"I decided to share the challenge with my Instagram followers. I posted my first decluttering challenge in January 2025, and then I did the second one in December 2025. Someone said I should draw a random number every day for the December challenge, and I had to purge however many items the number said, which turned out to be the perfect way to gamify it - and to hold myself accountable to post consistently on social media."
"I got the idea to declutter for 30 days and get rid of 496 items from The Minimalists podcast. You have to get rid of one thing on the first day, two on the second day, three on the third, and so on. We started it in 2021. My husband and I, along with some extended family, would do a group text at the beginning of the year and say, "Here's what I'm going to get rid of,""
"All of our stuff was once money, and I just started seeing everything as dollar signs. One day, I added everything up I was getting rid of that day and how much I originally spent on it, and it was $400. I'm more aware of the things I'm buying and bringing into my house, but even we have clutter. For example, we collect so much paper."
Mesha Griffith, a children's book writer and mom in Ohio, adopted a minimalist approach and launched a 30-day decluttering challenge after noticing excess belongings. She followed The Minimalists' 496-item formula, discarding one item on day one, two on day two, and so on, beginning in 2021 with family accountability via group texts. She shared the challenge on Instagram in January 2025 and again in December 2025, later gamifying December by drawing a random daily purge count. Tracking discarded items revealed $400 worth of previously purchased goods, increasing awareness of purchases and leading to disposal of expired insurance cards, manuals, and paper clutter. Viral videos created an engaged online community.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]