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[educatingarti]

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

Agree with others - opening boxes now is not a good use of your time Artemis. Unless the things are very heavy or bulky. But it will feel so good to chuck then at the other end!

Today was one of those days that felt very lazy - endless cycle of breastfeeding newborn/toddler/newborn/toddler...playing outside, watching Bob the Builder.... but in between everything else I created a "tea drawer" in the kitchen, opening up an entire corner of counter space, and put cooking utensils in an IKEA container next to the stovetop; tiny changes but I LOVE IT! There is loads more space now and it only took me 10 minutes tonight to do kitchen cleanup because it was so much easier to wipe down everything and access things.

Also dh and I have both decided at the same time to make a real effort to clean as we go; wash dishes immediately after eating rather than piling them up to wait to go in the dishwasher, clear the table etc. I feel much more motivated to do it if it feels like a team effort. We are both quite lazy - and we both think we do more than the other one

I am trying very hard not to compare my time with newborn/toddler etc with the wonderful women on this thread.

I was so wonderfully lazy. I'm in awe of all the Mums with babies & toddlers achieving so much stuff with the little ones around!

Great article! It's good to make sure we don't pressure ourselves too much in the bid to declutter.

I was meaning to ask you all this the other day actually - In your home, is there anything you will NOT be decluttering?

For us, it's DVDs. Our collection is very special to us. Growing up, TV was my comfort in a very difficult childhood, and I have spent a lot of time seeking out things I used to love watching, and am really enjoying sharing these with my DCs. DH feels the same. We also collect a lot of modern comedies, dramas and some movies.

So while (as part of the Simplicity Parenting process) we are making an effort as a family to watch DVDs less often - for example we have found that by not watching certain series for a year or so, we enjoy them far more when we return to them - we won't be giving up any. I just couldn't do that. And that's ok - 'minimalist enough' is ok. Considering how many we have (hundreds) they take up very little room as we use Caselogic books and get rid of the boxes.

We put all our DVDs into a caselogic case too. We did go through them first and all the 24 boxsets have gone, but we aren't buying loads of dvds anymore as on demand services are so cheap in comparison.

Do you mean box sets of the series '24' or that you got rid of various box sets and there happened to be 24 of them :o

only seven sets! yes '24'

In your home, is there anything you will NOT be decluttering?
I've been through every inch of my flat.

However I do still have stuff in boxes in lofts around London town - I need to get these back and go through them. There are about 800 CD's that need to be decluttered if I'm ever reunited with them.

I never brought DVD's before I had DC the only exception being the FOTC DVD I was given (and I love it).

I worked for a music wholesaler in the early 90's when video tapes for home sale started to grow. I could never believe back then that people would want to actually buy a video and keep it on a shelf at home! Like a book! It will never take off I tutted!

I managed to co-opt the boys into shredding today for a bit - they love it (although I get a bit nervous having seen that episode of Outnumbered where Ben times how long it takes to shred cheque books, banana skins, rubber gloves...). They watched some Horrible Histories this morning but then I tried for benign neglect and they started making things with cardboard. Result!

I have a huge Ikea crate full of the boys' drawings... I took photos on my phone of the ones I chucked. Really don't know how many to keep... We have some drawings up in cheap white ikea frames. I might pick out a few from the box and take photos of the rest...

My academic books they take up 2-3 HUGE IKEA Billy bookcases but they took 10 years to collect and some are out of print and irreplaceable. And I teach the same subjects I used to research so I do use them - e.g. I am teaching a text at summer school and didn't need to buy it as I already had the best scholarly edition.

I am however in the process of severely culling children's books (mine, not DCs) which I have collected over the years. I have the full set of Chalet School books,half in hard back and half in the unabridged new GGBP editions and I am pondering selling them all. I know them by heart and there are so many books I haven't read! But then I imagine being ill and wanting some comfort and I repent.

Artemis, sorry to post my question and run last night. Guests arrived. I see everyone else has said with what I did. Putting things back into cupboards etc is a good opportunity for sorting.

We won't be decluttering board games. Although it did cross my mind earlier when the DCs couldn't agree on which game we should play. They had a 10 minute debate on it while I washed up and wondered if this is what the Simplicity Parenting book is about. Life was easier for me and my brothers: we played the same three board games over and over. (But the ones we have now are soooo much better.)

Off to read BeCool's link.

"I see everyone else has said with what I did" ?? I haven't been drinking, honestly!

Thanks for advice everyone DH is going to open just one box of CDs (very heavy) and get rid of about half of them, he finally relented after I packed them

I have 3 days left before I start teaching at the summer school which is in another county so I will be leaving the old house on Sunday and then returning to the new fabulous house in August. 3 days left to de-clutter!

We have packed about 3/4 of our stuff and honestly have missed little of it, so there will be a definite de-clutter when we move. Although some of it is obviously stuff you don't need everyday e.g. a vase for flowers, or a large casserole dish.

Just had some success!!

DD and I just spent 1 hour in her room, sorting through her desk. When we moved her into her new room I -naively- thought she would want to go through her desk/drawers/books but no, she just left everything in piles

So as today is the first day of the hols and my DCs have been exhausted I decided today we would do absolutely nothing. Stay at home and just relax. I felt a bit mean at first asking my DD if she'd like to put her things away on her first day of freedom, but she agreed!

I gave her a bag for rubbish/recycling a chazzer box and a folder for special drawings/stories she wanted to keep.

She went through both drawers and the open compartment and actually binned things and donated things, I couldn't believe it!!

I went through her clothes drawers at the same time and pulled out a couple of chazzer bags full, her school socks (1carrier bag full) and put her out of season clothes away - result !!!!

She can now use her desk

Also Fuzzpig mentioned up thread about not doing a "big" shop for a week. I've been doing the same thing this week. It's brilliant. We had lots if food left over from a party at the weekend, so we've used that up, the fridge/freezer has room !! It's so nice to open the freezer and see space -complete saddo-

Now I have to make pizza dough for a garlic pizza bread, my dough has been useless over the last couple of weeks. Anyone know if the heat causes bread flour to not work? If this one doesn't work I'll have to de-clutter the flour and replace with fresh

Put the dough in the fridge for part or all of the rise - in the heat it can over-rise and it makes it very wet and heavy when it cooks.

We have had all sorts of problems with our bread over the past few weeks!

Thanks Artemis I'll give that a go

I made rolls yesterday and they were heavy!! DCs ate them though

We still ate ours too!

Have abandoned packing and taken myself to pub garden for a with a book ... I haven't been to a pub on my own ever in years feeling a bit guilty!

That's fantastic Artemis have a for me!!

You've been really busy recently, you deserve time off and a treat !

Thinking about it I don't think I've ever been to one on my own, off thread I know but what are you reading?

The moneyless man by mark Boyle - not too off thread it's by a guy who lived with no money and with hardly any possessions for a year. I also have bring up the bodies by Hilary mantel on the go but am reading the moneyless man in the pub! Now debating whether a second wine will lead to drunkeness and no dinner on the table and a headache, such is old age!

I think I heard an interview with MB on radio 4, listening to radio 4 and can't take their booze anymore, is this middle age?

I started on bring up the bodies but got distracted by the shining girls, must pick it up again. Moving away from paperbacks to iBooks has saved DH putting up more shelves (back to m )

Enjoy!!

Glad you're using food up too IWill. Our freezer is totally empty now and DH deiced it yesterday. I really want to go through the rest of the food and clean out the fridge. We are planning to get our first 'half week' food order on Sunday. The kitchen really needs to be a top priority as it really affects daily life.

The other top priority is the DCs' bedroom. I have got DD on side now. She is desperate to have a few friends over throughout the holidays (something we've virtually never done) and I told her that first we need to get her room totally sorted, and that includes moving the mattress back onto her cabin bed and sleeping on it!

Working today but both of us are free for the weekend so hoping to get a fair bit done.

We are finally getting rid of the double bed in the spare room to make up a nursery (only a month to go!!).
Since I moved into my house many years ago.. I have hated the orange pine skirting distaster in hall and kitchen. The rest of the house is a nice clear varnish.. it just looks dirty in the kitchen. So I got varnish stripper and removed most of it.. (few minutes at a time is enough for me).
Very few areas of clutter now.. and also I have saved money because I am not buying as many magazines when I see how many I have been buying.
Today I am going to write recipes from cut-outs into a little recipe file thing I got as a gift over a year ago. I have them shoved down the side of handbags and in a kitchen drawer.

Had get Dhaka to move the drawer unit out of the cupboard under the stairs today so the gas engineer would get at the meter (boiler/fire service). This meant I could access it properly and do a clutter. Lots of junk now in the bin!!

• that would be dh not Dhaka

Aaaargh. De-clutter