m

[educatingarti]

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

[hobnob57]

No decluttering here today but due to a fortuitous set of circumstances we were dc free for 3 whole hours and I managed to get the house rug doctored. Having clear floors and clean carpets is amazingly good for the soul. It's just a shame that everything that used to be on them is piled high on every available surface. But an incentive to keep going with this journey if ever there was one. The kids were so excited about the space. But still only willing to part with one tiny toy each for the poor kids who don't have as much when there are 4 large Happyland items that don't see the light of day these days.

[clearsommespace]

OK I see your dilemma fuzzpig.

I'm sure you're friends wouldn't mind if you were to say that you have more than enough toys, especially considering you have health problems and keeping on top of the house is a challenge.

Could you give some to the GPs? I gave the marble run to the GPs because they had carpet in the spare bedroom where all the grandchildren play and the noise of the marbles bouncing on our hard floors was driving me crazy. We only visited about every 6 weeks because of the distance and the DCs were happy to have something different there.

[clearsommespace]

Oh sorry, just remembered your parents had/have their own 'stuff' problems? Paternal GPs?

[clearsommespace]

Anyway, whatever solution you find, it sounds like you need to do something about it!

[harrietspy]

Brilliant day in the sun yesterday. We got rid of our paddling pool a while back and I had a moment of regret yesterday while the kids were wilting, then remembered the 4 big stacking plastic boxes, now empty after the last charity-shop collection. The kids spent hours filling them with water, sitting inside them, etc. Better than any paddling pool we've ever had!

fuzzpig sounds like you've made great progress! Even if your dc do play with everything, if you haven't got room & it's making it hard to move around, it sounds like you need to pass some of the toys on... Is there a friend who might have some of them on loan, like a personal toy library?

Back in the first thread we talked about "Simplicity Parenting" (the book). Have any of you read 'Last Child in the Woods'? I'm not happy with the amount of screen time in our house (and I include myself in that!) and want to get back to the principles in SP and LCW. I don't want to hijack the M thread but I'm wondering if any of you would be up for working through SP chapter-by-chapter in solidarity on a separate thread? There's also a new(ish) book on Minimalist Parenting I'm interested in... (Apols if you've been doing this already. I was on thread 1-3 but only came back recently).

Hope your day has space to move about in.

[takeaway2]

Back at work today so less decluttering although I will try and get back to my declutter one thing a day routine. On that note I got rid of 6-7 little pieces of plastic tat as school was organising little party bags to be sold at summer fete and I've decluttered some lollies, plastic Dino, random stickers, notepads etcetc.

[educatingarti]

Morning all. Welcome to all these new people!

Well I eid venture into my spare doom room yesterday - and pretty much ventured straight out again! That's not quite true actually - I made my self find 10 things to put away, throw away or give away, so things are slightly clearer. The room has become a bit of a dumping ground and space for half-finished craft projects. I need to tidy it so that I can clutter it up again by getting out all my camping stuff before I go away at the end of July. (Explanation - It is 8 years since I last camped and I need to sort out equipment, make sure I know what I've got or still need to get, check things are still in working order etc!)

What I did do this week end, is use friends' garden to put up my tent and paint/spray it with re-proofing stuff. It needed 6 hours to dry so I did it late on Saturday (was working earlier) and left it overnight and took it down again yesterday. So I suppose you could say I decluttered the majority of a can of tent proofing stuff!
Hopefully our "bottles and cans" recycling bin will be emptied today so I can get rid of the stuff still in the flat!

Fuzzpig - if your dcs still play with pretty much all the toys, I don't think you should get rid of any yet. I think if I was a child and my mum got rid of something I still played with I'd be really upset!

Perhaps sorting into plastic storage containers and rotating which ones you have out would be the way to go for now?

[educatingarti]

Gah! "I did venture

[SlightlyItchyBraStrap]

I agree that if your dc still play with all the toys it doesn't make sense to get rid. I have been storing toys in the garage in plastic boxes and it's made a world of difference to our living space. If I didn't have a garage I would just store the boxes behind the couch, it would still look better than having everything out.

Simplicity Parenting is waiting for me at the library

[fuzzpig]

Sadly we don't even have an accessible loft let alone a garage. Although come to think of it there is some hidden space at the back of DD's cabin bed which is about the size of a couple of Ikea buckets - I had planned to rotate books using that space but maybe we could do one of books and one of toys. Unfortunately that space is currently so cluttered that I can't even get to it! So maybe that should be the first area I attack.

As it is, many of their toys are in our room (we have 2 of the tall Ikea Trofast units) although half the buckets are spread round the house along with their contents. Maybe if I sort that it all won't seem so bad. This thread has been really helpful in encouraging me to just do SOMETHING, however tiny, rather than worrying about the bigger project.

We don't have any relatives that we visit really but I could ask my mum if we could keep one box of toys and one box of books perhaps. I know she would like to see us more often and really loved having us to stay so I may be able to work with that.

DD did ask me to put a decapitated broken doll in the bin earlier so perhaps there's hope at least for getting rid of broken stuff!

I won't do a massive "you must throw out loads of toys" drive, I agree that might upset them, but I will start keeping an eye out for small things that I can ask them about and I think DD will be encouraged if it means we can have playdates etc (much as I dread such things). My mum runs a small library and has asked for any unwanted toys for stay and play sessions so perhaps I could ask if DCs would like to 'help Nanny' and find things for her.

I have read some of Last Child in the Woods, it really made sense to me and DH. We limit iPad time but at present DVDs are limitless. It is hard to not rely on them when we are both exhausted and in pain but I think if the house is less cluttered - particularly their toys being more organised - it will be easier for them to play without the risk of being buried under an avalanche of random stuff.

Not read Simplicity Parenting but will look it up at work today!

[MrsPennyapple]

Hobnob I think I need some of this rug doctor stuff, our stair carpet is a right state, I tend not to vacuum it as it just makes the stains more obvious! Is it easily available? That said, we've got numerous bottles of carpet shampoo, as well as at least a couple of cans of Vanish carpet stuff, as DH keeps on buying it! S'pose I ought to declutter those first. I just don't fancy spending hours on my hands and knees scrubbing at the carpet. He recently suggested buying a Vax style carpet cleaner, I almost screamed "Noooooooooooooo! It's CLUTTER!" If we had a utility room or somewhere suitable to put it, it would be different, but we just don't.

Wendy I hate splitting sets of toys too. I hate the thought of bits of a set getting lost, and then the set being incomplete. Think I'm going to have to get over that.

[IWillDoItInAMinute]

De-lurking to say thanks for the inspiration and great tips I have read over the last few days while being ill.

I like to think my body was doing its own de-cluttering

Have downloaded The iBooks sample of Simplicity Parenting

[fuzzpig]

Darn it's not available in my county according to the library website, but I'll have one more look on our system at work later and if not I'll get the kindle edition, it's under £6.

I did find a book called the idle parent (Tom Hodgkinson) though, which seems like my kind of thing :o

[Sokmonsta]

Fuzzi - toys are the bane of my life too. I thought I had it sussed, deuttered some and tidied them into storage boxes. Then ds1 broke two boxes and we're all in a piggle again. As the 4dc have not long had their birthdays I am going to cull again. Mine are young enough I think (5,4, 1&1) to not notice too much. Plus they spend time at both sets of grandparents so I'm planning on taking a box for each child to each house. Especially nana and Grandad's as they insist on getting the baby toys out for the older two.

The loft empty is not going well. I think I'm going to have to do it via charity shop for a little while. Time to get over to storage is limited and I'm getting too many boxes lined up in the hall. At least if I can get on top of some random things, the things I want to boot will be more easily accessible.

This morning however I have not decluttered as such. I have been gardening! The front lawn desperately needed mowing, I had three plants/bushes which were annoying me and some lavender which needed planting. So I have done that. And inspired my neighbour to get rid of the creepers which were starting to crawl across his parking space. All I need to do now is get some compost to tidy over where I dug up the front but its all good.

[Bluecarrot]

I was on the original few threads but got a little distracted! Most if the excess clutter is gone or on eBay and just some boxes of things I couldn't decide

[fuzzpig]

Sounds like a successful morning sokmonsta!

I'm working this evening so am attempting a restful morning which hasn't really worked out that way for various reasons BUT I took note of the 'one thing per day' idea above :) so I threw out last year's boots catalogue which has been hanging around!

[Bluecarrot]

Argh. Sorry - posting via mobile and keep accidentally hitting post!

Anyway, we now have a baby on the way so glad the kids toys haven't gone yet :) but now I've set myself a 6 month target to clear the rest. Leaving me a month at the end to prep for baby.

All the money earned from eBay/Gumtree sales will help fund stuff like antenatal yoga classes etc.

My plan for rest of this month is to do a trawl around the "done" rooms for anything that has made its way in, cleaning thoroughly as I go-esp kitchen cupboards. Ill also be adding at least 10 items a week to eBay as I only have 53 on relist now.

Then in July/ August/September Ill go through what is effectively our loft space ( really a spare room as we have no loft) but its Christmas/easter/halloween decorations, paperwork, and all my craft stuff that I haven't touched in over a year.

October/November/December ill be sorting the final room which everything that I want to get rid of is dumped. It wasn't really sorted well at the time and now a huge mass of stuff, except for one organised corner that the currently listed eBay stuff is in. The kids toys are in that room somewhere.

Hopefully it won't take me that long in reality but not wanting to put too much pressure on as while its nice to get rid, I find it stressful to start, and happy life and pregnancy comes first. :)

[harrietspy]

hello bluecarrot I remember you! I've recently rejoined - I got so obsessed with minimising, yearning after Tiny Houses, houseboats, camper vans that I wasn't doing anything else, so I took a break. I was just obsessing about stuff in a different way!

Can't get rid of anything today - job app deadline so just checking in while I make cup of tea. Thank god for cBBC!

[hobnob57]

Good to see you again Bluecarrot and congratulations!

MrsP rug doctors can be hired from loads of places - tesco, Asda, homebase, Morrisons, etc. quite pricey but oh so worth it. The black gunge that they extract is both repulsive and satisfying at the same time. I think the website is something like rugdoctornow.

Old ikea chair on Facebook, as it it's footstool which for years has been my 'clothes pile' holder in my bedroom. I think it originally got out in there for lack of anywhere else to put it and has been there so long I barely even registered it was actually there. Maybe if it goes I'll be motivated not to keep my 'current' clothes on the floor!

[Bluecarrot]

I def recommend the rug doctor. Keep the cans of stuff for spot cleaning after the big clean with rug dr. I did my house about a month ago - but if you can rope someone else in to do it with you it will be so much faster. Just get them to make up the mix and have it sitting ready for you - I found I needed to empty the waste tank and refill with new detergent every 5 minutes or less. I did my house (3 bedrooms, 3 reception and an awkward, big hall/stairs and landing) in one day, but it was all cleared (furniture out etc) before I started. You need to leave it overnight to dry though if it was done on a super warm day then you might get away with less drying time.

I wish I had got the upholstery stuff and done my fabric sofas while I had the machine anyway, but Ill do that next time :)


Today I decluttered the weeds in my garden ;) plus sorted through the living room, playroom, and den. Den has an old hideous sofa in it and I dunno if it should go to skip or charity...so Ive decided offer it on freecycle / try to give it away on gumtree first and see what happens. Will do that this weekend when DP will be here. I didnt have anything else to get rid of but thats quite a nice feeling. The rooms have been so quick to polish and vacuum recently, and got a proper deep clean today when it was too hot to work outside.

Now Im going to try to read back a few pages of this thread :)

Tomorrow is utility and 2 bathrooms. Shouldnt take more than an hour as they are all tiny. One bathroom sink needs fixed though. Itll only take 5 mins but Ive been putting it off for ages!

[MrsPennyapple]

Oh, so rug doctor is a piece of equipment, rather than a substance? I see... Is it horribly lazy of me to admit I'd rather pay someone else to do it?

[Bluecarrot]

its a carpet shampoo-er but theres also rug dr chemicals to use in it ;)

Its very easy, honestly. The large machine and bottle of shampoo cost £65. I still have some of the shampoo left. And I found it very theraputic. BUt I am a little weird.

[MrsPennyapple]

I'd get some kind of grim satisfaction from seeing all the revolting black slime that came out of the carpet, but I'm not sure that (and the clean carpet) are sufficient reward for all the hard work...

It's times like this when being pregnant seems like an excuse not to be wasted. I'd be happy for DH to do it though! I'd obviously have to stay out of the way....

[fuzzpig]

I got the simplicity parenting book so if anyone wants to start a specific thread I'll gladly come along!

SO tired after work today and DD is going through huge separation anxiety (never had it as a baby/toddler but it is a massive issue now at nearly 6!) so didn't sleep til 10. I am off tomorrow and will try to do a few little things again.

Congratulations on your pregnancy bluecarrot!

[starfishmummy]

Work day so no decluttering here today. We are totally upside down and disorganised because ds is due in hospital for planned surgery - that has just been postponed for the third time. I have two half packed bags (from last time) and various piles of stuff waiting to be packed. Sigh.