Come and help me brainstorm! We want to live more simply!

[MrsWobbleTheWaitress]

We live in the UK with our four children. Our daily lives are so much more pleasant when we are camping - few belongings and lots of space seems to mean less bickering, more co-operative living, everyone is generally happier!

We would love to live like this - more simply - all year around, but have no idea how to do this. How to make the transition from a 'normal' life with a husband who works long hours; a mortgage on a 3-bed semi; lots of toys and 'things' to a far more simple life?

I dream of living in a yurt, but can't work out how that would be possible. Any ideas?

I would start with a major declutter. I lived with my mum for a while during a house move and just had a pile of clothes for me and DS for a few months. When we actually got our house, I unloaded lots of stuff from the boxes straight into charity shop bags.

Ooh good idea. But OMG that will be soooooooooooooo hard! It's one thing to say 'let's sell/put away loads of our stuff' but another to actually do it!

If you get rid of something, you can always take a photo of it to remember it and stick it in an album. It is so liberating to get rid of stuff - try one room at a time, or one type of item, such as clothes. I imagine you have a fairly major clothes volume problem with 4 DCs so perhaps make sure you have a really good system for organising the stuff that you need to keep.

yy, one room at a time a good idea.

DD1 (7) is really up for decluttering - she agrees that her and her sisters get on far better when we're outside a lot and they're playing with nature, not toys.

Our garden is very small, though - would love a teeny house in a massive garden!

Can you put some stuff in the garage/attic. then if you dont miss it for a few months get rid. I do this is I battle with the stuff that fills our house. I find that dds 1and 3 play better when there is less toys and more space.

what about this cohousing