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[educatingarti]

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

yeah, he's a total twat _ I don't see him now and I have a great stepdad who brought me up through all my teenage years

Just the sperm donor.

Indeed, although how anything as fabulous as moi could have sprung from his sperm I have no idea

maybe an immaculate conception?!

Arte - epigenetics obviously

you are the milkman's.

.

Am cleaning toys and carpets in this weather. I am obviously mad.

Best day to clean carpets - they will dry quickly!

noooo our milkman was about 85 when I was a kid!!

Not that mikman!

Artemis that sounds horrible. I have to say though that when I read the last few posts I thought I must've opened the wrong thread! :o

it is now entering brain bleach territory wanders off to throw something in the recycling bin & get back on track

In France it's the postman (no milk deliveries).

Have just got back from purchasing school supplies (eldest DC starts secondary school in September) There's so much stuff! Need to reduce and rearrange our office space!

Sorry all...totally derailed everyone there!

I rearranged some stuff in the loft yesterday, and threw away a couple of bin bags of rubbish in the process. Hurrah.

See, I can focus.

hehe to be fair it was me with my misery memoir that started it. Always was an over-sharer.

Have been desperately trying to get some work done for a summer school I teach at, reached my goal for today so going for a run in the sun, yay!

Also, sold huge box of old games consoles and games to one of them there websites and they came today for the box, so 1 huge, heavy box down. 65 to go

Inspired by this thread, I've sorted through all my bills paperwork, paid things which were overdue, and filed everything. I still need to go through the filing box and shred the older stuff, but for now, it's all in it's place, and I'm up to date with paying people .

Every time this thread pops up in Active, I feel the need to go and chuck stuff out, so keep it up folks, you're helping the lurkers as well

Hello, just popped back after losing the thread (as it were) and haven't read all of it yet. at Artemis's lovely words!

So I have a new job starting in Sept. After 10 years of being part-time/freelance I will have to actually work hard every day. I am incredibly excited about the new job (which includes paid writing time! ) but slightly daunted by the logistics & getting me & 2 dc to 3 different places in the morning. Also ds starts at 2ndary. Change ahoy! Still don't have childcare completely in place but will get there... I am looking forward to a salary. That will be v v nice.

I haven't been consciously minimising for a while (except for a bag of books to the chazza and 2 big bags for doorstep collection). I said earlier on the thread that decluttering can be a major form of work avoidance for me, but I've noticed that when stressed (as I have been re new job) I get lost on the internet for hours & eat too much (2 Asda Chelsea Buns on the trot. They are massive. It's quite hard to muscle your way through the 2nd). On balance I think decluttering is probably more productive & less calorific.

I have a long list for the summer hols which isn't strictly minimising but is about clearing the decks for September, including a trip to the amenities centre to get rid of 75% of the clart that's cluttering up the hall (broken electronics, etc).

I'm thinking about going offline (except for emails) over the school hols to help me focus on what needs to be done as I am SOOOOOOO distractible, but I've found these threads so helpful and friendly that I may have to make an exception.

Harriet, think of it as productive procrastination. I consciously adopt it as a strategy... have at least two important things to do, and do one off them when the other gets annoying.

Charity coming to collect the last of our unwanted furniture today so it's a morning scramble to get the books and clothes stored in said furniture into boxes.

Had a minor heat attack when I moved the chest of drawers and a huge spider the size of a small dog charged at me from its dusty lair underneath.

I agree that decluttering is a positive thing even if it is work avoidance! Because by decluttering, you will make your environment less stressful in the long term :)

I am sooo tired today, as yesterday I did my 4hr shift and went to Asda with my dad... sad how that is too much for me but oh well, such is my health. I fell asleep on the sofa before 8.30 and slept through til 7

Chazzer run this morning so am trying to use any last scraps of energy to collect more stuff. I am quite surprised at how much I managed to pull out of the wardrobe (despite not actually being able to access all of it, as the sliding doors are dodgy and there's loads of crap in front of it!). We've agreed to paring down the crockery again too. It will be nice to have it out of the house. I am in a quandary about a few items though so they will have to wait.

We have also been decluttering our food! We decided not to do a tesco order this week and we are using up older stuff. We are also running down our freezer as it has become really icy so it needs attacking. I'm really hoping that once our kitchen is much emptier we can really take stock of what we use and don't use, and switch to the smaller twice weekly shop as I mentioned a while back.

Hello Artemis looks like we are both running round in quick tidy mode this morning :o nice to know I'm not alone! Is all the stuff in the furniture definitely being kept or is it something you will sort through later? :o I will ask homestart volunteer to play with DS while DH and I get more done - the more we get out today the better!

Oh and I sympathise about the big spider. That's the reason any furniture moving is done by DH

fuzzpig it's a mixture - the clothes and books have technically already been pruned but I have filled the car boot with a huge box of more things to donate and recycle, plus a couple of carrier bags in the back seat.

Just over half the chest or drawer space and the bookshelf space belong to DH though so I doubt much will go out there

The iron has entered into my soul. I put about 40 of my childhood books in the chazzer pile
I think we still have c.35 boxes of books, even with all the pruning on my part, I just keep telling myself that the de-cluttering has to have made a difference and that we'll see it on moving day when all our stuff fits neatly into the van.... [sceptical]

Whose cupboards and drawers are stuffed to overflowing? Mine are

I have been very busy as the summer holidays countdown goes quickly by.

I thought i had made good progress, the house looking lean and clean but oh no I was mistaken. I have a room full of boxes of toys, how did this happen? I emptied DCs wardrobes and there it all was, aargh!!!!!

The major hotspot in hall is covered again (thank you DH)
Toys have migrated back into the sitting room.

I moved DDs books into her new room and there are still 2 boxes to go, she will not allow me to donate any. I went through her toys and thinned them out, she didn't notice. I did the same with her books and she spotted the crime straight away
I thought that if she had to help move them she would notice there are too many, but she enjoyed it!

Yet she'll "forget" to put clean laundry away for days!!

Help, I feel as if all my hard work has not had any impact. I know we have to live in our home, but does it have to involve a layer of toys over the floor???

The holidays haven't even begun yet

And I wish I had an OCD friend with de cluttering tendencies, mine are worse than me

Whose cupboards and drawers are stuffed to overflowing?

not mine - well not anymore.

6 months ago I'd say YES! I am so so pleased to be able to say NO!

Now the kitchen cupboards have space in them - and I use more of the stuff I kept own as I can find it. And when it's washed up it's really easy to put away.

I did notice this morning a couple of the DD's clothing drawers are looking a little stuffed, so I'll give those a freshen up this weekend. It won't take long though.

With DD1 about to start school holiday and it being all hot at last, I've realised she is a bit short of non uniform summer clothes. But I'm loath to go and buy any at this stage. So I'm aiming to make her a pair of shorts and a dress or two from my fabric stash. I'm really resisting buying her more summer clothes. 2 dresses, 2 pairs of shorts, tshirts and skirts will do her.

IWill I thank my lucky stars daily.

When OCDCF comes for a days work, I do pay her - which means I can always ask without feeling like I'm taking the piss. It's a big Win Win situation.

She has changed me - slowly!