2016 in 2016 Decluttering Challenge

Join the Decluttering Challenge: Declutter 2016 in 2016
8 years ago, I came across a challenge and I’ve continued it every year since. Why? Well…

  1. I love charts.
  2. It keeps me accountable with how much is coming into my home and how much is going out.

We have 7 people living in this house currently and things come in frequently. To maintain the atmosphere that I desire, I have to keep things moving out.
The kids enjoy marking squares on our chart when they get rid of things. It’s motivation for them; which means it’s easier for them to let things go.
Last year over 12,551 people downloaded the 2015 in 2015 chart.
Are you ready to join them and purge 2016 things from your life this year?

 

How to use the yearly decluttering chart:

 

  • Each time you get rid of an item, put an “X” on a square (or black it out, depending on who’s helping check the boxes!!)
  • The rules are your own: If you have a stack of magazines to get rid of, you may count it as one item, or you can count each magazine as an item. You may even guess the number! The point is just to get rid of it.
  • Keep the chart on the front of the refrigerator or a cupboard where you can watch your progress and keep motivated.
  • If you have children, get them involved! Let them mark the boxes. Use different colors for different family members so they can see how much they contributed!
  • Plan out a celebration after each hundred is reached.

About Rachel Jones

Hi there! I’m Rachel Jones, and I founded Nourishing Minimalism in 2012 at the beginning of my minimalist journey. If you're looking for encouragement in your journey, I created a FREE Facebook Group - feel free to join me there: Nourishing Minimalism Facebook Group and I share videos each week on YouTube

18 Comments

  1. Melissa on 12/30/2015 at 11:51 am

    Thank you for doing this every year, Rachel. We didn’t finish the 2015 challenge. I didn’t join until June when we started clearing out my son’s room as a summer challenge. I am looking forward to trying again in 2016. I really like the different colors for different family members tip. We already use different colors on our dry erase calendar to keep up with events. Both kids are excited to see how many boxes they can color after the February consignment sales (I will donate what doesn’t sell).

    • Rachel on 12/30/2015 at 1:20 pm

      That’s great Melissa! 🙂

  2. Sarah on 12/30/2015 at 1:52 pm

    I found your blog in 2014. I didn’t quite make 2014 items that year, but I got to 1829, which was a success for me. This year I hit 2123 before Thanksgiving. Go me! I haven’t finished yet, so I’m not sure of my total. We still have too much, but I can see the difference and I am encouraged. We do not live extravagantly and we do give quite a bit, but I have been increasingly convicted that we need to have less and give more. I long for a simpler, more peaceful life. I want to spend less time organizing and taking care of stuff, and more time loving and serving people. As we purchased Christmas gifts for children in our local homeless shelter, the kids and I talked about how God has blessed us and how we are called to bless others. I am using our upcoming move as an incentive to weed out even more. Our household items can bless those families from the shelter who are trying to overcome hurdles and establish homes. Thank you for the encouragement and motivation.

    • Rachel on 12/31/2015 at 5:46 pm

      That’s so great Sarah!

  3. Annemarie on 01/01/2016 at 9:22 am

    Thank you for your Decluttering Chart! It is already hanging on my kitchen cupboard!
    I wanted to ask you a question:
    Of course I know I can make my own rules, but just wanted your opinion:
    What do you count as decluttering? Only stuff that actually leaves the house? Like trash or things you donate?
    Because there are also many cluttered areas in my home that contain a lot of stuff that just needs to be put away. And that is also decluttering, right?
    How do you deal with that?
    Just curious!
    Annemarie

    • Rachel on 01/02/2016 at 1:13 pm

      I personally view decluttering as items that leave the home. Most of the time, when things are not in the place they belong, it’s because we have so many things that there either, isn’t a place for it to belong, or the place is crowded/takes more effort to get to. The more things that leave the home, the easier it is to make “homes” for those items you use, “homes” where it is easy to put them away.
      I know a lot of people view decluttering as “organizing”, so a better description of what I view would be “de-own”.

  4. Veronica on 01/03/2016 at 1:30 pm

    Hello Rachel!
    What a great idea! 🙂
    But i cant find where i can download the chart for free!?
    Can you help me?
    xo
    Veronica

    • Rachel on 01/06/2016 at 1:20 am

      Just enter your email address in the appropriate box and the download link will be sent to your email address. 🙂

  5. Rebecca on 01/03/2016 at 6:57 pm

    My kids just voted to do this again.
    We did the 2015 in 2015 -finished the whole thing from mid-July through end of Nov. And we were fairly minimalist before. But then again, with 9 kids, things do build up AND add up quickly when we start getting rid of them.
    Some things we did to make it more fun: we color coded days so we could see which days we had gotten rid of the most and work to beat that record. I also offered celebrations at each 500. So 500 was donuts for breakfast, 1000 was a field trip, etc. Each 500 the “reward” got bigger and better.
    So, I guess we’ll try it again. Not sure we have that much more to get rid of but it might surprise me!

    • Rachel on 01/12/2016 at 8:17 pm

      Very cool! 🙂

  6. Tim on 01/04/2016 at 1:33 pm

    We’re already over 25 bags, large and small! This is going to be a much less cluttered year for us!

    • Rachel on 01/12/2016 at 1:00 pm

      Awesome Tim!

  7. Danielle on 01/21/2016 at 6:44 am

    I just purchased the “Jumpstart” stuff. If I had know. It was just a list of 2-3 tasks to build a daily routine, I would have spent the money elsewhere. I thought it would be more helpful in the tasks of decluttering. It’s not so. Quite a disappointment

    • Rachel on 01/29/2016 at 6:42 pm

      I will happily refund your money Danielle! I just sent you an email.

  8. Tara on 04/08/2016 at 11:33 pm

    Hi Rachel,
    I just sent a request to join the Nourishing Minimalism Yearly Decluttering Challenge on Facebook. I am a previous member of the group and really enjoy it. Actually, I posted about our downsize in the group and you featured it on this blog 🙂 My husband and I decided to create a joint Facebook account and deleted our individual accounts but unfortunately our new account does not function properly. We are unable to send and receive private messages and Facebook isn’t willing to fix it, but rather is “using the information to improve their site”. I know that in order to join the group I need to send a private message, but I am unable. Can you help me out? Feel free to continue this conversation via email if you prefer. Thank you!

    • Rachel on 04/12/2016 at 4:19 pm

      Just emailed you Tara! 🙂

  9. Crista on 08/19/2016 at 8:30 pm

    I signed up for the 2016 in 2016 Declutter chart and did not receive it in my e-mail or spam folder. Can you please send me the file? Thank you!!

  10. Eydie Merwitzer on 09/21/2016 at 6:33 pm

    Hi, Rachel,
    I’m trying to print the FREE 2016 challenge chart and can’t find it. a little help please. thank you!

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