The minimalist quiche

[educatingarti]

This is a new thread to replace the minimalist journey one which is nearly full!

[Sokmonsta]

I managed to get a couple of bags sorted yesterday. So feeling slightly better. Also piled car up with clutter to go to storage ready for carboot/dts to be old enough for it.

Today's mission is getting to storage unit and emptying car, then tidying lounge/downstairs ready for visitors tonight.

While dh is entertaining I'm planning on doing some decluttering in our room.

[wendybird77]

Good luck!

[Sokmonsta]

Thanks Wendy. That's very sensible advice and I will listen! Have a few hours this morning to tackle so bits so fingers crossed it works

[wendybird77]

Sokmonsta Stop with the piles! Sort clothes at the source - each kids wardrobe / drawers. Take bag, stand in front of clothes and put directly into bag then directly into car for transporting to charity shop or to box labeled with size and directly to loft or wherever you store clothes for growing into. I have a drawer of clothes for DS2 to grow into. My kids aren't very far apart so I only have 1 size to store at a time generally (not the same for you obviously, but you get my point). Only do one at a time though and then enjoy the success. Put the piles back in the wardrobes and start over! It is so not worth stressing over and certainly don't overwhelm yourself. Little and often, little and often.

Hope you feel better.

[Sokmonsta]

Heavens arti. What on earth would they do if the consultant had only just gone on holiday? I hope your dad is comfortable and that for better or worse you can have him home soon.

Wendy - you've hit the nail on the head exactly how I feel at the moment. The clutter is creeping and my pnd is taking a dive! It's scary how easily the house can reflect how my mind feels. I've got laundry piled up everywhere at the minute as I'm trying to sort out clothes am stuck in a very demotivated rut I took a basket load to mil to iron. But there's still all the Dc's clothes to sort. I end up putting them in piles, get distracted and dh comes home and moves them all out of the way, but back into one bloody pile!

Still. Dc are back to school Tuesday so normal service WILL resume.

[wendybird77]

Oh how exciting to come back after a couple of days and have 2 pages to catch up on !

Arti - So sorry to hear about your Dad - it sounds awful even without all the chasing Drs around.

Welcome to all the newcomers! Ponderosa I think having less clutter definitely helps you to be more organised with your time and your remaining things. I don't think people realise just how much time and effort is required to take care of so many things - moving them around, cleaning, stepping over, etc. When you start clearing all the excess stuff out of your life you do have more time and less stress. Your evenings and weekends become your own as you don't have to spend them taking care of your stuff. Even wiping worktops takes so much less time if you don't have to move piles of art / post / decorative jars. For me, if my house is a cluttered mess so is my head and I forget things and feel anxious.

I've been a decluttering diva the past couple of days. I went through my clothes and managed to fill a large Tesco bag for life of stuff I never wear. I also opened my box of shoes and got rid of half of those. I'm down to 3 fun pairs (one of which should go as I fall over in them. repeatedly. but they are red and I luurve them.) I also kept my hiking boots, running shoes, a pair of flip-flops, a pair of converse and my brown winter boots. That is it for me shoe-wise. I went through DCs wardrobes and donated everything that doesn't fit. The kitchen has been unpacked and organised. Nearly two boxes of kitchen gear gone to charity. DH even got in the spirit and put a few shirts in the charity box. All in six boxes to the charity shop. And two car loads to the tip. I'm moving into minimalism here!

[LemonBreeland]

arti sorry things are so bad with your Dad, and nobody minds off topic stuff. I feel like we are a group of friends on here now.

Artemis, your dh sounds a bit like mine.
Although mine is coming round to the idea thst the house will look nicer with less stuff in it. My PILs are also hoarders, although in a very tidy manner.

[MrsPennyapple]

New thread here

It's lovely, come and look!

[sommewhereelse]

Sorry about your Dad Arti. Tough times
I'm glad you've got some RL support.

I cleared my desk recently. Today my bank statement arrived and even though it's Friday evening, it was easy to deal with it straight away because it was the only thing out of place on my desk.

Ponderosa, I guess that having less clutter on my desk has made me more organised.

I should probably be going electronic on bank statements but I feel out of control if I don't tick off my transactions. (Another fraud )

[educatingarti]

You are very welcome Artemis

[ArtemisatBrauron]

Can I join? Just read the whole thread nd started in on the original one too! I am a de-clutterer by nature but married to a hoarder who is the son of two super hoarders (my PILs house gives me panic attacks just thinking about it!)...example - I take very ugly picture which I hate off bathroom wall and put it in charity shop pile. DH removes it and puts it in his office, saying "but x gave us that, I'll keep it if you don't want it". It can be very frustrating to live with someone who literally WON'T let things leave the house without a massive sulk.
We have just had a conversation about the 100s of CDs, computer games etc which never get used but he can't bear to part with, now he is mooching about looking miserable.

[educatingarti]

Mrs P - Frauds? You and me both at the moment. But I agree the thread does keep you inspired! I like the idea for the thread title too - will you start it?

I've managed to speak to Dad's consultant and they have reinstated one of his drugs but he wasn't that certain it was making any difference really.

His prognosis isn't brilliant. Dad's lost nearly all his swallow reflexes at the moment. He thinks that "his only hope" (consultant's words) is to get his shunt adjusted and see if that makes any difference. Otherwise we are "just waiting for a fatal pneumonia" and "not sure how much we want to fight for things if his quality of life is so poor". (Actually I'm not sure it is as poor as consultant thinks, however I am certain that Dad is unhappy being in hospital.)

Dad has a shunt to relieve excess fluid on the brain (normal pressure hydrocephalus) and there is a possibility it needs turning up ( his swallowing improved a lot once he had the shunt fitted last year!). Well - you would have thought that in such circumstances it would be easy to get him seen to do this....

But "shunt consultant" is 30 miles away from the hospital Dad is in at present and is on holiday till Monday! his current hospital consultant has spoken to the secretary and left messages. I've spoken to the secretary twice. She is adamant there is no one else she can speak to and it has to wait until shunt consultant is back on Monday. Then she will ask him whether Dad can be seen more quickly (currently has an appointment for 13 May!!) I've tried to explain to her how critical it all is!

On plus side - I've discovered a new charity shop literally 5 minutes walk at the end of my road. It's for brain and spinal injuries support which I'd like to support as it ties in with Dad's difficulties. So - once I get back to decluttering it will be very easy to get rid of stuff there!

[Sokmonsta]

We're sharing storage unit (business is paying for it as use it to store packaging/tools etc) with our friend. Who is also business partner.

But yes. Essentially we have stuff because he can't be bothered to pick it up himself. He sees himself as a 'free spirit' which is infuriating when you just need him to be sensible once in a blue moon. His argument originally was he was moving house, which was fair enough. But now he's moved and we still have the stuff. My twins are a year old now. I have no need for baby clothes. He is not going to be needing it again and ex wife clearly isn't as bothered at having it back as he implied.

Last year he left fish with us for 'a couple of weeks' it's a whole other thread (literally) but I rehomed them several months later and told him they'd died.

[AdoraBell]

Good thread title MrsP

[AdoraBell]

Arti fingers crossed for DF, I hope you get through to his Dr.

Ponderosa I feel more positive when I can walk into the lounge/kitchen/bedroom and not need to move things in order to do something. I hadn't realised just how much the clutter was affecting me until I started clearing things out. That positive feeling effects everything from my time keeping to having things ready when I need to leave.

Oh, and two hours drinking tea with DM and DS isn't wasted time, that's quality time. Fact.

Not much more that I can get rid of now, if we do manage to sell OH will still work here so he'll use excess kitchen things, towels, bed linen etc. I am eyeing up the airing cupboard though as it's bulging and last week in a fit of pique I put the towels I'd just washed in the recycling box. I did eventually squeeze them in but it just confirmed to me that we have far too many towels

Was it Sockmonsta with the boxes of baby clothes? Just give them back, they may not have space but neither do you and they said they want them kept. I had a light bulb moment a few years ago, gave an expat friend some magazines I was finished with and when they moved on she gave them back to me. I remember her saying that their home goes into a 20 foot container, and they have no clutter. We are allowed to return things that have been lent to us.

[Ponderosa]

I like it! Welcome LLL

[MrsPennyapple]

Oh, possible title for new thread: "Out with the old and in with - nothing! Adventures in minimalism continued." Is that too long? (Or just rubbish?)

[MrsPennyapple]

Arti No one minds at all! Monday sounds an awfully long way off, I hope you make some progress with the Dr before then.

Sokmonsta Am I right in thinking you're paying for a storage unit to store, in part, other people's junk that they don't want cluttering up their own places? It's easy (for them) to say "yes, we'll keep it" if it's not actually in their house, in their way! I'd deposit the barrel back with it's owners, and send the clothes back to the person who lent them to you. Their problem, not yours.

I feel a bit of a fraud sometimes, hanging out on this thread, as the amount of decluttering I do is - ironically - minimal. However, keeping up to date here does keep me motivated, and helps me maintain the mindset of not accumulating more stuff.

Today I hope to take some stuff to the charity shop, it has been boxed up and shoved in the spare room, and I pretty much stalled at that point. Time it left the house, I think.

[BeCool]

Welcome LLL!

[LimeLeaffLizard]

Hello, can I join this thread? Saw it mentioned on one of the main boards!

I don't like clutter but struggle to contain it from spreading in our house. I've been trying to sort it out a bit lately, managed to get rid of a few bags to recycling etc this week.

[BeCool]

No decluttering for me today but I achieved lots of little bits after work and before exP dropped girls off:
Collected new carsest;
4 bags of recycling out of car boot and into street ready for collection;
Repaired dd2 fav book - pop ups had all gone mad. Sorted:
De fluffed (well mainly de haired) the sucker head thing on mini Dyson (it's amazing I have hair left on my head);
Prepared most of picnic/snacks/drinks for our trip on the Thames tomorrow (day off with dc YAY!);
3 things added to charity shop pile;
Kitchen looking gorgeous still!

Ponderosa - I do think there is a knock on effect. For me the biggest change is in myself, my thinking, self belief and organisation. It may look like it is about our physical environment, but certainly the benefits for me are mostly internal. I'm excited to be on this journey.

[Ponderosa]

Posted too soon.

A question for those of you much further down the road:

Have you found that your lives have become more well organised in other ways? My timekeeping is often terrible and I find it really hard to get ready and out of the house most days. I hate the way it makes me feel about myself and really want to change. Is there a connection? (hopeful)

[Ponderosa]

arti best wishes for you and your dad from me too.

I've done nothing today and feel a bit annoyed with myself as DM had toddler DS for the afternoon and I had such great plans but then I ended up staying for a cuppa when I dropped him off and wasted almost two hours.

On a positive note I went to Sainsbos determined not to buy anything I didn't need. I have a bad habit of impulse buying and 'stocking up' on stuff I neither need nor have room to store. So I didn't buy:

Two more big boxes of washing powder that were on offer.

Two more sippy cups for DS1.

Bathroom spray. I'm going to use up the big bottle of Flash I've already got.

Facewash. I am using up the freebies from posh Chrismas sets first.

So I haven't brought any more into the house at least.

[Sokmonsta]

Oooh shredders! We had a mammoth shredder at work. I called it Samson It was bloody brilliant and if I was feeling particularly stressed/angry I'd take a stack of shredding and spend a few satisfying minutes watching the sheets disappear into tiny pieces.

Mum took the 3 boxes of mine left in their shed and put them in their conservatory. Pretty much the entire contents went in the bin! I've kept several packs of unopened Xmas cards, a pack of exercise books for the dc and a few odds and ends to work out whether I need to keep them or not. Once the boxes are empty they'll be washed and used in the shed instead of cardboard.

Dh agrees with me getting rid of my bargain pushchair so that's to be either listed or carboot. Not sure which would be better at the moment.

[educatingarti]

Thank you all for your thoughts. It is much appreciated. Mammoth - I do have rl friends for support as well, thankfully. It's just that I live alone and work from home and sometimes want to just say how things are. I know this isn't the "best" thread to do it on, but I kind of feel I've got to know people a bit on here. I hope nobody minds too much!

I'm trying to speak to the Dr Dad is under at the hospital. I've left a message with his secretary. He hasn't phoned me back today, but I will try his office again tomorrow morning.

at all the shredding going on! I'm trying to persuade myself to take the recycling out. I did get rid of quite a few superfluous sheets of paper from a student's file this afternoon, so I guess that counts a bit!

Oh - we'll need a new thread sometime soon won't we. I wonder what we should call that one!