I just discovered the '27 Fling Boogie' technique, and it finally makes decluttering fun
But, the process of decluttering can be incredibly hard. It's not just about ridding your home of clutter, it's about letting go of objects you've grown accustomed to having around.
Usually that 'just in case' feeling can mean you hold onto things for a lot longer than you really should, because 'just in case' never happens.
And this is how I found myself in a clutter rut. The items were building up and the urge to declutter was itself becoming a cluttered space in my mind.
And then, I found myself down a cleaning rabbit hole on TikTok and came across this oddly-named trend, the '27 Fling Boogie'. And honestly, it's changed the way I think about decluttering forever.
The '27 Fling Boogie' is a trend created by Maria Cilley aka. FlyLady, a "personal online coach" that strives to help you clean. And so, she came up with this unusually named method that tasks you with throwing away 27 items and giving away 27 items.
I've tried many a decluttering method, from 'the poop rule' to the KonMari method to Swedish death cleaning. By now, she clearly needs help tidying: "She really needs helping decluttering" and you'd be right.
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So, when I heard that the 27 Fling Boogie wanted me to run through my home gathering up items firstly with the idea of throwing them away and then to giving them away, it felt like a game I could finally get onboard with.
My main problem with decluttering is how much of a chore it is and how overwhelming it can be. By gamifying the idea, the 27 Fling Boogie gave me an opportunity to stop thinking about it like a task and, really, stop thinking altogether.
I quickly realized by using the 27 Fling Boogie technique, I had to focus myself onto one room or one particularly messy spot, like my wardrobe. And that's when it really started to work.
Running around like a headless chicken was fun at first, but then I was struggling to find 27 items just strewn across my home and it was far too easy to ignore populated spots.
And focusing my attention was the key. The 27 Fling Boogie gave me a straightforward look at what I had and less about sitting there endlessly staring at each item. It wasn't, "Should I keep it?" It was, "Throw or donate?"
And, sure, it definitely did work, but I also came to the realisation that 27 was just a number that gave me a goal. Most of the time, I surpassed 27 in the throwing away pile, but came under the quota in donating – and that was totally fine.
At the end of the day, I was focused on doing something with my clutter and slowly, but surely, my house became less messy without me feeling any kind of guilt – especially as I dropped off items to charity to find new homes.
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