A few weeks ago, I set myself the challenge of decluttering a different area of my life every day for 5 days. Ambitious? Yes! Crazy? Maybe! But I did it! Today I’m sharing my 5 Day Declutter results and everything I learned from this challenge.
If you want to learn more about the 5 Day Declutter Challenge, you can find more information in this post. And you can get a free copy of my 5 Day Declutter Workbook at the bottom of this page.
So, what was it like to sift through clutter for 5 days straight? And what did I actually achieve at the end of all of this?
Day 1 – Clothing
I kicked off the 5 Day Declutter by tackling my closet…and the mountain of clothing lurking inside it. Since this was my fifth wardrobe declutter in the last four years, I didn’t expect that I’d be able to part with that much.
I was wrong!
My goal was to get rid of anything that didn’t reflect who I am right now. That meant getting rid of all the bodycon dresses I bought when I was in my early 20s and didn’t care about being being able to breathe when I sat down. Not to mention anything I hadn’t worn in the last few years and anything that made me feel too frumpy/too squeezed/too old/too young…too anything!
By keeping this goal in mind, I was able to declutter ……. items from my wardrobe. Not only that, by I set up a Depop so those clothes can go to a good home and I’ve already made a sale. Win win!
Day 2 – CDs & DVDs
On day two I started to tackle the disaster that was the cupboard in the spare room. A lot of the space was taken up with CDs and DVDs so I started there. I also had a fun little treasure hunt around the house, rounding up all the other CDs and DVDs that were stashed away in random places. I almost fell out of the attic trying to retrieve a box of CDs, but it was totally worth it.
As I stared at the towers of disks that were stacked around around me, I simply asked myself, “In a world of Spotify and Netflix, do I really need any of these?”
I decided to hang onto a few old favourites. After all, sometimes you just need to watch Mean Girls in your pjs.
But I was still able to get rid of over 170 CDs and DVDs! I was even able to trade some of them into Music Magpie for cash. It was my first time using Music Magpie so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was so easy. I used the app to scan in the items, chose to drop everything off at my local Post Office and had them scan in the QR code Music Magpie sent me. I didn’t have to pay for shipping and I even got an extra £5 by using a referral code.
You can get a FREE £5 bonus when you use Music Magpie by signing up here and entering my code at checkout: Aimee Rebecca.
And just like that, I sent a giant box of junk off on its merry way and actually got paid nearly £30 to do so.
Day 3 – Books
I’m a book person. I love the smell of books, the feel of books and the way they look on the shelf. I want to prance through a library like Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I don’t care who knows it!
So parting with books is always a challenge for me. I’d managed to declutter a lot of books during my Konmari book declutter a few years ago and I didn’t expect to find many more that I could bear to part with.
But I surprised myself by decluttering 70 books. 70 books! For a book-lover like me, that’s a downright miracle. I whipped out my Music Magpie app again and managed a make a few more pounds by trading in my books. Cha-ching!
Day 4 – Papers
I thought I had my papers under control. I opted out of paper bank statements a few years ago, I immediately throw out junk mail and I keep my important documents organised in a box file that I’m extremely proud of, thank you very much!
But, somehow, papers just seem to accumulate and spread through the house like mould in a student flat-share. Where do they even come from?
There’s no getting around the fact that decluttering papers is tedious, but I was pleased with my results. I managed to part with a bag of unnecessary papers and even found an entire box file full of old paperwork from university that I could immediately dispose of.
I streamlined my paper file by throwing away letters from banks, HMRC, Student Finance Wales etc that had my usernames and passwords on and making a master list of all of that information instead. Why I didn’t think of that years ago?
Day 5 – The Junk Room
The fifth and final day of the 5 Day Declutter was probably the most challenging. I delved back into the spare room to finish tackling the junk cupboard…well, junk cupboards. Technically, we had two!
Decluttering the junk cupboards added a whole new element – not only did I have to sort through everything and declutter all the unwanted items, but I also had to spend a lot of time putting things back where they actually belonged. The problem with a junk cupboard is that it’s a great place to toss things you can’t be bothered to put away or that you’re too lazy to find a permanent home for. So I ended up spending most of the day traipsing all over the house, putting things in their rightful place.
As annoying as that was, I think Day 5 was the most successful day. I managed to round up all sorts of clutter to donate to the local charity shop as well as some downright rubbish to recycle or throw away. I cleared so much space that the cupboards looked unrecognisable and I managed to find some items we’d all just assumed were lost forever.
What Did I Learn?
After 5 Days of rummaging through clutter, I picked up a few nuggets of wisdom.
- There’s always more to declutter.
You may have decluttered your wardrobe half a dozen times already, but there’s always more you can part with. Maybe you missed something last time or your tastes have changed since then, but it’s worth revisiting areas you’ve already tackled to see what else you can part with. - Having a goal makes the process more effective.
Setting myself specific daily goals kept me far more accountable than just thinking, “Ok, let’s get rid of some stuff.” Working towards something specific like clearing a certain area, getting rid of a set amount of items or even outlining how I wanted to feel at the end of the declutter was a game-changer. - Momentum helps.
Decluttering every day for 5 days was the kickstart I needed to tackle the rest of the clutter in my home. Yes, it was hard, but once I got into the swing of things I found that I was much more effective than I had been in previous declutter attempts. - Decluttering is an ongoing process.
People change. Interests change, styles change, lives change. The things you use or value now might not be the things you use or value in a few years. Keeping up with the decluttering process stops the junk from creeping back in and helps to keep things stress-free and organised.
Don’t forget to grab your free 5 Day Declutter workbook!
The challenge is really simple. Basically, for the next five days, I m going to write down five things every day that I m thankful for and declutter 20 things from my home.