The Holiday Decluttering Challenge Begins!

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It’s finally here! Welcome to the first day of the Holiday Decluttering Challenge!

Over the next seven weeks, we’re going to be working our way through the areas of our homes that are most likely to be used over the holidays and seen by guests. While it would be great to have every nook and cranny of our homes organized for the holidays, we are working with a pretty short timeline so we’re going to prioritize instead.

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I’ll announce a new area to declutter and organize every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday right here on the blog and in my weekly newsletter. This will give us two to three days to focus on each space. I will try to make announcements on the Happy Organized Life Facebook page, in the Declutterathon group on Facebook, and on Instagram, but if you ever miss a post or wonder what that day’s challenge is, the blog is always the best place to check because this is where things will always be posted first.

I’m going to be adding something new to this challenge this time around… video! Ahhhh! I’m going to “declutter my fears” and step out from behind my computer so that should be fun! You can click here to follow my YouTube channel if you want to know when new videos are posted.

This challenge is also going to have another new aspect to it… weekly giveaways! The first giveaway started last week, and it’s a copy of my favorite book about decluttering called What your Clutter is Trying to Tell You. Just click the links above for my facebook page, the Declutterathon group, and Instagram if you haven’t already entered.

Giveaways will be announced every Tuesday on social media or in every Wednesday post and end by the following Monday at the latest.

Now I know you may be worried that a giveaway isn’t the best idea for a decluttering challenge. After all, aren’t we supposed to be getting rid of stuff, not getting more? Yes… kind of.

The truth is stuff isn’t the enemy. Too much stuff we don’t need is.

I’m going to be giving away things that will either aid you in your decluttering and organizing journey or help you in your daily life (gift cards!).

I hope the giveaways are a little something fun that keeps us interacting and motivated throughout the challenge, but if giveaways aren’t your thing, no problem! You don’t have to enter or participate.

Before I jump into our very first task, I do want to go over a few rules.

Holiday Decluttering Challenge Rule #1

You must only speak positively to yourself during the challenge. Yep, we’re decluttering things that no longer serve us so the negative self talk has to go! Speak to yourself as you would your most cherished friend or loved one. Don’t beat yourself up with thoughts about how your home got cluttered or how much money was spent accumulating all of this stuff. Give yourself the gift of being your own biggest cheerleader and best friend. It will make a world of difference as we move thorough the next seven weeks.

Rule #2

Focus on progress, not perfection, and give yourself grace. We are starting this challenge energized and with the best of intentions, but let’s be honest… life happens. People get sick, emergencies pop up, schedules change, and sometimes we’re just too darn tired to do anything.

That’s okay! Our homes may not be perfect at the end of this, but they’ll be better. We have to remember that we didn’t accumulate all of this clutter overnight (or even in seven weeks) so we may not be able to clear that quickly either. However, if you make an attempt to complete even a quarter of the tasks assigned, your home will have less clutter by the end and be better for it.

Rule #3

Make this challenge work for you. If any space, idea, or aspect of it isn’t working for or helping you, feel free to tune it out or change it. If you don’t have or need to declutter the space or category we’re focusing on at that time, choose a space that needs attention instead. It doesn’t really matter if we’re all doing the same thing as long as we’re making progress.

Our First Task

Okay, on to our first task! We’re going to start this challenge by focusing on the first thing someone sees when they enter our home… the entryway!

Does your entryway make guests feel welcomed or want to run? We want our guests (and ourselves!) to feel comfortable and at ease when entering our homes so we’re going to start by asking ourselves some questions:

1. What is the purpose of this space?
2. Is my entryway currently fulfilling that purpose?
3. What is getting in the way of that purpose being fulfilled and should be removed?
4. Is this something that needs to be moved to another room or should I discard it?
5. Does my entryway need anything to fulfill its purpose?

Asking these questions should help you come up with a vision for your entry, an understanding of how its going to be used, what’s currently in standing in the way, and what (if anything) needs to be added to function properly.

I’ll be sharing my entryway before and afters very soon, and if you’d like to share too we’d love for you to do so in the Declutterathon group on Facebook. I can’t wait to see how you transform your entry from cluttered eyesore to a beautiful and welcoming space.

Let’s get started!

Other Posts in this Series:

Decluttering the Kitchen
Decluttering the Family Room
Decluttering the Guest Bathroom
Decluttering the Dining & Guest Rooms
Entryway Closet Organization
Holiday Decluttering Challenge 2018