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[educatingarti]

This is the new minimalist/decluttering thread! I hope everyone likes the minimal title!

How lovely to have those compliments Harriet! :) I actually hardly have any visitors mostly because of the state of the house pretty much only family and my best friend ever come here. I hope that will change as the house gets sorted. DD's current yr1 teacher is going to be DS' reception teacher in September and they do home visits for reception! It would be really good if we were significantly more sorted by then.

I am really tired this morning after a busy day yesterday. DH is working again but I'm hoping the DCs will behave enough for me to collect some more stuff for the chazzer (you've all got me using that word now!) - that is the big priority as my homestart volunteer will be back on Friday to help with it :)

Sorry about the injury Harriet. It is frustrating not being able to do stuff! I am used to this due to my illness, and what I try to do on those occasions is to declutter in my mind instead! It sounds a bit daft but basically I go through things in my head, such as imagining DCs' toys or my clothes, and think of what else I can get rid of. It helps me feel more proactive and then when I am not so unwell I can go straight to those things and get rid of them - this also means I see results quicker and I'm not dithering when I finally get the chance to declutter because I know where to start. :)

I'm all for giving to charity shops & I'll buy my DS stuff from there if I can-it feels great to donate & buy also, such a buzz when you find something you need & no guilt whatsoever for me if I spend a few quid on something I'm not sure about.

I'm wondering tho about how I feel about kids books now, always thought we could never haven enough but they do get everywhere-may do the box rotation. Thinking of a small Sunday job now I could do......

Meant to say I love the decluttering of the mind idea-I guess this is what I do too when too exhausted for activity. Think I'll go & start a list now for when I can be bothered to sort!

I have got through a lot of decluttering. Eleven weeks to go until our first baby. I ordered a copy of Simply Parenting so I don't get into bad habits.

Have most rooms done now and shed installed in garden so DH toolboxes etc have gone in there.
Most of my teaching supplies are filed into slim back to back wallets and original books donated to school.

I have used most of my bathroom products up - decanted shower gels etc (pressies) into pretty soap dispensers. Towels - donated. Handbags - sorted. Booksheleves thinned out. Wedding cards/trinkets/honeymoon photos in storage boxes along with dress etc. Extra mugs - donated. Hotpress tidied. Magazines sorted (kept my favourite house décor ones in file). Jewellery and makeup organised. under stairs - declutters

Having a relaxing anniversary weekend but few things on the agenda -
today - collecting all tuberware/plastic containers and putting them into a white wicker basket for the dresser.

Yet to do -
Press items for maternity bag (washed)
Teatowel/kitchen press freshen up and sort.
Non maternity clothes sort/repairs (organise looser clothes for wear after baby)
Sort shoes - put away high heels/occasional shoes/ hats etc.
Childhood/University/21st trinkets - finally decide what to do with them
and declutter (my school uniform (I know!!!!!)
Recipes for magazines - write and file in little recipe folder.
Photobook creation x 4
Paint wicker chair in nursery.
Sort Christmas decorations - donate unwanted (DM wants them)
Wash/ display wedding crystal to free up wardrobe space in baby room.

In no rush with above though.

typo's

Decluttered our yard which was filled with stuff left by previous owners, we been meaning to do this since February DH grumbled a lot this morning but it only took him about a hour while I took DD's to the park

Also got DH to sit down and tackle some paperwork so he go a lot of shredding done while I've been baking bread

Amazing progress everyone! I am finding the house so so much easier to keep clean and tidy now I've gotten rid of so much excess. Each room only takes two min in the mornings to open blinds and put things back where they should be. I'm on top of the laundry & the washing up and it feels great!

I spent this morning cleaning out stuff from the annex which is being rented out from next week, so I've got a pile to sort out again. I'm going to bite the bullet and attempt to ebay some things which haven't sold elsewhere and will list a few bits on freecycle today. Also plan to load up DHs car so he can run to the tip before work tomorrow and I can FINALLY call the council about collecting the pallets. This is really the dregs of the house at this point.

I've also got a gardener coming on Tuesday to have a look at decluttering the weeds! I have inherited a lovely garden from the previous owners and have no idea how to take care of it - so will be asking her to do an initial weed / tidy and then I can attempt to maintain it myself.

Happy decluttering!

That's sounds amazing Wendy well done!
I still feel like I can get rid of more, I'm not sure when I will stop feeling this?!

I'm sure you'll know when you reach the level that's right for you MM.

Well done on everyone's great progress!

I rifled through my wardrobe this morning while DSD was watching the DCs and have a bag for life full and a women's suit that no longer fits as well as loads of raggy/holey bits. I will ask DH to go through his older t shirts too - he's got loads of old boring ones but for the last few years he has been getting nice ones for gifts so he has enough lovely ones to get by!

Hello lovelies, I haven't done much sorting this week (apart from finding some more clothes for the chazzer). However, we got rid of 8 horrid Leylandii that were blighting our tiny garden - all we have left are stumps. And we and our neighbours have much more light :)

Got 2 bags of towels, old clothes etc off to the recycling unit yesterday but today is my birthday and I was running the race for life so nothing is going to happen now I think!

Unless I pack up the parcels for the 9 things I sold on eBay this weekend....

just saw this house in the observer - lovely in one way but SO cluttered. His shed looks a bit unsafe with all the "artisanal" cupboard piled up like that!
gu.com/p/3gn4a

Beautiful clutter... I have desk envy - I wish I didn't have a whopping great PC on mine!

Happy birthday Artemis! I think a day off is deserved :o

I am on FIRE today. Buoyed by doing the bag of chazzer clothes earlier, after lunch I wandered around with a binbag aiming to fill it. I filled three! Just random broken toys, and I made the decision to get rid of all the play food too - it is all old, chewed (), chipped, manky, bits missing etc. I mean one lot I'd got used on ebay, I am pretty sure she had just scooped it out of the bath before posting, as when it arrived it had water in it why did I keep it in the first place?! I confess I am considering replacing it (maybe for DS' birthday or Xmas) with a small amount of decent play food stuff though. [please don't kick me off thread emoticon]

I also found a couple more bits for charity and sorted out all their little animal figures (well all the ones I can find anyway! Some of them I didn't even recognise!) into a nice clean drawer. I have stopped now though as I have a scarily busy week coming up (starting with DD's birthday tomorrow! I've gone for non-cluttery presents though...) and don't want to overdo things physically.

It is scary how easy and fast it was to fill those three bags (and the one I've done throughout the week) and yet it looks no different around here...

fuzz do you want me to throw a bucket of water over you?

fuzz on a more serious note, I find that when I decluttered and a space appears, I get used to that space really quickly and I want to make another clean, clear space...

Iwilldoit thank you for the flowers!
Here's a bunch back for you and everyone else on here who's doing their decluttering/minimalism thang
Very impressive and love reading what you're all getting accomplished.

It really does make such a difference doesn't it - totally understand the uncluttered environment/clearer head analogy clearsomme and fuzzpig.
It does wonders for the self-esteem too getting rid of stuff you didn't think you could, and makes you appreciate what is actually important.
My DH is pretty chuffed with me too.

So just need to keep going and keep on top of it, and with the help of you all on here I'm sure it'll be that bit easier.
Gush over! Now going to declutter a Crunchie into my mouth:)

Oh and Happy Birthday Artemis!!

Happy birthday artemis! Hello to the delurkers!

fuzzpig it sounds as if you really have your eye in!

Before my arm went, I put loads of books out of circulation and I've since seen the boys reading so much more! I think they can get the books off the shelves more easily because I've deliberately left space in each Expedit cube. I've put their comics in a trug/bucket thing (instead of a shelf on the Expedit) and again they've been reading them instead of using them as a lethal carpet.

Charity bag plopped through door yesterday so I'm going to do another sweep through the drawers.

That sounds encouraging about the books Harriet. DS has been the same with board/card games - he is finally able to understand stuff like Orchard Toys games and take turns etc, we have played loads today in between my decluttering efforts! What does "have your eye in" mean though? :o

Thanks MM, I think it isn't really a visible difference yet because I'm really just doing 'sweeps' rather than focusing on particular areas IYSWIM. But it is making an impact really because I have started amalgamating the non-sorted stuff into fewer boxes and cleaning out empty drawers/boxes for specific things, which will hopefully gradually make tidying easier!

fuzzpig, I meant that rather than seeing a generic muddle, you are seeing objects individually and it's easier to distinguish junk from stuff worth keeping.

Hullo all. I have been reading simplicity parenting thanks to recommendation on here. As a result have tried harder to have family meals and we have used the lighting of the candle and ten seconds quiet time at the start, as the book recommends, to set the tone. It had made a real difference. Have also got rid of masses of plastic tat the DCs had accumulated over the years that seemed wasteful to chuck. Love this thread.

Tougholdbird can you please elaborate on the candle moment for those of us who are don't have e-readers and don't want another parenting book.

clear it's an amazing book, can you check it out of your library?