Well here we are at day 30 of the One Thing a Day Challenge and what an interesting journey it has been so far.
It has been reletatively easy for me to find one thing a day to get rid off despite my home being reasonably clutter free already. Just before starting this I had a major clearout and so I look at the One Thing a Day Challenge as a way of fine tuning my possessions.
So what happened to all of the stuff that I got rid of over the last 30 days?
Well most of it went to a local charity shop, some was sold on Ebay (making me a profit of £104.08 ) and only two things were actually thrown away – the leaky water bottle which was unfortunately not recyclable and the sewing machine which went to the local tip as not safe to pass on as the peddle was held together with tape!
Any lessons learnt?
It’s been an interesting excersise so far. Even though our house is fairly clutter free it has been easy to find one thing a day and I would urge anyone wanting to live with less to try it. One thing doesn’t seem much at all but it adds up and it’s quick and easy to do too – I left a box by the back door and put each item that was destined to be donated in it as I found it, once the box was full off it went to the local charity shop.
The other thing is that I don’t actually miss any of the items that have gone. Many of them had escaped decluttering sessions over the years, take my old sewing machine for example. This was the only item that I actually struggled to get rid of as it held quite alot of sentimental value. It was an 18th birthday gift given to me by my Grandparents – my Grandad died the day before that birthday so this was his last gift to me. However it didn’t work, was taking up room, was very dusty and had been replaced by a new one. Now that it has gone I don’t miss it one bit and my memories of my Grandad still remain.
The main thing for me though is that by spending the time getting rid of something each day it has actually made me think about what I bring back into the house.
Firstly it has made me think about if I really need something when faced with buying it. Lets face it if you’re going to the trouble of getting rid of stuff you hardly want to fill your house back up again, so by doing this task it has made me consider carefully what I am buying.
The knock on effect of this is that by carefully considering each purchase and I’m now taking greater attention to what I’m actually buying. Buying less stuff means that I can spend a little more on quality, chemical free products that will last – whether that’s food, clothing or household products.
This for me is the important part. By learning to live with less my hopes are that as a family we will be consuming less. Last night we sat down to discuss this and watched the fantastically thought provoking video “The Story Of Stuff”. If you haven’t already seen this I would recommend that you do, the link to it is here http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/
So will I be continuing the one thing a day challenge?
Of course! It’s said that it takes just 21 days to form a habit – I reckon that I’m just about there.
If you have been doing the One Thing A Day Challenge I’d love to hear how you’re finding it, why not post a comment below!
