Decluttering 2017 in 2017: Join the Challenge!

Decluttering 2017 in 2017: Join the Challenge!
Each year, this blog hosts a decluttering challenge to get rid of the same number of items as the year. In 2017 everyone who joins the challenge will get rid of 2017 items from their homes.
24,440 people have signed up to do the challenge in years past and I’m so excited to see how many people jump on board in 2017!
If you’ve been waiting for motivation, or want to be inspired by others, now is a great time to get on board! Embrace simplicity and work your way to a clutter-free, simplified home!
Enter your email here and I will email you your free 2017 in 2017 decluttering chart:

How does the decluttering challenge work?

  • 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 100 or 500 is reached.
  • Join the Facebook group and celebrate your successes!

Don’t know where to start?

 

  • Start in the kitchen. Kitchens tend to contain less sentimental items, which are often much more difficult to declutter (save all the sentimental items for last).
  • Do the dishes each day before you start decluttering, or work on a morning and evening routine. This is KEY to keeping your home clean and organized.
  • Work a little bit each day. 5-15 minutes of focused work will keep you moving forward.
  • Some people find it helpful to break this challenge down into how much they need to discard regularly: 2017/52= 39 items a week, or 5-6 items each day.
  • Focus on one space until it’s completely decluttered and organized: one room, one countertop, one shelf, etc.
  • Pull out one category at a time. Ask yourself “what do I love/use and therefore keep?” Discard anything that you don’t love or use.
  • Give each thing you decide to keep a “home”. (“A place for everything and everything in it’s place” ~Benjamin Franklin)
  • Remember that when you only have a minimal amount of items, it’s easy to give a “home” to each item, and you won’t need extra organizational containers.
  • Avoid keeping things “Just in case.” If you are unsure of an item, box is up, tape the box, date it and plan a time to let it go if you haven’t needed anything from it. (When you let it go, don’t look in it. If you don’t remember what’s in it, it’s not that important!)

Want more guidance?

 
30 Days To A Clean And Organized Home Workbooks
If you want a specific daily walk-through, check out the workbook set: 30 Days To A Clean And Organized Home. Each book has 30 Days of tasks that walk you through decluttering all your main living spaces.
 
 

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

37 Comments

  1. AnGie cRitchett on 12/25/2016 at 11:00 pm

    Id love to join the 2017 challenge to declutter. I started about a year ago and im ready to completely downsiZe and declutter!!

    • tuesday on 01/26/2017 at 10:54 pm

      Just got on board. 250 items and $0.00 spent on needless things.
      I also joined your FB group. It’s pending.
      Thanks for all your advice!

      • Rachel on 01/27/2017 at 3:09 pm

        Awesome Tuesday! 🙂

  2. Lisa @ Essentially Zero Waste on 12/26/2016 at 2:37 am

    I’m really excited to start on this, but the truth is, that I have been downsizing for years! So, my challenge is to challenge the notion that I have 2017 things to get rid of. I’m feeling that I don’t, which is possible considering this is an ongoing process for me, but I’ll be happy to learn that I have actually been able to rid myself of over 2017 items! honestly, I can’t lose 😉 Thanks so much!

  3. Veronica on 12/28/2016 at 11:08 am

    i would love to try this! 😉

  4. Roberta on 12/28/2016 at 12:57 pm

    I’d love to try this, but I’m a little intimidated by the large number. I’m with Lisa, though: if I make it, that would be amazing, but if NOt, I’ll still be better off!

    • Jenny on 01/03/2017 at 8:21 am

      I was intimidated by the number at first to but then i changed my perspective. See it as having to get rid of 5-6 things a day. Every oh so small thing counts if you want it to. Seems manageable doesn’t it?

    • Mariah on 01/11/2017 at 8:04 pm

      Count old paPers or junk mail ifb if you have to! I always have an expired coupon laying around! Every little thing counts!!!!

  5. Kelly B. on 12/29/2016 at 12:00 pm

    I did something similar for the month of december after deciding to embrace minimalism. the goal was to toss, donate or give away 800 items. I have a few days left and and am only about 30 items left to go. Given I am just starting to tackle my office this week, I’ll handily reach my goal and likely exceed it. It feels soooo good to get rid of all of the clutter!!

    • Rachel on 12/29/2016 at 7:07 pm

      That’s awesome Kelly!

  6. Jen on 12/29/2016 at 9:20 pm

    I’m committed to starting this on Sunday 1/1. Can you email me the 2017 chart? I think it’s a great idea to have a visual representation of my progress. Thanks!!

  7. Vanessa on 12/29/2016 at 11:13 pm

    Is there a link to the 2017 chart?

  8. Ray on 12/31/2016 at 7:16 pm

    Very good info Rachel.
    Decluttering is a very emotional endeavor for everyone. Information like this (and tools like your decluttering chart), help people to distance themselves from the emotioonal side of getting rid of stuff.
    This was a good read.
    Thanks!

  9. Gillian on 01/01/2017 at 6:48 am

    The chart is such a great idea Rachel, simple yet effective.
    I must have decluttered about 2000 items last year and have never looked back.
    Trying hard to convince my sister to follow suit, so will forward her a copy of the chart for inspiration.

  10. Dana on 01/01/2017 at 5:29 pm

    I am very excited to do this. As others, i too have been working on this sporadically. Im not sure of 2017 items, but love the idea that i can break it down to 5 or 6 a day. Love the chart idea which seems easy to do.

  11. Kathy on 01/04/2017 at 10:20 pm

    I tried to join your webinar this evening, and the link seemed to work at first, but now it is stuck saying, “Sit tight, the webinar creator has not logged in yet.” and the webinar supposedly started 20 mins ago. any suggestions how to help? I would like to try again tomorrow. anyone else have this problem? thanks.

  12. Brenda Eizenga on 01/08/2017 at 11:05 pm

    Please send the 2017 declutter chart! Thanks!

  13. MRS. R on 01/16/2017 at 12:23 pm

    Thank you for this 🙂 I love charts and order when I do anything lol.
    This year is finally our year. I’ve had a hard time getting hubby and my step daughter on board with this but they are finally on board 🙂 so far we have donated 9 bags (40-50 items each) of clothing- half of which belonged to my 9 year old lol, we donated book, pots and pans we no longer use and the list keeps growing. We still have too much ‘Stuff’ but we are headed in the right direction 🙂

  14. Janelle on 01/22/2017 at 4:50 pm

    This is awesome! I got rid of 2015 things in 2015, and tried for 2016 last year, but with being foster parents and having the number of kids in my home go from 3 to 5 to 6 to 4 to 5 from March to December, i only got to 1675. But im Shooting for 2017 this year, and i’m excited to find this challenge! It will be great to be alongSide otherS!

    • Rachel on 01/24/2017 at 4:37 pm

      Well, even with having more children join your family, you were still able to get rid of quite a bit last year! So good job! Letting go of more is definitely going to help the family. I think minimalism and big families are a perfect combination. 🙂

  15. Sheryl on 02/13/2017 at 1:34 am

    LOOKING for to this journey, long pAst due. I received the charts Via email, thank you. I also requested to join the fb grouP, i believe tHe request is pending. Ive been Reducing on my own, yet a guided path aNd a support group with ideas is WonderfuL.

  16. Pipa on 02/21/2017 at 6:40 pm

    Hello everyone. I’d like to know if I can start the challenge in the end of February. Thanks.

    • Rachel on 02/22/2017 at 12:54 pm

      Absolutely! You can start whenever you want. 🙂

  17. Judy on 03/19/2017 at 11:18 pm

    Just found this today and got my chart. I did a lot of paper decluttering/shredding earlier in the year….def. not going to count each paper- I would probably be into 2020 by now. LOL I just counted by bags of shred. Also have been decluttering a lot of craft stuff. Same thing- each skein of yarn was not counted, just “bag of yarn”. Working on clothes now and am almost at 200 items of clothing- not counting those that were too trashed to donate. Can’t wait to get approved for the fb !

    • Rachel on 03/21/2017 at 6:04 pm

      Awesome job Judy!

  18. Erin on 04/13/2017 at 1:57 pm

    Hi!
    I received the email but cannot download the chart for 2017. Help!

  19. Christa on 04/30/2017 at 2:25 pm

    Hi, I subscribed but haven’t received the chart yet! I’m anxious to get started as I’m behind and look forward to hearing from you!

    • Rachel on 05/01/2017 at 4:53 pm

      Hi Christa, I didn’t see you in the system, so I just added you.

  20. Beverly on 05/01/2017 at 5:40 pm

    I signed up as a subscriber but haven’t received my chart yet. I’m down with a fibromyalgia flare today but spent less than 15 minutes on my clothes and put 12 closets items and 12 items from t shirt drawer into donation bag and tossed 2 pair of socks that were past their useful life. Yea me! And it didn’t overtax my limited energy for day! Looking forward to more purging!

  21. Tami on 07/06/2017 at 11:24 am

    I know I’m late to this game but can you email the chart?
    I am ready to start the down sizing part of our lives.
    Thanks
    Tami

    • Rachel Jones on 07/07/2017 at 10:45 pm

      Hi Tami! It shows you signed up and that it was sent to you. If you don’t see it- check your spam/junk folder and let me know if you can’t find it. 🙂

  22. Victoria Grice on 01/26/2018 at 1:02 am

    Please send me a free 2018 decluttering chart. Thank you

  23. Robin on 01/29/2018 at 4:20 pm

    2018 chart please?

  24. Robyn on 01/09/2019 at 3:37 pm

    Can you please send me the 2019 chart please

    • Rachel Jones on 01/09/2019 at 5:22 pm

      I update the download each year, so no matter which form you sign up on, you’ll get the current year. 🙂

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