How Did The January Declutter and Organization Challenge Go?

I created an organization and declutter challenge for the month of January in an effort to kick off the new decade with clarity at home. How did you do? How did I do?

I didn’t do great. I got pretty sick for a couple of weeks and ended up doing a better job of watching TV than I did organizing my house. But that’s really okay! When I originally shared the challenge I made it clear that there weren’t any rules and that it’s self-paced and open-ended. So, while I didn’t check off every item on my checklist, I did make progress I can be proud of.

How did you do? I realize the 20 organization projects could be a walk in the park for someone that doesn’t have much to sort through. Or it could be beyond overwhelming for someone with a big family or years of collected items. I get it. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t accomplish as much as you wanted to. There’s always next month.

It’s funny how much I didn’t accomplish. I think of myself as pretty minimal, and I already did a few of the items on the list recently. But I found myself spending HOURS going through all of my files and the little drawers around the house.

The amount of time I spent organizing and purging is my motivation for keeping going. One of the big reasons I like living minimally and holding on to less is because it gives me more time.

Living with less gives me more time to live life.

I find that the more we have, the more time we spend moving it around, tending to it, sorting it, organizing it, losing it, searching for it, and just dealing with it. For example, that pile of papers that have been on my desk for the last two months have taken more time out of my life than they’ve gained. I’ve had to move them to set down my coffee cup, I’ve had to hide them to take photos for the blog, I’ve had to sift through them to find the one piece of paper I needed, and I’ve had to feel the burden of a stack of unfinished tasks every time I’ve glanced at them. And you know how long it took me to actually reconcile those receipts, scan those documents, and mail off that paperwork? About seven minutes. I have most definitely spent more time moving them around than I have actually spent actually putting them to use.

You can apply this to anything and everything. How much time do you spend weatherizing that pressure washer and moving it out of the way to get to the ladder? Might it be more efficient to just rent a washer when you need one?

Finding joy in owning less also makes it easier to shop. Knowing how annoying it was to sort through the craft drawer might make you think again about buying another decorative ribbon. Knowing just how many cleaning supplies you have in the cabinet might make you skip the cleaning aisle the next time you’re at the store. Knowing how packed your clothes are might make you decide to just not go to the store at all. Just thinking about having to spend time in a year sort through things that are currently sitting in my shopping cart has me wanting to put it all back on the shelf and not buy any of it. Years ago I used to stroll the aisles at Target looking for the things I might just need. But now I never aimlessly stroll and I hardly ever go to the store at all. And I couldn’t be happier.

I digress, but all this to say. It’s not about having a picture-perfect house. It’s not about accomplishing a checklist. It’s about enjoying our homes and spending our time doing the things we actually enjoy. (Even though I’ll admit I love nothing more than organizing things, but you get the gist)

On to next month! I’ve just doodled in the word “February” into my printed checklist and I’ll pick up where I left off. There’s no reason this only needs to take place in the month of January, so I’m going to continue on into February, and maybe even March. And that’s a-okay with me. As long as I don’t feel like I need to start over again every 6 months and constantly reorganize my stuff, I’m okay with taking my time to get the house into a state of clutter-free that suits our needs.

If you didn’t join in during the month of January, that’s okay! Download my checklist and read my guide for tackling each of these projects in the month of February.

What about you? Did you finish what YOU wanted to finish? Did you add on items that weren’t on the checklist? Are you going to continue the organization into February? Share your experience so we all can commiserate or cheer each other on!