Out with the old and in with - NOTHING! Further adventures in minimalism.

[MrsPennyapple]

Following on from the Minimalist Journey and Minimalist Quiche threads. The journey continues...

On school books what do people do with their children's school books?

My child is in Year 2 so I have the set from reception and Year 1 -- should I bin?

Do Charity shops take old shoes?

I know the unsaleable clothes end up being ragged and bring the charities some money but I'm not sure what they do with shoes and whether I should just dump them.

What I'm really having problems with are the random bags of junk I have. My hurried cleaning method is to take everything off a shelf or drawer and dump anything I think is useful into a plastic bag.

I then wait a couple of months and have about 5 of these bags full of random things like lotions/ sunglasses/ music CDs/ headphones/ necklaces/ writing paper/ cards/ tesco vouchers/ nail polish.

I then pull out what is needed let's say the headphones today and leave the rest of the bag. I might raid it another day for hand lotion.

Any suggestion on how to dispose of these bags and get rid of my bad habit?

mirpuppet are you my ex?

Re the bags, unpack one at a time - ruthlessly. Put things that you use/need/love into a place where they will be kept. Throw everything else away.

I currently have a box of things that are needed/used/loved but don't yet have a proper home. I'm getting some new shelving/cupboards (soonish) for the living room and I think that when that is in place then everything will have a home.

If things don't have a proper home, then I think you really need to think about living without them longterm.

Perhaps take it a step back and put things in the right place as soon as you've finished using them so that when you don't need the plastic bag in the first place?

According to the Banish Clutter book, if things regularly end up in a different place from where they are supposed to be kept, you need to rethink the 'proper place'.

On the subject of decluttering old school books, I came across my p2 jitter that my mum had foisted back on me last night. It was really interesting to see the difference between it and my dcs work at the same age. I think I was quite advanced...

a huge part of my process has been to get everything in the 'right place or right space'. Sometimes this was obvious - all clothes in the bedroom (we had clothes in the living room too - one of exP's bright ideas), sometimes less so - but as clearsomme says finding the right place for things to live is really important.

It's nearly all happened now - though I am still keeping my hairdryer in the living room cabinet & using it in the kitchen - which is all WRONG WRONG WRONG! But once I have the bedroom finished with a mirror in the right place (nearly there) then the hairdryer will be permanently stored & used in the bedroom. Best thing is I can now see how & why the hairdryer set up is wrong which I couldn't do before.

I've also created a 'home office' area on shelves in the hallway & have managed to get all paperwork, pens, tape etc together there instead of being in 5 different places in the living room.

All DC's art supplies are in once place & sub catagorised: paper, glitter, sticky things, pens, paints etc all grouped like with like - easy to find &n easy to put away (no matter how much mess they make in the artistic process)

Not only does this make a huge difference when trying to find things, but it makes it really easy to put stuff away.

And of course the less of it all that you have the easier everything is too.

Thank you for reminding me of the "things in the right place" idea - I did start off doing this but had forgotten!

What ho chaps!

Re: office supplies - remember scissor gate, qhen everyone counted up the number of scissors they had and was shocked at result? Seem to recall average was 10-12 pairs!

How's your dad today arti?

Well, my cupboard is depressing me; full of boxes of Stuff I can't declutter til I can drive again, whoop whoop, 48 hours!

Barn of Doom depressing me as well; just so full of Stuff (even more since we let ex neighbours store stuff "til the weekened", this was 1 month ago ) If I bin one thing every day, I should eventually see a difference shouldn't I? Shouldn't I? When DDs1 and 2 were little they went to nursery FT and had these daily diaries. Yup, I kept them. Started Barn declutter with plan to read them tonight and then bin them. (mixed feelings)

On a slightly differente note and in a nod to Harriet. Digital decluttering.

Today I downgraded my phone to a non-internet one. I spend time MNing and generally faffing with it. I sometimes pay attention to the phone rather than play with the dc; that sucks up time that could be far better spent. This year I started writing down the books I read and in March and April I read far less than I do normally. Now much of that it probably due to the emCS/new baby/teetering on the edge of PND, but I think some of it is down to the internet. So it's gone.

You guys are fab. I have tried following minimalist threads on MN before and they all became so self-congratulatory and smug I couldn't bear it.

Of course, congratulating yourself is part of it, I get that. But you all seem to tell it like it is...hard! We get attached to our stuff! But it takes over our lives! But then we have to spend so long getting rid of it too! Aaargh!

Anyway. Well done everyone. As you were.

corestrength

With the 'things in the right place' mantra I have just sorted out the hall cupboard.

Items I found in there that really don't belong: DVD player for long car journeys (only gets used about 4 times a year). It should be with long journey stuff eg suitcases. 3-D glasses bought at the cinema. I'm guessing they're in that cupboard because the sunglasses are. But they don't belong. I'm suspect they don't belong in a truly minimalist house.

As a bonus I have added all the winter hats, scarves, and gloves that weren't worn this winter to the charity shop bag, if they didn't get used in all that snow, they are never going to be used!

Can I ask where you keep used lightbulbs, batteries and other little things to drop off at the supermarket for recycling? Our are cluttering up the little table near the front door (and I'd like to get rid of this table) but we still forget to take them.

clearsomme great work re hall cupboard!

Re the small recycling - batteries, water filters etc (do light bulbs get recycled?) I haven't solved this yet.

Mum used to keep empty bread bags on hooks on side of fridge to collect toothpaste tubes and milk bottle tops (in the 70's) - can we come up with modern minimalist alternative?

I've started putting paper shredding straight into handbag to take to work - don't fancy doing this with old batteries though.

mammoth I'm über impressed re phone down grade (though trying really hard to avoid making throw away quip re pre-history etc )

That was ment to say uber - mn added an umlout and it went all weird - on ap

I haven't managed much today other than emptying my paper recycling into the collection box and continuing with the pre minimising filing. But I feel more minimised. My house is still a pigsty but my head is clearer. Just knowing there is room in some of my files so I can more easily out other stuff away. Love it. Off to purge some phone bills...

Becool - I think it's Tesco but I know at least one of the big supermarkets has a multi bin for batteries, bulbs, filters, ink etc. I'll have a look next time I'm in there. It was a huge 'cabinet' with different compartments for the different items.

That would be good sok as only one collection vehicle needed in the home.

myprecious can you return them? I think it is worth getting well into the declutter before buying stuff like that.

I now have a HUGE collection of empty containers and boxes etc that used to be full of various crap. I'm holding onto them for a wee while yet to see if I need them. If not they are on the OutYouGo list.

A slightly disappointing day in the end. Broken microwave returned and refunded. But Dh has now decided we really do need a microwave so my beautiful space is full again . The only benefit to this has been I found a microwave in the loft. I think we put it up there when dd was born as its clearly too small for our steriliser so I was planning on freegling it. Dh remembered that I'd found it so the huge box our tiny microwave was inis now put to one side for 'clutter to go', the other microwave box was returned to the store with microwave. So in the loft I've removed two boxes and one microwave, and removed a large but gained a small microwave in the kitchen. Not quite sure it doesn't defeat the point of decluttering so I'm wondering how best to sabotage this microwave as I quite enjoyed not having it to rely on.

I can think of lots of way to destroy a microwave but if your DH wants one he might go out and buy another one so then you'd be even worse off.

Is it small enough to fit in a cupboard? If it has to come in and out of cupboard he might decide it's just easier to use a pan and then it could go.
Or it could even live in the cupboard (but then you'd have to have a handy socket).
Or, using the idea people have about putting a date on a box or turning a clothes hanger the other way round, could you find someway of noting how often it is used.

Well I slept on my problematic batteries and lightbulbs (not literally) and it's quite obvious that the home collection point needs to be either with the shopping bags (they don't give any out so we have to be disciplined about taking them with us) or in the car. Off to implement this.

Am simply going to see if there is a better location for it. I love the idea of putting it in a cupboard but alas our kitchen is not big enough to allow that. I'm thinking it can go nearer the sink as its a more awkward space to use generally, being in a corner.

Today's mission is gp for dts as josh has a terrible cough and its now causing him distress. Then depending on what time that is, I need to get a new tyre on my car, may pop to baby group then it's time to pick ds up from preschool and I've a car load to take to the storage unit. Back home and onwards and upwards. I've 3 cardboard boxes I can put stuff in at the moment so the plan is to fill and get rid. Be it to storage, charity or wherever.