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...

Well the bed was collected by two very lovely men. It needed dismantling so I made them a cup of tea and left them to it. They did it in about five minutes, and then took the bits out to their van, carefully closing doors and stair gates behind them each time they went through, and even brought their empty mugs downstairs. So the spare room is now a lot emptier and work can start in there very soon.

Ningnangnong thanks for the inspiration - I'm going to get rid of all my elderly herbs and spices tomorrow, among other things. :)

One in, one out MyPrecious.

Oh Ning! Herbs and spices. Mine are relatively good. I only have what we will use. And if I get something for a particular recipe, I'll make it a few times to make sure I use it up. But my inlaws! Their spice rack frustrates me. I once asked dh whether his parents were ok as they had several jars a decade or more out of date. He said they bought the refills so the jars dates weren't reliable. So I pointed out the bits of brown straw in the herb jars. They can't seriously think those have any flavour left? But they stayed on the shelf. We don't eat there unless we've brought food with us!

sok you won't get ill from eating herbs and spices that are out of date, they just won't taste quite right.

Sunshine ! I'm off into the garden to smash up broken pots and recycle old trays.

Sunny Glad I've been able to inspire! It's lovely to know that all I have is what I use!

Sok Decades old herbs are a bit yucky, no way would I eat there either. God knows what else is lurking.

It's the half term holidays here now and the sun is shining. I may not get too much done in the way of decluttering, but I need to vacuum throughout the house.

I may help DH to declutter the weeds/poppies that have sprung up everywhere.

We've gone from two small shelves of spices to one. The oldest I found was dated 2002 :)

Eeeeep! I thought I had lost you, only just spotted this thread and so pleased the journey continues, I have been plodding on my own slowly but now I have a whole new thread to motivate me. Woop!

Ok I haven't managed to read everything yet, and I need to leave the computer to tidy/get ready for bed, but just wanted to say I'm so pleased I found this thread again, everyone has been doing really great stuff and it is great that the support and discussion is still going on so many months after the first thread began.

Like many people have said/implied, it takes time to really shift from being stuff-focused to minimalist/simplified, and it's brilliant to have people who are still interested in our small/big victories and ready to offer advice on the latest hurdle.

Oh, and I love the clutter busting routines article, getting into good habits is half the battle.

I meant ok as in didn't need any help around the house. I'm sure the herbs and spices won't do them any harm but it can't be a great addition to the meal. Dried straw bits. Yum!

Have packed up the car rest for tomorrow. Was quite pleased to finally work out how the middle seat in my car folds flat as I've got so much more in. Just two pushchairs to go now. One I can't find the stand to go with it so don't see the point in selling them separately. The double I put on Gumtree and someone had emailed me so we will see what happens from here. Worst case scenario it will go to the next carboot. But my resolve to only empty unsold stuff at a charity shop stands. I still have a loft full of clutter to get rid of so NOTHING is coming back in the house tomorrow!

Good luck today Sok!

Pallet man is apparently coming on Monday, so there is still some hope of a pallet-free drive in the nearish future. I've been ill this week, but am hoping to feel well enough to list the items on gumtree lurking in the annex. We are renting it out from the beginning of July - so I am on a deadline.

Precious if you need the bathroom stuff, then it is not clutter as long as you do actually use it! I'd count the crockery as 16 items. Did you need crockery? Can you charity shop your old crockery?

I'm going to confess to ordering a water jug, which is pretty and we will use every day. Not so sure the 6 matching glasses were all that necessary and not sure where they will live. But they are pretty too. Time for a glass reassessment!

I can't remember who it was that linked to the Katy Says blog on the first thread, but that has led me to a big reassessment of my life and alignment and ultimately led me to spend all of my eBay money and more on her course. Here's hoping it is not just a passing phase whilst on ML.

Getting rid of today:

"vintage" suitcase bought in a "vintage" mania last summer (a shop opened a 5 minute walk from our old house which sold vintage stuff and I became obsessed with it. Thank god we moved), 1 x black binliner full of clothes given to me by a relative this week none of which fit, 1 "vintage" mirror from same hell-shop, 1 x "vintage" cake stand, some craft supplies, a "vintage" glass bottle with snap fastener, and a massive lot of costume jewellery that didn't sell on eBay this week (just waiting for listings to end so I can donate the stuff that didn't sell.

Also sending off c.45 CDs to music website, decided to go for it - £16 is money after all, and I'll be in the PO anyway to send off eBay stuff.

Help me resist the urge to keep a massive old bed cover to use as a "dust sheet" (we are moving house in August so will be re-painting)

I've got a bunch of duvet covers in the attic for 'decorating' Artemis. It's hard to get rid of them, but will do so next week.

No proper getting rid for me today, but I'm sorting out our left over books into a way that makes me happy. Which may or may not mean hiding DH's crappy elderly paperbacks and putting my lovely shiny books where I can see them...

Carboot went very well. Got rid of all the big stuff. Only came home with 2 out of 4 boxes of clothes and 3 smaller boxes of general stuff. The 3 small boxes went straight to a charity shop as it was open. The clothes we kept as ummed and ahhed about taking them to one of those places that pays per bag. But it really wasn't worth it so have contacted a refuge to see if they and some other things I have are any use to them. If not they will be going to a different charity shop Tuesday when they reopen.

Decluttered today: One lamp, one large rug, numerous empty boxes from appliances (mostly recent purchases but one or two older ones that had missed previous attempts), rubbish plastic easel with shiny blackboard that chalk doesn't work on, assorted cables, knackered old toaster, and some PC games so old we no longer have a computer that can run them. I call that a result!

Saw a stand up toilet roll holder whilst we were at the recycling centre, I thought of this thread and smiled to myself as I remembered someone saying they'd decluttered one :)

Excellent work mrsP. I've been removing cardboard boxes from household appliances too. The only reason we keep them is 'just in case'. And that meant I did have plenty for packing stuff up in. But we've also got a lot which just aren't useable other than for the intended goods - flat screen tv? (The old one at that).

Today dh is tackling ironing. I need to get a new pair of slip on flats, but my old ones do have major holes and will go as soon as I've got the new ones.

Dh wants to go shopping and spend the money made yesterday. Quite in what I don't know so that's going to be an interesting trip. "No we don't need that dear". Hmmmm.

Not a great weekend for decluttering, lots of the kids' books went in the bin - I'd been saving a lot that had ripped pages that I meant to tape back up but have never found the time. The kids have so many books that they haven't even noticed! Made another pile of my old books for charity shop too.

But bedroom is still a nightmare - lots of boxes of stuff to be put somewhere else, just can't find the "somewhere else" to put them! So I'm taking lots of inspiration from this thread and if I haven't worn/looked at it for months it's going in the bin. Very freeing!

Ds1's nursery sent a charity bag for old clothes and toys so will fill that up with anything I can find lying around

Ok, what I'm struggling with this week is toys that have been given as gifts. Ds1&2 are the only grandchildren and nephews in the family so far, and they get spoiled rotten, they are so lucky so most of the toys they have are from family and I feel really bad for getting rid of them. None of it is junk, it's all really lovely stuff which makes it hard.

Also struggling to find pretty-but-cheap storage boxes, need to store nappies/wipes etc, some paperwork and phone/camera chargers and cables. Everything I see is so expensive though! Does anyone have any recommendations?

On a daft note, I bought a ton of stationery for work, for making worksheets, notes, lesson plans etc, went in for training only to find it's all digital, can do lesson plans on laptop and email in/ake on usb stick - argh!

Hi All, I've been lurking on this thread, but posted a bit on the last one.

Over the last month, I've got rid of LOADS! I am very tidy and organised anyway, and almost OCD about order and a firm believer in a place for everything and everything, so I was tackling what I call the hidden clutter. And my God, did I have a lot of it .

I am not quite there, but I have made a good start. I still have to finish sorting through some DVDs and my digital photos and documents on the computer (got rid of quite a lot already, but it's something to keep going back over) and my old non-digital photos (which I have already reduced from two A4 boxes to one shoe box), and I have some resources in case I get back into teaching and some sentimental boxes, but at least they are all grouped together, ready to go through as many times as necessary, as decluttering in stages is my way of doing it.

Yesterday, I got rid of a lamp, a stack of DS's old Beano comics, some boxes and some cables. I also packaged up the Wii, remaining games and balance board, ready to trade in to Amazon tomorrow for hopefully £75 :). Then, I listed an old graphics tablet and a remote control helicoptor on eBay and they will go to the charity shop if they don't sell. I don't think I have anything left to eBay now; hurrah :) ! After that, I offered a coffee table and a garden table, four chairs and parasol to BHF, so hopefully they will collect them soon.

I am not quite sure how much I have got rid of, but between charity shops, charity collections, the local nursery school, recycling, cash for clothes and a few things on eBay, Music Magpie and Amazon trade-in, it's A LOT :o.

I am so looking forward to moving to a smaller house with less storage soon, as it will really keep me on my toes about only having things I use or find beautiful around me. Even 10 year old DS is finally getting on board with it all. :)

Happy decluttering ,everyone. X

Once I have moved, I will get rid of all my moving boxes and any excessive plastic storage boxes too.