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?

Thank you Blossom, that made sense to me

Hilariously, now that I have started accepting that some of my books might need to go, I have discovered that no one actually wants them! I typed about 20 ISBN's into We Buy Books and they accepted ONE of them! I also brought a bag of really nice bits and pieces into work for people to rummage through - and no one wanted any of that either! It really is clutter then, and it needs to go.

I was feeling quite pious after the cook book discussion as I only have about three which I use all the time. And then you started talking about photos.... I'm far far worse than SilentMammoths MIL. I have two of those heavy duty wine bottle bags from Tescos stuffed with photos. I love them and I have tried to cull them I always mean to get albums and sort them out and then there never seems to be the time. I know that if I start such a massive project the decluttering will stop completely... so they get stuffed back in the basement again.

I am honestly not such a bad minimalist as I sound. Its just books and photos [sigh]

pixie I decided the photo-culling won't happen just now for the same reason - I was going to get derailed. I put the boxes back on top of the cupboard. It's not a priority for now. Too hard.

Anyone else feeling sad about taking down the Christmas decorations today? I heard that piece on Today yesterday (!) about the 40 days of Christmas and how traditionally people used to keep lights and greenery up till 2 Feb, Candlemas, and then have a big bonfire of the greenery to mark the end of winter and the coming of spring. I love an old ritual, so I've decided that at least one string of lights is staying until Candlemas and that we'll continue to have candles at meal times.

I really cleared the decks of all ornamenty things before Christmas so today is a good opportunity to see what - if anything - I actually want to put back.

I didn't know that harriet. We de-trimmed yesterday, only have the tree and a couple of Christmassy soft toys that get brought out, so didn't take long. We put the tree up Dec 1st for the first time this year, so I was glad to see the back of it really. I'll bear that in mind next year though.

Queen, do you have a young relative you could gift the camping gear to?

I don't have loads of cookbooks, though I would if I had space. They are one thing that doesn't work on kindle.

Our tree has been down for over a week! Hate having it hanging around after Christmas is over, so it comes down on around the 28th every year.

Ds's birthday is 2 Jan, so he gets to decide if he wants the tree up or down on his birthday. This year he said yes, so dh took it down last night. We have Christmas tree recycling points all over town, so will take it down to mulch today. 2 Feb is usually midwinter here (I live in the Canadian Rockies) and we don't start celebrating spring until the snow starts melting in around April or May! We had a foot of snow on the last royal wedding day, and the dcs made Kate and William snowmen on the drive.

I did nod wryly at the point someone made above about some climates needing more 'stuff'. My hall is a mass of five winter coats, 5 pairs of snow pants, at least 5 pairs of snow boots, hats, gloves, scarves. When it's routinely -20 you can't declutter too much!

madwoman, I don't think it counts as clutter if you need it .

I sold a birding scope for £67 that I hadn't used in something like 15 years... I found receipt showing I paid £280 for it in 1994! In excellent condition, too. :(

Trying to be strong, though. I really didn't need it and obviously it wouldn't cost me that much to buy replacement.

Still,

Oh, I know. It still feels like clutter, though. Especially when you add school bags, musical instrument cases, lunch boxes x 3 into the mix as well. Our hall way is very small, and feels v restrictive. Dd2 fell down the stairs to the basement trying to negotiate everything last week. (She has mild cp, so the clearer the better). It doesn't make her hang her coat up though...

Decluttering here, 3 large bags of baby stuff to charity shop today, all from ILs at Christmas (and some lovely clothes for dd to wear this year). It's a constant battle as the only way to stop PILs having a serious hoarding problem is to take the stuff they want to give us...

But we're knocking down part of our house soon to rebuild, so I need to get.rid of the contents of 2 rooms. Papers are my nightmare - I was raised by historians who insist if anyone wants to study my life that all my bank statements will be vital. And what do other people.do with papers from work courses that you need to refer to?

I've made progress with books though - if it's available electronically if I want to re-read, it goes, while the charity shop may still be able to make money from it. CDs don't take up much space so can stay - but all the electronic widgets and parts are a nightmare. And toys - I did the trick of hiding 3 bin liners of toys in the crawl space, either to give away or save for dd, but ds and dn made it into a den, pulled the lot out, and scattered them everywhere... Loads are going very soon on general principle. Especially the Megabloks...

Ok made a start on toys. After reading the first bit of Simplicity parenting, I walked into the play room and realised we have way more than I thought/the boys need.

Lots of duplicates etc.

So (and I did actually get the dc involved) I asked them if they wanted to keep their big digger and crane or their smaller set of 6 "my first JCB" talking tractors etc. They chose to keep the big digger and crane so the 6 JCB's in a box. We also had a box full of little hotwheels et al cars. I told ds2 to choose 5. I mean he can't play with 50 odd at once can he? The rest have gone in the box

I've done the same with duplicate puzzles, animals, building blocks.

Books, well I like the dc having access to lots of different books except they aren't really "reading" any of them at the moment. I have got them to choose 5 each, the rest have gone in a big basket and been put away. I've decided that we'll change these 5 books weekly or fortnightly.

So playroom done. Dc's clothes next, if only because I'm fed up of all the bloody washing piles. I only want enough clothes in the house to do one load a day, dry, folded and put away, rather than the pile of clean clothes getting bigger and bigger until I have no choice but to sit and spend 2hrs folding and putting away clothes.

*= the same box which I'm going to put in the garage until I decide what to do with them.

Suffolk am I right in remembering that you also have a blog? Can you pm me the link? And boffinmum, is yours the austerity housekeeping blog (sorry MN if this contradicts any guidelines, just wanting to update my blogroll...) (if boffin mum can't reply for fear of promoting herself, can someone else??)

Yes, Boffinmum does austerity housekeeping (I like it BTW!)

I've been decluttering with an eye to simpler / more minimal living, eg I've never before questioned the need to have a huge stack of towels - we now have three sets and I've ditched the others - all thin and not as nice as the ones I've kept. I have kept more handtowels as I put a new one out every day.

Books continue to be sorted, I'm less attached to them the more I clear, especially as I realise they are coated in dust and haven't been off the shelf for six years or more. I am keeping ones I know I will re-read at some point (I do read favourites over again).

DH's books and clutter are a different matter, he hates letting go of anything but last night agreed that a whole stack of VHS tapes could go. I've removed them from the house today in case of second thoughts. This has made room for his Christmas book gifts which had been moved from table to sofa to floor as there was nowhere to put them. The sitting room does look fresher even with such small changes.

Hello all. I've hit a bit of apathy today. I think I'm just tired after a busy weekend. Was celebrating my Mums birthday and had to travel home from England last night. The boys are back at school so it should be the perfect time get on with projects now. I think maybe I just need a lazy day.

I am still loving reading everyone elses journeys. It is a different path that everyone is taking, and we probably all want different end results, but this thread is great for spurring us all on.

I am back at work tomorrow after almost 3 weeks off, so I will have less time but I'm determined to continue with this.

I might try and do something small today while DD has her nap.

Lemon I felt a bit like that this weekend but then read this blog post which made me feel better:

www.365lessthings.com/be-happy-with-what-you-declutter-today/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+365LessThings+%28365+Less+Things%29

Upthread people were talking about scanning diaries or photos and getting rid of the rest. It suddenly struck me yesterday that I should scan the recipes from the cookery books I don't use that much. I went through three whole books scanning all the stuff I wanted to keep (some of which I've never actually made before). And it came to a grand total of eight recipes .

Queen That's a good idea about the recipes. All the cookery books are dp's though (guess who does all the cooking ) and as they are the only books he actually reads, I feel it's only fair to let him keep them.

I am getting somewhere with persuading him that he doesn't need to buy every single film he likes on blu-ray only to be watched once and sit gathering dust. He has a select few at the moment but he's agreed to rent/download films for a while rather than buying them.

I've made a categorised list on my "round to it" app, listing only the very basics we need to buy furniture wise for each room when we move into an unfurnished property.

Didn't get round to doing the dc clothes yesterday but still suffering from a stinking cold so will get that done today seen as though we won't be going anywhere.

It's quite hard living here now I've started this. It's a furnished property and they really did mean furnished. The landlord was in a rush to leave so we have all his cd's/books/dvd's out, more towels than a family of at least 8 would need taking up a full airing cupboard, photos of all his kids/grandkids still up on the walls. I just want to take it all and hide it in boxes but obviously can't do that.

Links to blogs are fab, will read some of those at nap time this afternoon. Thank-you

Just read a bit of blossom's blog. Blossom, I have all my Calvin & Hobbes too! They're great comfort reading, get pounced on by visitors and now my boys have discovered them and read them voraciously. The only problem is that ds2 reads them as an instruction manual...

Back to work today so not much minimising done - except my purse. I now have 3 cards (1 debit card, 1 work id, 1 driving licence) in a pouch on my keyring, and only office & home keys. (No more loyalty keycards or random keys that get used twice a year). Not sure what to do about coins. This system may not work, but when I go to my pt job I often end up carrying 2 really heavy bags, most of which I'm sure I don't need for one or two days, so I'm trying to trim everything down and experimenting with carrying less stuff with me 'just in case'. This doesn't really fit with the house-orientated nature of this thread but for me the reason I hold on to stuff at home is the same reason I over-pack and take a massive key collection with me wherever I go: anxiety!

Thanks for link Suffolk will have a good read tonight after tea.

xMinerva I feel rather angry at your landlord for leaving you with his clutter; felt same about chap who owned this house before us and left all his DIY rubbish in a cupboard in the porch area (including horrid, rodent eaten, paint stained tracksuit bottoms ).

Quick question as I'm making dinner and falling over tea towels, and since the 'how many towels' discussion was a revelation to me: how many tea towels do you own/does a minimalist need?

3 tea towels here-one in use, one in the wash and one in case of emergency!

We've just made the radical move of putting the TV in the spare room. The sitting room is instantly a nicer, calmer place! I love it-wish we'd done this ages ago.

Oops, sorry suffolk! Not paying attention!

Now that is tea towel minimalism! I have many but use them in place od paper towels iyswim?

Going on maternity leave next month and il get out the baby clothes then. We have one chest of five drawers between 4dd at present, the fifth drawer holds nappies and wipes. Going to have to find somewhere else for them though as determined not to buy another chest.

Ooooh, talking about purse minimalism, I can't match harrietspy but have written down cards I do carry about in case of theft or loss. Saves me wondering what I actually have in there!!

There's surely a Monty Python sketch in all this ...

"By eck, you ave three tea towels? I have one of the buggers and I just breathe on it until it is dry"
"Breathe on it? Breathe? We don't use up air like that. We have one breath at morning, one breath at night, and leave the rest to reduce our carbon footprint"
"Two breaths a day? We ave actually stopped breathing and done away with ourselves AND put ourselves in t'green bin all tidy for the recycling"
"In a whole green bin? We minced ourselves in a hired compactor like, to reduce space"
"Space? We vaporised ourselves into thin air so we didn't need any space at all".

You get my drift? (Python fans will know where I am coming from).