Tidying challenge

Duration: I created a 30-day tidying challenge (inspired by the KonMari method in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo), but this could easily be extended depending on the size of your home or number of belongings.

Parameters: Work your way through the tidying calendar based on the duration that works best for you. Before you begin, I highly recommend that you read the book and do the exercise where you envision your perfect life in fine detail. For this challenge, it’s important to tidy by category and in a certain order — the books provide much more information on the rationale for this method. Here’s my 30-day tidying challenge calendar or you can create your own using this blank template. I also have a series of companion videos for this challenge, which you can find here. Note: This challenge starts on Day 0 with setting your intentions.

Why this challenge? If you’ve spent countless hours decluttering and you’re still far from being done, this challenge is for you. Marie Kondo recommends tidying over a short time span of up to six months in order to benefit from the “life-changing” aspect. If you follow the method and complete the entire process, you’ll never have to declutter again. This frees up so much time, which you can spend doing things you love.

My experience: I followed my tidying calendar in the 30 days leading up to the first day of spring 2019. It was a massive undertaking and incredibly stressful (especially since I was also recording, editing, and posting videos every day), but I am SO glad I did it. Looking back, this was one of the most rewarding experiences in my life — and I learned so much about myself in a relatively short period of time. After spending many years decluttering a bit here and there and never feeling like I was making much headway, the 30-day tidying challenge rewired my thinking and I was able to let go of a lot of things that weren’t bringing me joy. Everything that remains is intentional. These days, it’s easier for me to let things go. I can now truly say that I’ve finished decluttering and it feels so liberating. Here’s everything I learned.

deep cleaning challenge

Duration: I created this calendar for a 30-day deep cleaning challenge, but the duration can be extended depending on the size of your home or number of belongings. I also have a blank printable 30-day calendar here in case you want to customize the plan for your specific situation.

Parameters: Work your way through the cleaning calendar based on the duration that works for you. I separated each area of my home into small areas and tried to think through how much time it would take to thoroughly deep clean that particular section. Here’s my latest 30-day deep cleaning plan or you can create your own using this blank template. Note: This challenge starts on Day 0 with setting your intentions.

Why this challenge? Time passes very quickly and it can be a struggle to keep up with housework. The dust bunnies build up behind appliances, you realize you’re not sure what’s lurking in the back of your fridge, and there are nooks and crannies that haven’t seen the light in years. This challenge opens up your home to light, air, and care. While my condo does get dusty again rather quickly, it feels good to know that I’ve done a deep cleaning.

My experience: In 2020, I decided to create a deep cleaning calendar for the 30 days leading up to the first day of spring. Prior to that, I couldn’t remember the last time I deep-cleaned all the areas in my home. This challenge is tedious so it helped to use it as a countdown to spring. Some days, I felt motivated to clean and did more than what I allotted for the day. Other days, it was a struggle and I’d clean the bare minimum to say that I’d done it. All the days added up though, and my condo felt more fresh at the end of the challenge. This was so rewarding that I plan to do this challenge every year in the 30 days leading up to spring.