Anyone want to join me in a minimalist journey?

[lucysnowe]

I've been reading a load of minimalist mum blogs and have been brainwashed inspired . We are undergoing some building work at the mo and the amount of stuff everywhere is absolutely doing me head in. Once it is finished I want to have a ginormous sort and throw out. We are getting a tumble dryer and I plan to start culling clothes, sheets, towels etc, with the aim of getting ALL washing done each week and not have massive full up bins cluttering up the place. Next: toys, ornaments, and random bits of paper. Anyone fancy doing the same for the New Year?

MM on the idea of bunk beds I was nosying at righmove and came across this set of built in bunkbeds, picture no. 8 Maybe that would be an idea for you.

Haha at 'attic of doom' - I had a loft of doom in my last house!

I realised last week one of the best things about this decluttering is I feel calm about anyone coming round, at any time. My house is not a show home type house, that's not me, but it is always ok now. Such a nice change.

Loving this thread! I don't like clutter and already do some of the suggestions, such as getting rid of excess tupperware and paring down bedding and towels to two sets each (plus extra for any guests), but I still have too much stuff. I don't feel too bad about it, as everything is stored neatly and organised, but I need to work on getting rid of some of it. For example, I'm a huge believer in a place for everything and everything in its place and I am obsessively tidy. All the playing cards are stored the same way around, it would make me uncomfortable knowing that some are 'out of order'. What I need to work on is why do I still have four or five sets of playing cards when we play cards a couple of times a year !

I shall carry on reading.

It feels good in a way but I'm also feeling anxious about it. My head hurts and I feel close to panic attack but NOT because of stuff i have got rid of, but stuff I haven't yet. I actually feel more overwhelmed now than I did a few days ago because now I realise the extent of my "stuff" and urgent feeling is making adrenaline rush. I broke down in tears last night and my dd says "mum, you are exhausted. Ill run you a bath then you can go to bed and ill read you a story" though tbh yesterday was more to do with the funeral than stuff. Today is different though.

I realised a while back that the accumulation of stuff was how I reassured myself that I was well off. Once I really got in my head, I felt guilty and couldn't let go of stuff because I had spent money on it. It would be wasteful to throw it away. But then I realised, the money was wasted when I bought it, not when the item was in my cupboard or when I disposed of it. That gave relief. Now I need to work through this anxiety... Mantras work well but I haven't found one that "speaks to me"

Hi bluecarrot, I also felt more anxious/stressed after starting than before. I think it is facing the reality of the stuff, and I guess whatever has led one to accumulate it. For me, I think I buy things to distract from sad feelings. So it was very hard to deal with. But I feel so much lighter now.

Would a really basic mantra like 'I'm working my way to a better space' do for this?

bc it sounds as if you've had an exhausting few days. I think the anxiety is completely understandable. Hope you're being kind to yourself. Your dd sounds so lovely!

I'm feeling anxious and panicky today, tbh - again, not about having got rid of stuff. It's great that it's going/gone. I'm anxious because as I strip away the stuff, I come face to face with the feelings I was trying to avoid by acquiring the stuff in the first place. It's never (or rarely) just about the physical stuff, is it?

Ha, cross-posted with stillsmiling!

We don't have a tv (though have an intranet and media server that serves to multiple screens so we're not exactly media-free) and are screen free from 7.30pm (the blue spectrum light from screens inhibits your production of melatonin and makes it harder to sleep/sleep deeply). It makes for a much more serene environment - our friends remark upon this.

I went minimalist because we essentially now live in a pharmacy with enormous amounts of equipment, some of it HUGE (gantries and hoists etc). We're in a small house, and the necessity of having completely clear floors everywhere for the wheelchair really focuses the mind! But now I find I prefer it. It takes one hour to top-to-bottom this house, and less than fifteen minutes a day to keep it tidy. I have a box for my tops. If my tops don't all fit in the box then I give away or sell some, because they cannot go anywhere else (the floor, frex). This is the same with everything. I do not have a clean laundry basket, or any similar tools of procrastination. I would just leave the laundry in the basket, I know I would!

christmasisacumenin (not sure how to abbreviate that one!) we don't have the gantries and hoists but we do have to keep the house wheelchair-accessible. When we lived in a tiny terrace I seemed to spend 90% of my time trying to keep the house accessible. Now we live in a bigger house it's less of an issue (and maybe our good habits are more ingrained) but I still don't want to spend my life marshalling stuff!

Oh I am normally Acu.

Yes, we live in a tiny wee two up two down terrace! So you know what I mean. It's a very good discipline actually, for making space. My mate swears blind my house is bigger than hers. I had to show her with the tape measure that in fact hers is about 150% the area.

Thanks stillsmiling and harriet. Glad Im not the only one!

DP finally on his way up tonight (was supposed to be last night...and the night before but familt drama ) so ill not get excited til i know hes on the bus BUT its encouraging me to at least clear away the stray bits and then dd going to vacuum for me :)

Hello elizabeth22! I've spent a good chunk of time on clearing space these past few days mainly because (i) dc are at school and (ii) I'm a freelancer and am always too distracted in the week before Christmas to get my proper work done. My boys are 7 and 10 now and I certainly couldn't have done anything other than little forays when they were little.

So in half an hour this evening I've got another 3 bags for charity (curtains someone gave me that don't fit our windows, too-small wellies, etc), 3 bin bags of junk (why was I saving 3 table legs?) and I've collected together our many bags-for-life, rucksacks, laundry baskets. I've kept out a few bags, but the rest I'm going to put away in deep storage (ie behind the suitcases in a difficult cupboard) and see if I need them at all in the next 6 months. If not, they're going.

bc I hope your dp is on that bus!

Hi everyone. Just came across your thread and have been reading for inspiration. I've decluttered some of our spare room today (lots of out of date toiletries chucked out!), and am planning to tackle some kitchen cupboards tomorrow. We're having a loft conversion in the spring, so an ongoing project is trying to empty the attic. It's hard figuring out what is worth selling, what to give away and what to throw away, as some of you have already said.

Trying to weed through some of DS's toys now while he's in bed. I'm trying to get him to identify things he doesn't need/want (he's 3 and a half), but I need to be a bit more ruthless than he's been so far!

Thanks for the inspiration

Here's an update on www.simplemom.net

and here's her podcast (it's shown on the front page of Simplemom)
homefries.com/show/the-simple-mom-podcast/

minimalist I'm v vv impressed by your no tv lifestyle.... this evening DD has been watching the iPad, DH watching his IPad and me on the laptop.

BTW when I'm doing decluttering blitz I follow FlyLady rules and go for the 27 fling boogie:
This means putting on some inspiring upbeat music and running around the house finding 27 things to chuck out/ pass on / bin within 15 minutes. HUGELY satisfying. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlyLady.
I also like passing things onto friends which you know they'll appreciate. EG: I made a photo album for the family of a friend who died. They loved the photos and I freed up some space. (I scanned the pictures before passing them on so I haven't lost them IYWIM)

I'm a big fan of Flylady as well Cuddled. I don't follow her religiously but I know that my house would be far nicer if I did!

I'm struggling a bit today. I was trying to go through the paper piles I have but so much of it is little notes, photos, reminders of people who have died, or people I fully expect to die before me, and I got myself into a twist trying to get rid of it, and then wondering if there would be a point in the future when I wouldn't be able to picture their handwriting, their tone of writing etc etc. Argh. Its stupid, I know, but so much of the crap that I have here has sentimental value and is no use to me at all. Has anyone found a succesful way of conquering this??

pixie I've really struggled with this too. My dad died in 2010 and I find it v hard to part with anything that has his handwriting on it. Maybe this is where digital photos can be part of the process of letting go...

We don't have a futon mattress, but ours is similar (no springs), and no frame, so it's just on the floor. It is blooming huge though (200cm x 200 cm) and we don't roll it up. This works great, especially as we are co-sleeping. Only have the one DC so far, but I love the idea of a bedshare for them! How cute.

DH came home today with a Christmas gift from the office - a gym holdall and a towel! Another towel, aargh! The holdall is very nice!

Oh no! Free stuff! People always bring more stuff in after a good decluttering session.

I must admit, the thought of all the very kind and thoughtful unwanted gifts that are about to enter my house next week is making me a bit grumpy.
I hate excess and I like quality, modern Christmasses just aren't for me are they?

IWipe, my dc came home from school Christmas fete with a game called Pig Goes Pop. I think the aim is to stuff the pig with plastic burgers till the pig explodes. Lovely. Ds2 said it doesn't work. I'll wait till the NY, then the pig gets it.

Pixie, scan it into Evernote

All our papers are scanned in and shredded. I only store the legally required minimum. We scan everything. With OCR, you may as well!

Blimey you lot have been busy!

I've been at work and busy with the kids, but have still managed:

3 bin bags to charity
2 to the bin
1 to the recycling.

I've not had a thorough read, but have seen a few posts on the subject of reselling things. This decluttering thing has been going on for me for about 5 years (when I found flylady) and I totally agree with what people have said about layers, and it being a continuous process. Of all the stuff I've got rid of I have given almost everything away. It's a flylady thing: you'll never get back what you paid for the thing, so forgive yourself and just let go of it. I've let go of expensive stuff to charity, to a local refugee service, to strangers on freecycle. We are in huge financial difficulty at the moment (part of the reason for my current round of decluttering, it makes me feel like I have some control over my surroundings) but I always think, I could go to work, earn £100 or more for a shift, and that's a lot quicker and easier than trying to sell ten things for a tenner. Not for everyone I know, but it works for me!

That philosophy makes a lot of sense graceless. One of my major obstacles to decluttering is the desire to resell stuff, so it all gets sorted and bagged and then sits in a heap for months. I have given a bunch of things to the charity shop today, and put more in bin bags in the garage ready to go to the tip after Xmas. Determined to have less stuff around, especially things with plugs on (DH's domain and my nemesis)!

My turn to update as I've just finished a wall of busyness with work and child stuff. But I've been reading the thread and it all ticks away in the back of my mind.

So far we have two full bin bags of clothes to eBay
Two pairs of boots and four pairs of shoes
Plus a set of bedlinen and a couple of random towels

I've listed some CDs to sell on www.discogs.com and DP has (bizarrely) started a spreadsheet of records to sell rather than just listing them straight onto the Internet.

There will be more stuff over the next few days as I'm now off work until next Thursday. I've also done some virtual decluttering and have deleted a load of apps (I don't need Twitter as I don't really get the point).

I can see where gracelesslady is coming from. In the last ten years I've nearly always given stuff to charity and free cycle. It's only more recently we've started selling it online. But the money so far has paid for a new sofa cover and will pay for our February half-term trip to York. This next lot of stuff will put money towards our summer holiday in France.