I recently watched The True Cost and recommend you do the same. Along with promising myself to limit my clothes purchasing to second-hand or organic/fair-trade options, I decided I have too much crap.

To be fair, I knew I had too much crap the last time I moved. My husband eloquently asked, “Why do we have all this crap, and move our crap from one place to another?”

Now that I’ve got a little perspective, my efforts on a more minimalistic, eco-conscious, and people-concsious lifestyle are starting with getting rid of all the things I don’t need.

Doing a “spring cleaning” is overwhelming and it’s a one-time thing. I want to do something more consistent; something that will reshape my thinking, not just make me feel cleaner when I have a whole Saturday to spend throwing stuff away.

So on February 16th of this year, I decided to get rid of one thing every day for the next year. I keep track of whether or not I do this using Todoist, which is my new favorite app.

Thus far, it’s been easy. I have a whole jewelry box that has collected dust for years, and I am putting it in my Goodwill box one piece at a time. I’ve sloughed off some t-shirts, a cheap ball pump I’ve never used, and a few purses from my over-shopping days. It will get harder though, and I’m excited for it to get harder.

I’m excited to have to make actual hard decisions, and to realize how little I really need. Most of all though, I’m hoping this turns into a habit. I’m hoping that on February 15th of 2017, I’ll want to keep going. I’m hoping this will make my buying habits more refined, as I’ll start to naturally consider whether or not I’d be willing to get rid of something before I decide to buy it.

And selfishly, I’m excited to have a few fewer boxes of crap to haul the next time I move.