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?

12 Rules made me laugh; I think my one and only rule is not to be Dogmatic about anything.

If you've always been fairly minimalist how do your extended family feel about it?

Our parents & siblings struggle with it. One example, pre-children no one could understand why we did n't buy the matching chairs & footstools to our new sofa. We explained that we were happy with just a sofa but still got detailed explantions of 'interest free credit' and offers of loans.

Whilst pregnant I got various lectures about how I'd need more 'stuff' to make a home else it's not fair on the children.

We moved into a big house and are now a magnet for other peoples car boot bargains, 'heirloom' furniture from attics, a depositary for my parents post-war 'hoarding', might come in useful spares.

We've always done Lovefilm Mailbox Movies, local Toy Library, Internet since 1997 so it's not a 'fashion' thing as my mum 15 years on still assumes.

What reactions do you get if your children have free space in their wardrobe/toy cupboard?

Boffin I also want a mustard cardigan, not something I would ever have thought before. I think I worry too much about colours not working together and that blog could help me.

I sorted underwear ladt night while Eastenders was on. I got so into it I did my t shirts too. Still a lot of clothes to sort out but my drawers are a lot neater.

I love the flylady 15 min timer when a room is really getting me down. You can get a lot done in 15 mins and you don't feel overwhelmed about spending all day doing something.

Well I most deffo will not be cluttering up my wardrobe with a mustard cardigan! Anything mustard coloured always reminds me of poor Petrova in ballet shoes, having to wear mustard tights in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' :)

But an olive cardigan, I could make room for!

Oh I loved Ballet Shoes!

Well, I've had a productive morning doing another cull of DD's toys (she's 15 months, how it is even possible to have as many as she does given that we, her parents, have bought her 1!! is beyond me) and sorting out another load for We Buy Books. It's funny, I've always been one of those people who says 'oh, I could never get rid of books' but having looked at our shelves with a really cold, hard eye, there's an awful lot there that we either don't like or will never read again. And I figure if we ever do find ourselves in need of a history of medieval England again, we can always go to the library...

So that's about 100 books gone in total, only leaving about, ooh, 1000...

Blackbag- not so much about toys but my mum is highly critical of me not having a tv. She worries that DD will feel left out. My mum was extremely poor growing up and always talks about what it was like when everyone else discussed tv program's at school and she couldn't admit to not having a tv. But I think now computers have replaced tvs and she had access to it sometimes.

I would prefer DD to have less toys but at 10 I expect her to grow out of polly pockets etc v soon so not going to push it now. I didn't buy any of the plastic tat she has - its all gifts. BUT if/when I hae more DC I plan to have a lot of useful things to suggest when They ask what to buy! ( a baby massage class etc)

Watched more tiny home stuff last night and woke up determined this am :) off to find something to do now!

Have been pondering decluttering v minimalism while going slowly mad this morning as toddler and newborn run me ragged. You need to declutter before living as a minimalist, but you can never actually stop decluttering, IYSWIM. It needs to become just part of your way of life. This probably makes no sense at all, but I've had 4 hours sleep over the last two nights and am starting to hallucinate!

We had a big declutter before moving house (no attic or garage here), but it's definitely ongoing. Am excited about the weekend when DH is putting shelves up in the understairs cupboard, so everything can be put away neatly. At the moment you open the door and everything tumbles out. I hate it.

I have also decided to try and make £500 this year on ebay. This is wildly ambitious, but I like a challenge, and am cheating slightly as there's lots of baby stuff to sell. £35 in the kitty so far.

My second challenge is to list 100 items on freecycle (as in 100 separate listings, so 4 towels count as 1). 6 items (2 of which are carrier bags of baby clothes) so far and one new item claimed.

This is decluttering, not minimalism, I know.

blackbag ILs do not get decluttering (think autism/ocd (diagnosed) with hoarding tendencies). They hate giving away stuff for free, so no freecycle, and think any presents need to be kept forever for sentimental reasons. Gah! I am intolerant/unreasonable about this. But this is why DH keeps shit books and items of clothing that no longer fit, as they just wouldn't understand where they had gone. To be fair, he is 1000 more of a declutterer these days (my evil influence), but there is a box in the spare room full of hideous kitchen mats/coasters/mugs that ILS have given him.

(am another Ballet Shoes fan, but avoid mustard and olive clothes as a signed up HoC summer ).

Have been lurking for a long while but just wanted to say thanks for all the inspiration.

I've started this year with the aim of living more mindfully, more minimally and being driven less by consumerism. These past few years have seen me waste huge amounts of time and energy on "stuff" and I feel it is really weighing me down. It's so at odds with what I see as being important and I want to live more consistently with that. So I've started with a massive declutter-2 bin bags of clothes to charity, sorted out work stuff and am only trying to keep stuff I need and use. Today I have started unsubscribing from email marketing as it just makes me think I need stuff I don't. Clothes are a particular downfall and I have justified it by buying a lot of it in charity shops-but it's still unnecessary however I came about it.
I still have 2 wardrobes and 2 chests full so I have a long way to go with that and will continue this weekend. My boyfriend who is naturally very minimalist and not attached to stuff atall is overjoyed! I just hope I can keep it up

Queen, that makes perfect sense. I am very much still at the 'decluttering' stage, but think that changing towards a minimalist mindset will put that into perspective for me, iykwim... Whereas before it was 'god, I've got too much stuff and it's a tip in here', now it's more an active wish to simplify.

Harriet, my response to that out of control stuff is to start projects to exert control (over a co platelet different and new issue, obv). It's completely counterproductive, as then I have less time to consciously deal with anything, therefore losing even more control...

I do want to thank boff though - I've been using my household file for a year now, after being on a thread with her a year or so ago, so at least I know where to find house and family admin! (Disclaimer - I am about to start the 2013 household file, and am determined to transfer the necessary and shred the rest...)

Am just checking in, seems like there has been lots of decluttering going on!

DH is away to the dump this afternoon with another 5 bin bags of stuff- like someone up thread said, it's a bit [shocked] that more of the stuff I am decluttering is only fit for the bin rather than eBay/ charity shop.
I also threw out piles of coat hangers so my wardrobe looks much clearer now, I can actually see what I've got.

I'm going shopping this afternoon and have some vouchers to spend in M&S, so have decided to purchase wisely for my capsule wardrobe rather than do what I'd usually do and buy as many items as I could with the vouchers I have.
Am thinking new black leather gloves, or good quality boots as my New Look cheapies are not looking in great shape.
It's quite exciting going shopping and actually planning what you need rather than just buying what you fancy!

Shoes are next on my clear out list, might try and do them tonight.

I had been pondering Queens statement too and come to the same conclusion as Peppa. It's all about the journey and you don't just become minimalist overnight.

I have accumulated a lot of cleaning products, mostly from market research, and they fill a cupboard! I'm working through those and have closed my profile with the research company..

I also have hoarded toiletries during the crazy tesco promo almost 2 years back ( and haven't bought handsoap, body wash, deodorant, toilet roll or shampoo/conditioner for those 2 years. I still have a years worth of toilet roll left, but it was 10p for 9 rolls so worth hoarding, I am down to a few bottles of the rest.). From now my rule is one open and one new.

I packed up everything in my kitchen a few weeks ago, and when I took something out to use it, I put it in a second box. If the item is used a second time, it's been placed in the cupboard as I know I use it fairly regularly. I'm really surprised how little has actually made it back to the cupboards despite the entertaining and cooking I've done in the last fortnight. What an eye opener.

I had planned to do the same with clothes but didn't follow through, think ill do that on Tuesday when I get home. :)

I've been pondering the minimalist vs decluttering thing as well today, ad have come to the conclusion that it depends how you're defining minimalist. For some people it could mean to have the bare minimum number of items needed to function in life (so for example the poster further down who has pared her wardrobe down to practically nothing); for others, it may be just having enough clear space (physically or mentally) to be happy.

I like the way this thread has been open-minded about minimalism. A lot of interpretations are so extreme they put me right off the concept (I accept those extreme ideas suit other people, just not for me! I still think they're nutters of course ).

I'm following this thread because I want to nurture the mental space to be confident in having less stuff. Which is another way of saying I need to rebalance my frugal instincts. Baby steps are the only way I can do that.

On a more practical level we are talking about moving somewhere between 6months & 6 years from now. Moving house is so stressful anyway, I don't want to move house with stuff I don't need. So slowly am working our way thru figuring out what that stuff is.

Can someone start a new thread for de cluttering unless its still ok to post about it on here? Once I'm de cluttered I really need to train myself to stop buying gadgets/stuff I don't or anyone else actually needs!

For me it's about efficiency. Excess is a waste, or leads to waste, and I hate waste. The minimum we each need is different, what's excessive to me might not be to somebody else. One person might find my lack of ornaments and rugs very minimalist, whereas someone else might find my plants and pictures excessive.
So decluttering is movement towards more minimalism, but there has to be room for manoeuvre. If you want to entertain, you'll need more plates, if you move to a colder climate, you're going to needs more clothes.

I find looking at becoming more minimalist fun, but I think that if one is expending a lot of energy maintaining extreme minimalism then that has ceased to be minimalist, iyswim.

For me the minimalist thing was never about getting down to three pairs of socks and a moleskine notepad. Taking Glitterkitten24 Fri 04-Jan-13 14:29:29 statement:

Her black gloves and new good quality boots would be part of her minimalist possessions and her old New Look boots would become clutter.

If she gets sidetracked when shopping and comes home with a 90% off pink satin ballgown but never goes to any blacktie events - that might be a bargain but certainly clutter.

For me the minimalist thing was never about getting down to three pairs of socks and a moleskine notepad. Taking Glitterkitten24 Fri 04-Jan-13 14:29:29 statement: Her black gloves and new good quality boots would be part of her minimalist possessions and her old New Look boots would become clutter. If she gets sidetracked when shopping and comes home with a 90% off pink satin ballgown when she never goes to any blacktie events but had to have it because it was such a bargain - that would be clutter.

Sorry, I have now cluttered the board with my duplicate post

Whilst I am de-cluttering it helps me to let go of stuff if I bear in mind some of your posts about minimalism, i think we can all keep posting. everyone welcome.

Re books - I used to be v much of the opinion that books are for life. However, in recent years (and it took a LOT of dithering too!) I've realised that I was mostly keeping hundreds and hundreds of books as a way to a) say 'look at me; I've got so many books' and b) to prove that I read a lot. Once I realised that, it was easy to get rid of everything I wasn't ever going to read again (eg loads of literary criticism stuff, feminist collections of fairytales I'd used for my thesis, the complete works of Thomas Hardy etc).

Now I only buy cookey books, history books and new Stephen King novels new, as I know they'll all be well loved, but everything else is from the library or charity shops and either way go back where they came from after reading.

I KNOW a read a lot - I don't need the physical presence of the books to prove that to myself and anybody else's opinion doesn't matter. So now, whilst it is obvious from our house that we are booklovers, the books aren't actually taking over the house anymore. We have a set number of bookcases and if we buy more books than fit on said cases, something else goes in order to create space.

For me minimalism is about living with less, living with as little as possible. To free myself of physical clutter. How having less physical clutter makes for a clearer mind. I'm interested in how little I can live with. What I truly need to be happy. Exploring what makes me happy. Exploring what makes my family happy.

I'm interested in how having less means less housework, less time is spent on looking after stuff and moving stuff around.

Living well and comfortably in a small space. How small a space a family can live in. How to use space. How living in a small/minimal house means less time looking after house (Eg: having only one bathroom instead of two, time spent cleaning is reduced by 50%)

Being in a small space will make me carefully consider what I choose to bring into that small space.

I 'found' minimalism about two years ago now, interestingly I could never 'go back' so to speak, it has been a fundimental change for me. I can only see myself becoming more minimal. My question is though, where does minimalism end? I don't know if I will be able to ever answer that question, it's an interesting journey though!

For me, decluttering and minimalism are two separate things, but to begin a minimalist lifestyle, most people have to declutter or unclutter first because of today's consumerist lifestyle. When the initial declutter has been done, the physical habit of shopping has to be stopped otherwise it is simply a cycle. I actually almost have a phobia of 'stuff' so not shopping is not a problem for me.

The most difficult thing I find is living a minimalist life with children and taking their needs and wants into account. That is when it gets really tough for me. I have to fight my phobia of stuff for the children. I would happily not by anything apart from food and clothing and keeping a warm, cosy and comfortable home.
How much 'stuff' does a child need?
How many toys do they 'need' to have to be happy?
Will it be damaging for a child not to have 'stuff' to keep up with friends at school?
So I'm very interested in (extreme) minimalism and family life!
I wish I knew the answer to these questions!

Just wanted to mention......

I finished our "launch pad" today and I can't believe I never had something so simple before.

I have shoe storage by my front door and sorted the shoes so I now only have everyday shoes there, it freed up a bit of space so added school bags and packed lunch boxes to the unit, added a couple of hooks for school coats and pe bags and still have space for my work bags, no more hunting for stuff in the mornings

Love this! Perfect for guests! Love how minimal it looks!

shoeboxdwelling.com/2011/09/08/stay-at-my-home/