The minimalist quiche

[educatingarti]

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

paint yes I look at all of the things leaving the house and only about half of the stuff has been well used or loved at some time. The rest is just wasteful spending. It has made me think more carefully about what I bring into the house in future.

So I've put a load of paper and boxes out for recycling, a couple of bags for the loft. Taken heed of taking stuff up/downstairs as I'm going, which resulted in me piling stuff into one of those bags for life to make it easier.

Have now come to a stop as the big two came home from nana's, got all the toys out and then fought so I put them to bed. Unfortunately this means I have to put all the toys away.

The amount of money spent by well meaning loved ones on toys and fancy clothes for the LOs makes me

Posted too soon -
I feel so ungrateful but every birthday and Christmas we get given so much that either isn't appreciated by the kids, or could have been bought much more cheaply. All I want to do is count down the days until I can legitimately chuck it out. The same is true for smellies for me - I am allergic to most of them and anyway, I'm not a girly type. We tend not to spend money wastefully on stuff as a rule, but the gifts are a real source of angst for me. This is something that I have always felt but never really articulated to myself until I read this thread.

Hobnob - I can sympathise with gift receiving. We have 4 dc. It's absurd the amount of stuff they got for Xmas. And their birthdays are within 6 weeks of each other. Dh and I have decided to ask for money towards new bikes for the bigger two and a trailer plus helmets for the twins. That way we all benefit and aren't overrun with stuff tat

I'm also being incredibly helpful to both sets of grandparents and shifting stuff from one place to another supplying them with toys for when the dc are there.

I'm just poking my head in to offer sympathy with the unwanted gifts. It is actually a serious issue here and drives me batty. I'm fairly brutal now and stuff goes sooner rather than later if I can get away with it. The wasted money used to cause me real angst, but now I just see it as MIL got her good feeling from the purchase, she isn't actually getting anything out of items sitting unused in my house causing me stress. If I don't like it, don't think it appropriate or know the boys won't play with it, I just take it to the charity shop. Someone else can offer the item a good home and hopefully more use than it will get here. I don't get caught up in guilt about it anymore - I've asked for less, for money towards experiences, etc. It hasn't been heeded and I realised, in MIL's case, that is isn't about the gift GIVING, it is about the buzz she gets from BUYING. I no longer feel any obligation towards the stuff. I know this is going to get more difficult as the kids get older, but I'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

wendy you've put into words how I felt, but hasn't realised. By getting rid of gifts I felt guilty that the person who gave it, had wasted time and money. And if they came round I wanted it to at least be in the house even if I didn't use it. But I shall feel that guilt no more.

Today I am taking a little break from organising. It is my grandma's birthday so we are taking her out for lunch to celebrate. She's 93! But I will be back to organising this evening. We may have a friend coming round and if so, he's going to be unwittingly roped into moving furniture around. He will be paid with a yummy tea and pudding :)

Sokmonsta - I like that kind of payment! Hope your Grandma has a lovely birthday!

Finished sorting shelf 2 last night. I am at the number of cleaning cloths I have of various sorts. I found another 4 things to bin/recycle. I also have an eclectic collection of cleaning sprays/wax etc. 2 of the sprays have Safeway on them! How long ago did Morrisons take them over? I do actually use one of them sometimes. So I'm not buying any more cleaning products until I've used up at least some of what I've got!

Lemon - I agree this thread is a real inspiration!

Paint - I totally get what you mean about having so much stuff! I'm learning not to buy so many things ( and I wasn't the worst person I know at doing this by far!!) - particularly now I know that they will count against my target of being 365 things "lighter" by the end of the year! I do have a couple of things I want to buy today actually but they are planned purchases for specific use.

My mirror is finished and I'm hoping to put it up sometime later today. I'll try and post a picture before the end of the weekend.

This is making me think about the concept of money as birthday / Christmas gifts. In the past I have always avoided giving money, as I felt it showed lack of effort and imagination, and I'm not sure I like the message it sends, although I confess I'm struggling to articulate what that might be. I suppose it just doesn't sit right with me. It also makes it difficult when you can't afford much.

The gifts we've given the nieces & nephews have always been carefully chosen, and I don't think they come under the heading of pointless rubbish, but even so I accept that what I think makes a nice gift, might not been seen as such by the recipient. With the best will in the world, sometimes you get it wrong.

Hmm, no conclusions as yet, but it's making me think. Given that SIL is currently offloading all her youngest's junk onto us, I'm tempted to think that money might be a better idea than I first thought!

Hi everyone, just popping in to say I'm still here but just not quite as much-as part of trying to live more simply I've deleted the Mumsnet and Facebook apps from my phone, as well as disabling my email on my phone too. I'm still checking them all but am trying to do it mindfully and only when I actually need to rather than constantly!

It sounds like everyone's doing really well. I share the angst over birthday etc cards and presents, but am trying to be more ruthless.

can't quite believe what we're achieved this morning. We have put about 100 videos in the loft ( for when the Cash In the Attic bloke comes round.. ) moved a chest of drawers out of dd's rrom and into her plaroom, putting all her pens, papers etc in them, moved the wierd silver mirror /cupboard thing (can't explain it!)out of our room intohers put books on the video shelves and washed floors!! Still a long way to go but dh was totally on side am shattered!

This thread has done this for me! Thank you

emin sounds very productive. Hopefully the improvements to your space will be enough to keep your dh going. You have made a lot of progress in a short time.

hmmm. maybe an s-max filled to the brim is a little ambitious for tomorrow's sale

Hope your sale goes well tomorrow, hobnob.
We've had a productive day today. I'd hoped to take some things to the charity shop, so went up to the loft and started to get them down. DH came up and we decided we could get rid of a few more things. So an old airer, the stair gate, a swimming woggle, childs bike seat, tv, random bag of bread board, DVDs, books, tea & coffee jars all went. DDs entered into the spirit of decluttering too and went through their soft toys. They got rid of loads - again probably I was keener to hold onto some of them than they were.

When I went to the charity shop they said they couldn't take the woggle & the bike seat because of health & Safety (I guess, in case they're damaged) and couldn't take the tv cos they can't sell them. So they've come home and are back in the loft. I might try and freecycle them next.

In the afternoon, we started on the sheds (we have 3). I sorted the garden shed first -got rid of about 5 empty containers of screenwash, an old oil container, a dust sheet, a wheel brace, and a rusty bulb planter thingy.

Meanwhile Dh worked on his motorbike shed, swept it out and got rid of a whole tub of random bits. Then I worked on his tool shed/workshop while he packed the car for the tip. I managed to clear a space about a foot long on his workbench and that was quite an acheivement!

About the gift giving, we've had (many) big talks with family members and now after four years, things are much better. We stopped swapping presents at Birthdays and Christmas with the children's cousins as of this January and for the oast four years Grandparents buy the children clothing they need or something like a pair of nice welly boots and this will carry on now it is a habit. Grandparents have also given money for family day outs too as presents.

With my MIL I had to be quite strict and say anything she bought between Birthdays and Chrismas for children would be left/taken to her house for them to play with there as we just didn't have the space. That probably sounds horrible but I didn't want to deal with her shopping issues (seeing random stuff in gift areas of garden centres etc and picking it up for the kids in between birthdays and Christmas, if I hadn't done this, our house would be over flowing right now with all sorts.) It has actually curbed her spending a lot where the children are concerned. It was just so wasteful. Plus, we are working hard to make sure our kids recognise the important stuff in life and not hanker after 'stuff' for happiness. We explained our parenting values to her which helped.

Found this thread today and I am inspired to do some decluttering.
There is stuff in the loft that was put up there when I moved into this house - over 30 years ago- which has never been touched. I know that there are books and toys from my childhood and old records - Cliff Richard 45s for example.
How do I find out what may have some value? I'm thinking of records, old annuals - Girls Crystal, School Friend etc.

MinimalistMommi That's a good ida, MIL does arrive with all sorts of rubbish she's found in charity shops, she doesn't want it there but doesn't mind cluttering up our house with it! A plastic bird with a battery so that it lights up in different colours. A ceramic butterfly with antennae made of rusty wire! (Did I mention my DD is 19mo?) A well-chewed Playmobil man. And the list goes on...

Hi everyone
Well your decluttering efforts make mine feel rather small - but I am plodding on. I'm part way through shredding some old car documentation for a car I no longer own and that has actually been scrapped.

Welcome Granmaw . Some eople have been finding that they can get rid of old records on discogs.com and webuybooks.co.uk will buy some books but probably not old annuals ( although you could try and see)/

Chinasearch don't want my china tat top condition collectables

eminem well done! Are you able to get rid of any furniture as well as moving some into better spaces?

hobnob - I do hope your sale goes well. Do let us know how it all goes.

Is there anyone else here in the Greater Manchester area who might want to do a car boot? I have nowhere near enough stuff to do one by myself but I might be interested in doing one jointly with someone else!

Will be hopefully selling/freecycling some stuff at some point - when we manage to get into the outhouses, there is a ton of stuff in there that I am quite sure people will want! DH is, as I type, sorting out all his crap items that have somehow become a precarious pile on top of one of the bookcases , so far he has found 7 bike lights, 4 torches, a mouth organ and 17 pens, one golf glove, about £4 in eoros and some string. How do these thigns happen????

Im quite enjoying my tidying spree. I've not got much done today as my 4 dc are determined to undo everything. So far the big two have pulled every toy out of theirs and the babies toy boxes, scattered various jigsaws and, once that was tidied up, fed the fish which apparently live in the carpet. So their punishment was to remain in my sight at all times until dinner.

Then my dt2 has been 'helping' by pulling all the DVDs and games out from the tv unit. Still, it's an incentive to find somewhere else for them to live.

Thankfully ds1 and a basket load of ironing are going to the inlaws soon.

once you start, it can actually be quite fun!

eminem - outhouses?!
It is amazing how many things get stashed away in weird places. You seem to have made so much progress so quickly.
Sokmonsta*- It must be hard having 4 young children in a smallish space. How old are they? Are they all boys?

I'm in the process of cooking a casserole and decluttering the fridge at the same time Some of the carrots had started to grow mould !

After lunch I must have a shower and they I'll hopefully have some time to do some decluttering (as well as chilling) before I go to the pre-service music practice at church for 5.00pm

I'm not looking forward to getting back into work mode tomorrow. Can I have my holiday all over again please!

£160 up and partially tat-free Still have crates of unsold clothes though. It seems folk are willing to part with lots of cash for things like a handysitt but not for pretty clothes. We'll try a car boot then cash for clothes, then my ml fundraising will be over.

That's a really nice amount hobnob, well done! I've found the same in the past, all these beautiful kids' clothes (many of them practically unworn) and nobody wants to buy them, such a shame. You could try ebaying them in bundles, although whether that ever raises enough to be worth the hassle, I don't know.

Luckily, clothes are the one thing I never have too much bother with these days - I put DD1's immaculate hand-me-downs in DD2's wardrobe, she then promptly gets them covered in paint, mud or holes and by the time she's outgrown them I'm almost too embarrassed to even put them in the rag recycling! Anything that miraculously survives her quality-control testing is happily passed along to friends with younger girls.

Other than that, have had a relatively unproductive couple of days. I didn't get round to all the greetings cards before half-term, so suspect that may need to wait now. But on a more positive note, I am starting to notice some gaps appearing on my bedroom floor (my room was once the loft and appears to still be fulfilling that function until I can finish this clear-out). While it's still a mess, I feel like I'm making some headway, so doing a little at a time is more successful than getting half-way through a great big clear-out and having to abandon it through lack of time...