Material Girl | There's no time like summer for a 30-Day Minimalism Game

We got a new set of house rules.

We adopted a strict one-in, one-out policy.

Buy or acquire one thing. Get rid of one thing.

While that worked fine for furniture, kitchen appliances and wardrobe basics, I never really nailed it for books and now not for laying hens.

Our core flock of three chooks presently stands at five.

My husband renovated the coop to extend the run and add extra roosts and laying boxes and now the only ancient chicken among the new flock is in no hurry to get her angel wings any time soon.

Feathers aside, post-Christmas is usually when stuff piles up around the place and you have to pluck up the courage to make a start on it.

Food and wine are no problem.

I'm more than happy to work my way through those piles.

It's more the homewares, cosmetics and kids' clothes that need to be sorted through to make way for new homewares, cosmetics and kids' clothes.

We never buy too many casual clothes for the kids because they spend most of their time in school and dance uniforms or pyjamas and Oodies - it's a global pandemic, after all. (If this pandemic rolls into 2023, I will relent and get an Oodie!)

Still, it's alarming the pile of clothes they have outgrown or no longer need each season.

Growing up in the 1950s my mum had one dress she wore to school for the whole week.

Then it was washed out on the weekend to wear to Sunday School.

That situation didn't exactly thrill her to bits either.

However, there is surely a happy medium somewhere when it comes to how many clothes we need to get through the working week.

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Every January I start Googling "minimalism" to try to get myself back on track for the year ahead.

Wine, food and books aside, I'm not an avid collector of anything in particular and clothes shopping is a tedious chore twice a year.

Yet despite the feasting and book swaps, stuff still accumulates a little more every year.

The 30-Day Minimalism Game is my go-to caper every couple of years.

For 30 days, you and a partner or friend get rid of personal belongings.

You each throw out one item on day one, then five items on day five - for up to 30 days.

It starts out easy but amps up as the number of items grows exponentially - like the Omicron cases presently in NSW and Victoria!!

It's perfect if you're decluttering a bedroom right now, your kids' wardrobes or even your entire home.

US-based Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus say you must get the items out of your house before midnight every day.

It's not very efficient to run to the opportunity shop daily so I usually just load up the car boot.

By the end of the 30-day challenge, you will struggle to fit groceries in the boot any more so it will motivate you to make it to Vinnies, the Salvos or Lifeline Australia post-haste.

Obviously second-hand clothing and shoes should be clean and other items in good, pre-loved condition otherwise you're simply using our charities as a dumping ground.

Meanwhile, I refuse to sort through my own wardrobe, where clothes and shoes have been jammed on shelves and hangers after I've prised them out of my new puppy's jaws.

That job will wait.

You have to leave something up your sleeve for a week of self-isolation as a COVID-19 close contact or case likely to happen just when you least expect it.

That's my excuse anyhow!

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