To ask has anyone gone minimalist…

[Merryoldgoat]

… and can I have tips?

My house is driving me mad. Have you gone from a more ‘maximalist’ house to minimalist and do you prefer it?

I have kids so it will never be a scandi paradise but I can deffo get rid of sone rubbish but I want to keep sone warmth.

How do I go minimalist but keep it feeling like a family home?

I find less clothes the biggest bonus. More space in bedrooms with less storage, and easier to find items, especially handy for children.

We bought the ikea hemnes 8 drawer long unit for Ds bedroom as baby. Used with changing mat etc ontop. We only actually use 2 big drawers and 2 small for all his clothing.
I was using 2 small for his nappies, but now he’s toilet trained they have remained empty a few months as I actually have nothing to go in them yet.

I don't think of myself as a minimalist, but compared to most people have about half the amount of 'stuff' 😂

I live in a small (but perfectly formed!) house, I have a lot of light wood, glass and ivory-coloured walls, so there is texture and it feels 'warm'. I have pictures on the walls, houseplants and candles but no random stuff just left on the side. I am pretty ruthless, I don't buy things that I don't have room to store, and if cupboards and drawers start getting full, I declutter.

The only way is to just start. Take it one drawer/shelf at a time. Don't keep things you don't want or need.

Marie Kondo book is v helpful

Agree with PP, focus on what you really want to keep, not what you can get rid of. It's a different mindset

It's so much easier to clean a house that isn't cluttered

No

I'm not tidy so I find having less stuff helps me keep on top of things. I've been concentrating on getting rid of duplicates, things I don't use, the massive toiletries stash etc.

Now I try to buy less, buy purposefully and avoid fast fashion and I've found it makes me appreciate what I have more. It's also saving me money.

Except that Marie Condo recently admitted it's all a load of rubbish once you've got kids!

Don’t think of de-cluttering as a one off. It’s an evolving and continuing process.

Use up everything - toiletries, food - instead of buying your favourite replacement.

Don’t buy stuff and be very clear to family and friends about gifts. I need nothing and know the brands I like and, anyway, I can luckily afford to buy what want if I need to. I do not want to be given “stuff” that will sit in drawers. For kids’ birthdays - they need one carefully chosen gift from you, not endless bits and pieces.

Good and clever storage solutions are very important, but they shouldn’t be stuffed to bursting. And watch out for too much storage - it just gets filled with crap, so look carefully at what storage you really need too. Get rid of unsuitable storage and decluttering rooms of pointless furniture.

I became minimalist about 6 years ago and it has improved our lives immensely.

I watched a lot of YouTubers:

Minimom
The Minimal Mom
Joshua Becker
Jana Leigh
Scandish Home

They all offer something different, so take from them what works for you.

Yes - pretty minimalist and love it! House is so easy to keep clean and tidy.

Another vote for ‘The Minimal Mom’ on YouTube - she makes a lot of sense!

Books...will expand to fill the space available (and then some) so a few years back I bought myself a really lovely bookcase and all my books now have to fit into that. It's one in one out from now on, and when I've read something I decide if I'm ever likely to read it again, whether I like it but not going to read it again so pass it on to friends, or whether it goes to the charity shop.

Ironically I think the trick is not to have too much storage...as otherwise you're tempted to keep stuff that you don't really need. I also deliberately kept kitchen cupboards to the maximum storage I knew I'd need, the gadgets I use earn their place, anything that doesn't goes to the charity shop.

Also as a PP said, don't overwhelm yourself and try and do it all at once, just a drawer at a time is fine...and then put bags straight into the car so they go to the charity shop/dump rather than cluttering up somewhere else in the house!

Proud minimalist here!

As PP have said, it's a state of mind. Some good suggestions for blogs and YouTube above. Minimalista is a good book (books are my minimalist weak point...)

Start small, a drawer, shelf etc. Think about what you really need. I guarantee you don't need at least 3/4 of the stuff you already have.

Oh and my house is very cosy! Lots of softness and texture and comfort. And I'm allowed all the houseplants that I want ☺️

I aim to be but at a constant battle against DP and his Amazon prime habit/hoarder tendencies. Why DO men need an ancient plastic carrier bag full of obsolete wires? Is it some primitive caveman need or something?

I’ve definitely slipped since having DC: so much comes IN but finding the time to get it OUT is tricky but I’m on maternity leave and have a spare, empty room in the house, so the current project is to stuff everything in there until the rest of the house feels “right”, then systematically Olio, Freecycle, charity, etc from the room til it’s empty.

You don’t have to have gallery white walls and plain linen furniture to be minimalist; I’ve got wood floors, off-white walls, green velvet sofas, blankets. Just nothing cluttery: I used to love going to Tiger and buying trinkets but they’re all so meaningless. Now I just have books that I reread (and if I won’t reread it, it goes), lamps for reading buy, and anything truly beautiful - like a handmade vase from an art gallery I was given for my birthday, which is far nicer than 100 things from Tiger/The Range/Homesense/TK Maxx/etc. be absolutely ruthless, too, and I find it takes a few rounds to do it: no one declutters the first time, they just tweak and trim. But as you go, you find you like the space more than the stuff, and end up jettisoning more.

I wish. You need to meet my husband, who is pathologically opposed to throwing things away.
We bought a new chopping board. He kept the old one 'just in case'.
I have to sneak things out of the house to bin them.

Me too @beguilingeyes. He knows that in the day he dies I am ordering a skip.

I tried to sort out the airing cupboard. All the old tatty towels needed to be kept, apparently................

So true. And he also keeps the boxes they came in.

Ok - I’m on it.

Thank you for all of the recommendations and ideas.

The sheer amount of crap I have around is ridiculous.

Great
Even a drawer or a cupboard can make you feel better.

And the decisions will get easier as you exercise your decluttering muscles

Another couple of tips to get started if tackling a whole room is a bit overwhelming.

Every bin night, sweep through every room and pull out 1/3/5 (depending on how much shit you have!) things to throw out.

Set up a similar weekly routine for charity bin/shop, maybe if you have a drop off point near your supermarket do it when you're going there.

Pick a quietish time in your week and put 3 (or more) things on eBay. Set to finish the same time the following week so you can do all your selling admin in 1 timeslot. NB I only sell something if it will get a decent amount of money and the whole 'but it's paid a lot!' is stopping me from letting go of it.

I have today off so after I’ve been to my course I’m going to tackle a few areas.

Really appreciate the ‘real life’ tips. I know that there’s always a certain level of clutter with family life but I just want to make things a bit easier.

Also look at The Minimalists. They have a podcast you can watch on YouTube and a documentary on Netflix. I find a lot of what they have to say very interesting.

Another low-stress way to declutter is to pack up, say, your kitchen – or more realistically a kitchen drawer – into a box. Go a month with everything in the box: when you need something, use it then put it back in the drawer. All the unused stuff stays in the box. After a month stuff you actually use and need is in the right place in the kitchen. All the stuff you can donate is in the box, ready to go.

I would like to be but not very good at doing it.

The one thing I do manage to keep on top of is clothes like previous posters. DH is finally onboard that if something new comes in something old goes.

With the kids I go through their wardrobe every few months with them and make sure things they've grown out of are removed or things they are never going to wear. It also helps remind them of what they've got as like me would just wear the same things over and over whilst having lots of other things.

Same with toys though that's less of an issue as they get older. DC2 has never been one for most toys aside from Lego. He's now old enough to not open presents unless he's actually going to use them. We will keep them in his room for a bit to make sure he's not interested and then make a decision as to whether we keep them and give them to the school when they have Christmas presents appeals / fairs etc

I do sometimes feel a twinge of sadness though when someone brings out one of their toys their parents held onto for their grandkids or a dress that they wore that their daughter is now choosing to wear.

I've never really thought about it, but reading this thread, our house is definitely minimalist. Friends have always commented on how clean and tidy it is, I am in no way a clean freak, but I think because I don't have much stuff, it always looks clean (even if it isn't!).

Everything is white/cream/grey or wood. I have recently introduced some colour with new curtains, and coloured cushions in the lounge. We do have some prints on the walls, a couple of mirrors, but no photo's. A couple of rugs, also cream. I don't buy nick nacks, I have a couple of glass vases. DH and I have a wardrobe each, and a couple of chests of drawers, that's it.

Every year we clear out unworn/worn out clothes, and I reduce books by half. We regularly clear out tech and sell. I recently cleared out loads of random bits and bobs from the kitchen, some went off to Uni with DD, the rest went to charity.

We actually have very little "stuff".

My big tip is to organise things by category, not by room.

So start with clothes, yours and any children who are too young to sort themselves out. Then ask other adults/teens who live in the house to do the same. Find a charity shop or clothing bank who will take it all, dump it all off and then you can move on to the next category.

Could be books, toys, kitchen stuff, paper/letters that need shredding. Just do a category at a time. Rather than trying to sort out a whole room with lots of different types of items in it. My last job was old bedding/towels and I took it all to the rescue centre where we got our cat from. (And bought myself new towels)

My biggest challenge is children's toys because so many charity shops won't take them, and I feel bad just chucking them. And I don't like selling things on social media and having strangers come to my house to buy one thing at a time. I'd rather just have a clear out and get everything gone at once.

One other tip, if you can't get to charity shops, or items are larger, I always leave them out the front of the house, with a "free" sign. I live in a village, which is also a cut through, and things literally disappear within a couple of hours. I have left kitchen equipment, empty jars, office chairs, ring binders, garden equipment, pet items, magazines, all completely random, but obviously wanted and useful to someone!