At the beginning of March I joined the Minimalist Game.

By the end of it, I got rid of over 496 things. [No joke!]. Years into calling myself a minimalist, I still find things to de-clutter and I still learn lessons along the way.

I even got paid. I found a $50 gift card, and some free stamps:

An example that represents my whole process:

I have a bag full of “sentimental England stuff” from my first trip to the UK. I was afraid to touch it at first, because it’s “sentimental”, but I realized that a lot of stuff was actually just rubbish:

• empty Walkers crisp packets
• Caffé Nero napkins and takeaway bags
• pamphlets and flyers for events I never attended
• A sticker that says “I had a Bodleian tour today”, which is less special after spending hours in that building doing work.

I did keep and equally large pile of stuff that is not rubbish:

• my first ever plane ticket to the UK (the only ticket I’m keeping. All the others went in the other pile)
• my illustrated map of Oxford
• a Creation Theatre pamphlet for the best production of Midsummer I’ve seen
• my graduation certificate from Oxford Prep
• drawings from my friends
• my notebook, handouts, and final project from my Literature and the Fantastic course

That stuff does not deserve to share the same container as the random stuff I recycled. Now it has its own space!

More insights from my MinsGame:

My main takeaway was this: The only thing stopping me from living my ideal, clutter-free life is clutter. And getting rid of it is free.

It isn’t too late to start for April!  Find a team, or start your own with the friendly folks at #minsgame on Twitter.

P.S. See my daily de-clutter photos (yup, all 496 items) here!