The minimalist quiche

[educatingarti]

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

Ok I've think I've made a huge mistake somewhere along the line.

Been ruthlessly going through loft & various cupboards this week and chucking/refining/decluttering as I go. Gradually like a worm in my head I'm starting to realise that I can't put my hands on the two folders containing dc1 & dc2 primary school/class photographs that I know I carefully put together some years ago.

Am starting to feel upset. Could I seriously have accidentally binned them on a previous clear out? I am quite sentimental about things like this (as my own parents never kept anything, prob never even bought the photos in the first place but that's a whole other thread)

Am going to have an even more thorough search today but have got a horrible sinking feeling ........

I binned my wedding veil like that

Sorry to hear that Boffin

Ironically I only posted on here recently asking if anyone regretted binning something. But I meant doing it mindfully, not accidentally. Can't actually believe I've done it but I'm running out of places to look. The folders also contained each child's certificates - swimming, gymnastics, good schoolwork etc

Oh no NotQuite fingers crossed that you find them!

Thank you all for the support re: DH. He will never be minimalist, but he does like things organised, he just doesn't want to do it / get rid of any of HIS stuff. Sigh. He has many other lovely qualities thank goodness! On a good note, we have heat in the study as of yesterday - so am hoping to move a bookshelf in there to store the boxes of books, etc that will live there once the built-ins have gone in (will be at least a month as joiner is having surgery). This should help with the working around DH's stuff issue. I'm also going to try to get DH to go through some of it and get rid of some. Baby steps. I am also going to try to get the lights hung in DS1s room - they've been sitting there as putting up lights is not one of my favourite bits of DIY. However, I'm tired of looking at them sitting on the wardrobe. It is also the last thing that needs doing in his room - so I can cross it off my list.

I know someone mentioned wedding dresses up thread / on the previous thread. What has everyone done with theirs? I'm thinking about selling mine - does anyone know any good websites to do this through? Or maybe made into something else - what though? Any ideas appreciated!

Ok, off to do some work!

notquite I hope you find them. But you are a lovely parent to have made the folders at all and I'm sure your dc know that.

This morning I was going through a huge crate optimistically marked 'for family scrapbook'. I found 2 letters that I wrote to my boys on the eve of birthdays (ds1's 5th and ds2's 2nd) and I know I wrote many, many more than that but I can't find them...

Reading through the letters I still have made me so happy, so I suppose I should just be really glad I've got these and not worry about the lost ones.

I've also been chucking away 99% of the notes/drafts of my novel, given that it actually got published and it's on the shelf. (The dc have a big pile of scrap paper for drawing now!). 2 plastic crates cleared!

Bec the fact that it took your husband a whole year to get on board cheers me up and worries me in equal measure! I really want DH to be as enthused as this as I am, and some days he really wants to sort out his stuff - but other days (i.e days when I don't pester and pester him) he sits back on his laurels. I keep hoping he will have that lightbulb moment and start doing it for himself. Not sure I can wait a year though....

That said, we took six items to the tip this morning and he has gone home to try and start on his CD collection while I go to work. So fingers crossed he is slowly getting the declutter-bug.

I really hope your folders are just buried under more stuff NQP Its so unlikely that you would throw them, I'm still very hopeful they will turn up.

Welcome Sokmonsta . I agree that you need to find some way of getting rid of some stuff, rather than just organising. As somewhereelse suggests, the loft may be half-way house to doing this.

The key things for me ( and I'm only doing little steps and ignoring the cupboards of doom for now ) have been not forcing myself to part with stuff if i don't want to, but trying to store stuff as near as possible to where it is actually used. This has given me a new perspective on my stuff and what I really want to keep. I'm also enjoying every little decluttering step and keeping a list of what comes into the house vs what I get rid of, to make sure I'm going in the right direction. .

Any chance those folders are just inside another folder?

I lost my jeans for 6 months because they got folded into a sheet. It wasn't until the colder weather came and I couldn't get the sheets off the bed, washed and back on in the same day that I found the jeans inside the spare bedding!

I bet you find those folders when you're looking through other stuff NQP so sorry though - that's upsetting.

Technical hitch on before and after pics is now fixed if anyone missed them who wanted to see.

Will post more later on - just checking in really. Hope you're all having lovely weekends

I've just looked at your photos bec .
You've done really well! The desk looks so much better.

Great work on the desk, bec!

Amazing work becs! Also, I love your desk unit. We're on the search for a very slim desk of some sort for our spare room/office.

Hope you find your stuff, not quite.

Wendy, I'm considering selling wedding dress also. Haven't quitee committed to idea but in pre contemplation iyswim.

Harriet, I'm seriously impressed you've published your novel!.would live to know what it is but fully respect you probably don't want to out yourself! Congratulations though!

Ugh, insomnia! Shall I get up, polish girls shoes fore church and make cakes listening to radio four, or mn in bed?

Thanks, silent. I do hope you got back to sleep. 3am is too early!

The brilliant thing about going through (and chucking) all the notes was remembering that my writing process is organic and not linear. I've been telling myself that I should be able to write book 2 in a more direct and tidy way. Daft, and very self-defeating.

So I have a daunting few weeks ahead, including a big presentation for an unavoidable and terrifying work thing that I have been procrastinating about, clearing our old house, getting house straight for imminent arrival of lodger, and no childcare for half term. Deep breaths!

I think I need to accept that the house will be in chaos till the work thing is over, and then focus on moving furniture to the right places and getting the house straight.

Have a great Sunday, all of you!

Morning fellow minimalists!

Thanks so much to those who sent support yesterday. Sadly, the school photos folders have still not turned up. But DH & I went through five boxes of 'memory' stuff from the loft with the aim if getting it down to one box & we managed it in about 2 (v enjoyable) hours.

I haven't mentioned the missing folder to him, so it was good to 'share' on here.

And sorting though 25 years of cards/invitations/letters/mementoes was both cathartic & fulfilling. Managed to bin everything from my father (no contact for nearly 10 years) without any emotion. Kept every hand-made card from the children, some of which almost had us crying they were so funny/cute. Now they are all in one smart, archive box & there is nothing in there that doesn't mean anything (new house cards from old neighbours we never see any more - why? Why?)

So I'm starting to resolve the issue by thinking that schooldays were only a part of their childhood. There were loads of other things going on and 1000's of photographs & hours of video to 'prove' it. I had lots of issues with their primary school anyway - it gave me almost no pleasure to see that they failed their recent Ofsted

Thanks again Mumsnetter minimalists

Oh NotQuitePerfect that's really inspiring. I'm sorry that you didn't find the folders, but glad that you found some peace of mind with it.

(slightly off-topic - That's really interesting about your writing process harrietspy - I write too but am not published. I am just about to self-publish a thriller I've written via Kindle - I'm meeting up with an editor today who's going to copy-edit it for me. The hanging files in my desk seat are for my next book - each file will match up to a 'scene' in Scrivener... My process is definitely NOT linear - good to hear that a 'proper' writer works the same way!)

Hope you got back to sleep SilentMammoth. Insomnia is rubbish.

I've had a couple of sleepless nights too recently. Our neighbours are infested with mice - not surprising, since they pile their bags of rubbish against their front door in the communal hall... And the night before last a mouse ran in through our front door as I was opening it, ran past me and straight into DH and I's bedroom . We tried and failed to catch it, then since it was late we went to bed. And the mouse went to work - climbing the curtains, swinging on the coathangers inside DH's wardrobe - you've never seen/heard a small creature make so much noise. Eventually it went out of our bedroom and into our kitchen where I think it still is... Yikes. Hence lack of sleep! I had a big declutter of the pantry and put all dry goods into tupperware or glass jars, and every surface has been wiped down. I'm hoping it will find a way to get next door where it will have access to more food. Bleargh! I'm not usually scared of mice but this one isn't scared of humans and is a bit big (baby rat??? Oh I hope not...) and is black and... I'm really scared of the damn thing! I'm still in shock from seeing it running up the curtain - it was dark but I could see its tail hanging down. Brrrrr...

Thanks for the nice things you said about my desk educatingarti AntoinetteCosway and harrietspy! I'm so excited about it.

Hello everyone,

I too am curious about Harriet's novel :) I used to work with a published author, he was quite successful but had returned to "normal" work after getting rather too fond of Las Vegas! He wasn't bankrupt or anything, just ended up having to go back to work whilst he wrote his next book.

Notquite I hope you do find your folders, as they are obviously important to you. I think you're thinking the right way about them though. My mum gave me a folder of my school reports and swimming certificates etc a few years ago, and to me, that's one of the cluttery things I don't feel I can get rid of. I've re-read my old school reports once or twice, which was fun, but the swimming stuff and sports badges are just going to sit around forever, taking up space. I think she only gave them to me so that she didn't have to make the decision to throw them away. But then, my relationship with my mother is less than ideal in a lot of ways, you are probably much more proud of your DCs' achievements :)

I think I am going to look back for some of these blog links and read some, for motivation. I normally avoid clicking links that I think will keep me at the computer for ages, I spend enough time online, but I could really do with a boost to keep me going. I've hardly decluttered anything really, and the house isn't really looking any different.

Morning everyone!

Great decluttering here yesterday- I managed to sell several bits of silver jewellery on gumtree. They'd been sitting around for ages and this now means I can get rid on my giant jewellery box and keep the rest (which is all inherited bits which will be passed on to DD or gifts from DP that I really like).

My favourite part however was sitting down with a cup of tea and some chocolate and going through the "memory box" I keep under the bed. There were some things I had completely forgotten about- leaving cards from old jobs, cards from ex boyfriends, magazine articles I had cut out as I thought they were interesting. Most of it now resides in the bin. I have kept a couple of special bits (photos and a couple of cards) but that's it!

I don't know if anyone else has experience this but it looks like I will now have too much storage! I am emptying lots of things out so the drawers/baskets/boxes I bought to get things in order hide all the crap are slowly becoming redundant.

Still haven't tackled the demon bookcase. It's DP's domain and every shelf is full to bursting with books. Now DD is crawling and has discovered how to remove books from the bottom shelf we need to come up with a solution.

Paint our solution to that problem was to store the clothes airers down the side of DP's chair, so that DD couldn't squeeze down there and pull all the books off. It doesn't look terribly minimal though, in fact it's downright unsightly, but it's a temporary measure.

On the other bookcase, the books are in double-layers, so I took the outer layer off the bottom shelf and put all DD's books there, so she drags those out and gets distracted by them :)

Let's just overlook for now the fact that the double layers of books are DP's war stories that he will never, ever read again. I keep planting the decluttering seeds, but have to leave them a while to germinate. It's a slow process.

mrspennyapple that's interesting about your disinterest in your own childhood school record. Our school gives us all of the children's workbooks at the end of the school year (their own stealth decluttering), and its delightful to look through but with one in year 4 and one in year 2, they stack up. I really didn't know what to do with them, then thought if mine or dh parents gave us a crate of our own primary stuff I would flick through then shove it in the loft. Which is exactly what our dc' s will do. So - gasp - I burnt them! In fairness I've kept a few funny or interesting bits from each one so far, and plan to make a (slim) memory book to keep as a memento for us all...but I won't oblige them to take it with them into their adult lives!

paint yes, I've done two weekends of hard decluttering, and now have ten storage baskets to sell or donate

Yes Paint - I bought five plastic storage boxes in November, with the plan to buy some more once I had sorted some more stuff. The first five are still all empty!

Some good work done last night and am planning some more tonight but then we are on holiday for the week. I need to make sure it doesn't become a permanent holiday from decluttering - I tend to veer off the rails with spending, dieting and all sorts when I take a bit of a break from "real life".

today's dilemma: I have heaps of photos in nice (solid real wood, but nothing too decorated or valuable) frames that I want to transfer into photo albums (that part settled).

Probably is: do I just flog & give away nearly all the frames? I'm not using them, but it feels a bit profligate to just get rid.

Re the school stuff. When I left home, my mum gave me every piece of school work I had ever brought home, every reading record, every card made with love for them. My secondary school books from year 7-11 and the folders of gcse coursework. I already had my a-level and btech folders although I never quite knew why I was keeping them.

I carefully sorted through all of them. I have kept my very first project book from infant school, when I was 7, and some from junior school about space, Tudors, the latter for my dc to look at when they do those projects. The rest all went on a bonfire. I thought my mum was going to cry! It was nice of her to have kept them, but they didn't actually mean anything to me. I am ruthless with my dc's pictures. They get stuck up in the kitchen until the next one comes home, then carefully filed in the recycle bin! The only thing I am keeping are all their certificates.

lljkk sell or donate your frames I say. I gave a set to charity yesterday, and have a few more to deal with. Some were gifts, so a bit harder to let go of, but I imagine someone being pleased to come across them and giving them a new home.