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March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.

Just looking around a room, you will see a few things that you want to remove, hide, or improve.

Once you’ve finished with those, you might think that the room is as good as you want it to be. But don’t stop there. Take a few photos of the room. In the photos, you will see more things to change — and especially, more clutter that you want to remove.

The Less Obvious Junk

March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.

Some things are legitimately useless. They are worn out, used up, unwanted, broken, or obsolete. If you are looking for clutter, certainly, start there. If you find the 11-year-old conference sweatshirt, shrunken with frayed collar and torn cuffs, and you have a better sweatshirt that you would rather wear, then toss out the sweatshirt, write “sweatshirt” somewhere on the March of Trash scorecard, and you’re done for the day.

Most clutter, though, is not so obvious, and finding it involves getting out of your usual way of looking at things. This year’s March of Trash features six ways to change your perspective on material things so that you can find more clutter. Look for a detailed post on each in the coming weeks.

March of Trash 2020

March is here, and it’s time for that first stage of spring cleaning that is really more clearing than cleaning — clearing out the clutter to make space and make the cleaning process easier. At my house, I like to call this part of spring cleaning March of Trash because I focus on it during the month of March. It’s a challenge I take on every year to clear out at least one item of clutter every day for the whole month.

You are welcome to join in on the challenge too. Read the description of the March of Trash challenge at the linked page, then download the official scorecard at http://www.fearofnothing.net/marchoftrash-scorecard.png. Return here to the blog throughout the month of March for frequent updates in which I show pictures and tell stories of clutter that people have thrown away. I’ll also explain in detail the six clutter-busting prompts in the 2020 scorecard. These prompts are ways of changing your point of view in order to find the clutter that may be hidden in plain sight in your home.

Clutter-busting is easier when you tap in to the collective energy of other people taking on the same challenge. Whether you call it peer pressure or emotional support, that energy is strongest in March when the time-honored tradition of spring cleaning is getting underway.

Spending Spree, part 3: Sliced Bread and Upgrades

I got my largest paycheck ever and I took on the challenge of spending it all. Instead I discovered that there were other factors limiting how much I could spend.

Spending Spree, part 2

As my spending spree continues, its form is changing.

Spending Spree, part 1

The check I deposited this morning is my largest paycheck ever. How quickly can I make it disappear?

Using an iPhone as an iPod Shuffle

My old iPhone might not be reliable enough to use as a phone, but it still works as an iPod shuffle.

The Hard Problem of Filing

If you want to be organized, you have to have a filing system.

It’s just a matter of numbers. Over the course of a decade, you might have 50 pieces of silverware, 100 pairs of socks . . . but 50,000 papers, cards, letters, receipts, coupons, and other documents. If you were to make a raw count of physically separate items, there is a good chance that more than half of the items you own are papers. It is only by keeping them under control that you avoid being swamped by paper.