We’re back with week three of Minimalism in March! If you’ve followed along, in week one we decluttered and cleaned the kitchen & baths, last week we covered the master bedroom, and the next two weeks… I’m moving on to the kids’ rooms! The details on this week’s decluttering challenge are listed below.
MINIMALISM IN MARCH: kids bedrooms
This is hands down the task that yields the most items to donate or discard every time. My kids used to be reluctant to part with things, which required more stealth, but the last few years they’ve done it with me. I love it when they get into it too.
Throughout the week we will systematically go through their bedrooms to accomplish the following:
- clean bedrooms (it’s always good to find the floor!)
- sort through all their toys, books, random collections, and art supplies to determine what needs to be kept, fixed, donated, or discarded
- reorganize storage for all toys being kept, find a home for everything that makes sense and allows easy access
- sort through clothing to determine what to keep, what no longer fits (or won’t fit next time it’s in season), and sort into keep, donate, and discard piles
- determine clothing needs for the coming months and make a shopping list
- reorganize all clothing being kept (fold or hang, match socks, move out-of-season clothing to higher shelves)
- change bedding, dust furniture, and vacuum
We like to donate clothes to the school district whenever possible. Our local schools try to keep counselor’s closets to address student needs. This is where outgrown coats in good condition and other clothing items are donated. Any of my or my husband’s nicer clothing is donated to the high school counselor’s closet.
On the rare occasion, my kids outgrow clothing before they manage to stain or rip it. My son has a lot of Levi jeans and cargo pants we bought brand new last year that are now a few inches too short. I plan to have him try on all his pants and take the newer ones to a local resale shop. I am a big fan of secondhand shopping.
We have two children, so we will be performing this task twice at our house, hence the reason we’re allowing two weeks for this particular declutter challenge. Spring break is also this week or next for a lot of public school kids, and many families (including the a Life on a Dime family) have fun plans that do not involve cleaning the house.
guest bedroom(S)
We do not have a guest bedroom, but if you do, here are a few suggested tasks:
- check out the closet in the guest room; if you’re like a lot of families, this has probably become the place things go when no one knows where it should go
- then go through any dressers, wardrobes, etc in the room
- reorganize everything being kept in a manner that will allow actual guests to use the space
- make sure you have appropriate linens for the season in the room for potential guests
and that wraps up 2025’s minimalism in march decluttering challenges!
Be sure to tune in for a wrap-up/summary post in early April to see how we did at the a Life on a Dime house. There will not be a new post next week, as this challenge will still be in effect, but Frugal Friends will still receive the weekly newsletter and meal plan.
Be sure to check out the bonus challenges for each week in the meal plan this month as well! Happy decluttering and I’ll see you in the next post!