This week, I am recapping the second half of the Modern Minimalism 30-day challenge I undertook for November.
I previously detailed the first fifteen days in my earlier post. Note that I definitely customize this a lot and don’t feel the need to stick rigidly to completing every item as described in the original post.
Days 16-30
In no particular order, here are the items I completed:
Take one step toward learning a new skill
In December, I plan to return to weekly game nights with my family, so I opted to learn a new card game in preparation. I looked up and read through the rules to a card game I recall playing once when I was a kid – Egyptian Ratscrew.
Borrow, rent, or buy used instead of buying new
I am a big fan of hand-me-downs and thrifting; we have a (half-joking) family motto: if it’s free, it’s for me!
This month, though, we had a big renovation project to work on, and we opted to rent the equipment we needed rather than purchase new. This was likely challenging for A. since he loves any opportunity to buy new tools!
Check out the full story on that renovation project here!
Spend 20 minutes outside
This is usually a pretty easy one for me since I usually walk every morning, work in the yard or garden several times a week, and often go for casual walks with the kids in the evenings too.
However, with the temperatures dipping down here rapidly, it has been harder to spend time outside and I have resorted to going to the gym, doing yoga inside, or walking on a treadmill instead.
Thanksgiving Day we have implemented an annual “turkey trot” as a family tradition; Robyn and Joy and I all met early in the morning to walk/run/stroll/bike/whatever! with our kiddos and partners. It’s a great time and we make handprint turkey shirts to wear for the occasion.
We definitely spent more than 20 minutes outside this morning – despite the cold!
Write tomorrow’s to-do list before bed
This is a habit that A and I had actually practiced for many consecutive weeks over the spring and summer. Given the renovations and the establishment of the garden and all the yardwork, we found ourselves creating weekly to-do lists so we could focus our energies. Sometimes we kept things broad and general, while other times we assigned specific tasks and wrote clear deadlines for completion.
We resurrected this habit in November as we entered a new phase of our basement renovation – insulation! We also needed to prepare the ground for windows that we wanted to replace and/or add, relocate some items that were in the way in the basement, and purchase some supplies.
While I like to look at the entire week rather than having a nightly to-do list writtng session, I will definitely be maintaining this habit again moving forward.
Write down all of your go-to meals
Our October minimal meals challenge definitely helped me prepare for this task. I maintained through November a rough sketch of routine meals (i.e. “breakfast for dinner” on Fridays, spaghetti or other pasta on Saturdays, etc.)
Still, I wanted to add a list of meals I make (without a recipe, especially) to add to the inside of my recipe binder.
Since I have been wanting to reorganize my recipe binder anyway, this seemed like a great opportunity to draft up that list.
Here’s the meals I wrote down:
- Breakfasts:
- Oatmeal (cold, hot, or blended baked)
- Tofu breakfast scramble
- Breakfast cookies
- Smoothies or smoothie bowls
- Lunches:
- Tuna
- PBJ
- Hummus and veggie plate
- Dinners:
- Rice bowls (Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, etc.)
- General Tso’s tofu
- Tacos
- Breakfast for dinner (brinner)
- Pasta dishes
Spend 10 minutes unsubscribing from emails
I had done this recently with one of my email accounts, but I opted to perform a quick review of my other email accounts. I have three email accounts – one I generally use for junk emails/subscriptions to consolidate most of the promotional and automated emails; one is my primary work email; and one is my personal/church/other work email.
The last email has recently become more inundated with automated emails and annoying spam messages, so I focused heavily on unsubscribing from whatever I could there.
I love keeping my email inbox as sparse as possible and feel extremely satisfied when my inbox is “empty.” I have categories for emails I need to save and everything gets sorted or deleted upon receipt unless I really need to see that reminder when I sign in to my account.
I basically use my primary inbox as my “to-do” list for emails.
It’s a great system that I highly recommend and well worth the initial time and energy it takes to create the categories and delete emails!
What I Skipped
Purge 5 things from each closet and dresser
Since I had recently purged my wardrobe and already helped A. minimize his closet and dresser drawers earlier this month, I didn’t feel this was a task I could realistically complete.
Go screen free after six
This was surprisingly difficult to fit in. I’m definitely going to work on this area because I find myself mindlessly looking at my phone more often recently, and with some intentionality, I could easily get my work finished early enough in the day to put my phone and laptop down and leave them.
Create an inbox system for papers
I tried making a system like this previously and it didn’t suit our lifestyle. I sort through mail as soon as it comes in, most of our bills are paperless or autopay, and we already have a file folder for receipts or other paperwork we want to “wait and see” about.
Create a Box of Life for each family member
I have scrapbook boxes for each child and for myself and one scrapbook “book” for each kid, and honestly, I don’t even use those that often. I do like having a system in place for the occasional items the kids or I want to save, but I feel like this is sufficient and no new system was needed.
A. also has an existing box with childhood memorabilia too, so we’re well set on this one!
Cancel unnecessary subscriptions and memberships
I don’t really have any subscriptions and A. is content with the ones he has signed up for. Skipped!
Block out some white space on your calendar this weekend
I really should have done this, but this holiday season is just packed on the weekends.
Declutter your bathroom drawers
I actually have no bathroom drawers and I went through the storage baskets I keep on my bathroom shelves recently enough that this felt redundant.
Walk your house with a donation bag
I keep a donation bag in my closet and feel like I regularly add items to it.
Clear your kitchen counters
The only item on my kitchen counter that I wish wasn’t there is the coffee maker, but I know it is much easier for my mom to have it on the counter, and it gets used every morning. Aside from that, I am pretty content with the number of items I keep on the counters.
In Conclusion…
I’d definitely recommend undertaking this 30-day challenge – especially if you are new to minimalism or have never given purging or downsizing a try. It is a easy way to try it out in a low stakes way!