playing the minimalist challenge and how it has to relate to infertility
Helpful Tips Infertility

My Month of Minimalism

This post is a bit different than many of my other posts on infertility, and exercise. If you’ve ever heard the term “stuff makes you happy,” that is a whole hearted lie. Stuff doesn’t make you happy. To me, if my house is cluttered, my brain and life seem to be cluttered. So read on to hear all about my month of playing the Minimalist Challenge.


Before Playing the Game

In September me and 3 other friends (plus my mom) decided to play a game called the minimalist challenge.

Each day you get rid of items in your house. On day 1 you get rid of 1 item, on day 2 get rid of 2 items, and so on and so forth. The challenge is to stay in it as long as possible.

Before September even began I started going through stuff. I know that seems silly and maybe even “cheating”, but my head was already thinking of things I could get rid of. So I had a nice stash before the month began.

The month of September has 30 days, and we ended up getting rid of 465 items each. We all agreed on taking photos, and sharing through text what we were getting rid of each day, or telling everyone what we were getting rid of. We knew once we started in the 20’s it would start getting harder to keep finding items.

I wanted to share my pictures of what I got rid of:

Minimalist Challenge Day 1-4
Days 1-4
Minimalist Challenge Day 5-8
5-8
Minimalist Challenge Day 9-12
9-12
Minimalist Challenge Day 13-16
13-16
Minimalist Challenge Day 17-20
17-20
Minimalist Challenge Day 21
Minimalist Challenge Day 22-25
22-25
Minimalist Challenge Day 26-29
Days 26-29

On day 27 (shown above) I got rid of lots of medicine. I didn’t feel good about throwing it away, so I found a place to dispose of the medicine. I also didn’t feel right about throwing away all those needles that I had used during my IVF cycles, so I found a recycle bin up in Salt Lake that was specifically for sharps containers. It was definitely out of the way, but set my mind at ease.

Minimalist Challenge Day 30

On Day 30, I didn’t take more pictures, but I found more items in our shed, and in our garage to get rid of/ throw away.


What did I learn throughout September?

The biggest thing I learned, is that stuff doesn’t make you happy. It just doesn’t. It doesn’t bring you joy, it brings you clutter, and with lots of clutter comes disorganization and stress.

How does playing the Minimalist Challenge help with Infertility?

For starters there is probably a LOT in your house that you could get rid of, and sell. A lot of the items my mom and I collected went to a yard sale and I ended up making about $30. I’m sure I could’ve made more if I had popular items (books, movies, furniture). Selling items through Facebook Marketplace, or Craigslist is a great source to make a few extra bucks.

What Helped Me the Most?

  • Asking myself if I’ve used the item in the past year? If it doesn’t then I got rid of it.
  • Does the item bring me joy? If it doesn’t then I got rid of it.

If you are looking for something to help clean up your life, I highly recommend taking on this challenge. It’s a great way to declutter your home, your life, and your mind. You can grab some friends and start the challenge.


P.S. Are you needing help paying for IVF? Sign up for my newsletter and get my free printable on “10 ways to pay for IVF.”
P.P.S. We aren’t doing IVF so read about our first NaPro appointment here.
P.P.P.S. Be sure to check out my Etsy shop!

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