How simple do you live ?

[bignosebigfeetbigbum]

I am currently in the process of stripping everything back in the house. We have so much stuff we don't need. Predominately, we only need:
Kitchen essentials - enough for us all and maybe 2 of some of the more common things we use (eg small hand whisk)
Sufficient clothes/shoes/bags each
Towels
Any hobby-related equipment
Essential toiletries each
We travel a lot so suitcases/travel plugs etc
A good first aid kit
Photos (a hell of a lot of these)
Sufficient plugs/leads etc for tech

I also have things like records, CDs, DVDs.
I have books.
I have things to do with my hobbies and volunteering (eg music for my choir, specialist stuff for the sport). As does dh.
Nik naks that we have brought back from other countries, or that have been given to us that evoke memories of people and places.
Things that get used every year, but not for most of the year, like suitcases, Christmas decorations and other Christmassy things, picnic and beach stuff (lie travel rugs and frisbees and cricket stuff and buckets and spades and different balls).
Various awards and certificates.
Our piano and music for it.

I suppose it depends what you mean by ‘simple’ and essentials. I have thousands of books and CDs, which are absolutely essential to me, and gardening equipment and plants, indoor and outdoor. I love paintings and prints and have a lot on the walls. But I have very old, basic tech, almost never buy clothes (I have a small wardrobe of old, valued garments I seldom add to), use only the simplest cosmetics. I don’t drive so no car. We have a big house so no shortage of space — my life wouldn’t get any simpler if I took half our kitchen equipment and old bed linen to the charity shop. I do move on DS’s outgrown things.

Bed linen. 2 sets per bed.
A drawer of stationery supplies. Including batteries and stamps.
Throws for those cold winter nights on the sofa.
Basic sewing kit.
Torch.
Metal wire coat hanger. Bend to shape for unblocking vacuum or pulling hair from bathroom plughole.
Ladder.
Telescopic duster.

It's all very personal though isn't it. Your essential and my essential won't be the same thing at all.
You think holidays and tech are essential. I think they are nice perks.
I think having enough crockery to sometimes feed guests is essential. You don't.
All fine and good 😊

I suppose it depends what you mean by ‘simple’ and essentials.

I think this is very important. Essentials may vary from person to person, I personally don't like keeping tons of printed pictures around, especially the old ones of people I've never knew personally. By the way, here are some storing tips that could be useful if you have many photos. These are easily destroyed by wrong conditions, so keep that in mind.

I try to declutter every now and then though, there is always something outgrown or no longer used that could be donated or maybe even sold. I always tell people not to gift me stuff and especially clothes unless there is something I specifically want, because otherwise I'd end up having tons of useless things taking up space.

Art, nice vases, vintage stuff, little things like that mean a lot to me.

I live simply. I often wonder what a burglar would possibly nick if they broke into our house.

We have a lot of stuff but also a lot of storage and a good system for storing things. We don’t live “simply” at all, really, and I’m fine with that: I can’t see the point in throwing away things I already own in pursuit of solving a problem I don’t have, and it would drive me nuts not to have something to hand that I might only use two or three times a year but when I want it or need it I want it or need it, because I’d gotten rid of it.

Yes agree it depends on what you mean and what you need. For example my basics would be 12 of each crockery and 10 sets of bed linen and 10 sets of towels. I’d need all 8 saucepans I own etc I live a very uncluttered and tidy life though and it does make cleaning easier and the whole house feel calmer.

Cleaning, mending, gardening and decorating stuff takes up our biggest amount of space.

In 2/3 years I'm hoping to move in with my partner, so I'm slowly going through everything I own and selling/throwing anything I haven't used in years.

We have a small house and I have a similiar approach, it's great the place is clean and tidy, not cluttered and my mind feels clear. I've never missed anything.

Some examples...

Bedding - we have two sets of bedding for each bed, so one set on the bed and one set to change.

Crockery - we have a six of everything, no extra. It's fine we run the dishwasher once a day and never run out. Same with mugs a set of four and that's it. We do have lots of cutlery.

Towels - we have 2 towels each, plus a set of beach towels and 6 hand towels.

Pots and pans - 2 frying pans, and a set of 4 cooking pans. All kitchen utensils we have 1.

We don't store stuff we don't use, it gets donated/binned.

The DC are slightly older now so less toys around, I've kept timeless board games, books and some Lego but didn't hold onto much else.

Cables - we replaced all our chargers and cables with multiuse ones. We don't have that drawer or doom filled with random cables and chargers anymore.

Clothes I clear after every season and get rid of anything not being worn or not fitting.

Bathroom - I use refillable pump bottles for shampoo, body wash etc so we don't have loads of products lying around.

Worth noting we done have many guests so we don't need many spares.

Every so often I will clear and organise cupboards to make sure we're not hanging onto anything unnecessary. We do have the loft to store stuff like Xmas tree and suitcases, where I've kept some sentimental bits.

Fairly, I think. What a person needs is going to differ so it's not a competition of course.

We don't really have clutter at home, not because we are tidy (we aren't particularly), just that we don't have that much stuff- everything fits in a drawer or cupboard with room to spare. Lots of empty drawers in storage cupboards and except for the christmas tree and decs, our loft has nothing else in it. Shed's also pretty empty.

I grew up in a cluttered home and was the same myself throughout my twenties until something randomly clicked, I cleared it all out, stopped buying things or going shopping. It's lent a real sense of peace to how I feel at home, so much less visual noise has really benefitted me. I cant think of anything I want enough to actually buy it most of the time.

“Hobbies” captures such a huge amount of stuff though - books , cds , guitars, plates for family diners , walking and climbing clothes , vases for garden flowers , pictures on the wall of places you love ….

to me simple would be “one in one out” in terms of buying stuff and a “good enough” attitude to things

so not a vacuum cleaner for quick mop, another for the weekly clean and another for the stairs and another for the car as someone I know has

similarly not scales upstairs and down so you don’t have to walk up the stairs ( I mean especially if you are trying to lose weight!)

not replacing something until it’s really needed - getting things mended at out local repair shop saves us a fortune

whilst I am with pp that we only have 4 pans and 2 frying pans - we do keep things that haven’t been used in years - the dressi I wear to weddings comes out every few years only but i know it will be needed in time

I have things in my house because I like them and enjoy them. They don't need to be useful.

We have much much more than we need. Luckily we have the space to store it all but it'll be one hell of a clearance job once we die.

Still, you never know, maybe one of the kids will find a use for my old university notes, broken walkman (one of the first), records, cassettes, old chairs, old crockery and cutlery etc. etc.

We are storing DDs cello and piano. She owns her own home but it's just too small. She uses an electric piano at the moment but has dreams of having a bigger house in the next few years. DH has numerous hobby related items so we don't live a simple life. We have absolutely loads of books between us. I have two 8 cup teasets and loads of spare cups because DH is forever dropping them. I have several tea pots (he gets through those, too. 😄)

Basically, we read a lot of books and drink a lot of tea!