If your home (and you) feels out of control, one month could be all it takes to get feeling on top of things again.
Download and/or print this challenge graphic below to guide you through 30 days of decluttering your home. However, be sure to read the helpful tips below the image to get the most out of this challenge.
How to do this 30 Day Declutter Challenge:
Each day set a timer for 15 minutes. Sort, declutter, and reorganize as much as you can in those 15 minutes.
If you don’t finish what you started sorting or the challenge of the day in 15 minutes, feel free to keep working after your timer goes off if you have the time and energy. Stop when you need to.
The next day, if you didn't finish yesterday's challenge, you decide if you want to continue or start on the new day's challenge.
Day 1: Walk through your home and write down each area that is cluttered. Try to be as specific as possible. So rather than writing, "Kitchen." Write, "Kitchen: counters, 3 boxes in corner, pantry, fridge, and reusable bags mess on corner shelf". This way as you complete parts of the kitchen during the challenge, you can check off something each day.
Day 30: Celebrate your progress by inviting a friend or family member over to eat or do something fun. Plus show them around and tell them about your progress if you feel comfortable. In order to make this happen, be sure to plan what you are going to do and invite them in advance, maybe around Day 10.
How to maximize the benefits:
Guide NOT Rules: This challenge is meant to be used as a guide, not a rule book. Adjust as needed depending on your home, amount of clutter, kinds of clutter, and your energy levels. If you need to set 10 minute timers or 30 minute timers instead. Do that. If you need to work on your entryway before your kitchen, do that. Feel free to draw up your own version of this challenge. The point is to work on your home for a little bit each day to make steady, sustainable progress.
Come up with your own challenge of the day: If any of the challenges are irrelevant for you, not a high priority, or hard to get to due to other clutter, work for 15 minutes on what makes sense instead. Feel free to pick from the list you made on Day 1, finish something you started earlier in the challenge, or declutter something in the way.
Declutter Room by Room: As you can see, I've distinguished 8 rooms/zones to declutter during this challenge. If your whole house is a cluttered disaster, I'd recommend working on each room for the number of days allotted, but not the specific categories. For example, start in the kitchen on day 2 and move onto the bathroom on day 10, but don't feel like you need to declutter the listed categories in the kitchen on days 3-8 if it doesn't make sense. Just set a timer and work on the most obvious problems in your kitchen for 15 minutes. You'll be amazed at what 15 minutes a day for a week can do in your kitchen!
Bathroom: You may have multiple bathrooms in your house. Declutter the most cluttered bathroom that has mostly your stuff in it. A.K.A. Don't declutter a bathroom that has mostly your roommate's, children's, or significant other's stuff when you have a bathroom that's not decluttered yet.
Rest Days: I set the rest days to be Saturdays in March 2024. So if you're doing this at another time or have a different day you tend to dedicate to rest and family time, adjust so your rest days work with your schedule.
Day 1 List: The reasons for writing the Day 1 list are:
1. It gives you something to pull from when a day's challenge isn't relevant for you.
2. It gives you something to cross off as you go through the challenge.
3. It gives you something to continue to work on AFTER the challenge is over.
After the Challenge:
Use your Day 1 list to continue decluttering your home after the 30 days are up. Perhaps you won't declutter every day for 15 minutes anymore, but what about 5 minutes? What about 15 minutes 3 times a week? After you make it through all the areas you put on that list, take another walk through to see what else you'd like to declutter or organize better. Need to come back and do this challenge again? It'll be right here for you when you need it.
✍️ Have any questions about this challenge? LOVE it and so happy you did it? Let me know by leaving me a comment below or by contacting me. I'd love to hear from you!
I hope you find this challenge helpful and, YOU GOT THIS!
