My October challenge

Decluttering can be overwhelming. I've been stuck. Shelves and boxes and drawers full of stuff I should go through but not sure where to start. Aaagh - there's so much of it.

The solution?

So for myself (and for you if you want) I've developed a strategy. I've picked 31 categories in advance.

I plan to tackle one item per day of October. If I miss a few that's OK. The point is to overcome overwhelm. To focus on one thing at a time. To move forward instead of being stuck.

My favourite way to declutter is to sell online. (I even wrote a free ebook of tips for selling online). I also like to recycle or upcycle things.

Wanna join in?

I've chosen categories where I think most people would have excess. If there's a category you have already dealt with, that's cool. Have a rest day - or go even further in one of the previous areas.

The list

Ok so here's my plan for this October. Bookmark this post or download the picture of my notes.

For each category I aim to list an item for sale - or to recycle it. If you have a local buy nothing group that's another non-landfill option. For me, listing something for sale counts as dealing with it. Soon enough someone will buy it from me - even if it's not in October. Last year I sold quite a few items leading up to Christmas.

1 - Coffee mugs. See all my mugs. I don't even drink coffee. Just the occasional hot chocolate. I'm sure most of us have too many mugs.

2 - Flat batteries. We switch them out for new ones, but often they hang around in a drawer. Here in Australia you can recycle household batteries at Battery World or Aldi.

3 - Expired medicines. There's a temptation to keep them incase we need them in the future but they degrade over time. Good pharmacies accept expired medicines and tablets for safe disposal.

4 - Broken mobile phones. Most phone shops in Australia have a mobile muster bin - where you can drop your old phone off for recycling. Fun fact: Each phone has about a dollar's worth of gold in it.

5 - Kitchen containers. Ah, the drawer of plastic containers. Do we really need them all? How many have sat there for years? Bizarrely there are still people who will buy these. We've sold quite a few.

6 - Kitchen accessories. The kitchen is a treasure trove of excess items. Measuring cups, graters, muffin trays, cake tins, potholders etc. Do we need them all?

7 - CDs. Music you no longer want can be sold online. If it's less useful (a Windows '98 installation CD for example) - it can probably be recycled. Officeworks collect CDs for recycling.

8 - DVDs. When was the last time you watched it? Often we've got movies that we're not really that interested in anymore. You can sell them online, or recycle the disc at Officeworks and the cases in your recycle bin.

9 - Tools. How many tools do we have? We've probably got 20 screwdrivers. I recently sold a hammer when I found I had two - and couldn't imagine ever needing more than one.

10 - Garden equipment. There's a fair amount of equipment that goes with a garden. Often we buy or receive new stuff but don't get rid of the old one. Someone who doesn't have a rake or shovel might appreciate your old one.

11 - Plant pots. A classic accumulator. After planting a new plant we keep the pot for later use. One day we find we've got 50 pots. Work out what you need. There's buyers for the rest.

12 - Purses / wallets. Sometimes it's an impulse purchase. Other times it's a gift. I think a lot of us have never-used wallets or purses lying around.

13 - Backpacks / handbags. These are the kind of things that it's easy to shove in a cupboard because we think we'll use it again. There comes a time to admit we're not going to.

14 - Books. If we're realistic we could probably (right now) find a book we're not going to read ever again. For me, most books I never read a second time.

15 - Candles and candle holders. It's easy to end up with way more candles than you will use. If you're not going to use them, why not sell them to someone will appreciate it? (We swapped one).

16 - Electronic devices. This could be almost anything. Stereo, desk lamp, radio/cassette player, Christmas decorations.

17 - Cables and cords. Internet cables, RCA cables (those red,yellow and white ones) or a powerboard. After my laptop broke I sold the charger and cord.

18 - Sports items. So many opportunities here. Especially as we leave our twenties there's perhaps less need for a football, tennis racquets, basketball, cricket gear, or a netball skirt.

19 - Coat hangers. What are your thoughts on coat hangers? I'd always thought they seemed to breed. Where do they all come from? I was surprised that there are people who want them.

20 - Fashion accessories. Leaving aside clothes (that could be a whole other month) there are still extra accessories that we could do without. I'm talking ties, belts, earrings, sunnies, watches etc. This will vary a lot from person to person, but I'm sure we all have extras we don't need.

21 - Pens / pencils. I've actually done this one already. You can recycle those broken or clogged pens at Biome. Same for pencils and markers. I think Officeworks is also rolling out a collection program.

22 - Home office supplies. Even without a home office, we've found stacks of things around the house. Corkboard, staplers, hole punches, desk organisers. etc.

23 - Wrapping paper and accessories. If you have too much, give some to friends - or make a commitment to use it up before getting any more. We've also sold new and part-used rolls when we felt we just had too many years worth of supplies.

24 - Greeting cards. I did a whole post on minimising cards. You may want to keep a few very special ones, but this technique can really cut down on the space the rest take up.

25 - Board games / puzzles. Board games are great. Correction. Playing board games is great. If you're not going to play them anymore, why not sell/give to someone who can get hours of fun out of it. Same goes for jigsaw puzzles.

26 - Decks of cards. This is similar to board games - except they're all mostly the same. I've sold about 4 packs already. Only one was bought by me - as a souvenir. In hindsight, probably an odd choice for someone who rarely plays cards (except Uno), but that's a topic for another time.

27 - Photo frames. Is this just us? We seem to have way more photo frames than we need. They're nice but we just can't use them all. I think this may be another thing that is a common gift.

28 - Stuffed animals. You'd think this would be a kid thing, but it may be another souvenir situation - a cute fluffy toy to remind us of ... hmmm ... where was it that I got this thing?

29 - Unused gifts. I've touched on this a couple of times. Sometimes people give us things we'll never use or need. You may have something unique I haven't mentioned (or have never thought of). Feel free to share it in the comments.

30 - Towels etc. I previously counted up and we had 22. We've got better since then but there's probably still room for improvement. For you it might be linen.

31 - Choose your own. While there's a lot of things that we all have too much of, I'm sure that you've probably got something unique that you've stumbled across during this exercise. Again, feel free to share it in the comments. I might include it in a future version of this list.

Does it work?

Even though we'd already decluttered and sold hundreds of items, this challenge still gave me a real boost. In the month I listed about 50 items for sale, sold most of them by Christmas, and overcame the overwhelm that had prevented me from taking action earlier. Read more details of my results.

The key seems to be to avoid procrastination by picking something and deciding on it. It might not be mammoth progress each day, but it adds up to a bunch less clutter (hopefully some extra cash) and a bit more freedom.