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!

Also I'm not usually one for those ecard meme things that go round on Facebook, but I really liked this one:

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

Although it is no longer only in America

Hey, fuzzpig! I've been lurking again and wondered how you were. I want to nest too.

I saw that brilliant black Friday ecard. Madness.

My urge to purge is fighting with my urge to lie in a hot bath for half an hour with The Secret Garden. I can feel a chesty cough a-brewing and I have a manic week ahead... I choose the bath, obviously.

Fuzzpig that ecard is brilliant and sad in equal measures.

Cadence that sounds like amazing progress! Inspiring. I didn't get on quite so well with my goals for the week - I managed to clear two carrier bags full of paper clutter and odds and sods from my bookcases but there is probably at least that amount to go again. And the dressing table is still a bombsite.

Jimmy our bedroom is the same. When I have finished tidying the rest of the flat it looks it has been up-ended and all the crap and clutter have slid down into our room, leaving the other rooms all pretty.

I will join the nesting posse. I am 24 weeks pregnant and I've just hit that "Oh my god, this pregnancy is going to go on forever and I am never going to feel well again" stage, after a good ten weeks of "glowiness" (yes, that is totally a word). I just want everything to be neat and clean and cosy and it feels very, very far from that right now.

I'm also annoyed with myself because the zip broke on my favourite books this week. In true minimalist style I decided to get the zip replaced rather than rush out and buy new books, but it will take ten days for them to be repaired and in the meantime I am going through all the other shoes in my wardrobe and realising how horribly uncomfortable and impractical they all are. What is the point of having ten pairs of shoes that are horrible to wear in the bloody wardrobe I have sore feet and a new-found sense of purpose in my shoe decluttering.

Hope you are feeling a bit better Arti.

Hi everyone,

Oh dear, that is sad about the stampedes and fighting. I remember shopping in December when pregnant with dd1 and being just completely shocked and saddened by how many times I got pushed and shoved out of the way, my bump got elbowed etc. I was heavily and very obviously pregnant, people just go mad at this time of year. What happened to goodwill to all etc?

I have to admit that I have been a bit non-minimalist with the dc's Christmas presents (no pushing or shoving in shops though, honest , in fact I've done 99% of it online). Anyway, I promised myself no electronic or plastic toys this year however they all begged for a furby after playing with their cousin's and dd3 has taken a real liking to this 'Talking Tom' character for which my sister has as an app on her phone so have also bought that. Also lots of plastic My Little Pony tat for dd2, although to be fair all three of them LOVE My Little Pony (although dd1 age 10 would kill me if she knew I was telling you ) so I know it will get played with lots. With adults gifts we are pretty minimalist anyway, dh and I don't give one another gifts, we go to the cinema and for a meal instead as well as a daytrip out with the dc to see Santa at a grotto. My mum, mil and sisters have had beauty hampers this year with stuff I know they use and love and we have bought my sil and bil cinema vouchers. Still not bought for my dad or fil, always find them difficult. Usually buy them little bits of tat slippers, socks, hankies, games and gimmiky things but this year wanted to be more thoughtful. Will have to have a big think... Maybe football tickets or something...

Glad you feel inspired to have a more minimalist bedroom Jimmy :). Mine is still clean and tidy (touch wood) and it feels so calming and relaxing to have that space.

Sorry you're feeling under the weather fuzzpig. I hate the winter, I tend to overeat and gain weight at this time every year. I just want to snuggle on the sofa with chocolates all day. The temperature drop and the darkness makes me feel like hibernating too. Whereas in the summer I'm constantly on the move, wanting to get out in the open air so I can totally understand your need to be surrounded with comfortable things.

pixiestix, ah the 24 week feeling. Still, over half way there :) I have recently had a shoe declutter and it's a great feeling! I had a pile of 'maybe' shoes which I think I'll go through now as I feel ready to be ruthless again . I sometimes find that the longer I'm sorting the more my resolve weakens and I have to go back and look another day!

Can I join in please? I realised how much of a hoarder I am when we did some redecorating recently, STUFF came out of everywhere and it was such a battle to restore order that I have decided we need a change in lifestyle! It really is a revelation, and the philosophy sits much better with me as I'm uncomfortable with waste (which is why we seem to hold on to everything!).

I have freecycled bags of toys, recipe books, stationery but still a long way to go. Also ebayed and charity shopped several bags. I almost despaired of the toys as we were drowning in them but its a bit more under control now.

Hello Silver (is that a Christmas name?)
I hate waste too and used to hang onto far too much stuff to avoid it going to landfill. Now I hope that when it goes to the charity shop someone is finding a use for it.
We got loads of redecorating done this weekend but it'll still be about 10 days before everything is back to normal (ie no more bikes in the living room!)
I had to google Black Friday (I hadn't heard of it before) and

Morning all - still struggling with energy and motivation ( and ears). I've decided this has to be a "be kind to myself" day whilst hopefully still getting things done!!

Hello everyone, can I join please? This my first ever post on mumsnet so please excuse any typos! I'm a longtime lurker (I first discovered you all on Easter Sunday!) I promised myself that our very cluttered house would be crap-free and beautifully organised by the end of 2013. This won't happen but rather than depress myself I have accepted that I've actually achieved a lot this year - numerous sacks full of stuff, plus a lot of furniture, to the charity shop. And (for me) most importantly my mindset has completely changed. I'm now thinking along the lines of Minimalism, questioning every purchase for my 2 DCs - do they/we need it? I've read Simplicity Parenting after seeing it recommended on here and found myself nodding to so much of what it had to say.

As with many of you I have a DH who is King of Clutter and untidiness so I often feel it's two steps forward and one back? But we are getting there, albeit slowly, and I now have much more of an idea of how I want our home and my children's day to day environment to feel/look like. This is mainly due to the wisdom gleaned from this thread so thank you all and please have my very first and .

Welcome Teacake. Great to hear about your journey so far!

Morning.

I am struggling in general at the mo with so much stuff coming into the house and not being able to get enough back out.

There are still bags and bags of clothes in the loft so I am loading up my car this afternoon and taking them to the first shop or clothes bin I pass. I need to declutter my physical space again as both ds and I are suffering mentally at the moment. And it was so much better when there was space around us.

Welcome to MN Teacake! It's an honour that this thread is home to your very first post :o

I like your approach - I feel similar, it's not going to be all done by Xmas but I am reminding myself that we are far, far better off than we were this time last year - even though we are still cluttered we have got rid of absolutely loads. And our mindset has changed massively so it's not all going to go backwards even though it's stalled.

Woo! Small corner of loft cleared. i can see the floor!

Now to deposit bags of crap at dump and anything decent at the charity shops.

It really is liberating just giving stuff away. After I cleared the storage locker those weeks ago I kind of got very stuck and down in our dump. But coming back to the thread has invigorated me.

And welcome to everyone who I've missed while I've been off on a wobble.

I think this is maybe the third thread I've been on. And while it has been very slow progress, with a lot of backwards steps at times, progress has nonetheless been made.

Thank you arti, fuzzpig and MiniSoks - tis lovely to be here! I'm not at my best this time of year either. Much as I love the idea of crisp winter days, the reality of less daylight and dropping temperatures really gets me down. While I still get a childhood thrill from waking up to the occasional deep covering of snow, it's now usually replaced with thoughts of 'where are JuniorTeacake and MiniTeacakes wellies?' and 'how on earth am I going to drag the pushchair through the drifts to do the school run...' It seems to take all my energy just to get through the everyday chores at the moment, let alone put my mind to clearing clutter, but at least there is less STUFF coming into the house now.

(Having just read through that I sound like a right miserable moo! I'm really not, I promise! And 'wellies' had originally autocorrected to 'willies'. Cue much mirth from me and puzzled looks from DCs )

Hello Teacake (and all!). Yes, I know the 'two steps forward, one step back' very well - I call it the Declutter Waltz - it's fine until it becomes 'one step forward, two steps back' as it so often does

Well, improvements have certainly been made here, though not the grand sweeping kind that make me want to dance through the flat in all its lofty airiness. But improvements nonetheless After getting rid of some of the living room stuff we have rearranged things to be more appropriate for letting DS loose - still just a rapid crawler, but spends a lot of time cruising and climbing and is trying to walk. Took a couple of steps the other day, very proud that I was actually here to see it! Too often these things happen when I'm at work

Also in the process of organising an all-new nappy station - I've upgraded from 'random nappies and bits of stuff in an old Pampers box' to proper job storage/organisation for our new cloth nappies and other assorted baby gear. Still very simple and just repurposing a unit that was being used as a dumping ground so I'm happy about that.

Looks like we might move again soon... when exactly is anyone's guess, but it's out there now. Hoping to move into a clean and empty space and then fill some parts of it veeeery carefully so that we get a bit of a fresh start, instead of cramming it with bags of rubbish. My main sticking point in the battle against carting bags of stuff to and fro with us is that we own a fair bit of stuff that doesn't get used regularly but is very useful when we eventually need them, like certain tools, cables and DIY equipment. I don't want to chuck this stuff as it's all good and it does get used, just not that often (would anyone do DIY regularly?!) so I want a better solution than what we currently have - several bags for life and a bucket! A standard tool box wouldn't do as I'd ideally like to incorporate all the wires/cables and stuff so it should be a bit more spacious. Hm...

On another note, I was reading a blog thing (lost the page now) by a woman who was showing things that she does to make things quicker and easier with a family. A number of things were not for me but I did like her caddy idea, she basically had all of the cutlery needed for her size of family in this little caddy, plus salt, pepper, etc, and when it came time for dinner they just put the caddy on the table. I like the thought of building on that idea somehow even if we don't yet have a table. I have a feeling the cutlery would just end up living on the table though...

Anyone do DIY regularly? Er, that would be us... But I'm hoping that'll be over by this time next year. [Examines hands ruefully]
We have two tool boxes. One which has everything we require for little jobs (general maintenance). The other has the other stuff for bigger jobs (like turning the basement into a room!). Then specific equipment has its own box (e.g. drill) Then we have cardboard boxes: a box of painting equipment, a box of sanding bits, a box of electrical bits.... We also have those plastic boxes with little drawers for screws etc.
Given that DIY equipment needs to be portable, I don't think the storage solution can be too big and all inclusive.

Did I say I'd seen a mouse the other week? It got me to declutter underneath our stairs as we store it's of too big packs and bottles under there as no room in the kitchen.

Well I saw something move in the kitchen this morning! So guess what the morning's job is. As well as buying some traps.

clearsommespace It's not DIY if it has to be done regularly That's proper work! I admit that's my own strange definition of DIY

MiniSoks Oh dear, really hope it's sorted quick, I hate having mice (or any other uninvited guests!). Peanut butter is supposed to be good bait. Not that it ever worked for us - we left our last place because the mice won, but that was because the property was a conversion and they'd left huge gaps underneath some units so there was no way to seal it without refitting everything But before that we actually found the easiest way to get rid of mice was to seal everything up and then shepherd them out the front door! They always appeared in the same place (kitchen), DH lined up loads of bags and boxes built a sort of 'mouse run' from the kitchen to the front door. They get around along the edges of stuff so it guided them out. It worked!

We have mice since we got the kittens. They bring them in to the house to play with them. We are forever playing rescue the mouse by trapping enraged cats in a room and leaving the front door open until the mouse has escaped.

Hurrah, bathroom is finished and we'll be able to use it tomorrow. Putting our things into an empty room is the perfect opportunity to declutter

Hurray somme

So, still trying To Get DDs To part with out grown clothing and when DD1 asked if we can buy a star for the Christmas tree I said no, we already have a Fairy and can only stick one thing atop the tree.

Moré things removed but now they are gone I can't remember what they were. DDs are trying To sell their old bikes. Nothing new has been brought in, which is progress.

Need To decide what To do with ítems that belonged To late parents if we move. Have no space, don't actually want them visible, but not sure about dumping either

How do you do it I am in a mess. I like my books and I like my cd's. I do not watch tv much if at all. So I like music and reading.

Adorabell, I had some trouble parting with late parents stuff earlier this year. Someone said on a previous thread that you don't need a lot of stuff to remember them by. Another thing to think about, would your parents have wanted you to feel burdened by their stuff? Wouldn't they rather it went to someone who needed it or liked it enough to display it?

Hello Poppy. Our bookshelves are far from bare! I would start with things to which you don't feel such an emotional attachment. Bedding, kitchen equipment etc. When you get onto books, you do one shelf at a time. Ask yourself whether you are really going to find the time to read it again or really want your DCs to read. If not, that book can go, to someone who wants to read it now so you have space for something you'd rather read or just some space so your house feels a little airier.

That reminds me, I unpacked some unread books that DH has picked up in charity shops when we moved here nearly a year ago and he hasn't touched them. Time to have a word with him.