As a recovering perfectionist, it’s hard for me to admit this. I’ve failed. Again. For the past two months, I’ve attempted the #MinsGame Challenge as a way of confronting the clutter that continues to plague my closets and home. For the past two months, I’ve failed. In September, I failed spectacularly, in October, a little less so. While I never thought I’d write this, there are some pretty outstanding benefits to failing.
I Create the Consequences
In September, I was pretty distraught when I realized I wasn’t going to meet this goal. I tried to check in with myself and my blog readers for a little boost, but by the end of the month, it was obvious that I wasn’t going to meet that goal. Despite taking a more singular focus in October, I still failed. And guess what? The consequences, the doom, the gloom, the dread, the pit my stomach, they really only exist internally. No one took my blog away. No one took my stuff (please come take my stuff!). I haven’t been banished to the outer reaches of society. Aside from what I impose on myself, there is no other consequence. As someone who played life entirely too safe out of fear of consequences (don’t you dare tarnish my 4.3333/4.0 GPA…from high school), this realization is incredibly liberating. I am free to attempt the #MinsGame as many times as I would like without worrying about any external punishment. Trying and trying again is important. It is even more important to do it without fear.
It Encourages Creative Thinking
Another perk of attempting this challenge multiple times is the fact that it’s forcing me to think outside the box (or inside the closet, as the case may be). Remembering how positively impossible it felt to come up with 31 items to get rid of the last day of September, I took a different approach to this October. I planned ahead for the big roundups.
Still, after getting rid of well over 100 items in September, it wasn’t like I had 100 shoes left to donate (Seriously, clap for me you guys. Remember I used to own over 200 pairs!) Instead, I found ways to wrangle clutter like diapers that were unused but no longer in their packaging and wire hangers that I absolutely despise. In both cases, I can happily say that none of them wound up in the trash. Instead, I found ways to pay it forward and reuse the items. The biggest win of all is that the items are being used and reused in someone else’s house. Less clutter without creating extra trash! I like it.
Progress isn’t Perfect
In life, there is no one path to anything. At least, that’s certainly been true of my journey when it comes to finances. Decluttering is proving to be much of the same. When I first started decluttering two years ago (two years, I sound like such a failure), I worked really hard at it for a month or two, realized I had a bunch of clutter left, and essentially gave up. I figured I failed. Minimalism wasn’t for me. Having clutter was.
Guess what? That’s simply not true. No one is destined to a life of expired coupons, unworn shoes, and a wedding dress stashed in their son’s closet.
Even though it may not look like there are leaps and bounds less in my closet, it doesn’t matter. Some months (like when I’m doing these challenges), I might be highly motivated. There might be donation pile after donation pile on our front porch. Other months, it might just be one or two items getting tossed. Or maybe I toss nothing, but I also refuse to let anything else come in. There doesn’t have to be an avalanche of change in order for progress to take place.
Final Thoughts
Rather than attempt the #MinsGame for the third month in a row, I’m going to continue to declutter at a slower pace. It will allow me to be less frantic and escape the feeling that there is a huge backlog to deal with. Rest assured, though, if I really feel my progress start to stall, I’ll be back for a third round of the #MinsGame.
PS – Want a sneak peek at the insane amount of stuff that’s still in our house? Looking to see if I’m really telling the truth when I say that I parted with a ton of my shoes? Check out my Instagram account where I’ll continue to document this in my Instagram Stories.
PPS – I should have decluttered 465 items in October if I were going to count the #MinsGame as a success. Instead, I re-homed 277 things.
Congrats on ‘failing’ and on your progress so far! I was thinking about this yesterday and how I often pressure myself to own the least amount of stuff as possible – as if that’s the goal of this whole minimalism thing. When I did the MinsGame, I took a different approach. I did one night of massive decluttering and ended up getting rid of over 400 things. For me, that was more sustainable than trying to find the right number of things on whatever day of the month it was. If you ever need a decluttering cheerleader- I’m here for you!!
I totally agree. I don’t think it’s about any #. Just reducing. Whatever you can.
The only failures that truly damage you are the ones you refuse to acknowledge. Recognizing failure is the first step toward ultimately accomplishing what you’ve set out to do. In the immortal words of Dory (and if you don’t know who she is, you will as you and your family move through the Pixar movies), “just keep on swimming”. The rest kind of takes care of itself.
It’s no longer a “game” when it becomes a source of negative feelings and bad vibes. The “game” has morphed into an entirely different creature at that point….a creature that is more closely related to the dreaded “Keeping Up With the Joneses” . When decluttering starts making me feel anxious, depressed or stressed, I step back and take a breather. Some weeks I declutter like a maniac and some weeks only a thing or two. And when I start feeling anxious that I’ll never cross “the finish line” I remind myself of the story of the tortoise and the hare….the tortoise got there in his own good time!
Re-homing 277 things sounds like a huge success to me! If that’s failure, I hope I fail all over the place this month. I think the important thing is to keep trying, at whatever pace is comfortable for you.
PS – I may have to get on Instagram just to see all these shoes. I cannot even imagine 200 pairs. Then again, you probably can’t imagine how much baseball memorabilia I have. 🙂
I’m constantly struggling with this and yes, like you, often failing. I read the Marie Kondo book last year and got all fired up about it. I made some progress, but am always fighting against my old habits.
The struggle is real. Keep at it. After reading your post, I’m now going to cruise the house and look for 3 more things to throw out. #babysteps
“Progress over perfection” has been one of my biggest lessons in our Nothing New Year challenge this year. I have a tendency to look at the failures we’ve had in a really negative light, but thankfully my wife reminds me that we’ve accomplished a lot of good by taking on the challenge and we’ve bought less than half as many new items this year as we did last year.
277 items is a huge accomplishment – congrats on the progress!
Great progress! I am loving my local “Buy nothing” FB page, re homing items that cause me stress and blessing another…. Bliss!
Being kind to yourself and not holding yourself up to such intense scrutiny is a good thing. I began the process of managing my late father’s paperwork. He literally kept every single paystub since 1977. In the appropriate file, but was that necessary to have? No. I’m using dealing with his paper as an excuse to push myself on my own. I have more paperwork than the IRS will ever be able to request. It is time to begin shredding. I don’t want to move with that again.