The 40 Bags in 40 Days Decluttering Challenge is a VERY popular way people are decluttering their homes.
In short, you declutter a bag a day – that’s it.
Yep, it’s 40 days of clearing the CLUTTER one bag at a time.
If you want to know how to decrapify your house, you might wonder ‘Does the 40 Bags in 40 Days Daily Declutter Challenge REALLY work? Will it work for ME?”
Let’s talk about that…
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There are many reasons people decide to tackle their messy house and deal with ALL their clutter by following the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge.
Overall, I’d say the #1 reason WHY people do this clutter purging challenge is simply because they are OVERWHELMED with all their clutter and their messy home.
To be blunt – they’re drowning in clutter and ready to DO something about it.
There are MANY cheap and easy home organization hacks, but you really can’t ORGANIZE until you declutter first.
But…
What IF you might be a hoarder or a packrat and getting rid of your stuff brings about HUGE feelings of guilt of anxiety?
Will YOU still be able to be successful with the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge?
Before I begin…
If you think these warning signs of a hoarder describe YOU, please look into professional help, support and guidance.
And if you LIVE with a hoarder, here’s help for you.
Please know there is NOTHING wrong with you – you’ll just need a different set of skills and support than you’ll find online {{hugs}}
Alright, let’s move on and talk about the 40 Bags in 40 Days Daily Declutter Challenge and if it will work for those with hoarding tendencies (ie, perhaps a “packrat”) that DO want to get rid of their clutter, but don’t know where to START decluttering.
Here’s the beauty of the 40 Bags in 40 Days system….
You START by simply picking up one empty bag (even a little bag or box is fine), and put trash, clutter, and random junk you see in one small area of your home in the bag.
And then you THROW IT AWAY.
✅ Note: it is NOT a good idea to use boxes when decluttering… Here’s WHY.
Not sure WHAT to throw away?
Here’s a declutter cheat sheet to help you out…
Ask yourself those questions and then throw away STUFF.
By simply doing that first bag, you are already set for success!
It is inspiring and MOTIVATING to see the finished product on just ONE bag of trash and crap gone from even one TINY area in your home!
It WILL make you want to do more.
At that point, many want to do another bag that same day – so DO it!
read => How To Get Motivated To Clean
On the other hand, some folks do that first bag of trash, are happy that they did it, BUT then look around their house as a whole and feel overwhelmed again.
And they stop trying.
If your house is a cluttered mess, you can NOT focus on the big, overall picture…
You need to be hyper-focused on one little small area at a time.
and STILL have a LIFE.
For example, don’t look at your whole kitchen…
Focus on just the area around your sink… or
Focus on ONE drawer… or
Focus on JUST the small area around your coffee maker.
If you have WAY too much stuff and you’re drowning in clutter ALL over your home, the best tip for 40 Bags in 40 Days success I have is…
Don’t make a single “bag” a HUGE project.
Your daily cleaning bag should only take you a few minutes the first week or so.
Ideally, you only want to spend ONE hour each day filling your daily declutter bag.
If an HOUR sounds like too much for you right now…
Try my 10 MINUTE declutter challenge (it’s MUCH easier).
Need some ideas on how to declutter your home in only one hour a day?
Take a look at this handy declutter challenge chart:
How to get started?
Simple!
Just start your coffee maker and fill one small grocery bag with trash stuff while your coffee brews.
Here is an example declutter challenge checklist to help you figure out where to go to purge YOUR clutter each day.
Just remember, make it simple and specific.
If you overwhelm yourself by taking on too big of a daily bag project, you’re really just putting yourself right back where you felt BEFORE you decided to try the 40 Bags in 40 Days Decluttering Challenge.
It IS designed to break down a BIG clutter problem into small, simple daily bags of crap out your door…. and out of your LIFE.
If you keep it simple – and DO-ABLE – you WILL find that the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge WILL work for you.
No matter what decluttering challenge you choose to declutter your home, make sure you do NOT make these decluttering mistakes.
And yes, it’s perfectly ok if it ends up taking you MORE than 40 bags and MORE than 40 days… the point is to start, be consistent…and feel crazy proud of yourself for getting it done!
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