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Whether the holidays are approaching, house guests are coming, or you must take back control of your cluttered home, this 28-day declutter challenge will help you reach your goals. It’s been designed by a busy working mom, and wife, for all the other busy people out there. You can take the challenge once for minimal clutter or repeat it monthly until you reach an ideal state.
28 declutter challenge
I designed the challenge to hit the main clutter areas of most homes. I emphasize parting with things that people tend to accumulate beyond what should be needed. This can happen inadvertently because we buy things we forget we have or over time due to not parting with stuff when we bring home new items.
What you will need
To complete this challenge, you do not need much. The goal is to declutter. It would be quite silly of me to ask you to get things for the challenge.
With that said, I recommend that you print my free declutter challenge calendar, or at a minimum, save it on your phone or computer. You could even save it as your phone wallpaper for the month as extra motivation.
You will also need an empty box or bin and several trash bags.
Where to start
First, review the calendar and the explanations below to ensure everything is clear.
Second, decide when you will start the challenge and commit to completing it. The challenge is designed for busy people. Each day should take no more than 15 minutes. If you want a neat and non-cluttered home, this is a small time investment to reach your goal.
Lastly, review and adopt the simple rules listed below.
Challenge rules
The rules are simple. They intend to draw your attention to what likely got you in this state of clutter. By adopting these declutter challenge rules for 28 days, they could transform into new habits that will help you keep your home neat and organized once the challenge is over.
- For anything new that you bring into your home, you must discard of something. The only exception is for food items, see the next rule.
- Commit to meal planning, at least roughly during the month of the challenge. The goal is to remove clutter from your home and this apply to food items as well. At a minimum, review everything that you have before you go and refrain from buying things you already have.
| If you’d like to try meal planning and don’t know where to start, check out this helpful article. |
Declutter challenge calendar explanations
I first want to draw your attention to the text below the calendar in the bottom left corner; daily donation challenge. This means that every day during this 28-day challenge, you need to find one item in your home to donate to a donation center of your choice. It can be anything you want but cannot be included in the daily challenge specified for that day. It is an extra 1 item to donate each day. Each day, put an “x” in the circle to indicate you have completed the task.
Day 1 – Discard of 5 expired bathroom products
Bathroom products range anywhere from make-up and lotion to hair products. Feel free to expand to unused or unwanted items as well. Additionally, 5 is an arbitrary number. This number should not be intimating to most, but it gets you going in the right direction.
Many of these products don’t have official expiration dates on them. However, use your judgment to decide if they should be tossed based on how long you’ve had them. If you have multiple bottles that are almost empty, challenge yourself to use them up first before starting a new one.
Day 2, 9, 16 & 23 – Sort/Dispose/File mail
Like most households, you likely have a “mail pile”. The best habit would be to address the mail right when it is brought inside. Because it’s unlikely to happen for most of us, a weekly mail clean-up is a great approach. Recycle ads, newspapers, and nonconfidential documents. File bills or other important documents in a designated spot. Shred or bun confidential documents.
We cannot stop the mail from coming. Therefore, this is a recurring declutter challenge. Remember to include your filing locations in your weekly mail declutter task. For example, once the bill has been paid, it should be shredded or disposed of in a similar method.
Day 3 – Toss damaged/unpaired underwear and socks
This is simple enough. Go through your socks and underwear drawer and toss out anything you no longer wear items that are damaged, or socks without a match.
Day 4 – Sort Tupperware and toss/recycle single lids/containers
The infamous Tupperware cupboard! Every household has it, and it’s often filled with mismatched items that are now unusable. Take this time to throw away or recycle them and make space to better organized what is left.
Day 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Find 1 item to donate to a loved one
Locate an item that is still good but that you don’t need. It could be children’s clothing for your neighbor, a vase your mom always loved that you don’t need, or a book you think your friend would like. This is a great way to declutter your home while not “fully” parting with an item because it can still be in your life in some ways.
Day 6, 13, 20, and 27 – Use up at least one leftover ingredient in a meal
Don’t waste good food that someone less fortunate would be happy to eat! Haven’t we all heard a version of this from our parents? This is a great way to follow this life lesson. Finish up yesterday’s chicken in a sandwich or throw Monday’s leftover veggies in a soup for lunch. You’ll save money by making your food create more meals, produce less waste, and follow that good old advice.
Day 7 – Discard at least 5 items from junk drawer
Discarding five items from the junk drawer should be easy for most. After all, it is a “junk” drawer. Be mindful to keep only things you will use. Feel free to throw away more than five items too.
Day 8 – Discard 5 expired kitchen items
Let’s be real, we probably all have way more than 5 expired items in the kitchen. However, in the spirit of “slow and steady wins the race”, you can keep it simple with only 5 items or go for more if you have the time and energy. Look through the pantry, the spice rack, and the refrigerator to find those expired products. It’s also a great time to assess your inventory and make sure you don’t buy what you already have next time you go to the store.
Day 9 – Sort/Dispose/File mail
Check day 2.
Day 10 – Sort shoes and toss/donate/sell unused ones
If you have children, I am 100% sure you have shoes to donate or discard. However, if you don’t, you might still have an excess of shoes. Take an honest look and part with those you do not wear. If they are in good shape, shoes and boots sell well at events like garage sales.
Day 11 – Find 5 broken items to throw away
This one is quite simple. If it’s broken and unusable, just throw it away.
Day 12 – Find 1 item to donate to a loved one
See day 5.
Day 13 – Use up at least one leftover ingredient in a meal
See day 6.
Day 14 – Sort cleaning products. Discard/combine/use
Take inventory of all the cleaning products in your home. Combine several bottles containing the same product to discard the containers and declutter your space. Also, throw away expired products or cleaners you don’t like and won’t use.
Day 15 – Discard 5 expired vitamins/supplements
This category can get out of control easily. There are so many vitamins and supplements. Additionally, it’s common for our motivation to come and go. We read about a new product, get excited to try it, take it for a month and suddenly stop. However, the bottle isn’t empty, and it sits there. As we read about new supplements, the story repeats itself, and the clutter grows. Clean it up, 5 products at a time.
Day 16 – Sort/dispose/file mail
See day 2.
Day 17 – Sort clothes and toss/donate/sell 5 items
I typically recommend sorting through clothes each season when it’s time to rotate our closet. But, most of us acquire new things in between. Therefore, the clothing collection seems to grow faster than we can keep up with it. Removing five items each month is a great habit to adopt.
Day 18 – Sort through toys/games and toss/donate/sell unused
Whether it’s a game nobody likes, that the children have outgrown, or that is missing key pieces, sorting through the toys and games will help your decluttering process.
Day 19 – Find 1 item to donate to a loved one
See day 5.
Day 20 – Use up at least one leftover ingredient in a meal
See day 6.
Day 21 – Collect unwanted pantry items to donate
On day 8, we discarded expired items. Today, get rid of unopened pantry items that you will not use. Maybe you bought them by mistake or you thought someone liked them and you were wrong. Put all these items in a box and take them to a nearby food pantry to help those in need.
Day 22 – Discard 5 expired freezer items
It’s time to clean out the time capsule! If it’s expired, it must go. If it doesn’t have a date but is all frostbite, you might also want to consider throwing away. As a helpful tip, consider leaving the items in your freezer in a trash bag until trash day to avoid foul smells in your home or garage. Just don’t forget them on trash day.
Day 23 – Sort/dispose/file mail
See day 2.
Day 24 – Sort towels / linens and toss/donate/sell unused
Go through the depth of your linen closet. How many sets of sheets and towels do your family needs? Discard what is extra by donating, selling, or throwing away, depending on the quality.
Day 25 – Collect unused electronics and drop-off at e-waste site
Because electronic waste isn’t supposed to be discarded through regular trash, many households tend to hold on to those items. Take time today to go through your home to collect what needs to be disposed of and take a trip to the e-waste site nearest your house.
Day 26 – Find 1 item to donate to a loved one
See day 5.
Day 27 – Use up at least one leftover ingredient in a meal
See day 6.
Day 28 – Drop off donation box filled with 28 items
You made it! Day 28! Today is the day you take your giant box of items to the donation center of your choice. Just wait and see. You will feel great seeing these 28 items leave your home for good.
In conclusion
Congratulations! You made it. Dedicating 28 days to a declutter challenge and no small accomplishment. You should be very proud of yourself. If you feel more work is needed, I encourage you to repeat the challenge again and again, until you are pleased with the state of your home. Alternatively, you can take a look at this article on how to declutter your home for good. It showcases different methods and offers many tips.
Thank you for reading.
Cat xx
