Hello Monday | Motivating A Change of Habit to Achieve A Minimalist Lifestyle in 2024 [APRIL 15th Update]

Since my original post on the above topic on April 1st, I realized that the first quarter of this year has flown by without me making any progress on my decluttering efforts. Now the second quarter is staring me in the face. It's mid April, so I have time to make progress before month end. My goals for April are to:

(i) initiate the information I discovered on two rules to successfully declutter your life; and,

(ii) review and implement, if appropriate, the responses to my previous post.

After reading two rules recently, I gave considerable thought to both of them.

The 30/30 Rule. I felt this tactic jerked me too fast into the reality lane. The idea behind the 30/30 rule was simple. However, eliminating on Day one, one item. Day two; two items. Then each day the items increase until Day thirty; 30 items. Calculating the total number would reduce my clutter by 465 items. You have to remember that I need to take it slowly. Accumulating my collections took over thirty years. Given my indecisiveness in even parting ways with one item on any particular day won't work for me.

The 90-90 Rule. Created by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists, the 90/90 rule is a decluttering process that requires you to ask yourself two questions about objects you're not sure about: Have you used it in the past 90 days? And if not, will you use it in the 90 days ahead?¹ Now this approach I felt would work with me since my biggest problem is decisions when it comes to keeping or tossing items. I hold onto them for years, thinking one day I may use it, then I'd have to purchase it again.

I finally decided to try the 90-90 Rule for one month. I started on April 1st.

APRIL 15th DECLUTTER PROJECT STATUS:

At first, I was thinking that I'd report on my progress in May. But that approach felt as if it would take too long. I wanted to get started and show the efforts I'm making every two weeks. That way, I can gauge my activity and get motivated to accomplish even more during that month.

In my April 1st post, I received excellent advice by @shanibeer in the comments that I have now implemented in conjunction with the 90-90 Rule for my first turn at decluttering.

"I've found that it is a bit of a journey and it takes a lot of time and energy. This idea helped me:
set a short time for the activity (even with a timer - I used my phone), set maybe half an hour. before your start have your sorting equipment with you - a box for donations, a bag for recycling, another for refuse. Take a first pass and remove the things you have no qualms about. Sort them and move them on straightaway. Finish when you say you will and have a sit down. It may only be a small thing, but it's a bit more space than you had before."

Remember, my goal in the 90-90 day rule is to look at an item and decide whether I have used this item ninety days previously or will use it in the next 90 days.

Taking @shanibeer's advice (THANK YOU!), I sat for forty-five (45) minutes reviewing some travel brochures, maps, and other information from previous vacation trips. It appears as though I acquired these items almost twenty years ago. Stacked away in a drawer, I had forgotten about them until last week while searching for a vacation brochure for a trip this summer.

I chose a space where I could be comfortable while reading and enough room to spread out the travel information.

Once I began perusing the information, I was surprised to find items dating back as far as 2008. Of the items I decided to keep for future trips, there were forty-two (42) I identified as ready to discard immediately. I'm sure that the information has changed drastically in the years since.

So that you can see the years from two of the travel magazines, here are close-ups:

Once finished, I gathered the stack and placed them in the outdoor recycle receptacle. It felt good just to know that I have those old items out of the house.

A small step. But it meant a lot to actually get started instead of constantly thinking about it, then doing nothing.

I do acknowledge that the task ahead in terms of identifying and sorting will be daunting the remainder of the year. However, if I take small steps and break the tasks down into monthly action items, I feel I can accomplish my decluttering goals.

Finally, I know this may sound drastic, but @shanibeer also gave me insight into another aspect of the items I have in numerous storage places:

"For things that have no meaning to me (pretty much everything in the garage), the question I ask myself is, "what would happen to this if I were dead?" The answer is pretty much always "recycling" or "refuse"."

Food for thought. I put the question to my husband to find out his thoughts. His answer was the same. At least we're on the same page, so I tasked him with the backyard shed since that's his realm of the majority of items I wouldn't know which end is up!

Perhaps together we can make some headway in 2024. I'll keep you posted.