I Tried the “27 Fling Boogie” and Fully Decluttered a Room in 45 Minutes
It happens every year: I resolve to declutter my home, and by February it’s a wreck. Laundry piled in baskets, unopened mail stacked on the counters, and Pokémon cards everywhere. And I haven’t even gotten to the most cluttered room in the house: my 8-year-old son’s bedroom.
We’ve tried a few different ways to tidy up, including the “Roll the Dice” chore game and the “Pile Method.” Both are successful, but I needed new material. Enter: the “27 Fling Boogie,” a “fun” way to get rid of items. Uh, yes, please.
What Is the “27 Fling Boogie?”
The FlyLady, aka Marla Cilley, a North Carolina-based home organization expert who helps people create routines to keep their homes organized, invented this simple decluttering method. All you have to do is find 27 items to throw away, then 27 items to give away. This can be done in any part of the house, from the kitchen to the garage. In fact, you can drill down to smaller spaces you want to declutter, like inside the fridge or in your closet.
How I Tried the “27 Fling Boogie” Method
Like any savvy mom, I waited until my kid was at school before tackling his room. I grabbed a plastic bag, set the timer, and went to work. (To really put the “boogie” into it, I put on music, too.)
The first thing I did was walk around his bedroom and grab whatever I deemed as trash — old math worksheets, empty packets of gummies, half of a pair of glasses (I was wondering where that went). I filled that bag with 27 items in less than three minutes.
Then I went with another bag and filled it with 27 items I could donate. Two pairs of too-small sweatpants, a stack of books he’s outgrown, and a backpack he doesn’t use anymore. This took slightly longer — like, seven minutes.
This is where you can stop, but I didn’t. I kept going; I was feeling the momentum of decluttering a room that had long been bugging me. I wound up spending about 15 more minutes filling bags with trash and donations, then another 20 minutes organizing his books, putting away his clothes, and tidying up his desk.
It felt good to tick this off my to-do resolution list. My reward: I found a $50 Amazon gift card I think I’m going to keep.
Further Reading
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room
We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said
