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...

I've been doing bits and pieces over the last few weeks and it feels great.

I've finally sorted through all our books. Took boot-load to 2nd hand bookshop and came away with a cheque, then the rest to Oxfam. Then I even alphabetised the remains.

Children's clothes to friends or charity.

My only block is DH, who is a hoarder extraordinaire. He has his special areas of the house that I don't want to know about, but is resisting me chucking chipped every-day china which I'm fed up of using. He wants to keep it for a fantasy seaside cottage that we will never might one day own

Hello to all other newbies.

WendyBird I've ordered this one from amazon. This one has very good reviews but is a bit smaller and I fear DH would moan it wasn't big enough.

I've also ordered one of these to minimise the view of the ridiculous tangle of cables in the living room.

I am supposed to be staying away from amazon

sommewhereelse It could be that you are a nice friendly and supportive bunch!

I emailed my younger DS school last night and had a reply from the Deputy Head to say they would love to have any books, audio books, Geomag etc. Result! I have a PTA meeting next week so will use the weekend to sort out as much stuff for the school and deliver to them next week.

Simone

Re the chipped crockery, when I get a cold I can be unbelievably clumsy, I can't count the times I've dropped/knocked a chipped cup/plate off the work surface

sunny Chuck out the tights!!! Chuck out the tights. Yes it feels a waste. Yes it feels wrong. Yes it feels uncomfortable. They are useless to you, yet you keep them. This is hoarding. This is a blockage. Easily overcome with a single action.

I promise you, you will feel amazing when you stop clucking over the tights (my expression from personal experience) allow yourself to free up the space they take in your home and bin the tights.

And in the future you will buy less tights.

This arvo I've realised that I have OH's cold, so tomorrow I'm going to peruse all those helpful links from BeCool while doing not much at all.

Got a real boost this morning, a new - honest - estate agent came to do photos. She had waited for us to clear some crapula out and make the place look presentable. People, she was impressed

Disclaimer, that ^^ makes it look like I distrust estate agents, which I don't. Problem is in Chile people will send you the wrong way rather than admit they don't know the way and cannot help you. This extends to estate agents who will tell you the house looks great even when it's totally wrong for the market, so as not to cause offence.

Morning! Feeling good for continuing decluttering today. Continuing with pruning the Dc's clothes after a trip to the drs. Jabs day for dts and if they're anything like the bigger two, this means they will sleep for the better part of the day so should get a reasonable amount done, if ds let's me. Then it will be another trip to storage Friday once the bigs are at school/preschool.

I actually need to tidy storage unit! Will be easier without dh as I can tidy it so our friend's stuff is one side and ours the other, rather than his being scattered everywhere! I sometimes wonder but I know he is exactly the same as me and space reflects how his mind feels. Except he refuses to get help for it.

ponderosa I like that cable unit. I hate all of the cables at the back of the tv, and now that I have less furniture in the living room they are more visible.

The tights thing rings true for me, as much as I chucked out loads of old socks and pants, my drawer is still overflowing with too many tights as they are in good condition. I resolve to throw them out tonight when I get home.

I sold two more items on FB yesterday, so more money in my pot and more items out of my house.

Sokmonsta you seem to be making great progress atm, and when you have little ones it is particularly hard.

BeCool I feel like I should rope in a friend to help me be more ruthless. I used to do this as a child. I had a friend who would help me tidy my bedroom and I would help her, it made it so much easier, and less boring.

I sorted through some of DS2s clothes at the weekend and chucked anything that wasn't likely to be worn again. I need to do that with DS1 too. DD not so much as hers go immediately she outgrows them, although she is a rather teeny toddler so her stuff seems to last ages.

It is interesting to see how many of us have OHs who block the progress we would like to make.

Simone would you really want the chipped crockery in a fairytale beach cottage anyway? I have stopped asking DH unless it is something specifically belonging to him or he might use. He is getting more on board anyway though.

Huge cheers for Lemon the tight thrower!!!
Please can you tell me about selling stuff on FB? How does this work? I don't want to sell to my friends though I do have a few larger pieces I'd like to sell to locals - collection only stuff.

So I got home last night and DOCDCF had been working away like a mad woman all day. She had swapped furniture over (bedroom & living room), rearranged living room furniture, washed all the walls and floors etc. But actually she doesn't declutter while I'm not there - as it's my decision what goes. But still she did a great job & achieved loads.

But I got a huge shock on arriving home - she had taken down a large structure I had in the living room. It was designed as a CD holder (for 600 cd's), but we used it for 'nice things' and 'bits and bobs' - she had taken if off the wall, dismantled it and put all the crap that was in it in my 'pile to declutter'. This job had to be done - the wall it was on is needed for the new wall cabinets (eventually). I just got a huge shock. It took me a couple of hours to come right. I'm now glad it's gone and that I didn't have to do it - it would have been so hard for me.

It's amazing how emotional this can get.

I can see the front room shaping up well now - still has my crappy furniture in it, but everything is shaping up & we are testing the new layout at the moment. I can start to visualise how it will be. Half the room looks great, half the room has stuff for me to declutter and find homes for.

I have an entire FREE SHELF in set of shelves in hallway - unprecedented. And ATM I have nothing to shove there :) I just look at it and grin like a mad woman.

The Muji containers I brought to use in the bedroom for clothes are too big so I need to take them back on the weekend and get the slightly smaller size. But I can see how they will work and its going to be brilliant. I did dither about changing them - the smaller ones are only 10cm less in length but will mean they will fit perfectly, rather than just be OK. Then I realised if I'm putting all this time and money into sorting my flat out, I need to do it well, not half arsed & I will swap the drawers. DOCDCF jumped up and did a jig around the room when I made this declaration - "you are brilliant, you are changing, you are getting it".

It does feel bloody good to have a personal cheerleader at this stage of my life.

Happy decluttering everyone!

Todays inspiring link on minimalism: 10 Reasons Minimalism Might Be Right For You
I really like this blog - inspiring and thought provoking

BeCool where I live there is a local selling page on Facebook. Just search for one in your area.

I started with a baby sales page for pushchair and baby stuff, but I am now on a general one for my local town. It is great.

I've just done a 20/10 UFYH. In that time I managed to vacuum downstairs, do breakfast dishes, and take a load from the washer and stick it on to dry. When I've finished my break, I'm going up to the DC's room to tidy but I will take a decluttering bag with me so any rubbish/decluttering bits can go straight in.

Had a little 'Win' this morning with regards to DC spreading stuff around before school. I gathered it all in a heap before I went up stairs to help younger DC get dressed and the popped the bits and pieces away while she was dressing. Also did similar thing last night after school, I presented older DC with a tray with bits that needed to be returned to their homes and she put them away for me

I've yet to face down the tights... but I put another scarf in the charity shop bag this morning. :)

My breaks over, now off to run another load of laundry and start tidying/decluttering upstairs! Feeling motivated today!

MM what is "20/10 UFYH"?

Good work re getting DC to put stuff away! My DD1 is getting really great and cooperative with this - although places we keep some stuff is still changing at the moment. She is loving the new streamlines place.

BC I bought the app from this blog: unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/

I find it really motivated me to tidy up/declutter. Basically it works on the simple principle off twenty minutes straight work and ten minutes break and you use blocks of time like this to get you house straight/decluttered etc. Before and after pictures on the blog are very motivating.

Just been working on the children bedroom, they have very minimal toys but its still though keeping a small space tidy! I'll need to do another 20/10 in there later as its not finished yet.

I was pleased I could get the DC's stuff away this morning but the dishes were still left (I popped it all on a tray so I didn't look so bad). I just can't do dishes as well as tidying before school!

though should have read tough

ooh my reply has disappeared!!!

the 20/10 is a great idea. I've used 15 min timer successfully (a la FlyLady).

I'm very proud that I now usually get the following done in the morning (that I didn't used to do):
Make bed - I have a duvet so this takes about 20 seconds.
Washing up - usually there isn't much there and its so nice to come home to clean kitchen.
These 2 simple acts make me feel fantastic!!! And they make me feel like I can make positive changes in my life without sacrifice.

I'm also working on incorporating FlyLady's Swish & Swipe into my regular routine.

Sounds like some amazing progress going on here. (Just not in my house.)

I spoke to DP about the loft last night, as I've never been up there. I asked him if it's in a fit state to store things, and he said it's not, it could be made suitable, it just will cost a bit of money we don't currently have. He did say there is an area under the floor that is bone dry and would be suitable.

We have loads of pictures lying around, that are unlikely to ever go up on the wall. I'd like to get rid of them but DP would like to have them valued, but he won't actually DO ANYTHING about it, so they are just sitting around, under our bed and the bed in the spare room. There is also a train set which I think was given to DP rather than being thrown away, it's not his hobby or anything. I asked about putting this stuff under the floor, and he said maybe, but it would probably never see the light of day again. I think he would rather it sit under the floor for the rest of eternity than get rid of it.

I think I'm fighting a losing battle here. He still has stuff stored in his parents' garage, he has no idea what's there, but now and again his mum mentions it, and he makes it clear (to me) that he has no intention of even looking at it.

Argh, this has turned into a completely unhelpful, pointless post. Sorry folks.

BC my DH makes our bed each morning and each DC makes their own beds so that's covered each day. I just struggle with doing breakfast dishes, slicing our homemade bread for toast/sandwiches/making packed lunches/dishing out cereal/eating my own breakfast/encouraging DC to get dressed etc etc. we wake at seven and leave house by 8.30/8.35 each day. There's no way I can do lunch boxes night before, only just manage to cook meal, put ingredients into bread maker etc.

Mrs I wish I could help in someway, it must be terribly frustrating. I wold make me feel very angry. I wish I could do something to help you.

Mrs that is tough. My ExP was so resistant to change I can't see that we would have got this happening as a team. There are certain advantages to being on my own in that I get to make all the decisions - for better or worse.

MM you make your own BREAD! wow! You don't have to wash up in the am

BeCool it's only because I'm really fussy about bread, I grew up with homemade bread, my mum used to make it by hand most days
I have a Panasonic bread asked and the bread that comes out is lovely I just wish it cold slice itself

could not cold

Mrs that is so annoying and would really drive me crazy. I'm all for DH keeping items he has a reason to keep and really wants. But to have stuff that your DH won't even look at is incredibly frustrating.

MM I like the 20/10 thing. I do use flylady 15 min timers too.