I’ve taken part in a few monthly instagram challenges lately and although they’re great at keeping you focused and help you post each day, I find my attention waning around 2 weeks in and I’ve actually not finished any of them! Shame on me, I know.
However, if you’re like me and lose interest then I thought I’d set a few bite-sized challenges that will hopefully be easier to manage. I’m really starting to appreciate that decluttering is good for our mental health. Read my post on decluttering here with a round up from other bloggers.
These are the challenges I took part in and they did help me focus (for a while anyway), and I also found new people to follow and oodles of inspiration for interiors. I would imagine there are similar challenges for all aspects of your instagram life.
- #MyHouseThisMonth is a good one as it made me focus on the good things in my house and helped me to realise I am good at something! Have a look here to join in each month with a different promt each day.
- #Myprelovedhome with Preloved highlighted my love for second-hand, upcycling and preloved. Watch out for he next one soon
- #40bagsin40days was the starting point for this series of posts and it really did kick start my decluttering.
Bags
In our house, we have make-up bags, carrier bags, handbags, sports bags, school bags, shopping bags, not to mention the bags under my eyes! Take the time this week to declutter and organise a couple of them.
Make-up bag – 30 mins
Tip it all out, get rid of anything without a lid, anything you would no longer wear, check the expiry dates, these are always on the back and different for each thing. You wouldn’t eat out of date food, so you shouldn’t put out of date products on your skin. As a rough guide:
- Mascara – 3 months.
- Foundation and Concealer – 6 to 12 months.
- Powder Blush and Eyeshadow – 1 year.
- Eyeliner and Lipliner Pencils – Up to 2 years.
- Cream Blush and Eyeshadow – 6 to 12 months.
- Liquid Eyeliner – 6 months or less.
- Lipstick – 1 year.
- Moisturisers and Skin Care – 1 to 2 years.
Keep only the products you wear regularly, you’ll feel so much better and it will save you time each day not rifling through the extra stuff. This is genuinely all I wear and I binned so much manky make-up! If anyone wants to give me a better idea of what make-up I should be wearing that would be amazing, I can’t believe I’m this old and still don’t really know much about make up. My teenage niece knows more than me.
Carrier Bags – 15 mins
I think (hope) we’re all pretty good at not buying loads of 5p carrier bags these days but I bet we all still have a stash somewhere! I never buy them and still managed to fill a bag with bags. Have yourself a carrier bag amnesty, collect them all up and take them to your nearest recycling point, most supermarkets have a point at the front of the store. Take them the next time you go shopping and help the environment at the same time.
At the same time, put all of your tote bags, bags for life and canvas bags all together and keep them in the boot of the car or somewhere easy to grab whenever you go shopping. Being more organised can really save so much time.
Handbag – 15 mins
As with your make up bag, tip it all out, if it’s like my bag you’ll find receipts, crumbs, pens, notepads, keys, and if you’ve got little ones, that will also include cheerios, spare pants, wipes, nerf bullets and raisins! Clear it out once a week and you’ll feel cleansed and have so much more room for shopping.
School bags – 10 mins
Make this your childs responsibility, they’ll learn how to clear out their junk for an early age and hopefully never get themselves into the mess we get into.
If you take up any of these challenges I’d love to see the results so feel free to tag me and use the hashtag #weeklydeclutter and #creativejunkie
All round creative junkie 
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