Free Printable Checklists Included
Are you ready to commit to 30 days of decluttering? For the next 30 days, I want you to commit to decluttering different areas of your life for just 15 minutes a day. I have set up this challenge to take you through different areas of life that get cluttered (hint: not just physical spaces). So come with me and let’s get started on this 30 Day Declutter Challenge.
- Days 1 & 2: Prepare for the Challenge
- Week 1: Physical Spaces
- Week 2: Physical Categories
- Week 3 Digital Categories
- Week 4: Declutter Your Paper
Prepare for the Challenge
For the first two days, I want you to think about your goals and your time. Without setting the stage first, it’s hard to really prepare to declutter mentally and physically. For Day 1, you are going to do a couple of things: Choose your 15 Minutes and set some D.U.M.B. Goals. When I say “choose your 15 minutes,” I want you to think of a time every day that you are going to set aside for decluttering. Put it on your calendar, set a timer, and hold yourself to it! For your D.U.M.B. goal, think about “What is your goal for decluttering?” Whatever your goal, write it down and don’t be afraid to dream. (D.U.M.B. stands for Dream-Driven, Uplifting, Method-Driven, and Behavior-Triggered).
For Day 2, I want you to set some S.M.A.R.T. goals and do a Brain Dump of all the different things that you would like to accomplish with this challenge. I think it’s a good idea to write all of this down in a Recommended journal“>journal and notebook and keep referencing back throughout the month to keep yourself on track and motivated! Your S.M.A.R.T. goals are going to be more specific and may be as simple as “I’m going to declutter for 15 minutes for the next 30 days.” That goal is specific, measurable, actionable, relevant , and time- based. For the Brain Dump, I want you to write down all of the things you are feeling, thinking, and worried about this challenge. Putting it down on paper and referencing back will be helpful throughout the 30 day declutter challenge.
Declutter Physical Spaces
For this first week, we are focusing on small spaces that should take no more than 15 minutes. These little 15 minute challenges will focus on the area and decluttering it as a whole. While going through this challenge see if you like this way of decluttering. For some of the spaces you might just take the 15 minutes to quickly look around and see if there’s any thing you can quickly and easily get rid of. Remember, this is not time to completely take everything out, reorganize, buy new baskets, etc. Just quickly see if there are things in the space that don’t need to be there and put them back in their home, donate them, or trash them.
Week One Spaces:
- Day 1: Your Everyday Purse or Bag
- Day 2: Car Console
- Day 3: Junk Drawer
- Day 4: Fridge or Freezer
- Day 5: Desk
- Day 6: Area of Your Choice!! ( Keep it small!)
- Day 7: Linen Closet
Declutter Physical Categories
For week 2, we will do 15 minute challenges that focus on different categories. For a lot of people, they prefer to declutter this way. Remember, we’re not organizing, just decluttering. I want to you collect all the items in your home that belong in this category and really look at getting rid of some of the bulk. For example, for day one, you are going to collect all the bags, purses, suitcases, etc in your house. If you are a HUGE purse collector, maybe just focus on the purses! Even if you store these in different areas, bring them all together and decide from the category what you want to keep or get rid of. For some people, this method is really helpful for decluttering and not as overwhelming. What do you think? Do you prefer decluttering by space or by category? Let me know!
Week 2 Categories:
- Day 1: Bags
- Day 2: Blankets
- Day 3: Books
- Day 4: Electronics/ cords
- Day 5: Cups/ Mugs
- Day 6: Outdoor Toys/ tools
- Day 7: Shoes
Declutter Digitally
Declutter Digital Spaces
Now, you are ready for week 3! With all the technology in our world these days, it’s easy to feel like you are never going to get a handle on your digital space. The point of this week is to show that by doing just a little bit at a time you can make little progress. This week is exactly the same as my 7 Day Digital Declutter Challenge ( 
) so feel free to read about it and let me know how it is working for you!
Week 3 Categories:
- Day 1: Declutter Digital Photos
- Day 2: Declutter Emails
- Day 3: Declutter Phone Contacts
- Day 4: Declutter Phone Apps
- Day 5: Declutter Computer Desktop
- Day 6: Declutter Computer Files
- Day 7: Declutter Passwords
Declutter Your Paper
Decluttering Paper
Because paper is a beast all onto its own, I’ve dedicated a whole week to just paper. Again, like other weeks this may just scratch the surface, but my hope is that by doing little by little, you can start to see the end of the paper pile and really start imagining what you want your paper system to look like at the end goal. To read more about my 5 steps to declutter you paper, click here. To see it, click here!
- Day 1: Keep/Toss Shred
- Day 2: Action or File
- Day 3: Take The Actions!
- Day 4: File Digitally or Physically
- Day 5: Declutter One Paper Category
- Day 6: Collect all of your kids’ artwork in one place
- Day 7: Collect all of your physical photos in one place
So, are you ready? Download all the checklists now and follow along. If you have any questions or need any support head over to my Facebook group where you can ask all of your questions! Please let me know how the challenge worked for you? Were you able to stick with it? Was there any part that you found harder than others?
9 Responses
I like how you broke the weeks into different categories of decluttering. And also how you stressed that the challenge is ONLY ABOUT decluttering and not organizing. It’s about eliminating the things you don’t want, which in turn will make space for what you do want.
Thank you Linda! I’m glad you caught that this is a DECLUTTER challenge and not an organizing challenge! Two different animals in my book. 😎
I like how you structured your challenge. It is a good way to start the process. They can use the challenge as a template and in a month or so use the categories and change the items under each category. The challenge helps them with time management too. Check the word Phone Contacts in the first image. The images look beautiful.
Thank you for the catch! I was thinking that too… I could edit this and do a new one each month. Thank you so much!
I love your checklists, Jana. Also, because this is a decluttering challenge not, as you point out, an organizing challenge it’s easier for someone to make quick decisions to keep, donate, or toss. I agree that paperwork is a beast! It could use a whole month.
Paper is never ending, and I know a lot of people just put it off because of that!!! Thank you so much for reading. ❤️
It’s time to declutter!
You got that right!! 😝
What a robust and *organized* challenge. I love how you broke down all of the elements to make it approachable for the novice. And it’s particularly great that you included not only tangible clutter but digital as well!