The Mins Game conclusion and wrap-up

 Were y'all worried on Tuesday when this post never appeared?  Did you think I abandoned the game and that we were never going to speak of it again?

Well, sorry to disappoint you, because I'm back today with the final post and wrap-up for this series.  Just in case you haven't been paying attention, I invited my readers to play the Mins Game with me in June.  And no one took me up on it, so I win!

June 22

For this week's mini decluttering lesson, I want to talk about one in, one out.  This is the concept that when you bring a new one of something into the house, like, for instance, a hat, or a mug, you should get rid of one of the old somethings that you already had.  Hubby acquired both a new hat and a new mug when he was on an excursion, so he found three hats to let go of, and one mug.

June 23

Is anyone else delighted to be coming to the end of the current mask era?  I mean, now that we're used to wearing them all the time, I don't think they'll go away completely--I think we'll still see them from time to time, during flu season, or perhaps during the next pandemic, but the truth is, at this point, the only place I've been required to wear a mask in the past month or so has been at my doctor's office.  Oh, and the UPS store.  I kept some masks for future--just in case--use, but honestly, these three that I'm letting go, I never ever reached for.  They were never my first choice.  I think I wore each of them out once.

June 24

One thing about this challenge that makes me thankful that I undertook it is that it made me get rid of some things that I had been meaning to get rid of, but hadn't yet, for whatever reason.  I (and Dana, of A Slob Comes Clean) call this procrasticlutter.  Either you've made a decision about it and haven't yet carried out that decision, or you delay making the decision, and in the meantime the pile grows.  These dead CFL bulbs are a great example of that.  And just in case you're wondering where you can get rid of yours, many hardware stores take them for recycling, including Home Depot, which is where I took these.

June 25 & 26

This day I tackled the shelf that's in our garage just outside the door, along with the not-Tahoe.  I found some interesting things, like my husband's debit card that he wasn't even aware he was missing.  Because he wasn't missing it.  Because it was the old one.  But still not expired.  I also found a lot of straight-up trash.  Isn't it amazing how much builds up in our vehicles?

The next day, I went through part of my craft stash and decided I could part with some of my blanks (I kinda feel like if I haven't done anything with them in the three years I've owned them, I'm probably not going to do anything with them, ever), some random scraps, and this empty container of paint.  I saved the empty container because I really liked the color and wanted to remember what it was called.  Turns out, that color had been discontinued, but I still had the empty bottle.

June 27

It was around this time that I decided I needed to stop counting items each day and just declutter what needed decluttering.  The reason I decided to stop counting is that I found myself contemplating getting rid of things just so that I could say I completed the challenge.  Which is completely ridiculous, because I told you from the start that I didn't think I would be able to do it.  And also ridiculous, because if I had just chosen to count some items differently, I more than accomplished the challenge of decluttering 465 items in a month.

Anyway, I went through a bookshelf and found some books, including an old, obsolete textbook, a dictionary, and an almanac, to get rid of, along with some DVDs that we don't watch.  There was some number of items, maybe 27, maybe more, possibly less.  Who knows?  I wasn't counting.

June 28, 29 & 30

I decluttered a few random items that I came across, but decided that I was done.  Yup.  I fizzled out.  And that's ok.

I was going to end with a dramatic shot of all of the stuff in the trunk of the car right before dropping it off at the donation center, but there will be a charity in our neighborhood picking up donations next week, so we're going to go the easy route, and let them come to us.  Maybe I'll take a picture of the stuff at the end of the driveway, but probably not.

In total, I have five boxes, two large garbage bags, and a few loose items, like the vacuum cleaner.  There were also items that left the house in stages, so let's call that another large garbage bag's worth.  Not bad, eh?

And for my next decluttering challenge, I'm going to play all of our games with the fam, and upon completion of the game, have all participants vote on whether or not we want to keep it.

The Mins Game week 3

So.  How's it going?  Have you been doing any decluttering this month?  Here's my update on the Mins Game that I'm playing (by myself), but first, a mini decluttering lesson.

This week I want to talk about the concept that a done something is better than a perfect nothing*.  In other words, it is worthwhile doing things that you know you're not going to be able to do perfectly, and it is much better to do something than to do nothing while waiting for the perfect time or enough time to make it perfect.  

Let me say it again: it is worthwhile doing things that you know you're not going to be able to do perfectly.  It has taken me a long time to realize this, and some days, I still find it a little hard to believe.  

The truth is, though, as a human person, I am rarely going to be able to do anything perfectly (I mean, there was that one time I got a perfect score on Just Dance ... out of the thousands of songs I have danced), so if I only do things that I know I can do perfectly?  Well.  I'm not going to ever do anything at all.  And there is no joy in that.

Be gentle with yourself, friend.  It is all well and good to set decluttering goals, like decluttering 465 items in a month, but if you discover that 465 items in a month is beyond your capability, don't give up.  Instead, do your best.  Or even not your best--just keep moving forward.  Good enough is good enough.

Here's what I've decluttered this week: another 126 items, for a total of 231 in June so far.

June 15

Some shirts that the youngest kiddo has outgrown and some washcloths.

June 16

More outgrown clothing (remember I told you that if I was able to complete this challenge, it would be because I have kids who grow?  Yeah.  That), along with some hats and gloves.

June 17

More hats and gloves, two holey socks, some face masks that I finally used.  Not pictured:  two pairs of shoes and a soccer ball that is too small for anyone here.

June 18, 19, 20, 21

Maybe you think this is cheating, but since you're not playing, I don't think you get to have an opinion :-)  I was planning on counting these stickers as one item, but then I realized I was going to have to go through them one by one before passing them on to a nearby preschool program, because there were some stickers with our name on them.

It's a good thing I did, too, because there was quite a bit of trash, too.  So that's why I'm counting these stickers as the 78 items for June 18-21.  Honestly, if I had counted each sheet of stickers separately, there probably would have been enough for the entire challenge**, so ... 

* I heard this from Kathryn from Do It On a Dime 

** Which means I am officially ... done ...  See ya! ... ... ... Just kidding.  I'll be back next week with more decluttered items, although I may have to get more, shall we say, creative, with my counting in the last week of the month.

The Mins Game Week 2

 Y'all.  The Mins Game is getting much more difficult, and we're not even halfway through the month.

Based on the fact that no one told me they were playing with me, I figure I'm winning, though, so there's that.

Oh, and I was planning on giving y'all a mini decluttering lesson each week, but tell that to my former self, who did not include a mini lesson in last week's post.  By the way, last week's lesson was supposed to be about the container concept.  Here's an explanation from A Slob Comes Clean, since my former self deprived you of an explanation from me.

For this week's mini lesson, I wanted to talk about how using things up is a completely legitimate way to declutter.  Maybe you bought an ingredient for a recipe that you ended up not making, or you made the recipe but didn't use all of the ingredient.  Maybe you received a free sample of something.  Maybe you have two open jars of salsa in your fridge.  Use it up.  After you use it up, it will be out of your home and out of your life forever.  And that, my friends, is the very definition of decluttering.

Here's how it went this week:

June 8

I decided to start this week working in the living room.  We have had these fitness bands for I do not know how long, and I don't think they have ever been used.  If they have, it was a long time ago.  I did wonder if I would regret getting rid of these, but then I looked up the price on Amazon, and you can get a similar set of bands (but 5, not 4) for under $10.  So I decided to just go ahead and get rid of them, and if I regret it later, I can get some more.  Spoiler alert: I am probably not going to regret it.

Those cars and launchers--I was not going to get rid of them.  It is true that my kiddos are really too old for that kind of thing, but I get a kick out of them, and they're fun to have around.  I decided to test them, to see if they're still as fun as I thought they were.  They were not.  We don't even have a car that fits in the yellow launcher, and the other ones only go about a foot.  They are not, in actuality, fun.  So out they go.  And I even resisted temptation the temptation to count the cars and launchers separately.

June 9

We keep our candles behind some picture frames on our entertainment center.  I kept a couple of candles, but the truth is, we don't really burn candles very much.  Three of these won't light anymore because the wicks are too short, and we don't have (and I'm not certain they make anymore) the scented oil refills for the scented oil thingy.  I don't know.  I just felt like it was time to get rid of these.

June 10

I found this randomness in the remote control basket.  To the trash (and recycling) it goes!

June 11

Yup.  I found more resistance bands in another basket in the living room along with some other random stuff.  Since I had already gotten rid of four, the decision was easy to get rid of these two.  In the kitchen, we had acquired some food that none of us will likely eat (we would eat the wild rice eventually, but we still have about 2 pounds left in an open bag in the cupboard, so we will pass this 1 lb bag on to a food bank).  The tray is the warming tray for our latest electric griddle.  We threw the griddle away last week because its stickiness had become intolerable, but we still had the tray.

June 12

Six skeins of yarn to be passed on to a friend, two decorative flags, two DVDs, and two drawstrings that I don't use.

June 13

A wooden sign, four books to donate, two books to return to schools, a mask, earrings, sample lotion, fingernail stickers, electronics cloth, and hickies.

June 14 

Some paper mask patterns, paperwork pertaining to the child we used to sponsor, mystery shopping receipts from 2018, old coupon inserts, four packages of pencils to be donated to a school. 

Not pictured: three packages of paper napkins, a stack of papers from Bubby's desk top, a stack of papers and trash from Bubby's backpack, a stack of papers and trash from MC's backpack.

So that's 77 items this week, for a total of 105 so far this month.  Not sure if I'm going to last another week.  I'll keep you posted!

The Mins Game week 1

Are you playing the Mins Game with me this month? How's it going? Leave a comment below to let me know. Here's how my first week went.

June 1

I ordered these cords to go with my new tablet before the tablet arrived. The Google assured me that these were the right cords. The Google was wrong. So on the first, I dropped these off to be returned. I'm not going to lie--I did consider counting this as 5 items, because that's what it would have been once they were out of the package, but since it was ordered as one item, I resisted that urge.

June 2

If I am able to complete this challenge, it will be because I have kiddos who keep growing out of clothes. On the 2nd, I moved these two shirts to our donation area (I'm saving my daily donations to be taken to the thrift store at the end of the month).

June 3

Three pairs of pants. It's alarming how quickly Bubby grew too tall for these pants.

June 4

Four pairs of pants, including football pants that haven't fit since 2018.

June 5

I raided the lonely sock bin for these.

 June 6

I've been meaning to go through my nail polishes for a while because I had one too many for the container they're in. I had two that were very similar colors, so I got rid of one. Also two cute little brushes, and three broken hair ties.

June 7

I don't use this kind of barrette anymore, so off they go. Even though they don't take up much physical space, they do take up mental space, so it feels good to get these out (I did save a few to declutter on another day).

So that's 28 items out in week one. See you next week!

The Mins Game: join me in June!

 I was introduced to the Mins Game by The Minimal Mom, but according to her, the concept came from The Minimalists.  The idea is to start at the beginning of a month.  Day 1, declutter one item; day 2, declutter two, all the way up to decluttering 30 items on day 30 (here's the explanation from The Minimalists).  By the end of the month, if the player has been doing it right, they will have decluttered 465 items.  

Sounds like a lot, right?  It is a lot.  I've heard that the average home in the U.S. contains around 300,000 items, so surely you can find 465 you'd be willing to part with over the course of a month, yes?  Maybe?

The reason it's a game is because one is supposed to be competing with others, and whoever gets the farthest without skipping a day wins.  And if everyone gets to the end?  Everyone wins!  Ever since I saw a video where Dawn mentioned the Mins Game, I have wanted to try it, and I hope you'll do it with me.  

If you've been with me for a while (and I think you probably have, since no one reads my blog except family and close friends), you know that I don't tolerate clutter well.  I get rid of so much stuff that it's a wonder I have anything left.  So, you have a good chance of beating me, since I'm not sure I'll be able to find 465 items to get rid of.

I'll do my best each day, and I'll update about once a week to let you know how I'm doing--watch for my posts.

What do you think?  Are you up for a challenge?  Are you willing to play?

We start tomorrow.