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?

gracelesslady I read the karen thingy feng shui book too - I didn't buy all of the feng shui stuff either but some of the decluttering advice was really helpful.

Back again and trying to motivate self to make a start tomorrow - if I put it off to New Year I will only feel guilty and not get it done.

I am not a minimalist by inclination or aesthetics - in fact I am your dyed in the wool born hoarder, but the clutter is really depressing me, and making it harder to get things properly baby proofed for nearly walking DS. I go back to work after mat leave in four weeks so I want to try and get things going before then.

So many things up thread that I have nodded to - the many unfinished projects; the hanging on to pretty things; agonising over broken and/or hardly used but much loved kitchen goodies! Trying to stay off hte blogs, however, as my weekness is to waste time looking at other people's houses before getting very fed up with my own and sulking on sofa.

Think the idea I like most is the five boxes in a room thing - would like to do this in each of our rooms next year, but will need DH's help as our very active wee boy can't really entertain himself or be safely left anywhere, and only naps in half hour chunks. DH very stressed at work atm so now not the time to broach my plan but I was thinking of taking one room month and then
One weekend to 'five box' it and put stuff back which is staying
one weekend to dump/sell/freecycle/charity shop the leftovers
one weekend to do something nice in that room as a reward
two weekends off for family stuff

I know it will take longer this way but think that it would be easier to get DH to agree to this if he feels he will still have time off. Now to think of somethings I can achieve tomorrow...

For storing washing, I use laundry bags hanging on the back of the children's bedroom doors. To carry the wet washing out to the shed to the tumble drier, I use a folding crate, then to store the dry washing for ironing, I use a large tesco shopping bag. I use the crate to carry the ironing upstairs to put away too.

For years I had a huge laundry basket that had no home. It was always propped up on the wall in the dining room. I felt so FREE when I got rid of it!

blossombath I've stopped reading blogs for now because I use them as a substitute for taking action and then feel crap. My friend has this amazing house that looks completely minimalist in his photos - but when I asked him how he kept the house so clutter-free he said he'd put it all behind him while he took the photos. I felt so much better then!

harriet, bunnies in a hammock, what a thoughtful gift! We also received some random rubbish in a similar vein, I sent it all straight to the charity shop! Hahaha at your friend with his fake minimalist home! Maybe that's how it is for everyone, and real minimalism is just a dream! It's hard, I do want to be freer, be ready to jet off here and there without having too much to pack, but I also want to hold on to some heirloom pieces for DS, such as special toys we've bought for him, Christmas decorations (we do that Mumsnet thing of a new decoration for the tree for DS every year, so he has a nice collection full of memories when he moves into his own home), a few baby clothes that he might love to see he own children in! MIL has a collection of toys that DH played with when he was a tot, it is sweet seeing DS play with his daddy's old toys. Am I being a sentimental old crazy? Is this such a bad thing?! How to get the balance! I don't want to get to the stage of what I own owning me! I think I'm gonna start a Pinterest board for inspirational minimalist quotes!

whatwouldsantado, I know - the balance thing is hard. I don't think I'm a minimalist at heart (don't throw me off the thread! I like it here!) but I am trying to simplify and to be conscious, ie not acquiring or keeping things because they try to satisfy an unmet emotional need. In the Garage (which requires Capitals because it Looms so Large in my Subconscious) there is a massive box of old home interiors magazines and 3 scrapbooks full of my aspirational - and never realised - designs for the 10 homes I've lived in the last 20 years. The scrapbooks are very pretty to look at but they're basically all about yearning and not about making change. They're about running away from present pain and trying to drug myself against it with pretty pictures. So they'll be going in the bin because I don't want to live like that any more.

Wow. Didn't mean to get so deep but I do think there's a comfort-eating equivalent to having/keeping/getting 'stuff'.

santa At the risk of sounding harsh, I would:
*save a couple of favourite clothes for dolls and teddies. Let ds play with them, but don't save for his kids. MIL did this, and not only have fashions changed a lot, I found it a bit freaky when she once dressed dd in sil's 40 year old baby clothes. How about keeping a small blanket instead?
*toys. Mil did this too, and it is frugal/cute, but think how many years you'll have to store them. And your dc may choose not to have dc anyway. From mil's experience, a lot rotted over the 30+ years in the attic, and h&s rules change. Sell or charity shop them so someone else can enjoy them now, and you get more space.
*the tree idea is lovely. Am half-tempted to do the same for my DC, but actually think as adults they may want to choose their own decs and may feel bad about getting rid of the collection you bestow them - thus give f them sth to feel guilty about decluttering. How about starting a Xmas tradition like baking edible tree decs each year? The DC get the memories, but not the stuff.

Good morning everyone!
BC how did it go at the tip yesterday?

I've found the main thing about decluttering is staying decluttered and not letting it creep back in. A good tip is when you vacuum your home, take a carrier bag along with you and as you move from room to room you can gather paper rubbish for example along with you...there's always bits and pieces with children around. That is a simple habit that can help you stay on top of it.

I think the biggest thing is to stop the buying/decluttering cycle because then money really is being wasted. I know it's popular to do a big declutter this time of year to make way for mountain of presents for DC's but about three years ago I decided not to get onto the Christmas bandwagon and really, seriously simplify at Christmas time and give each of my DC a small stocking and one present each. I know to some that sounds awful and not very Christmassy, but it just seems so wasteful to me, buying for the sake of it because its Christmas. We have lots of Christmas traditions, a pretty tree and nativity and my children aren't any less excited about Christmas. It is hard though, there is so much pressure from everywhere to buy a lot of things for your DC.

I guess the reason I have written this is to say that to make long term change, stuff really needs to be stopped from coming into you house otherwise it can be easy to get on the treadmill of stuff coming in, stuff being thrown away and on it goes. Obviously, that cycle works with clothes/shoes that have been worn out and needs to be replaced but its not a great cycle to be in with general clutter/stuff.

I agree mommi. We decluttered loads before moving, but am aware it's an ongoing state of mind. You never finish decluttering.
Hoping baby naps long enough for me to catch up w paperwork today.

Rarely , you're right, it really is a state of mind.
Good luck with your paperwork!
I'm not getting on with much today, I'm not feeling well so I'm tucked up on the sofa thinking about the decluttering I need to do before moving. My family laugh at me as they think I'm so decluttered /simplified already that no more can possibly go, but I truly think its an on-going thing, things can always be simplified...& it makes such a difference to time spent on housework!

I think decluttering and minimalism are different things. To me decluttering is getting rid of the legacy of stuff we have. As others have said, part of the reason it can be so hard is because there is emotional attachment and it's often tied up with what we wanted to be or how our lives should/could be.

Minimalism is having less stuff but I don't think it means living in a white, empty house. It's about having what you need and not more - William Morris' everything should be beautiful or useful (although I want useful things to be beautiful too). Minimalism is for life, not just for Christmas!

I totally agree, minimalism isn't about living in a white house, it really is about having less of everything, the minimum amount and still be comfortable. It's about what you really need and use & no excess.

I think for a minimalist life to happen, decluttering has to happen first, the two go hand and hand.

...when I move though, I do plan on painting a lot of the walls white though...

I think the biggest thing is to stop the buying/decluttering cycle because then money really is being wasted.
Absolutely, Mommi. It took a while to learn this...after a lot of decluttering and then filling up the empty space with new stuff, I have finally learnt my lesson.

wow, the unexpected things you stumble across when idling on MN! I had always thought minimalism was cold and stark, looking t the end result rather thn thge ideal. I had a read of the thread yesterday and a couple of the blogs and have surprised myself in a few ways. I live in a very cluttered house and it gets us all down. We are now a family of 5 in a reasonably small house. There is stuff everywhere. But I realised on reading yesterday that I do share some minimalist ideals at heart and indeed practise some too. I buy clothes once in a blue moon. I hate shopping. I crave storage solutions. But my downfall is chucking stuff out. I just never get around to it. My frugality/environmental bents hold me back and I get stuck in a cycle of procrastination: I think stuff might be worth something (and we need every penny we can get). So then there's the decision of how to get rid - FB, ebay, gumtree, car boot, local toy sales, charity, dump. Then there's finding the time (with a bf colicky baby) to sort, clean photograph, upload everything, research postage costs, post things, where to store stuff while it waits to be sold, what to do if it doesn't sell, etc. So the stuff stays put. And preys on my mind. And stops me from cleaning. I did a toy clear out last week and got 5 pedal bin bags cleared and in the garage for car boot sometime in the new year. But then is the new year the best time for car boot? and so it goes on....

This thread had inspired me to actually do a car boot. But any ebay advice welcome. It's working out the postage and how to package things that puts me off. And the prospect of going to the effort of listing and then things not selling.

I find the kids the hardest work - all the stuff the bring home from school and groups that they form emotional attachments to. I haven't worked out how to deal with all of it yet!

Pretzel it took me a while to learn... dissatisfaction soon sets in and new stuff become 'old' really very quickly. It's what stopped me shopping. I'm quite extremely into minimalism though, I day dream about living in a monk like room with just an iron bed, comfy mattress and blanket and a book
I get a lot of pleasure from things like cradling a warming cup of tea in my hands and sitting under a warm quilt in the evening with a good book.

hobnob you need to take a long hard look and think if you really will ever get around to selling everything. Maybe weed out the highest value stuff to sell and send the rest to charity. I know from bitter experience that I had a built I cupboard filled to the top with stuff I was going to sell (Monica style from Friends, anyone remember that?) and three years later it was still there. Then I bundled up all my courage and shipped it out to charity.

hobnob with the kids stuff, get them in board and ask them to choose say, 5 pictures from a pile, and then give them a folder with clear pockets in and they can store them away in that. Or, get together with them and scan them to make digital copies and then quietly recycle the originals.

Good idea. Must unearth the desk first

hobnob I use the eBay app on my iPad which makes life very easy as you take the picture with the iPad and it uploads it straight away.

My advice would be to take ten things at random and stick them on eBay always starting at 99p. I look at similar items for sale (e.g. a Monsoon skirt size 10) and then use the same postage. I often cut and paste the description and make minor amendments.

I list to end on Saturday/Sunday afternoon/evening and then take it the Post Office on Tuesday as it's my non-working day on my way to yoga.

Do that once a fortnight and you'll soon get through it. Anything that hasn't sold, take to the charity shop on your way to the Post Office.

Queen that eBay app sounds brilliant! Didn't know about it!

I'll have to make do with my aged laptop I'm afraid. What I have started doing is photographing things so at least they are on the camera when I get around to things. If baby slept anywhere other than on me I might make progress!

hobnob have you thought about gathering together like for like and selling stuff as 'lots' bundled together to make it easier?