Moving Forward With Minimalism

[MinimalistMommi]

This is a new thread following on from the previous 'm' thread on Good Housekeeping!

All Minimalists or aspiring minimalists welcome!

Ditto on the IKEA envy I'm actually compiling a list of things I want that are clearly designed for a home that I do not currently live in

I've cleared out the bedroom the rest of the place is now overrun and I'm going through all of the clothes, including baby clothes , as I'm convinced that we still have far too much. I won't go crazy on the baby stuff, but I look at some of it knowing we never or hardly used them, ususlly because they were awkward designs or impractical in some way, so there's no point hanging onto them. Still sets me on edge a bit though!

I know the feeling delasi. I've been doing so well decluttering but the baby stuff keeps stopping me in my tracks.

On the plus side, I was given a massive bag of hand me downs today and I've already weeded them out and have 2 carrier bags to keep and 2 by the door for a chazzer drop off on the way home from preschool tomorrow.

We got rid of most of the baby stuff as DS outgrew it because with everything that's happened in the last couple of years we agreed we can't have more babies :(

However I had a very convincing pregnancy scare recently and realised that I am NOT done. Not emotionally anyway. Not that we are about to TTC or anything because that would not be sensible, but if my health improves significantly in the next few years we may have another (I am only 26 so no rush but DH is 45)... maybe.

Either way thouvh

Phone fail sorry

Anyway even if we do have another I am really pleased we have got rid of everything. For a start it would be impossible (given the size of our house) to really declutter if we still had all the baby gear.

Also, if we ever did have a baby again, I relish the thought of starting from scratch with a clearer aim of simplicity/minimalism! I've been looking back over their first years and working out what was actually necessary and how much wasn't... Vests/babygros, nappies, buggy, sling, boobs :o

(did I mention I'm broody as hell?!)

Needless to say that was the Necessaries list not the 'not buying' list :o

fuzzpig my head (and DH) also tells me no more kids but I don't quite feel done either. And once you know mums it is so easy to get kit second hand, I think....people just want to pass it on and as you say you have a better idea what you need.

Hello fuzzpig and Jimmy :)

fuzzpig Yy to knowing how to buy next time round! Not planning on getting pg too soon but I'm already getting rid of the original carrier we had and now have my heart set on a lovely new sling! I'm also chucking bibs, never planned on buying any in the first place but got given loads, used them because they were there but I have an irrational dislike of them. So does DS it seems, always pulls them off if we attempt to use one.

Hm, should probably get back to clothes sorting now...

Hello Socky :o

I'm liking this thread - the Good Housekeeping section doesn't really do it justice. This is minimalism for the soul!

Don't mind me, just peering over the mountain of clothing now in my living room...

We have a wholly unreasonable amount of 3-6mo clothing. There's next to nothing for 6-9mo (what has he been wearing the last 3mo?! I suppose it was rather warm...) and a nice, normal, adequate amount for 0-3mo. Definitely going to wittle down the 3-6mo pile, there's brand new stuff in there However I seem to live in baby central, there's always at least one pg person in my circle of friends, so I'm gifting a number of them.

Also finding it strangely hard to throw away scarves. Scarves, of all things! It's not like they're Hermes!

Scarves are strangely useful though, delasi.

I'm not helping, am I?

I did notice while going round IKEA with a friend that I'm happy just to have minimal amounts of bedding...three duvet cover for our bed, one or two for spare room and lots for kids (because they constantly wet the bed). So some things are easier than others for me to be minimal about.

Scarves:

In the early summer I sorted out the woolly scarves and made a bag which I have hidden away to see if I can do without this winter.

Light scarves, I don't really wear that much (but bizarrely people keep giving them to me as gifts) so I put all but three in the kids dressing up box where I can still fish them out if I regret the decision. They are currently serving as teddy bear hammocks.

Hi Socky!

Delasi, can you just get rid of any scarves that are the same colour? It's funny what becomes difficult to get rid of. Baby stuff makes sense to me but I had a real struggle with a boring white teapot from Sainsbury's that I never used !

I have given myself a cut off point of Sunday night to list all our remaining items on Gumtree or it's off to the chazzer with them.

It's all falling back into a jumble at Chez BeCool.
I have urge to throw it all away :)

The DC are with XP this weekend so I devoting Sunday to changing seasonal clothing over (I can't remember what winter stuff I have left after huge declutter earlier this year), streamlining the living room and kitchen a little (stuff will go).

Tonight I am cleaning flat, Sunday I'll do clothing, Saturday I party :)

I'm absolutely itching to get going.

I know it's a little job now though - not a massive one. Decluttering & living minimally is always a work in progress.

One of my duvet covers died this week - and I'm not even rushing out to replace it. I have 2 and I'm happy with those. When another one is ready to go I'll buy a new one.

I'm loving that these 'new' habits are now simply becoming my habits.

Hello all

I've been madly busy at my new job but have done a couple of things... we got rid of the previous occupant's old and frankly disgusting carpet and put down a laminate floor - it's a darker colour than most and I think it looks great. Obviously we'd rather have real wood but this is not our house, so it would have been madness to pay out £££...

The whole place feels cleaner and clearer already - although it has thrown into relief how nasty and grubby the last person left the walls and woodwork so my half-term plans are now to sort all that out!

I have also put 15 pairs of shoes into the isolation zone bottom of hall cupboard and if I don't miss them in 2 months they will go.

I am ashamed of how many shoes I have, although I wear them in pretty swift rotation as I have 7ish pairs I waer to work with different suits and outfits, then ones for home, going out etc. But I could definitely stand to downsize the collection

I don't seem to have any scarves of the same colour I do wear light/silk ones and oversized, I've repurposed some for DS (buggy shade and blanky!), then I'll get rid of some I never use.

BeCool I can understand that, I hope to replace our bed in the next year or two (superking!) which will mean new bedding, two sets seems more than enough for this.

Artemisa Sounds great - and like a lot of work! You must be exhausted!

Not at home atm but when I get back I hope to crack on with the clothes and further sorting. So desperate to have an actual, finished home Got rid of some shoe racks that were always useless and decided that a basic over the door organiser will be right.

Started a Minimalist Xmas thread here if anyone wants to pop over... starting to really think about Xmas gifts now so thought it would be a good idea... Hope I don't end up being flamed for being miserly!

Hi, is it okay if I join?

I stumbled on this thread last night before bed and then I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking of all the things I need to sort through and get rid of

We moved to this house 4 years ago and we came from a very small house with hardly any 'stuff'. But over the past 4 years we seem to have acquired heaps and heaps of toys, clothes, shoes, bags and goodness knows what else but somehow our fairly big house is now bursting at the seams. Up until now I have just pushed stuff to the back of wardrobes, under the bed or thrown it in the spare room. But now I really have to face up to it all and sort through it and get it out of the house.

My youngest (and last) dd is 3 and I still have all her baby toys - shape sorters, vtech toys etc. I also still have her travel cot and this is full to the top with said toys and also clothes and general junk.

Since having dd3 3 years ago I've failed to lose the weight I put on whilst pregnant but I still have tons of clothes to fit my smaller figure piled high in the wardrobe. I think I need to face the fact that if, after 3 years the weight hasn't come off, then it probably won't and these clothes need to go which will free up so much space. And even if by some miracle I do end up getting my weight down I think a lot of these clothes wouldn't be worn as I've changed my style a bit since then - I used to wear leggings and converse with tees and hoodies but I tend to dress a bit 'smarter' now - cant really get away with dressing like a teen anymore! (And when my 10 year old dd was wearing almost identical outfits to me, I took it as a sign to move on )

I have a shoe cupboard that I opened 2 years ago, saw a massive spider in it, promptly shut it, and haven't opened it since. So every shoe in there can go!

There's tons more to do but these are the things I'll start with.

Welcome shining! Sounds like you're off to a great start with already knowing areas that can go! I can tell you, when you do a major clear (like the shoe cupboard, or all of the old toys) it gives you a great boost and you feel so much better for it. Don't worry about the days when the energy is harder to come by and you're dealing with the more minute details - that's what we're here for

Did you see the link to Project 333 also upthread? I discovered it on here, and even if you don't follow it exactly it is a great idea for minimising your wardrobe. I am in the process of losing baby weight, but medical issues mean it will be a looong journey. So I took the decision to not worry about all of the clothes that don't fit anymore and a lot have gone to charity, and I now have a number of lovely, versatile, comfortable and flattering clothes that suit my current shape but should still be suitable when I finally reach my goal weight. That in itself made a big difference to how I feel both in my clothes and when looking at the wardrobe. I'm going through round 3? 4? 5?! of clothes clearing right now, living room still covered but now I have some neat bags for leaving and storing

Welcome to the fold Shining :)

You sound like you are already really on board with decluttering, which is great.

It sounds like baby toys are a great place to start, I bet you'll be amazed at how much space you free up. A good opportunity to get rid of annoying beepy stuff.

With the clothes - I found that whenever my weight has decreased again post baby, I've changed shape anyway. So I think it would be wise to just let your pre-baby stuff go and embrace the way you are now. And if you do lose weight later, then you will enjoy choosing new things.

Plus, I don't know about you, but if I hang on to stuff that no longer fits, every time I see it (when choosing clothes in the morning) I feel a fleeting, almost imperceptible sadness... and that builds up over time if there's lots of stuff you can't fit into. Just ditch them and move on :)

Thank you for the welcomes :)

Well, I started sorting through the travel cot today (aka the dumping ground for junk) and managed to fill a black bag for charity and one for eBay. Was going to drop the charity bag at the clothes bin at the supermarket when we went to do the shopping today but I forgot to put it in the car
so it's still sat in my hall Oh well, at least it's been sorted and is ready to go. I've put the eBay bag aside to wait for a free listings day.

delasi thank you for telling me about project 333, it is just what I need to be doing. I am an absolute sucker for sales and if I see a clothes sale somewhere I have to go in and buy stuff just because it's half price or whatever. Even if it doesn't particularly flatter me or even fit properly I say to myself, 'well for that price you can't go wrong', which is a stupid thing to say because now I've got loads of clothes that I don't like wearing and it would've been much more cost effective to have spent more on fewer items that I would have truly liked and felt better in. I also find it hard to match all my random bits and bobs together and don't really have a particular style - although I do know how I would like to dress so Project 333 has given me lots of food for thought so thank you.

fuzzpig that's exactly how I feel when I open the wardrobe and see all those clothes there I can't wear. I feel guilty every day because I have so many clothes that aren't being worn and feel that I should be trying harder to lose the weight. And what you say about body shape changing rings true - my hips seem wider than before so even if I lost weight the bone structure isn't going to change and my old clothes won't look the same - I need to be dressing my new figure instead and embracing and trying to flatter the new curves.

Thank you both, I feel even more inspired to go through it all now :)

Yay shining that's impressive progress already!

I haven't done any more physical decluttering this week but as I'm really thinking about Christmas now, I've been giving my Amazon wishlists a desperately needed cull and I feel better for it. Started off with 776 items as I tend to add lots of similar items to choose later... Yikes.

shining Fantastic progress! Keep it up!

fuzzpig 776?! What kind of things do you add?! Impressed that you dealt with it though, I'd be inclined to start a new account!

I suppose I should continue onwards with the clothing. DH is ill, DS however had a great night last night (think we're finally coming out of the other side of 9mo regression! Yay!) so I'm all refreshed. Kitchen is clean, flat is surprisingly warm, DS should go down for his second nap soon, making myself a lovely coffee it's a caffeine day woooo and cracking on!

It consists of a vast amount of DVDs - most of which are staying as we love movies/cartoons/comedy etc.

Loads of toys especially little extras for Lego, Playmobil, train set etc, character figures, jigsaws.

Some books although I'd reduced them a while back, I hardly ever buy due to working in a huge library, loads of kids books though especially my old favourites which are out of print.

A few house/health items that aren't available locally (eg Epsom salts to use for pain relief)

Board/video games, some music although that has also been reduced now I use iTunes.

Loads of books, DVDs etc I think of as presents for family.

Geeky tshirts and a few other clothes.

Christmassy bits and bobs like nice stockings.

So... yeah. A fair bit.

My problem is I tend to use Amazon as my first port of call, any time something is recommended on MN I add it, and stuff that comes up on the 'also bought' bit... Rather than making a decision there and then I just add all of it. It's part of a bigger issue of not wanting to miss out on anything, I'm very "all or nothing" if that makes sense.

Making vast improvements though and looking forward to seeing how much I delete!