How to play Mins Game decluttering challenge
Mins Game is a decluttering challenge invented by The Minimalists, and the rules are simple:
- Download your tally chart below
- Choose your play style–traditional or reversed
- If playing traditional, declutter 1 item the first day of the month, 2 items the second day, 3 items the third day, and so on
- If playing in reverse, declutter 31 items the first day of the month, 30 the second, 29 the third, and so on
That’s it! By the end of the month, you’ll have decluttered hundreds of items. Ready to play?
Mins Game December Tally Chart Download
Grab your free tally sheet for December’s Mins Game here:
December Mins Game Theme Ideas
Here are a few extra theme ideas to make the December Mins Game even more fun and effective.
Pre-gift purge
Tackle the kids’ toys, toiletries (like lotions, soaps, candles, bath bombs, and other commonly gifted items), collectibles, and any category you tend to get a lot of gifts for.
For me, I might go through my books to let go of a few, because I know I’ll receive a lot of books as gifts.
This can make space for the incoming items so you don’t end up with unwanted clutter. I’m also a fan of the post-gifting season purge, where even the new items are on the chopping block.
Tip for kids’ gifts: If your children receive lots of gifts, you can do the post-gifting purge where you allow them to enjoy their new things for a few days (or weeks), then do a decluttering round of all of their toys, where they can choose what to keep from the old ones and the new ones.
Read more about handling over-gifting here.
Journals and planners
Heading into the new year, you might have a collection of notebooks, planners, and calendars that are no longer relevant. Go ahead and clear those out to make way for the new year!
What if I want to keep my planners for sentimental reasons?
First off, do you refer to your old planners, or are they just piled up like junk? If you insist on saving them for sentimentality, establish a boundary for them, like limiting your collection of “sentimental books” to a shelf or basket. If you had a year that was just chock-full of amazing things and looking at your little notes of appointments and important dates really stokes your heart coals, then go ahead and hang onto it. If it’s full of dentist appointments and other such nothings, who cares?
Paper & digital declutter
I lot a paper and/or digital declutter in December for a few reasons:
- It can be done sitting down, so you can crank up the space heater and wrap up in a cozy blanket to sort papers in front of a Hallmark movie.
- Tax season is coming up, so having everything in order ahead of time can save you some major headaches.
- It’s nice to go into the new year feeling refreshed and organized.
Ready for MORE decluttering fun?
For a more dynamic decluttering challenge, you can try something like our Decluttering Scavenger Hunt to further gamify the experience and make the chore so easy it’s fun: The Decluttering Scavenger Hunt.
Happy decluttering!
