Starting yesterday, Brett and I are playing the 30-Day Minimalism Game.

The game is played by each person getting rid of one item the first day, two items the second day, three items the third day, … you get the idea. Whoever is able to make it the furthest in the challenge wins – though the only thing at stake is bragging rights – and whoever makes it to the full 30 days will have rid themselves of 465 unnecessary possessions. If Brett and I both complete all 30 days, then we will have gotten rid of 930 items from our home in one month – a great start on the road to minimalism!

Truthfully, we probably won’t make it that far because Brett is doing this reluctantly to begin with and already on day one he tried to get rid of our baby monitor [that was currently in use] and my brand new running shoes. I’m not sure he understands the point of the exercise. Regardless, I’m going to have to set some guidelines [if you ever saw Brett and I play a game together, you would understand why written rules are an absolute necessity].

The 30-Day Minimalism Game Rules:

#1: No tossing the other’s personal belongings [but kids’ toys and things we share are free game].

#2: No tossing things that we are actually currently using and serve a good purpose.

#3: No tearing a piece of paper into however many pieces and trying to count that as your day’s quota.

#4: I can’t toss clothes unless they are in addition to my 26 items already getting donated each month.

#5: Items must be donated, recycled, or given away to friends/family [in other words, not trash]. Things bound for the trash should just be thrown in the trash and not counted for the game.

I’ll be posting our donation items periodically throughout the month so as not to drive everyone crazy by posting every single day.

So, on day 1, I chose to rehome our beautiful bassinet, which I love. But it is too big for our space and won’t get any use until I have another baby – which may never happen. So it might as well hold another little baby rather than serving as a second laundry basket in my bedroom. I am hoping to find someone I know who would like it and use it [please let me know if you are interested!], but if I can’t I will donate it to a local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Brett chose the kid’s old race track which has been replaced by a “new-to-us” track [Thanks, Aunt Mary!].

Our day two choices weren’t as exciting. But, as always, if you see something you want/need, let me know! Free to a good home. Otherwise, it is all being donated.

I can already tell that this is going to be an eye-opening endeavor…

Karis