I Won the Minimalist Game!

Chapter, Fashionably Light

Apr 01 2014

Gold Tape

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:

I Won the Minimalist Game!

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:

I Won the Minimalist Game!
  • 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:

I Won the Minimalist Game!
  • 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.

miss xandra bee

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

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