I Tried the 12/12/12 Cleaning Challenge and Wouldn’t Do It Again

When it comes to cleaning and organizing methods, I find the ones I use the most are the ones that give some loose structure to get you started, but then easily segue into a bigger cleaning and organizing session.

That’s why my interest was piqued when I heard about the 12-12-12 cleaning challenge. If you haven’t heard of it before, it was coined by Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist, and it can be done in any room or area.

You simply pick twelve items to throw away, twelve items to donate, and twelve items to put away. 

For my trial run, I decided to tackle my kids’ craft drawer corner in their room. It’s a space they find impossible to keep in order, and I’ve all but given up trying to make it easier for them.

As a result, it’s a definite problem zone—and one I cannot seem to organize when the kids are actually home. So, with this in mind, I set out with the number twelve on repeat in an attempt to organize—and I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again.

Assess Your Needs and Change the Order

Becker doesn’t say if this matters, but he lists things in the order I’ve noted above: toss, donate, tidy, and repeat if desired. If you’re using the 12-12-12 method to organize your fridge, this makes sense to me—tossing items first and clearing things out to make room is ideal.

But, I realized the order might depend on your zone. For this particular room, I preferred to tidy first, then pull things to donate and toss.

Want more cleaning and organizing tips? Sign up for our free daily newsletter for the latest hacks, expert advice, and more!

Twelve Items to Put Away

In hindsight, this round was the easiest. At six and eight years old, my kids mostly use the “out of sight, out of mind” method of tidying up, which means a lot of things get shoved in a lot of useless places and then lost (until Mom somehow finds them again).

I immediately put away all the items cluttering the area and relocated a few things that were inexplicably stashed elsewhere, but were meant to get stored here.

For this step, I had a similar outcome to when I tried the 5×5 method. I started with twelve items in mind, but I blew way past it. It seemed silly to stop putting things away simply because I’d hit this arbitrary number. I would have to rename this the 12-12-12 cleaning challenge (18-12-12 version).

No matter—the goal here is to declutter and organize, right? I finished the process and moved on.

Twelve Items to Donate

I have to admit, I found this step much trickier.

We do fairly regular clear-outs, and I’ve learned from the past that donating or tossing things without asking first is a recipe for tears. I also picked a zone of our house that doesn’t lend itself to donateable items—who wants a half-used container of stickers and googly eyes?

I decided to break the rules here slightly and do a quick pass on their dresser drawers instead of my original zone as planned. The issue here was, once again, down to the numbers.

I couldn’t find twelve items to donate, instead finding six. In case you’re keeping track, this is now the 12-12-12 cleaning challenge (18-6-12 version).

Twelve Items to Toss

By the time I got to this step, I could guess how it was going to go. Pinning down exactly twelve things to throw away seemed about as likely as guessing how many jelly beans can fit in a jar.

Instead, I pulled out all the scrap paper, filled-up coloring books, and balled up pieces of washi tape I could find. The result? 

I had completed the 12-12-12 cleaning challenge (18-6-23 version).

The Final Result

If you’re a stickler for rules, this method might be a skip. I wouldn’t once again follow the 12-12-12 in its entirety.

But, trying it worked fine for me, given a few adjustments. It was a great way to structure my attempts to clear out an area that we often neglect in our home, and it made it feel a little bit like a game.

Even if I didn’t stick to the numbers, I did achieve my original goal—and when it comes to organizing and decluttering, the results are what matter most.