counting but I would bet I have crossed the 50 item mark. It is difficult to stop in the middle of minimizing just because I only needed 4 things. That and when the little ones are letting you have a minute to do it, you have to run and go full on. The idea of reducing is working very well… maybe too well… But I refuse to fail! Especially at such an easy task, however it will definitely be much more difficult when we hit the 20’s if the tempo is not balanced. I may only have 31 personal items left on January 31st!
Thank you for leaving me a comment!
Yes its going to get crazy as we get into the 20s. Hahah though if we counted each paper individually we could do the challenge for at least 3 months. I’m glad we are being more aggressive then that.
[…] the new year started I decided that I was going to participate in the minimalists’ game. The challenge was set to start on January 1st, and go until the 31st. The idea? To eliminate 1 item the first […]