The 28-Day Simplicity Challenge is the simplest way to start living with intention and regain control over your life. As a busy wife and mom, I know personally that it’s easy to get caught up in what feels like urgent matters but aren’t actually important at all.
In the midst of all the chaos and clutter, it’s easy to forget what’s truly important.
Between work, family, and friends, we’re constantly being pulled in different directions. The result? We end up feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and like we have no time for ourselves.
This simplicity challenge is designed to help you regain control over your life and make room for what really matters. Here’s how it works:
Over the next 28 days, follow the daily challenges set out in this post. Each challenge is designed to help you regain control over your life, make room for what really matters, and live more intentionally.
Each day will be different, but they all have one thing in common: they’ll help you simplify (and organise) your life.
The benefits of simplifying your life are huge. You will reduce stress, gain confidence, enjoy healthier well-being and enjoy a deeper sense of gratitude for the simple beauty of your complex and unique life.
Now is a great time to simplify your life, even if it’s for just a little while. Simplifying your life can help you break those mindless habits and reconnect with what’s important; yourself, your loved ones, and the world.
Try out this 28-Day simple living challenge and discover the benefits of simple living for yourself!
28-day simplicity challenge
Day 1 – Eliminate trash. Walk your home with a trash bag or five
A quick way to simplify things in your home is to commit yourself to donating or trashing one bag of stuff.
Walk your home with a trash bag or five. If you see something that could be recycled or repurposed, put it in the appropriate spot. If you see something that needs to be thrown away, throw it away!
At the end of today, your house should be free of any excess trash, and you should have a plan for what to do with anything that might be heading out the door tomorrow.
Day 2 – Clean out your fridge
Day 2 of the challenge is to clean out your fridge. This is a good time to check your expiration dates and make sure everything is as fresh as it can be. If there’s something that has expired, throw it away. You can also do this with foods that you don’t eat or that have gone bad: if they have mould on them or are growing little green spots, just chuck them! When you’re done, take a moment to appreciate how organized and clean your fridge looks.
Day 3 – Minimise items on your bedside table
When you wake up in the morning, you want to be able to get out of bed and start your day without having to spend time looking for things. If you have a lot of stuff on your bedside table, you’re going to waste time hunting for things (which will make you late for work).
Keep it simple! Minimise the number of things on your bedside table. Put important items like keys and glasses in a drawer or another place where they’re easy to find when you need them.
Day 4 – Simplify your phone. Delete old contacts & unused apps
Today’s challenge is to simplify your phone.
Delete old contacts, unused apps, and other things on your phone that don’t serve you.
If you’re having trouble getting started, try this:
Make a list of all the apps on your phone. Ask yourself if you use them regularly or not. If not, delete them!
If you have any contacts that you don’t need anymore, delete those too! It’s okay! They’ll live on in our hearts forever (or until we forget about them).
Day 5 – Declutter your bathroom cabinets
Today’s task is to declutter your bathroom cabinets. This can be a tough one—you may find that there are things in there you don’t even remember buying or using. But there’s no need to get rid of everything, just the stuff that’s not serving you well anymore. If it’s not making your life easier, if it doesn’t make you feel good about yourself, or if it doesn’t help you feel better when you use it (like a soap dispenser that never works), then let it go!
To help with this process, I highly recommend the KonMari Method. It will help you sort through everything in your bathroom cabinets and decide what stays and what goes.
Day 6 – Walk your house with a donation bag
We’re keeping on fighting the clutter in your life, and today’s trick is a pretty simple one: Take a donation bag with you when you walk around your house.
As you go from room to room, pick up anything that doesn’t belong there and put it in the bag. If you have time for a more thorough cleaning, do so. But even if not, just make sure to pick up anything that doesn’t belong where it is and put it in the bag. When you’re done with that, take out anything from the bag that doesn’t belong in your room and put it back where it came from (or somewhere else).
This step will help declutter your house while also helping other people who need things—and isn’t that what we’re all about?
Day 7 – Start throwing a load of laundry in every morning
Today, you’re going to get into the habit of putting your clothes in the washer every morning. You’ll be able to do this by setting a reminder on your phone for 6:30 am (or whatever time you get up), and then just tossing all of your dirty clothes into the washer before you go to bed.
This will keep your wardrobe from getting too cluttered with unworn clothing—and it’ll also help you save money because you won’t need to buy as many new things!
Day 8 – Clean out your bag and create a little bag of essentials
Today, we’re going to clean out the contents of your bag. (Yay!) This will be super helpful for you because it’ll help you see what you have and figure out what’s missing.
Once you’ve got everything out, go through each item and ask yourself which ones are absolutely essential to your daily life. Those are the things that should make up your little bag of essentials.
Now that you’ve found your essentials, put them all back in their places—but just these essentials! If there are other things in there that aren’t essential but could still be useful if you had them with you when needed (like a spare change of clothes), then keep those in your bag as well.
Then take out any trash and make sure everything is organized so it’s easy to find later on if needed.
RELATED: HOW TO CREATE HEALTHY HABITS AND ROUTINES
Day 9 – Clean out your medicine cabinet
If you’re like a lot of people, your medicine cabinet is probably a mess. You might be holding onto bottles of expired medication, or maybe you’ve used up the last few drops of that cough syrup from last year’s cold. Whatever it is, it’s probably time to make some changes.
The first step is to get rid of anything that has expired or you don’t even remember buying. If you have any questions about whether or not something should go, check with your doctor.
The second step is to get rid of anything in there that isn’t actually medicine—like those little packets from hotels or toothbrushes from the dentist. They may be helpful in an emergency, but they don’t belong in your medicine cabinet!
You’ll feel better about taking care of yourself when everything is neat and organized (and honestly, it’s just nice to know exactly what you have when you need it).
Day 10 – Pull out your old formal dresses and donate unwanted items
You’re probably thinking, “I don’t want to donate my old formal dresses!” But I promise—you will actually feel so good after you do this.
First of all, how many times have you looked at those formal dresses with regret and thought, “I really wish I could wear this again… but it just doesn’t fit anymore?” That’s what we thought too. And then we donated them. And now we look at our closets and think, “Wow—I have so many options!”
When you donate your formal dresses (and other clothes), you’re freeing up space in your closet for new clothes that DO fit and complement your body type and personality. You’re also helping someone else get the most out of their money by giving them a dress they’ll love as much as you did when you bought it! If that isn’t a win-win situation, then we don’t know what is!
Day 11 – Clean off your desk. Keep only the essentials
Make today the day when you really clear out your work junk. We are tackling the desk.
This can be one of the most challenging things to do because we have so much fun stuff on our desks! But it’s worth it: when you get rid of stuff that you don’t actually need, it frees up space for the things that are important to you.
So today, take a look at all the stuff on your desk and ask yourself if it really needs to be there. If it does, then keep it! If not, toss or donate (or sell) it.
Once you’ve got a nice clean space with just what you need, don’t forget to take a picture so that next time you need a reminder of how nice it looks!
Day 12 – Clear the clutter on your computer, delete, organise and empty the trash
It’s time to clear out the clutter on your computer. Delete old files that you don’t need anymore, organise them so they’re easy to find, and empty out your trash bin. This can be a great way to make sure you don’t lose any important documents or files—just be sure to back up everything before deleting anything!
When you’re done with this task, take a moment to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Day 13 – List out 10 easy go-to meals on a piece of paper, then tape it to the fridge for simple meal planning
Meal planning is a great way to make sure you’re eating well and saving money without spending too much time in the kitchen. Plus, you can share your meals with friends and family, so it’s a great way to get together with them and bond.
RELATED: HOW TO MENU PLAN
Day 14 – Write down 1 goal for the year and keep it visible every day
It’s time to start thinking about your goals for the year. I know you’ve been thinking about them, but today I want you to actually write them down.
I know that can be scary—it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the things that need to get done in a single day, let alone a month or a year. But writing down your goals gives you something concrete to work toward and something to keep in mind when things get hectic or overwhelming. It will also help you focus on what matters most so that if something comes up unexpectedly (like it always does), there won’t be any question about whether or not it’s worth putting off until tomorrow or next week or next month.
So take a few minutes today and write down ONE goal for 2023—and then put that goal somewhere where it will be visible every day so you can see it throughout the year!
RELATED: HOW TO SET GOALS THAT ACTUALLY STICK
Day 15 – Schedule a getaway for sometime next year
Make sure you schedule it at least six months in advance (but preferably more than that), so you have plenty of time to plan.
Find someone you can travel with and make sure to book a place where you can both relax, refresh, and rejuvenate. It doesn’t have to be an expensive trip—just make sure it’s somewhere you’ll enjoy and feel good about spending time.
Day 16 – Write a morning and evening checklist
This is the most important part of your day, so take it seriously. Get up 15 minutes earlier than usual to make sure you have time for this.
-Make a list of all the things that need to get done in the morning. Then write down how much time each one will take. Make sure you leave enough time for breakfast!
-Do the same thing for the evening: make a list of all the things that need to get done and how long they’ll take. If there’s something you don’t have time for, move it to tomorrow’s list.
RELATED: THE 10-MINUTE-A-DAY HOME CLEANING ROUTINE
Day 17 – Do nothing, today is your day to be still and rest
Today, you get to be still and rest. You don’t have to do anything except be with yourself. Take a break from your routine, put your phone away and just breathe for a bit. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel relaxed and at peace.
Then, get up and move on with the rest of your day!
Day 18 – Organise your inbox, and unsubscribe from unwanted emails
It can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few steps that will help you get started:
1) Delete the emails you don’t need in the first place. Are there any newsletters you don’t read anymore? Any coupons for stores that close by the time you get out of bed?
2) Organise your emails into folders based on topic or project (e.g., “work”, “personal”, “family”). This way, when you’re looking for something specific, it’ll be easy to find in one spot instead of having to go through every single email in your inbox.
3) Unsubscribe from unwanted emails. If there’s an email newsletter that seems useful at first but quickly becomes overwhelming with its volume and frequency, you can always unsubscribe! It’s a lot easier than going through each newsletter one by one and deleting all of them individually—and then having them reappear again in your inbox later on.
Day 19 – Stock up on the household items you use all the time
If you’re going to use it, why not buy it in bulk? It’s simple: buy the same brand of dish soap, laundry detergent, and toilet paper. Stock up on those things so you never have to worry about running out at the worst possible time—like when you’re out of town or getting ready for a big event.
By using one brand across the board, you’ll be able to easily check your supply levels and make sure that your house is always stocked with what you need (even if it means having more than one bottle of dish soap!).
Day 20 – Turn off social media notifications on your phone
Social media notifications are a huge disruption to our lives, and they can take away from the time we have to do things that are important to us. Today, we’re going to turn them off!
The only reason we keep checking our phones is that we’ve been conditioned by technology companies to do so. It’s hard to resist the urge to check your phone every few minutes just in case something happened that you need to know about immediately. But here’s something that might surprise you: Nothing happens on social media that can’t wait until tomorrow (or later today). In fact, most things aren’t worth knowing about at all!
Day 21 – Today is all about single-tasking, focusing on doing one thing at a time
Single-tasking is a great way to make sure you are spending your time on the most important things in your life. It’s easy to get distracted by the many things that need to get done and lose track of what’s really important.
When you are busy with multiple tasks at once, you can easily get overwhelmed by all of the different things you have to do in order to meet your goals. This can cause stress because it’s hard to know where to start when there are so many things going on around you.
By focusing on one task at a time, you will be able to stay focused on what needs to get done and make sure that everything gets completed before moving on to another project or task.
Day 22 – Go through your closet and choose 3-5 items to donate
When it comes to our closets, we often have a lot of stuff that we don’t use or need—and maybe even more than one of each item in our closet. This is because sometimes we buy things because they’re on sale or because we think they’ll look good on us (but then we never wear them), and other times because we feel like if we don’t have that thing in our life, then something will be missing (even though there are plenty of other great things out there).
But here’s the thing: when something is out of sight, chances are it’s out of mind. And when something is out of mind… well… it doesn’t really matter! So today’s challenge is simple: go through your closet and pick out three to five items that you know you don’t wear anymore and donate them to someone who will love them as much as you did when you first bought them.
Day 23 – Create a budget
A budget is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress and improve your financial situation. Simply by knowing where your money goes, you can make simple changes that will help you reach your goals and avoid unnecessary spending.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been working on your budget for years, today’s challenge will give you some new insights into where your money goes and how to save more of it!
Day 24 – Write a list of things you are grateful for
Gratitude is important because it reminds us that we have so much in life to be thankful for—even if it’s not always easy to see those things when we’re stressed out or overwhelmed by our problems. Gratitude helps us take some time out of our day to recognize what really matters most in life: the people who love us and the things they do because of it.
If you want more practice with gratitude, try writing down three things you’re grateful for right now as part of this challenge!
Day 25 – Embrace alone time
Today is a day for you to embrace alone time.
You don’t need to be at home or in your own space—you can be anywhere. You just need to be alone with yourself and your thoughts.
If there’s something you’ve been putting off because of your busyness, today is the day to do it! If there’s something that has been weighing on your mind, today is the day to deal with it! If there’s someplace you’ve always wanted to go, but haven’t had the time, today is the day to make that happen!
Today is all about being present at this moment, right now—not thinking about what happened yesterday or worrying about what might happen tomorrow. It’s about taking care of YOU and not letting other people dictate how much time you get for yourself on a given day.
So… what do YOU want? What do YOU need? What have YOU been holding back from doing because of work/school/family obligations?
Day 26 – Create an experience bucket list
A bucket list is a great way to focus your energy on the things that really matter to you. It’s not about the big, expensive stuff—it’s about the little things that make you happy.
Think about all of the experiences you’ve wanted to have, but haven’t had yet. Maybe it’s learning how to surf, or maybe it’s going skydiving. Maybe it’s taking a trip around the world or spending a night in a tree house. Whatever they are, write them down! Then make sure you’re working toward them in some way every day.
This can be done by setting aside time each week for planning and preparing for these experiences (for example, if one of your items is going skydiving, then set aside time each week to research instructors and locations). This will give you something concrete to work toward each week. And when you do eventually go skydiving (or whatever else), you’ll know exactly what worked for you and what didn’t—and hopefully, this will help guide your future decisions about which activities are worth spending your time and resources on!
Day 27 – Make sure your bedroom is clean, clutter-free and smelling good
A clean, organized bedroom can make all the difference in your day. The last thing you want to do after a long day is come home and face an unmade bed, piles of laundry and an overflowing trash can. Setting up a routine for cleaning your bedroom will make it much easier to keep things tidy. Here’s what I recommend:
- Make your bed every morning before work or school
- Put away any clothes that are dirty or wrinkled before they start to smell (we recommend putting them in a hamper)
- If you have any clutter on the floor—such as shoes or boxes—put them away where they belong
- Wash sheets and pillowcases once a week (you can also just put clean sheets on the bed instead of washing them)
Day 28 – Take a micro vacation day, even if it’s just half a day
This is the last day of this challenge, and that means you’ve got just one more day to make it through.
But today is special. Today, you get to take or plan a micro vacation day—even if it’s just half a day. You deserve it! You’ve been working hard on simplifying your life for the last 28 days, and now it’s time for you to take some time for yourself.
So go ahead and plan something fun for yourself—a lunch date with friends or family, a trip to the beach or park, or whatever sounds like fun. And then enjoy it guilt-free!
Congratulations! You’ve done it!
Congratulations! You’ve done it! You’ve completed the challenge and made a huge difference in your life.
I’m so proud of you for taking on this challenge and sticking with it—and not just for a day or two, but for an entire month. It takes a lot of time and effort, and we know that. We’re so glad to be able to support you in your journey toward simplifying your life and making room for more joy and happiness.
And I would love to hear from you: how did this challenge change your life? What did you learn about yourself? What do you want to do next? Let me know in the comments below.
