The minimalist quiche

[educatingarti]

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

I've just taken up crochet and am currently acquiring wool as fast as I declutter . Yes, any crafty type would be over the moon to find it in a charity shop.

OK, maybe I'll charity-shop it then, thanks :) Antionette I can knit, I just don't seem to have/make the time. And this isn't very pretty wool. I can't think where it came from but we have obviously bothered to bring it when we moved house!

Sorry Antoinette

I have come on here to get some inspiration to get going this afternoon. So far I've been to church, come home and had a snack lunch and slept for a couple of hours! (Think I needed the sleep). Since then I've emptied the top layer of the dishwasher, made a cup of tea, put one item in a new charity shop bag and booted up the computer!

Love this thread!

I'm breastfeeding but desperate to give my wardrobe a real cull, my ds is 11wks old so I can't really get rid of any of my clothes (I'm a stone heavier at the mo than my pre pg weight) as I'm at that in between stage sigh.

I am decluttering my toiletries & cleaning products which is giving me great satisfaction, I'm no longer saving my best toiletry products for special occasions but instead using them everyday & feeling (& smelling) so much better for it. Don't know why I haven't done it before!!

The cleaning products that I've been hoarding under my sink I'm slowly using up & refusing to buy any more til I've run out.

They r just little things but make me feel so much better.

Ooh - great thread. I was on a thread before Christmas and made progress but then slipped so need to get back on track.

Welcome, Nishky!

Well, like summer I've decluttered my spare toiletry box (theres only so many bars of dove soap a girl needs, nine perhaps surpasses this), but am most proud of the fact we've eaten up the chest freezer. Well, the contents anyway. Have switched it off pending filing again when I finally go on maternity leave, officially scheduled for three weeks time but I might see if I can start earlier as am exhausted.

Arti, need to copy you and have constant charity shop bag on go, rather than have stuff tumbling round my car.

Most of my maternity clothes sold last night, and our local Facebook selling site is working well for non-clothes items at the moment
I now have a permanent eBay/charity bag. It's so permanent I'm wondering if I should replace it with something prettier. But that would probably take up more space...
I've still to attack my toiletries but they are next on the list.

Hello all. I've just been having a mammoth catch up on how everyone is doing. I've not been on in over a week as was ill last weekend then had a crazy week at work.

My decluttiering had really got lost, and as someone said upthread (sorry so many pages to catch up I can't remember who) I would have lost the will altogether if it hadn't been for this thread.

Last weekend I had great plans to sort the cupboard under the stairs but was laid up with a stomach bug.

Fortunately in the last few days I have got back on track. My friend came and took some books for his DC, the leftovers will go to charity shop tomorrow. I took 3 big bags to charity on Friday and today we sorted out the cupboard of doom. DH is leeting go of his rowing machine (never used). I have listed that and a couple of other things on the local FB site. Including an ironing board that hassold straight away.

We laso took a coupel of large bags to the dump today from the cupboard. It looks amazingly tidy and spacious now. I feel a weight has been lifted.

It also gives me the impetus to continue. Sorry for mammoth post.

Forgot I also sorted DD's clothes and listed a couple of Boden itmes on Ebay that have been hanging around for ages. Can't be bothered with Ebay most of the time but Boden sells well so should make some decent money.

For once, Freecycle worked a treat - all the underlay and everything else taken within 36 hours of listing! Only had to reoffer one item. You can see my front porch again. :)

The thing with that William Morris quote is 'know to be useful', which has to be fought with 'would only be useful if...' I'm trying to think about how bad the consequences of not having a widget could be - so not having some article in some magazine, probably OK. But as MrNC will remind me for the rest of his life, having some plumbing olives (priced in old currency!) saved us a few thousand quid the time we came home at 3am over Easter to find the hall inches deep in black water.

Time to list more stuff on Ebay and other selling forums. Bye-bye breast pump!

Hello all!

So the great room swap has begun in readiness for our lodger's arrival in March and, thanks to a neighbour who helped me shift beds and wardrobes, the boys are now sharing a frankly GLORIOUS room. I deliberately only put back in a fraction of what came out of their separate rooms and it's so calm but cheerful in there. It's not minimalist but it isn't cluttered. Ds1 asked about when we're going to do a car boot today, so he's still on board with the experiment. I have no idea how the sharing will work - my boys are so different and have a very volatile relationship, but today they talked and played loads in their new room. It'll be interesting to see how room sharing will affect them. When we empty the garage we'll get our old bunk beds back - which means 2 sets of bunks. (Hardly minimalist I know but we often have a gang of cousins come to stay so they'll definitely get used). I plan to make the bottom bunks into dens so that the boys can each have their own private quiet space.

Of course the spare room is now full of toys that didn't go back in their room and with all the room rejiggery I have tonnes of things to find places for - eg spare duvets & summer clothes, but I'm relishing the challenge. I also have 6 huge boxes of stuff to sell or give away and these are currently in the lodger's room, so they absolutely have to go.

I have loads of work on this month too so I'm hoping that I can be super-efficient and get all the house stuff done without compromising my work. I'm sure this thread will help, though - it's so encouraging to read what everyone else is up to!

It's been dry here most of the weekend. I have been outside scraping moss off the patio and drive. (The house was empty for over a year before we moved in.) It's tedious but I find jobs like that strangely restful. I think it's because it's useful but I can let my mind wander. Making decisions about which stuff to get rid of can be quite hard work especially with 'memories' and 'gifts'.

I did deliver my charity shop box on Saturday and have started a new one as I occasionnally come across an item to go in it. I seem to be seeing the house contents with new eyes.

Marking place for later!

Anyone know any we buy books voucher codes at the mo?

sommewehereelse I like jobs like that too, they are a form of meditation for me, you are only using the bare minimum amount of your brain which leaves the rest free to wander. I think that's why I enjoy crafts like weaving and spinning too, it doesn't take much brain power, yet it's productive and creative. I have some of my best ideas when doing jobs like those.

summerglory I'm in a similar place with my clothes. I am 14 wks pg, and there are things lurking in my wardrobe that I would dearly love to get rid of, but I know that in a few weeks / months I'll need them. Some of it is maternity stuff that I'm not using yet, but will be soon, but there are also things like t-shirts that normally are a bit too big, but are ok for bf.

I took a few more books to the amenity site yesterday, and a couple of weird brass ornaments that the dealer threw in when we bought DD's toy chest. I've been re-arranging my bookcase, the tallest books were all on the bottom shelf, down the side of DP's chair and therefore hard to reach. So I moved the shelves and found that I still couldn't fit them how I wanted them, and then realised that the tallest books were ones I hardly use any more, so I got rid. Now everything fits, and I can actually reach the books I use most.

I also have a charity shop bag permanently on the go. I'm struggling with a few ornaments though, given to me by people I really care about. (My favourite is an handmade blown-glass elephant, about the size of a frozen pea!) I don't want to get rid but I don't want to keep dusting them either. (Well, to be fair, I don't dust them.) I wonder if I should box them up in some kind of memory box. I know they'll still be taking up space but if they are boxed up and put away somewhere, it will make the place look tidier and it'll be easier to clean. I suppose a pea-sized elephant doesn't take up much room, does it?

I have a few tiny bits like that which were gifts from my late mum. But I've stopped seeing them on the shelves through habit so they only remind me of her when I occasionally dust. It's not a great association, particularly because I wonder what she would think of the quantity of dust. I need to put them somewhere where I can remember her other qualities.

I read somewhere (perhaps on previous thread) about putting photos or kids drawing in books so they are protected and it's a pleasant surprise when you come across them. I need a place like that, only where things which aren't flat can go. Let me know if you get any great ideas....

"I plan to make the bottom bunks into dens so that the boys can each have their own private quiet space."
Harriet - a fab idea - I would have loved this as a child - although I don't think I would have loved sharing a room with my sister!

Mrs P and somewhere - I actually have a small set of shelves in my hall that I have filled with a random eclectic mix of all kinds of things from a really tiny wooden "dutch" doll that fits into a carved acorn to a couple of really nice handmade mugs and an old wooden cotton reel. I have it at my eye level so I do notice the stuff and the bottom shelves are really quite small so the tiniest things go in there. It does need dusting (but doesn't get dusted that often) and I love it. See I told you there was no way I would make a proper minimalist!

I tried using some perfume ( a gift) yesterday that I like the smell of but hadn't used for ages. I have decided that it makes me sneezy and snuffly so that is going out today!

You could use a deep box frame to mount and display some precious things box frame You can put coloured paper or nice wrapping/scrap book paper on the back rather than leaving it white if you wanted!

Ha ha! I was feeling very smug and useful when reading about the pea-sized elephant, thinking 'I know just what to do with that.' Then I got to Arti's post and she'd beat me to it. So I second, box frame!

I've been very productive this morning - getting through laundry, made some phone calls, got some house stuff ordered and MOVED THE GIANT TRAIN SET. DH never did look at it decide where to put it, but I know he'll get the hump if I charity shop it, so it has gone to live under the bed in the annex until such a time that I know he's forgotten or until such a time that DS needs another train set with a million tiny pieces AND the box of accessories. At least I don't have to look at it or keep moving it around out of the way. I also managed to declutter a few things and put some things to use. like a doormat that I haven't been able to get to for all the stuff piled on top of it.

I confess I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with all the stuff coming into the house. I have been trying to combat it by labeling everything so that it should be easy to find when it is needed. I don't have a clue where I am going to store the bathtub or 20 boxes of tiles. I just keep reminding myself that it is short term and it will all be lovely when it is done goes to rock in a corner.

Thanks for the suggestions re: box frames. As it happens, I did buy one from a charity shop, one of those with multiple tiny squares that are all full of lentils & shit, I tipped all the stuff out, intending to fill it with pretty sewing things as a gift for my sewing friend, but it turned out the squares were too small and I couldn't do that. I wonder if I could remove some of the inner panels to make some of the squares into rectangles, and then fill it with my own tiny ornaments? Hmmm. The thing is, I've an idea I decluttered it into the bin after the sewing thing didn't work. I'll have to check.

Just taken 34 items to the charity shop so I am doing my happy dance!

Trying not to be cross with DH for blowing my "no spend day" by spending a tenner on chocolate and smoothies. We are on our arse ends this month because we are going away for a weekend we really can't afford, and there is no room in the budget for treats or snacks or any kind of frivolity if we are going to have any spending money at all

I binned the frame :(. I think it's great that people say they've never regretted getting rid of any of the things they've decluttered, but I'm afraid it has happened to me plenty of times. I keep something for ages, then decide to be sensible and get rid, and then I need it. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find something else suitable.

Oh pixie, my dh does that too! Argh! One of the ways I have dealt with this is by not allowing him a joint account card!

It's worked so far!

That's frustrating Mrs PA.

The deep box frame wasn't the solution for me as I've realised I didn't notice those ornaments any more as they had become part of the scenery (except when dusting) and a box frame would be another dust gatherer.

So I've made space in a drawer where I kept love notes and home made jewellry from the kids so that all the sentimental bits and bobs are in the same place.

In the process I've found 6 euros in loose change :-)

But on the subject of deep box frames, a friend with 5 children has made a frame for each one containing a newborn baby grown, bootees, birth announcement card (they were always very creative) etc. They look great and it's a much better idea than having stuff stored in boxes. With the five frames it makes a big display that you can't fail to notice.