Since last January, I’ve been trying to declutter and minimize my belongings. To gain motivation I’ve shared my process and hosted challenges where people can “play” along with me in this process of living with less. I’ve had so much fun (and I still have a lot to get rid of!) that I decided to host another challenge for the month of January!
This challenge will be like our very first one. $100 is up for grabs!
A game that will hopefully end with everyone owning less stuff and one winner walking away with a $100 in cash!
The game is a simple one. For the month of January, you need to get rid of one thing on the first day of the month. On the second, two things. On the third, three things….and so on. Clothes, toys, tools, junk, magazines, decorations, etc.
This is your mission should you choose to accept it! It starts off easy but it will soon get trickier. You can do it!!
How will I choose a winner? We’re all winners by getting rid of our unwanted belongings but I’ll choose a winner from the people who take pictures of their discarded items each day and do one of three things 1) Share them on social media and tag them #LiveWithLess, if you’re not active online 2) Email the pictures to me at MrsAshleyWalkup@gmail.com or my favorite way – 3) Share them in our Live With Less Facebook group. To keep things tidy, if you chose to share in the Facebook group it’s handy if you post days 2-31 in the comment section of your first post (some have chose to make an album or add a photo to an album and post continuing days below that – whichever – the wall or album is fine).
Q&A
- – If you skip a day are you disqualified? No, but you may only skip two days at a time. Three consecutive skips will disqualify you from winning but you’re welcome to continue playing. Even though you skip a day or two you still have to go back and make up the days you missed.
- – Can you track my shares on social media? Yes, if you use the #LiveWithLess hashtag I can track them.
- – How can I make sure my emails get delivered to you? Okay, so no one would really ask this but for my sanity, could you please put #LiveWithLess Day 1 in the subject line? Thank you!
- – When will this challenge start, I just heard about it? The last day to join will be January 8th when you need to have all your days 1-8 posted…or technically 1-6 since you’re allowed to be two days behind at any point.
- – If I share pictures of my junk in the Live With Less Facebook group will all of my friends see it? No, not unless they are in the group. It’s a closed group.
- – Will you be sharing the items you’re getting rid of? Yes! I’ll be posting in our Live With Less Facebook group daily. Forgive the bad quality pics, this is going to be a quick thing every day.
- – What if more than one person makes it to the 31st? This would be wonderful and I would choose a winner at random using random.org.
- – What if no one makes it to the 31st? Then I’m keeping the money for myself and going to the spa! 😉
A Side Note:
Have you been selling some of your items that you’re tossing? I started selling some of my unwanted things online and have been shocked at the money I’ve made. I’m excited to announce that I have an ebook coming out soon detailing the process, tips, and tricks that I learned the hard way!
If you have any questions or if I missed something please let me know.
Who’s ready to play? I hope you’ll join me! This will be more fun with friends!
If you’re just now joining us and want to catch up on past posts you can find them all linked here on the intro post to our Live With Less series.
Pray that I have the strength to get rid of stuff I fill like I’m in junk bondage! I want to live clutter free I think everything has a value and I used to have nothing and I’m so afraid of going there again one day! I have 25 purses 300 cookbooks ( I collect them super old ones to present)omg I need a de clutter drill sargent. I’m truly going to try this challenge and it’s not for the money but for myself and peace of mind. I feel like the walls are closing in on me! Thank you for support and encouragement
I’m in. I’m always trying to declutter my house. But it seems like there’s never an end to the stuff everywhere. Looking forward to this challenge.
Good luck to you!
Quick question : so it’s Jan 2 and I’m just learning of the challenge… Do I post of a pic of 1 item I’m getting rid of today (since it’s my first day) or 2 since its Jan 2? TIA
You would need to post both of them today, so a total of three. …or if you post tomorrow, six.
This is so timely for me. I’ve been dejunking and decluttering intermittently over the past 3 years. I’ve sold or donated everything from clothing to a drill press. I’ve recently retired so I have no reason to keep all of the stuff I’ve accumulated. I need this kick in the pants to jump start my efforts
I just read about your challenge today and will start tomorrow! Need to get my kids in bed. 🙂
Can’t wait to start! Having 3 kids under 3, there’s a lot of clutter!
one question: could I get rid of let’s say 10 toys..does that count 10 on the 10th day or do they have to be random stuff?
I was wondering the same. Being that we have to get rid of almost 500 items by the end of the month I am assuming 10 toys count as 10 items. It has to.
I actually did a major purge over the summer. Now, I don’t think I can do this challenge. I’m not sure if I can scrape up 500ish items by the end of the month unless I put the kid in a box. LOL Can we count grocery bags? I probably have a bunch of bags in bags inside my one cabinet. 🙂
I just found the challenge too. Thank you for the extra days to get started. I’ll post my first 3 pics tomorrow. It will be such a releif to get rid of some stuff!
Mom always said, “You never know when you might need it,” so I kept junk for years-fabric scraps, magazines, pieces of sets, old clothes, etc. I had a few rummage sales, but I promise you, I cannot sell anything to save my life. I was trying to lower the amount we owed in taxes, and I saw that donations are one thing you don’t have to have a minimum of: for example, you can deduct health care and work required costs, but only if it’s greater than X% of your gross income. I had two surgeries and lots of other costs one year and it wasn’t enough to deduct. I learned that donations to any charity, as long as you can get a receipt, can be deducted 100%. So, I cleared out a lot of old clothes, shoes, etc. They can be deducted at the amount you value them: I usually value things like purses at 50-75% of their original cost, and clothing at 30-50%, as I did household items and other misc. This year I donated three pickup loads, hundreds of pieces of clothing to a storm-ravaged community. At the end of this year, I donated another $11,000+ truck load to a local thrift store run by a home for children. It was as big a surprise to me as it was to you, I’m sure. That is $11,000 I can deduct from my taxes.
I guess that will be early tomorrow since it’s already the third where you are. Still Jan 2nd here.
I just found and joined this group within this hour. Yeah !! I am ready to declutter this mess of a house. I am ready for a pretty house that does not have boxes, bags and stacks of mess everywhere. Plus…Dave Ramsey would be really proud of me for a. decluttering and b. doing it for money to go to my emergency fund. 🙂
This is a great way to keep me on track! Thx!!
I may not be playing completely right…but I will take on the challenge of decluttering. Yesterday, I cleaned out my pantry and threw out food more than a year expired and so technically, I threw out 1 canister of cornmeal, 4 cans of eagle brand condensed milk, 2 cans of black eyed peas…hahaha. I didn’t take any before pictures but I am pleased with my result. Today after a evening meeting, I plan to tackle cup/glassware cabinet. I know there’s some tossing happening there!! Thanks for the challenge!!
I’m not actually part of the contest – because I’ve been awful about remembering to take pictures. But I love this challenge and have stuck to it so far. But I’m glad I found your blog – thanks for the motivation to start the new year with a good de-cluttering:)
Joining late and hoping to keep up. Good luck to all of you in the contest!
I just saw this post, but this is one of my husbands and my resolutions, plus my dad may be coming to live with us in about 9 months, so we also need to make room for him. Can I still join. would love to join
I would like to print the list of 200 things so I can use it to follow and check mark as I accomplish. Is it available to print?
How far ahead are we allowed to post pictures? We can fall behind by 2 days. But I havent’t seen permission to post several days ahead. I would like to be able to do that 8f the rules allow for it. Thx