The minimalist quiche

[educatingarti]

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

Yes, lemon, I know what you mean too.

I'm not a biiig Flylady fan, though do peruse it from time to time, but one thing she talks about which reallly resonates is "hot spots", (dumping grounds to you and me)

I've noticed that just clearing our particular hot spot makes the room feel an awful lot calmer.

I'm the same with flylady, I get some emails and read bits here and there, but yes all rooms have those hot spots.

What really cheers me is the thought that my house will be able to run a lot more smoothly and housework and tidying will take up less of my time. A future like that is worth all fo this work now.

Exactly

Laundry is a real time vampire for me, having 4 dc (someone else does as well, is it you Lemon?) but I have culled clothes enormously to 1 drawer each, plus not-very-much hanging up space. Laundry is sooo much easier and I also find that (don't laugh) I value the clothes a lot more too; I recently bought DD1 a set of new clothes that were needed. I bought the best quality I could afford (£70 at John Lewis because I noticed the stuff that DC4 is wearing is the good quality stuff. So it's an investment.

Wow Mammoth, one drawer each? Is that for all seasons plus uniforms? I've culled so that the dcs clothes fit into a small plastic drawer unit each, but I find the school uniforms, rainbows and beavers stuff adds to the bulk. We have hanging space but don't use it because the dcs can't reach and I like them to be independent with getting dressed.

I am loving the lack of superfluous chairs in the baby's/toy room. Space to play and easier to tidy up. If only everyone would agree with me that the toy box should go and I'd be a happy lady. It's a massive ikea thing which is a black hole for things which have no fixed abode. Occasionally it gets opened to look for something, but mostly it is used as a dumping ground at tidy up time. Some nice organised tubs would be my favoured solution.

mammoth I think Sokmonsta has 4 dcs

Mammoth I have 3dc and laundry is also a big issue. I know that I need to wash almost every day to keep on top of it and as it takes a lot of time I don't want to spend too much time dealing with everything else.

Yup. 4 darlings here. I got the wash basket empty yesterday. And changed 4 beds today! Needless to say washing machine is taking a hammering. I'm learning to tumble, shake and put away.

I do desperately need to sort clothes. We have lots of well meaning family and friends who give us regular bags of clothes for all the children. But I'm realising with the decluttering that this isn't actually helpful.

I have to store a lot until it fits, and then especially with the girls I'm finding a lot of things I need to find coordinates with, or its things I wouldn't choose. But I don't want to hurt my sister's feelings. Then a friend gives me all her ds1's stuff for mine, I hand it back when my ds1 outgrows it for her ds2, then get back for my ds2. It saves money but its a bigger to put up for anywhere up to a year now.

I know I'm going to have to be brave and either cull stuff as soon as it arrives, or just say I really can't accept it as I haven't space. I'm working towards a set of clothes a day, plus a couple for spares/special occasions. It possibly sounds extreme but I think as long as everything can be worn together, it will give us a lot of space.

We've been having issues with ds1's behaviour which our HV has attributed in part to a lack of space. As I'm clearing things away, I've been noticing an improvement. I would never have put it down to that before. But now he happily gets the jigsaws and puts them together on the cleared dining table. Such a small thing. But it gives me time to tidy and him a sense of achievement. It's been a real eye-opener.

I also need to cull DD's clothes. I recently had a sort through, packed up some too-small things, and put some of the formerly-too-big-but-now-ok things into her drawers. I noticed at the time that some of them (donated by her cousins so already worn by two kids) were looking pretty tired, but for some unknown reason I put them in the drawers anyway. I started a new charity shop bag yesterday, so think I'll add some of her clothes to it.

We also do tumble and shake and fold that Sok speaks of, over the past year it has saved us so much time!

We only buy shirts for DH that are non iron now and they do come out crease free!

There are still a few bits that need ironing though ( Esp. The children's mini Boden skirts and dresses, as we don't tumble dry that as it appears to fade he colour for some reason )

I wish I could give up more of the ironing. I grew up with an ironing obsessive DM, she irons tea towels and underwear!

I have never been that bad but with DS1 I did iron vests and babygros. As time has gone on and with the more DC I have the amount of things that I iron has dramatically reduced.

Hob nob, school uniform is hung up, everything else pretty much in drawer. As for out of season stuff, I suppose an advantage if uk weather is that it's pretty much always cold, so while they do have summer dresses (hanging up), we do a lot if layering

We live way up in the frozen north so the bulky knits take up lots of space. People give us summer dresses for the girls which have to be stored and worn twice a year and the short sleeved t-shirts also have a very limited life span up here. We holiday in Ireland too which doesn't help . The coats irk me too - snow coats, rain coats, warm coats, summer fleeces... Every day needs a coat near enough. It's hard to be minimalist up here.
Dd1 is now trained to hang up her uniform on the side of the bunk so she can reach it. I'll maybe invest in one if those folding steps so that they can use the hanging rail. I just worry that they'd use it to hang out of the window to talk to their friends outside. It's a fire escape window so it opens up all the way and is a constant danger in the summer.
I shouldn't fret because all clothes have their place now but I too dream of less laundry taking over the place so rationalising duplicates can only be a good thing. We don't use our tumble drier so the dining room is always full of drying clothes and nappies unless it is warm enough to go outside. I dream of a house big enough to have a drying room, but then I think of Minimalistmommi and her wee apartment and tell myself to make better use of the space we have. Then I yearn for a sunny day!

Old buggy and high chair gone this morning, and eBay item also gone today. Collecting a Facebook item tomorrow, but it is an upgrade of something which we can then chuck

Don't be hard on yourself. It's about having no more than you truly need.
If you live in a place with lots of different weather, you need lots of different coats. (But not two of each.)

Hello

I am a thread lurker but just wanted to post. I have been trying to achieve some decluttering every week and feel so much happier.

We have so much 'stuff' that I always seemed to spend my time moving things from one place to another. Even when I sorted stuff for charity I never actually took the box so it eventually merged back into the chaos!

Well, I have cleared 6 bags of clothes to charity along with 2 boxes of 'stuff' , ebayed a box of stuff earning £120 and chucked a massive shopping bag full of magazines!

I am determined to embrace this and carry on so may keep checking in.

(Last night bought the dc's Easter eggs and didn't buy the ones with extra stuff like mugs or toys in as I would have before - very proud!)

totally overused the word stuff!

It's all about recognising the excess stuff

Any one else find people think you are odd when you say 'no thanks' to freebies?

Yes, my mum is a terrible one for giving me things she can't bear to actually dispose of herself. She wonders what has happened to me as I have said No the last couple of times!

I also had loads of recipes torn out of Good Food magazine, I spent a happy couple of hours adding them to my binder on the website so got rid of all that paper clutter!

hobnob glad I've been useful

Ironing? Not something I'm particularly familiar with...

I have to confess I don't understand why your DCs have so many clothes. If they're at school, surely you only need, say three sets for weekends and holidays. This works on the assumption that you're doing laundry at least twice a week and your kids wear clothes more than once.

Can't remember who said up thread about rating things out of ten. That has really hit home and helped me sort through a lot of stuff.

Good going Tallulah!

Been hiding this week as haven't achieved much!

There is some good news- DP has decided to sell his extensive collection of comics. A dealer is interested in buying them and reckons they are worth about £500- yay!

More stuff has ended up coming in this week however as we had to buy a new car seat (DD now too big for the baby one) but I guess it's an essential item so we can get away with it.

hobnob I'm not massively far up north, but I am in Scotland and my DC definitely don't have many days of the year where they don't need a jumper, coat or both. I am lucky laundrywise that I live in a rather windy area and washing dries most of the year if it is not raining.

Welcome Tallulah sounds like you've made a good start. The Easter egg thing is a great example of not only decluttering but thinking about what comes into the house.

Paint great news on the comics. Firstly that they are going and secondly that they are worth so much.

DH wants to invite some people around on Sunday, his Mum and some family friends. Pre-declutter I would have worried about how much time it would take to tidy up to make the house look reasonable, now I'm much more relaxed.

Well today has been slightly productive. We ordered a new crockery set (or 3 ) as our old one had some really dodgy (cracked almost to splitting/chipped) plates. It worked out cheaper (£15) to buy an entirely different set than replace our broken bits. It's also meant, as the new set is microwave safe, that I can get rid of various assorted odd bowls which we just kept for using in the microwave. My bil is having the remainder of our set as it is the same as his. The other odd bits have been cleared straight into an empty box to go for storage pending car boot.

I've got some more boxes of sorted stuff to go to storage unit too and am in the process of trying to convince dh I really don't want more than a bracelet for my birthday and flowers for mothers day.

I have to decide what to do with my wedding ring too. I found its badly split today and will cost more to repair than it cost. Dh is going to buy me a new one, and I know is stupidly soppy as it is only a ring. But its the one he gave me when we married, I've been resisting his attempts at changing it since we married as it was a cheap and cheerful, last minute purchase.

Sokmonsta I recently sold my old wedding ring from a previous marriage, I was surprised how much I got for it. I sold it to a jeweller who had a "we buy gold" notice in the window, rather than send it off in an envelope - he gave me £35, which is great, given that it only cost £11! I appreciate that it's different for you, with the sentimental attachment, but it's an option. Alternatively, can you have it made into something else? My friend had a ring that was broken, and she had the central part made into a pendant.

The sentimental attachment is only because its my wedding ring. There's no other history behind it. Other than the tale of organising a wedding in 2 weeks and going to Argos of all places, the evening before to pick up a couple of rings.

There's a woman local to me who makes jewellery out of old coins. I might see if she can incorporate it into something for me as I've been hankering for one of her pieces since I found her.

sokmonsta I think that is a really lovely idea :)

Really happy today, husband listened when I told him I really didn't want a gift that would add to the clutter - think he was worried I would be upset!

I have had breakfast in bed, 3 homemade cards and lovely cuddles and a box of chocolates. Plus he's making lasagne for tea

Oh and my ebay for tonight is at £60 already

Think I will give myself a Mother's Day treat of decluttering the cutlery drawer