January Cure 2025 - Tasks & Discussion

Good Morning! (It’s 9:39 am in Germany)

I have a question that keeps bothering me: how do I manage to get rid of old things? The problem is that I see the items that I no longer use or don't like as still useful. And my ecological conscience forbids me from throwing them away. Selling them or finding a way to a charity takes up a lot of time. That's why I have all that junk in my basement, it's getting bigger and bigger and I feel overwhelmed. Do you have any idea how I can deal with it?

Thanks for answering! 🫶🏼

I did something different for my Day 1 challenge. I decluttered and organized my desktop, adding a new photo from Christmas. I was planning on cleaning a corner of my bedroom, but the deskktop took a lot of time (those icons are so difficult to move around!).😫 It was an unconventional decluttering task, but a decluttering task nonetheless!

Hi,

I am very new to this. I am trying to download the calendar and the check list and I can't find any of that. It also says there is 25 things to get rid of. I can't find that either. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Yesterday I set up my outbox (paper grocery bag) and decluttered my email inboxes. Today I put together a cleaning list for daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual tasks using a copy/paste method from the compilation of your linked articles. I whittled down the pasted list based on our home environment and then added to it. Ex: My daily list also includes taking out recycling, compost, and kitchen garbage as well as dealing with daily mail/paper recycling and sorting.

Hi from Austria! Similar issue here. What I do with my unused things: I am part of a group on Facebook called "Share & Care" - not sure if there are groups like that in Germany as well (also google "Freecycle"). In any case people post their things there and other people come and pick them up (can be anything from individual items to - let's say 3 bags of miscellaneous clothing items or even furniture). We also have open book shelves in various places where you can donate books and we have something called "Give Box" - a small hut where people can bring their unused items and other people can just pick up items for free.
Other ideas where you could donate your things: check if there is something like a "Sozialmarkt" in your town or whether the Red Cross picks up things. I also sometimes donate things to the local women's shelter or to a homeless shelter. Finally there are tons of flea markets (profit or charity) that gladly take things (churches, animal shelters,…). I agree that it's somewhat more complicated than in the US but there are numerous options. Hope I could help!

I completely agree with you on this. Since I have housekeepers who come bi-weekly, this task doesn’t fully apply to me. The day before they arrive, I provide them with a list of specific items to focus on, in addition to their regular tasks like vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, and taking out the garbage and recycling. For instance, I might ask them to clean the balcony as a specific focus. However, there are certain chores I prefer to do myself and ask them to skip, such as making the bed, doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, dishes, or managing any clutter removal or organization.

I decluttered my mail sorter in my entryway. Some of what I decluttered ended up in another pile on my desk, which is another story and a goal for the year, but I decided to stick with the time allotted and not go down a filing rabbit hole. This is my third attempt at the January Cure, which I love, but I never finish because of a heavy work schedule. Trying not to try to be perfect.

Happily I still have my outbox from last year, which has served me well. It's an old Pampers box that I covered with plain paper so as not to attract attention. It's tucked under the desk and when it starts to overflow, I know it is time to address it.

I did a surface sweep of my car-but started first by bringing out a few items from the house: library books to return on the next errand run, cleaned reusable grocery + produce bags to stow in the back, topped up the small hand sanitizer spray in the console. The sweep included checking to make sure my glove box documents (registration, insurance) were current, recycling the old docs. Wiped down the hard surfaces with a damp paper towel.

Re: favorite habit/household tip: I use the big blue IKEA shopping bags instead of hampers or laundry baskets. Doesn’t take up much space in a closet and they are lighter and easier to tote around. Possible to carry more than 1 at a time. The bags are also great for hauling in firewood!

Keeping myself accountable and showing before/after progress pics on Instagram. Please feel free to follow along and I’m happy to follow anyone else who is doing the same! https://www.instagram.com/the_cozy_victorian

I am a big fan the "surface sweep" which I try to do almost daily in one or more rooms in my house. Because I live with clutter-y people (spouse & child), this task is a bit sisyphean for me. I enjoyed making the checklist yesterday; I added the checklist to my to my productivity app to see if the daily reminders work.

For day one, my husband and I cleaned out our 2nd fridge and the area around it in the garage. We were getting rid of it (it was from 1984!) and getting one that works better, so … easy choice. I did NOT put my old leftovers in my outbox to donate, LOL! (I do have a outbox already.)

I made my list and added which days I would do which weekly items. I left it with Tuesday’s and the weekend with no tasks (besides regular daily stuff like dishes). Because I had nothing for Tuesday’s, I added the Surface Sweep since it’s fast and easy.
I can see the issue one poster mentioned with having to sort through everything in the bag/box. I use a collapsible tote and put small boxes inside it. That way I can put things for the bedroom in one, kitchen in another, bathroom in another, etc. This way I’m still only carrying one box but at the end, the items are already sorted by the rooms they go to.