Challenge completed! Week four of my minimalism challenge is o-v-e-r. 🙂 Embarking on a 4 week declutter challenge is a great way to get your home in order. Wrapping up this final week of 30 days of decluttering, I wanted to share once again what I weeded out. I tackled a variety of tasks day by day, going from hobby supplies to kitchen items, and even getting rid of a good chunk of my magazine collection.
During the last week (actually nine days) of this challenge, I sorted out 234 items in total. All in all, I’ve cleared out a total of 465 items while playing the minimalism game. I’m really quite chuffed that I got through week 4 because as the numbers kept climbing, I had to give more thought to getting all my items together each day.
Doing this challenge has freed up space for the things I really use, especially in the library where most of the unused hobby stuff was hogging up room in my cabinet and collecting dust on shelves.
Looking for some inspiration to start your own #minsgame? Check out the detailed review of my experience with the entire decluttering challenge. It has some good tips to get you going on your own declutter journey. My free printable PDF checklist can also help you tackle decluttering your home, or just give you some impetus for creating some fresh and clean corners here and there in your household.
You don’t need any special cleaning supplies to get going on a 4 week declutter challenge. Some trash bags or baskets to rein in what you sort out should suffice. You can proceed room by room, or just bounce around like I did before you move on to the next space. The 30 day declutter challenge will help you focus on one area or one type of item at a time. It’s also a great way to get motivated for an upcoming house move, or a larger overhaul of your space on your way to a clutter free home.
For me, it was a fun foray into living lighter and I really like how I was able to clear out a lot of stuff that was taking up space in my of cabinets and drawers. It also gave me the opportunity to weed out anything that’s broken. My whole place genuinely feels more clean and organised now than it did last month. Plus, I made money decluttering along the way by selling some things!
Day 22: Getting Rid of Kitchen Clutter
I was excited to start week 4 of the minimalist game and kicked it off by sorting out 22 items from the kitchen.
I tidied up a couple of corners in the kitchen and weeded out some expired protein shake mixtures. Plus some rusty fridge magnets, a portable water filter I never used, a bunch of pamphlets, takeaway menus, and some other random stuff that was taking up precious space in my tiny kitchen.
Day 23: Decluttering Hobby and Office Items
On day 23 of the declutter your home challenge, I sorted out 23 miscellaneous hobby and office items.
This random lot included knitting needles, photo inkjet paper for an inkjet printer I had 20 years ago (🙈), scripts I no longer need, a mailer full of earplugs, glasses and ear protection for the shooting range I don’t visit anymore, as well as a 7″ vinyl single an ex-boyfriend forgot at my place. Finders keepers lose their weepers! 😁
Happy to be saying goodbye to all this stuff. I work from home and my desk has no drawers, so this stuff was just in the way in my cabinet.
Day 24: Art and Hobby Supplies
Moving right along to day 24, I parted ways with 24 art and hobby supplies.
I seem to have a lot of hobby stuff I no longer need and have been wanting to clean it up for awhile. So the 4 week challenge was a golden opportunity to get rid of the clutter and get organised in here.
This lot features my dad’s broken oil paint box from Japan, which he bought in the 1960s and I’ve been schlepping around since the 1980s 🙈, some clay tools, a plastic storage box, and beads and embellishments. I don’t use anything from this load of stuff so off it goes.
Day 25: Junk Drawer Cleanout
Day 25 was dedicated to cleaning out a junk drawer. I cleared out 25 items, including CD-Roms, keylaces, broken toys, pins, knick-knacks, fuzzy duplicate photos and tape that had dried up.
When I’m working through a drawer, I always start by emptying it out completely. Then I wipe it out and put things back one by one while I decide what to keep and what to throw away. I find it’s one of the faster ways to organise and declutter at the same time.
Day 26: Paper Clutter
On day 26, I went head-on with more paper clutter. I wouldn’t say I hoard paper stuff, but I do have an affinity to it and had held on to many reference materials over the years.
Nowadays I digitise the stuff I want to keep with my Scansnap and save it to my paperless files in Evernote. It works great for me, so I can let this bulk ‘o pulp here go.
Day 27: Arts and Craft Supplies
Day 27 drew me back to decluttering arts and craft supplies again. Almost all of the paints, fimo clay, stamp pads and pens here are dried up and unusable, No idea why I still had them.
The model paints are still new but I don’t need them after all. I’m giving them to my fave kids’ charity with the next batch of donations I’ve been putting together for them during my 30-day challenge.
Day 28: Oil Paints and Supplies
On day 28, I said goodbye to 28 more oil paints and supplies. These are ancient! And gunky! And dirty! Dried up, even!
These oil paints were all part of the kit my dad bought in the 1960s, which I had decluttered on day 24 further above. I have not used them since the late 1980s (🙈) and it’s totally time to let them go.
Day 29: Photographic Equipment on My Challenge Checklist
Day 29 of the 4 week declutter challenge was dedicated to decluttering 29 pieces of photographic equipment and darkroom supplies. This entire lot is going to the local kids’ charity I support. They are always looking for hobby-related gear for their various after-school groups for underprivileged children.
This is probably more than 29 pieces with the additional camera lenses and photo paints, but at some point I stopped counting. I also added a ton of polaroid film from new-old stock for the kids to experiment with. It had all been stored safely in my fridge so it’s still good.
I’m parting with these cameras and photographic equipment because I just don’t use them anymore, and haven’t in years. They’re taking up precious space in my small place. Since I already sold my darkroom equipment when I moved in, I don’t need the miscellaneous supplies for that anymore, either.
This was probably the most sentimental batch of stuff I decluttered in this entire challenge. When I was a teenager and young adult, I had wanted to become a photographer, but it just never happened for me.
Day 30: Magazine Clutter
I made it to day 30! On the final day of the 30 day challenge I bid farewell to yet another stack of pulp: 30 magazines.
This is a really nice lot of collectors’ issues from Hermès, Polaroid, and Rubber Stamp Madness. Off to eBay they go. If nobody takes them after ten days, they’ll be hitting the paper recycling bin.
It feels great to be done!
The End of the 4 Week Declutter Challenge
I decluttered a total of 465 items during this challenge and I’m loving my more organised home. This challenge freed up space for the things I frequently use and helped me realise the importance of letting go of items that no longer serve me.
Over the next 4 weeks I’ll now be taking more time to do the things needed to turn my clutter into cash. Quite a few items still have to be properly photographed and listed online. In general though, I feel like I got my life organised over the past four weeks. It may not be possible to completely declutter your house in 30 days, but if you live in small quarters like I do, the minsgame definitely frees up room in your home.
If you want to make your home more manageable, too, but you’re not sure what to declutter first or don’t know where to start, check out these three things you can declutter today. And don’t forget to click here to download your free printable decluttering checklist!
Once you begin, it gets easier to be more discerning about anything you don’t need, stuff you’ve only worn once or twice, and what you need to declutter in every room. I definitely found it helpful to group like items together while I was doing the challenge, which you might have noticed in my roundups of week 1, week 2 and week 3.
Just a little bit of time each day over four weeks really does make a big impact. I already feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders simply when I open up a drawer and see how neat and tidy it looks. THAT sparks joy.
You can find the entire minsgame series in chronological order here: - Starting a 30 Days Declutter Challenge (incl. rules) - A Ruthless Week 1 in My Simplified Declutter Challenge - Week 2 of Decluttering in a 30 Day Minimalism Challenge - Embracing a Minimalist Declutter Challenge in Week 3 - Declutter Your Home in a 4 Week Declutter Challenge? Done! (this post) - My 30-Day Decluttering Challenge Experience (incl. best tips) Have fun!
Remember that the journey towards a decluttered home is a step-by-step process. Every item you let go of is a step towards a more organised and clutter-free home. Good luck on your decluttering journey!
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