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!

Oh that's a good idea jimmy. Reminds me of what my parents and grandparents used to call a shadow box. Might get a good woodworker friend of mine to make me one :)

Another bag of clothes to the charity shop. Some Xmas pressies stashed in the loft. Loads of rubbish gone too.

DH has finally sorted through a box of old shoes and all but one pair are going to the clothes recycling place. We are plugging away with DIY so not much chance for sorting through our stuff but while I was dozing this morning I indentified in my head another cupboard I can sort through during my lunch break today.

DD has been clearing out her room today and has managed to get her two pop laundry baskets of soft toys/baby dolls down to one.

If anyone has any toys to sell, I am sure this is a good time to list them with Christmas coming up.

Hello all - can I have some advice please as I'm procrastinating? I have sorted out clothes that are too small for ds2. I have a recycling bin they can go in, but do they just get shredded then? As some look too good for that and could go to be sold in a charity shop. However, that means ironing them and a separate trips to the bin and shop. Or do I take them all to the shop, not ironed, and let them sort them? Dilemmas, dilemmas! This is the kind of thing that freezes me, iykwim?

Hi LeaveIt, when I've taken stuff to the charity shop before I've seen them in the back room with a steamer, they hang the clothes up and steam the creases out. I don't know if all charity shops do this but I'm guessing they will because a lot of clothes will come in creased having been in bags regardless of whether it'd been ironed beforehand.

Does your recycling bin say anything on it? Our nearest clothes bin is an Oxfam one, a notice on the side says that they will use the clothes and any that are in too poor condition to be used will be sold I'm guessing for rags or recycling.

I don't think you need to iron them LeaveIt . I just sort my stuff into "good enough to sell" and "suitable for rags" bags and give them to the chazza with the bags labeled. If you give them to the chazza mixed, their volunteers will sort through and either sell or recycle as rags.

Thank you both. I shall bag it into two separate bags for the shop and I will check the side of the recycling bin the next time I walk past with the dog. I feel better already :)

I just got rid of 14 scarves today! 14 scarves I didn't realise I had so many, that's one of the cupboards I've been avoiding I guess it's where I've been given them as gifts - seem to get given at least 3 scarves as well as hats and gloves each year by various relatives (hats and gloves will be tackled next). I felt a little guilty putting them all in the charity bag as they were gifts but I remembered what arti said upthread and I thought about somebody who might normally struggle to afford a scarf benefiting from these scarves and I felt better.

I sorted out dd2 and dd3's wardrobes yesterday and have a bag of dd2's stuff to go in the attic for dd3 and a bag of dd3's stuff for my friend.

Wow - you are all doing well. I'm beginning to realise how I'm often subconsciously demanding 15 impossible things of myself before breakfast! Instead I'm trying to be kinder to myself as somme advised. I did put a skirt in the chazza bag this week though ( have had quite a few new clothes recently so slowly working out what can go!)
Cadence - glad you've been able to "let go" and yes- I find the thought of someone else being helped really good too ( plus of course the charity benefits).

You should see the state of my desk Arti! On the bright side, the kids have been having a Hama Beads phase recently so I am up to date on ironing!

somme I see your desk and raise you 6 metres of desk/table and a large box windowsill in my work room!

In the spirit of minimalism (um, I think) I have decided to go cloth nappy (eek!). Does that count as progress?!

Rest of the house - not much done, but I have identified what else I can do to make some more much needed changes. I got a bit stuck for a while but after a lot of theoretical chucking and furniture moving, I now have a plan for how to move forward so I'm hoping that gets me back on track. Still busy, as usual, and that's not likely to change any time soon, so instead I'm going to try and identify things that I can do in small bursts that with time will result in a lot of change.

Hello all. I would like to rejoin you if I may? I was here at the beginning (these threads are a year old in three weeks time!!) and did really well. Then I got complacent and now everything is almost as bad as it was when I started. I am so, so impressed and jealous of those of you that stuck with it.

Hello pixie. I have been here on and off since the first thread too and have got rid of so much stuff in the past year. This board has definitely helped me and I found so much emotional support. I still crave a very simple home but I suspect I can't go much further without seriously pissing off my family.

I started Christmas shopping today. Only stocking fillers but I have been mindful and only bought consumables: heart shaped soaps and pavement chalks.
DH went to Ikea to buy a (well researched purchase) slimline cabinet that will fit over the toilet cistern and also came back with an (impulse buy) grater. We already have a grater.

Hard to believe we are almost a year old. I'm definitely still crawling and not toddling yet!

I'm not even crawling - more bumshuffling!

Harriet, I remember your hideous lockup of doom from the spring and being very impressed with how you cut through swathes of the crap in it. I know what you mean about pissing off family members. DH makes all the right noises but getting him to actually get rid of any of his stuff is a different matter entirely. He will go to sort out his bursting wardrobe and come back to me an hour later saying that he can't find anything to get rid of

I have finished most of my Christmas shopping and was doing quite well keeping the minimalist mindset to the forefront but I cracked and bought DD a plastic tat style toy that I know will be discarded by the New Year. I guess one badly-chosen toy isn't the end of the world but I'm still a bit cross with myself that I couldn't resist it.

Yes, there's an item like that on DDs list. It's not very expensive in fact considering what it does it is very cheap which makes me fear it will soon be landfill. She'd love it though!

DIY clutter driving me crazy as she'd roof leaks so everything is now in the kitchen... Sigh

DP leaves clutter everywhere papers receipts cuff links crap argh

I am fighting the tides here chaps

SHED

Even the apostrophes are against you! Cluttering up your posts!

Madame Oh I know the feeling... no here. We've had continuous issues going on here with leaks and the like so our kitchen and spare room are dumping grounds DH also likes to leave stuff everywhere... I found half a Snickers bar on the bookcase recently and DS nearly ate one of his rings that he left by the sofa...

Makes me want everything much tidier, but likewise makes it so much harder!

I've identified some new initial starting points for some short burst declutter and reorganise. Coming in: stacking bins for recycling and waste, to take up little space. Going out: at least 2 DVD towers (we have 4, need a new home for the DVDs!), some boxes, and make use of some new storage space that I created in the spare room. Those are my goals for the week ahead.

Good idea to have some short term goals for the week Delasi. Mine are to clear the bookcases of everything but books (the stuff that gets left on them is unreal) and sort out my dressing table. I decluttered it in the spring, leaving just "the essentials" and I'm sure I haven't touched half of it since then.

delasi, I think that's such a good idea to set yourself goals for the week, gives you something to aim for. I think I might try that too, see if it gives me any inspiration. I'm so busy with other things at the moment that my willpower to declutter and minimalise has waned a bit. I have been doing the odd bit but not enough as I'd like to really.

So, this week my goals are: to sort the big cupboard in the kitchen where there are electricals and utensils I don't use. Take my 2 full black bags of charity bits to the shop. Sort through my dressing table drawers (started this in the summer but a lot bit more could go). Sort out the crap on the 'junk' counter in the kitchen. Finish sorting the top cupboards in my bedroom. These can then be used to store Christmas presents to free up some space in the spare room. I think that's all achievable. I'd like to finish my Christmas shopping this week too, only a few bits to get now.

delasi, I've been meaning to ask you a couple of questions for a while but I keep forgetting, head like a sieve . I remember you mentioning you were getting vacuum bags to store some of your ds clothes in, did you get them after, and if so were they any good and where did you get them from? As I've got 3 girls there's lots and lots of hand-me-downs beig stored in the attic. They're currently in black bags but I'd love to organise them and seal them all away in vacuum bags. The other question, I noticed upthread that you were thinking of buying something to put on your windows to stop the condensation forming on them. Our windows and the sills are soaking in the morning so I'd love to know if there's something I can put on them to prevent this. It's a nightmare - so time consuming wiping them down every morning. And I'm worried the water will damage the seals. Sorry for all the questions! TIA for any advice

X post with you pixie. that we are both tackling our dressing tables having supposedly sorted them out already!