I’m a big fan of bite-sized challenges to kick start new behaviors and a 30-day declutter challenge is a great (and practical) way to make a tidy house happen. I want to break down how to do this 30-day challenge and then give you tips to make it stick. Because the last thing you want to do after you declutter your home and work hard to clear away the clutter is to fall back into old habits.
By the end of this 30-day declutter challenge you’ll be able to:
- Declutter your home in 30-days with easy steps
- Stop stressing and bring some order to your messy house
- Learn some practical tips to declutter your home
- Keep your home clean, clutter-free, and organize long term
Why Does A 30-Day Declutter Challenge Work?
A declutter challenge is an easy step by step process that gives you one simple thing to do each day. Focusing on one little thing each day makes it easy, but after 30-days, it adds up to a big change. It can be overwhelming to think about cleaning your whole house, but if we break it down into smaller parts, it’s much easier.
How Do I Motivate Myself To Organize My House?
At the end of the day, there is one thing that will actually make you successful when it comes to decluttering your house and getting organized: Action. You don’t need to have the answers, you don’t need to get it all right, you don’t even need to know the best way to start decluttering, you just have to start.
You’re going to have some missteps, you might accidentally toss something you’ll need later, or you might put it away to realize it wasn’t in the right spot. But here’s the thing, you’ve made forward momentum. There will be some of you who read this post with aspirational intent, but it’s the people that get up from their computer after reading this post and just start that will actually make it happen. Even doing it badly is better than not doing it at all.
Where Do I Start Decluttering?
A lot of people get all worked up when they think about getting rid of stuff and declutter a whole house or apartment. Something about the process makes them jump to the most extreme case. Don’t get bogged down with what you think are going to be the most challenging parts or overwhelmed by the entirety of your whole home.
My best piece of advice is: Start Small and Start Easy. Don’t take on the largest mess in your home right away and don’t start with difficult things to throw away like sentimental items. Start in one small place and things you have zero qualms getting rid of.
For me, it’s the fridge. It’s a very small space and I don’t have to worry about sentimentality when I toss that third jar of mustard in my fridge that expired long ago that I never really liked anyway. Many people will start with their fridge, the bathroom vanity, a nightstand or their junk drawer (you know you have one). These are places that are a limited scope and don’t carry a lot of emotional work with them.
Once you’re done with one, try another place. Each time you finish try a little bigger space. Then start to tackle things you might have more to process emotionally around. What you’re doing here is building your “decluttering muscles” so when you get to tougher stuff, you have a practiced history to lean on.
There may come a point where you only have the really sentimental stuff or things that are wrapped up with a ton of emotions. But since you took this measured approach, even if you stop right there, you can look back at all the meaningful progress you’ve made; you came a long way!
How To Do Your Daily Declutter Challenge
At the end of the time take a moment to consider the progress you made in that area and over the previous days of the challenge. If you’re feeling motivated, don’t just stop at 15 minutes, but commit to doing 15 minutes each day.
DECLUTTER CHALLENGE CHECKLIST
- Check your declutter challenge calendar
- Set a timer for 15 minutes
- Declutter for the full time
- Reflect on the progress you’ve made
- Keep going if you’re in the zone!
Tips To Make Your Declutter Challenge Successful
Start where it makes sense for you. Each of us have our own flavor of clutter. Start with things that will be easy to declutter and are common problem areas for you.
Even if you don’t know where to start, move towards action vs inaction, even if you do it poorly you’ll be ahead of not doing anything at all.
DECLUTTER CHALLENGE TIPS
- Don’t try to do too much at one time
- Take time every day to maintain
- Take before and after photos
- Start with the easiest areas first
- Have a bias towards action
- Declutter first, organize second
- Be honest with yourself
30-Day Declutter Challenge Calendar
This 30-day challenge will help you declutter your house from top to bottom. Working a little bit each day you’ll move from room to room to make it all happen. Below is the 30-day declutter challenge checklist and calendar laying out what you need to do each day, but feel free to make some modifications so it works for you. I’m also going to break down each day with some added resources for you to check below, so grab your calendar and keep reading!
Day 1 – Fridge
Day 2 – Kitchen countertops
Try to spend a few minutes each morning cleaning this area, it’s the beachhead for your decluttering for your whole house, so hold strong here to set the tone for the rest of your decluttering!
Day 3 – Landing Zone
Take a look at what you always have with you and what gets dumped right away when you walk in the door. If you have keys, set a single hook that makes it easy to see if your keys are there or not. For your phone, consider a charging stand or wireless charger. When you get mail, how should it be sorted (I do trash, to do, to file). Your purse might get hung or just a designated spot to drop.
For me I keep a minimalist everyday carry setup, so I don’t have a lot. I have a small nook that I purchased a small tray to put things in and I have a mail sorting station.
Day 4 – Front Closet / Mudroom Area
This lets us cut down what we have to organize in the first place. For a kid you might have a backpack, a lunch box, a jacket and shoes. Designate a specific hook or nook for each of these (ex: jacket hook, lunchbox hook) for each kid. Set a pattern to place each thing in their respective place, if they just dump and run, bring them back to do it correctly to reinforce it. This way you can quickly scan to see that little Johnny is missing his lunchbox.
Day 5 – Cleaning Supplies
Day 6 – Medicine cabinet
Here is what I keep, use this list to keep just the bare essentials and customize to you.
Minimalist Medicine Cabinet
- Ibuprofen
- Naproxen Sodium
- Ancetaminophen
- Cough Drops
- Decongestant
- Antihistamine
- A Few Band-aids
- Q-tips
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- Hydrocortisone
- Anti-acids
- Sunscreen
- Tweezers
- Thermometer
- Razor w/blades
Day 7 – Night Stand
Day 8 – Junk Drawer
Day 9 – Socks and Underwear
Most people have their favorites or things they wear most days. In general, I suggest cutting out everything else. If you don’t love it, toss it. If you have something that you don’t like or something that bothers you about it, replace it now. The cost of most of these things isn’t high, so be pretty heavy-handed here.
Day 10 – Linen Closet
Day 11 – Laundry Room
Day 12 – Desk
Once you’ve pulled out all the papers in the office, next I want you to use what I call “the box method”. To start get a big box and go through your entire desk and put everything in that desk into this box. Put the box in a closet somewhere for 60 days, set a calendar reminder for two months out. Don’t leave a single thing on your desk except your computer, keyboard, mouse and a lamp.
Then when you sit down to do something, if you need something that was in your desk, go to the box and pull out that single item. If you need a pen, get only one pen (might as well make it your favorite pen!). If you need to staple something, you can get the stapler, use it, then put it in your desk.
At the end of 60 days, you’ll have only the core items you need in your desk and nothing else. Go through the remaining items to double-check nothing super important is in there, then toss it all.
Day 13 – Bedroom closet
Day 14 – Toiletries, Makeup, and Shower
Day 15 – Car
Then I’ll declutter, toss and organize what I want to keep in the car. One thing I’ve started doing is things I use every day in my car, those go in my center console storage. The rest get neatly organized into a small bin that gets put in my trunk. This lets me have the things I need, but not get bogged down in the items I have to have in my car, but are rarely used.
From there I make it easy on myself, I drive down to a local car wash/vac and have them clean it. Bonus: grab a coffee while you kick back and watch them clean your car, you’ve made it halfway!
Day 16 – Garage – Part 1
Because this is such a big challenge, I’m going to give you three whole days to work on this. Consider doing these days on a weekend because it’s going to take some time. Start with taking a photo of your garage as a “before photo”.
For this I’d start with three piles: keep, toss, donate. Get one big box of black garbage bags and one box of a different color. Black trash bags get tossed; the other color gets donated. If you are in a house with two cars, when you fill a bag, put it right into the car until its full. One car for donation runs and the other for dump runs.
Day 17 – Garage – Part II
Day 18 – Garage Part III
I’d set yourself up with some good shelving and storage containers, and label things clearly. I’d suggest trying to use a uniform container and one or very few sizes, this will make things look very orderly and keep it organized too. Put things that you don’t use often up higher and things you’ll use a lot in easier to reach places. Don’t stack things so you can’t get to them easily and try to only put containers one row deep.
Day 19 – Maintenance Tidy Up
Day 20 – Kids Toys
Day 21 – Kids Closet
Day 22 – Outdoor/Patio
Day 23 – Purse/Daily Bag
Day 24 – Family Room
Day 25 – Magazines and Books
Day 26 – Powder Room
Day 27 – Kitchen Pantry
Day 28 – Food Storage Containers And Pans
I suggest a small soup pot, a large soup pot, a good 8” pan, a 12” pan, a Dutch oven, two baking sheets, and a casserole dish. Keep those things and donate the rest.
For food storage containers I’d suggest something a little drastic. Toss everything. The problem people run into with storage containers is they have mismatched containers that don’t nest and they then have to go find a matching lid. If you stick to only one container type, every container will fit every lid. They then will also neatly stack in your fridge every time.
Then go find one container you really like and buy 10-20 of them. I found a great container that was pretty cheap so if it got funky, I could toss it without much guilt. It’s a decent size to hold a fair bit, but small enough so I can take with me if I want to pack a lunch in it.
Day – 29 Kitchen Final Sweep
Start with re-tidying everything you’ve already done to keep it going. Now tackle any outstanding areas in your kitchen. Use your three piles to sort and if you’re really hung up on something, try the box method sparingly. Consider the items you use every day or weekly, the rest should be a candidate to get rid of or at the very least find a place to store them out of way and off the countertops. Be judicious about what makes the cut to have a home on top of the countertops, aim to have very few things on the counter.
Day 30 – Final Push
Take the time to really round out the whole 30-days, even if you have to work an extra day or two. You’ve come so far, finish strong!
How To Make Your Decluttering Stick For The Long Term
Now that you’ve done so much work, we want to maintain it. I’d suggest you take before and after photos so you can remind yourself where you came from and how much better it really is to be on the other end of it.
- Build a habit of maintenance tidying each day
- If you keep cleaning up the same mess, ask why then fix that
- Involve others you live with and gain buy-in, build their habits too
- If something bothers you, take five minutes and fix it right then
- Take a step back and question items in your space
- Calendar times to clean up and tidy monthly
- In 6 months, do another 30-day declutter challenge for a deeper clean
Your Turn!
- What tips do you have from your own decluttering?
I was g doing declutter at weekends but it is not helpful for me then i read this article and apply on daily routine just for 14 to 20 mins a day it really works and it is effective.
The 30 day decluttering calendar email has not been delivered to either of my email addresses and it has been over 24 hours. I’d really love to give it a try… can someone please send it to me? Thanks!
Ryan, the link to download the challenge calendar does not work. Pls advise
Beth