Have you tried the minimalism challenge? I failed, but here’s why I recommend it

Ever since I read the book ‘Minimalism’ by minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus and watched their Netflix original documentary ‘Less is Now’, I have been eager to try this minimalism challenge.

What struck me the most is the way they describe minimalism – It is the thing that gets us past the things, so we can make room for life’s most important things – which aren’t things at all!

Consuming isn't bad; we all need a new coat or new shoes occasionally. But the consumerism that drives people to continuously shop is dangerous, the minimalists argue.

Today’s problem seems to be the meaning we assign to our stuff: we tend to give too much meaning to our things, often forsaking our health, our relationships, our passions, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute to the environment and our planet.

Minimalism simply allows you to make these decisions more consciously, more deliberately. In other words, minimalism is the tool that helps us simplify our lives by stripping away the excess so we can focus on what’s truly important.

So what is the minimalism challenge?

Earlier this March, I decided to take up the challenge or as they call it - play the minimalism game. It is a way of getting rid of the excess, the stuff that no longer adds value to one’s life.

You get rid of one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. You get the picture. By the end of the month, you will have gotten rid of 496 items (in a 31-day month). It’s important to discard items daily and not after several days or on a weekly basis. But anything goes! Collectables. Decorations. Kitchenware. Electronics. Furniture. Bedding. Clothes. Towels. Tools. Whether you donate, sell, or trash your excess, every item must be out of your house—and out of your life!

The result

I lasted till day 25. At the end of which I had gotten rid of 325 things from my house. I was hopeful to reach day 31, but unfortunately did not manage to. While week one and two were relatively easy, week three became increasingly tough. By the time I entered week four, I was struggling for items, however I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I didn’t own as much stuff, after all.

What motivated me to do this?

Growing up in a 600 square feet apartment in Mumbai, I never had the option to accumulate anything that required space. However, when I moved to Texas, I quickly learned I was an exception to the norm. Here, people have bathrooms large enough to accommodate an entire family and if that doesn’t cut it, there are giant storage centers which are rented to store everything from furniture to alcohol to personal belongings.

It initially gave me immense pleasure to shop on Black Friday sales or make regular trips to discounted outlet malls, or for that matter, even run errands at Costco or Target, which is an immigrant’s dream come true. All of it took a new meaning when the pandemic hit, and online shopping exploded in most American households.

But the thing with material possessions is that no matter how much you have of it, it never fills the void in our life. Infact, it increases it. We continue to be unhappy and remain unsatisfied. The endless pursuit of more stuff tends to bring more debt, more anxiety, more stress, more overwhelm, more guilt, and more paranoia. What’s worse is you discover you no longer have a control over any of it and effectively you have become a slave to all that stuff in your life.

Spending almost a full year holed up at home, moving from one room to the other during lockdowns, I witnessed a growing number of things in our home. That’s when I knew it was time to jumpstart the minimalism journey and live more consciously and sustainably.

Why I recommend it?

While I didn’t finish the challenge, I still learned a lot and had some eye-opening experiences.

1.    Incredible how much we accumulate without realizing it

I had no idea how much BCG and EY swag I had from events (so many notebooks and pens!). I could open my own store of free toiletries like toothbrushes, hotel shampoos, lotions and not to forget, airline kits. These things surely pile up over time, even if one is regular about discarding them.

The one thing we have started implementing in our house, ever since my daughter turned five and started getting enormous number of toys and books, is the ‘one thing in: two things out’ method. For every new item that enters our life, two existing items should leave. This has kept us honest so far and I sincerely hope to follow it more thoroughly going forward.

2.    Focusing on quality over quantity

As a working woman, it almost seems natural to own 50 handbags, several dozen shoes and make-up from every newly launched brand that advertises on my Insta/Facebook. Fortunately, though, I have never enjoyed wearing make-up or found joy in owning branded accessories. But that doesn’t mean I don’t buy them. I enjoy indulging in shopping for my loved ones and that doesn’t quite help the minimalism goal.

With this exercise, I realized I had started hoarding stuff to gift to other people but not actually knowing what I owned. While going through all the stuff in my closet, I ended up keeping only those things which I truly valued. This meant two whole shelves of purses reduced to three-fourths!

3.    Become immensely grateful

Most of us today have everything we need. Things that make our life easier and things that bring us joy. But every so often, we need a reminder. This challenge was a huge reminder on how fortunate I am and be thankful for everything I have. It is important we recognize that we are some of the most fortunate people in human history today!

4.    Declutters our mind and sharpens decision-making

As someone who is trained in the Japanese methods of management and quality improvement, decluttering our minds, has been an integral part of me, growing up. However, if you don’t practice it regularly, you tend to forget. The minimalism game enabled me to refresh those principles and has helped me think more clearly, once again.

After these 25 days of brutal clean up, do I consider myself a minimalist? Hell no! I am far from it. But what this experiment did for me is it got me more conscious about the things I possess. I have now started to question everything I see around the house and have started my own version of Mary Kondoing our home!