31 Days of 10-Minute Purging Tips – Getting Started

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It can be overwhelming when you attempt to declutter your home on your own.  As a professional organizer, I’ve worked with clients in person and virtually to help them declutter and organize their home. A declutter challenge is a great way to transform your home with day-by-day direction provided to you that will keep you motivated. 

Let me tell you how you can get started and be ready for the first day’s task so you’ll be ready to have a tidy, less cluttered home you’ll be happy to live in.

While the start of a new year is a great time for getting rid of your excess, anytime you want to declutter, you can follow this challenge. Start by reviewing the past year and what worked and didn’t for you. Most of us have too many things and are feeling overwhelmed. Research has shown that  having too many things weighs you down, figuratively and literally. Often the task of decluttering and organizing all our things just seems too daunting and, honestly, we’re just too busy. When you need to declutter and get organized, it is like any journey, it starts with just one step. Let’s get started today.

31 Days Decluttering Challenge in 10-Minutes a Day 

This 31-day challenge will help make the process more manageable by tackling just 10 minutes of decluttering each day. Realistically, you can find 10 minutes each day to work on the purging task. If you have more than 10 minutes, you can certainly do more  work, but realistically most of us can find 10 minutes a day for 31 days. 

This 10-minute decluttering challenge works because it keeps you from getting to overwhelmed and giving up. 

Let’s get ready and work together to start getting organized.

Make a Commitment to Yourself – Take a few minutes and decide why you want to start decluttering things from your home. What positive impact will it have on you and your family? Make a commitment to yourself to do your best to give 10 minutes every day for 31 days to accomplish these purging tasks.

Determine Your Long-term Goals – What are your long-term goals for your home? Why do you want to change your life? Write down your goals so that you can refer to them if you need motivation during the next 31 days.

Determine Your Short-Term Goals – What are your daily goals for these 31 days? What will you do to motivate yourself to finish your decluttering sessions on the crazy busy days that will pop up in the next month?

Determine Your Organizing Successes and Challenges – Identify your personal challenges in becoming and staying organized. What are the areas that you do well in your decluttering journey?

Gather Boxes or Bags – You’ll need at least 6 boxes or bags to help you purge each day. You’ll need five signs for the boxes or bags: 

• Relocate – An item that needs to be put away in another area of your home.
• Storage –  An item that needs to be put away in long-term storage in the attic, basement or a closet.
• Give Away – An item that needs to be given to (or returned to) a specific person. For example, you want to pass the clothes your child has outgrown on to your niece.
• Donate – Items that can be donated. 
• Trash – Items that need to be thrown away.
• Recycle – Items that need to be thrown away but that can be recycled.

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Decide Whether to Donate or Sell – While you may love the idea of making a bit of extra money by selling things you don’t need or use, you need to be realistic. If a pile of to sell clutter makes a stressful mess as much as the items did before you started the challenge. I highly recommend that you commit to either toss or donate items right away rather than hold onto them with the hopes of selling them, because in my experience, most people do not sell the items. When it comes to decluttering, it’s best to remove the items from your home each day so you can clearly see the positive impact of committing to declutter your home.

Set a Timer When You Work on Your Daily Task – Some of these decluttering process tasks could take hours if you let them. Our goal is to chip away at purging tasks a little each day. There may be some tasks that you are unable to complete in 10 minutes. That’s okay. Set a timer and do as much as you can in that 10-minute period. You may only be able to assess the situation and purge one or two items. That’s okay. Any assessment and purging you are able to do is the first step on your purging and organizing journey. It will give you a better idea of what really needs to be done.

It’s Okay to Substitute A Different Task – As you work through the 31 days of purging tasks there may be one that doesn’t fit your situation. On that day, simply return to one of the previous purging tasks that needs some more attention.

If You Miss a Day (or Two), Don’t Give Up – Don’t worry if you miss a day (or more) of the 31 days, just don’t give up. If you miss a day, simply tackle the next day’s task. You can always go back and pick up the tasks of the days you miss at the end of the 31 days. 

Get my 21-page Simple Decluttering Checklists resource to help you with all decluttering situations.

Are you ready to declutter? Check back for each of the days declutter challenge and I’ll give you a new target decluttered area and tips to help make decluttering items in that area easier for you. 

We’ll cover areas common clutter in your home, including:

• Day 2 – Holiday Decorations and Decorative Items
• Day 6 – Small Appliances you don’t use
• Day 7 – Office Supplies, including items like paper clips and any amount of paper clutter
• Day 15 – The Junk Drawer
• Day 16- Getting rid of old Shoes or ones that don’t fit your current lifestyle

When you learn my manageable decluttering method that works for busy families and people with limited energy or mobility, you’ll find that you can dispose of the things you don’t need or haven’t used or don’t love. It helps you practice eliminating thing that don’t belong or you don’t need to use. Once you develop your decluttering muscle, you can move onto tackling more difficult clutter like sentimental items. Decluttering your home not only adds value to your life, it also helps you find a home you love.

If you just can’t wait for tomorrow, you can find all  31 Days of the 10-Minute Declutter Challenge  and get started right now. 

More Free Decluttering Challenges

Find all my decluttering tips, printables and challenges in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.